The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation
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No rational analysis which balanced the relationships <strong>and</strong> prospects <strong>of</strong><br />
the nationalistic movements was possible, not even one that secured<br />
Serbian interests. An irrational attitude won out against the politicians<br />
who dem<strong>and</strong>ed sensible policies. Even many intellectuals defined the<br />
central arguments <strong>of</strong> the movement. <strong>The</strong> Academy <strong>of</strong> the Sciences <strong>and</strong><br />
Art issued a “Memor<strong>and</strong>um” in 1986 in which it accused the Ti<strong>to</strong>ist regime<br />
<strong>of</strong> being anti-Serbian <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> having prevented a Serbian state with -<br />
in the federation, <strong>of</strong> having suppressed Serbia politically <strong>and</strong> eco nomically,<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> having thrust Serbia in<strong>to</strong> a subordinate role. Claiming that Serbs<br />
in Kosovo <strong>and</strong> Croatia are threatened <strong>and</strong> forced <strong>to</strong> emigrate or assim -<br />
ilate, they urgently dem<strong>and</strong>ed intervention <strong>to</strong> protect their cultural <strong>and</strong><br />
national integrity.<br />
<strong>The</strong> authors <strong>of</strong> the Memor<strong>and</strong>um had thus reversed the thesis <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Communist Party during the period between the World Wars, according<br />
<strong>to</strong> which Yugoslavia was a prison-house <strong>of</strong> non-Serbian nations; now,<br />
they said, Ti<strong>to</strong>ist Yugoslavia was a prison only for the Serbian people.<br />
<strong>The</strong> supporters <strong>of</strong> the Greater Serbian idea put heavy pressure on the<br />
Serbian <strong>and</strong> Yugoslav leaderships <strong>to</strong> get <strong>to</strong>ugh with the Albanians in Kosovo.<br />
Kosovo was pronounced the issue determining the survival <strong>and</strong><br />
destiny <strong>of</strong> the Serbian people, <strong>and</strong> main fac<strong>to</strong>r dem<strong>and</strong>ing a his<strong>to</strong>ric reexamination<br />
<strong>of</strong> the reasons for the existence <strong>of</strong> Yugoslavia. <strong>The</strong> constitution<br />
<strong>of</strong> 1974 was used as a key argument <strong>to</strong> support the thesis that<br />
the Serbians were threatened in Yugoslavia. <strong>The</strong> revision <strong>of</strong> this constitution<br />
was declared the condition for the res<strong>to</strong>ration <strong>of</strong> Serbian dignity.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Serbian leadership started an initiative in 1985 <strong>to</strong> change the constitution<br />
<strong>of</strong> 1974; however it failed <strong>to</strong> pass the State Presidium. Large<br />
parts <strong>of</strong> the disappointed Serbian elites reacted <strong>to</strong> that aggressively, determined<br />
<strong>to</strong> wage the battle further. <strong>The</strong> moderate faction, the “cooler<br />
heads”, who were ready <strong>to</strong> accept the status quo, were removed, <strong>and</strong><br />
in 1986, Slobodan Miloševi was elected chairman <strong>of</strong> the Serbian Communist<br />
Party. In 1987, he went <strong>to</strong> Kosovo <strong>and</strong> s<strong>to</strong>od at the side <strong>of</strong> Serbian<br />
demonstra<strong>to</strong>rs. He returned <strong>to</strong> Belgrade as the leader <strong>of</strong> the Serbian<br />
people. Starting in 1986, his “anti-bureaucratic revolution” regularly <strong>and</strong><br />
successfully used organized mass rallies with paid demonstra<strong>to</strong>rs <strong>to</strong> dis-<br />
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