We live in a time and in a country where examples of heroism and honesty of people like Vidoje Žarković are forgotten, and Chetnik butchers, priests who killed partisans and their families with machetes are declared saints.
This was said by the former President of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, at the international meeting dedicated to the image and work of Vido Žarković.
He said that the symposium on Žarković, one of the most prominent Montenegrins of the 20th century, has additional value because it is being held "in a time of too quick forgetting of the great results of the brilliant victory over fascism in the Second World War."
"In the time of the crisis of the idea of a united Europe, the time of the arrogant onslaught of right-wing policies and cheap populism in Europe and the world, which swept both Montenegro and our region. Unfortunately, we live in a time and in a country where examples of heroism and honesty of people such as was Vidoje Žarković, a man who came from the Durmitor area, where, as he writes, people only had an abundance of honesty, one of whose grandfathers died in Shkodër, and the other as a komite killed partisans and their families. It's as if, I believe temporarily, we forgot about the stories that were a kind of lessons about the homeland, about freedom, morality, about courage and heroism, and about the shame of treason, which Vidoje, as he wrote in his childhood, was inspired by, said Đukanović. .
Žarković, Đukanović pointed out, included himself in the legendary list of Montenegrin July 13 insurgents and liberators responsible for the success of the National Liberation Struggle of Yugoslav partisans, as well as for the restoration of the Montenegrin state and Montenegrin national identity within Yugoslavia. He also said that Žarković is one of the most responsible for the economic revival, institutional and democratic development of Montenegro, as well as for the prosperity and affirmation of the SFRY.
Đukanović said that as a student, a member of the Central Committee of the SKJ, he met Vidoj Žarković at a time when he was performing the most responsible party and state duties in Yugoslavia and Montenegro.
"Yugoslav society was already entering a deep economic and political crisis, but the bloody disintegration of the common state was not yet foreseen, nor were the processes that would soon change the political configuration of Europe and the world clearly seen and understood. The combination of circumstances made these processes marked the end of the brilliant political career of Vidoj Žarković and the very successful generation of post-war political ascetics in Montenegro they inevitably carry a feeling of bitterness for the people who leave the political stage, but also a warning and understandable fear for those who are just entering it, especially in an environment such as the traditionally Montenegrin one, prone to revolutionary upheavals, with a lack of respect for those who leave and an excess of unfounded trust towards those which he does not know and who are yet to come. An environment that does not favor the development of a culture of gratitude even towards the most deserving", said Đukanović.
He stated that great people are great even when they leave, and that Žarković is one of the best examples of that.
"He continued his life guided by faith in the same ideals that drove him to great hardships both through the war and in the years of peace and prosperity, unreservedly devoted to the good and progress of his Montenegro, prudently saddened by the epilogue that the Yugoslav idea experienced. I can proudly say that we although they are generations apart, after a short time they got closer and built a friendly relationship, with full mutual respect. It was not difficult, because I had the feeling that Vidoje was eagerly waiting for the first hint that Montenegro would get out of the political nightmare in which it found itself thanks to irresponsible nationalist policies. bigger and more influential in that bad time of the end of the Yugoslav state, as well as because of the absolute inexperience of the new state leadership to adequately position itself in the processes that were generated by major geopolitical changes, primarily on the European continent.When he saw the first such signal, he did not hesitate to show his readiness to support the awakening and sobering up of Montenegro, to make available to it all his enormous political experience, to help us enter the temptations, which he knew would be brought by turning to our national interests, as ready as possible and to lead Montenegro out of them with as much as possible fewer new scars. I felt, it is not an exaggeration to say, a kind of political parentage that Vidoje radiated towards me and everyone who was an actor in that demanding and risky turn that Montenegro entered at the end of the first half of the last decade of the 20th century".
He also added that Žarković had the breadth to understand that not only individuals but also nations and states are woven of virtues and vices, that everyone's life alternates with ups and downs.
"He possessed and radiated optimism that where there is a moral substance, as in Montenegro, after a setback, one must again take off. Not to mention the deeply emotional descriptions of his relationship with his mother, his brother Luka, who died early, uncles Jevrem and Radoj Dakić, who they reveal a different sensibility than partisan and statesmanship".
Đukanović said that both as a boy, the youngest fighter of the 4th Montenegrin Proletarian Brigade, and as one of the most prominent political and military leaders of Yugoslavia, and as a former official after its disintegration - Žarković was a great man.
"As a 14-year-old, with a rifle in his hand while they were forcing him to return home, he knew how to snap at Moša Pijade and Sava Kovačević and Ivan Milutinović and Savo Orović and Stana Tomašević; to refuse the offer of his uncle Radoj Dakić to send him to school to the Soviet Union, although, as he says, he would have been happy if that offer had come from someone else. How relevant is his testimony about the Montenegrin divisions in the war, the reflections of which are still alive today. About how Montenegrin partisans and Montenegrins came to Bosnia Chetniks. How both wore Montenegrin hats and sang the same Montenegrin songs, quoted Njegoš... but in everything else they were two different worlds".
As a statesman, Đukanović added, Žarković belonged to perhaps the most prolific Montenegrin political generation.
"Of course, they benefited from the post-war period of stability and the unquestionable authority of the government to which they belonged. However, this does not call into question the fact that from 1945 to 1990, led by that generation, Montenegro achieved gigantic progress in overall social development and to a significant extent overcame the huge gap of backwardness compared to other republics in the SFRY. This particularly refers to the construction of state, scientific, academic, educational, health, cultural, media and other institutions that contributed to overcoming the severe consequences of violent annexation and state discontinuity at the end of the First World War It was also a time of international affirmation of Montenegro and its champions. Vidoje was great when the seething nationalism and wandering of Montenegro in the 90s tried to challenge all that. As an unquestionable human greatness, his resignation did not lead him into conflict with Montenegro. On the contrary, he did everything to help her to be summoned as quickly as possible".
Đuaknović also pointed out that Žarković deserves the best memory and the deepest respect of his Montenegro.
"And the political generation to which he belonged owes immense gratitude for the reliable foundations of an anti-fascist, civil, European and prosperous Montenegro whose architecture will be built upon by its new generations," Đukanović concluded.
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