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L-I: Re: SERBIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES MEMO 1986 -
( The flame war with Jared is over, but I or others will challenge what he
writes when it is written to ensure comrades are not fed one side of the
story; I'm not trying to be a one-issue troll! )
> For Western intellectuals the proof of a drive for
> "Greater Serbia" and "ethnic cleansing" began
> with the SERBIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
> [SANU] Memorandum written in 1986. Just like
> Milosevic's speech of 1989, the Memorandum is very different than what
> we've been told. Here are some clips representative of the its
> content. You be the judge: is this a diabolical Nazi scheme for racial
> purity or something altogether different?
Jared,
Firstly it must be stated we never drew any comparisons between the
Milosevic regime and the Nazi regime, despite the fact the Yugoslav
government includes outright fascists. The character of the regime as a
whole is not one of fascism and neither is Serbia. In fact we all have
differing opinions, by I stand by the analysis that the Yugoslav regime
peddled a viciously reactionary nationalism to undertake capitalist
counter-revolution and transform the old bureaucracy into the bourgeoisie as
was the case in all Stalinist states.
Of course it does not call for all those actions that the Yugoslav regime
later enforced, such as Serbian ultra-nationalism which laid claim to all
those lands it had won pre- and during WWI, funding quasi-fascist militia to
purge non-Serbs from Bosnia so Serbia could claim these lands, attempting to
forcibly remove all Albanians from Kosovo, etc... This was written in 1986
under a still alive yet decaying Stalinist Yugoslavia; one could still
theoretically be arrested for waving a Serbian or Croatian or whatever flag.
The Serbian intelligentsia were hardly going to write: "We must fight an all
out war against the other Yugoslav republics to reclaim our precious lands
and incorporate our Serbian brothers in one great nation, in which those
fascist Albanians and Muslims will be smashed out of existence". To do so
would incur SEVERE punishment and nothing close could never be tolerated in
Yugoslavia before capitalist counter-revolution.
The Titoists, before Milosevic scored their putsch against Yugoslavia and
ousted them all, denounced it (this is not a political endorsement of
Titoism but I would put them before the trash in Belgrade at the moment any
day). The President of Serbia, Ivan Stambolic, stated:
"The so-called Memorandum is not new. It is the old chauvinist concern for
the fate of the Serbian cause with the well-known formula that Serbs will
win wars but lose the peace...In short, the so-called Memorandum, more
precisely, with an easy conscience, could be entitled 'In Memorandum' for
Yugoslavia, Serbia, Socialism, self-management, equality, brotherhood and
unity... Essentially, it is diametrically opposed to the interests of Serbs
throughout Yugoslavia."
Stambolic could have been a psychic. I would like to point out that I have
read much of the Memorandum and Jared has been VERY selective with what he
quotes, but still much of the essence creeps in. Within that censorship
would allow under Titoism, the main points of the Memorandum were:
* That Serbs outside of Serbia within Yugoslavia are being denied their
rights, and that they must be fought for by the Serbian republic (later this
pretext was used by the militia);
* The autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina must be suppressed so that Serbia
may be whole again, since no other Yugoslav republic is "denied" the right
to exercise power over its own affairs;
* That Serbia is an unequal partner of the federation, since it has been
suppressed on the pretext of preventing chauvinist domination of Yugoslavia,
and therefore the 1974 Constitution must be rewritten;
* That separatists are at work throughout Yugoslavia, with such tendencies
in Croatia to develop their culture which places Serbs at risk;
* That Greater Albanian racists are committing genocide in Kosovo;
* That Serbophobia and anti-Serbian chauvinism is increasing throughout
Yugoslavia of which secessionism is representative of;
* Leanings towards "multi-party" democracy.
The growing nationalism within Serbia as was the trend throughout all
Yugoslav nations meant that an opportunist faction represented by Milosevic,
a counter-revolutionary segment of the bureaucracy, could adopt these views
too gain popular legitimacy for the project of restoring capitalism.
Policies such as crushing autonomy for Vojovidina and Kosovo or adopting a
Serbian currency were part of this project.
Cheers
Owen
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