Whose is Montenegro?
Good morning! The Municipality of Zeta acts as an exclave of Serbia in Montenegro, Milan Knezevic writes verses to heroes from Banjska, and the fans of Buducnost join him. Whose country is this?
Whose is Montenegro?
We woke up in Montenegro, which is slowly but surely becoming a stronghold of Serbian nationalism again. The biggest football club, Buducnost from Podgorica, whose fans are celebrating their 35th anniversary this year, salutes the murdered members of the Serbian paramilitary formation from Kosovo. The fans of this club started promoting Serbian nationalism shortly after the change of government, and often send racist messages about Albanians from the stands. If you remember, a scandal broke out during matches and a rematch with a Kosovo club.
The other day in Mostar, the 150th anniversary of the construction of the Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity in Mostar, which was mined and demolished to the ground, was celebrated, and Montenegrin mayors were also guests. However, in the propaganda magazines, it was stated that the mayors from Stara (the Old) Herzegovina were present, to which the entire Montenegrin west belongs according to the map of Serbian nationalism – Niksic, Pluzine, Pljevlja and even Herceg Novi.
Ever since they took power in Montenegrin cities, the mayors from DF have been behaving as if they were general exclaves of Serbia in Montenegro. We will remember the trip of local officials to the Serbian Parliament, where they talked about how much they did to strengthen the Serbian identity in Montenegro. Today, Vranes from Pljevlja is the leader in anti-Montenegrin views, but he is being overtaken by the leadership of the newly formed Municipality of Zeta, which recently tried to cancel the recognition of Kosovo at the local level, and now, on the Day of Mourning, declared in Serbia because of the killed paramilitary members, they are flying the flags at half-mast.
What we feared and warned about has come true. Montenegro has become a political-nationalist outpost of Belgrade. It retains its formal autonomy only thanks to geopolitics and the presence of an allied foreign factor. Just look at the president, whose messages and belittling of American officials are almost synchronized with the messages uttered by the Serbian president. First, Milatovic belittled Escobar, saying that there is always someone more powerful, and then yesterday, during the drama relating to Banjska, Vucic said that Escobar staffs the government for us.
We are preparing a census. Minorities and DPS are asking for a postponement. Dritan and the outgoing government rush to organize it. A campaign for the promotion of Serbian identity has already started on social networks, inviting people to declare themselves as Serbs. These days it will be especially important to monitor those campaigns, their authors, as well as the money flows. It will be especially interesting what the Serbian House in Podgorica, serving as the informal headquarters of the Democratic Front, will do.
That’s it for today. We wish you a pleasant rest of the day.
Kind regards,
Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst and columnist