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/** ips.english: 452.0 **/
** Topic: RIGHTS-YUGOSLAVIA: 'Yugo-Nostalgics' Start Cyber
Republic **
** Written 9:06 PM Aug 9, 1999 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.english
**
Copyright 1999 InterPress Service, all rights reserved.
Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.
*** 09-Aug-99 ***
Title: RIGHTS-YUGOSLAVIA: 'Yugo-Nostalgics' Start Cyber
Republic
By Vesna Peric-Zimonjic
BELGRADE, Aug 9 (IPS) - A ''Cyber Yugoslavia (CY)'' without
armed
forces, police, supreme leaders, ideologies nor ethnic hatred is
now giving virtual citizenship to people who feel deprived, or
nostalgic, of their homeland.
The virtual state grants its citizens many rights often denied
in real life by the ethnic states created after the disintegration
of Yugoslavia in 1991. ''We lost our country in 1991 and became
citizens of Atlantis,'' says the web site at http://www.juga.com.
''Juga'' was a popular nickname of the former Yugoslavia, the
multinational country constituted by Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia,
Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.
''We don't have a physical land, but we do have nationality and
we are providing CY citizenship and CY passports,'' the organisers
say. They are also planning to apply for United Nations membership
when the registered citizens reach five million.
The site welcomes anyone who ''feels Yugoslav, regardless of
current nationality, to apply for CY citizenship''. ''We are
allowing double and triple citizenship. If you feel Yugoslav, you
are welcome to apply ... and you will be accepted'' the site says.
The invitation is a fine irony that thousands of former
Yugoslavs understand too well: many faced enormous problems when
Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina broke away
from the federation.
Slovenia and Croatia were swift in denying citizenship or
raising bureaucratic hurdles to people who could not prove ethnic
''purity,'' in spite of the former federation's discouragement of
nationalistic attitudes.
Ethnically mixed Slovenians and Croats - born from mixed
marriages - still face problems when they want to claim or sell
property, obtain working permits or just stay in their country of
birth.
Hurrying to do away with anything that would remind people of
the country they once shared, all newly created states also denied
dual citizenship rights.
The same was done to thousands of non-Serbs in what since 1992
became the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), integrated by
Serbia and Montenegro.
Once Cyber Yugoslavia reaches a citizenship of five million, it
will apply for UN membership and ''we will ask for 20 square
metres of land anywhere on Earth to be our country. On that land,
we will keep our server,'' the site says.
The founding father of CY is Zoran B., a computer programmer
who emigrated to western Europe along with more than 300,000 young
and qualified people who have left Serbia since 1991.
Zoran B is a seclusive person, who has given only one interview
so far - via electronic mail - to the Croatian independent weekly
Feral Tribune.
As being Yugo-nostalgic is one of the least desirable
characteristics in Croatia, the weekly asked Zoran B whether he
plans to reestablish Yugoslavia in any manner.
''No,'' he says, ''CY does not represent the reestablishment of
any Yugoslavia...It is not even a movement...It is a thing of its
own, living only in cyberspace.''
Most of those who have applied for CY citizenship come from the
former Yugoslav republics, Holland, Portugal, Germany, Spain,
Great Britain and the United States. But in a way that once used
to be good manners in the former homeland, in Cyber Yugoslavia
ethnic origin is not an issue.
Like any other country, CY has ministers, constitution and
symbols.
Unlike any other country, however, every citizen can head a
ministry of his/her choice.
Every applicant names his or her portfolio, which so far range
from fishing, knitting, , cocktail making to disarmament, nice
talking, dancing, sunset watching or wining and dining. A list of
citizens and ministries is available at the site.
Mocking the rigid and sometimes pompous constitutions of the
former Yugoslav republics, CY's constitution is ''variable''.
''Every citizen has the right to suggest a change in the
Constitution. This suggestion has to be accepted or rejected by
the entire CY population through the method of public vote,'' the
chart states. A two-thirds majority vote is required to implement
changes.
''No person can become President, King or Prime Minister of CY,
nor to impose his/her personal will on the citizens of CY,'' the
republic's founding chart warns, wary of bitter experiences in the
region, where leaders tend to identify themselves with the nations
and states they rule.
CY's symbols - anthem, flag and coat of arms - are also
''variable.'' Citizens may vote for or against them. Again, this
is an irony referring to the new states' hostility to any symbols
that may remind people of the former federation.
Croatia is probably the place where such hostility has been
most visible, with the new authorities establishing symbols and
names from World War II, when Zagreb was a German puppet state,
including those of the feared ''Ustasha,'' the local fascist
paramilitary organisation.
Cyber Yugoslavia's official language is ''any language
suggested'', the site says, mocking the fervent desire of former
Yugoslavia's rulers to get rid of linguistic links among them.
Although it is hard to distinguish differences between Serbian,
Croatian or Bosnian except for the alphabet (Serbians use
Cyrillic), the Croatian government insists that its language is
completely different and has even introduced ''court
interpreters'' for languages that are basically the same.
''This land will grow as our citizens wish. Neither faster, nor
slower. Neither more, nor less. So, this site will always be under
construction.
For a solid country to grow, even a virtual one, it takes some
time'' the CY's creators say.
The virtual republic was launched in July and it has already
more than 2,000 citizens so far, with some 300 people applying
every day. (END/IPS/vpz/ak/99)
Origin: Manila/RIGHTS-YUGOSLAVIA/
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