How the national discourse on the Balkan starting from the 1990s effected the formation of ‘imagined communities’ in the region since?

7/29/2019 How the national discourse on the Balkan starting from the 1990s effected the formation of imagined communiti

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University: Paris 8 Saint-Denis

Subject:Nation, empire, post-colonialism

Professor:Elsa Dorlin

Student: Slavica Ilieska

Problematic - How the national discourse on the Balkan starting from the

1990s effected the formation of imagined communities in the region since?

Introduction

This paper aims to apply Andersons theory of imagined communities and printed capitalism

on the region of the Balkan, focusing the attention concretely on the years after the death of the

Federations idealistic founder Josip Broz Tito and the following breakup of Yugoslavia. The

intention is to make a connection between the so-called Gutenberg Revolution transferred into

the national discourses in the republics of the Federation as means of building violent

nationalism and promotion of ethnical cleansing. The specific conditions during the period since

the 1990s to current, involve disintegration of a Federation of 6 Republics and 2 provinces, into 5

nation-states, 1 union of two autonomous units, and 1 United Nations protectorate, all of which

during the same period make effort to become members of another union, the European, with the

following results: one is integrated in the EU (Slovenia), one is currently finishing the

negotiations to enter (Croatia), and other 4, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro,

and Serbia (including Kosovo) are applying for membership.

Imagined communitiesas a Gutenberg creation: The effects ofPrinted Capitalism

In order to understand the importance of nationalism in the current political situation we have to

analyze where this deep attachment came from, what are its origins and how did it reach the

point of high emotional legitimacy as Benedict Anderson would address it. Our analysis is

based on Andersons theory of imagined communities and the belief that once nationalism asan artifact was created in the XVII century it easily began to spread, multiply, while adapting

itself to different environments, social conditions and ideologies.

While exploring different theories of nationalism, Anderson is noting a fact that there are some

elements of nationalism that have aroused which are in contradiction to the facts and the history.

He is especially focusing on the huge time differences between creation of nations and


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nationalist feelings' reach, the modern normality of belonging to one specific nation and the

phenomenon of enormous political force that nationalism is reaching.

Theorists of nationalism have often been perplexed, not to say irritated by these three paradoxes: (1) The

objective modernity of nations to the historians eye vs. their subjective antiquity in the eyes of nationalists.

(2) The formal universality of nationality as a socio-cultural concept in the modern world everyone can,

should will have a nationality as he or she has a gender vs. the irremediable particularity of its

concrete manifestations such that, by definition, Greek nationality is sui generis. (3) The political power

of nationalism vs. their philosophical poverty and even incoherence.1

Furthermore, Anderson is introducing a new definition of nationalism which will revolutionizethe research field of Nationalism studies by creating the concept of so-called imagined

communities. The whole concept is based on the notion that one member of a nation will never

meet all the other co-members, yet they share a common feeling of belonging to the sameimagined group and even more as an imperative they have joint set of values and beliefs (set by

others). Not having in mind the distorted balance between different groups in the same group,

based on the existing distinctions in class, race, status, this groups are imagined to be horizontal.

As Anderson precisely defines:

In an anthropological spirit, then, I propose the following definition of the nation: it is an imagined political

community and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign. It is imagined because the members of

even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them,

yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion. The nation is imagined as limited because

even the largest of them, encompassing perhaps a billion living human beings, has finite, if elastic,

boundaries, beyond which lie other nations. It is imagined as sovereign because the concept was born in an

age in which Enlightenment and Revolution were destroying the legitimacy of the divinely-ordained,

hierarchical dynastic realm. Finally, it is imagined as a community, because, regardless of the actual

inequality and exploitation that may prevail in each, the nation is always conceived as a deep, horizontal

comradeship.2

What is interesting in Andersons research is the explanation how did nationalism reachedtodays limits. He is focusing the attention to the empires which in order to protect their owninterests created the concept of official nationalism. The term has its origin in the state

interests, because everything that comes from the state is official, has to be protected under any

circumstances and cannot be questioned. Furthermore, this theory is developed, getting the formof replicable solution for other empires which introduce official nationalism as a way to

protect their own interests.

There is one element that Anderson sees missing in order to make it easier to communicate the

idea of nationalism and belonging among the other members, which will consequentially unite

them under the same set of values. With the appearance of the first official newspapers oneperson got the exclusive opportunity to simultaneously know what happened to another person

located far from him, which he doesnt know and have never communicated with. The important

change here is that at the same time, different people on different locations were reading thesame news and got the same information. But the revolution in this exchange of information,

1 Anderson, Benedict,Imagined Communities2 Anderson, Benedict,Imagined Communities


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according to Anderson happened as a result of publishing houses attempt to find another market

to earn from. The race for profit, which lays in the basis of capitalism, forced publishing housesto change the borders of activities from national to international. And the essential means used

for easier communication were the print languages. Anderson specifically explains their role:

These print-languages laid the bases for national consciousnesses in three distinct ways. First and foremost,

they created unified fields of exchange and communication below Latin and above the spoken vernaculars.

Second, print-capitalism gave a new fixity to language, which in the long run helped to build that image of

antiquity so central to the subjective idea of the nation. Third, print-capitalism created languages-of-power

of a kind different from the older administrative vernaculars.3

The importance of the theory of Anderson is that it closes the circle established between the

print-languages as means, the print technology as element of transporting the information from

national to international borders, and the same nationalistic ideas, values, beliefs transferred tohuge mass of people which consequentially get a feeling of belonging to the same group/nation,

referred by Anderson as imagined community.

Justification of ethnical cleansing

We will now use the analysis of Andersons theory of imagined communities as an argument to

explain why extreme measures are used in the creation of modern nations on the specific case ofthe Balkan.

The researcher David Storey in his book Former Yugoslavia: Territory and national identity,

notes that the increased nationalistic rhetoric was one of the key factors for reaching the DaytonAgreement, which brought peace in the country after redefining the borders with new ones,

made on the basis of ethnical cleansing. The idea behind the agreement is that in order to stop the

violence in the country, new maps have to be written which will divide the citizens (mixed forcenturies before) based on their ethnicity on Serbs, Muslims and Croatians. Storey

precisely explains:

After a number of failed alternatives, the Dayton Agreement of 1995 divided Bosnia-Herzegovina into two

autonomous units a Muslim-Croat Federation and a Bosnian Serb Republic. Nationalistic rhetoric and the

associated desire to control particular portions of territory for that group have hardened divisions which

were of relatively minor significance only a few years previously (Campbell, 1999).4

Another researcher, Anthony Oberschall uses a similar methodology as Storey when explaining

the relation between the nationalistic rhetoric and violence. Oberschall focuses on the essentiallink between the political elites expressing through a nationalistic rhetoric, using the state

military forces, and both elements supported by the population which leaded by pure

nationalistic feeling believe that the cause should be reached by all means.

3Anderson, Benedict,Imagined Communities

4Storey, David, Former Yugoslavia: Territory and national identity


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Collective violence against civilians has three levels of perpetrators and enablers. 1. Political leaders and

elites in a party-state with an ethno-national program. 2. The perpetrators are violence cadres, made up of

special forces and paramilitaries, 3. A public, not necessarily a majority that supports and is complicit with

the policies5

Furthermore, Oberschall quotes a Serb political analyst, Aleksa Djilas, in order to explain the

manipulation that political elites used on the population which leaded to extreme nationalistambitions, fears and frustrations: The force of nationalist passions whipped up by theseopportunistic leaders not only made conflict inevitable but ...it made it exceptionally brutal. New

borders were created not just by force, but ethnic cleansing and the rape, persecution and murder

of civilians. [Fear Thy Neighbor, 1995].

Concretely, even Anderson confirms this link between nationalism as a concept and violence as

means. He is centring his explanation on patriotic feeling based in the willingness to give your

life for your imagined community, the nation.

Ultimately it is this fraternity that makes it possible, over the past two centuries, for so many millions of

people, not so much to kill, as willingly to die for such limited imaginings. 6

The analysis of the definitions of nationalism and the extreme ways of writing borders will be

used in order to question the thesis that the national discourse on the Balkan, after the 1990s was

a key factor for the breakup of the Federation and consolidation of 6 new imagined communities.

