Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Encyclopedia
The Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (often referred to as the SANU Memorandum) was a draft document produced by a 14-member committee composed by members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
from 1985 to 1986, presided by Kosta Mihailović. In September 1986, excerpts of the draft were published by Večernje novosti
.
The memo immediately captured the public's attention in Yugoslavia as it gave voice to controversial views on the state of the nation and argued for a fundamental reorganization of the state. The main theme was decentralisation leading to the disintegration of Yugoslavia and that the Serbs were discriminated against by Yugoslavia's constitutional structure. It was officially denounced in 1986 by the government of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
and the government of the Socialist Republic of Serbia
for inciting nationalism. Some consider it a key moment in the breakup of Yugoslavia and a contributor to the Yugoslav wars
.
. The second section focuses on what the authors saw as Serbia's inferior status in Yugoslavia, and used the status of Serbs in the province of Kosovo
and in Croatia
to make its point.
The memo claimed that at the end of World War II
, Josip Broz Tito
deliberately weakened Serbia
by dividing up the majority of what was perceived by Serb nationalists as Serb territory, namely present day Serbia, Montenegro
, the Republic of Macedonia
, Bosnia
and Croatia with Serb majority populations.
The memo argued that Tito reduced Serbia's status further by including two autonomous provinces (Kosovo and Vojvodina
) within its borders, something that was not done in any of the other Yugoslav republics. Kosta Mihailović made contributions on the economy, Mihailo Marković
on self-management, and Vasilije Krestić
on the status of the Serbs of Croatia
. The document as a whole is often wrongly ascribed to Dobrica Ćosić
, who took part in discussions about it but was not on the committee that produced it.
, who publicly called the memo "nothing else but the darkest nationalism", and future president of the Republika Srpska
entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina
, Radovan Karadžić
, who stated "Bolshevism is bad, but nationalism is even worse". Despite these declarations, Milošević, Karadžić, and other Serb politicians publicly agreed with most of the memo and would form close political connections with the writers of the memo such as Mihailo Marković, who became the vice-president of the Socialist Party of Serbia
and Dobrica Ćosić who was appointed the first President of the new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992.
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the most prominent academic institution in Serbia today...
from 1985 to 1986, presided by Kosta Mihailović. In September 1986, excerpts of the draft were published by Večernje novosti
Vecernje novosti
Večernje novosti is a Belgrade-based daily newspaper. Founded in 1953, it quickly grew into a high-circulation daily.It first appeared on stands on October 16, 1953 edited by Slobodan Glumac who set the newspaper's tone for years to come...
.
The memo immediately captured the public's attention in Yugoslavia as it gave voice to controversial views on the state of the nation and argued for a fundamental reorganization of the state. The main theme was decentralisation leading to the disintegration of Yugoslavia and that the Serbs were discriminated against by Yugoslavia's constitutional structure. It was officially denounced in 1986 by the government of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
and the government of the Socialist Republic of Serbia
Socialist Republic of Serbia
Socialist Republic of Serbia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It is a predecessor of modern day Serbia, which served as the biggest republic in the Yugoslav federation and held the largest population of all the Yugoslav...
for inciting nationalism. Some consider it a key moment in the breakup of Yugoslavia and a contributor to the Yugoslav wars
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
.
Authors
- Pavle IvićPavle Ivic-Biography:Professor Pavle Ivić was a leading South Slavic and general dialectologist and phonologist. Both his field work and his synthesizing studies were extensive and authoritative...
- Antonije IsakovićAntonije IsakovićAntonije Isaković was a Serbian writer and member of Serbian Academy of Science and Arts. He won NIN Prize in 1982 for his novel Tren 2. He was one of authors of Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts...
- Dušan Kanazir
- Mihailo MarkovićMihailo MarkovicMihailo Marković, PhD was a Serbian philosopher. He was born in Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes...
- Miloš Macura
- Dejan MedakovićDejan MedakovicDejan Medaković was a Serbian writer, historian and professor who resided in Belgrade...
- Miroslav Pantić
- Nikola Pantić
- Ljubiša Rakić
- Radovan Samardžić
- Miomir VukobratovićMiomir VukobratovicMiomir Vukobratović is a Serbian mechanical engineer and pioneer in humanoid robots. His major interest is in the development of efficient modeling and control of robot dynamics.-Education:He received the B.Sc. and Ph.D...
- Vasilije KrestićVasilije KresticVasilije Krestić is an intellectual and historian, and a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.As a historian, he focuses on the history of the Serbs of the Habsburg Monarchy...
- Ivan Maksimović
- Kosta Mihailović
- Stojan Ćelić
Overview
The memo is divided into two parts: one on the "Crisis in the Yugoslav Economy and Society", the other on the "Status of Serbia and the Serb Nation". The first section focuses on the economic and political fragmentation of Yugoslavia that followed the promulgation of the 1974 constitutionConstitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the supreme law of S.F.R. Yugoslavia and its predecessor, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia .-Federal constitutions:...
. The second section focuses on what the authors saw as Serbia's inferior status in Yugoslavia, and used the status of Serbs in the province of Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
and in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
to make its point.
The memo claimed that at the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
deliberately weakened Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
by dividing up the majority of what was perceived by Serb nationalists as Serb territory, namely present day Serbia, Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
, Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
and Croatia with Serb majority populations.
The memo argued that Tito reduced Serbia's status further by including two autonomous provinces (Kosovo and Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
) within its borders, something that was not done in any of the other Yugoslav republics. Kosta Mihailović made contributions on the economy, Mihailo Marković
Mihailo Markovic
Mihailo Marković, PhD was a Serbian philosopher. He was born in Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes...
on self-management, and Vasilije Krestić
Vasilije Krestic
Vasilije Krestić is an intellectual and historian, and a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.As a historian, he focuses on the history of the Serbs of the Habsburg Monarchy...
on the status of the Serbs of Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. The document as a whole is often wrongly ascribed to Dobrica Ćosić
Dobrica Cosic
Dobrica Ćosić is a Serbian writer, as well as a political and Serb nationalist theorist. He was the first president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1992 to 1993...
