(srpskohrvatski / english)
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http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200405_500_4_eng.txt
NOSTALGIA GROWS FOR TITO’S LOST WORLD
Social and economic instability prompt many Balkan citizens to yearn
for a time of order and prosperity.
By Marcus Tanner, Muhamet Hajrullahu in Pristina, Drago Hedl in Osijek,
Dino Bajramovic in Sarajevo, Mitko Jovanov in Skopje, Vladimir Sudar in
Belgrade and Tanja Matic in Subotica
Kaqusha Jashari, head of the Social Democratic Party of Kosovo, has
fond memories of the days when she carried the baton for Yugoslavia’s
late strongman, President Josip Broz “Tito”.
A prominent Albanian politician in the communist regime, she was
selected for the honour of carrying a baton containing a message from
the nation’s youth to the president in a relay from Slovenia in the
north to Kosovo and Macedonia in the south.
The culmination was the handing of the baton to the president in the
army stadium in Belgrade amid cheering crowds on his birthday on May
25. “The celebration of worship for Tito fitted in perfectly with the
education we had at the time,” Jashari recalled. “It was everyone’s
celebration, a festival of youth.”
Jashari’s views are less unusual than many think. While four of the six
Yugoslav republics are now independent states and Kosovo – still
technically [sic] part of Serbia– is desperate to become the fifth,
many inhabitants of the former federation, especially the elderly and
those from the poor south, recall Yugoslavia with nostalgia.
For them it was a time when food and jobs were plentiful, crime was
low, ethnic differences were downplayed and difficult political
decisions were left to the uniformed Marshal, whose stern features
stared down from thousands of portraits in offices, railways stations,
shops and homes.
“I was rich in Tito’s time, there were factories and handicraft
businesses – we had jobs, we had everything,” mused 84-year-old Mehdi
Shabani from Pristina. “The standard of life was far better,” added
Osman Krasniqi, 62, also a resident of the Kosovo capital. “With a low
salary you could build a house - you can’t do that now.”
Kosovo was the least Yugoslav area of all, for the simple reason that
it was the least Slav. “Albanians were less connected with Yugoslavia
than the other nations because they were the only non-Slavs. All we had
in common was the communist ideology, which was less personal than
sharing a language, culture and religion,” said Jashari.
Among the neighbouring Slavs of Macedonia, where locals not only got
jobs and food but their own republic, affection for Tito is far
greater. Whereas Tito’s once ubiquitous name has been torn down from
most streets and squares in ex-Yugoslavia, in the Macedonian capital of
Skopje, the largest and most elite school still sports the title “Josip
Broz Tito” and each May 25 it honours its patron saint with a folk
dance and a flower-laying ceremony.
For many Macedonians, poverty-stricken independence has proved a poor
exchange for a secure life in a large Slav federation. “There was no
division between rich and poor, everybody could afford to go to school
and have a home and a job,” maintained Makedonka Jancevska, 62, a
retired Macedonian language teacher.
“Patriotism was fostered on a broader scale; it meant respect of
everything related to the uniqueness of all the nations and
nationalities that were part of Yugoslavia.”
“The standard of living we had provided us with economic security and
many social benefits,” recalled Petar Mojsov, 46, a Macedonian
accountant. “Everyone could afford a flat and a car. I travelled to
Italy for shopping. I went to Greece for a vacation whenever I felt
like it.”
Tose Nackov, an electrical technician, remembers when whole towns in
Macedonia turned out to welcome the birthday baton that youths like
Kaqusha Jashari of Kosovo once proudly carried.
“We were impatient for the day when it would visit our town,” Nackov
said. “It was like a holiday and we would all gather in the square to
welcome it and see it off on its way to another town.”
Enthusiasm for Tito’s memory is so strong in Macedonia that last year a
new association was set up under Slobodan Ugrinovski to celebrate his
life. His 6,180 club members go on trips to (the few) institutions
still bearing Tito’s name and visit the main shrines, Tito’s final
resting place in Belgrade’s House of Flowers and his birthplace in
Kumrovec, Croatia.
As in Macedonia, the hapless inhabitants of war-torn, economically
ruined Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot help but contrast life under Tito
with what they have now. To Bosnians, Tito's name is widely associated
with “the good old times”.
Far from dimming, the cult of Tito there grows ever stronger. When the
authorities recently tried to rename the main street in Sarajevo after
Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnia’s first post-independence president, the
city’s inhabitants rose up, hanging a billboard across the boulevard
with Tito’s image on it and the slogan “This is the Street of Marshall
Tito”. Months after the initiative collapsed, this billboard remains.
“The young are turning to Tito because he personified prosperity,” said
Adnan Koric, a member of the Bosnian Association of Josip Broz Tito.
“They know that only during Tito’s time we constantly progressed for 45
years in every aspect of social and economic life.”
Koric believes Bosnians yearn for the time when they did not need
several currencies and visas to cross what was once a single territory.
“Now we cannot spend a tank of fuel driving in a straight line without
getting six visas first,” Koric joked.
In Sarajevo, Tito’s image has returned from the cellars and second-hand
shops to popular bars and restaurants. At Tito Bar, a popular haunt of
students, young people and professionals, walls are covered in Tito
insignia and photographs while waiters wear uniforms bearing Tito’s
still-familiar signature. “I come here to think about and live in the
past,“ said 26-year-old Amel. “Whatever some may say, our past was
brighter than our future.”
While Bosnia and Macedonia lost much and gained little from the fall of
Tito’s Yugoslavia, memories are less rosy in neighbouring Serbia and
Croatia. For more than a decade under the rule of Slobodan Milosevic,
Tito was demonised in Serbia as a Croatian enemy who had plotted the
Serbs’ downfall in Yugoslavia.
[NOTE: In reality, Tito was less demonized in Milosevic's era than he
is demonized now in Serbia; and he has been demonized much more in
Croatia than in Serbia since 1991 (think e.g. to the "Bitburg"
propaganda, and to the vehement anti-communism of HDZ). IWPR's comment
on "Milosevic's era" has much more to do with "political correctness"
in front of the western public opinion than with facts. CNJ]
But even in Serbia, the disappointments of the past decade, including
lost wars and collapsing living standards, have changed minds. Misa
Djurkovic, of the Belgrade Institute for European Studies, says a
growing nostalgia for Tito’s era is related to more than sorrow for
lost living standards.
"Yearning for [the old Yugoslavia] is also a yearning for order and
dignity,” he said. “Our ‘soft’ communist dictatorship was, after all, a
serious, well-established system in which there were none of the
robberies, chaos and anarchy that are now sadly typical.”
