Singers

The anecdote says that Zika Pavlovic When he was filming “Hajka” in Vasojevići in the mid-1970s, he had no problem with extras playing Chetniks. Not only did he have as many volunteers as he needed, but they allegedly didn’t ask for a fee or per diem. “We don’t need anything, just to legally sing our songs,” one of them explained to the legendary director.

First of all, I must admit that I fundamentally do not understand why anyone (not even a soldier on sick leave) would sing Chetnik (or related) songs in moments of celebration, joy, or anything similar. First of all, they talk about other times, and they are undoubtedly offensive to a huge number of citizens. It is not that a young man, whether a soldier or not, cannot find a song for his emotion - there is so much comprehensive kitsch in popular music that, one would say, all conditions are covered.

What kind of mood and what kind of fun do these kinds of songs call for?

Montenegro is an unusual country - singing Chetnik songs will cost a soldier his job, and when they do it - mayors, politicians, MPs, educators, nobody cares...

I guess singing quisling and fascist songs is a problem in whatever segment of society it happens - why would such a thing be forgiven in an educator or politician? In their case, the reaction should be even more decisive, and it never is.

Perhaps the real question is: who is allowed to be a Chetnik in this country, and who is not? And why is that, who determines that? (By the way, I remember when later the pennants Đukanović authorities sang the same songs. Equally convinced.)

As much as the news about a soldier singing Chetnik songs is not actually surprising (it is sad or disturbing), some of the intonations in the minister's address Krapović voyage Fejzić are surprising, especially since Minister Krapović occasionally seems like a decent man.

The minister is wrong - the reis did not just "keep quiet". Quite the opposite. But a religious leader cannot do the job of a public prosecutor (although some religious leaders are trying to do that). Because, from the minister's reaction, it seems as if he expected the reis to arrest criminals and disempower the DPS. In Montenegro, politicians constantly expect someone else to do their job. It doesn't work that way.

And how long will the current government keep the ghosts of the past alive and use them to scare those who disagree with them. Thus, those who passed away, in their time, kept the ghosts of the old darkness alive. And then they wondered - where did they come from?

The current ones still act as if they came to power yesterday, and are just rushing in. They have already been in power for enough time that it would be more logical to hear what they have done. We know the past ones well.

The current government's reasoning (and expectations) are unusual in many ways. Despite the thunderous rhetoric, we mostly see smoke screens, shows for the naive public. Arrests for ridiculous nonsense (abuse of official position or unregistered weapons), and quick release, and then they lecture around.

But the minister is right when he emphasizes Islamophobia among criminals close to Đukanović's government. And he recalls, with disgust, one might say, the songs they sing - although the membership might resent him for that. I fear that this Islamophobia is part of a creepy consensus between the old and the new. All the same singers... Regardless of the coalition arrangements.

So, in this society, there is still Islamophobia, and not only is there, but many people don't mind it. The recent white-collar hunt for Turks has shown the true profile of the police and government. But it is important that there are no Islamophobic institutions.

If Žika Pavlović were filming "Hajka" in today's Montenegro, he certainly wouldn't have a problem with extras... And if he needed a main character, he would have a hard time finding one.