The attempt to ban Dr. Srdja Trifkovic from speaking this week on the Campus of the University of British Columbia is outrageous … Canadians have an unparalleled opportunity to foster freedom and democracy….
Canada: People for such a time as this in the Balkans
By Dr. Samuel J. Mikolaski Thursday, February 24, 2011
Canada and Canadians, especially new Canadians from the Balkans, have an unprecedented opportunity to foster the concept of an open society, democratic institutions, free market economies, the education of large reservoirs of brain power, and the separation of political power from religion in the Balkans.
Canadians may well be the people for such a time as this – albeit, in face of what appear to be insurmountable political obstacles and centuries-old deep-seated ethnic hatreds. Two outstanding Canadians, Ambassador James Bissett and General Lewis MacKenzie, are among the best informed anywhere on the Balkans and have spoken in balanced ways on how to understand and deal with the Balkan cauldron that has simmered for many generations, which the recent Balkan wars have again bought to a boil.
Multiculturalism has been declared a failure – multicult is dead
For over two centuries various of the European powers, Russians, and Ottomans stirred the pot in their own interests, often only to make matters worse.
Now that multiculturalism has been declared a failure – multicult is dead – by Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, buttressed by the outburst of the Austrian parliamentarian on the floor of that nation's Parliament last fall, we should consider, as the philosopher A. N. Whitehead said, that our current problems should be regarded as opportunities.
Western Christian national identities and their historic values do mean something historically and are worth conserving. That should be the message to groups refusing to assimilate. A great blessing of my life is that as an immigrant child I was well educated in Canada in English as a second language and assimilated to Canadian culture.
European and American foreign policy in the Balkans, especially as regards the Serbian people, has been badly skewed and continues to work against the best interests of enduring peace, democracy, comity among the several nationalities, and economic progress.
The artificial political framework in Bosnia has forced the several ethnic groups into closed enclaves. It is not working. The Serbs have created Republica Srpska. The Croats are appealing to Russia and the Security Council for protection of their status. The dominant radical al-Quaeda elements continue fostering Jihad and terrorism training compounds.
The Christian culture of Kosovo has been devastated
The Christian culture of Kosovo, illegally highjacked from Serbia contrary to the canons of international law, has been devastated, with hundreds of monasteries, churches, cemeteries, and other landmarks either destroyed, badly damaged or desecrated.
The recent report of Dick Marty to the Council of Europe makes horrific reading: Serbian youths kidnapped by radical Islamists then killed for body parts to be harvested and sold internationally.
Ironically, fear of their own has compelled many thousands of Albanians to flee to the environs of Belgrade in Serbia to escape the radical Islamists who have overwhelmed their society in Albania, Bosnia and Kosovo.
In Croatia Ustasha memorializing continues – the Nazi-backed Croats massacred tens of thousands of Serbs, Romanies and others during World War II, and little or nothing has been done to repatriate the tens of thousands of Serbs who were expelled from their ancestral lands in the Krajina during the 1990s war.
Serbia has become the odd-man-out in Europe, wondering how to re-establish itself among the nations of Europe, how to restore its traditional relationship with America as the loyal ally of the West it was through two world wars, and what to do with political fragmentation of the country and the mafia elements which bedevil society and the economy.
Why do I see this as opportunity for democracy and freedom? A few weeks ago James Bissett, Canada's former Ambassador to Yugoslavia, gave a lecture in Belgrade in which he suggested that Serbia might be better off outside the EU.
Why?
Bissett said that Germany and other European countries would still invest in Serbia even if Serbia remained outside the EU. Membership in the EU could easily inhibit trade and commerce because of the layering on of bureaucracy and inspections from Brussels and the imposition of multitudes of rules. Freedom of information might be curtailed, especially if Serbs were forced to teach their children that the NATO bombing was justified. Serbs, he said, need no further humiliation—atrocities were committed by all sides during the recent wars. Croats have never acknowledged the true genocide they committed during World War II. Muslims refuse to acknowledge the crimes committed in their name —one can cite the staged terrorism against their own people during the recent hostilities, about which General MacKenzie has written.
What should Serbia do, Ambassador Bissett asked? Very simple, he said: put its own house in order by stamping out corruption, improving the economy, getting rid of the criminal mafia, and becoming self-sufficient—as it was when it became the harbinger of democracy in the latter part of the nineteenth century and can become again.
Here's what Canadians and Americans of Balkan heritage can do:
Foster education (such as the Studenica Foundation has done through scholarships for students in upper High School).
Encourage Canadian and American universities to underwrite university undergraduates and graduate students from Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, and Kosovo to study in North America. Anticipate leader-formation.
Establish professional and business links with aspiring professionals and entrepreneurs in the Balkans – there are many, many talented young men and women there, especially in engineering, business, technology, medicine, and the sciences.
Insist on the development of open societies that are committed to the democratic process and a market economy.
The West is ignoring the existential crisis that pervades the Balkans. Gerrymandering the political process has not worked.
It is time for Canadians and Americans of Balkan heritage to think outside the box. They can make a difference despite the present political and main street media climate on Balkan matters in North America. Modern communication techniques enable little people to break through the stereotypes. This is an exceptional opportunity.
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Dr. Samuel J. Mikolaski Dr. Samuel Mikolaski, is a retired theological professor. His curriculum vitae and published work are on his website: drsamstheology.com Dr. Mikolaski can be reached at: sjmikolaski@gmail.com |
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