A "New" Challenge to the Status Quo in Montenegro

“Generation X” is all grown up in Malësia. Who, you ask? Simply put, if you ask this post-communist cohort of young intellectuals who Tito was, you may get a reply straight from a textbook. That is because most of these youth only know about the former Yugoslavia and her bloody wars and venomous demagogues through history books, YouTube, and Wikipedia. In other words, a new generation has emerged, and with it, a new taste for change. In the highlands of Malësia e Madhe a new group has organized under the label "Democratic Forum for Integration" (DFI). They believe that the current political representatives of Albanians work more for their personal interests than to improve the political, economic and social lives of their brethren.

As the newly appointed leader of this civic association, Anton Lulgjuraj offers the same warning that organizations preceding FDI have argued: the citizens of the predominant Albanian region of Malësia are dissatisfied with the general situation their social, economic and political lives.

The fault lies primarily on the political representatives of Albanians, who for the most part serve their own self-interests instead of the constituents they represent. Lulgjuraj cites the absence of a local municipality in Tuz/Malësia as the main culprit for this stalemate, and coupled with skyrocketing unemployment and unbalanced budget revenues have crippled the region.

The head of the Mission Club of Albanian parties in the Montenegrin Assembly, Vasel Sinishtaj, however, expressed skepticism in the objectives of the FDI.

Sinishtaj envisions an organization that will harvest all Albanian political parties into one unit and collectively engage the Montenegrin government for greater socio-political rights in Malësia and elsewhere. However, "yet another association is conceived without any real policy position or platform on real political issues." Sinishtaj is skeptical as to whether their goal is to unite Albanians or create cleavages between an already united front.

On the other hand, Political analyst Dritan Abazović supports the formation of the FDI. He asserts that any group organization that seeks alternative means of articulating their legitimate demands are rightly justified, especially if the status quo has not ushered in any change through the failure of their elected representatives.

Abazović maintains that, "It is especially important to raise awareness about the importance of participation in the social processes. Malësia has a legitimate reason to be dissatisfied and has regressed politically and economically. The political elites have failed to fulfill their requirements as elected representatives and articulate the demands of the citizens of Malësia. Therefore, it is quite logical that such an organization would take birth; it is definitely a welcoming sign, especially if the FDI is founded on democratic principles with the desire to achieve prosperity for all citizens."

Although the names of the members are being kept under tight wraps, it is expected that a press conference will soon identify the rest of the group and their roles thereafter. All we know now is that “a new group of young intellectuals will be seeking change for Albanians in the Malësia region.” A very common declaration that has been undertaken by previous groups, but with little success.

Immediate reaction to the FDI have been mixed. Some are criticizing it as an attempt to alienate the Albanian political parties and their deputies in Parliament. Others have claimed that the group is a collection of college students and young professionals that reside outside Malësia and are "out of touch" with the political process. On the other hand, the FDI is being welcomed as a potential new beginning for the future of Malësia. Many of the members are not tainted by communist-era propaganda and politics, such that have corrupted the current group serving in Parliament and in the Urban Municipality in Tuz. Numerous citizens argue that the self-serving interests of Malesia’s current and former politicians led to the embarrassing defeat of Albanian parties in 2010 that allowed the Slavic-run DPS to usher in their own puppet-masters to govern Malësia.

The FDI seeks to bring legitimacy to the political process and strengthen democratic principles while exploiting the self-serving interests of political elites. Although popularly elected, Malësia’s quasi-government is controlled by the ruling DPS in Podgorica, a strategy put in place by the Dukanovic regime in efforts to stymie any unified front from developing and politicizing. The battle is now two-fold: on one hand you have the DPS levying their political influence to maintain control in a region predominantly Albanian, and on the other hand you have corrupt Albanian officials regulating their egoism first and then the needs of their constituents second.

Montenegro's economy faces serious problems

Montenegro's economy grew at a rate of 2% in the first half of the year, but experts warn the country must immediately curb borrowing to avoid the crushing weight of a debt crisis.

"We are concerned about the pace of increasing public debt … More powerful economies in the EU have experienced major problems because of it," Central Bank Governor Radoje Zugic said.

At 1.25 billion euros, or 45% of GDP, Montenegro's projected total debt is second only to Albania in the region. Public debt rapidly increased after the government issued 380m euros in bonds around the start of the year in order to pay salaries and pensions. With interest, the bond obligation will total 524m euros when it comes due in 2016.

Meanwhile, the government took an additional World Bank loan in the amount of 59m euros earlier this month.

Central Bank data shows that the operations of one in four enterprises are blocked due to their inability to pay debts. As of June, 14,754 companies -- out of 55,602 -- with a combined debt of 302m euros were unable to function.

Similarly alarming is the data on private debt. Of 2 billion euros in total bank loans -- a quarter, or 523m euros -- will likely not be repaid.

Parliamentary Committee for Economy President Aleksandar Damjanovic warns that continually increasing the public debt has not improved the economy's performance or standard of living.

"The fact that the national debt, which in 2006 was about 700m euro, rose more than twice in five years, indicates there is a policy [at work] which can push Montenegro into debt slavery. There is a legitimate concern that we are coming into the danger zone of state bankruptcy," Damjanovic told to SETimes.

Experts agree that to avoid a worsening debt situation, foreign investment -- rather than borrowing -- should be the engine of growth.

"In Montenegro, there is stagnation when it comes to foreign direct investment. In the first seven months, compared to the same period last year, foreign direct investment decreased 38%," Zugic said.

"We believe that tourism pushed up the other sectors," he concluded. Experts say Montenegro needs 300m euros in annual foreign investment to reach a sustainable budget.

One of the ruling Social Democratic Party (SDP) members insists that Montenegro take urgent measures, including a new law to encourage foreign investors.

"They include tax, financial and customs incentives, infrastructure and free use of land," SDP's Damir Shehovic told SETimes.

According to analyst Vasilije Kostic, Montenegro's high dependence on imports, pension fund deficit and social benefits expenditures, coupled with a large state administration, will put constant pressure on the sustainability of public finances.

"The reality is public debt will still increase due to the slowdown of the world's economic recovery, especially in the developed European economies, which affects the development of small economies like ours," Kostic told SETimes.

"It is clear that the problem of debt growth is complex and troubling. We should not forget that the credibility of a state depends largely on the ability to service its debt, especially now," Kostic said.

SEETIMES

Eliza Dushku: "Why You Must Visit Albania"

September 2, 2011

Having the opportunity to travel the world through out my life, I've been to a number of wonderfully exciting places. After visiting 15 unique cities on my most recent trip to Albania (and acquiring dual-citizenship), I wanted to share my experience with Lonely Planet's #1 Travel Destination of 2011.

I'm an Albanian-Danish-American from Boston. Those who know me, know that I take great pride in being a Bostonian. However, I have always been curious about Albania and fascinated by my mysterious "orphan" country, one that was was hardly ever spoken of. My father, Philip, was raised in the multicultural Boston South End, by parents George and Villermini Dushku, who immigrated to America by boat from this small Balkan country in the early 1920's. I never knew these grandparents. They passed on before I was born. I never had strong feelings of attachment to Albania nor to the small city of Korce where they were from but the feelings grew with me. Here is the story.

As I began to garner attention in my acting career, Albanians quickly began to take notice that one of their own was rising in the entertainment world... rare, and I was not a Belushi! Even earlier, someone around home would look at me and say, in an accented voice, "You are Albanian!" And another time the whole family went to see the Italian-Albanian film l'Amerika. When the camera slowly panned over the deck of an old freighter crowded with Albanian immigrants I saw in the close-ups faces very much like my father's, my brother's, and myself.

