Peace, tolerance, reconciliation. Favorite words of Montenegrin politicians. Former and current ones, anyway. While society sinks into divisions. When you listen to them, you think that Europe, especially the one concerned about the strengthening of the radical right, should perhaps ask for admission with us. It would never occur to anyone, while they are talking, that we have, in fact, been waiting for decades for the green light to join the EU, with the same warnings: unsolved war crimes, nothing to deal with the past, institutions trapped, insufficient media freedom, gender equality barely alive, discrimination against vulnerable groups is still present, the rule of law - an unattainable dream.
But words do give away. Regardless of the practiced political speeches given the occasion and with the awareness of what Europe is asking of them, the essence cannot be hidden. It breaks out sometimes in one word. As in the reactions of politicians after the recent incident in Cetinje, when still unknown young men stoned a bus of children from Nikšić who had previously been singing in front of the Cetinje Monastery Serbian storks are happy. Before the stoning, the young men told them to sing those songs they sing in Serbia.
Instead of condemning the incident in a way that means condemning hate speech and spreading national bigotry, reactions to the incident further fueled national tensions and divisions. Abusing children for the umpteenth time. And showing the depth of the problem in which the Montenegrin society finds itself.
Marko Kovačević, the mayor of Nikšić, otherwise a representative of the Democratic Front, which is considered the local right, stated that Cetinje is "fascistized and contaminated", and called on the authorities to find out who stoned the bus with "our children". Otherwise, he said, "the people of Nikšić will do it themselves". The mayor of Cetinje, Nikola Đurašković, from the ranks of the Social Democratic Party, which is considered a civic party, responded to him. However, the dictionary was not on that background. "I sincerely invite you not to use children for your nationalist goals..., provoking Cetinje and the people of Cetinje," he said, adding: "With the wish that the ugly first-times and inconveniences that someone felt and experienced be behind us - I greet you with that of Saint Bishop Peter I , that 'a friend can walk to Cetinje in three hours, but an enemy can never'". All in all: our children, our enemies and other people's fascists. No one recognizes their own.
It is also interesting that from the ranks of civic profiled parties and civil organizations there were assessments that the children who visited the Cetinje monasteries were "abused". Are they? In accordance with the Constitution and domestic legislation, the child has the right to freely express his opinion and enjoy his own freedom of religion. The law requires that a 12-year-old child must be asked if he consents to be included in religious instruction. The fact that the children were in front of the Cetinje Monastery in itself is not enough to conclude that they were abused.
According to research by the Center for Civic Education, in Montenegro, just like in the region, there is a growing trend for young people to turn more and more to religion. However, in parallel with that, there are studies that show that young people in Montenegro do not have the appropriate level of tolerance and sensitivity towards others. The majority cannot imagine friendship with Roma or homosexuals. It is a little better with other minorities. The research conducted by Forum Mne on the resistance of young people to extreme and radical behavior showed that the surveyed Orthodox Christians from certain Montenegrin areas are not able to identify any type of extreme behavior among members of their confession.
Just like their political representatives.
Bonus video:
