THEY MUST GO, pp.167-68
Communist Europe
Yugoslavia: Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Albanians, Macedonians
With the death of Tito in 1980, most fears focused on whether the Soviets might attack Yugoslavia and pull it back into Moscow’s orbit. But the greater question lies in whether the country can keep from falling apart from within. In an effort to cope with rapidly rising nationalism, Tito established a federated system for six constitutent republics and two autonomous republics. For Yugoslavia was not a state but a patchwork of eight major ethnic groups and six other minor ones.
When it was created in 1921 from various South Slav groups, it was an artificial entity. Until World War II it was deeply divided, with the capital of Belgrade favoring the Orthodox Serbs. Most of the conflict arose with the Roman Catholic Croats. World War II added to the bitterness, since many of the Croats favored the Nazis and the Croat fascist Ustachi movement [brutally] massacred hundreds of thousands of Serbs. The Serbs never forgot, but Croatian nationalists never ceased their striving for national autonomy. Under men like Mika Tripalo and Matica Hrvatska nationalism festered, with Zagreb University seized by Croat students in 1971 and Serbs and Croats trading increasing insults.
Of course, the most dramatic indication of the hatred and longing for separation has been the activities of Croatian nationalists outside of Yugoslavia. Hijacking an airline, seizing a consulate in Chicago, shooting officials in Europe—these are external proofs of the conflict that simmers beneath Yugoslavia’s surface.
Yet another problem is Macedonia. In 1878 the Treaty of San Stefano gave Macedonia to Bulgaria. A few months later the Treaty of Berlin took it back and gave it to Serbia. The Bulgarians claim that there is no such thing as a “Macedonia,” that the people are racially Bulgarians.
The poorest province in Yugoslavia is Kosovo, inhabited by Albanians who have powerful cultural and family ties with their brethren in neighboring Albania. In 1968 riots shook Kosovo as demands for separation led to violence. This occurred again in 1975, but in March 1980 as Tito lay dying, it was announced that a major trial of fifty Albanian nationalists would be held. The charge was detailed in the Belgrade daily Politika: “They distributed hostile banners and pamphlets, spread untruths about Yugoslavia, and advocated irredentist standpoints in connection with our country.”
The government has made efforts to defuse the nationalist demands. This means radio and television, books, magazines, and newspapers in eight languages.
What the Yugoslavs—and Israelis—cannot understand is that to satisfy national separatism by catering to it will soothe it for a while, but the very concessions only feed and strengthen the separate identity and appetite, invariably leading to an ultimate explosion.http://www.jewish-e-library.net/Works/Kahane/They.Must.Go/TMG.Chapter07/TMG.Chapter07-027.Page-167.html
Topic: Did Rabbi Meir Kahane foresee the collapse of Yugoslavia? (Read 2346 times)