Yugoslavia's Implosion: The Fatal Attraction of Serbian Nationalism

345 Pages·2012·2.14 MB·English

by  Sonja Biserko

SONJA BISERKO
Yugoslavia s
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TThhiiss iiss nnoott aa hhiissttoorryy bbooookk;; iitt iiss aa bbooookk ddeebbaattiinngg hhiissttoorryy,, wwiitthh
isbn 9778-82-91809-01-4
tthhee aammbbiittiioonn ooff cchhaalllleennggiinngg wwhhaatt SSeerrbbiiaa iiss aanndd mmaayy bbeeccoommee..
nnaassll..iinndddd 11 0088//1111//22001122 1100::2288::0044

Yugoslavia’s
Implosion
The Fatal Attraction
of Serbian Nationalism
by Sonja Biserko
Yugoslavia’s Implosion
by Sonja Biserko
publisher

Copyright © 2012 by The Norwegian Helsinki Committee
for the publisher
Bjørn Engesland
layout and cover photo
Ivan Hrašovec
printed by
Zagorac, Belgrade
isbn 978-82-91809-01-4
The printing of this book has been financially supported by the Fritt Ord Foun-
dation, Oslo. Activities relating to the book have been supported by the Norwe-
gian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in context of the projects The Role of Universities in
Peace Building and Human Rights Reform in Serbia. The contents of this book are
the sole responsibility of the author and can under no circumstances be regarded
as reflecting the position of the financial supporters.
Contents
FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
CHAPTER 1
Serbian Nationalism and the Remaking
of the Yugoslav Federation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
CHAPTER 2
The Army’s Role in Political Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
CHAPTER 3
The Kosovo Issue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
CHAPTER 4
Serbia: Between Europe and Backwardness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
CHAPTER 5
Lessons for Peacemakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
NAME INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

To my brother Željko Biserko
HOLJP, “helsinške sveske br 29, SANDŽAK2” strana 8 HOLJP, “helsinške sveske br 29, SANDŽAK2” strana 9
FOREWORD
Foreword
I
This is a courageous book, in which the author indicts a large por-
tion of her society, and most especially politicians, for aggressive
nationalism. This, she argues, has been the main reason both for the
wars of 1991–99 and for the continued volatility which characterizes
9
Serbian political life. This is also a work of passion, reflecting simul-
Foreword
taneously a deep sadness about the decisions and actions taken by
Serbian political figures over a period of more than a century, and
a determination on her part to work for a better future for Serbia.
Biserko has many admirers but, inevitably, she also has foes, and has
been attacked at times in the local nationalist press.
I first met Sonja Biserko in 2001, when she was spending a year
at the u.s. Institute for Peace in Washington d.c. Her reputation as a
champion for human rights preceded her, but I had not visited Bel-
grade since 1989, when the escalating drumbeats for war were unmis-
takable. Since 2004, I have visited Belgrade on a number of occasions,
most recently in December 2011, affording us on each occasion the
opportunity to meet. My respect for her work has only grown over
the years and the international recognition she has received shows
that I am far from alone in this regard.
Biserko began her career in the Yugoslav foreign service, back
when Josip Broz Tito was still president of the country. She was
posted to the Embassy of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugosla-
via in London from 1975 to 1979, where she encountered, for the first
HOLJP, “helsinške sveske br 29, SANDŽAK2” strana 8 HOLJP, “helsinške sveske br 29, SANDŽAK2” strana 9
time, émigré literature, especially of the Chetnik diaspora. She sub-
sequently returned to Belgrade to work in the un department of
the foreign service, before being posted to Geneva in 1984, to work
with European issues at the un Commission for Europe. It was at
this time that she encountered members of the Albanian diaspora,
whose discontent with the status of the Socialist Autonomous Prov-
ince of Kosovo was palpable, and also members of the Serbian dias-
pora, whose views concerning Kosovo were at odds with the views
of Albanians. By the time she returned to Belgrade in 1988, the disin-
tegration of Yugoslavia was well underway and, within her depart-
ment, as elsewhere in the country, there were lively discussions
about the future of the country, with alternative visions sketched
10 and debated. At the end of 1991, after the outbreak of the Serbian
insurrection in Croatia – an insurrection supported by the Yugo-
Foreword
slav Army, which Serbian President Slobodan Milošević controlled
– she resigned from the foreign service and began opposition work.
Her resignation was, in fact, a protest against the war policy of the
Milošević regime. In collaboration with other anti-war activists, she
launched Anti-War Action and became close to the Civic Alliance, a
liberal political party which has remained on the margins of the Ser-
bian political scene.
In the meantime, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
in Yugoslavia had dissolved at the end of the 1980s. In 1994, she took
the lead in establishing the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
in Serbia, starting with a staff of eight persons. That same year,
the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights, based in New York,
awarded her a prize for her work in human rights. Since then, the
Helsinki Committee/Serbia has been active in various domains,
assisting Serb refugees from Croatia in 1995, organizing Serb-Al-
banian dialogues, hosting conferences on human rights (especially
focusing on Kosovo), and publishing books, reports, and bulletins in
both Serbian and English across a range of topics from controversies
HOLJP, “helsinške sveske br 29, SANDŽAK2” strana 10 HOLJP, “helsinške sveske br 29, SANDŽAK2” strana 11