Djurkovic believes this nostalgia has even spread to some of the
younger generation, “Youngsters today see in Yugo-nostalgia an
instrument of protest against the rotten legacy of the Nineties, which
they have inherited.”
There is certainly no sign of the House of Flowers shutting its doors
to pilgrims, though it is a more neglected site than it was in the
Eighties, when foreign diplomats and visiting heads of state came to
the grave to pay their respects as a matter of course.
But if the crowned heads of state and presidents no longer troop past
Tito’s mausoleum, war veterans, communist party members and
non-governmental organisations, NGOs, still return on the late leader’s
birthday. Svetlana Ognjanovic, the House of Flowers spokeswoman, said
she expected up to 2,000 people for this year’s commemoration,
including a large party of Slovenian Hell’s Angels (the motorcyclists
have made an annual pilgrimage to the site since 2000).
The head of the Tito Centre NGO, retired army general Stevan Mirkovic,
also marks the day with dinners of partisan-style beans and a
re-enactment of the baton ceremony. And in Serbia’s far north, Blasko
Draskic, 73, has gone as far as you can in a campaign to restore Tito’s
memory, opening a theme park named “Yugoland” near the border town of
Subotica.
Mini-Yugoslavia has several of the geographical attributes of the
former Yugoslavia, including a hill named after its highest peak, Mt
Triglav, in Slovenia. Old flags with red stars flutter around the
entrance, while Tito’s portrait adorns every wall, showing Tito
hunting, playing the piano, reading, dancing and paying state visits.
Blasko even issues citizenship papers for Yugoland to visitors, and has
enrolled 2,500 so far.
Draskic says the abolition of the name “Yugoslavia” was a crime. “The
government [of Serbia and Montenegro] has killed off the name of the
best country, Yugoslavia, the last thing that reminded us of former
Yugoslavia, but without asking people for their consent,” he said. “I
had to save it for all Yugo-nostalgic people who can come here freely
to enjoy memories of Tito’s time.”
Although Draskic claims visitors are all of ages, the photographs of
celebrations held in Yugoland suggest Yugo-nostalgia is mainly a
middle-aged or elderly phenomenon.
Among the young people of all republics, interest is small or confined
to a ironic cult, a bit like those ex-east Germans who mock-celebrate
their communist past by driving Trabant cars and sporting badges with
communist slogans.
Aca Bogdanovic, 32, from Belgrade, said he only respected Tito “because
he was the greatest hedonist of the 20th century” - hardly the kind of
compliment real devotees appreciate. That kind of ironic appreciation
is equally evident in Tito’s Croatian homeland where only a handful
remain faithful to his political ideas, while a much larger and younger
group enjoy experimenting with Titoist motifs.
“It is mostly the young who buy these t-shirts - those who weren’t even
born when Tito died!” remarked a salesman in Osjek, in northeast
Croatia of his stack of t-shirts with Tito’s face on them.
Zagreb sociologist Drazen Lalic says that while only a few older people
can be described as truly Yugo-nostalgic, a growing interest in Tito
personally and in the country he once ruled stems from the fact that
Croatia is more at ease with itself now than it was ten years ago.
“After years of hearing that we belong solely to the Mediterranean or
Central European culture, we are now facing the fact that Croatia also
belongs to the Balkan cultural circle,” said Lalic.
“Yugo-nostalgia exists but people do not grieve for Yugoslavia as their
former state,” said Milanka Opacic, of the Social Democratic Party.
“They grieve for the quality of life they had. They think they were
much better off, safer, had a better standard of living and better
health protection than they now have.”
The plain fact is that Yugo-nostalgia no longer antagonises anyone
because no one seriously believes Yugoslavia will ever be recreated. In
Croatia, as the country heads towards the European Union,Yugoslavia is
seen as a thing of the past - an unsuccessful project that cannot and
will not be restored. As a result, Yugo-nostalgics in Croatia are now
viewed as romantics, rather than the enemies of the state they were
called during the era of Croatia’s nationalist, leader Franjo Tudjman.
Marcus Tanner is IWPR Balkan editor/trainer; Dino Bajramovic is culture
editor at the Sarajevo weekly, Slobodna Bosna; Vladimir Sudar and Mitko
Jovanov are journalists with the Belgrade weekly Reporter and the
Macedonian daily Dnevnik respectively; and Muhamet Hajrullahu, Drago
Hedl and Tanja Matic are regular IWPR contributors.
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http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200405_500_4_ser.txt
Nostalgija za Titovim izgubljenim svetom
Drustvena i ekonomska nestabilnost navodi mnoge gradjane na Balkanu da
se s nostalgijom prisecaju Titovog doba.
Pisu: Markus Taner, Muhamet Hajrulahu iz Pristine, Drago Hedl iz
Osijeka, Dino Bajramovic iz Sarajeva, Mitko Jovanov iz Skoplja,
Vladimir Sudar iz Beograda i Tanja Matic iz Subotice (BCR Br 500,
28-maj-04)
Kacusa Jasari, predsednica Socijaldemokratske partije Kosova, ima lepe
uspomene na dane kada je nosila stafetu za pokojnog jugoslovenskog
predsednika Josipa Broza Tita.
Kao istaknuti albanski politicar u komunistickom rezimu, ona je imala
tu cast da nosi stafetu sa porukom omladine bivse Jugoslavije za
predsednika koja je prosla kroz citavu zemlju – od Slovenije na severu
do Kosova i Makedonije na jugu.
Vrhunac je bilo urucivanje stafete predsedniku na prepunom stadionu
Jugoslovenske narodne armije, JNA, u Beogradu na njegov rodjendan 25.
maja. "Proslava Titovog rodjendana se savrseno slagala sa obrazovanjem
koje smo sticali u to vreme", priseca se Jasarijeva. "Bila je to
proslava za sve – praznik mladosti."
Stavovi Jasarijeve o Danu mladosti nisu toliko neobicni kako bi to
mnogi pomislili. Mada su cetiri od sest bivsih jugoslovenskih republika
postale nezavisne drzave, a Kosovo – koje je jos uvek deo Srbije –
ocajnicki zeli da stekne nezavisnost, mnogi stanovnici bivse
federacije, pogotovo oni stariji i sa siromasnijeg juga, prisecaju se
Jugoslavije sa nostalgijom.
Za njih je to bilo vreme kada je hrane i posla bilo u izobilju, kada je
stopa kriminaliteta bila niska, kada etnicke razlike nisu bile bitne, a
teske politicke odluke su prepustane marsalu Titu, ciji je ozbiljan lik
posmatrao svet sa hiljada portreta okacenih u kancelarijama,
zeleznickim stanicama, prodavnicama i privatnim kucama.
