Serbia and Montenegro

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Serbia and Montenegro

• The Former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Gayle Viney Geog. 308
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Revolt in Serbia2000

• The Opposition Against
• Slobodan Milosevic

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Serbia and Montenegro
Neighboring Countries - Bosnia and
Herzegovina - Croatia - Hungary - Romania -
Bulgaria - Macedonia - Albania
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Size Comparisons
Serbia and Montenegro Kentucky - Serbia
Slightly smaller than Maine - Montenegro
Slightly larger than Connecticut
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Basic Demographics

• Serbias Population
• 10.6 million people
• Montenegros Population
• - 680,000 people

Main Ethnicities -Serbs, Albanians, Montenegrins,
Hungarians and other
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Basic Demographics

• Religions
• - Orthodox, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Protestant
  and other

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The Former Yugoslavia

• Austrian-Hungarian empire collapsed after WWI
• Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes -1919
• Became Yugoslavia in 1929

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10 Years Later

• Nazi Germany invaded Yugoslavia in 1941
• Gory Civil War erupted in Yugoslavia between
  Communists, Monarchists and Fascists at same
  time.
• By the end of this war, some 750,000 Serbs, Jews
  and Roma were murdered,
• mainly by Croatian fascists

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Tito Era 1943-1980
Josip Broz Tito
Josep Broz Tito's rise to power from the ashes of
World War II led to one of the most effectively
run socialist dictatorships in the 20th century.
Yugoslavia declared a republic in 1945 and became
a federal republic in 1946
Tito rejected Stalins policy of dictating to all
Communist nations and accepted economic and
military aid from the West
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Titos Death
Tito died in 1980 and the Federation
weakened. Yugoslavia was then governed by a
collective presidency
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Slobodan Milosevic Era
Originally, Milosevic defended Titos legacy but
in 1987 he changed sides and chose Serbian
nationalism
- Elected President of Serbia in 1988
He was an aggressive nationalist with dreams of a
Greater Serbia that implied bringing Serb
minorities living in the territory of neighboring
republics, such as Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
and Macedonia, eventually under the control of
the Republic of Serbia.
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Major Conflicts and Events

• Serb rebels in Croatia (1991)

- Serbia and Montenegro declared themselves the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992) -
Milosevic won parliamentary support to serve as
president
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Major Conflicts and Events

• Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992)
• Eventually urged Bosnian Serbs to cooperate with
  international peace efforts
• Dayton Peace Accord 1995
• Kosovo Crisis (1999)
• Between Ethnic Albanians and Serbs
• NATO Air Strike

Serbs block Bosnian Mosque Ceremony
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Election of 2000
Sunday, September 24 7 million eligible voters
decided next president of the Yugoslav
Federation, comprised of Serbia and
Montenegro Slobodan Milosevic or
Vojislav Kostunica Incumbent
President Democratic Opposition of
Serbia
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Election Results

• Both sides claim victory
• Each claim that they have the higher percentage
  of the votes
• Pre-election results had shown Milosevic trailing
  Kostunica
• Milosevic demanded a run-off election

• EU releases statement saying any claim to
  victory by Milosevic would be fraudulent

• Canada, the U.S., Germany, Britain, Italy and
  France back up the EUs position
• Milosevic ignores the pressure and refuses to
  accept defeat

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The Revolt Begins

• Milosevic refusing to step down caused an uproar

• People from all over Serbia began striking and a
  massive protest was planned for October 5, 2000

• Miners, farmers, journalists, students and other
  workers all joined forces together for the first
  time

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The Revolt

• The main groups involved were
• Industrial Cities
• Pancevo
• Kragujevac
• Nis
• Otpor student movement group
• Town of Cacak
• Kolubara Miners

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• 1) Important Industrial Cities
• Pancevo (1)
• Kragujevac (2)
• Nis (3)

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Although targets of the brutal NATO bombing, they
became centers of working-class resistance to
Milosevic
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2) OTPOR!
Resistance

• Student Movement Group formed by 12 Serbian
  college students in 1998

• Studied nonviolent strategy, primarily through
  American scholar Gene Sharps writings

• Training manuals were full of catchy slogans and
  wry humor

• Created and launched a sophisticated bilingual
  Web site even before officially opening an office

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OTPOR!

