Circle 99 on the Reflections of "Serbian World" on Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina

(Patria) - The Association of Independent Intellectuals "Circle 99" today discussed the topic Reflections of "Serbian World" on Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Aleksandar Radoman, Dean of the Faculty of Montenegrin Language and Literature in Cetinje, as the introductory speaker.

"The topic that brought us together today is probably the biggest threat to peace and stability in the region in the last three decades since the end of the war. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro have much in common today. One of these connections is the constant effort to challenge and negate the phenomena of social plurality characteristic of both countries. Which is, of course, only a prerequisite for state disintegration and the satisfaction of the hegemon's appetites," said Radoman, adding that today Bosnia and Herzegovina is "denied the right to state existence," while in Montenegro "we have the negation of its identity."

He added that post-Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina was modeled according to the principle of constituent peoples, and this mechanism, along with the hegemonic intentions of its neighbors, leads to the state's dysfunctionality.

"Regarding Montenegro, after the restoration of its independence in 2006, it was defined in the Constitution as a civic state. I know that I have often heard from friends from Bosnia and Herzegovina that this is a model that BiH should strive for. However, instead of processes in BiH that would lead to this model, which seems to me to be the only optimal one and in line with some democratic achievements in the world, something else is happening. What is happening is that Montenegro, since 2020, is slowly beginning to lose its recognizable identity as a multicultural society and a civic state, and under the influence of the media, institutions from the neighborhood, i.e., from Serbia specifically, an ethno-nationalist model, the clericalization of society, and numerous other negative phenomena are increasingly being imposed, which produce the destabilization of states," said Radoman.

He warned that they are waiting for "a new balance of power on the geopolitical scene to formally realize the political concept of the 'Serbian World', which is nothing other than the old model of a homogeneous Serbia from World War II and the alliance of Serbian lands from the time of Slobodan Milošević."

"What is important at this moment is that in the face of such security, political, and all other dialogues, I think a regional dialogue is necessary if, by engaging the academic community, civil society, and finally the political forces that represent the idea of a civic state, we manage to form some kind of front of resistance to these extremely dangerous projects. The weapons are rattling again in the Balkans, and this must not be silenced," said Radoman.

The president of "Circle 99", Adil Kulenović, said that "the dominant state of self-deception, presenting defeat as victory, in the Serbian ethnic corpus after the adoption of the Resolution on the Genocide in Srebrenica at the General Assembly of the United Nations, is a key indicator of negative energy that opens the door to any political adventurism, a predictable continuation of Greater Serbian expansionism."

"Srebrenica was only the last act of genocidal intent in Bosnia and Herzegovina and towards Bosniaks. Changing street names, announcing changes to the historical name of the city of Srebrenica, are not only an expression of mere deception, cover-up, and concealment of the genocidal act, nor just the last phase of genocidal intent, but also a warning for future intentions. The resuscitated shadows of Greater Serbia are again threatening Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, and North Macedonia. The southern axis of peace in the Balkans must find a common word of resistance," said Kulenović.