[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 204 (Tuesday, December 19, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S18928-S18929]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE PRO-SERB MONTENEGRINS

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, occasionally as we read magazines 
and newspapers, we find articles on things in unlikely sources.
  Recently in reading the Christian Century, I came across an article 
by Paul Mojzes titled, ``The pro-Serb Montenegrins'' which I ask to be 
printed in full in the Record.
  It describes the situation in Montenegro, a small Province in what 
was once Yugoslavia but a Province that has produced leaders including 
Milovan Djilas, Slobodan Milosevic, and Karadzic.
  It is not a particularly encouraging article, but it is informative 
and because I have seen nothing about this anywhere else, I believe it 
merits placing in the Congressional Record so those interested in this 
area can read it.
  The article follows:

           Travels in the Balkans: The Pro-Serb Montenegrins

                            (By Paul Mojzes)

       The Montenegrins are fond of joking that if their rugged 
     mountain terrain were ironed out, the area would be as huge 
     as Russia. Living in the tiniest and least populous republic 
     of the former Yugoslavia, Montenegrins have tried to 
     compensate by identifying with Russia and by propelling 
     themselves into the ruling elites of other Yugoslav republics 
     as fiery communists or fierce nationalists. They have 
     produced such leaders as Milovan Djilas, Slobodan Milosevic 
     and Radovan Karadzic.
       During World War II Montenegro spawned the most feared 
     nationalist Chetnik units as well as fierce communist 
     Partizans. Members of both groups slaughtered the opposition 
     even if that meant turning against their own families. 
     Vendettas and a fixation on revenge complicated the conflict 
     by making people cross ideological lines out of tribal 
     loyalty.
       During the current Balkan wars no direct fighting has taken 
     place in Montenegro, though Montenegrin ``volunteers'' 
     ravaged nearby Dubrovnik and its vicinity. Consequently, 
     travelers have been able to move about Montenegro 
     unobstructed. The terrain of these ``black mountains'' is 
     rocky, yielding neither timber nor agricultural products. Nor 
     are there many mineral deposits. But fabulous tourist 
     attractions abound, particularly along the Adriatic seashore, 
     one of the most beautiful in the world.
       Foreign tourists are now avoiding the area while most Serbs 
     and Montenegrins are too impoverished to travel. For those 
     who venture here this may be a plus. None of the services are 
     overburdened and both food and transportation are readily 
     available. However, travelers flying to Belgrade from one of 
     the two Montenegrin airports have been 

[[Page S18929]]
     forced to share space with wounded evacuees from the Bosnian 
     battlegrounds. They apparently have been transported this way 
     in order to avoid the UN-controlled border-crossings between 
     Serbia and Bosnia. The purpose has been to give credence to 
     Milosevic's claim of no longer supporting the Serb warriors 
     in Bosnia. Not many in Montenegro would take such a claim at 
     face value.
       The single most important issue in Montenegro is defining 
     its people's identity. Some claim that Montenegrins are 
     Serbs, that indeed their country is the very heart of 
     Serbdom, as a politician of the Narodna (People's or Folk) 
     Party told me. Others say that Montenegro is a separate 
     nation now endangered by Serb attempts to absorb it.
       In Niksic, the ancient capital in which the ecclesiastical 
     head of the Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Amfilohiye Radovic, 
     resides, graffiti declare that he should leave Montenegro, 
     though he is one of the few Serbian Orthodox hierarchs who 
     was born there. Metropolitan Amfilohiye militantly espouses 
     the Serbian cause, and the number of such supporters is 
     growing as the ethnoreligious conflict continues. Both the 
     leftist Democratic Party of Socialists (former communists), 
     which holds a firm grip on power, and the right-wing People's 
     Party are pro-Serb. Only the Liberals, who garner a mere 10 
     percent of the vote, staunchly proclaim ``Montenegro is 
     Montenegrin,'' though there are others who insist on claiming 
     the sovereignty for Montenegro accorded to it by the 1974 
     Yugoslav constitution.
       If one visits only the Adriatic resorts one gets an 
     impression of economic well-being, despite tourist workers' 
     complaints that these resorts are operating at less than half 
     of their capacity. Food in the hotels and at the markets is 
     plentiful though expensive. Other consumer goods are 
     available, since people have found a way to skirt UN 
     sanctions. That cows graze on the lawn of the state 
     government building in Podgorica (formerly Titograd) may be a 
     better overall economic indicator.
       In Podgorica as elsewhere, the socioeconomic difference 
     between people is striking. In one section of the city the 
     apartments for the old communist elite and the new 
     entrepreneurial class feature TV radar disks for nearly every 
     dwelling. Here people dress with an ostentatious display of 
     wealth. But Podgorica's slums resemble those in greatly 
     impoverished countries. Incomes, while considerably better 
     than in 1993, range between $50 and $150 a month. Many 
     workers, however, are paid only every third or fourth month, 
     and approximately 60 percent of the work force is on ``forced 
     vacation''--unemployed and with no welfare benefits. Even the 
     casual observer will notice huge numbers of people hanging 
     around the streets or the numerous drinking places. Even 
     those who do eke out a meager living say that there is little 
     hope for a better future. People survive by trading in the 
     black market and by accepting bribes. Nearly everyone is 
     engaged in smuggling, selling or reselling something--from 
     the lucrative smuggling of gasoline and weapons to the 
     pitiful reselling of single cigarettes. Police raid only the 
     ``little fry.'' Bigger business is protected by the mafia, 
     which is said to reach to the very top of government. Armed 
     robberies in the rump Yugoslavia have increased from about 70 
     in 1991 to over 2,000 in 1992-93. Few robbers are 
     apprehended.
       However, the ``new'' Yogoslav dinar is fairly stable. After 
     1993's great inflation the government pegged the dinar to the 
     German mark at a 1:1 ratio. While on the black market the 
     dinar recently slipped to about a 2.5:1 ratio, it still 
     appears to be economically viable. The locals believe that 
     the hyperinflation of 1993 was approved or even prompted by 
     the government in order to extract foreign-currency reserves 
     from the population.
       Montenegrins are traditionally Orthodox Christians with a 
     small minority of Roman Catholics (derogatorily called 
     ``Latins'') and Muslims (called ``Turks,'' though they are 
     Montenegrin converts to Islam). The Albanian minority is 
     predominantly Muslim, with a small number of Roman Catholics. 
     There are virtually no Protestants or Jews.
       The Orthodox Church was nearly wiped out during the 
     communist period. During World War II it had sided with the 
     Chetniks rather than the Partizans and the latter showed no 
     pity toward the losers. Directives from Belgrade to eliminate 
     church activities were taken seriously and religious life 
     became nearly extinct. People would pass by a monastery 
     without even looking at it lest they be called in for an 
     unpleasant talk with the secret police.
       Only during the last few years under the increasingly 
     liberal Yogoslav regime was church life slowly reactivated. 
     In the postocommunist period Orthodox Church activities are 
     on the rebound. Right-wing nationalistic politicians believe 
     that the church has not only a religious but a political 
     role. Some clergy openly argue that the church should rule 
     over the nation in these difficult times as it did in the 
     distant past.
       Adjacent to the former royal palace in Cetinje is a large 
     monastic compound nestled against the mountain. Here the 
     archbishop resides. A visit to the monastery was organized 
     for a group of students and professors of which I was a part. 
     Our guide, a middle-aged monk, spoke English fluently. He 
     appeared to be well traveled but displayed an intense Serbian 
     nationalism and an even greater angry anticommunism. He 
     explained that the monastery had been destroyed twice, first 
     by Muslim Turks and then by Latins. A display on the 
     monastery walls credited both destructions to the Turks. 
     Apparently the monk needed to believe that Serbs had been 
     victimized by both of their current antagonists.
       The Montenegrin government is now making amends for the 
     communist period not only by restoring church properties but 
     also by financing their repair. (The Catholics, on the other 
     hand, complain that the return and repair of their properties 
     is being hampered.)
       Svetigora, the official publication of the diocese of 
     Montenegro, is disturbing. Even the magazine's title has 
     troublesome implications. Sveta Gora is the Serbian name for 
     the Holy Mount Athos, the monastic republic in Greece. The 
     journal's name suggests that Montenegro is not just a Black 
     Mountain but a ``Mount of Light''--a ``Holy Mount.'' Combined 
     with the ever-increasing claim made by the Serbian Orthodox 
     hierarchs that the Serbs are ``the New Israel,'' the chosen 
     people of God, a ``heavenly kingdom,'' a martyr nation that 
     has suffered more than anyone else on earth except Christ, 
     the name supports the dangerous conviction that all that the 
     Serbs do is somehow of God.
       A recent issue features a smiling Radovan Karadzic flanked 
     by the patriarchs of Moscow and Belgrade. In a lengthy 
     interview Karadzic, the leader of the Bosnian Serbs, claims 
     the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit in all his political 
     decisions and urges the political involvement of the Orthodox 
     Church in the life of Serbians everywhere. He repeatedly 
     emphasizes the goal of uniting all Serbs into a single state. 
     In another interview Metropolitan Amfilohiye claims that 
     ``the living God can be experienced in the East while the 
     West is a wasteland.'' Another article explains why God 
     allowed Russia, ``the elite people,'' to experience the 
     apostasy of communism. The Herzegovian hard-line Bishop 
     Atanasiye Jeftic associates NATO with Satan and links Ingmar 
     Bergman's films to Protestantism, in which there is ``neither 
     mercy, nor space for the human being, nor salvation.''
       Svetigora's contents make one wonder whether the effort of 
     some German and Dutch churchmen to expel the Serbian Orthodox 
     Church from the World Council of Churches does not have 
     merit. There is a parallel between the Deutsche Christen 
     aberration during Hitler's era and this militant Serbian 
     Orthodoxy. In Germany, however, there was resistance by a 
     Confessing Church led by people like Karl Barth and Dietrich 
     Bonhoeffer; the Serbian Orthodox Church has not yet produced 
     such internal critics, just as Balkans politics has not 
     produced its Vaclav Havel. The political threat in the 
     Balkans is Nazism; the religious threat is idolatrous 
     nationalism.

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