Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
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| Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts | |
| Created | September 1986 |
| Location | Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts |
| Authors | Kosta Mihajlović, Mihailo Marković, Vasilije Krestić and others |
| Purpose | Serb nationalism, Greater Serbia |
The Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (often referred to as the SANU Memorandum) was a draft document produced by a committee of the Serbian Academy from 1985 to 1986. In September 1986, parts of the draft were published by Večernje novosti.[1]
The Memorandum immediately became well-known in Yugoslavia, as it gave voice to controversial views on the state of the nation and argued for a fundamental reorganization of the state.[2] Its main theme was that decentralisation was leading to the disintegration of Yugoslavia and that the Serbs were discriminated against by Yugoslavia's constitutional structure.[3]
The Memorandum was officially denounced in 1986 by the government of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the government of the Socialist Republic of Serbia for inciting nationalism.[4] Some consider it a key moment in the breakup of Yugoslavia and a contributor to the Yugoslav wars.[3]
Contents |
[edit] Overview
The memorandum is divided into two parts: one on the "Crisis in the Yugoslav Economy and Society", the other on the "Status of Serbia and the Serb Nation".[5] The first section focuses on the economic and political fragmentation of Yugoslavia that followed the promulgation of the 1974 constitution. The second section focuses on what the authors saw as Serbia's inferior status in Yugoslavia, and used the status of Serbs in the province of Kosovo and in Croatia to make its point.
The Memorandum argues that at the end of World War II, Tito deliberately weakened Serbia by dividing up the majority of what was perceived by Serb nationalists as Serb territory, namely present day Serbia, Montenegro, the Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and some small parts of Croatia with Serb majority populations.[6] It also argued that Tito reduced Serbia's status further by including two autonomous provinces (Kosovo and Vojvodina) within its borders, something that was not done in any of the other Yugoslav Republics.
Within the Memorandum, one can find discrete contributions by Kosta Mihajlović on the economy, Mihailo Marković on self-management, and Vasilije Krestić on the status of the Serbs of Croatia, among others. The document as a whole is often wrongly ascribed to Dobrica Ćosić, who took part in discussions about it but was not on the committee that produced it.
[edit] Reception
The Memorandum was shunned by most politicians in 1986, including future president of Serbia, Slobodan Milošević, who publicly called the Memorandum "nothing else but the darkest nationalism", and future president of the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Radovan Karadžić, who stated "Bolshevism is bad, but nationalism is even worse".[7] Despite these declarations, Milošević, Karadžić and a number of Serb politicians ironically supported most of the memorandum's statements and went on to pursue an agenda which followed the Memorandum's views and formed close political connections with the writers of the Memorandum such as Mihailo Marković who became the vice-president of the Socialist Party of Serbia and Dobrica Ćosić who was appointed the first President of the new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992.[8]
The Memorandum was proclaimed by some non-Serbs to be a virtual act of aggression against Yugoslavia. Serbs sympathetic to the aims of the Memorandum's authors have long argued that it should not be considered any such thing, as it was never edited for public consumption.
[edit] Memorandum points
- Albanians are committing genocide against Serbs in Kosovo (pages 41 and 56 of memorandum)
- Slovenia and Croatia are taking control of the Serbian economy. Yugoslavia is taking industry out of Serbia (page 42)
- There is need for constitutional changes of Yugoslavia because of its unfair mistreating and weakening of Serbia. (page 46)
- There is great discrimination against Serbs that it is very similar to genocide (page 50)
- Serbia has given 2 500 000 victims for Yugoslavia (in World War I and II) and now is victim of this state (page 52)
- Between 1690 and 1912, 500 000 Serbs have escaped from Kosovo where Albanians are committing genocide (page 56)
- There is great discrimination of Serbs living in Kosovo and in Croatia (page 58)
- Serbs in Croatia are now in danger like never before (page 62)
- All writers of Serb nationality from Bosnia are Serbs and not Bosnian writers (page 65)
- Serbs' question won't be solved before creation of full national and cultural unity of Serb people without importance where they live (pages 70 – 73)
- During the last 50 years Serbs have been two time victims of destruction, assimilation, changing of religion, cultural genocide, ideological indoctrination and saying that they do not have any importance. (pages 70 – 73)
- If Yugoslavia falls, Serbia must look for its national interest (page 73)
[edit] See also
- Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
- Dobrica Ćosić
- Mihailo Marković
- Vasilije Krestić
- Contributions for the Slovenian National Program
[edit] References
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=KfbI4e1q1yEC&pg=PA322
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=KfbI4e1q1yEC&pg=PA322
- ^ a b http://www.esiweb.org/index.php?lang=en&id=281&story_ID=13&slide_ID=18
- ^ Ramet, Sabrina P. The three Yugoslavias: state-building and legitimation, 1918-2005. Bloomington, Indiana, USA: Indiana University Press, 2006. Pp. 321.
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=lVBB1a0rC70C&pg=RA2-PA556
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=xGShXjNZzEsC&pg=PA102
- ^ Lampe, John R. 2000. Yugoslavia as History: Twice There Was a Country. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p347
- ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=FTw3lEqi2-oC&pg=PA321
[edit] External links
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