"U Titovo vreme sam bio bogat. Bilo je fabrika i zanatskih radnji –
imali smo posla, imali smo sve", priseca se 84-godisnji Mehdi Sabani iz
Pristine. "Zivotni standard je bio znatno bolji", dodaje Osman
Krasnici, star 62 godine, takodje stanovnik glavnog grada Kosova. "Sa
tadasnjom malom platom ste mogli da izgradite sebi kucu – danas to ne
mozete da uradite."
Kosovo je bilo najmanje jugoslovensko iz prostog razloga sto je bilo
najmanje slovensko. "Albanci su bili manje vezani za Jugoslaviju u
odnosu na druge narode jer jedini nisu bili Sloveni. Sve sto nam je
bilo zajednicko je bila komunisticka ideologija, koja je bila manje
licna nego sto bi to bio zajednicki jezik, kultura i vera", kaze
Jasarijeva.
Medju susednim Slovenima u Makedoniji, gde su stanovnici dobili ne samo
radna mesta i hranu vec i svoju republiku, naklonost prema Titu je
znatno jaca. Mada je sveprisutno Titovo ime uklonjeno sa vecine ulice i
trgova u bivsoj Jugoslaviji, u makedonskoj prestonici, u Skoplju,
najveca i najelitnija skola jos uvek nosi naziv "Josip Broz Tito", a
svakoga 25. maja mu odaje postu folklornim plesom i buketima cveca.
Za mnoge Makedonce se nezavisnost opterecena siromastvom pokazala kao
losom zamenom za lagodniji zivot u velikoj slovenskoj federaciji. "Nije
bilo podele na bogate i siromasne, svako je mogao priustiti sebi da ide
u skolu, da ima sopstveni dom i posao", tvrdi Makedonka Jancevska,
stara 62 godine, uciteljica makedonskog jezika u penziji.
"Patriotizam se podsticao na jednoj siroj osnovi; to je tada znacilo
postovanje specificnosti svih nacionalnosti koje su cinile Jugoslaviju."
"Zivotni standard koji smo imali pruzao nam je ekonomsku sigurnost i
mnoge socijalne beneficije", priseca se Petar Mojsov, star 46 godina,
racunovodja iz Makedonije. "Svako je mogao da priusti sebi stan i kola.
Putovao sam u Italiju u kupovinu. Isao sam u Grcku kad god bih to
pozeleo."
Tose Nackov, elektricar, seca se kada bi citavo stanovnistvo gradova u
Makedoniji izaslo na ulice da pozdravi rodjendansku stafetu koje su
omladinci poput Kacuse Jasari sa Kosova nekada ponosno nosili.
"Nestrpljivo smo iscekivali dan kada bi stafeta trebalo da stigne u nas
grad", kaze Nackov. "To je bilo poput praznika, a svi mi bi se okupili
na trgu da je docekamo i ispratimo na put u susedni grad."
Uspomene na Tita su tako jake u Makedonije da je prosle godine Slobodan
Ugrinovski osnovao novo udruzenje za proslavljanje i cuvenje uspomene
na njegov zivot. Oko 6.180 clanova ovog udruzenja odlazi na putovanja
radi posete (nekolicini) institucija koje jos uvek nose Titovo ime, te
da bi obisli najvaznija mesta – Titov grob u beogradskoj Kuci cveca i
njegovo rodno selo Kumrovec u Hrvatskoj.
Kao i Makedonci, nesrecni stanovnici ratom opustosene, ekonomski
ruinirane Bosne i Hercegovine ne mogu odoleti, a da ne uporede zivot
pod Titom sa onim sto imaju sada. Titovo ime, po pravilu, Bosance
asocira na "dobra stara vremena".
Kult Josipa Broza Tita ne bledi. Stavise, sve je snazniji. Kada su
vlasti nedavno pokusale da preimenuju glavnu ulicu u Sarajevu u Ulicu
Alije Izetbegovica, prvog bosanskog predsednika u nezavisnoj drzavi,
Sarajlije su krenule u akciju, postavljajuci bilbord nasred bulevara sa
Titovom slikom i sloganom "Ovo je Ulica Marsala Tita". Vise meseci
nakon sto je inicijativa propala, ovaj bilbord je jos uvek na istom
mestu.
"Mladi se okrecu Titu jer on personifikuje prosperitet", kaze Adnan
Koric, clan bosanskog udruzenja posvecenog uspomeni na Josipa Broza
Tita. "Oni znaju da smo samo u Titovo vreme neprestano napredovali
citavih 45 godina u svakoj oblasti drustvenog i ekonomskog zivota."
Koric veruje da Bosanci zude za vremenom kada im nisu bile potrebne
razlicite valute i vize da bi se kretali podrucjem koje je nekada bilo
jedinstvena teritorija. "Sada ne mozete da potrosite pun rezervoar
benzina vozeci u jednom smeru, a da prethodno ne pribavite sest viza",
sali se Koric.
U Sarajevu se Titov lik vratio iz podruma i prodavnica polovne robe u
popularne barove i restorane. U baru koji se zove "Tito", popularnom
studentskom sastajalistu, zidovi su prekriveni predmetima i
fotografijama iz Titovog vremena dok konobari nose uniforme sa jos uvek
prepoznatljivim Titovim potpisom. "Dolazim ovde da razmisljam i zivim u
proslosti", kaze 26-godisnji Amel. "Ma sta neki govorili, nasa proslost
je bila svetlija od nase buducnosti."
Dok su Bosna i Makedonija izgubile puno, a stekle malo od raspada
Titove Jugoslavije, uspomene su nesto manje ruzicaste u susednoj Srbiji
i Hrvatskoj. Za vreme vladavine Slobodana Milosevica, duze od jedne
decenije, Tito je u Srbiji demonizovan kao hrvatski neprijatelj koji je
doprineo srpskom slomu u bivsoj Jugoslaviji.
Medjutim, cak i u Srbiji, razocarenja iz prosle decenije, ukljucujuci
izgubljene ratove i sunovrat zivotnog standarda, navelo je mnoge da
promene misljenje. Misa Djurkovic iz beogradskog Instituta za evropske
studije kaze da sve snaznija nostalgija za Titovim vremenom ne
proistice samo iz zala za dobrim zivotnim standardom.
"Ceznja za [starom Jugoslavijom] je takodje zudnja za redom i
dostojanstvom", kaze on. "Nasa 'mekana' komunisticka diktatura je,
ipak, predstavljala dobro utemeljen sistem u kome nije bilo pljacki,
haosa i anarhije koji su sada uobicajeni, sto je zalosno."
