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Promoting Democracy in Yugoslavia
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20190 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
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1 / 1992 |
1,888 Words |
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Stjepan G. Mestrovic
Stjepan G. Mestrovic is a professor of sociology at Texas A &
M University. His latest book is The Coming Fin de Siecle,
Rutledge, London, 1991. |
Who counts anymore the cease-fires that have come and gone as the world community struggles to broker a peace agreement in Yugoslavia? Any such efforts, if undertaken, would prove futile--and the fighting will never end--until the true nature of the conflict is acknowledge.
News reports continue to portray the tragic events in Yugoslavia as an "ethnic conflict." Actually, it is a coup staged by the Serbian military, which is refusing to obey the orders of Stipe Mesic, the current head of the Yugoslav presidency. Under the guise of an ethnic conflict, the Serbian military is waging as war for territory and for the preservation of communist Yugoslavia. How can anyone seriously believe Serbia's claims that it is fighting to defend the Serbian minority living in Croatia when one considers, first, Serbia's human rights abuses against its own Albanian minority living in Kosovo; and second, that Croatia did not bother its Serbian minority?
To be sure, Croatians did commit atrocities against Serbs during World War II, but so did the Serbs against Croatians and others. And there's scarcely any nation in contemporary Europe that does not share some of the guilt with regard to events surrounding the Second World War. The important thing is that today, in 1991, Croatia wants to become a democratic partner in the European Community (EC) whereas Serbia seeks a Greater Serbia.
West Must Take A Stand
The time has come for President Bush and other world leaders to support democracy and self-determination in the region, and to take a stand against Serbia's aggression against Croatia, Kosovo, and its other neighbors. For what happens to the people of the Balkans, history indicates, may also greatly influence events in the rest of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
In September 1991, the U.S. Senate did pass a resolution sponsored by Sen. Robert Dole, urging President Bush to condemn Serbian-sponsored aggression against the Croatians and the two million Albanians in the province of Kosovo. It is a noteworthy document because--unlike the media--it takes a firm stand against antidemocratic Serbia. Specifically, the resolution:
1. condemned the "policies of violent aggression perpetrated by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, the Yugoslav Army and Serbian extremist guerrillas in
...
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