Srbija do Tokija
Encyclopedia
Srbija do Tokija, meaning "Serbia
to Tokyo
", is a slogan
used by Serbian soccer fans
to taunt rival ethnic groups in the beginning of the Yugoslav wars
of the 1990s. At that time, Serbian soccer club Red Star Belgrade
has won the European Cup, and also the worldwide title in Tokyo
, Japan, winning Intercontinental Cup
. This was the greatest success of any soccer club ever in Yugoslavia
, and was much envied
by the other nations at the time of increased ethnic hatred. There have been incidents of graffiti containing the message in Vojvodina
, Central Serbia
, as well as in Republika Srpska
and other parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Such graffiti was also seen in Kosovo
during the Kosovo War
.
defeated French
team Olympique de Marseille
to win the European Cup
– the first Yugoslav team to do so. As the winners of the European Cup, Red Star Belgrade earned a place in the Intercontinental Cup
, which was held at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium
. Exultant fans coined the phrase to glorify their team's upcoming adventure.
On December 8, Red Star Belgrade won the Intercontinental Cup, defeating Chile
an team Colo-Colo
. By that time, the tension that had underlain the European Cup match had ignited into the Yugoslav Wars, with a short-lived war in Slovenia, and a full-scale war in Croatia
. In this context, the phrase's associations with Serbian victory made it particularly appealing to nationalists and militarists.
containing the message has been sighted in Vojvodina
, in Central Serbia
, and in Republika Srpska
. Such graffiti was also seen in Kosovo
during the Kosovo War
. In the Kosovo village of Lozica
, the local Albanian population was claiming that the graffiti "Srbije do Tokija" was written by Serbian military forces during the destruction of the village.
During 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
, phrase was expanded. "Srbija do Tokija, al' preko Milvokija", meaning "Serbia
to Tokyo
, but over Milwaukee", in order to show disagreement with USA role during 1999 bombing. After the bombardment ended, phrase extension was abandoned.
In Kragujevac
during the night of 5/6 January 2001, unknown attackers have destroyed a shop owned by a Chinese citizen and added a slogan on the building walls
Outside of Serbia in ex-Yugoslavia, the slogan is sometimes written on walls, but then it is taken as a derogatory joke and nationalistic provocation.
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...
to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
", is a slogan
Slogan
A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm . Slogans vary from the written and the...
used by Serbian soccer fans
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
to taunt rival ethnic groups in the beginning of 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...
of the 1990s. At that time, Serbian soccer club Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade is a football club from Belgrade, Serbia. The club is a part of the Red Star Sports Society.Red Star Belgrade is the most successful Serbian club, with a record of 25 national championships and 23 national cups in both Serbian and ex-Yugoslav competitions...
has won the European Cup, and also the worldwide title in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Japan, winning Intercontinental Cup
Intercontinental Cup (football)
The European/South American Cup, commonly referred to as the World Club Championship, Intercontinental Cup or Toyota Cup, was a football competition endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, contested between the winners of the European Cup and the South American Copa Libertadores...
. This was the greatest success of any soccer club ever in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, and was much envied
Envy
Envy is best defined as a resentful emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another's superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it."...
by the other nations at the time of increased ethnic hatred. There have been incidents of graffiti containing the message in Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
, Central Serbia
Central Serbia
Central Serbia , also referred to as Serbia proper , was the region of Serbia from 1945 to 2009. It included central parts of Serbia outside of the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. The region of Central Serbia was not an administrative division of Serbia as such; it was under the...
, as well as in 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...
and other parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Such graffiti was also seen in 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...
during the Kosovo War
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
.
Origin of the phrase
On May 29, 1991, as inter-ethnic relations in Yugoslavia were growing tenser, Serbian football club Red Star BelgradeRed Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade is a football club from Belgrade, Serbia. The club is a part of the Red Star Sports Society.Red Star Belgrade is the most successful Serbian club, with a record of 25 national championships and 23 national cups in both Serbian and ex-Yugoslav competitions...
defeated French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
team Olympique de Marseille
Olympique de Marseille
Olympique de Marseille is a French association football club based in Marseille. Founded in 1899, the club plays in Ligue 1 and have spent most of its history in the top tier of French football. Marseille have been French champions nine times and have won the Coupe de France a record ten times. In...
to win the European Cup
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
– the first Yugoslav team to do so. As the winners of the European Cup, Red Star Belgrade earned a place in the Intercontinental Cup
Intercontinental Cup (football)
The European/South American Cup, commonly referred to as the World Club Championship, Intercontinental Cup or Toyota Cup, was a football competition endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL, contested between the winners of the European Cup and the South American Copa Libertadores...
, which was held at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium
Olympic Stadium (Tokyo)
or National Stadium is a stadium in Kasumigaoka, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan that served as the main stadium for the 1964 Summer Olympics. It currently serves as the stadium where the Japan national football teams home matches and major football club cup finals are held.-History:The stadium was...
. Exultant fans coined the phrase to glorify their team's upcoming adventure.
On December 8, Red Star Belgrade won the Intercontinental Cup, defeating Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an team Colo-Colo
Colo-Colo
Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo is a Chilean football club based in the commune of Macul, Santiago. It competes in the Primera División, the top-flight football league in the country, from which they have never been relegated. Their home ground is the Estadio Monumental David Arellano.Colo-Colo...
. By that time, the tension that had underlain the European Cup match had ignited into the Yugoslav Wars, with a short-lived war in Slovenia, and a full-scale war in Croatia
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
. In this context, the phrase's associations with Serbian victory made it particularly appealing to nationalists and militarists.
Occurrences
GraffitiGraffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
containing the message has been sighted in Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
, in Central Serbia
Central Serbia
Central Serbia , also referred to as Serbia proper , was the region of Serbia from 1945 to 2009. It included central parts of Serbia outside of the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. The region of Central Serbia was not an administrative division of Serbia as such; it was under the...
, and in 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...
. Such graffiti was also seen in 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...
during the Kosovo War
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
. In the Kosovo village of Lozica
Lozica
Lozica is a village in Croatia. It is connected by the D8 highway....
, the local Albanian population was claiming that the graffiti "Srbije do Tokija" was written by Serbian military forces during the destruction of the village.
During 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was NATO's military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The strikes lasted from March 24, 1999 to June 10, 1999...
, phrase was expanded. "Srbija do Tokija, al' preko Milvokija", meaning "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...
to Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, but over Milwaukee", in order to show disagreement with USA role during 1999 bombing. After the bombardment ended, phrase extension was abandoned.
In Kragujevac
Kragujevac
Kragujevac is the fourth largest city in Serbia, the main city of the Šumadija region and the administrative centre of Šumadija District. It is situated on the banks of the Lepenica River...
during the night of 5/6 January 2001, unknown attackers have destroyed a shop owned by a Chinese citizen and added a slogan on the building walls
Outside of Serbia in ex-Yugoslavia, the slogan is sometimes written on walls, but then it is taken as a derogatory joke and nationalistic provocation.
External links
- Article on the 2006 secession of Montenegro from Serbia, exploring how "Srbija do Tokija" is no longer applicable, at the International Herald TribuneInternational Herald TribuneThe International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
- Article on Serbian/Albanian conflicts in 1999, including the use of "Serbia to Tokyo" as a graffito, at the New York Times
- Review of Melanie Friend's No Place Like Home: Echoes from Kosovo, in which "Serbia to Tokyo" is compared to threats of rape and murder.