• Main Objectives
• Nonviolent
• Free Elections
• Democracy
• Removal of Milosevic

• Centered in Belgrade, Serbia

• Milosevic Regime tried to label/portray them as
  terrorists, fascists, criminals, drug addicts

• Many opponents of Milosevic had also opposed
  NATO bombing. Some were pro-West and some were
  Serb nationalists.

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B92 Radio Station

• B92 is a multi-faceted media house at the very
  forefront of the transformation of post-Milosevic
  Yugoslavias cultural life. In our 12-year
  history, we have grown from our tentative origins
  as a student radio station to become an umbrella
  association comprising over 250 staff in the
  fields of television, radio, internet, music,
  film and publishing.
• The radio station still forms the backbone of
  the B92 project. Our mix of music, current
  affairs, entertainment and cultural programming
  makes us Belgrades most listened-to station,
  with 40 per cent of the capitals population
  tuning in every week. Trademarks of our program
  include the satirical look at Yugoslavia past and
  present Yutopia, English-language news, and the
  anarchic comedy of Radio Maniac.

http//www.b92.net
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OTPOR!
Ridicule and Courage were crucial nonviolent
strategies
Eighteen-year old Tanja Zivanovic, the day after
she was released from prison
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OTPOR!

• Closer to election time, spray paintings of the
  clenched fist symbol and the slogan Gotov Je
  (Hes Finished!) emerged

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OTPOR!

• Helped push the momentum towards the nonviolent
  protest on October 5, 2000

• Wanted Milosevic gone for good

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Different Groups Join Together for Main Focus
Removing Milosevic

• Most previous opposition to Milosevic had been
  among Belgrade students and intellectuals.
• This time, workers and farmers from the Serbian
  Heartland joined in

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3) Town of Cacak

• Central planning town for huge protest on
  October 5

Mayor - Velja Ilijic

• Thousands of workers, farmers, and young people
  formed an armed convoy of trucks and buses and a
  bulldozer
• Headed toward Belgrade
• Victory or Death

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Convoy to Belgrade
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4) Kolubara Miners
Belgrade

• The 4,500 mine workers had been on strike since
  September 29, demanding Milosevic step down

• Kolubara is Serbias largest coal mine, producing
  half of Serbias power needs

• 6,500 workers at the Kostolac mine, which
  supplies coal to 2nd largest thermal plant in
  country, also put down their tools in agreement
  with Kolubara.

(Kolubara County in Red)
Yugoslav President Dr. Vojislav Kostunica with
mine workers from "Kolubara" mines.
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October 5, 2000

• Around 1 million people from all over the
  country converged on Belgrade demanding the end
  of the regime

• Waves of courageous workers and people stormed
  the national parliament buildings

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October 5, 2000 In front of the Parliament
Building
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October 5, 2000
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October 5, 2000

• Even those allegedly loyal to Milosevic forces
  joined the demonstrators in celebration

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October 5, 2000

• Very clear that the majority of the population
  was against Milosevic

• They invaded the parliament building and found
  thousands of pre-voted/marked ballots for
  Milosevic

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Result

• Slobodan Milosevic concedes October 6, 2000

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New Era

• October 7, 2000, Vojislav Kostunica is sworn in
  as new president of Yugoslavia

• He was critical of both Milosevic and NATO,
  considered himself a Serb nationalist

• January 25, 2001, Zoran Djindjic is sworn in as
  Prime Minister of Serbia
• Djindjic was a major opponent of Milosevic

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What happened to Milosevic?
Milosevic was arrested on April 1st, 2001 by
Yugoslav authorities and charged with corruption
and abuse of power - The arrest prompted U.S. to
release 50 Million in aid to Yugoslavia, which
had been withheld pending cooperation on human
rights abuses - Milosevic turned over to United
Nations International Criminal Tribunal in The
Hague
- Trial of human rights abuses on Croatia, Bosnia
and Kosovo began on February 12, 2002 and is
expected to last at least 2 years
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The End of Yugoslavia The Beginning of a New
Era

• March 2002, the nation agreed to form a new
  state, replacing Yugoslavia with a loose
  federation called Serbia and Montenegro
• Went into effect officially on February 4th,
  2003
• Kostunica lost his job

- Will stay that way for the next 3 years and
then theyll vote again on what will happen
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Late Breaking News

• Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic Assassinated!
• March 12, 2003

• Zoran Zivkovic elected to be new Prime Minister
• (Mayor of Nis who helped lead the 2000 revolt)

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Serbia and Montenegro

• The Former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia