Citizens Voted For Independence
Democratic Montenegro patiently and wisely goes on. If it is necessary to go for compromise, and nothing can be more important than a state, while the peace of citizens is the ultimate goal, she will compromise. She will not go for cheating and for rotten compromise, but rather for an official and well-founded compromise.
by Miodrag VUKOVIC
Pobjeda, Podgorica, Montenegro, FR Yugoslavia, May 3, 2001
Montenegro and its right to continue with the democratic development project won in the just finished election. The right of the citizens of Montenegro to control their fate, to have their own state also won. For the first time since 1918, when independence was stolen by treachery, the citizens of Montenegro freely stated that they want to have their own independent state. The new parliament of Montenegro will most likely consist of representatives of six political parties. The DPS will have 30 representatives, the SDP 6, the LSCG 6, ethnic Albanian parties 2, and the coalition "For Yugoslavia" will have 19 SNP representatives, 12 NS representatives and 2 SNS representatives. This indicates that the DPS is the strongest party in the parliament, that it did not lose any seats in the election, that in the coalition with the SDP it won more representatives than in the previous parliament. The biggest loser is the SNP, whose representation fell from 29 representatives, because of treacherous shoddy coalitions in which they opposed Montenegro, to 19 representatives. Obviously, this party will soon be marginalized and disappear from the political scene. The total of seats won by the pro-Montenegro and pro-democracy political parties dedicated to Montenegro and democracy is 44 which is a majority of seats in the parliament, and provides a chance to form a multiparty government consisting of representatives of the DPS, SDP and the LSCG, and even ethnic Albanian parties. In percentages, the support of this block among the voters is 57% compared with 43% supporting the block "For Yugoslavia" which clearly demonstrates that this was not a tight victory, but an expression of clear, overwhelming support for the project of independent and sovereign Montenegro, a democratically organized state with democratic links with the surrounding states and the rest of the international community. This victory is that much more important because it was achieved by the mentioned parties and the coalition that relied only on the voters in Montenegro. For the first time the Montenegrin democratic project achieved on its own a victory in free elections. That is why in this case this victory is more than a victory. This project did not have during the previous months, and especially during the election campaign, the support of the international community, as it did during the Belgrade dictatorship. Nationalist structures from Serbia also opposed it in a scandalous way. For the first time the church in Montenegro sided with one political block and openly, through its media, and directly, with participation of its people, tried to help them. Political destruction gathered around the coalition "For Yugoslavia" was more than ever financially and materially assisted, and received media support directed against Montenegro. That is why this victory is more than a victory and their defeat is worse than ever. By the way, the same forces that have been changing Yugoslavia like socks, and creating coalitions, allegedly for Yugoslavia, even with devil himself, with the sole purpose of harming Montenegro, have been decisively defeated four times in the last three years. All their Yugoslavias, including the one with the Radicals and the JUL which still rules by trickery in Herceg Novi and the previous one "without alternative" which is still promoted by the expelled president of the SNP who is crying for Milosevic, and the most recent one put together by Milosevic's supporters, nationalists and chauvinists, have all been defeated. Montenegro faces new procedures and the resolution of other problems. The most interesting thing is that the international community is demanding from Montenegro and Serbia to continue dialog, to seek mutually acceptable solution, to avoid making hasty moves, to resolve everything in the democratic manner, none of which is disputed by Montenegro. On the other hand Serbia, actually Kostunica, does not support that, and Kostunica has stopped negotiations expecting the victory of his favorites in these elections, and insists on the federation. Yugoslavia as a federation must be an organized state. And a state, in order to be that, must have a government, territory, population. Montenegro can enter that federation because she has all of that. But what about Serbia? Did someone hear a few days ago Djindjic when he said that he wanted to change the constitution of Serbia, to make it more democratic, but he won't do that until the problem of Kosovo is resolved? Has someone drawn the borders of Yugoslavia, does Serbia enters that Yugoslavia with or without Kosovo? Has the international community finally achieved political consensus of Serbs and Albanians, and their leaders that Kosovo in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution should enter that new federation? Is Serbia or anyone in the new Serbian authorities ready to enter that federation without Kosovo? Many other questions remain unresolved when the effort to preserve Yugoslavia as a federation is considered. Montenegro has been warning about that for months and working on her own matters for years. It resolved in free elections legitimacy of the legislative authorities and it will resolve the legitimacy of the executive authorities through negotiations. Montenegro will continue negotiations with Serbia, and continue intensive activities and communication with the international community. Within Montenegro dialog within and outside the parliament will be necessary to preserve civic peace and tolerance as the condition for resolution of those problems. It is interesting that these days it turned out that the fascination with power is stronger than the honest relationship with voters. While the democratic forces of Montenegro offered to the voters independent and democratic Montenegro, illegitimate and disparate forces for Yugoslavia, that gathered based on the orders from Serbia, offered Yugoslavia as a final solution promising that there would be no referendum after their victory. After their defeat they need to justify the defeat and then even an alliance with devil is welcome as long as it promises political survival. Yugoslavs are rushing to offer coalitions to Montenegrin democratic parties promising all sorts of things, full control of the government, agreement about the referendum, and all of that taken together means that there will be no