"Nations, states and diaspora in the territory of the former Yugoslavia"
The international scientific meeting “Nations, states and diasporas in the territory of the former Yugoslavia” was held in Novi Sad at the Faculty of European Legal and Political Studies (FEPPS) – Sremska Kamenica.
The gathering was organized by the Center for History, Democracy and Reconciliation (CHDR) Novi Sad in cooperation with the Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation (IHJR) from The Hague, the Secretariat for Science and Technology of AP Vojvodina and the Faculty of European Legal and Political Studies .
Scientists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia participated in the meeting.
Representatives of the Institute from The Hague, officials of the Assembly of Vojvodina and the State Secretary in the Ministry of Diaspora of the Republic of Serbia also took part in the meeting.
The meeting was opened by the President of the Assembly of Vojvodina , Sandor Egeresi. He announced that the provincial parliament launched a regional initiative aimed at historical reconciliation in the region. That initiative implies the establishment of a consensus on the regional European partnership, as well as the adoption of a declaration on reconciliation .
The President of the Assembly of Vojvodina stated that consultations on this initiative are underway and added that the Assembly of Vojvodina launched it under the auspices of the Assembly of Serbia. He reminded that the Assembly of Vojvodina passed in 2003 Resolution on non-recognition of collective guilt. In this way, the message was sent that the individualization of guilt represents a barrier to the phenomena of manipulation for daily political purposes.
In this way, the regional initiative of the Vojvodina parliament began to follow the initiative that was presented to it in 2007. presented by Prof. Dr. Elazar Barkan from Columbia University and Prof. Dr. Darko Gavrilović , director of the Center for History, Democracy and Reconciliation.
In the further work of the meeting, the members of the teams presented their works.
Zoran Jevtović presented his work on the topic – Anticommunism and Orthodoxy in the media during the 20th century. century, putting an apostrophe on diaspora.
Adnan Jahić briefly presented the content of his work – Bosniaks and the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Filip Škiljan from Zagreb dealt with the importance of the congress held on 30 1945. by the Serbian ethnic community in Croatia.
Vjeran Pavlaković presented the content of his work on the topic – European diaspora and commemorative culture. Pavlaković spoke about the importance that commemoration has on the formation of the nation, both for Croats and Serbs.
Vjekoslav Perica explained his work on the topic – Church in Croats. The topic of this work is the activity of the Roman Catholic Church in Croatia since the first Catholic Congress in 1900.
Vesna Ivanović dealt with the issue of National Minorities in the European Southeast – similarities and differences. Ivanovic presented the data obtained through demographic surveys of the population according to the representation of peoples and national minorities in multinational communities.
Saša Marković dealt with the position of Bunjevac between politics and the national project.
Đorđe Stojanović formulated the question of the necessity of a necessary enemy for the sake of forming a nation from the point of view of Karl Schmidt’s political theory.
Mile Bjelajac spoke about the way of establishing new identities.
Mira Radojević explained the question of the causes of the creation and dissolution of Yugoslavia.
Darko Gavrilović dealt with the importance of the political activity of Svetozar Pribićević in the period of creation of the Kingdom of SHS.
Croatian, Serbian and Bosniak national identity and the role of the media in their formation.
Ranka Gašić gave a conclusion in front of a group that dealt with the issue of Croatian, Serbian and Bosniak national identity and the role of the media in their formation. The notion of collective identity is based on the feeling of belonging to a wider community. Contrary to the indisputable individual perspective of identity, it still retains both its theoretical and methodological plausibility.
It was pointed out that the concept of historical identity is useful. It contributes to the understanding of conflicts within society as well as conflicts between peoples and nations, torn by multiple historical and cultural affiliations. The importance of this point of view lies primarily in the fact that, in addition to emphasizing the historical dimension, it also points to the possibility of the existence of a divided identity. It is a situation in which groups with an originally unified historical identity can later separate and develop even opposing identities. Some of these identities, regardless of the common timeless dimension, built their identity difference on the concepts of projective identity. The projected identity is based on a projective experience and ideas about a common future, with stronger or weaker historical connotations.
Another important aspect of identity phenomenology in the area of the former SFRY was pointed out, which is the so-called split identity. It is a situation in which entire groups, families, and especially individuals simultaneously belong to two different cultures or national entities. It can be defined as a type of group identity that should make a conceptual but also an essential difference between group and collective identity.
Josip Broz and his attitude towards national identities
Mira Radojević presented her conclusions in front of the team dealing with the issue of Josip Broz and his attitude towards national identities. Prof. Radojević mentioned the noticeable fact that the collaborators from Serbia, in their previous work, opted for topics that cover the entire Yugoslav space, while the collaborators from Croatia and Bosnia opted for topics that concern the role of Josip Broz in “reckoning” with members of MASPOK in Croatia, and the issues of the national position of Muslims in the Yugoslav state.
Collaboration and resistance - divided identities
In front of the team dealing with the issue of collaboration and resistance – divided identities , the conclusions were presented by prof. Dr. Mile Bjelajac . The team focused on issues such as: Different determinations of the day of the uprising, major controversies – Blajburg, Jasenovac, 10. IV 1941 (establishment of the NDH), the Ravnogorski movement, the characters of the occupation by Germany on the one hand and Italy on the other, and the issue of civil authority under occupation, i.e. collaboration with the occupier (Nedić and the Ustashas).
Professor Bjelajac added that the team introduced a new topic in their work that is interesting from a broader point of view, which is the trial of war criminals – the occupiers and their domestic collaborators, after the end of the Second World War.
Bjelajac added that an analysis will be made that aims to see how other European societies that were under occupation during World War II dealt with similar problems.
Political myths and the construction of nations in Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav states
Vjeko Perica and Darko Gavrilović pointed out in front of the team “Political myths and the construction of nations in Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav states” that the work on writing a common narrative has made satisfactory progress. The authors took the first steps in marking myths and counter-myths among Croats and Serbs. They are located in common myths about the chosen people and the promised land, but interpreted in different ways, among Bosniaks, Croats, Macedonians, Slovenes and Serbs.
Vjeko Perica emphasized the importance of diaspora, which is often not a synonym for those who are “outside” but a concept that has its own history. As such, he fits perfectly with the myth of martyrdom and suffering of the people. According to Vjeka Perica, this is the reason why nationalists use the diaspora. And maybe, he added, an inferiority complex – to make us not so small.
Perica pointed out that the influence of Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the elections has been felt in Croatia for years. They were the ones who gave the upper hand and the final decision on who would be the winner.
Conclusions from the meeting "Nations, states and diaspora in the territory of the former Yugoslavia"
At the end of the meeting , Darko Gavrilović and Ljubiša Despotović proposed possible conclusions from the meeting to the gathered scientists. The conclusions came from the presented papers and presentations of the teams within the project “Facing the past – the path to the future”.
To the extent that we want to achieve progress in the study of the mentioned topic, the gathering of scientists in the region, with the support of the authorities, should pay attention to the following problems and let them serve as guidelines and possible new projects for further work on reconciliation:
- the influence of political elites on the creation of national identity
- researching points of historical and political conflict as well as all other disputed issues in the territory of the former Yugoslavia
- research of religious-confessional concepts that influenced the creation of national identity and national states in the territory of the former Yugoslavia
- place, position and integrative function of national minorities
- the influence of political ideologies and political culture on the creation of national identities and states
- the influence and position of the diaspora as a factor of interstate cooperation in the region, but also an analysis of the meaning of the diaspora and its use in the formation of government in the country.
Scientific papers from the meeting "Nations, states and diaspora in the territory of the former Yugoslavia" in PDF format:
- Vjekoslav Perica: Religion and Ethnic Nationalism: The Making of the "Church of the Croats"
- Filip Škiljan: Congress of Serbs in Croatia in September 1945. years
- Milan Ristović: An attempt to construct a "new tradition" and a "national myth": Milan Nedic and the "government of national salvation" 1941 - 1944. years
- Mira Radojević: The people, the state, the regime...
- Adnan Jahić: Bosniaks and the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Saša Marković: Bunjevci between politics and the national project
- Zoran Jevtović: Anticommunism and Orthodoxy in the media of the Serbian diaspora during the 20th century
- Đorđe Stojanović: Ideational formulation of the enemy: the case of Serbia
- Janko Veselinović: Adoption of the Law on Diaspora and Serbs in the Region
- Ljubiša Despotović: Geopolitical function in the process of forming national identities of synthetic nations
- Momčilo Pavlović: Rotarians – Social elite in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
