A little is ours. A little more is someone else's. Ours is a little, and that little is a lot to some of us. A lot because we are determined to preserve that little and because the sense of belonging is more important than ourselves. Vulgarity has always been and will be. Vulgarity multiplies much faster than honor and integrity, but it also flees before the brave who have honor, integrity, and a sense of belonging.
And there are few brave people left. Many are tired, scattered, divided and beheaded. And when they try to come together, they are quickly dispersed. Systematically, thoroughly, planned. Behind the scenes, skillfully and organized. They disperse them, thus defending themselves and their capital because they know that they will be threatened and exposed. Capital is their strongest weapon because few are immune to money, because money, even when it is dirty and stinks, is still money for many.
Montenegro was once a symbol of defiance, freedom and defiance. Today it is a playground where everyone plays, except those who should defend it. Those who should be its bulwark and foundation have become its weakest pillars. Those who should and those who are now building it have become the merchants of its destiny. This is best seen now. It is time that reveals many tricks to us. The people may be naive, but their intelligence and their pride cannot be played with forever.
Our country is torn apart from within. Our identity is being sold in pieces, like cheap goods at a Podgorica flea market. Everyone takes as much as they need, and most of all those who don't care about it. Maybe they care when it comes to interests. Foreigners decide about us, and we pretend that it's normal. We watch as they take away our right to be who we are, and then we gnaw at each other, as if we were our own worst enemies. We gnaw because we are content with crumbs like rats. These same foreigners laugh at us because we can't put our own house in order, and then how can anyone appreciate us and consider us equal? If politicians cared about the people, laws would be adopted in favor of that people and on time, and there wouldn't be chaos around the budget and various party negotiations to the detriment of citizens and state interests.
In addition to the political collapse, the economic situation is equally difficult, if not more difficult. Politicians are full of promises, while the people are in an increasingly worse position. The cost of living is skyrocketing, buying a property is a mental noun for the average citizen. Rental costs are also enormously high. Food prices are so high that people are starting to boycott supermarkets. Although it would be a better idea to boycott the politicians themselves because the only constant in Montenegro is political recruitment and the growth of employment in state-owned enterprises, while private companies have trouble finding workers on the domestic market.
The cause of all price increases is the artificially created money supply through the release of obligations for health insurance and the PIO fund. Higher incomes do not necessarily mean a better and higher quality of life. Instead of investments, people go into debt for consumption. Inflation is fed by this situation, while banks rub their hands and get rich at the expense of the people who pay enormously high interest rates. Wages are nominally increasing, but real purchasing power is decreasing. Citizens are forced to take out loans even for basic living expenses, while the difference between the rich and the poor is increasing day by day. This scenario leads to increased migration of the domestic population and the bringing of cheap labor from less developed places, which can be observed daily in almost all cities in Montenegro.
The country's economy depends on consumption, but consumption is not sustainable if it is not accompanied by real growth in production and investment. Instead of stimulating entrepreneurship and domestic production, we import almost everything and depend on foreign capital, which withdraws as soon as interest disappears. Tourism has become the only economic sector we rely on, while industry and agriculture have been completely neglected. One of the main economic rules is not to put all your eggs in one basket, while all the economic magicians played poker all-in because none of them thought long-term, but with the phrase - it's good as long as it's good for us.
Young people are leaving because they see no prospects, and the state is not taking concrete steps to retain them.
That's why I ask in disbelief.
Where are those who once swore allegiance to this country? Where are those who said that Montenegro and its people were above all else? Some have sold out. Some have given up. Some have retreated, watching everything they fought for disappear. And those who still hold a glimmer of hope in their hands are aware that they are the last in line. The last in line, but aware of the situation. Aware that it is possible, aware that Montenegro can be preserved. Aware that the sails can be raised towards the right path. The path of true light, the path that belongs to it, and that is the dignified life of all people. Then everyone will respect Montenegro, and no one will dispute it.
The question is, can we still say that this is our country? Or has it long since become someone else's?
Can we get it back? And how?
We will not find the answer to that question in political cabinets, in foreign embassies, in big words and cheap promises. The answer lies in ourselves, in those who have not given up. In those who still care. Because if we give up on Montenegro, it will disappear. Not overnight, not in one stroke of the pen or with one signature - but slowly, imperceptibly, piece by piece, until it turns into a memory, into a keepsake, into a myth.
And it's up to us to decide. Will we be the ones who preserved it, or the ones who lost it?
That it is eternal!
The author is an economist
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