Religion

After 45 years of socialist atheist education, schools in Bosnia-Herzegovina have introduced the subject of Religion in their curriculums. The dominant socialist atheism which wasn't always encouraged by subtle methods, has quickly been replaced by its opposite - dominant theism. Just as the authorities had earlier tried to prove that atheism was not being enforced, so the current authorities and ideologues claim that religion will not be enforced in schools now. For the time being, the subject is an optional one. Primary and secondary school pupils will have the right to choose (with the help of their parents) whether or not they will attend Religion classes, which will be held as theoretical classes once a week. The programs and teachers will be provided by religious communities, while the schools will ensure the space and time. Even though the classes are not obligatory, the subject will carry marks, but these marks will not affect the pupil's final report.

With all these formalities, it does not look as if Religion is being enforced in schools. Statistics however, show an interesting angle to the issue. Data show that 80% pupils in Sarajevo have chosen to attend Religion classes, 80%-90% in Tuzla and 90%-100% in Zenica, which makes the voluntary aspect problematic.

For the time being, Religion classes are attended by Muslim children in territory controlled by the Bosnia-Herzegovina Army, with the exception of the Catholic School in Sarajevo, where Religion is an obligatory subject. In territory controlled by the Croatian Council of Defence (HVO), this matter is regulated by the laws of the self-proclaimed state of "Herzeg-Bosnia". Children of the Orthodox faith in these territories do not have the opportunity of attending Religion classes for the simple reason that there are no teachers. There are no priests (they left their parishes at the start of the war or even earlier) so that religious rites cannot be carried out.

 

Goli Otok Internees Demand Pensions

The Association "Goli Otok" (Yugoslav equivalent of the Soviet Gulag formed in 1949) from Montenegro raised the question last week of whether the Federal Assembly would adopt a law rehabilitating Goli Otok internees formally and legally. Association president Milinko Stojanovic is an optimist and claims to have met with Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic recently and learned from him that the matter was being looked into by the government which was working on it "energetically".

The Montenegrin authorities have rehabilitated Goli Otok internees politically and morally, said Stojanovic, and this has been confirmed by the Montenegrin parliament. The internees showed understanding and patience because of the special situation faced by the state, and have only recently raised other questions linked to rehabilitation. It would be too great a burden for Montenegro to fulfill obligations resulting from some 10,000 internee requests. Considering that the camps during the Informbiro period (period after WW2 when Socialist Yugoslavia broke off with Russia and the East Bloc countries) were under the competency of the federal state, it was logical to send the requests to this address; the internees forwarded a request to the Montenegrin Government asking that it demand a significant sum of money in its share of the division of assets between the former Yugoslav republics, which would then be allotted to the internees.

 

The Calendar

The Serbs, as a nation, find it difficult to accept novelties or changes of any kind. Even four centuries ago when the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian one, this didn't mean that the Serbs would accept the new way of calculating time. We learned recently that the "Gregorian" New Year would not be marked in the Bosnian Serb republic, and that gatherings marking this occasion might be punishable. The Bosnian Serb Republic considers the Julian calendar New Year which is recognized by the Serbian Orthodox Church as the official date, and the New Year will be seen in on January 14 and celebrated accordingly. The reason for this probably lies in the fact that Julius Caesar who lent his name to the Julian calendar was a famous conqueror and controversial ruler, while the Gregorian calendar derives its name from Pope Gregory XIII (shades of the Vatican!) who carried out the calendar reform.

Since the warring sides in Bosnia celebrate different New Years, UNPROFOR could find that its job has been greatly simplified. It is the custom in these regions to fire a round of bullets when welcoming in the New Year. It will be enough to listen and register what arms are being used and where the firing is coming from, since there will be no dilemma over which side will be celebrating on the said night. This will make AWACS and other complicated equipment used for discovering the artillery positions of the warring sides unnecessary, and they can be transferred to regions where all warring sides agree on the calendar, at least.

There is one item of good news in this imbroglio, all dates on signed documents are binding for the Serbs thirteen days after the signing, since they recognize the Julian calendar. If the latest four-months-long cease-fire signed on December 31 does turn into a lasting peace, it will remain on record that peace in the Bosnian Serb Republic started thirteen days before it did elsewhere.

