While Montenegro is still getting used to the rhythm of political pluralism, the parliament has once again been in turmoil. This time, it is because of the amendments to the Law on the Petrović Njegoš Dynasty, submitted by MPs Stojović and Pižurica. The amendments, which would normally be a legal correction, have become a cause for controversy. The most heated passions were caused by the use of the word "annexation" instead of the phrase "forcible annexation".
It is as if annexation itself is a term of etiquette, and now its use is embellishing historical reality. In international law, annexation means the annexation of territory against the will of the country itself, that is, by force. The word itself is harsh enough, it does not need additional embellishment. But the discussions, as usual, are not conducted for the sake of substance, but for the sake of cheap political marketing.
It is paradoxical that the very people who for years treated the national interests of Montenegro as if they were a product for sale are now playing the role of the fiercest defenders of statehood and history. For years, the rule was: if you are not part of their orbit of interest, you are a traitor. And now they are switching to a new term, and that is the great Montenegrin. Now they want to divide us into great and small Montenegrins. For them, you are a great Montenegrin if you support what is in their interest, and if you criticize you immediately become small.
The first to feel it firsthand were the liberals. Slavko Perović, Aleksandar Aleksić, Saša Marković, Mijo Martinović, Miro Vicković, Ivo Martinović, Vesna Perović, Ljubomir Đurković… In addition to the liberals, the targets were journalists from Monitor and Vijesti. I must also mention the people from Free Montenegro, as well as the team that gathered in the famous Tamatua bar.
This matrix continues today. The most recent examples are Ljubo Filipović and Gordan Stojović. Ljubo, because he dared to save Kraljičina plaža from privatization attacks and to criticize DPS openly, and Gordan because he did not agree to serve tycoon ambitions that were presented as the national interest, but rather acted in a way that he believed was in the interest of Montenegro.
In this moral transformation, which resembles a poorly directed comedy, we have reached the point where even the prince has been attacked because he welcomed the adoption of a law concerning his historical and family heritage. If the prince's opinion about his own dynasty is not valid either, then it is clear how absurd everything has become here. The prince who made a huge contribution to the reconstruction of the state of Montenegro. Who initiated the Cetinje Biennial and the Anti-War Movement.
These amendments to the law are being made due to the failure to fulfill the obligations of those who adopted them. When the law was first adopted, Prince Nikola was in his 7th decade of life, and now, when it is being amended, he is in his 9th decade.
The law returns the castle to the dynasty, provides stable financing and introduces the possibility for a female descendant to continue the dynastic line, which is a serious civilizational step forward for Montenegrin conditions. Instead of talking about it, the debate has been reduced to the old matrix: when you have no arguments, start discrediting.
Montenegro seems to be the only place where the fight for the interests of the state always begins and ends with attacks on those who are actually trying to defend those interests. And where history is often not read but rewritten as needed. And all of this, of course, in the name of patriotism.
Whose is Montenegro?
The author is an economist
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