This morning, ladies and gentlemen who take care to ensure that everything that needs to be reported is reported to the right person, informed me that Maša, called the Minister, on behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Media - back when Maša the Minister was (really) the Minister of Culture and Media in the Government of Dritan Captain - presented the Draft National Cultural Development Program for the period 2023 - 2027 to the famous - fanfare please: Working Group - and that was right there in the flat and no less glorious Cetinje - the bastion of Montenegrin freedom, statehood, and especially national culture - and that was exactly on March 23, back in 2023.
And even though Maša Minister presented the Draft National Program to the Working Group - the official statement from the meeting listed the names and surnames of all members, as well as all members of the Working Group.
Which, please, does not contradict the fact that I presented in last Saturday's text - that the Proposal for the National Cultural Development Program 2023 - 2027 with the Proposal for the Action Plan for 2023 and 2024 - does not mention the names of the excellent experts who worked on that strategic document - nor the names of the members of the famous Working Group. Before I move on to the merits - one more important note - for the benefit of all institutional and non-institutional entities interested in (national) culture - or rather in the critical analysis of (national) culture - that, therefore, the Government of Dritan Kapetan - or the 43rd Government of Montenegro, if you prefer - adopted the NPRK 2023 - 2027 at the 63rd session, held on August 3, 2023 - and that the aforementioned Proposal for the NPRK 2023 - 2027 was attached to the Statement from the 63rd session - with the Proposal for an Action Plan for 2023 and 2024 - and that this document should in no way be confused with the document entitled the National Program for the Development of Culture 2023 - 2027 - which I dug up on the website of the Government of Montenegro (gov.me) - regardless of the fact that even in that document - which is actually the final version of that whole cheerful (national) story about development of (national) culture by 2027 - they do not mention the names of the excellent experts behind that story.
Speaking of mentioning names - not even in the document titled - fanfare please: Strategy for the Development of Culture of the Republic of Serbia from 2020 to 2029 - are the names and surnames of the experts listed - and there are no names in the document titled - fanfare please: National Plan for the Development of Culture and Media for the Period from 2023 to 2027 - which is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia.
Why is this so, what would Croatian sisters or Croatian brothers say?
This is because the National Plan for the Development of Culture and Media is not, he says, "a personal "project" of a public figure, but rather a state strategic document adopted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia at the proposal and based on the work of the Ministry of Culture and Media."
Following that analogy - which, if you ask me, has no flaws - the NPRK 2023 - 2027 is not a "personal "project"" of Minister Maša - but rather a collective endeavor - and since, I assume, a whole bunch of excellent experts worked on that strategic document - the Working Group aside - there was probably no possibility of mentioning all of them by name - with the obligatory indication, along with their names and surnames, of their areas of expertise.
If that is the case, and it is - then I am surprised that in the document entitled: Methodology for Policy Development, Drafting and Monitoring the Implementation of Strategic Documents - Third Updated Edition, May 2023 - backed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe OSCE/OSCE, namely the Sector for Coordination, Harmonization and Monitoring the Implementation of Strategic Documents Establishing Public Policies - General Secretariat of the Government of Montenegro - which also appears in the role of publisher - it writes nicely - fanfare please:
"The introduction to the document, the imprint, or another appropriate place should include the names and positions of all people who participated in the preparation of the text. Also, if experts were consulted when adopting the strategic document, their names and areas of expertise should also be listed."
Accordingly - in the imprint of the aforementioned Methodology - which, let me mention by the way, ideally follows the Regulation on the manner and procedure for drafting, harmonizing and monitoring the implementation of strategic documents (Official Gazette of Montenegro, 54/2018) - and which "introduces minimum quality criteria for each strategic document adopted by the Government of Montenegro" - the names and surnames of all members of the Editorial Team are listed (there are four ladies and three gentlemen - which means that (also) that Methodology is gendered - and for all money).
Now, why did Maša, called the Minister, respect some of the guidelines given in the aforementioned Methodology - and not others? - perhaps in the previous two editions of the Methodology - the second of which was binding for Maša, the Minister, when drafting Maša's National Cultural Development Program 2023 - 2027 - there was no explicit insistence on stating the names and positions of the persons who participated in the preparation of the text, and the consulted experts - strictly within the field of expertise - which I would not bet on - and which should certainly be trusted.
Let that be your homework...
And finally, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the aforementioned Strategy for the Development of Culture of the Republic of Serbia from 2020 to 2029 states, among other things, that this Strategy, "given that the Republic of Serbia represents the homeland of the Serbian people settled in the region and in various parts of the world, is committed to preserving and connecting the Serbian cultural space, i.e. protecting cultural heritage and promoting the cultural creativity of all bearers of Serbian cultural identity, regardless of where they live."
If we start from the fact that the bearers of the sovereignty of the state of Montenegro are Mrs. "citizen" and Mr. "citizen" - who "hold Montenegrin citizenship" - unlike the Republic of Serbia, which is "the state of the Serbian people and all citizens living in it" - or the Republic of Croatia - which was established "as a national state of the Croatian people and a state of members of indigenous national minorities..." - the following question arises (without a question mark at the end): what, specifically, should the adjective "national" in the title of the National Cultural Development Program 2023 - 2027 refer to - if we know that Montenegro is not a national state...
Find the answer to this question (without the question mark at the end) in the next one - or in one of the following issues of ART Vijesti - and you can also ask Maša Minister - in the meantime...
Bonus video:
