For Antena M by: Miljan Vešović
While most of the Christians around the world were celebrating Easter this last weekend (several Orthodox churches will celebrate it on May 5th), President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatovic, had other ideas. In a statement that surprised the Montenegrin public, Milatovic advocated for reparations for “victims of Goli Otok”. For these unfamiliar with the history of former (communist) Yugoslavia, “Goli Otok” was the name of the penal camp established by then Yugoslav authorities after Tito-Stalin split.
Since Stalin reacted to the split by trying to overthrow Tito’s regime, Yugoslav security services set up a penal camp on a small island in today’s Croatia, and proceeded to imprison the suspected Stalinists there. Serious human right abuses, including deaths of inmates from beatings administered by the prison guards, were documented in Goli Otok. The prison population included 1,567 Montenegrins – these are the people (or rather their descendants, as the original prisoners are now mostly deceased) to whom President Milatovic now wants to give reparations.
Presumably not to be outdone, a Montenegrin opposition frontbencher and a prominent literature professor, Aleksandra Vukovic - Kuc, gave on Easter Sunday a lecture about Radovan Zogovic, Montenegrin politician and poet from the mid-20th Century. In the lecture, named “The Defiance and the Polemics of Radovan Zogovic”, Vukovic-Kuc glorified the late poet/politician, describing him as a “rebellious, free, incorruptible and courageous Montenegrin”. The problem with Zogovic, who undisputably was an excellent poet and a Montenegrin patriot, is that he was also a staunch Stalinist. While he avoided the “Goli Otok” prison, he was put into house arrest for supporting the Soviets against his homeland of Yugoslavia (including, of course, Montenegro).
It goes without saying, that no one should face prison for political beliefs, not even Stalinists. It also goes without saying that history is filled with artists with reprehensible political beliefs, but that does not and should not stop us from enjoying their art. However, the question remains – why do both the President of Montenegro and prominent members of opposition want to rehabilitate or sing praises to the followers of one of the most murderous dictators the mankind ever had the misfortune to meet?
For Milatovic, the response is pretty clear – current President of Montenegro owes his political and electoral success to pro-Russian and pro-Serbian political parties who supported his presidential run. Therefore, his request to rehabilitate the Stalinists might be understood as an indirect help to the attempt to “historically fortify” the pro-Russian narrative in Montenegro.
The motivation of people like Vukovic-Kuc is less clear. After all, the lady is an unquestionable patriot and has dedicated her whole political career to restoration of Montenegro’s statehood and Montenegro’s path towards NATO and the European Union. Her aim might be to present people like Zogovic as a good historical example of a counterweight against aggressive Serbian nationalism. This is especially true having in mind that Serbian nationalist (Chetnik) forces in WW2 collaborated with Nazis, while Yugoslav Partisans (to which Zogovic also belonged) fought against them.
However, the idolization of the traditions of communist Yugoslavia cannot be a way forward for patriotic forces in Montenegro either. By conveniently forgetting the Stalinist past of historical figures like Zogovic, Montenegrin public is unwittingly forced into choosing “the lesser of three evils” as a good example for the future – either they can support the pro-Serbian fascists (the Chetniks), or they can support the Stalinists, or they can support the softer authoritarianism of Josip Broz Tito.
The question arises – is there any place for freedom and democracy in that ideological struggle? It doesn’t seem so. And while calling Yugoslav communists “freedom fighters” is a historical low-hanging fruit, the accuracy of that moniker depends on our definition of freedom. If we consider freedom to be just the freedom from foreign occupation, then it is true – Yugoslav Partisans were undoubtedly freedom fighters. However, if we include individual rights and freedoms in our definition of freedom – they were definitely not.
Unfortunately, the unshakeable belief in sanctity of individual freedom never took root in Montenegro. Our history is full of examples of people who courageously fought to free the country from foreign powers invading it. However, the number of people who fought or made sacrifices for individual freedoms is probably in single digits. This is probably why the individual freedoms are still not appreciated enough here.
To counter the destructive narrative of expansionist Serbian nationalism, the “clerical fascism” of Serbian Orthodox Church and the deceptive allure of Putin-style authoritarianism, the patriotic forces in Montenegro need to start promoting individual freedoms. With all due respect, Zogovic will definitely not get us there.
Simultaneously, Montenegro sorely needs an objective history, devoid of idolization and glorification of any kind. Our heroes will not stop being heroes if we highlight their mistakes. Unfortunately, Montenegrin historians so far have not proven to be up to that task. Only when our history is as objective and as unbiased as possible, can we reprogram the corrosive nostalgia narrative – the longing for the past when “everyone knew their place” when “there was order” and when the (authoritarian, of course) state “kicked ass”.
And only when the influence of this nostalgia is diminished, can we truly embrace the individual freedoms that are the backbone of the most developed, freest countries to which we look up to and whose community (the EU) we want to join.
The serious lack of appreciations for individual freedoms and universal values has also been one of the reasons why the foreign policy of Montenegro, once our strongest point, has become so easily corruptible by malign Serbian and Russian influence. The latest scandalous example of Maja Vukicevic, MP from the ruling majority who voted against Kosovo’s admission to the Council of Europe shows that said majority is loyal to Montenegro’s European integration process only in words. In deeds, they are loyal to Putin and Vucic.
If there were a consensus in Montenegro, the so – called “lowest common denominator”, about individual freedoms and universal rights, and if the belief that these freedoms must not be endangered were firmly rooted in Montenegrin society, pro-Putin politicians such as Vukicevic, Mandic or Knezevic wouldn’t stand a lot of chance at the elections. However, there is no consensus and the freedoms are endangered and not defended firmly enough. This has consequences for foreign policy as well.
Naturally, a “pro-Western” foreign policy orientation doesn’t mean supporting every single decision made by Germany, France, US, UK, Italy, Canada or Israel about every single topic or concerning every part of the world. Montenegro should always reserve the right to act in her own national interest, just like any other country does.
However, pro-Western orientation means to support unshakably Western values – which are exactly the individual freedoms mentioned above. That is a recipe for stabilizing these values at home – and that will, as much as possible, spare us from witnessing the nauseating spectacle of the outpourings of support for Vucic, Putin, Hamas and other authoritarians past and present that we, unfortunately, witness so often in Montenegro.
Not to mention the allegedly “pro-Western” Montenegrin media outlet whose columnists claim Montenegro should look up to “Global South” and which, not too long ago, gave the front page to the Chinese Ambassador and his propagandistic piece where he presented Xinjiang, where millions of people are currently unlawfully detained and persecuted, as a heaven on Earth.
These occurrences are not accidental. They are the direct consequence of the fact that individual freedoms are still not firmly anchored in Montenegrin society. Until they are anchored – every single foreign policy achievement of Montenegro will be in danger and so will the internal political stability in Montenegro.
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