Written by: Željko Perović
That was the refrain echoing through the final decade of the 20th century. However, it was never truly so, and it still doesn't align with the facts.
Despite the closeness between the two peoples – their similarities, shared ties, common hopes for a better future, and efforts to maintain good neighborly relations – Montenegro and Serbia have never truly been “one family”. Except during the periods when they were incorporated into larger Yugoslav states, along with other Balkan nations.
First came the so-called First Yugoslavia, where Montenegro vanished entirely – even its name was erased. Then came socialist Yugoslavia, where, at least constitutionally, Montenegro held a more equal status.
It was during that second Yugoslavia, when all Serbs lived together in one country, side by side with other Balkan peoples, that everyone enjoyed a relatively good life. Indeed, those years under Tito’s rule remain, without question, the most stable and prosperous period for the entire region. You could even say: they lived, for once, like a real family.
But ask yourself this: have you ever seen, heard, or read anything positive about Montenegro – its statehood, its people, language, culture, or church – coming from Serbian intellectual elites, particularly those based in Belgrade?
No? Or maybe only rarely?
Perhaps only in cases where Montenegro is absorbed into a Serbian narrative – references to “Serbian Duklja,” to “Serbian rulers” like Bishop Rade or King Nikola, or to the gusle as a “Serbian national instrument.”
Let me help: you’ve heard almost nothing. So rarely that the few honorable exceptions merely prove the rule. Think of figures like Latinka Perović, Filip David, Vuk Drašković, Nikola Samardžić, Žarko Korać, Dinko Gruhonjić, Nenad Čanak, Nenad Prokić, Sonja Biserko, Zoran Vuletić, Aleksandar Olenik. My apologies to any I’ve missed.
And that’s been the case from Mojkovac to today – or, more precisely, since the dawn of “modern Serbian statehood,” for nearly two centuries now.
But there’s another set of voices you surely have heard.
Like this:
“Of all those we helped, pulled forward, tried to civilize from their tribal mountain ways, the most ungrateful have always been the Montenegrins. Whenever they could, they betrayed us, spoke against us, acted against us.” – Dobrica Ćosić
Or this, later:
“Montenegro will become a separate, vassal state – a little statelet of smugglers, waiters, drivers, maids, and doormen – people employed in tertiary services… this de-Serbianized, de-Njegošized tribe, seduced by Americanism and the hedonism of progress, eternally lazy, drawn to tourism and speculation as a means of easy living, has indeed chosen a separatist path…” – Dobrica Ćosić
Or earlier still, following Serbia’s crushing defeat in World War I, when Field Marshal Živojin Mišić sent a dispatch to King Peter: “We have suffered heavy losses and defeats from Austria, but at least we have dealt with Montenegro and the Montenegrins once and for all.”
Or this recent gem, spoken from Montenegro – from the so-called “Serbian Sparta”:
“When Montenegro was punished by the irony of history… When the Comintern began inventing nations, Đilas slipped a noose around Montenegro’s neck. To this day, the last widow of the Comintern swings from that noose. The branch is dry – it only takes a tug at her lifeless legs to bring her crashing down, ready to be buried with a shovel.” – Bećir Vuković, this year’s July 13th State Prize laureate. Yes, you read that correctly.
Or more recently, during student protests in Belgrade, when the final goal of the uprising was stated clearly:
“Integral Serbdom, defending the sovereignty of Republika Srpska, defending Serbs’ sovereignty in Montenegro, and fighting for Serb national rights in Croatia and Macedonia.” – Milo Lompar, integralist.
And so it goes. The list is long. But the message remains the same:
That Montenegrins are “communist spawn,” “created in Tito’s Jajce,” and, as one poet-griever, Mlatija, puts it, they are “younger than he is” – though he hopes, and believes, he’ll outlive them.
The grievers – and those they cater to, the same forces who laid the groundwork for Milošević, Koštunica, Vučić, and now Lompar – know full well that Montenegro won’t simply vanish. But they will stop at nothing to try and make it happen.
Because how else could Serbia and Montenegro truly be one family?
With the imminent collapse of a corrosive regime and its ailing president, Serbia stands at a crossroads. It can either continue down the road of “integralism” – so recently cheered on by protestors, marked by conflicts with every neighboring state, or, as we hope, a path guided by reason, reform, and modernization will win out.
Serbia must turn inward, reform itself, and build respectful relationships with its neighbors. If it doesn’t, there may soon be nothing left to reform.
A different Serbia – a reformed, modern country led by the progressive youth we've seen in the streets of Belgrade, Niš, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, and beyond – can regain strength. But this time, in a way that earns respect, not fear. A strength grounded in dignity, and therefore, one that can truly be great.
The “one family” idea with Montenegro marks the end of a long and deeply misguided road Serbia has traveled. A road of militant expansionism, of rejecting reform and modernization, of clinging to ethno-nationalist dogma. A road that has left Serbia disgraced, alienated from its neighbors, and a pariah in the region.
With the autocrat’s departure, Serbia faces a make-up exam in both history and civics. And this time, there may not be another chance.
As the respected Zoran Gavrilović put it, Serbia is “waiting for its own Konrad Adenauer – someone to lead the transition from ethno-nationalism to constitutional patriotism.”
Montenegro, meanwhile, is – perhaps for the first time in its modern history – taking real, bold steps to align itself with the democratic West. Those efforts are under threat. For now, those trying to derail them are seeing some success.
But they cannot stop the path – only delay it.
Montenegrin citizens are not naive. They see what’s happening in the world – and in Serbia, too.
It’s time for our society to turn decisively toward resisting malign influences, upholding the Constitution, and embracing constitutional patriotism. As a secular state, we must stop a foreign church from seizing control of our institutions or exerting decisive influence through a government now fully subordinated to Belgrade.
This Belgrade.
Across the world, the MAGA movement – Make America Great Again – is gaining ground. Regressive in many ways, and disruptive to the post–World War II order that sustained a fragile peace, it nonetheless carries one message worth salvaging: a call to return to dignity and decency.
Applied to Montenegro, that message becomes:
Make Montenegro Decent Again.
A tolerant Montenegro. A Montenegro that respects all its citizens, regardless of ethnicity or faith. A country welcoming to those who live in it, respectful toward its neighbors, and, most importantly, ready to join the European family of nations.
Because Montenegro comes first.
And if we don’t get this right –
There may be no second chance.
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