Never mind the Balkans

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1781039,00.html

The Guardian Tuesday May 23, 2006

Comment is free

Never mind the Balkans

Montenegro had more independence as part of Yugoslavia than it will as an
EU-Nato protectorate
Neil Clark

'Montenegro votes for independence", the headlines declared at the result of the
referendum in the Balkan republic. But is independence really what lies in
store? My dictionary has independence as: "completely self-governing; not
subject to or showing the influence of others". By this definition, independence
is not what they will be getting.
The most important political and economic decisions, which will affect the
everyday lives of citizens in the republic, will not be made in its capital,
Podgorica, but in Brussels, Geneva and Washington and the boardrooms of the
multinational companies which now dominate the country's economy.
It is ironic that EU and WTO membership has been most enthusiastically supported
by the prime minister, Milo Djukanovic, and the pro-independence faction - for
it's hard to think of an easier way for a small country to lose national
independence than by surrendering control of trade and economic policy to
unelected bureaucrats miles away.
Nato membership, which Montenegro is also expected to pursue enthusiastically,
has similar consequences: the commanders of Montenegro's new army and navy will
have to get used to taking orders from those who planned the 78-day bombing of
Yugoslavia in 1999.
Then there is the role of the IMF and the World Bank. These two unelected bodies
have, with the EU, sought to impose Thatcherite neo-liberal solutions on
Serbia-Montenegro, ever since the fall of Yugoslavia's Socialist-led government
in 2000. Thousands of socially owned enterprises have already been privatised,
but the west is still not satisfied - the IMF has made further economic help
dependent on Belgrade selling off the valuable NIS oil company.
Montenegro's tiny economy is even more dominated by foreign capital than
Serbia's, with the privatisation process having started much earlier. The
selling off of nationally owned assets will have serious implications for the
country's future economic viability and even with the tourist potential of its
attractive coastline, it is difficult to see how Montenegro can afford to pay
its way, without further surrender to western financial institutions. In doing
so, it will be following the path of its neighbours.
For all the novelties of statehood, the brutal truth is that today's
"independent" Balkan republics had, if anything, more independence when they
were autonomous republics inside the Yugoslav Federation. In place of one
militarily strong, internationally respected, non-aligned nation, there now
exists a number of weak, economically unviable EU/IMF/Nato protectorates.
The dismantling of Yugoslavia, with its alternative economic and social model,
has suited western capitalism fine. But for the people of the region, the
benefits have been harder to discern. Little wonder then that nostalgia for
Tito's Yugoslavia is on the rise. The website "Titoville" has received over 1m
visitors and in Rakovice, a suburb of Sarajevo, an anti-nationalist Serb named
Jezdimir Milosevic (no relation) has proclaimed "The Republic of Titoslavia", a
state "without territory, without international recognition, destined to live in
the hearts of its citizens". Passports are available for EUR10.
Over 65 years ago, on the eve of the attack on Yugoslavia by the Axis powers,
the Serbian jurist Slobodan Jovanovic argued that a single, south Slav state was
the best way the people of the Balkans could guarantee their independence and
protection. It still is - and that logic seems likely to make itself felt in the
years to come. When the victory parades are over, the only real difference
Sunday's narrow vote will make is that Montenegro will be able enter Eurovision.
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