Yugoslavia. It was confirmed that their support for Yugoslavia is fake and based on their interests, an attempt to preserve privileges and money, and the claims that there will be no referendum are a political swindle of people who have no political views apart from the limitless will to take power. Montenegrin voters have been cheated one more time, but must wonder why they allowed themselves to be cheated for the fourth time in the last three years. A few more sentences about the referendum. A lot of noise has been made about a simple procedure described by the constitution and laws by which citizens decide about many, including the state issues. In a referendum about the independence of Montenegro citizens are supposed to say whether they do or do not want to have their own state; to say whether they want an independent state or a state in an alliance with other states; whether they want to make decisions about their own state or they want others to make decisions for them. The results of the referendum oblige the state institutions of Montenegro, and more than a half of all registered voters should participate in the referendum for it to be valid, while a support of a half of those voting in the referendum is needed for a victory of independence. These are democratic standards accepted everywhere in the world. And no one said that independence will definitely win in the referendum. But, the outcome of the referendum is already known. Comparing the support for the coalition "For Yugoslavia" and 57% support for Montenegro, the recent forceful attempt to mislead the citizens becomes clear. These days, the so-called significant minority, made up from Milosevic's men in Montenegro, the same minority that with Milosevic created the last two Yugoslavias, the one in 1997 and the current one after the coup on July 6, 2000, wants to rule Montenegro. There is no federation anywhere in the world like the last two "Yugoslavias". A minority from one state and majority from another are allegedly Yugoslavia. And the noise that allegedly there won't be a referendum is not only a proof that those structures are not democratic, as they run away from the will of the people by running away from the referendum, but that also reveals a swindle. They have been defeated in the election but they want to dominate in the processes in Montenegro. Is there a state in which a minority rules over majority, is there a state in which majority gives power to minority? If, as they say, they won, if, as they say, two thirds of citizens support Yugoslavia, if the tendency of support for a joint state is obvious, why are they afraid of a referendum? It seems their fear is proportional to the noise they are making. Secondly, they demand that independence be confirmed by two-thirds of representatives in the parliament, and stupidly read in the constitution that it is necessary to verify the will of voters by two-thirds of representatives in the parliament and are gloating that "separatists" won't have either. If they are democrats then let's make two-thirds majority in referendum and two-thirds majority in the parliament necessary to stay in the joint state. No, they manipulate the rules just like Milosevic, based on their political needs. They have learned lessons from this great manipulator. While they wave around these political and quasi-legal stupidities and bother the increasingly small part of the ordinary public, democratic Montenegro patiently and wisely goes on. If it is necessary to go for compromise, and nothing can be more important than a state, while the peace of citizens is the ultimate goal, she will compromise. She will not go for cheating and a rotten compromise, but rather for an official and well-founded compromise.
Which Yugoslavia?
Regarding Yugoslavia, even Serbia does not need her. The government of Serbia does not need a platform because Djindjic does not need Yugoslavia. And Djindjic can write a platform of the Serbian government in 30 minutes, because the people from the DOS who have the political offer are the same as the ones that sit in the government of Serbia. He stated himself that for him Yugoslavia is a big and unnecessary expense.
Djindjic does not want to pay for two governments, two parliaments, two administrations. He has slowly taken over all the state functions. He started with customs. These days we've even seen a tragically comic situation in which the Serbian Prime Minister talked with the French president about Yugoslavia. What would have happened if the Montnegrin Prime minister did that instead of him, what would "Montenegrin Yugoslavs" say then?! Where is the Prime Minister of Kostunica's federal government? These days the world has warned that it is necessary to turn towards Serbia and Djindjic as a democrat, and abandon Kostunica and all of his supporters as nationalists. These days the world has warned that Yugoslavia is a political figment, and that her survival is not necessary. These days the world is making efforts to give Kosovo independence. These days the world is preparing to hold elections in Kosovo that will give Kosovo the status of de facto independence, although that will for now not be formally recognized because of those who rule Kosovo. Kosovo will get a president, a government and a parliament. Which Yugoslavia are we then talking about?! What do the citizens of Montenegro who want a referendum threaten? A statement by a spokesperson of Kostunica's party the DSS indicates clearly that Yugoslavia is a private political manipulation of the center in Belgrade and their political service in Montenegro. He said, and stayed alive, all on behalf of Serbia, as if Serbia is private property of Kostunica's party and his satellites in Montenegro, that Montenegro must finally say whether she wants to stay in Yugoslavia or not because Serbia does not have time to waste. Exactly Montenegro stated that Serbia should turn towards herself, and Montenegro to herself, that they should establish new democratic relations, give up failed political projects, to abandon Yugoslavia as a concept. But the owners of Serbia in Serbia, Kostunica and his supporters, and especially those who lied to many Montenegrins that they support Yugoslavia, do not want that. They lied that they are for the joint state and against an independence referendum, and are now discarding both Yugoslavia and joint life with Serbia and are prepared for a referendum even if it gives legitimacy to separatism and for a coalition with those for whom independent and sovereign Montenegro is the basis of the political project. We must ask: how long can Montenegro consume these political swindles against herself and her future?
(The author is a senior official of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists)
Translated on January 15, 2001
