TO STAY OR TO LEAVE

Croats in Montenegro

Summary: Radio Tivat was recently prohibited work by the decision of the republican secretary for information. The main reason - the decision of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro which proclaimed illegal the decisions on the introduction of receivership in the INDOK centre could not be enforced because about a hundred Serbian patriots blocked the entrance to the Radio building. According to an opposition leader, the Croats, who until recently accounted for a half of the population of Tivat, linked their fate to that of the Radio. The invasion of people from Herzegovina and Krajina changed the "blood count" of Boka - the new comers once did everything to fit in that multi-national environment, and now it is the opposite - the foreigners are dictating their customs. The most responsible, ruling party, is trying to blame the opposition, i.e. "Serbian and Croatian nationalism" for everything. The local DPS leader says that there is nothing strange, let alone worrisome in the moving out of the Croats from Boka, for simply, he says, people go where they think they will be better off.

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Exactly at noon, on June 22, the work was prohibited of Radio Tivat by a decision of the Montenegrin Secretary of Information, until the decision of the Constituional Court of Montenegro is carried out and all consequences of temporary measures removed (introduced eight months ago by the then president of the commune, who is also one of the leaders of the People's Party in this town, in the INDOK center here).Nothing has changed to date. The creators of (Serbian) Radio Tivat, who in a night charge this winter "freed" this station, probably for recreational reasons, come to work, while 15 expelled workers of the INDOK centre continue sunbathing. Their attempt to return to work on June 4, following the decision of the Constitutional Court, was prevented, in the presence of the authorities, by two hundred vigilant Serbian patriots.

The last degree of fear

The situation in Tivat is otherwise "regular". The authorities have not been constituted for seventeen months now; after the until recent mayor Ljubo Samardzic left to become a legend, a new mayor was not elected; another thirty Croats have obtained the necessary documents to enable them to leave, and no one knows whether , when and how the fired journalists will return to work. In technical terms, a solution is in sight. A new law on information is to come into force this month. Radio Tivat will most probably become an independent public enterprise, Parliament will in conformity with the ratio of forces appoint a new governing board, the director and editor in chief and the fired workers will, according to the optimistic version, be put on posts where they will do the least harm. A typhoon has struck Boka and no one here harbours any illusions that Radio Tivat can be restored to the "previous state".

As soon as the Serbian Radio Tivat was established, the president of the People's Party of Montenegro, Dr. Novak Kilibarda explained this venture in simple terms: the victorious Serbian block in Tivat did nothing that the ruling party did not do where it has a majority. Ugly, but true. The inhabitants of Tivat felt, on their ears, what it looks like when Serbian parties copy the model of informing of the Democratic Party of Socialists. The president of the "liberals" here, Rade Kusevija, warns that he is not joking: "The inhabitants of Tivat used to return from Serbia with the feeling that they had rested a bit from the marches of the guard of King Peter". The rest of the programme was more instructive - the unconscious people of Boka had to get it through to their thick heads that the time has come for "Serbian Boka finally to become Serbian". That was, before the elections, promised by the coalition of Serbian parties (the People's Party, the Radicals and SNO) and in the meantime shown that it was in earnest. No Croats hold public posts in Tivat any longer, and their number is decreasing in the neighbourhood and in the street. They are leaving silently, like culprits, which is a reliable sign that the last degree of fear has started to reign.

Strict censorship

A sound partner is this job is the police. Looking for "Ustashi organizations" they zealously search not only Croat houses, but also Catholic churches throughout Boka. Nevertheless, individual violence is not the main reason people are moving out. The Croats of Boka are leaving for fear of disappearing. Everything belonging to them is under suspicion and has been proclaimed Ustashi. The only thing that has so far survived censorship, and which reminds that they too have been living here for some centuries is the "Musical Educational Society". Thanks to such an environment, the songs of Dalmatian singers could not be heard on Radio Tivat even when they were freely played in Podgorica.

The leader of the Socio-Deocratic Party in Tivat Krsto Boskovic says: "A vast number of Croats have identified their destiny with the destiny of Radio Tivat. If the decision of the Constitutional Court is not implemented hopelessness will prevail. The moving out will acquire epidemic proportions. Irrespective of how they declare their nationality - Montenegrin, Croat or Serb - the inhabitants of Boka could still,at the local Radio, recognize and remind themselves that diversity is the best name for Boka". It seems that shows on the culture, tradition and customs of the inhabitants of Boka have inspired the orthodox ones here to make up rumours of "Croatian new speech" on the radio. One can only imagine what would have happened if anyone in Radio Tivat, where the largest concentration of Croats in Montenegro exists, had made use of his constitutional right and spoken in the Croatian language."It embarrasses me to admit to myself", says Neven Stanisic, director and editor in chief of Radio Tivat, before the coup "that I am guilty of being a Croat. I wish it were not so, but they could not find anything else wrong with me. I know that they will not let me return to my old job. After all, I don't want to. I hope that at least the cleaning staff and receptionists will get their old jobs back". Montenegro should be able to do that much.

The transformation of ancient Boka into Serbian land was done thoroughly and with no reluctance. Tivat has become the base of the fleet withdrawn from the Croat part of the Adriatic and of angry Serbs from Bosnia and Krajina who obviously do not suffer from any complex of newcomers. "Whoever came here, fitted into the ways of Boka and its inhabitants. This is the first time that we have the opposite - those who are coming trample its authenticity", says Rade Kusevija. Tivat is full of kiosks and grocery stores, as if a flood had deposited them in the centre of the city. It looks less and less like its old self. The old song of Boka "My Olive Tree was Left Unpicked" has given way to a worried looking lover who, over an open bottle of beer solves the secret of life: "What is it in my veins that drives me to other women".

Without an alibi

A void is left behind the Croats leaving Boka. Those who are still there say that no one is sure any longer whether Boka will survive this invasion. The representatives of the Montenegrin opposition point out that behind all that is going on in Tivat is DPS - the ruling party of Montenegro. In the Tivat parliament, out of 31 delegates only 12 are from the Serbian coalition and no decision can be made without the support of some of the opposition parties. Whenever it was necessary, the DPS Deputy Club either supported the decisions of the ruling block or pretended not to know what the whole thing was about. For example, when the programme of the Serbian Radio Tivat stopped broadcasting, the representatives of this party behaved as uninterested listeners, and left all the glory for the carried out operation to the Serbian parties.

The main ideologist od DPS Svetozar Marovic from Podgorica explained to the people that two nationalisms are directly opposed in Tivat - the Serbian and the Croatian ones. He accused the Socio-Democratic Party of being a camouflage for Croatian nationalism. The fact that the Croats in Boka are a minority in all the communes, even in Tivat, that they are the only national community in the former Yugoslavia which during the general upheaval did not create a national party, that they do not have a single scientific, cultural or even folk association with their national symbols, and finally that there are only 1.2 percent of them left in Montenegro cannot be a sufficient alibi.

DPS started conquering, in Tivat also, its favourite middle position - "in between the two extremes" and nothing can stop it. How does the heroic struggle for peace and tolerance look like in practice can be best testified to by the President of the Communal Board of DPS there, Branislav Obradovic. "I have heard of the accusations that the Croat language is used on the radio, but I don't know whether they are true as I have never listened to that radio, only sometimes. I also know that the Croats are moving out, I don't know how many of them have left, but I am sure that it is not a large-scale phenomenon. People are going to Croatia and everyone has the right to choose the place where he wants to "live", says he in a tolerant tone. Since everything is normal, the Communal Board had no need to discuss it. Regarding the extraordinary measures in the INDOK Center Mr.Obradovic also had a very definite opinion: "The President of the Commune, who is even not a member of our party, introduced them. I am sure that some compromise will eventually be reached, but whether the expulsed journalists will return to their jobs - that I don't know."

It is freezing this summer in Tivat.

Esad KOCAN