ex-Yugoslavia Archives

The European Vertical: The blue arrows represent contempt.

Vladimir Arsenijević recently wrote an interesting article about the relationship between Serbs and Albanians called “Our negroes, our enemies.” Ethnic relations in the former Yugoslavia are just a big fat depressing mess, and this article does a great job of tackling the particularly bad feelings surrounding Kosovo.

He also mentions the “European vertical,” or the “Yugoslavian brand of racism”, which was:

… always directed at those who were on the next rung down geographically and economically. Hence the Slovenians showed the contempt they felt for the country bumpkins, idlers or failures of the other republics most clearly towards the Croatians; the Croatians for their part passed it on to the Serbs; and the latter, in turn, took pleasure in making fun of the Macedonians or Montenegrins. The Bosnians, on the other hand, as the people who inhabited the centre of the Republic of Yugoslavia, were the object of mockery from all sides.

I don’t agree with his assessment later on of Albanians as “absolute outsiders” because I can think of another group that is even further away outside. It’s still a fascinating article and a great introduction to the Kosovo problem.

And while we’re on the subject, Viktor recently put together one of the greatest posts ever, regarding Serbian conspiracy theories about Kosovo and the world. It’s a must-read.

[Via A Fistful of Euros]