Djurkovic veruje da se ova vrsta nostalgije prosirila i na mladje
generacije. "Mladi danas u jugonostalgiji vide instrument protesta
protiv trulog zavestanja devedesetih koje su nasledili."
Svakako, ne postoje naznake da ce Kuca cveca zatvoriti svoja vrata
hodocasnicima, mada se ovom mestu posvecuje manje paznje i brige nego
sto je to bio slucaj u osamdesetim, kada su inostrane diplomate i
sefovi drzava redovno dolazili na Titov grob da odaju postu.
Iako krunisane glave i predsednici drzava vise ne prolaze pored Titovog
mauzoleja, ratni veterani, clanovi komunistickih partija i nevladinih
organizacija se iznova uvek vracaju na rodjendan pokojnog predsednika.
Svetlana Ognjanovic, portparol Kuce cveca, rekla je da ocekuje do 2.000
ljude za ovogodisnju komemoraciju, ukljucujuci veliku grupu slovenackih
"Andela pakla" (slovenacki motociklisti redovno posecuju Titov grob
svake godine od jos od 2000.).
Predsednik nevladine organizacije "Centar Tito", penzionisani armijski
general Stevan Mirkovic takodje obelezava Dan mladosti vecerom na kojoj
se sluzi vojnicki pasulj, a najstarijem clanu, samom Mirkovicu, ce
jedan omladinac i jedna omladinka uruciti stafetu mladosti. A na
krajnjem severu Srbije, Blasko Gabric, je otisao najdalje, koliko se
god moglo, u svojoj kampanji da obnovi uspomenu na Tita, otvarajuci
tematski park pod imenom "Jugolend" ("Yugoland") u blizini pogranicnog
grada, Subotice.
Mini-Jugoslavija ima nekoliko geografskih atributa bivse Jugoslavije,
ukljucujuci brdo nazvano po najvisem planinskom vrhu Triglavu u
Sloveniji. Stare zastave sa crvenom zvezdom se vijore pored ulaza, a
Titove slike se nalaze na svakom zidu prikazujuci ga kako lovi, svira
klavir, cita, plese i u poseti stranim drzavama. Blasko cak izdaje
dokumenta o drzavljanstvu za Jugolend, i do sada ih ima 2.500.
Blaskic kaze da je ukidanje imena "Jugoslavija" – zlocin. "Vlada
[Srbije i Crne Gore] je ubila ime najbolje zemlje – Jugoslavije, sto je
poslednja stvar koja nas je podsecala na bivsu Jugoslaviju, ne pitajuci
ljude za njihov pristanak", kaze on. "Ja sam morao da ga sacuvam za sve
jugonostalgicare koji mogu da dodju ovde i uzivaju u uspomenama na
Titovo vreme."
Mada Draskic tvrdi da su posetioci svih starosnih uzrasta, fotografije
sa proslava odrzanih u Jugolendu ukazuju da je jugonostalgija fenomen
koji se pretezno odnosi na sredovecne i starije ljude.
Medju mladim ljudima iz svih republika, interes za Tita je mali ili je
ogranicen na ironicni kult poput bivsih istocnih Nemaca koji s ironijom
proslavljaju svoju komunisticku proslost vozeci trabante i noseci
bedzeve sa komunistickim sloganima.
Aca Bogdanovic, star 32 godine, iz Beograda, je rekao da Tita postuje
"jer je bio najveci hedonista dvadesetog veka" – sto tesko da je vrsta
komplimenta koji bi pravi privrzenici cenili. Ova vrsta ironicne ocene
je jednako upadljiva u Titovoj maticnoj republici – Hrvatskoj, gde je
ostalo malo onih koji su verni njegovim politickim idejama, dok znatno
brojniji mladji ljudi uzivaju eksperimentisuci sa titoistickim motivima.
"Uglavnom mladi kupuju ove majice – oni koji nisu cak ni bili rodjeni
kada je Tito umro!" primecuje prodavac iz Osijeka, na severoistoku
Hrvatske, pokazujuci na gomilu majica sa Titovim likom.
Mada se uglavnom neki stariji ljudi mogu uistinu opisati kao pravi
jugonostalgicari, smatra zagrebacki sociolog Drazen Lalic, sve veci
interes za Tita licno i za zemlju kojom je nekada vladao proistice iz
cinjenice da Hrvatska sada ima opusteniji odnos prema svojoj drzavnosti
nego sto je to bio slucaj pre deset godina.
"Nakon sto smo godinama slusali da mi iskljucivo pripadamo
mediteranskoj i centralnoevropskoj kulturi, sada se suocavamo sa
cinjenicom da Hrvatska takodje pripada balkanskom kulturnom krugu",
kaze Lalic.
"Jugonostalgija postoji, ali ljudi ne zale za Jugoslavijom kao svojom
bivsom drzavom", kaze Milanka Opacic iz Socijaldemokratske partije.
"Oni zale za kvalitetom zivota koji su tada imali. Smatraju da im je
bilo znatno bolje, da su bili bezbedniji, da su imali bolji zivotni
standard i bolju zdravstvenu zastitu nego sto je to sada slucaj."
Prosta je cinjenica da jugonostalgija vise ne izaziva antagonizam jer
niko ozbiljno ne veruje da ce Jugoslavija ponovo biti uspostavljena. U
Hrvatskoj, dok zemlja grabi ka Evropskoj uniji, Jugoslavija se smatra
delom proslosti – neuspesnim projektom koji se ne moze i nece
restaurirati. Usled toga, jugonostalgicari se u Hrvatskoj sada pre
smatraju romanticarima nego neprijateljima drzave, kako su nekad
nazivani za vreme vladavine hrvatskog nacionalistickog lidera Franje
Tudjmana.
Markus Taner je urednik/instruktor obuke IWPR-a; Dino Bajramovic je
urednik za kulturu sarajevskog nedeljnika "Slobodna Bosna"; Vladimir
Sudar je novinar beogradskog nedeljnika "Reporter"; Mitko Jovanov je
novinar makedonskog dnevnog lista "Dnevnik"; a Muhamet Hajrulahu, Drago
Hedl i Tanja Matic su redovni saradnici IWPR-a.
---
(...) Balkan Crisis Report is supported by the Department for
International Development, the European Commission, the Swedish
International Development and Cooperation Agency, The Netherlands
Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and other funders. IWPR also acknowledges
general support from the Ford Foundation.
