"HUMANE" CONFISCATION

written at : 13.09.1995 22:54:44 W+1

An Initiative of the Tivat Patriots

PN: The news that unidentified "citizens of Tivat" intend to make an inventory of all the vacant premises in the city so as to accommodate refugees from Kninska Krajina, once again shook the public in this nationally mixed community.

TEXT: "THE LIST OF VACANT HOUSES" is the title of a seemingly insignificant piece of news at the very bottom of a page in "Pobijeda" paper dealing with the "accommodation of people from Krajina in Montenegro". Much more important is its essence which reflects the chain relation that exists between the tragic events that befell these people, who are paying the bill of the current power-hodlers, and their politics on all the warring sides, which after all that has happened still shamelessly claim that it is not so.

The exodus of the Serbs from Krajina in terms of the misfortune which befell these people left no one indifferent. But, it once again unmasked all the hypocrisy of sympathy embodied in the humanitarian aid behind whose revebrations are political projects aimed at using the misfortunates for the settling of the Serbs in the critical areas and a show-down with the non-Serb population. In Montenegro, to which approximately 1,500 refugees have come, this process is only in the initial stage, in contrast to the larger federal unit.

Daily reports on the pages of daily papers on the aid collected for the exiled (maybe it would be fairer to call them the evacuated), with emphasis on the names of individuals and firms, as well as kilogrammes and grammes of flour and ice-cream donated, are not only an insult to the dignity of those for whom it is intended, but are also supposed to provoke a feeling of guilt in those whom these same authorities have reduced to a situation of social poverty, for which there is no aid, or in those who justifiably think and publicly demand that such hypocrisy should be replaced by concrete political action aimed at returning these unfortunate people to their homes, guaranteeing their fundamental human rights and freedoms.

In the absence of a clear political stand of the Montenegrin authorities on this issue, in addition to the statement of Prime Minister Djukanovic that "our interest is not only to protect the territory from devastation, but also from the influx of refugees", the citizens of Montenegro were also caught by surprise with the news on the preparation of the "CENSUS OF HOUSES" which the Belgrade dailies took over from the Montenegrin papers.

Just as more careful analysts would assume, Tivat is in question, wherefrom the correspondent of "Pobijeda" recently reported the following: "As every day brings new refugees from the Republic of Serbian Krajina the citizens of Tivat came out with a proposal to register all the vacant premises in the town. There are many empty houses, as well as assembly clubs. The citizens of Tivat propose that weekend-houses and flats that will be vacated at the end of tourist season, also be registered..."(!!!)

It is precisely this piece of news from this town, which is the central part of the nationally mixed Boka Kotorska, which will show all the misery and malice of individuals and groups for whose destructive actions the current regime creates space in these inflammable parts. And all that under the guise of "humaneness". The gross abuse of the term "citizens" which can mean two or five of them, shall serve to promote a very dangerous initiative, to which no political factor, organization or association dared put its signature. Not even a group of citizens, but precisely "the citizens of Tivat".

Perhaps only this deception made this piece of news worthy of being published in the media because, if ideologically supported by the daily paper which is controlled by the authorities, the intention would get its official patron. The attack of the Tivat "census-takers" on the constitutionally protected, inviolable private property, albeit in the form of an initiative, only confirms rumours in the city that lists are being made of the houses whose owners let them to tourists during the summer. Perhaps that is why the news on the census is being mentioned at the end of the tourist season. In-between the lines of what the citizens of Tivat have been talking about in fear for days and, what is worse, even expecting, and this "casual" story, one might intimate that the houses of the Montenegrins of Croatian nationality might be in question, which would be an even more perfidious way of settling scores than the one resorted to in Vojvodina.

It is completely irrelevant whether the Belgrade settlement Krasici near Tivat or the elite district on the top of cape Seljanovo would also be registered, just to mask the fascistic moves. Had the sequence of moves been reverse this project would nevertheless have rocked the Montenegrin state to its very foundations, as its Constitution guarantees property rights and in Article 45 specifically prescribes: "No one can be deprived of property rights nor can his property rights be limited, except when it is in the public interest determined by Law..." Despite everything that has befallen the citizens at the hands of these authorities, the very idea that on one side private property is protected, while on the other it is "inventoried" and that of persons of "selected" nationality used for "humanitarian accommodation", is too hard to stomach.