, who took part in discussions about it but was not on the committee that produced it.
Reception
The memo was shunned by most politicians in 1986, including future president of Serbia, Slobodan MiloševićSlobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
, who publicly called the memo "nothing else but the darkest nationalism", and future president of the Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, Radovan Karadžić
Radovan Karadžic
Radovan Karadžić is a former Bosnian Serb politician. He is detained in the United Nations Detention Unit of Scheveningen, accused of war crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats during the Siege of Sarajevo, as well as ordering the Srebrenica massacre.Educated as a...
, who stated "Bolshevism is bad, but nationalism is even worse". Despite these declarations, Milošević, Karadžić, and other Serb politicians publicly agreed with most of the memo and would form close political connections with the writers of the memo such as Mihailo Marković, who became the vice-president of the Socialist Party of Serbia
Socialist Party of Serbia
The Socialist Party of Serbia is officially a democratic socialist political party in Serbia. It is also widely recognized as a de facto Serbian nationalist party, though the party itself does not officially acknowledge this...
and Dobrica Ćosić who was appointed the first President of the new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992.
Memorandum points
- AlbaniansAlbaniansAlbanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
are committing genocideGenocideGenocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
against Serbs in KosovoSocialist Autonomous Province of KosovoSocialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo was one of the two socialist autonomous areas of the Socialist Republic of Serbia incorporated into the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1974 until 1990...
(pgs. 41, 56 of memorandum) - SloveniaSocialist Republic of SloveniaThe Socialist Republic of Slovenia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1943 until 1990...
and CroatiaSocialist Republic of CroatiaSocialist Republic of Croatia was a sovereign constituent country of the second Yugoslavia. It came to existence during World War II, becoming a socialist state after the war, and was also renamed four times in its existence . It was the second largest republic in Yugoslavia by territory and...
are taking control of the Serbian economy. YugoslaviaSocialist Federal Republic of YugoslaviaThe Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
is taking industry out of SerbiaSocialist Republic of SerbiaSocialist Republic of Serbia was a socialist state that was a constituent country of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It is a predecessor of modern day Serbia, which served as the biggest republic in the Yugoslav federation and held the largest population of all the Yugoslav...
(pg. 42) - There is need for constitutional changes of YugoslaviaConstitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of YugoslaviaThe Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the supreme law of S.F.R. Yugoslavia and its predecessor, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia .-Federal constitutions:...
because of its unfair mistreating and weakening of Serbia (pg. 46) - discrimination against SerbsSerbophobiaAnti-Serb sentiment is a generic term used to describe a sentiment of hostility or hatred towards Serbs, Serbia or Serbian Orthodoxy...
(pg. 50) - SerbiaSerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
has given 2 500 000 victims for YugoslaviaYugoslaviaYugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
(in World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
) and now is victim of this state (pg. 52) - Between 1690 and 1912, 500,000 Serbs escaped from Kosovo where Albanians are committing genocide (pg. 56)
- There is great discrimination of Serbs living in Kosovo and in Croatia (pg. 58)
- Serbs in Croatia are now in danger like never before (pg. 62)
- All writers of Serb nationality from BosniaBosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
are Serbs and not BosnianBosniansBosnians are people who reside in, or come from, Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the modern state definition a Bosnian can be anyone who holds citizenship of the state. This includes, but is not limited to, members of the constituent ethnic groups of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs and...
writers (pg. 65) - Serbs' question won't be solved before creation of full national and cultural unity of Serb people without importance where they live (pgs. 70–3)
- During the last 50 years Serbs have been two time victims of destruction, assimilationCultural assimilationCultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
, changing of religionReligious conversionReligious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
, cultural genocideCultural genocideCultural genocide is a term that lawyer Raphael Lemkin proposed in 1933 as a component to genocide. The term was considered in the 1948 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples juxtaposed next to the term ethnocide, but it was removed in the final document, replaced with...
, ideological indoctrinationIndoctrinationIndoctrination is the process of inculcating ideas, attitudes, cognitive strategies or a professional methodology . It is often distinguished from education by the fact that the indoctrinated person is expected not to question or critically examine the doctrine they have learned...
and saying that they do not have any importance. (pgs. 70–3) - If Yugoslavia splits apart, then Serbia must look out for its national interestNational interestThe national interest, often referred to by the French expression raison d'État , is a country's goals and ambitions whether economic, military, or cultural. The concept is an important one in international relations where pursuit of the national interest is the foundation of the realist...
(pg. 73)
See also
- Serbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsSerbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsThe Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the most prominent academic institution in Serbia today...
- Dobrica ĆosićDobrica CosicDobrica Ćosić is a Serbian writer, as well as a political and Serb nationalist theorist. He was the first president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1992 to 1993...
- Mihailo MarkovićMihailo MarkovicMihailo Marković, PhD was a Serbian philosopher. He was born in Belgrade, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes...
- Vasilije KrestićVasilije KresticVasilije Krestić is an intellectual and historian, and a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.As a historian, he focuses on the history of the Serbs of the Habsburg Monarchy...
- Contributions for the Slovenian National Program
Source
- The Serbian Academy After A Century: An Institution at Risk?, edited by Sofija Skorić and George Vid Tomashevich (published by The Serbian Heritage Academy, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) - explains how in 1986 the unfinished, unedited and unapproved draft of this incipient document was illegally removed from the Academy and published without authorization.