MONTENEGRO AND SERBIANHOOD – THE QUESTION OF IDENTITY
IDENTITY ISSUES OF CRNA GORA (MONTENEGRO)
Abstract
CurrentMontenegrin government wishes to achieve “the unification of Orthodox church in Crna Gora” through the establishment and enthronement of a so-called “Montenegrin Orthodox Church”, which would mark a final move in completing of the state independence of Crna Gora. Simultaneously it would imply a renouncement of Serbian historical and ethno-linguistic identity and the establishment of a new Montenegrin identity featuring “Dioclian” and “Red Croatian” instead of Serbian historical origin, a newly established “Montenegrin Orthodox Church” instead of Serbian Orthodox church and renaming of Serbian language into a – Montenegrin one. History of Crna Gora (Montenegro) is the history of Serbian people in Crna Gora. At the beginning of 20th century all citizens of Crna Gora wereSerbs (Christian Orthodox Serbs, Roman-Catholic Serbs and Serbs of Mohammedan faith) along with 5% foreigners (Albanians, Turks…), but from 1948 in croatocommunist Tito’s and Djilas’s version they all became Montenegrins. In such way, through the ethnical and identity engineering Montenegrin “ethnogenesis” had started from Serbdom to Montenegrindom, ending in the contemporary period of the Montenegrin state independence under the leadership of Milo Djukanovic into the confirmation of that new state in the form of anti-Serbdom. The identity password of the Montenegrin separatists is: “I am a Montenegrin because I am not a Serb.” This negative self-identification has left a psychological trauma on the government in Montenegro, which abandoned their Serbian ancestors, envisioning some vague, unclear and historically unfounded “Dioclian” non-Serb and anti-Serb “red Croatian” relying on the identity. Out of such “new scientific” discoveries , to great extent founded on psychological traits and mentality of the Montenegrins’ existing “convert-syndrome”, there derived also political and geopolitical anti-Serbian and anti-Russian stances of contemporary Montenegrin government officials headed by Milo Djukanovic. These stances are: recognition of “Kosovo”, ambivalent relation of Montenegro toward Russia which ended with imposing sanctions to her, Montenegro joining the NATO, etc… Crna Gora (Montenegro) is a state established and throughout history preserved by Serbian Orthodox Church. However, the state terror, discrimination and violence had culminated in the form of the state parliamentary adoption of its Law on Freedom of Religion, of which substantial objective is the expulsion of the Serbian Orthodox Church from Montenegro. This is why “the miracle happened” and “the people happened” in Crna Gora on this occasion. We are yet to see whether the political epilogue of this movement of the humiliated citizens will be the return of Crna Gora to its Serbian identity in the form of Crna Gora being the state of Serbian people like in the time of Dukedom/Kingdom of Crna Gora from 1878 to 1918, or the state of the Montenegrins as some sort of separate Serbs like in the time from 1945 to 1991, or the state of the Montenegrins and Serbs, which it became in the time of the state separation of Montenegro from Serbia in 2003. In case of the abovementioned last state version, the Serbs should achieve again the status of constitutive people in this state such it was at that time, which would grant them the right for their personal and territorial autonomy. However, one should take into consideration that the process of indoctrination for purpose of the deserbization of Montenegrins has done its own share and that the real state of identity consciousness of Montenegro considerably distanced from historical facts which explain its identity, and also that so far “the convert syndrome” of the Montenegrins has been exposed more than in case of other “Dinarid” Serbs. Having taken the abovementioned facts in consideration, it become certain that the identity crisis of Serbian Crna Gora will still not be overcome for a long time.
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