My first invitation to travel to Albania came in 2004, when I was approached by a well-known Albanian-American photographer, Fadil Berisha, after he tracked me down in New York City where I was performing in an Off-Broadway play. Fadil is currently the official photographer for Rolex, Miss Universe, and Miss USA. He has shot for Elle, Vogue, Mademoiselle, etc. and is very famous amongst Albanians for his vast advocacy work. He told me that my grandparents' "Mother Land" had been calling for me, that I had become somewhat of a national heroine and that he wanted to bring me "home" for a visit. My father, two brothers and I obliged, and our first trip to Albania was both fascinating & exciting. I've seen few places as beautiful as Albania -- located across the Adriatic and Ionian Seas from the heel of Italy -- the country that Lonely Planet named the #1 travel destination for 2011 -- but is also known for its prideful isolation and two full generations of Communism in its belly.

Upon returning home to the United States, I felt something deeper than my initial curiosity. I wanted to "understand" Albania, to try in some way to capture and share the experience we had, the connection we found, with the rest of the world. The idea to make a documentary film about Albania promoting tourism & travel to the country was conceived by Fadil Berisha, my brother Nate Dushku and myself. Once we talked about the film, it had to be done. It became a labor of love. We have been calling it our "Love Letter to Albania." Little did I know, I would return home a dual-citizen of the country.

Now, looking back at the recent weeks we've spent there, I feel foolish for anticipating I could understand Albania in less than a life time, but the process has been exciting, and at the same time humbling.


I can only begin to explain the diversity I found once I tried to take in more than the fabulous beaches, the fascinating mountain villages -- each with its own hundreds of years of stories to uncover. It is an adventure that I am reveling in, realizing that I will go back many more times and still feel superficial saying that at last I understand Albanians.

One could say the same things about Italy, Greece, and Croatia, as those who have been to these richly historic, yet presently exquisite places will attest. Some might begin with a tour ship that ports at different islands, known for black sand beaches or volcanoes -- but if you linger at any place, you discover new and powerful meanings. When I was a little girl during my first trip to Greece, we woke up in a tiny village and walked across the street for breakfast not knowing that we deeply offended our host family by choosing the restaurant on the wrong corner. We unknowingly entered into a dispute going back to the interwar period between fascists and communists. When we asked how this could still matter, we found that to our friends it was as if it happened yesterday. Blind tourist? Or the beginning of a big lesson that came back to me as I sat on a rock on an Albania beach and looked up at an ancient ruin on the mountainside. I knew there were stories to be found, if I could find the right people.

Out of the gate we were determined to make our Albania documentary sleek, stylish, colorful and cinematic. The project would incorporate brazen personalities, stunning imagery and cultural touchstones such as food, music, fashion, sports and nightlife, all the while managing to touch upon Albanian customs and the environmental, socio-economic, and political issues facing the country today. My taste for adventure would set the tone for a fast-paced vacation, which indeed it was.

As we forged through town and country, basking in the sunshine of natural beauty and feeding off the energy of the Albanian people, we could relish the contemporary night spots and sexy boutiques, but we couldn't help wanting more. We stormed the vivacious capital city of Tirana and then the beach towns and islands of the Albanian Riviera, traveling up to the rugged villages of the Albanian Alps and over the border to Macedonia, and to the city of Pristina, the youth-driven capital city of the disputed country of Kosova, all inhabited primarily by Albanians. My travel companions were -- my brother Nate, my boyfriend Rick Fox, our three-man American crew, and an exuberant Albanian entourage of additional cameramen, kind guards, planners and helpers. Luckily our guide was my beloved friend Fadil Berisha, also cousin to Albania's Prime Minister Sali Berisha which helped in providing access to governmental, media, and social outlets throughout the country. We stopped in 15 cities, every spot we savored, and left hungry for more of what we had taken in.

"It gets under your skin." My "Albanian-ness" goes deeper as I spend time there. The more often I go, the more I realize there is more to the story. There are so many stories to tell -- most are full of a kind of ancient mystery that requires a wider and deeper lens. I did feel something quite different on this trip to the "Home Country." After countless conversations with open and passionate people who feel deep ties to Albania, for the first time I could imagine saying that "I know what it feels like to be Albanian." I am coming to understand the complexity of the mixture of pride and sadness over what so many have lived through, or heard repeated in their tender youthful ears by those they loved, about the triumphs and the defeats this nation has experienced -- as individuals and as a community.