For further details on this project, other information services and
media programmes, visit IWPR's website: www.iwpr.net
ISSN: 1477-7932 Copyright © 2004 The Institute for War & Peace Reporting
---
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200405_500_4_eng.txt
NOSTALGIA GROWS FOR TITO’S LOST WORLD
Social and economic instability prompt many Balkan citizens to yearn
for a time of order and prosperity.
By Marcus Tanner, Muhamet Hajrullahu in Pristina, Drago Hedl in Osijek,
Dino Bajramovic in Sarajevo, Mitko Jovanov in Skopje, Vladimir Sudar in
Belgrade and Tanja Matic in Subotica
Kaqusha Jashari, head of the Social Democratic Party of Kosovo, has
fond memories of the days when she carried the baton for Yugoslavia’s
late strongman, President Josip Broz “Tito”.
A prominent Albanian politician in the communist regime, she was
selected for the honour of carrying a baton containing a message from
the nation’s youth to the president in a relay from Slovenia in the
north to Kosovo and Macedonia in the south.
The culmination was the handing of the baton to the president in the
army stadium in Belgrade amid cheering crowds on his birthday on May
25. “The celebration of worship for Tito fitted in perfectly with the
education we had at the time,” Jashari recalled. “It was everyone’s
celebration, a festival of youth.”
Jashari’s views are less unusual than many think. While four of the six
Yugoslav republics are now independent states and Kosovo – still
technically [sic] part of Serbia– is desperate to become the fifth,
many inhabitants of the former federation, especially the elderly and
those from the poor south, recall Yugoslavia with nostalgia.
For them it was a time when food and jobs were plentiful, crime was
low, ethnic differences were downplayed and difficult political
decisions were left to the uniformed Marshal, whose stern features
stared down from thousands of portraits in offices, railways stations,
shops and homes.
“I was rich in Tito’s time, there were factories and handicraft
businesses – we had jobs, we had everything,” mused 84-year-old Mehdi
Shabani from Pristina. “The standard of life was far better,” added
Osman Krasniqi, 62, also a resident of the Kosovo capital. “With a low
salary you could build a house - you can’t do that now.”
Kosovo was the least Yugoslav area of all, for the simple reason that
it was the least Slav. “Albanians were less connected with Yugoslavia
than the other nations because they were the only non-Slavs. All we had
in common was the communist ideology, which was less personal than
sharing a language, culture and religion,” said Jashari.
Among the neighbouring Slavs of Macedonia, where locals not only got
jobs and food but their own republic, affection for Tito is far
greater. Whereas Tito’s once ubiquitous name has been torn down from
most streets and squares in ex-Yugoslavia, in the Macedonian capital of
Skopje, the largest and most elite school still sports the title “Josip
Broz Tito” and each May 25 it honours its patron saint with a folk
dance and a flower-laying ceremony.
For many Macedonians, poverty-stricken independence has proved a poor
exchange for a secure life in a large Slav federation. “There was no
division between rich and poor, everybody could afford to go to school
and have a home and a job,” maintained Makedonka Jancevska, 62, a
retired Macedonian language teacher.
“Patriotism was fostered on a broader scale; it meant respect of
everything related to the uniqueness of all the nations and
nationalities that were part of Yugoslavia.”
“The standard of living we had provided us with economic security and
many social benefits,” recalled Petar Mojsov, 46, a Macedonian
accountant. “Everyone could afford a flat and a car. I travelled to
Italy for shopping. I went to Greece for a vacation whenever I felt
like it.”
Tose Nackov, an electrical technician, remembers when whole towns in
Macedonia turned out to welcome the birthday baton that youths like
Kaqusha Jashari of Kosovo once proudly carried.
“We were impatient for the day when it would visit our town,” Nackov
said. “It was like a holiday and we would all gather in the square to
welcome it and see it off on its way to another town.”
Enthusiasm for Tito’s memory is so strong in Macedonia that last year a
new association was set up under Slobodan Ugrinovski to celebrate his
life. His 6,180 club members go on trips to (the few) institutions
still bearing Tito’s name and visit the main shrines, Tito’s final
resting place in Belgrade’s House of Flowers and his birthplace in
Kumrovec, Croatia.
As in Macedonia, the hapless inhabitants of war-torn, economically
ruined Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot help but contrast life under Tito
with what they have now. To Bosnians, Tito's name is widely associated
with “the good old times”.
Far from dimming, the cult of Tito there grows ever stronger. When the
authorities recently tried to rename the main street in Sarajevo after
Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnia’s first post-independence president, the
city’s inhabitants rose up, hanging a billboard across the boulevard
with Tito’s image on it and the slogan “This is the Street of Marshall
Tito”. Months after the initiative collapsed, this billboard remains.
“The young are turning to Tito because he personified prosperity,” said
Adnan Koric, a member of the Bosnian Association of Josip Broz Tito.
“They know that only during Tito’s time we constantly progressed for 45
years in every aspect of social and economic life.”
Koric believes Bosnians yearn for the time when they did not need
several currencies and visas to cross what was once a single territory.
“Now we cannot spend a tank of fuel driving in a straight line without
getting six visas first,” Koric joked.
In Sarajevo, Tito’s image has returned from the cellars and second-hand
shops to popular bars and restaurants. At Tito Bar, a popular haunt of
students, young people and professionals, walls are covered in Tito
insignia and photographs while waiters wear uniforms bearing Tito’s
still-familiar signature. “I come here to think about and live in the
past,“ said 26-year-old Amel. “Whatever some may say, our past was
brighter than our future.”
While Bosnia and Macedonia lost much and gained little from the fall of
Tito’s Yugoslavia, memories are less rosy in neighbouring Serbia and
Croatia. For more than a decade under the rule of Slobodan Milosevic,
Tito was demonised in Serbia as a Croatian enemy who had plotted the
Serbs’ downfall in Yugoslavia.
[NOTE: In reality, Tito was less demonized in Milosevic's era than he
is demonized now in Serbia; and he has been demonized much more in
Croatia than in Serbia since 1991 (think e.g. to the "Bitburg"
propaganda, and to the vehement anti-communism of HDZ). IWPR's comment
on "Milosevic's era" has much more to do with "political correctness"
in front of the western public opinion than with facts. CNJ]
But even in Serbia, the disappointments of the past decade, including
lost wars and collapsing living standards, have changed minds. Misa
Djurkovic, of the Belgrade Institute for European Studies, says a
growing nostalgia for Tito’s era is related to more than sorrow for
lost living standards.
"Yearning for [the old Yugoslavia] is also a yearning for order and
dignity,” he said. “Our ‘soft’ communist dictatorship was, after all, a
serious, well-established system in which there were none of the
robberies, chaos and anarchy that are now sadly typical.”
