Kosovo and Slobodan Milosevic: how it all started. A Working Paper grounded in Archival research (original) (raw)

Kosovo between Tito and Miloshevich

Mariana Stamova, 2007

The present study lays the emphasis on the ever growing tension in Kosovo between the Albanians, on the one side, and the Serbs and Montenegrins, on the other. In order to fulfill their aim of granting Kosovo with the status of a republic, the Albanians from the province skillfully applied both illegal and legal forms of resistance against the government of the Yugoslav Federation. Because of the growing Albanian pressure, the Serbs and Montenegrins from the region started to organize protests both in Kosovo and in Belgrade. They aimed at attracting the attention of the republican and federal authorities to the problems facing this population. In order to resolve the problems in Kosovo, a series of party forums on federal, republican and regional level were carried out. Actually, they did not bring to the necessary effect. The advent to power of Slobodan Miloshevich and the measures for resolving the problems he embarked on, led to a new escalation of tension in Kosovo.

Serbia's Kosovo Drama. A Historical Perspective, Belgrade: Čigoja štampa, 2012, 369 р.

The thousand-year long history of Serbia's troublesome province of Kosovo (Kosovo and Metohija) is a case study of conflicting narratives and opposing versions of history.The case of Kosovo became famous worldwide after the Kosovo Albanian minority in Serbia, within the wider federal, communist Yugoslavia, organized separatist movements, fully backed by communist Albania, openly demanding, since 1981, secession from Serbia, and claiming the status of a constituent nation. It was an announcement of the coming collapse of Titoist Yugoslavia in 1991 .The violent dismemberment of communist Yugoslavia, followed by the series of wars for Yugoslav succession (1992-1995), had its last chapter with the NATO bombing campaign against Serbia and FR of Yugoslavia in 1999,followed by the UN protectorate over Kosovo, administered by UNMIK under UN SC Resolution 1244 of June 1999, and militarily protected by the NATO-led KFOR. The following study, covering the period from the medieval times to unilateral proclamation of independence of Kosovo by the Kosovo Albanians in 2008, illustrated by a series of lesser known Kosovo-related documents, provides relevant historic insight into important elements of the Kosovo drama, in particular from Serbian, rarely quoted or deliberately neglected sources.

