The Growing Rift

In the meantime, Radio Television Serbia (RTS) has launched a somewhat discrete, but recognizable campaign to "protect the endangered Serbians" from their "aggressive mountain brethren." Curiously enough, RTS has, thus, taken over the thesis proposed by some opposition circles.

The story about the Serbs and Serbians, which has been suppressed for a long time by loud appeals for unity, has suddenly become topical.

The discussion, entitled "The Serbs and Serbians", has raised more questions of interest than the answers in actually managed to provide. Therefore, the question related to the definition of the Serbians, which was brought up by Ivan Ivanovic, a writer hosting the discussion, was slightly neglected. He wondered, "Are the Serbians only the Serbs living in Serbia, or all citizens of Serbia? Or, for example, are the Kosovo Albanians actually the Serbians of Albanian descent?" In any case, following the latest events (the Assembly in Pale, closing of the borders, drastic tightening of regulations which define a refugee status, discord over the Pan-Serb Assembly and the referendum...) only kindle fear of a possible conflict between the two dialects, ekavian and jekavian (spoken by the Serbians in Serbia and the Serbs outside Serbia).

It is certain that Serbia will face a new wave of refugees - if the Vance-Owen plan is given the go ahead somehow - the population of those municipalities where the Croats and Muslims, that is UNPROFOR, will take over control from the Serbs, will set off for Serbia, otherwise the inevitable defeat in the war against the whole world will cause new eastward-bound migrations. The increased number of refugees may make the natives in Serbia grumble more loudly, which, on the other, hand may trigger defensive reaction by the other side. Should the media continue to emphasize the differences, then intolerance, and, perhaps, something even worse may not be remote.

"The decision taken at the "Rajska Dolina Hotel" on Mount Jahorina, as I see it, heralds the agony of Serbian populism," said Nebojsa Popov, leader of the Republican Party, and added, "This impression is enforced by the phenomenon that Serbia, which is pressed by sanctions, is itself implementing the same measure against a part of its people. (A possibility that this is yet another of Milosevic's tactical moves should not be ruled out either.) The imposition of sanctions by the side already under sanctions reminds me of the local folklore tradition of a dungeon in which sub-dungeons are being formed. It is clear that when the unity is based on force and when force is used to solve the problems with neighbors, then force is bound to be used to regulated relations within the community itself. Significant differences between the Serbians and the Serbs outside Serbia definitely do exist, but, thanks to the policy based on violence they might well turn into conflicts, rather that enrich the community. The aggressive Serbian populism has been subduing these differences artificially, only to now push them into the foreground, along with the danger of them turning into the conflict."

The easiest thing to do would, of course, be to put all the blame on the "wild highlanders" whose primitive nationalism has led to the war.