Thus, when I was generously invited to become an Albanian citizen, I felt no reluctance. I felt honored and able to accept this gift. I felt even more like who I am. I retain, of course, my American citizenship. I am that, too. But it is no stretch for me to proclaim that as of August 17, 2011, I, Eliza Patricia Dushku, am an Albanian-American.

Tensions build up in Montenegro's ruling party

Podgorica - Years of internal strife within the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which has ruled Montenegro for the past two decades, may finally be exploding into the public eye, a Podgorica newspaper reported Monday.

The newspaper, Vijesti, quoted sources from the government and the DPS as saying that the party's deputy leader and one of the most powerful politicians in the country, Svetozar Marovic, had offered his resignation.

In a letter to the party leadership, Marovic reportedly said that he was ready to step down after he found out that the Montenegrin secret police had been spying on his son, Milos.

Following that, he allegedly threatened to open a full-scale conflict within the party, dominated by longtime former Montenegrin prime minister, Milo Djukanovic.

According to Vijesti, government and DPS sources confirmed that Marovic, a deputy premier until last year, had sent the letter, but refused to make statements about it.

On an inquiry by the Serbian news agency Tanjug, however, Marovic denied that he had written the letter.

Marovic was a key player in the DPS' turn away from Slobodan Milosevic's regime in Belgrade in the latter half of the 1990s and Montenegro's drive for independence from Serbia, completed in 2006.

The DPS was then torn between a wing led by Djukanovic and the former Montenegrin president Momir Bulatovic, who remained faithful to Milosevic. Djukanovic triumphed with Marovic's help.

In December Djukanovic and Marovic resigned from the government, but have continued to seek influence behind the scenes.

Both men were implicated in massive corruption - Djukanovic was investigated in Italy in connection with cigarette smuggling and Marovic was named in scandals related to army procurement while he was president of the rump Yugoslavia.

Igor Luksic, a close ally of Djukanovic, took over as prime minister, with the declared primary goal of securing a date for the start of accession negotiations with the European Union.

Official Census: Albanian population drops to 4.91% in Montenegro

According to census results released today by the Institute of Statistics (Monstat) in Montenegro, 44.98 % of the population reportedly identify themselves as Montenegrins while 28.73% claim to be Serbs. Bosnians make up 8.65% while Albanians drop to a meager 4.91% and Muslims 3.31%. The rest of the population was divided by Croats representing 0.97&, Roma 1.01%, while 4.87% of the population did not want to make a statement in regard to their national or ethnic origin. 72.07% consider themselves Orthodox, 19.11% Muslim, and 3.44% Catholic.

According to the results, Albanian populations decreased in all territories they form a majority (or once did). Bosniaks, for example, are the overwhelming majority in Rozaje now (83.91%), while Albanians form a 70.66% majority in Ulqin. These figures a troubling considering that in the 2003 census Albanians represented 72.14% in Ulqin. In all, there are 30,439 Albanians living in Montenegro today. Additionally, only 5.27% of the population speaks Albanian.

Potential biases with methods used to generate these figures will certainly be investigated upon. Distinguishing between Albanians, Bosniaks and Muslims has previously been a contentious issue and accusations of dividing these groups to maintain control over their influence will continue to be a point of interest to the minority parties.

It will be interesting to see whether the Albanians in Ulqin, Malësi and other regions protest these methods and appeal the results.

Official Results:

Montenegrins (278,865) 44.98%
Serbs (178,110) 28.73%
Bosniaks (53,605) 8.65%
Albanians (30,439) 4.91&
Muslims by nationality (20,537) 3.31%
Roma (6,251) 1.01%

How young Serbs learn to hate

BELGRADE, Serbia ― Young men holding stones and spreading the stink of cheap liquor periodically take over the streets of this capital city. During recent protests, they broke shop windows, burned cars and overturned flower pots, all in the name of defending the patriotic interest of Serbia.

Serbia’s capital has been ransacked twice in the last eight months, in October by opponents of the gay pride parade and at the end of May after Ratko Mladic’s arrest. In response, the Serbian Constitutional Court recently banned "Nacionalni Stroj," a neo-Nazi organization that promotes the concept of race purity and hatred of non-Serbs.

Twelve years after NATO bombs rained down on Belgrade, many Serbians wish to leave nationalist tensions behind and turn Westward, with the hope of joining the European Union. Young nationalists, however, have taken up the cause. According to psychologists, social workers and political analysts, they are victims of manipulation and exploitation from powerful nationalists who work behind the scenes.

The most influential nationalist parties and groups recruit their supporters among the poor, badly educated and unemployed who are younger than 25. They include frustrated teens from working class families, young refugees from other parts of the former Yugoslavia and frenetic supporters of local and national football teams.

Mirko Jovanovic, 23, a participant in a recent protest against a NATO conference being held in Belgrade, said his anger stems from the behavior of Serbian politicians.

“They have forgotten Serbian victims. A year or two ago, they hosted the NATO pilots who bombed Serbia, and now they host the NATO conference, which gathers the biggest killers in the world,” Jovanovic said, sounding like many of the youth who have taken to public squares in 2011 to protest their countries’ leaders. Then his rhetoric took on the tinge of Serbian nationalism. “They even are not afraid of the God, and many of them already pay a terrible price, having their own sick children or they personally suffer from incurable disease. Some of them are even gays. And we know it is one of the most devastating diseases. God has punished them because they betrayed their own people, the heavenly people."

The young nationalists display their fervor by supporting indicted war criminals, such as Mladic. They stand behind stalls plastered with posters of men indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, and shout their names at anti-Hague and anti-European protests rallies. Young Serbian women wear T-shirts illustrated with a war criminals’ faces, while holding the flag of their political party or right-wing organization. While women usually do not participate in riots, they collect information about security forces to warn their male counterparts.

But the leader of one ultra-nationalist group, Mladen Obradovic of Obraz, says Serbian nationalists have an undeserved reputation.

"All those riots you saw after the gay parade and the protest rally in support of Ratko Mladic are the actions of the government and its provocateurs,” he said. Now 30, Obradovic said he became a nationalist at 19. He stresses that Serbs did not commit organized war crimes during the Balkan wars, calling the final count of 8,000 Srebrenica victims Western "propaganda lies."

“Only 2, 500 bodies have been found. Among these bodies there are no women, no children,” Obradovic insisted. “There were killed only men of military age. These are the Muslim soldiers who died during the fighting. Only a small number of them have been blindfolded with tied hands that indicate that they were military prisoners."

Explaining why young people provide support to war criminals Obradovic said that Serbs accused of war crimes are "Serbian heroes and Serbian knights that fought for survival of Serbian people. Young people appreciate that.”

One former ultra-national, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation by his former comrades, said their ideology often strays from nationalism to Nazism. His group’s leaders, he said, distributed Nazi literature.

"As an unhappy, furious and angry teen ... I read Hitler's ‘Mein Kamf,’ thinking that Serbia should follow such a ‘perfect system.’ I believed that Serbs should follow the German ideology, and it spawned the hatred in me toward Slovaks, Czechs and other Slavic people,” he said. “I participated in an organized fight with Israeli basketball fans in Belgrade and I personally demolished a fast-food shop owned by Jews.”

The former ultra-nationalist said that when he became older he learned about “the dark side of Hitler's personality” and rethought his beliefs. But young people continue to join the ultra-nationalists, he said, to defy the establishment.

"They have seen for years that Serbs accused of war crimes are arrested and extradited to the Hague,” he explained. “But what's happening with notorious Bosnian war criminals such as Naser Oric who participated in killing of hundreds of Serbian civilians? They have been symbolically sentenced. It is trigger for young and angrily Serbs to be in solidarity with Serbs accused of war crimes. "

One reason such attitudes continue is that Serbia has not used schools to counter the ultra-nationalist message, said Simon Simonovic, an activist with the Serbian NGO "Europe has no alternative." “Kids grow up in that same education system as generations growing up 90s,” he said.

