The European Commissioner for Enlargement asks Montenegro not to hear the shameless insult of its victims for holy freedom, not to see the abuse of its history, and not to silence the celebration of its occupation and its disappearance. We can’t do it and we won’t do it.
“Nationalism is war, and war is the past. But it’s not just the past. It could be our future. You are the guardians of our peace and security.” – Francois Mitterrand, French President, addressing the European Parliament in 1955.
Great thoughts and great people have created a community of European nations, based on the highest values of humanity, solidarity, equality, mutual trust and respect. Victory Day in Europe over fascism is a holiday of the European Union. Well, we should wonder, does Europe see what’s going on in its own backyard, and if it sees why it is silent? If it wants to be silent, why does it want us to be completely silent? We can’t be silent and we won’t be silent.
We must tell our European partners that neither nationalism nor fascism is the past, but the Montenegrin reality. Until recently, Montenegro was a safe haven for refugees from Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo who were fleeing the war and ethnic cleansing. Today their executioners are the hosts in that same house. Our house is no longer safe.
Where are the guardians of peace and security? Did they hear the calling of a word “Srebrenica” during the election campaign? Did they see the litias (Serbian Orthodox Church’s political protests) with all those icons and pictures that aroused the fear of the whole region? They reminded us of the thugs of war, all-Serbian “Hague heroes”, pictures of burned flags, the threatening raising of the Saint Sava cross over “false believers” – Muslims, Bosniaks, Catholics and “infidels”- Montenegrins?
Has the deafening noise of the Serbian media been heard in Europe, the noise as worst and most primitive propaganda since Goebbels’s from World War II? The propaganda was directed against Montenegro and everything that Montenegro, in its long libertarian, anti-fascist history, represented, that have been cherished by all loyal citizens of Montenegro as the highest value.
The European Commissioner for Enlargement asks Montenegro not to hear the shameless insult of its victims for holy freedom, not to see the abuse of its history, and not to silence the celebration of its occupation and its disappearance. We can’t do it and we won’t do it.
We must defend the memory of the liberators of Montenegro, as, these days and months, we preserve the excavated graves of our rulers, as we preserve the desecrated monuments of partisans and national heroes, thus preserving the achievements of free Europe and preserving from oblivion the Victory Day in Europe.
Until recently, Montenegro was a leader in European integration, until recently it was a faithful ally in building peace and good neighborly relations, until recently it was an oasis of inter-ethnic harmony. Until recently, it was the only support of the European Union in the Western Balkans – being in full compliance with the common foreign policy, despite pressures and security threats from outside and inside. Furthermore, Montenegro dignifiedly endured the Russian sanctions and Serbia’s diplomatic slaps (declaring of the Montenegrin ambassador persona non-grata for recognizing Kosovo). They almost returned it that favor with a new war and a coup d’etat.
Until recently, Montenegro was everything that makes it European. And tomorrow in our Parliament there will be a vote for an ethnically pure Government, in which there are no representatives of Bosniaks, Muslims, Croats, Albanians or Montenegrins.
For the government of Prime Minister-Designate who, just like persona non grata – ambassador Bozovic and the Prime Minister of Serbia, celebrate the disappearance of Montenegro in 1919, and because of that they have a reason to celebrate the victory of Serbia and the Serbian Orthodox Church in the 2020 Montenegrin elections – again celebrating the defeat of free Montenegro referring the year of 1919.
Are we going to call all this as good neighborly relations and the democratic process? Well, dear Commissioner Varhelyi, your Excellencies, let us now accept, all together, those unspeakably difficult gifts of “democracy”.
However, you should know, as long as the memories of every Montenegrin who gave his life for freedom live, there will be fights for the name of Montenegro, nationalism and war will be the past, and Europe will be our future.
