In the previous period, few words were so underestimated, even demonized by the majority of society, as citizen. And it's not surprising. Montenegro is a deeply divided national society that has not historicized its past. Therefore, Montenegro is a country with a paradoxical state structure. According to the Constitution, it is civil, and in practice, from the subjects to the authorities, it is national. With a small problem. There is no majority nation in Montenegro. In such a social milieu, it is not surprising that the term citizen in the political sense is equated with the terms apostate or traitor. Also, advocates of the civic concept in Montenegro very often do not understand the concept of civic. A classic example for this claim is the current Minister of Education. Namely, the definition of civil society as non-national and hybrid can often be heard in public discourse. A priori open to Western values. And it's not. It is wrong to see a citizen as an individual who runs towards the west and shouts at the top of his voice, I am a European.
It doesn't occur to me to write a manifesto of civil society in Montenegro, but I have to notice. A citizen in the full sense is a nationally conscious person who is also a believer or an atheist. She is aware of her ethnic roots and cherishes her culture and traditions. A citizen is a person for whom the "positive duties of life, in the virtue of helping others" come first. And that is the main difference between civil and national. The national concept, in addition to promoting the values of one's own nation, promotes tolerance towards other nations within certain limits. Is tolerance, i.e. the passive suffering of another nation, a sufficient minimum for the success of society, or should the standard be raised to living in virtue and helping other people? My opinion is that these are the basic conceptual elements of national and civil. A citizen will always individualize his action and responsibility, aware of the virtue that defines him. In contrast, the nation is always a matter of belonging to a collective. We Serbs tolerate Montenegrins and Albanians and are ready for coexistence. Coexistence, not life. It is obvious that there is no sense of responsibility in the national concept of society, and there is a phenomenon of collective guilt.
If the government, which we change for the first time peacefully and without blood, should be established for the general benefit, for the protection and safety of people, the nation or the community and the common good, then I don't know how to establish it except on the civic concept? Because faith or the duty to work and create in this society can be "managed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence." Every citizen of Montenegro is obliged to be guided by these principles. Because all power (executive, parliamentary, judicial) belongs to individual people and is accordingly derived from people, and officials are their trustees and servants who must obey them.
In the end, it should be said that in Montenegro one must start from the beginning, from the fundamental principles of civil society.
Bonus video:
