Bill, bill, bill

When is Gabriel Garcia Marquez received the Nobel Prize, he appeared in a white linen suit. This was against all norms and rules of dress, because it was expected that, like all his predecessors, he would be dressed in a tailcoat, with a collar and a bow tie. But none of that, Márquez, like a great smooch, came out in what was his, from his region, from Latin America. A white linen light suit. Gentlemanly magnificent. He gave the famous speech “The Solitude of Latin America”. There are several sentences in that speech that suggest the importance of culture and literature for the emancipation of the state. These sentences contain everything that Montenegrin politicians, blinded solely by money, still do not understand: "Latin America is a continent of loneliness, because the history of our countries was written by foreign powers, not by us. / Dependence on foreign metropolises, the supremacy of local classes, ignorance and backwardness are major shortcomings that are destroying our country. / Our literature and art are a way to combat this loneliness, to find a voice and identity in a world that often ignores us." All of this loneliness that Marquez talks about, its suffering and happiness, was discovered by Latin American writers, and the whole world fell in love with their stories.

In 1961. Ivo Andric When he received the Nobel Prize, he was dressed as expected, formally, but expertly diplomatically. He followed the rules, everything was always on point. But in the speech he gave, he gave the key to understanding literature, the Balkans and storytelling. The title of his speech is “On Story and Storytelling” and can be found in his Collected Works. There are a few sentences in that speech that are terribly precise: “The storyteller and his work serve nothing if they do not serve man and humanity in one way or another.” There are also some other sentences that we should think carefully about: “Everyone tells their story according to their inner need, according to the measure of their inherited or acquired inclinations and understandings and the strength of their expressive capabilities; everyone bears moral responsibility for what they tell, and everyone should be allowed to speak freely.”

Montenegro is a country of storytelling, a country of speech. It was, it was, it was! But it seems that no one in the Parliament knows how to speak anymore. Oratory is at zero. They raise their heads, shout, scream, say nothing. It's the same after the awards are given, words come out that mean nothing. Neither the awardees, nor the jury, nor even those who oppose them know how to speak.

Nothing resonates, unless it's an insult or cynicism. It's the same with protests, this and that. Past and present. Swearing and shouting, too much talk, too much ambition. Everyone wants to be big even though their actions are small. They climb on toes, buckets, ramps, make noise, get angry and act and jump, jump, jump. If the police ever got out of the way, maybe they would both realize how much they are alike. Some used to give their own rewards just as these people do today.

That's why for days we only talk about impressions, we talk about reactions, not actions. Once the work was judged, but now the character. Nobody even mentions the work, it is under B. That's why everything is ridiculous and banal.

Long before the Nobel Prize was established, Seneca planted a thought that is now being confirmed in Montenegro, confirmed even by those who do not know him and have not read him, but who fit his mold: "No one can be a leader if they do not possess inner strength; those who try to do so without it are just putting on a show for the audience." Curtain!