Our public opinion is full of platitudes that say that Montenegrin citizens are indifferent to their problems and that there is not enough civil disobedience among them. The ruling elite usually has an attitude about the rebellion that it is anti-state inspired, and that all social problems should be solved within the institutions.
As a result, an atmosphere of passivity is created that exudes general pessimism, so the majority of citizens are convinced that changes in Montenegro are unlikely to happen. That is why the "Montenegro spring" will not take place in Slobode Street or in front of the Government building, but in coffee shops, where instead of banners and cheers of dissatisfaction, the menu will include - Đľľ coffee or small espresso. Many factors are responsible for this situation, and one of the decisive ones is certainly the immutability of the government and the ruling experience of our "pharaohs".
A crisis of democracy thus leads to a crisis of institutions, and a crisis of institutions leads to the collapse of ethical norms on which a community rests. To make things even worse, the "Curse of Oblivion" took care of it, i.e. - DAMNATIO MEMORIAE (Latin expression that means the prohibition of memory, in the sense of "expelled from public memory"). In the Roman Empire, it was a type of posthumous punishment imposed by the senate on the occasion of treason or some other state crime. Its purpose was actually to erase every trace of memory or existence of the person against whom the sentence was pronounced.
And while the Romans dealt with traitors and enemies of the people in this way, we in modern Montenegro are doing it with heroes of freedom and personalities who occupy a special place in the Pantheon of our greats. As one of the most striking examples of this, the attitude towards the personality of Žarko Marinović could be singled out.
This true fighter for freedom and icon of student resistance is completely marginalized in our education system, so younger generations know almost nothing about his character and work. The same is the case with the media, which once a year on some side page mention (I will paraphrase the lines of our great poet Les Ivanović) "that he also lived among us".
Žarko Marinović was born on July 20, 1911 in the village of Ocinići, near Cetinje, in a poor peasant family. He finished elementary school in his hometown, and high school in Cetinje. During his high school days, he became familiar with Marxist ideas and actively participated in distributing communist leaflets and organizing student strikes.
After finishing high school, he went to study law in Belgrade, where he joined the "Advanced Student Movement". Žarko's activity came to the fore in the April demonstrations of 1936 on the occasion of the student strike against the seduction of the university police. The then Yugoslav government led by Milan Stojadinović wanted to suppress this rebellion at any cost, which was inspired by the ideas of the banned Communist Party.
When the police, supported by members of the organization ORNAS (Organization of National Students), tried to take possession of the university buildings and prevent a strike, there was a conflict, the fiercest and most tragic of which was in front of the building of the Pathology Institute of the Faculty of Medicine. As a result of the confrontation between the students and the police, a man from Ornas named Slobodan Nedeljković attacked the law student Jovan Šćepanović with a knife. Žarko Marinović ran to defend his friend, but Nedeljković stabbed him twice with a dagger, which were fatal.
That's how Žarko Marinović died and became a "symbol of the student struggle". The day of his martyrdom - April 4, was declared as Students' Day, and he also found his place in the Alley of meritorious citizens of the city of Belgrade (1972). In the communist era of Yugoslav history, a lot of work was done to affirm Žarko's character. The student dormitory in Belgrade bears his name, every April 4 students and distinguished professors of the University visited the memorial plaque with his image, and educational and cultural institutions organized a large number of scientific gatherings dedicated to the "ideas of advanced student struggle".
Older generations remember how, as high school students, they laid wreaths on Žarko's grave and evoked his memory with suitable verses. However, the communist government tried to present Marinović as a fighter for the ideas of the Communist Party, and not as an icon of the ideas of freedom and rebellion, that is, student disobedience. If by any chance Marinović had died as an Ornas citizen, Nedeljković would probably have been celebrated as a hero.
Thus, Žarko's sacrifice was used for ideological purposes, and it is known that every non-democratic ideology rests on examples - how they die for an idea. However, what must be acknowledged to the old communists is the promotion of the ideas of the student struggle, even if it was colored.
These new communists of ours ("democratic" minded "socialists", who with communism only have a common vision of a one-party organization of the state) did not inherit this practice. Today in Montenegro, no student dormitory bears the name of Žarko Marinović, there is no bust of him, no street or school with his name. That is left for phantom investors who will make Montenegro very "competitive".
While preparing the material for the column, the author of these lines conducted a survey in the Cetinje high school at the beginning of May of this year and came to worrying results. The respondents were high school graduates who are starting university in September. The questionnaire contained photographs of Žarko Marinović and Ljubo Čupić with several questions. Out of 100% of those surveyed, no one knew how to recognize this first, no one knew when the Students' Day is celebrated in Montenegro and no one knew in whose honor it was and why that date was introduced. (Ljubo Čupić fared better, so he was recognized by 73% of respondents in the unique picture "that went around the world", where this Montenegrin Che Guevara looks at death with a smile).
So, we see that our education system has completely erased the character of Žarko Marinović from memory, so future freshmen go to study "harmless and unarmed". This act of banning memory reminds us of the words of the protagonist from the novel "Prague Cemetery", the Italian writer Umberto Eco: "When we gain power, we will remove from the education program all subjects that could stir up young people, we will make them obedient youth who love your ruler... We will erase from human consciousness every memory from previous ages that could be unpleasant for us. With methodical education, we will be able to remove the remnants of that independent thought..."
And because we have always been incapable of honoring our heroes, then it seems necessary that we continue to observe how others do it. The symbol of the student rebellion - Jan Palah, who set himself on fire in Prague as a sign of protest against the occupation of Czechoslovakia by members of the Warsaw Pact - after the fall of communism, the Czechs posthumously honored him with a bronze cross, which they erected at the place of self-immolation next to the National Museum, and renamed the nearby square after him honor, while Czech astronomer Luboš Kohutek, who left Czechoslovakia immediately after the Soviet invasion, named the asteroid discovered on August 22, 1969 "Palah". And now, while Palah travels through the infinity of the Universe, we still trample on our icons, tirelessly spreading the word about who is behind any kind of rebellion in our country - Montenegrins or Serbs?
Žarko, I'm sorry, because we don't know what we're doing.
Bonus video:
