This was my take on a fascinating essay by Farangis Bayat on the Balkan war and how nationalism led to one of the most heinous acts of genocide in modern Europe.
This is a dive into Yugoslavia's contemporary history post-world war II. How Tito's relatively benevolent dictatorship provided a shift from Stalinist ideas and a ground for nationalism.
The new-age nationalism was not the result of a single party's ideology and movements. Actually, a group of social groups including intellectuals, academics, artists, and religious figures collectively helped promote nationalism. To this end, they invested heavily in pseudo-narratives of history, a fabricated image of Serbians throughout history. Secondly, they exploited these narratives against non-Serbian ethnic groups (i.e. Croats, Albanians, Bosnians, and Slovenians).
The role of intellectuals should be cautiously interpreted as the social class in Yugoslavia was oppressed under Tito's regime. This oppression was more pronounced for nationalist intellectuals and pushed them toward a more militant approach instead of targeting existential questions that you'd e expect an intellectual to be engaged with.
On the other hand, Marxist intellectuals were more adherent to social and philosophical methodology and attempted to tackle social issues. However, the complexity of their language cost them healthy communication with the public and the bond with the populace. The other aspect surrounding the political milieu ending in the Balkan war is the distance from Stalinism which provided a relatively free space for various groups to confront traditional Marxist ideas. Marxists were struggling with their communication with citizens and liberals were gradually getting closer to nationalists. The resultant vacuum proved to be an ominous political end-product wisely exploited by Serbian nationalists.
One key component of nationalism in the build-up of their argument is the need for the "Other" party: an ever-present, threatening existence that always stands at odds with your existence. They theorize, organize, create and operate in antagonism with the "Other". In other words, the "Threat" created by "Them" unites "Us". Nationalist arts and literature produced by scientists, artists, and intellectuals such as Radovan Karadžić and Mića Popović are examples of how all social domains were recruited to fulfill the nationalist goals. That's where the machiavellian narrative of history comes into effect. A picture of victimized ethnicity unfairly forced to live under atrocious conditions.
Pedram
January 2023
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