Stand Upright or Grovel? David Binder
It took Germany and the Germans at least half a century - two generations - to overcome the international opprobrium it acquired during the dozen years of Nazi rule. For Fascist Italy , Imperial Japan and Stalinist Russia the durations of infamy were shorter for a variety of reasons. But in all these cases a residue of disgust remains among survivors and relatives of the concentration camps, gulags and other scenes of brutality and repression even into the new millenium. This merits consideration for Serbs and Serbia as they cope with the residue of the Balkan wars of the 1990s together with the reputation they widely acquired in North America and Western Europe as "transgressors," "war criminals" and even "genocidal killers." No Serbs ever did anything in their history - recent or ancient - comparable in scale or in nature to the crimes against humanity committed wholesale by Nazi Germans, Fascist Italians, Imperial Japanese or Stalinist Russians. But such comparisons are implicit and at times even openly declared in the actions of the United States, European Union members, the Hague war crimes tribunal, NATO and other entities on the global scene. The patent unfairness and insupportableness of such analogies and comparisons may stun Serbs and perhaps others (except Sanja Biserko and her ilk) into openmouthed, abject amazement. But that is how Serbs and Serbia are widely viewed. How should Serbs and, more importantly, the Serbian government react to such a Weltanschauung, regardless of how abysmally wrong it is? Should Serbia attempt to improve its image in the world by acceding to "the world's demands" as articulated by the Bushes, Clintons , Bidens, the Sarkozys. Kouchners, the Solanas, the Dutch, the Danes, the multitudinous NGOs, - not to mention the Djukanovics and other hostile adjacent neighbors? Should it roll over like an obedient dog, wiggle its tail and say farewell to Kosovo? Arrest as many male Serbs over age 60 as necessary until it finally nails Ratko Mladic? Comply with any and all USA , NATO, EU, Albanian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Sandzak, Vojvodina demands or proposals for changes of policy and action? Should Serbia try to change its character, essential nature, the very course of its history? Let us look back for a moment at the Germans after "Zero Hour" as they liked to designate the year 1945. In the 1950s Richard Tungel (an anti-Nazi) wrote an editorial accusing the victorious allies of demanding that Germany "Should Crawl on Your Belly!" In fact Germans did crawl on their bellies, sometimes voluntarily. Then there were the war crimes trials, the massive reparations and other just deserts. Did that help change international opinion about Germany ? Hardly. Rather there was the onset of the Cold War with its concomitant Communist (or "Russian") threat, German rearmament, NATO membership, the :"economic miracle" - that gradually lightened the burden of opprobrium. Considering that sequence, should Serbia now start groveling in hope of beginning the end of its penal term chained in the international doghouse . and gradually improving its international standing? Or should Serbia hold its head high with eyes straight ahead and face its own agenda of doing the tasks that meet its own best interests as well as fostering the activities it performs well or better than anybody else.That means building more highways and pipelines, growing plums, peaches and raspberries on the one hand and staging the Trumpet and Exit festivals of Guca and Petrovaradin on the other. Making great films, novels and poems; growing champion tennis players and swimmers; cleaning up corruption. Beaming the beacon that is Serbia brighter and brighter. That will earn the recognition and approval Serbia wants and needs. http://www.politika.rs/rubrike/Sta-da-se-radi/Stajati-uspravno-ili-puziti.lt .html Serbian News Network - SNN [email protected] http://www.antic.org/