REGAINING THE PAST. YUGOSLAV LEGACY IN THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION

REGAINING THE PAST. YUGOSLAV LEGACY IN THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION, 2022

Before, during the existence of the Yugoslav state and in the post-Yugoslav pe- riod, the common cultural (and art) space was shaped by the similar languages, culture, connections, mentality, territory, economic relations, (foreign) influences and art production. After the dissolution of Yugoslavia in disastrous war conflicts, a large eco- nomic and cultural crisis hit the whole Balkan region. The cruelty of the Bos- nia war together with the embargo, economic crisis, severe inflation and protests caused a collective cultural trauma in all the former Yugoslav countries. Simul- taneously, a high level of (narrative) fragmentation occurred in all institutions as a consequence of the crisis in society. It was reflected in the dysfunctionality of institutions and eventually in their closing down. After the dark period of the 1990s, in 2000, Serbia dived into progressive dem- ocratic changes and an unblocked transition process that would become a source of great disappointment in Serbian society. During all the changes and fluctua- tions, Yugoslavia (the idea and the state) was perceived as the main culprit for the crisis and a huge mistake in the newest history. The individual memory and private space of citizens in Serbia was still crowded with memories of the previous period, but translating them into the cul- tural memory became doubtful. For that kind of translation, and for revitalisation of that part of the culture, a space for speech, discussion and search for meaning would be essential, initiated and placed in institutions of culture. In my research I have investigated if and how Yugoslavia continued to ex- ist in cultural institutions as a phenomenon, through the values of its ideology and its common and wide cultural space, as a notion, motif and theme of proj- ects and events, in spite of all the aforementioned circumstances. I intended to present the importance of the Yugoslav legacy (as a symbolic heritage above all) from the perspective of creating continuity and finding (making) meaning about the past as a way of overcoming cultural trauma. The main categories and points of view I have chosen as the methodolo- gy of this research could be called an interdisciplinary cultural study approach, 336ꢀRegaining the Past. Yugoslav Legacy in the Period of Transition... involving content analysis, the notions of representation and interpretation, and the discovery of a symbolic or concrete presence/ absence. The material for my research comprised catalogues from exhibitions and sub- sequent publications, articles from newspapers and magazines, academic litera- ture, nonofficial interviews, videos, comments on exhibitions, comments as part of the programme in institutions, the personal interpretations of the actors (art- ists, academics, curators, activists, audience) expressed in informal interviews and meetings, noted or recorded, so that they could be incorporated into my research. The text is divided into four parts: State of the Art, Historical Context, Of- ficial Institutions and Alternative Institutions, preceded by the Introduction at the beginning, and followed by Conclusions at the end (together with a list of ref- erences and illustrations and a summary in English, Polish and Serbian). In the first chapter, State of Art, containing an overview of books, articles and projects that are connected with the theme of my work, I present different as- pects of its formulation and content. The second chapter titled Historical Context outlines the history of South Slavic unity with an overview of Yugoslav history. For the analytical part of my research I have chosen three official and three alternative institutions to describe and illustrate the place and role of the Yugoslav narrative and legacy in cultural institutions: the official ones are the Serbian pavil- ion in Venice (Paviljon Republike Srbije u Veneciji), the Museum of Contempo- rary Art in Belgrade (Muzej savremene umetnosti u Beogradu), and the Museum of Yugoslavia (Muzej Jugoslavije), while the nonofficial (alternative) ones are the Centre for Cultural Decontamination (Centar za kulturnu dekontaminaciju/ CZKD), the Inex squat, and the Catch-22 (Kvaka 22) alternative cultural centre. My assumption was that choosing from the different types of institution could help create a wider image and form the basis for a more complete map of institu- tions in Serbia in the post-Yugoslav period. The analytical part titled Official Institutions contains three chapters describ- ing three institutions. The first of these chapters discusses the Pavilion of the Republic of Serbia in Venice, formerly the Pavilion of Yugoslavia (in all of its state emanations). I have decided to investigate the Serbian (formerly Yugoslav) pavilion in Venice as the only institution where Yugoslavia still exists in the framework of interna- tional art and culture manifestations (even just as a living memory and context). The second chapter is dedicated to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bel- grade, opened in 1965 as the most prominent cultural institution representing Yu- goslav and Serbian art of the 20th century. The Museum of Contemporary Art appears to be the institution–symbol of Yugoslav art and culture creation. The third chapter presents the Museum of Yugoslavia, the only institution in the former Yugoslav space fully dedicated to a representation of Yugoslavia. Summaryꢀ337 This institution has shown enormous capacity for transformation, communicating the possibility of a new modern institution. The analytical part devoted to alternative institutions also contains three chapters, preceded by a short introduction explaining and describing alterna- tive institutions as a phenomenon. The first chapter in the part titled Alterna- tive Institutions is discusses the Centre for Cultural Decontamination (Centar za kulturnu dekontaminaciju / CZKD). Being one of the oldest nonofficial organisa- tions in Serbia, having emerged from a decisive protest against the regime of Slo- bodan Milošević in 1995, the CZKD was my choice for the alternative institution of the older generation. As the second case I decided to describe the Inex squat and cultural centre established in a building of the Inex Film Company. The final chapter of the analytical part on alternative institutions presents the case of Kvaka 22, as an example of the youngest generations of artists and cul- tural workers, activists and citizens, and their approach towards culture and art, past and present. In the Conclusions I have presented the common denominators of all the de- scribed institutions from the perspective of the Yugoslav legacy, and the wider context as a common space for them all. I have also accentuated the conclusion about the significance of cooperation between institutions in the field of cultural memory, but not only. The phenomenon of relatedness and interconnectedness ap- pears to be crucial for the resolution of the cultural crisis.

Kosovo in the 1980s – Yugoslav Perspectives and Interpretations

Comparative Southeast European Studies

The introductory article in this issue argues for greater consideration of the impact of the Kosovo crisis on political developments in other Yugoslav republics and on the entire federal state structure of Yugoslavia after Tito’s death. It also calls for a closer examination of alternative paths that were considered by various actors to resolve the conflict but were not or could not be pursued. Such a discussion of developments in Kosovo in the 1980s in a broader Yugoslav perspective would, it is argued, also have the potential to contribute to a more complex understanding of the Kosovo crisis itself.

The Political Status of Kosovo (1967-1974): Between Serbian Hegemony and Self-rule

Stratejik ve Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi

Bu tarihler arasında Kosova olabilecek en yüksek özerkliğe ulaştığı dönemdir. Bir yandan Sırbistan'ın Kosova'ya hiçbir şekilde özerklik vermeme çabası, diğer yandan ise Arnavutların Kosova'da Yugoslavya'nın diğer federe bölgeleri kadar özerklik ve Sırbistan etkisinden kurtulma çabası içinde olma çabası görülmektedir. Yugoslavya Sosyalist Federal Cumhuriyeti'ndeki durum, bir taraftan Sırplar ve Karadağlılar tarafından istenilen merkezi bir federasyon kavramı dururken, diğer yandan ise kuzey cumhuriyetleri olan Slovenya ve Hırvatistan tarafından istenen merkezi olmayan bir liberal yönetim sistemi talebi bulunmuş ve uzun bir iç rekabet devam ettiği görülmüştür. 1966'dan, Josip Broz Tito'nun ölümüne kadar olan dönemde Yugoslavya'daki federe cumhuriyetleri kadar, Kosova ve Voyvodina vilayetlerinde de daha fazla siyasi ve ekonomik yetkiler verilerek daha fazla demokratikleşme kavramı hâkim olduğu gözlemlenmiştir.