The statement by Deputy Prime Minister Momo Koprivica that "the unity of Montenegrins and Serbs would show that the majority people in Montenegro can overcome artificial divisions" represents a perfidiously repackaged ethno-national policy, falsely presented as tolerance and reconciliation, the non-governmental organization "Antifascists of Cetinje" announced.
"The thesis about a 'majority people' that is supposed to 'unite' denies the constitutional fact that Montenegro is a state of citizens, not ethnopolitical fiefdoms. If, according to Momo Koprivica, Montenegro is reduced to a 'majority people', composed of Montenegrins and Serbs, where are the Bosniaks, Muslims, Albanians, Croats and other citizens of this country? Are they political surplus or mere statistics in the project of ethnic reconciliation of the majority," they asked.
They say that such rhetoric directly undermines the civic and anti-fascist character of Montenegro, because instead of equality for all, it "reaffirms the logic of ethnic blocs and counting blood and origin."
"This is not overcoming divisions, but a policy that in the Balkans has always been an introduction to exclusion, pressure and violence. The claim that divisions are 'artificial' further insults the historical experience of those peoples who were targets of nationalism, war, persecution and systemic discrimination in Montenegro, especially during the 1990s. Such calls for 'unity' mean that 'minorities' are expected to remain silent, and Montenegrins are expected to renounce their own state-building idea and identity, and that the Greater Serbian political and clerical project is left with an intact position of power, from which nothing is required except to continue as before," the response reads.
They also said that Koprivica's claim that the divisions between Montenegrins and Serbs are "artificial" is historically and politically disingenuous. These divisions, they added, did not arise from whim or propaganda, but from "concrete conflicts over statehood, sovereignty, the church, war and the 1990s."
"Also, the focus on ethnic 'commonality' serves as a smokescreen for class issues. While talking about Montenegrins and Serbs, Momo Koprivica wants to divert citizens' attention from issues of workers' rights, social injustice, privatization, corruption and robbery. Therefore, we are telling Momo Koprivica that Montenegro is not a state of a 'majority people', but a multiethnic and anti-fascist community. Any attempt to reduce this to two 'dominant' nations, even under the slogan of commonality, represents an attack on equality, democracy and the very idea of a free Montenegro," said the NGO "Antifascists of Cetinje".
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