The experiences from 1991 and 1992 when waves of refugees were coming in from Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina best show how euphoric and politically coloured humaneness is reflected on the political relations and economic status of both the hosts and refugees in comunities fraught with numerous difficulties. The whole staff of the Navy which was withdrawn from Croatia, was billeted in Boka, more specifically in Tivat. The transformation of the army from a group of refugees into a factor of political control in Boka and its integration into the local population was characterized by a number of important features.

Frustrated by the events, the loss of property and initial failure to adapt to the new environment, also fueled by the process of the ethnical cleansing of the military ranks, the local chauvinists gradually turned to the citizens of Croatian nationality thereby inevitably heightening tensions in the region. The electorate was rapidly enlarged by this group which, for example, in Tivat significantly strengthened the so called Serbian block. The uncontrolled pulling out of hand arms and ammunition that once belonged to the war harbours, triggered off their reselling to the civilian population and arrogant behaviour. The influx of civilian refugees from Bosnia caused a demographic explosion in Herceg Novi.

Out of fifteen thousand newcomers of Serbian nationality, the majority managed to obtain identity cards in Herceg Novi very soon. Their number was far smaller in Tivat, but many have fitted into the business and political scenery with amazing speed. The refugees filled in the vacant positions of directors, teachers in schools and journalists in front of Radio Tivat microphones.

The use of the assembly clubs' premises for the accommodation of refugees, which the Tivat "census - takers" also mention, has already proved that humane urges are of equal duration as the national euphoria, while the needs of refugees last much longer. The luxurious resort of the firm "Elektro Srbija" from Kraljevo in Tivat includes 30 fully furnished flatlets, out of which eight were given to refugees four yars ago. The moment depression turned into aggressiveness, all the remaining were forcibly broken into and inhabited. The refugees' action met with the support of the local "humanists", several of whom forcibly moved in together with the refugees. At that time the police only registered that these apartments were broken into.

Problems started when the Serbian firm demanded that the apartments be vacated after being used for over three years. The refugees refused to be accommodated in the collective center, provided in the meanwhile in a Niksic resort for workers, because of the poor conditions prevailing there. The state intervened and the case ended up in court, which ordered the eviction of most of the flatlets. The same police which once only registered that the apartments had been broken into, assisted and the present ambulance car added a tragicomic dimension. The reason was a previous case of eviction which did not succeed in the first attempt because some members of the families to be thrown out were suddenly "taken ill" so that the state now wanted to preclude such a possibility.

The morbid idea to make a list of vacant houses and flats of which there are "many in Tivat" as the initiators know well and which they will probably divide among themselves, is currently being carried out in practice. A new wave of evicting Croats is a certainty, as testified to by applications for identification papers submitted to the District Office of the Catholic church. Fear is prevailing not only in this national group, but also in all civic minded people, namely that if the authorities allow anyone to make inventories of private property and assess surpluses even worse things will soon follow. They might even start assessing surplus housing space per person.

For the time being there have been no official statements in this connection. Those who realize its gravity and danger are carefully awaiting the first steps for its implementation. We learn that the Communal Board of the Social Democratic Party has requested to be officially received by the Head of the Security Department of Tivat. It seems that this piece of news has only added to the set of civic problems they wish to discuss. They are still waiting for the Department Head to reply. In their release the liberals of Tivat expressed their opposition to the problem of the refugees being solved in this way and are drawing attention to possible violations of the Constitution and the destabilization of the situation in Boka.

These modern confiscators from Tivat, hiding behind the term citizens, have once again managed to stir the public opinion and heighten already existing fears. What is more important is how the authorities see this attempt. The post-war ones, in communist Yugoslavia, confiscated in the name of the perverted idea on "equality". The "old" ones, toppled in the "anti-bureaucratic revolution" prescribed confiscation by the Criminal Code as punishment for those convicted to close arrest - namely seizure of part of their property.

The present authorities are silent for the time being. Have we all been convicted according to the Criminal Code?

Beba MARUSIC