The vestiges of anti-fascism are still present in Montenegro today, almost eight decades after the Second World War ended, but in recent years historical revisionism has also been very visible through political representatives in the public discourse.
The attitude of young people towards the anti-fascist heritage and what the culture of anti-fascism memory represents is also special, which is one of the more serious challenges of Montenegrin society.
These statements of the interlocutors were also supported in a survey on the "Vijesti" portal, in which 839 respondents participated, according to which 92 percent answered that anti-fascist monuments were important to them, while 96,3 percent of the respondents answered, very or partially, that they key figures and events known to them from the fight against the occupiers from 1941 to 1945.
Historian and assistant professor at the Department of History of the Faculty of Philosophy Adnan Prekić, to the question of what anti-fascism is in today's Montenegro, he replied that he is not sure how well the meaning of that term is generally understood, as well as whether all other problems of interpreting anti-fascism in the current social or political context are generated from this ignorance.
"Unlike Montenegro, where the term anti-fascism is dominantly perceived through the heritage of the Second World War, the modern concept of anti-fascism is much broader. In the scientific-theoretical framework, everything related to the period from 1921 to 1945 is called Historical Antifascism, while the context of antifascism after 1945 can be viewed exclusively through the prism of the so-called culture of memory. The problem arises when politicians and others operating in the public sphere begin to use the legacy of anti-fascism to legitimize their own politics or ideology. This is why there have never been more 'anti-fascists' in the Montenegrin public space, and never less essential anti-fascism," explains Prekić.
One of the questions in the survey was - "Do you think that anti-fascism is used in political narratives in Montenegro?" If yes, for what purpose", respondents had the opportunity to create their own answer and there were as many as 147 of them.
Many of them, however, were similar, because a large number of respondents assessed that actors on the political scene of Montenegro abuse anti-fascism for daily political purposes.
"Anti-fascism is used as a platitude, while in fact most political actors do not inherit the ideas of anti-fascism, but are very close to the opposite part of the spectrum", is one of the interesting answers in the survey.
Another respondent had a clear view:
"Anti-fascism is a historical, heroic, libertarian and moral vertical of Montenegro and Montenegrins, as well as all others in Montenegro who inherit these values. Therefore, the abuses and attempts to cancel anti-fascism should be rejected with the historical truth".
Prekić believes that historical revisionism became part of the public discourse at the moment when clerical-nationalists took their positions on the political scene.
"That is nothing strange, because this category of political workers believes that the past can be changed with a new interpretation. Revisionism has been present in Montenegro for decades, but in recent years it became visible because it got its political representatives on the public scene, who became part of the governing structures. Of course, this is not unique to Montenegro, but you will rarely find a society that has such a strong need to view contemporary political processes and decisions dominantly through the lens of the past", he stated and explained that every generation "has a transfer of trauma from their ancestors".
"The traumas or historical truths of our ancestors cannot be the answer to the contemporary challenges of a society, and this is where, in my opinion, Montenegro is in trouble. In this context, an additional problem is the wrong preconceptions of the intellectual public about the potential of these right-wing, ie clerical-nationalist forces. Namely, a significant part of the Montenegrin intellectual public claims that this right-wing potential is limited and that it is exclusively an instrument of political action. I believe that this is a wrong preconceived notion and that the right-wing potential in Montenegro is much wider, stronger and more influential. It is similar to the so-called pro-Western orientation of Montenegro, which is often taken as a starting point for the contemporary determination of Montenegro's position in Europe, and this thesis is equally affirmed by domestic politicians and our Western partners. I think that this is a completely wrong prejudice and that any serious historiographical or sociological analysis would show that the pro-Western orientation of Montenegro is an incident, not a rule", the historian believes.
President of SUBNOR of Montenegro Radojica Radojević believes that it is a strategic issue - greater involvement of young people in the protection and promotion of anti-fascism as a contemporary value, sending a message to younger generations to see and know how much freedom is worth and what price is paid for it.
"I believe that the national liberation struggle is not sufficiently represented in schools either, which is unacceptable. We must demand that our glorious NOB and revolution be contained in textbooks and in the education of the young generation and that it be treated differently and that special attention must be paid to it. If there are no classes - lectures in places where there are significant monuments from NOR, if there is no cooperation with museums, and if there are no classes on the local anti-fascist heritage, anti-fascism will never be adequately presented", explained Radojević.
He condemned cases of vandalism and desecration of monuments and memorials as well as attempts to rehabilitate war criminals and called on all anti-fascists to join the fight against, as he said, vampiric fascism of any kind, nationalism and historical revisionism.
"The right does not want to talk about the heroic days of the Second World War, they glorify those who were on the side of evil and injustice. They try to turn defeats into victories. We have a duty to preserve the memory and truth of the brightest days of our history. I invite civil society, organizations of veterans, anti-fascists, trade unions, organizations for the protection of human rights, movements and initiatives of young generations to unite. We must build a network and movements open to all people who are ready to defend democracy, freedom and the political and social rights of all human beings in the region in their own countries. We have a duty to stand firm in our positions against the growing danger of the extreme right," said Radojević.
Fascism took off, making victims out of criminals
The president of SUBNOR of Montenegro, Radojica Radojević, states that he is proud to represent an anti-fascist organization that advocates against nationalism, hatred, and racism for uncompromising resistance to evil and injustice.
"We live in a time when individuals and groups try to deny our glorious anti-fascist past, when fascism has taken off, when they try to glorify the ideas of those who were on the side of evil and injustice, defeated in the Second World War, and liberators and patriots are slandered they often desecrate monuments and memorials from the Second World War", says Radojević.
He claims that today the most important task for anti-fascists is the "great fight against revisionism", changing and falsifying history and returning neo-Nazism to the historical scene.
"It is noticeable from individuals, how in recent years they persistently try to make criminals out of victims, and criminals try to present themselves as victims. This needs us
be concerned and be a signal that the bright achievements of the NOB, as part of our history, must not be questioned, that we must work as hard and as organized as possible on further education and promotion of the anti-fascist movement in our country and in the region and places and the role that our spaces play had in that movement, above all among the young generation. With a clear knowledge of our glorious past, we should look to the future and fight for a better life for every citizen, for better education, culture, health, economy", believes the first man of SUBNOR.
It is obvious that there are currents that work to challenge this heritage, and the only way to counter such currents is: greater emphasis on education, greater protection of the local anti-fascist heritage, visits to places of suffering, i.e. memories, lectures with visits to museums..." says Radojica Radojević.
Right-wingers have perfected the narrative of "ours and theirs"
Historian Adnan Prekić notes that the values of anti-fascism have been under strong pressure from right-wing ideologies for decades, which are increasingly openly and aggressively advocating nationalist and chauvinist ideas.
Young people in Montenegro, he explained, are much more conservative than their parents, and this is indicated by a number of studies.
"Young people do not recognize this, because right-wing and clerical structures have perfected models of communication, through a simplified narrative about "ours and theirs", which reduced complex historical processes to simplified black-and-white representations, devoid of historical context. That is why young people in Montenegro today, despite the abundance of historical evidence, which is available to them with two clicks on their phones, celebrate collaborators and criminals from the Second World War, unaware of the dangers and consequences that such ideas can cause. "Young people in Montenegro inherit conservative/traditional values, are convinced of the decadence of modern European civilization, reject personal freedoms in favor of an imagined collectivity and a number of similar ideas that are in direct opposition to what are the traditions of anti-fascism," explains Prekić.
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