Djurkovic believes this nostalgia has even spread to some of the
younger generation, “Youngsters today see in Yugo-nostalgia an
instrument of protest against the rotten legacy of the Nineties, which
they have inherited.”
There is certainly no sign of the House of Flowers shutting its doors
to pilgrims, though it is a more neglected site than it was in the
Eighties, when foreign diplomats and visiting heads of state came to
the grave to pay their respects as a matter of course.
But if the crowned heads of state and presidents no longer troop past
Tito’s mausoleum, war veterans, communist party members and
non-governmental organisations, NGOs, still return on the late leader’s
birthday. Svetlana Ognjanovic, the House of Flowers spokeswoman, said
she expected up to 2,000 people for this year’s commemoration,
including a large party of Slovenian Hell’s Angels (the motorcyclists
have made an annual pilgrimage to the site since 2000).
The head of the Tito Centre NGO, retired army general Stevan Mirkovic,
also marks the day with dinners of partisan-style beans and a
re-enactment of the baton ceremony. And in Serbia’s far north, Blasko
Draskic, 73, has gone as far as you can in a campaign to restore Tito’s
memory, opening a theme park named “Yugoland” near the border town of
Subotica.
Mini-Yugoslavia has several of the geographical attributes of the
former Yugoslavia, including a hill named after its highest peak, Mt
Triglav, in Slovenia. Old flags with red stars flutter around the
entrance, while Tito’s portrait adorns every wall, showing Tito
hunting, playing the piano, reading, dancing and paying state visits.
Blasko even issues citizenship papers for Yugoland to visitors, and has
enrolled 2,500 so far.
Draskic says the abolition of the name “Yugoslavia” was a crime. “The
government [of Serbia and Montenegro] has killed off the name of the
best country, Yugoslavia, the last thing that reminded us of former
Yugoslavia, but without asking people for their consent,” he said. “I
had to save it for all Yugo-nostalgic people who can come here freely
to enjoy memories of Tito’s time.”
Although Draskic claims visitors are all of ages, the photographs of
celebrations held in Yugoland suggest Yugo-nostalgia is mainly a
middle-aged or elderly phenomenon.
Among the young people of all republics, interest is small or confined
to a ironic cult, a bit like those ex-east Germans who mock-celebrate
their communist past by driving Trabant cars and sporting badges with
communist slogans.
Aca Bogdanovic, 32, from Belgrade, said he only respected Tito “because
he was the greatest hedonist of the 20th century” - hardly the kind of
compliment real devotees appreciate. That kind of ironic appreciation
is equally evident in Tito’s Croatian homeland where only a handful
remain faithful to his political ideas, while a much larger and younger
group enjoy experimenting with Titoist motifs.
“It is mostly the young who buy these t-shirts - those who weren’t even
born when Tito died!” remarked a salesman in Osjek, in northeast
Croatia of his stack of t-shirts with Tito’s face on them.
Zagreb sociologist Drazen Lalic says that while only a few older people
can be described as truly Yugo-nostalgic, a growing interest in Tito
personally and in the country he once ruled stems from the fact that
Croatia is more at ease with itself now than it was ten years ago.
“After years of hearing that we belong solely to the Mediterranean or
Central European culture, we are now facing the fact that Croatia also
belongs to the Balkan cultural circle,” said Lalic.
“Yugo-nostalgia exists but people do not grieve for Yugoslavia as their
former state,” said Milanka Opacic, of the Social Democratic Party.
“They grieve for the quality of life they had. They think they were
much better off, safer, had a better standard of living and better
health protection than they now have.”
The plain fact is that Yugo-nostalgia no longer antagonises anyone
because no one seriously believes Yugoslavia will ever be recreated. In
Croatia, as the country heads towards the European Union,Yugoslavia is
seen as a thing of the past - an unsuccessful project that cannot and
will not be restored. As a result, Yugo-nostalgics in Croatia are now
viewed as romantics, rather than the enemies of the state they were
called during the era of Croatia’s nationalist, leader Franjo Tudjman.
Marcus Tanner is IWPR Balkan editor/trainer; Dino Bajramovic is culture
editor at the Sarajevo weekly, Slobodna Bosna; Vladimir Sudar and Mitko
Jovanov are journalists with the Belgrade weekly Reporter and the
Macedonian daily Dnevnik respectively; and Muhamet Hajrullahu, Drago
Hedl and Tanja Matic are regular IWPR contributors.
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http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200405_500_4_ser.txt
Nostalgija za Titovim izgubljenim svetom
Drustvena i ekonomska nestabilnost navodi mnoge gradjane na Balkanu da
se s nostalgijom prisecaju Titovog doba.
Pisu: Markus Taner, Muhamet Hajrulahu iz Pristine, Drago Hedl iz
Osijeka, Dino Bajramovic iz Sarajeva, Mitko Jovanov iz Skoplja,
Vladimir Sudar iz Beograda i Tanja Matic iz Subotice (BCR Br 500,
28-maj-04)
Kacusa Jasari, predsednica Socijaldemokratske partije Kosova, ima lepe
uspomene na dane kada je nosila stafetu za pokojnog jugoslovenskog
predsednika Josipa Broza Tita.
Kao istaknuti albanski politicar u komunistickom rezimu, ona je imala
tu cast da nosi stafetu sa porukom omladine bivse Jugoslavije za
predsednika koja je prosla kroz citavu zemlju – od Slovenije na severu
do Kosova i Makedonije na jugu.
Vrhunac je bilo urucivanje stafete predsedniku na prepunom stadionu
Jugoslovenske narodne armije, JNA, u Beogradu na njegov rodjendan 25.
maja. "Proslava Titovog rodjendana se savrseno slagala sa obrazovanjem
koje smo sticali u to vreme", priseca se Jasarijeva. "Bila je to
proslava za sve – praznik mladosti."
Stavovi Jasarijeve o Danu mladosti nisu toliko neobicni kako bi to
mnogi pomislili. Mada su cetiri od sest bivsih jugoslovenskih republika
postale nezavisne drzave, a Kosovo – koje je jos uvek deo Srbije –
ocajnicki zeli da stekne nezavisnost, mnogi stanovnici bivse
federacije, pogotovo oni stariji i sa siromasnijeg juga, prisecaju se
Jugoslavije sa nostalgijom.
Za njih je to bilo vreme kada je hrane i posla bilo u izobilju, kada je
stopa kriminaliteta bila niska, kada etnicke razlike nisu bile bitne, a
teske politicke odluke su prepustane marsalu Titu, ciji je ozbiljan lik
posmatrao svet sa hiljada portreta okacenih u kancelarijama,
zeleznickim stanicama, prodavnicama i privatnim kucama.
