The Montenegrin police, security and related services are continuing to spill. After, at Vučić's behest, they arrested Serbian students across Montenegro, demonstrating the true measure of their own independence - but also the awareness that stands behind the deportations of the 1990s - and after everything else, which part of the public has long accused them of, they have now decided to deal with texts that they do not like. Literary critics, born. So the writer Brano Mandić found himself targeted for a satirical piece. Proof that no matter how satirical you are in relation to Montenegrin reality, it is not enough. This kind of reality and its creators actually deserve much more... Both anger and imagination.
It will be even more fun if you try to imagine these textological units of the Montenegrin police, how they analyze what was said and what the author meant. How works every line. They must have invented the term “situational event.” Namely, language always becomes a caricature when, instead of revealing, you try to hide something with it, or deceive someone (the public).
However, it is interesting that this kind of police reaction was provoked by Mandić's text - a satirical commentary on a TV appearance by a primitive historian - since the public was mostly disgusted by the specific incident. So the police's involvement in the whole matter represents a scandalous interference where they absolutely do not belong. And it can only be interpreted as an intention to punish the author and to discourage future critics/satirists. The hellish spirit of the village at work.
The case actually became even more interesting when, after a fierce public reaction, a crack appeared in the party-police monolith.
Does the police chief's willingness to reconsider such a decision mean we're getting actors willing to step out of the cliché of dumb cops? (Unforgettable lines) Bran Petrović: The policemen, suffering from mental anguish, are all ready to beat up the mountaineers....) That, of course, should be welcomed. Whether it is the result of intention or some "situational event".
It is an old truth that satire is least welcome and even least understandable in immature societies, where sad, dilettante politicians usually have the upper hand.
However, this is not news at all, Montenegrin political consciousness traditionally reacts badly to satire, and the case of Brano Mandić only proves that this is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. We were not “liberated” from this on August 30th.
But, there have also been unexpected nuances throughout history. Even in the era of so-called party unity, there are examples that testify that there were people with a somewhat broader understanding of things.
Here is an interesting incident from that time. The year is 1980 or 1981. A rainy night in Titograd, an almost deserted street in front of what was then the Fish Restaurant, today Voli in the center. On one side, where taxi drivers usually are, a grumpy and uniformed representative of the people's militia walks. On the other side, however, the poet Ranko Jovovic, drunk and willing to fight. As soon as he saw the policeman, Jovović exclaimed - Down the Party. The policeman looks at him and continues walking. Jovović, again: Down Tito. For both, they were immediately sent to prison, with a beating, of course. However, the grumpy policeman just looked at the poet and continued walking. Ranko didn't give up, he was persistent. Brains: Long live King Peter, down with Tito! The policeman looks at him, then suddenly says: "Shout, shout, Jovović. He'll go away too." Veljko Milatović", so I'll break you when I find you!"
The anecdote clearly illustrates a time and a truly unique political figure. Veljko Milatović, in fact, ordered the police and related services not to touch poets, no matter what they said, drunk or sober. So even those beautiful moments of freedom throughout Montenegrin history were never a consequence of institutional maturation, but of the will of the most powerful politicians.
Well, compare that to today's...
Bonus video:
