Where is the Montenegrin opposition and what is it doing: Instead of continuing civil resistance, it is bowing to promoters of Svetosavlje

Montenegro is, as beautifully written in the Constitution - a civic and secular state. Thus, a country that is multi-ethnic, a country of all religions and nations, in which the state and church are clearly separated.

In that very civic, multi-ethnic and secular state, in Nikšić, the city of Ljubo Čupić, at a session of the Nikšić Municipal Assembly, a decision was unanimously adopted to declare Saint Basil as the patron saint of the city of Nikšić.

The key word is 'unanimously', meaning that the declaration of the city's patron saint was supported by opposition councilors sitting in the Nikšić parliament. Is it not indicative that in the 21st century, in a state whose Constitution guarantees a clear separation of church and state, declaratively civic-oriented opposition members find themselves on the same side as supporters of the Serbian Orthodox Church and promoters of war mongers and perpetrators of genocide during World War II and the 1990s?

We remind you that the majority in the local parliament is made up of the coalition gathered around the pro-Russian DF, Democrats and GP URA, and the head of the municipality is Marko Kovačević, a functionary of the Democratic Front, against whom proceedings are underway for denying the genocide in Srebrenica.

Can a society experience a greater value collapse than the civic opposition bowing to the bearers of Svetosavlje?

Simply put - on the same side are those who formally fight for the preservation of an independent and anti-fascist Montenegro and those who celebrate butchers and convicted war criminals. And how can two options that differ so much even be on the same side? How can the civic opposition share views with those who want to see Montenegro on its knees and who are recognized as deniers of genocide?

How can the civic opposition support part of the plans of advocates of Greater Serbian hegemonism and followers of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who strive for the absolute clericalization of society and the abolition of all civic rights and freedoms that conflict with "traditional values" and are contrary to the ideology of this political, not religious, organization?

Why does the civic and pro-Montenegrin oriented opposition participate in humiliating members of other religions and nations who are not believers of the SPC, or citizens who are atheists, by imposing on them some medieval celebration of a city's patron saint?

What they failed to achieve in 2005 in Herceg Novi, when a similar attempt was thwarted by a decision of the Constitutional Court, the Svetosavci achieved in Nikšić, using the dysfunctionality of the Constitutional Court and the impossibility of reviewing and possibly annulling such a decision.

The opposition's move showed us, precisely at this moment when Montenegro is at a crossroads crucial for the survival of its state-building character - that the opposition has capitulated before the destroyers of the state. Now we can freely say that Montenegro is in a similar position to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Just as parts of the pro-Bosnian opposition, for the sake of a slice of power, curry favor with Milorad Dodik, Montenegrin opposition members curry favor with Russophiles and servants of Aleksandar Vučić. It is now much clearer why the opposition remained silent during the signing of the fundamental contract, as well as why it remains silent now, when there is a complete undermining of the constitutional and legal order of the state, through the attempt to form an unconstitutional government, which is not recognized by either European or Western partners.

It is obvious that opposition representatives are carelessly waiting for the DF majority to once again agree on the further fate of the state, just as they waited for a full two years, while the systemic dismantling of Montenegro was carried out peacefully and its European path was completely halted.

The opposition is passive when it needs to take responsibility for its own mistakes and resolutely, reform-wise, move towards their, at least partial, correction. The opposition is passive when it needs to defend the state, but it is, one might say, very active when it needs to participate in making decisions immeasurably harmful to national interests.

Therefore, such an opposition has no right to call for protests, nor to expect that rational citizens will respond to those calls. Citizens who fight for the salvation of their country are not on the same side as the opposition that sits on two chairs, nor do they have the same understanding of the meaning and manner of expressing genuine civil resistance.

Because civil resistance is not silently watching the destruction of the country and repeating daily political clichés, nor is the true fight for the state expressed exclusively through the struggle for party interests and the homogenization of party membership.

The Montenegrin opposition is trying hard to suppress every form of genuine civil resistance, even to deter citizens from demonstrations, from the struggle we witnessed at the protests of the "Ima nas" movement, convincing them with their actions that they should wait and maintain the status quo, while every segment of the state falls apart.

Because, essentially, the state is not important - the party and survival on the political scene are important, regardless of the form. The example of Nikšić is not an isolated case.

The voting for the city's patron saint, let us repeat - by a 'unanimous decision' - is the most realistic indicator of the current state the country is in. The opposition has formally supported the sure path towards the complete clericalization of society, in which clerico-nationalists will have a free hand to do whatever they want with the country, and the majority of the opposition will continue to pretend to be civic activists and fighters for human and civil rights, a secular and anti-fascist Montenegro.

Because, in this country, everything is possible for the sake of gathering the cheapest political points. Everything on the Montenegrin political scene is a changeable category, only the violation of the Constitution and the legal order is a constant.