"U Titovo vreme sam bio bogat. Bilo je fabrika i zanatskih radnji –
imali smo posla, imali smo sve", priseca se 84-godisnji Mehdi Sabani iz
Pristine. "Zivotni standard je bio znatno bolji", dodaje Osman
Krasnici, star 62 godine, takodje stanovnik glavnog grada Kosova. "Sa
tadasnjom malom platom ste mogli da izgradite sebi kucu – danas to ne
mozete da uradite."
Kosovo je bilo najmanje jugoslovensko iz prostog razloga sto je bilo
najmanje slovensko. "Albanci su bili manje vezani za Jugoslaviju u
odnosu na druge narode jer jedini nisu bili Sloveni. Sve sto nam je
bilo zajednicko je bila komunisticka ideologija, koja je bila manje
licna nego sto bi to bio zajednicki jezik, kultura i vera", kaze
Jasarijeva.
Medju susednim Slovenima u Makedoniji, gde su stanovnici dobili ne samo
radna mesta i hranu vec i svoju republiku, naklonost prema Titu je
znatno jaca. Mada je sveprisutno Titovo ime uklonjeno sa vecine ulice i
trgova u bivsoj Jugoslaviji, u makedonskoj prestonici, u Skoplju,
najveca i najelitnija skola jos uvek nosi naziv "Josip Broz Tito", a
svakoga 25. maja mu odaje postu folklornim plesom i buketima cveca.
Za mnoge Makedonce se nezavisnost opterecena siromastvom pokazala kao
losom zamenom za lagodniji zivot u velikoj slovenskoj federaciji. "Nije
bilo podele na bogate i siromasne, svako je mogao priustiti sebi da ide
u skolu, da ima sopstveni dom i posao", tvrdi Makedonka Jancevska,
stara 62 godine, uciteljica makedonskog jezika u penziji.
"Patriotizam se podsticao na jednoj siroj osnovi; to je tada znacilo
postovanje specificnosti svih nacionalnosti koje su cinile Jugoslaviju."
"Zivotni standard koji smo imali pruzao nam je ekonomsku sigurnost i
mnoge socijalne beneficije", priseca se Petar Mojsov, star 46 godina,
racunovodja iz Makedonije. "Svako je mogao da priusti sebi stan i kola.
Putovao sam u Italiju u kupovinu. Isao sam u Grcku kad god bih to
pozeleo."
Tose Nackov, elektricar, seca se kada bi citavo stanovnistvo gradova u
Makedoniji izaslo na ulice da pozdravi rodjendansku stafetu koje su
omladinci poput Kacuse Jasari sa Kosova nekada ponosno nosili.
"Nestrpljivo smo iscekivali dan kada bi stafeta trebalo da stigne u nas
grad", kaze Nackov. "To je bilo poput praznika, a svi mi bi se okupili
na trgu da je docekamo i ispratimo na put u susedni grad."
Uspomene na Tita su tako jake u Makedonije da je prosle godine Slobodan
Ugrinovski osnovao novo udruzenje za proslavljanje i cuvenje uspomene
na njegov zivot. Oko 6.180 clanova ovog udruzenja odlazi na putovanja
radi posete (nekolicini) institucija koje jos uvek nose Titovo ime, te
da bi obisli najvaznija mesta – Titov grob u beogradskoj Kuci cveca i
njegovo rodno selo Kumrovec u Hrvatskoj.
Kao i Makedonci, nesrecni stanovnici ratom opustosene, ekonomski
ruinirane Bosne i Hercegovine ne mogu odoleti, a da ne uporede zivot
pod Titom sa onim sto imaju sada. Titovo ime, po pravilu, Bosance
asocira na "dobra stara vremena".
Kult Josipa Broza Tita ne bledi. Stavise, sve je snazniji. Kada su
vlasti nedavno pokusale da preimenuju glavnu ulicu u Sarajevu u Ulicu
Alije Izetbegovica, prvog bosanskog predsednika u nezavisnoj drzavi,
Sarajlije su krenule u akciju, postavljajuci bilbord nasred bulevara sa
Titovom slikom i sloganom "Ovo je Ulica Marsala Tita". Vise meseci
nakon sto je inicijativa propala, ovaj bilbord je jos uvek na istom
mestu.
"Mladi se okrecu Titu jer on personifikuje prosperitet", kaze Adnan
Koric, clan bosanskog udruzenja posvecenog uspomeni na Josipa Broza
Tita. "Oni znaju da smo samo u Titovo vreme neprestano napredovali
citavih 45 godina u svakoj oblasti drustvenog i ekonomskog zivota."
Koric veruje da Bosanci zude za vremenom kada im nisu bile potrebne
razlicite valute i vize da bi se kretali podrucjem koje je nekada bilo
jedinstvena teritorija. "Sada ne mozete da potrosite pun rezervoar
benzina vozeci u jednom smeru, a da prethodno ne pribavite sest viza",
sali se Koric.
U Sarajevu se Titov lik vratio iz podruma i prodavnica polovne robe u
popularne barove i restorane. U baru koji se zove "Tito", popularnom
studentskom sastajalistu, zidovi su prekriveni predmetima i
fotografijama iz Titovog vremena dok konobari nose uniforme sa jos uvek
prepoznatljivim Titovim potpisom. "Dolazim ovde da razmisljam i zivim u
proslosti", kaze 26-godisnji Amel. "Ma sta neki govorili, nasa proslost
je bila svetlija od nase buducnosti."
Dok su Bosna i Makedonija izgubile puno, a stekle malo od raspada
Titove Jugoslavije, uspomene su nesto manje ruzicaste u susednoj Srbiji
i Hrvatskoj. Za vreme vladavine Slobodana Milosevica, duze od jedne
decenije, Tito je u Srbiji demonizovan kao hrvatski neprijatelj koji je
doprineo srpskom slomu u bivsoj Jugoslaviji.
Medjutim, cak i u Srbiji, razocarenja iz prosle decenije, ukljucujuci
izgubljene ratove i sunovrat zivotnog standarda, navelo je mnoge da
promene misljenje. Misa Djurkovic iz beogradskog Instituta za evropske
studije kaze da sve snaznija nostalgija za Titovim vremenom ne
proistice samo iz zala za dobrim zivotnim standardom.
"Ceznja za [starom Jugoslavijom] je takodje zudnja za redom i
dostojanstvom", kaze on. "Nasa 'mekana' komunisticka diktatura je,
ipak, predstavljala dobro utemeljen sistem u kome nije bilo pljacki,
haosa i anarhije koji su sada uobicajeni, sto je zalosno."