Schools are not the only venue in which the government seems powerless against nationalist messages. For example, it has been unsuccessful in clamping down on graffiti artists who celebrate war criminals and other law breakers.

The young graffiti artists often work under cover of darkness. To be arrested, they must be caught in the act. Those who would report them fear retaliation. So buildings in Belgrade and other cities boast art celebrating Mladic, Radovan Karadzic, Goran Hadzic and others ― such as Uros Misic, accused of attempting to kill a policeman at a football match, and Miladin Kovacevic, a Serbian basketball player studying in the United States who beat his American fellow student Bryan Steinhauer into a coma. In that case, the Serbian government helped Kovacevic flee the country and refused to return him to U.S. custody. Young Serbs have leapt to Kovacevic’s defense with a Facebook group "Do not extradite Miladin Kovacevic" promoting a different version of the incident than that prevailing in U.S. media.

While the young Serbian recruits often pay a price for their political activities, ending up in prison, hospital or the grave, their political bosses find ways to avoid legal responsibility. Some of the most radical Serbian nationalists have also changed their tune, becoming advocates of joining the European Union.

Some ex-members of the Serbian Radical Party, for example, have established an European-oriented Serbian Progressive Party that supports the arrest and extradition of war criminals. On Twitter they explained their change of heart, saying they have the right to make mistakes and correct them. But in the political race to Brussels they have left behind an army of young people poisoned by religious, racial and national hatred.

Sasa Milosevic

New Montenegro census could spur calls for change

The results may influence tax policy, infrastructure, job creation and the economic and social situation of every citizen in Montenegro.

Montenegro citizens eagerly await the new census results, especially related to national, religious and linguistic data. They are bracing themselves for large figure differences between the current census and the one from 2003.

As census data can lead to increased taxation, the new results could affect school locations, roads, utility infrastructure, shopping centers, banks, businesses and jobs.

"If it turns out that [census results] do not reflect the actual, legal and constitutional reality, the public is not required to adapt to it, but the other way around. It is the state, with all of its systems, that is required to adapt to reality," Deputy President of the New Serb Democracy Goran Danilovic said.

His party, dedicated to the protection of Serbs in Montenegro, thinks that no one would ignore the census results when it comes to national, linguistic or religious structure.

"That does not mean anything dramatic ... We must never get into a position ignoring the situation the people are in and their reality; [therefore] it is important what we put into the constitution as an expression of political will," he explained.

The ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) sees the census results as relevant information for the expansion of social and development policies so they can be effectively and comprehensively applied. Spokesman and member of the DPS Executive Board Rajko Kovacevic said that at a recent party congress a conclusion was reached to strengthen the Montenegrin government and society by overcoming certain harmful divisions.

"The DPS will, with full consideration of the statistics on identity issues, continue its policy of strengthening and affirming the concept of civil society, raise the level of respect for human rights and freedoms on a daily basis," said Kovacevic.

If the census results show that people have become wealthier compared to the last census, and that there are vast differences in housing among individuals, then, Danilovic thinks, the government could change tax policy.

"Adequate taxation of excess and complete implementation of the real estate tax could bring significant resources to the state budget," said Danilovic.

The Podgorica EU delegation says that the census is strictly a statistical issue and suggests that the results will depend on how much of the EU funds will be available for the Montenegro citizens.

"At the EU level, the total population figures are used for the calculation of per capita indicators like regional GDP per inhabitant, which influence the allocation of structural funds," said the EU delegation spokesman Dragan Mugosa.

He added that the figures from the list are important for voting in EU institutions. As it is possible that this is the last census before Montenegro joins the EU, the head of the Union delegation Leopold Maurer earlier said that Brussels will apply the census data for its own policies.

In recent years, politicians mostly applied the census results related to national and linguistic changes for the promotion and implementation of political programs and goals.

Source: SETimes