I almost had a fight with an old acquaintance, on the International Day of Tolerance. Partly because of her intolerance, but more because - too often for my age - I let my tongue turn into a saber.
She said that she was annoyed because I stated in an interview with Monitor that education, culture and science are the holy trinity of Montenegrin's future.
- Where do you live, that's not why we went to rallies, nor did the government fall because of that. Do you see that they wanted to take the holy places from us, the rest has already been looted. And you're talking about education and cultural advancement as if we were in Switzerland - she was blown away, I cut her off with two or three Greeks and - cut off the connection.
We ironed out the unpleasant end of the conversation after two days, but not the beginning. Because it is not only a matter of misunderstanding between two acquaintances, but also two parts of Montenegrin society.
We didn't even understand each other for a winter, she was surprised that I didn't come to the processions even though I publicly supported going to the Street, as well as every rebellion against the regime since 1990.
I then tried to explain to her the difference between supporting the struggle for a change of government and supporting the objectives of the Serbian Church in Montenegro, but she did not understand me.
How could it be, when even 14 years after the referendum, the majority of former unionists cannot or will not understand that a vote for the restoration of state independence was not a vote for the survival of state power.
***
However, we agree on one thing. It is true, unfortunately, that education, culture and science were not the reason for overthrowing the regime. But they are, and even more regrettably, the cause of our decline, that is, three decades of decline.
Ignorance, lack of culture, dullness, primitivism... - are ideal grounds for sowing, growing and strengthening divisions. The technique of grafting the new onto the old was improved systematically and systematically, otherwise this kind of government would not have survived even three years, let alone thirty.
If the full historical truth had been taught at school on the basis of reliable sources, and not only partial and mostly on the basis of myths, there would not have been so much hatred for religion and even more hatred for the nation in Montenegro at the beginning of the third millennium.
There is no chance that half-truths and lies from such social networks can be overcome with education and culture? There is, and how. Those who have been encouraged to doubt and think since childhood do not take for granted the views of their authorities - parents and teachers - let alone who knows whose wikipedia, portal and Facebook profile.
***
Instead of bad discussions about the Middle Ages, which causes conflicts even among the best connoisseurs of history, the truth about the end of the past would be more instructive for the generations who do not remember the XNUMXs.
And she says that in 1988/89. no anti-bureaucratic revolution took place, but the seats of the communists were occupied by the nationalists. Full of will for power, not love for his people.
It is also true that depees, as the most massive and dangerous product of that wave, was not created to spread democracy, but to bring Montenegro - into war.
That party was created on the basis of ancient divisions, and it survived this long thanks to their strengthening and the creation of new ones. She was not alone in the wrong mission, but her guilt was the biggest.
At the beginning of the nineties, many people responded to her call to the mob, but only the government had an infrastructure powerful enough for the massive spread of the virus of division and hatred. There is not even a fraction of that truth in Montenegrin textbooks.
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I know, it might be funny for students to learn how the war propaganda from Titograd convinced the people of Novalja that hundreds of shells had already fallen on them. Or how the people of Dubrovnik themselves demolished old palaces and cathedrals in order to disgust the world about honorable and honest Montenegro...
Nothing, they would stop laughing when they were presented with the consequences of that war. And they would always remember how much forcing their nation costs in the dead and displaced. Plus burnt cities and a destroyed economy, and then the looting of everything that has passed, along with the smuggling of weapons, oil, tobacco, drugs...
There are no such leaders, neither from the government nor from the opposition, who could convince them of stupidity similar to these forgotten ones. Not even in the biggest of all lies that at least a fifth of Montenegro still believes - that the war for peace was waged for the defense of the Serbian people, and not for the wealth and power it brings.
***
It's not only the depees who are to blame, the communists also manipulated the masses before the AB revolution? Yes, platitudes about one leader and one party have been instilled in everyone since childhood, without which there is no way to a bright future. But hatred towards everything else and different, especially not towards another's nation or religion, was not inculcated.
Communism fell after the Berlin Wall in other countries as well, but their leaders and so-called the social elite used this historic opportunity to fight against all forms of unanimity, not only party but also national and religious.
The self-proclaimed democrats woke up not only the divisions of 1941-45 in Montenegro. but also deepened those of 1918... Strengthening misunderstanding and inciting hatred by constantly re-electing the beloved nation and church until August 30.
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In the meantime, the government emptied the plates and pockets of the population. Combined with mass impoverishment and brainwashing, it was a winning combination to strengthen the subject mentality and kill the desire for rebellion.
By rebellion, of course, I mean the struggle for freedom for everyone, not just for like-minded people or people of the same religion or members of the same nation...
We lived through, and not just watched, two acts of that drama in which two nations played the main role. Alternately, for fifteen years.
It is not safe to open the third season of such a national theater even for fifteen months. The actors and the audience might have a chance to survive it, but Montenegro - difficult. Certainly not within these limits...
PS Is it just me, or does the new government persistently continue along the ecclesiastical sidetrack of depees, only in the opposite direction? Not exclusively Orthodox live here, nor only worshipers/believers of one church. Referring to the Christian tradition is not a mitigating circumstance, due to the fact that almost a fifth of the population was raised in the Islamic way, and much more in the atheistic and agnostic way. Part of that tradition is not only prayers and the ten commandments, but also the negation of scientific knowledge, throughout history and today. And some human rights, especially children's, in the violation of which parents also help by denying them the opportunity to choose their religion after coming of age...
Bonus video:
