Executive Director of the Center for Political Education, Dragiša Janjušević, points out that the imposition of identity issues is a recipe that the government has often used in the past three decades. He recalls that national themes were used in every crisis, but also that the opposition accepted them.
The fact that the opposition accepts these themes, and some launches itself, speaks of both the government and the part of the opposition that drives this subject and wants to preserve its position and social status. What to say without giving any quality solutions in economic disadvantages, social issues, issues of unemployment, problems in education, health, state, and local administration? Simply maintaining the situation with two constants-the eternal power and the eternal opposition, Janjusevic pointed out and warned that the ruling coalition would always use the opportunity to play on the national issue card to draw public attention away from the specific problems.
Janjušević PHOTO: Savo Prelević
"These are the current topics that will last as long as this government. Especially when they have an ideal moment for heating up, such as the 100-year celebration for the work of the Podgorica Assembly," he claims. The announcement of the centenary celebration of the unification of Montenegro and Serbia, organized by the Democratic Front (DF) and the Serbian National Council (SNS), has triggered national controversy which has further reinforced the government by announcing that it will financially punish citizens who do not rise to the national anthem. The letter was followed by an organization of Bosnian diaspora who demanded that “Gorski vijenac” by Petar Petrvić Njegos and "Peščanik" by Danilo Kiša are to be prohibited in schools, while the Bosnian Party (BS) initiated the issue of changing the state symbols. The parties came into a controversy over the churches at Rumija and Svač, while the DF proposed changes to the laws that would celebrate Njegoš's birthday as a state holiday. At the same time, the Government declared the majority of the data on the construction of the motorway as secret, and because of the state-run "business of the era", a part of the Tara river basin was relocated. The opposition was almost silent about the news of the construction of hydropower plants at Cijevna and in Plav, while the discussion for the leasing of the Airports of Montenegro went to another plan. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidency, Ivan Vujovic, warns that DPS updates the national issues because it has no answer to the issues of the development of the Montenegrin society. "That is why we are constantly going in circles and therefore creating a parallel reality in which citizens are puzzled every day, and instead of the real problems, we are recycling the finalized topics. That is why today the political and social scene is irresistibly reminded of the 90s or pre-referendum times, and this is the intense diagnosis of our political reality," Vujovic said.
Vujović PHOTO: Savo Prelević
Although the Democratic Front insists on national debates, delegate Milun Zogović thinks that these topics are imposed by the regime and a part of the opposition, along with their statements about the state's defense against non-existent enemies. He warns that this is a "parade that conceals the discrimination of Serbs in Montenegro.”
"It is true that the regime recognizes and abuses the sensitivity of these issues to awaken antagonisms, but it is equally true that the Serbs are imperatively required to destroy their identity so that they would, as impersonal as such, become the acceptable part of the community. In the ambiance of ever-increasing attacks, to be completely honest, it is difficult to get above these issues and give the primacy to a full fridge," Zogović said.
Zogović PHOTO: Demokratski front
Vujovic: We could create a civic alternative
Stressing that the great responsibility is on the so-called civil opposition, Vujovic recalls that the opposition had two great chances to offer a civic alternative. "Why the real-life issues are put in the second plan, should be responded by those from the civil opposition who, with the absence of vision and selfish political approach, significantly contributed to the degradation of political processes. Montenegro had two chances - during 2016 and 2018 when it was possible to articulate a strong civic European alternative as a broad-based social movement that would be in a position to direct political flows rather than, as it is now, look from the side at the political gameplay with the finalized topics. For us, in the SDP, it is not a great consolation that we were right as it is not a great deal of comfort if someone else finds it to be misguided," Vujovic believes.
The unity brings back opposition to life issues
Zogović believes that the opposition needs a sincere consensus, which would mean a return to life issues. "Mutual solidarity in the opposition, inspired by a candid fight against the regime, would be a penicillin for the national issues, and it is also the best defense from all forms of discrimination. Then the intentions of the regime and the possibility of a real threat would be completely limited, and thus the story of national issues would have a third-degree importance. This would result in destroying DPS as a ruling party. For this reason, DF called for a minimum of mutual consent and common action by the opposition, but others obviously gave the primacy to the struggle for supremacy in opposition and thus fed new antagonisms, of which the only benefit was gained by DPS," he argues.
Text by Samir Kajosevic, on October 29th, 2018, read more at Vijesti
