yugoslavias implosion

liberation and unification of the entire Serb people and the establishment
of a Serb national and state community on the whole Serb territory.”
80
The Memorandum raised key issues relevant for the realization
of a national program, particularly the issue of borders, which
became a key topic of public debates. Another issue that entered the
public discourse with the Memorandum was Islamic fundamentalism
(a clear reference to the Yugoslav Muslims, Bosniaks, and
Albanians). The document fueled negative stereotypes about other
Yugoslav peoples, notably Croats, perceived as a principal threat to
the survival of Yugoslavia due to their alleged separatist aspirations.
It underscored the belief that Slovenes and Croats saw Yugoslavia
as a vehicle for saving their ethnic territories, an opportunity for
a makeover from the defeated to the victorious, which made them
treat Yugoslavia as “a transit country.”
THE ANTI-MUSLIM CRUSADE
Muslims were “a particularly vulnerable community on account
of the specific geopolitical situation, given that their distribution
prevented the establishment of a Greater Serbia.” 81 Long before the
outbreak of war, the authors of the Memorandum fostered negative
stereotypes of Muslims as an alien, inferior, and pernicious factor. 82
The thesis underlying the preparations for war was that it is going
80 From Garašanin, Moljević, Ekmečić, Ćosić ect .
81 Norman Cigar, ‘Uloga srpskih orijentalista u opravdavanju genocida nad
muslimanima Balkana’ (The role of Serb Orientalists in justifying the Genocide
of the Balkan Muslims), Institute for Study of Crimes Against Humanity and
International Law, Sarajevo, and Bosnian Cultural Centre, Sarajevo, 2001, p . 21 .
82 In doing so, they were following in the footsteps of many others . plowing a prejudicial
furrow . not only Serbia but Europe as a whole has embraced an anti-Muslim ideology at
various times . Europe’s thesis about an “Ottoman peril” is dealt with at length by Edward
Said (Edward Said, Orijentalizam, zapadnjačke predrasude o Orijentu (Orientalism, Western
Prejudices about the Orient), Svijetlost, Sarajevo, 1999) . The subject is also discussed by Tomaž
Mastnak in Evropa: istorija političkog pojma (Europe: History of the Political Idea), Beogradski
krug, 2007 . Mastnak argues that hostility towards Muslims has been of key importance
for the constitution of Europe and especially for the articulation of European discourse .
83
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