yugoslavias implosion

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ChApter 1
struggle for the equality of Serbia in the Yugoslav Federation, on the
wave of the general climate in the twilight of Titoism, a political climate,
especially in Kosovo and Metohija, primed not by him, but by
myself. Or, rather, it was primed by the people’s suffering and the
political wrath against the Albanian terror, which I merely somewhat
articulated and directed. He took that over from me and inherited it.
It was I who started that petition of the Kosovo Serbs, it was my own
initiative. They had been coming to me all the time to complain because
none of the Serb bigwigs cared about them. They collaborated with me
practically clandestinely, for the police shadowed and persecuted them;
Dušan Čkrebić and Draža Marković were particularly inconsiderate,
though Slobodan [Milošević] did not distinguish himself in protecting
the Serbs in Kosovo either. It was only after he had come to power that
I realized that what was involved was a very serious matter … it was
both political pragmatism and a question of justice. 111
Ćosić was criticized by the opposition for fostering an atmosphere
conducive to the amendment of the constitution, for supporting
a referendum on the Serbian constitution, and for backing
Milošević, who was consolidating his authoritarian rule. Ćosić
believed that Milošević’s statement that a new constitution must
come before elections had “great influence on the outcome of the
referendum, being motivated by fear of Albanian secession under
the present constitution, which granted them an effective right of
self-determination and secession.” 112
The prospects for Yugoslavia’s survival were widely debated in
the West, with many distinguished analysts offering mediation in the
quest for a solution. Ćosić turned down an invitation from former
West German chancellor Willy Brandt to go to Vienna to discuss the
possibility of founding a social democratic party, which, in Brandt’s
111 Dobrica Ćosić, ‘Za Jugoslavijom ne treba plakati’ (One should
not weep over Yugoslavia), Duga, 9–22 July 1994 .
112 Dobrica Ćosić, Piščevi zapisi 1981–1991, p . 292 .