Nationalistic discourse on the Balkan

If we take as a starting point the previous conclusion that people are ready to sacrifice their lives

for the wellbeing of their nation, we can introduce a new angle to our analysis, brought byDavid Storey, who is opposing nationalism with globalization. He is trying to make a parallel of

expectations that in todays modern societies, affected by globalizing forces it is expected thatnationalism and identities will gradually lose their importance. Under globalization forces he

understands everything from flows of capital, activities of transnational corporations,

international migration to global diffusion of ideas and global movements (as feminism,environmentalism, protection ofminorities rights). But on the contrary of the expectations,

nationalism is not a thing of the past Storey claims: In places such as the Balkans, national

identity is of huge importance.

In order to give coordinates to our analysis, we have to explain the precise conditions and

political events that lead to the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and even morespecifically, the nationalistic discourse used by the political leaders. Researcher AnthonyOberschall is centring his attention to the first post-communist multiparty elections, and their

5Oberschall, Anthony, Ordinary People in the Balkan Wars: Ethnic Nationalism, Opportunism, Fear, Conformity and Confusion

6Anderson, Benedict,Imagined Communities


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aftermath, which he sees as a great opportunity for aggressive ethno-nationalism and for

political mobilization through ethno-national appeals:

From my content analysis of Oslobodjenjes coverage of the campaigns I will mention two examples: on

6/9/90 in Bosanska Gradiska the local HDZ handed out flags that read Serbs are swine, Serbs should

leave. Two days later in Novi Pazar, Vuk Drasovic, the Serb firebrand, proclaimed at an election rally all

those who like Turkey (i.e. Muslims) should go to Turkey and pledged that he would personally cut off anarm that raises the green (Muslim) flag. The rally precipitated a fight that ended with teargas and arrests by

police. Such rhetoric and election fights occurred in lots of places and saturated television news of the

campaigns.7

What is obvious from the analysis of political campaigns done by Oberschall is the extremely

low level of communication the political leaders are using. In absence of any political program orsubstance they are using nationalism as only means in order to rise the nationalistic feeling of the

population, in order to gain votes, power, and protect their interests, and end up in what will

become to be a cruel and violent civil war.

Here we will introduce another argument given by David Storey as opposition of Anderson

theory of nationalism. Storey is explaining that given the current circumstances, of xenophobia,

racism and brutal events, all associated to nationalism, the pejorative reading of nationalism is,in part, understandable. But his intention is to prove that this way of analysis is simplistic.

Therefore, he is stressing out that we have to have in mind that nationalism still gives a

significant right to people to ask for democracy, that nationalism accepted or not is stillpowerful, and that even today the idea of their own nation is leading force for some people.

Precisely he concludes with three main reasons:

However, to dismiss it in this way is simplistic for three main reasons. First, it ignores the importance of

nationalism as an ideology offering (or appearing to offer) a route for oppresses peoples to claim their

democratic rights. Nationalism, in the eyes of some, may offer a path to freedom and emancipation.

Second, regardless of our opinion of nationalism, it remains a potent social and political force. As such itdeserves close scrutiny. Third, it is important to examine the myriad of mundane everyday ways in which

people accept, reproduce and reinforce ideas of the nation (Billig, 1995). People read national newspapers,

support national sports teams and use national identity for classifying people. In all of these and many other

mundane ways, the nation is constantly re-affirmed and re-produced.8

Furthermore, Storey focuses his attention on a study, introduced by Paasi (1999) of how Finnishnationalism is nurtured through the education system. He argues that: the official curriculum

for geography teaching continually stresses the promotion of a Finnish national identity [and]

textbooks used in schools are an effective part of a states socializing system and inculcateyoungsters with the societys values and traditions and its political and social culture.

To bring our research to most current conditions we will analyze the nationalistic discourse thatpaved its way to the educational systems of all Balkan countries. In this process the textbooks

were collectively re-written with an aim to focus on the national identities of the countries, to

stress out the unique history of every respective country, and to alter events from recent and not

7Oberschall, Anthony, Ordinary People in the Balkan Wars: Ethnic Nationalism, Opportunism, Fear, Conformity and Confusion

8Storey, David, Former Yugoslavia: Territory and national identity


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so recent history. To argument our analysis we will quote three textbooks coming from three

Balkan countries: Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia, which were especially involved in the recent

violent conflicts.