Djurkovic veruje da se ova vrsta nostalgije prosirila i na mladje
generacije. "Mladi danas u jugonostalgiji vide instrument protesta
protiv trulog zavestanja devedesetih koje su nasledili."
Svakako, ne postoje naznake da ce Kuca cveca zatvoriti svoja vrata
hodocasnicima, mada se ovom mestu posvecuje manje paznje i brige nego
sto je to bio slucaj u osamdesetim, kada su inostrane diplomate i
sefovi drzava redovno dolazili na Titov grob da odaju postu.
Iako krunisane glave i predsednici drzava vise ne prolaze pored Titovog
mauzoleja, ratni veterani, clanovi komunistickih partija i nevladinih
organizacija se iznova uvek vracaju na rodjendan pokojnog predsednika.
Svetlana Ognjanovic, portparol Kuce cveca, rekla je da ocekuje do 2.000
ljude za ovogodisnju komemoraciju, ukljucujuci veliku grupu slovenackih
"Andela pakla" (slovenacki motociklisti redovno posecuju Titov grob
svake godine od jos od 2000.).
Predsednik nevladine organizacije "Centar Tito", penzionisani armijski
general Stevan Mirkovic takodje obelezava Dan mladosti vecerom na kojoj
se sluzi vojnicki pasulj, a najstarijem clanu, samom Mirkovicu, ce
jedan omladinac i jedna omladinka uruciti stafetu mladosti. A na
krajnjem severu Srbije, Blasko Gabric, je otisao najdalje, koliko se
god moglo, u svojoj kampanji da obnovi uspomenu na Tita, otvarajuci
tematski park pod imenom "Jugolend" ("Yugoland") u blizini pogranicnog
grada, Subotice.
Mini-Jugoslavija ima nekoliko geografskih atributa bivse Jugoslavije,
ukljucujuci brdo nazvano po najvisem planinskom vrhu Triglavu u
Sloveniji. Stare zastave sa crvenom zvezdom se vijore pored ulaza, a
Titove slike se nalaze na svakom zidu prikazujuci ga kako lovi, svira
klavir, cita, plese i u poseti stranim drzavama. Blasko cak izdaje
dokumenta o drzavljanstvu za Jugolend, i do sada ih ima 2.500.
Blaskic kaze da je ukidanje imena "Jugoslavija" – zlocin. "Vlada
[Srbije i Crne Gore] je ubila ime najbolje zemlje – Jugoslavije, sto je
poslednja stvar koja nas je podsecala na bivsu Jugoslaviju, ne pitajuci
ljude za njihov pristanak", kaze on. "Ja sam morao da ga sacuvam za sve
jugonostalgicare koji mogu da dodju ovde i uzivaju u uspomenama na
Titovo vreme."
Mada Draskic tvrdi da su posetioci svih starosnih uzrasta, fotografije
sa proslava odrzanih u Jugolendu ukazuju da je jugonostalgija fenomen
koji se pretezno odnosi na sredovecne i starije ljude.
Medju mladim ljudima iz svih republika, interes za Tita je mali ili je
ogranicen na ironicni kult poput bivsih istocnih Nemaca koji s ironijom
proslavljaju svoju komunisticku proslost vozeci trabante i noseci
bedzeve sa komunistickim sloganima.
Aca Bogdanovic, star 32 godine, iz Beograda, je rekao da Tita postuje
"jer je bio najveci hedonista dvadesetog veka" – sto tesko da je vrsta
komplimenta koji bi pravi privrzenici cenili. Ova vrsta ironicne ocene
je jednako upadljiva u Titovoj maticnoj republici – Hrvatskoj, gde je
ostalo malo onih koji su verni njegovim politickim idejama, dok znatno
brojniji mladji ljudi uzivaju eksperimentisuci sa titoistickim motivima.
"Uglavnom mladi kupuju ove majice – oni koji nisu cak ni bili rodjeni
kada je Tito umro!" primecuje prodavac iz Osijeka, na severoistoku
Hrvatske, pokazujuci na gomilu majica sa Titovim likom.
Mada se uglavnom neki stariji ljudi mogu uistinu opisati kao pravi
jugonostalgicari, smatra zagrebacki sociolog Drazen Lalic, sve veci
interes za Tita licno i za zemlju kojom je nekada vladao proistice iz
cinjenice da Hrvatska sada ima opusteniji odnos prema svojoj drzavnosti
nego sto je to bio slucaj pre deset godina.
"Nakon sto smo godinama slusali da mi iskljucivo pripadamo
mediteranskoj i centralnoevropskoj kulturi, sada se suocavamo sa
cinjenicom da Hrvatska takodje pripada balkanskom kulturnom krugu",
kaze Lalic.
"Jugonostalgija postoji, ali ljudi ne zale za Jugoslavijom kao svojom
bivsom drzavom", kaze Milanka Opacic iz Socijaldemokratske partije.
"Oni zale za kvalitetom zivota koji su tada imali. Smatraju da im je
bilo znatno bolje, da su bili bezbedniji, da su imali bolji zivotni
standard i bolju zdravstvenu zastitu nego sto je to sada slucaj."
Prosta je cinjenica da jugonostalgija vise ne izaziva antagonizam jer
niko ozbiljno ne veruje da ce Jugoslavija ponovo biti uspostavljena. U
Hrvatskoj, dok zemlja grabi ka Evropskoj uniji, Jugoslavija se smatra
delom proslosti – neuspesnim projektom koji se ne moze i nece
restaurirati. Usled toga, jugonostalgicari se u Hrvatskoj sada pre
smatraju romanticarima nego neprijateljima drzave, kako su nekad
nazivani za vreme vladavine hrvatskog nacionalistickog lidera Franje
Tudjmana.
Markus Taner je urednik/instruktor obuke IWPR-a; Dino Bajramovic je
urednik za kulturu sarajevskog nedeljnika "Slobodna Bosna"; Vladimir
Sudar je novinar beogradskog nedeljnika "Reporter"; Mitko Jovanov je
novinar makedonskog dnevnog lista "Dnevnik"; a Muhamet Hajrulahu, Drago
Hedl i Tanja Matic su redovni saradnici IWPR-a.
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(...) Balkan Crisis Report is supported by the Department for
International Development, the European Commission, the Swedish
International Development and Cooperation Agency, The Netherlands
Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and other funders. IWPR also acknowledges
general support from the Ford Foundation.
For further details on this project, other information services and
media programmes, visit IWPR's website: www.iwpr.net
ISSN: 1477-7932 Copyright © 2004 The Institute for War & Peace Reporting