Xenophobia

A real public scandal erupted at the session of the Parliament last week during a debate about the new law on refugees, intended primarily, according to Minister Stanko Cvijan, "to ensure the return of Serbs to their homes in Croatia". One of the MPs skeptically remarked that around 50% of the refugees have no intention of going back. It was suggested that "buying apartments and staying in Serbia for good should be temporarily forbidden for refugees", since "it is in the interest of the Serbian people to make them return to where they came from". It was said that this rule should also refer to Serbs coming from Kosovo. A Socialist MP from Gornji Milanovac advised that no army conscripts from Krajina should not be given even temporary jobs in Serbia. Mr. Seselj (leader of the extreme right wing party) demanded that the refugees be given permission to move into Croatian houses in Vukovar, Ilok, Baranja and along the Dubrovnik coast, and advocated a mass retaliation.

This favorite of the Serbian President on April 1 threatened Croats from Vojvodina with retaliation. ("We won't kill you, we'll just put you in trucks...") because of what has being going on with Serbs in Croatia. After Mr. Skenderovic, an MP of the Union of Croats from Vojvodina, vigorously protested against Seselj's statement that "Croats should move outside the frontiers of this state", the Socialists shouted "So they should!". Skenderovic just answered: "Thank you, gentlemen, at least we know now where we stand".

A request made by Mahmut Memic that the Parliament should dissociate itself from "eye for an eye" principle fell on deaf ears. The chairman, Vukasin Jokanovic, briefly said that "there is no need for further discussion on this matter" and the Socialist MPs chuckled with satisfaction, forgetting that in the future state of Serbia and Montenegro around 40% of citizens will be of non-Serbian nationality.

According to certain analysts, Milosevic has ruined Seselj's reputation as a member of the opposition and compromised the "leftist" image of his own party. He has justified his obvious alliance with the nationalist right wing, which is the least he can do to thank Seselj for defending his politics so competently. Some interpret this as an announcement of a future coalition government.

A few smaller opposition parties reacted on the next day. New Democracy-Movement for Serbia said that the fact no one in the Parliament dissociated himself from Seselj's statements casts a blot upon this institution; the Reformist Party said that we must not remain indifferent when Serbian citizens of non-Serbian nationality are openly threatened, since this is a crime against humanity. The lack of reaction is undermining the already weak parliamentarism. The Farmer's Party requested that Milosevic publicly dissociate himself from his favorite and protested because Branko Kostic, the Vice-President of the Yugoslav Presidency, mentioned Seselj as a candidate for one of the posts in the future federal government. The Serbian Democratic Forum from Zagreb appealed to the Serbian public to raise its voice in protest against Seselj's attacks on Croats: "We repudiate the idea of using the victims of this war for denigrating those who had nothing to do with it".

If at the beginning the Serbo-Croatian war was characterized by fervent chauvinism, its end is characterized by xenophobia, devastated public opinion and a complete lack of criteria.