Quote from a History textbook for 9th

grade, published in Serbia, by author R. Pejic: The NATO pact

started bombarding Yugoslavia on the 24th

of March, 1999. The most powerful military alliance in the

history of humankind, which includes 19 states with 500 millions of inhabitants, attacked a small peaceful

Balkan country.9

In the quote you can apparently see the innocent victim image that Serbia is trying to build in theeyes of the children. Of course, in the eyes of neighboring countries the image is opposite.

Quote from an Islam religious textbook for 6th

grade, published in Bosnia, by author M. Chatovic: The

best proof how useful socializing is, was demonstrated in the B&H war. In the bloodiest war in the modern

history, Bosnians remained psychologically healthy. Psychiatrists from the West made predictions that we

will enter a war, and then get out of it depressed. That did not happen, because during the war we shared

everything with our neighbors, and now when we go out freely on streets we are happy for every survived

Muslim.10

The quote aims to enhance the feeling of love and support between Muslims on the Balkan, but

one more message it also manages to transfer is the unworthiness of other peoples (differentthan you) lives.

Quote from a Geography textbook for 8th

grade, published in Croatia, by authors A. Markovic and M.

Markotic Croats tend to keep their own cultural and national identity through the Croatian language and

education, from kinder-garden to university. You surely want to follow movies and sport events on TV.

Which television programme is dearest to you? You would feel good if Croatians have their own TV

channel, right!11

This quote is showing a successful attempt to infiltrate political propaganda of a strong national

identity feeling in a totally inappropriate place.

All this quotes from official educational textbooks just prove that the nationalist discourse in all

Balkan countries has already passed all other levels of manipulation and now focuses its

attention to the children, to raise them in a nationalistic spirit, in order to make it easier to control

their opinion in the future.

9http://okno.mk/node/24838Quotes from official books for elementary education published by Okno online magazine on 5/7 January 2013

(source http://prometej.ba)10

http://okno.mk/node/24838Quotes from official books for elementary education published by Okno online magazine on 5/7 January 2013

(source http://prometej.ba)11

http://okno.mk/node/24838Quotes from official books for elementary education published by Okno online magazine on 5/7 January 2013

(source http://prometej.ba)


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Conclusion

The specific time of introducing Andersons idea of imagined communities coincides with an

important event on the Balkan, the death of the Yugoslavias founding father Josip Broz Tito.

The roots of this theory in the three paradoxes the modern researchers of nationalism are facing

with can be proved using the specific case of the Balkan. The theory dates origin of nations backin the XVIII century, while the contemporary Balkan nations are currently researching and more

important promoting the notion of origin of their nations that date even 300 years b.c. According

to the theoreticians belonging to explicitly one nation is questionable, especially when

comparing the Jus soli and Jus sanguinis laws on citizenship and nationhood in different

countries, while current attempts to run censuses on the Balkan reveal problems of self-

determination as a result of mixed marriages and not belonging to one of the constitutional

peoples, or otherwise regarded as others. And third, most obvious surprising element to

theoreticians is the political power of politic elites in the Balkan countries based only on

nationalist rhetoric (previously discussed) without any support in the form of action program or

philosophical idea.

Furthermore, the concept of printed capitalism has its effect on the Balkan first through the

marginalized nationalist magazines, that in the period of more than 20 years grew into national

TV channels with an aim to promote national identity among the different nation states and seen

through the last examples introducing the national discourse in the educational system from

earliest age, following a specific strategy of glorifying the own nation and (at the basis) creating

negative feelings towards the neighbors (seen as enemies).

Bibliography

1. Anderson, Benedict,Imagined Communities

2. Oberschall, Anthony, Ordinary People in the Balkan Wars: Ethnic Nationalism,

Opportunism, Fear, Conformity and Confusion

3. Storey, David, Former Yugoslavia: Territory and national identity

*Sources: Textbooks for Elementary education published in Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia

Documents

How the national discourse on the Balkan starting from the 1990s effected the formation of ‘imagined communities’ in the region since?