The Reversal: A thin line between pragmatism and treason
In the light of the latest “roadblock” in the international drive for Kosovo’s amputation from Serbia and under the impetus to present a platform for the pending election, two key proposals were pitched for Serbia’s policy towards the foreign occupation of the province. None of them were authored by the Serbian government – not much of a surprise – and both are ways to deal with the amputation, not to hinder it. I won’t even comment on the pitiful position taken by the official Serbia in the face of the dismemberment of its territory: authorities that don’t have an official position on a key issue in their governance should simply resign – it would be the only honorable action.
The two proposals came from two opposite positions on the Serbian political spectrum: one, the Reversal, was pitched by an unlikely alliance of Ceda Jovanovic’s LDP and Vuk Draskovic’s SPO, among others; the other, a more comprehensive one, was authored by Serbian Progressive Party and I will discuss in the next post.
The Reversal implicitly advocates a complete abandonment of Kosovo and urges Kosovo Serbs to integrate into the Albanian society; it’s based on the notion that Serbia can’t afford to jeopardize the EU-integration as the solution to all Serbian troubles by pretending to still claim Kosovo. Ceda and Vuk beat around the bush a lot, do not stake a claim at a real leadership stand by actually proposing a policy-based decision, just describe a gloomy, dead-end predicament and cowardly leave the conclusion to the reader. I knew Jovanovic’s stand before the Reversal but I considered him way gutsier in his proposals, however misguided and detrimental to the progress of Serbdom they happen to be. Vuk Draskovic is beyond diagnosis – it’s hard to figure out what exactly he stands for but, luckily, his political strength is irrelevant. The Reversal is a short essay, rather a political argument and a review of all the ills of Serbia than a political program; it appeals to emotions of the narrow-minded and misguided populace that had only the positives of EU submission drilled into them, while ignoring or masking the negatives irreversibly laid open by the current economic collapse of eurozone. Besides insisting on tying any Serbian economic and political progress to EU membership without a remotely critical analysis of the prospect – which is irresponsible in itself – Ceda and Vuk’s Reversal abandons all the principles of statehood interwoven of self-subsistence, responsible and progressive governance and a vision for the future. Opportunistically taking advantage of a dire moment Serbian psyche is enveloped in and with the impending election in mind, this LDP-SPO hookup tries to curveball a simplistic – thus easily understood - but dangerous design to fill a void that an official policy towards the occupied Kosovo should occupy. At the most complex historical moment for Serbdom and Serbia - a moment that calls for deep comprehension of the past, the present and the future, a wide-reaching consensus on the road forward and a new national contract - simplistic solutions are to be avoided at all costs. More importantly, Serbdom must be vigilant about those proposing such easy-fix solutions because there are no easy fixes to the occupation of Kosovo and such politicians do not mean well.
If the Reversal is about any one thing, it is about suggesting that the only reasonable action on Kosovo is to accept the design imposed by EU and NATO – Albanian Kosovo outside of Serbia and cleansed of Serbs – so not to jeopardize Serbia’s relationship with those same powers that are ripping it to pieces. A thus jeopardized relationship might hinder Serbia’s acceptance by the EU and that’s clearly a suicidal act, according to the LDP-SPO axis. Let me get this right: Serbia should accept the reality imposed against it by force for the sake of maintaining “friendship” with the forcers themselves. The way I see it, the Reversal is asking Serbia to submit to being raped lest the rapist get mad. Â
As I’ve said, the moment is historical. Kosovo and Metohija are a host to the Serbian soul, but a foreign populace occupies its hills and meadows, runs drug and human organs through its valleys and mines coal from its bowels. Add to this the fact that such situation has been facilitated by world powers openly hostile to Serbs and it is clear that Serbian presence in Kosovo is untenable. But to suggest that Serbia should quit on Kosovo to appease those same North Atlantic powers that keep on chipping away at Serbia’s independence is not only unbecoming of a responsible leader, but downright cowardly and treacherous, especially in the light of the inescapable notion that the authors of this argument shied away from unambiguously calling on Boris Tadic to stop negotiating and to abandon the pretense that Kosovo is Serbia.
To be forced out of Kosovo would be a result of power relations unfavorable to Serbia and a term of defeat that Serbia could ground an eventual liberation of Kosovo in, under a more favorable turn of events and power relations. To lose physical control of Kosovo because all preservation options have failed, while maintaining the emotional and historical ownership of it would not be the end of the world: Serbs lost lands before and gained them back but only when we maintained a claim of ownership. One can take it away from us, but one can’t make us give it up. If they take it from us by force – and that process is wrapping up – that means it was ours to be taken from us. If we maintain it was taken from us by force, we reserve the right to take it back by force whenever the conditions are ripe in future. On the other hand, if we give it up and admit it’s not ours anymore, we lose the right ever to call it ours again. Trading Kosovo for a dubious and intangible benefit of submitting Serbia’s independence to the very predators that severed Kosovo from her would not only be unacceptable but treacherous. A more acceptable concept can and must be negotiated.