Sow

After the final deadline for filling in tax returns on property passed, local tax collectors spread out among village households. They confiscate everything that can be sold quickly. Tax collectors, accompanied by the police, first take all the money they find in the house and if there isn't any, they seize things of greater or lesser value. The Kusic family in the vicinity of Knic, hadn't paid their taxes because the state hadn't paid them for the wheat they had delivered. The tax collectors didn't consider this an extenuating circumstance and confiscated property valued at 840 dinars. The Spakic family offered to hand over what was left of the wheat in the barn. The tax collectors remained impervious to suggestions and confiscated two of their best sows.

Newsprint Champs

The unprecedented shortage of newsprint (whose production is now controlled by the Serbian Government) resulted in unusual happenings; the Christmas edition of the Serbian "Oslobodjenje" (a Bosnian Serb newspaper) was printed on 224 pages, an all-time record number of pages for a paper of this format. It is interesting that the New Year number of the Belgrade daily "Politika" which was planned to cover 72 pages and an edition of 400,000 copies, came out with only 150,000 copies because the Yugoslav newsprint producer "Matroz" from Sremska Mitrovica did not deliver the sufficient quantity of paper on time.

Where did the Serbian "Oslobodjenje" find so much paper, and how is it possible that a 224-pages-long newspaper sells for only three dinars? There are no economic answers to these questions. The answers are to be found in politics, because the question of newsprint has become a number one political issue.

 

One of the People

Some authors of Serbian populism were of civilian origin. But the only social group with which identification is permitted in Serbia, are the peasants. This is the source of the eternal denial of self, the epic playing at being peasants, ignoramuses, grandfathers and "hosts" (using all the means that your degree of education puts at your disposal). This is the source of the phenomenon that intellectuals defend criminals who would butcher these same defenders without batting an eyelid. This is why, for too long, all who were primitive and snotty were told that they were demi-gods. Corrupt district clerks and their contemporary successors have always praised the people in order to take advantage of them and shortchange them. Those who have no intention of stealing nor of taking advantage of their office, have no need to praise. Doesn't this popular and peasant element contain the key to the metaphorical and literal darkness which has enveloped us, including the recruitment of an army of corrupt bureaucrats and psychopathic clowns. They first told each other their hallucinations, which were then printed in the papers, and will now enter encyclopedias as hallucinations which have been realized.

Those who kept their eyes and ears open while serving their stint in the Army, saw that most people don't make a difference between what is stupid and intelligent, it's all the same to them: just words. People repeat what they have heard. They will play the role which has been approved by society.

The only two values which Milosevic has established without a doubt are: the impudence to show that you are "one of the people", and insanity, because those who are insane are immune. And to this we can add obedience.

(Vladimir Pistalo, "A Personal View")

 

"Borba's" Long Road

After having barely survived two serious attacks by the Federal Government around New Year (the installing of Federal Minister Dragutin Brcin as "Borba" general manager and the liquidation of "Borba Inc.") the editorial staff headed by Gordana Logar faced a third attack last Sunday: on Tuesday, January 10, the paper's special issue did not hit the streets. According to the official explanation the "ABC Glas" printing works which had courageously printed the previous 12 numbers could not complete the printing of the already set paper because of trouble with the newsprint machine engine. The public was told another story - the breakdown was allegedly the result of a telephone talk between the public prosecutor and the owner of the "ABC Produkt" company which owns the printing works. Those in the know claimed that the public prosecutor had threatened the "ABC" company with serious consequences if it continued printing the paper.

No one in "Borba" wished to confirm of deny this story, they underscored their thanks to "Glas" for all that the printing works had done for them so far. "We know that there were pressures on the printing works from the first day, and that they held out bravely all this time", said Gordana Logar. "Even of they backed down in the end, no one should hold it against them".

The editorial staff reacted quickly and made two moves with which they hoped to thwart the Government's attempts to oust them: a new printing works was found ("Forum" from Novi Sad) and they anticipated an eventual ban (with the liquidation of "Borba d.d.", "Special Borba" lost the right to be published under this name). The paper appeared on Wednesday as a special issue of the "Independent", the organ of the Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina, with Mile Isakov as the editor-in-chief, for formal reasons. It is expected that the paper will continue to be published in this way for several days until it is registered under the name "Our Borba" with Dusan Mijic as editor-in-chief. The registration request has been handed over to the competent authorities who must reply by January 16.

In the meantime the process of "differentiation" between the two papers which had started after the splitting up of "Borba" has taken place: of the 171 persons employed in the former "Borba" 125 have decided to join "Our Borba", while 46 have decided to work for Dragutin Brcin's paper. It is interesting that only 16 of those who will work for Brcin are journalists and photographers, the rest are technical staff. Contrary to this, 80% of "Our Borba's" staff are journalists.