The following scene is made up by me, but it is very easily imaginable in reality. The teacher asks: "What was the name of the joint state of the South Slavic peoples?" "The former Yugoslavia!" the good students shouted almost in unison.
Namely, I do not know of a similar example anywhere in the world, that a country is always and almost always called with the prefix "former", as if the former Yugoslavia were its first and last name, and this is done equally by those who love its former state and those who to whom she is sad and hateful. An uninformed person would think that no country has ever disappeared from the horizon of the present and the future, since it is not true that someone says "Former Roman Empire" or "Former Austria-Hungary".
Why is there such a need for an almost ritual emphasis on a past that has been going on for over three decades and has no prospect of becoming a past (therefore, for the past to become a past) in the foreseeable future? It must be a form of magical thinking: whenever we invoke her former self, it's as if we cast off the spell of her vampirization. And why are we so afraid of it? Well, think about it: what murderer would like to meet his victim face to face?
Jugophobia and Jugopanic often take on grotesque forms. Thus, a concert was recently held in Split by a group that calls itself "Bijelo Dugme" (and the name "Former Bijelo Dugme" would be more appropriate), at which the song "Spit and Sing, Moja Jugoslavijo" was performed, originally from 1986. A public mention Yugoslavia without accompanying curses is the biggest taboo of Croatian nationalism; in comparison, the adjective "Serbian" is almost gentle The Serb's nationality ("it's not him, poor thing, it's his fault"), but he can't forgive the Yugoslav for his determination.
Jurica Pavičić testified from the scene for Jutarnji list that the song caused a certain commotion, but that, considering the size of the audience, there was not much booing. It's more – oh, the horror! – any choral singing. By the way, that's understandable: it's a catchy chorus, Bregović knows how to do it... The real kermes came about only later, when various professional patriots (headed by "veterans' associations" and similar small and big rentiers of the former Yugoslavia) came forward to say how it scandal, horror, penance and high treason; the pinnacle of bizarreness was the request to ban Alen Islamović from entering Croatia. Why on earth, him?! He neither wrote the song nor put it in the repertoire, he is just a performer of singing works from Tezgar. But it seems that they must be punished exemplarily by the mouth through which a hateful word passed in an inappropriate context...
In Serbia, Former Yugoslavia is subtly tabooed in a slightly different way, but no less toxic and irrevocable. The term was still in circulation during Milosevic's time because Serbian nationalism sought to colonize it and fill it with itself. It was hypocritical and corrupt to the core, and it's great that it failed: it's fairer that Yugoslavia doesn't exist than that it's falsified.
Now, however, it is another Yugoslavia's turn to be demolished, and very soon we will also be talking about it as the former one. It is about the building of the Hotel "Yugoslavia", a modernist jewel from the Danube bank in Zemun, one of the symbols of socialist chic and unostentatious luxury. From the first moment, the news about its impending demolition in order to build some kind of ready-made solitaires in that place sounded unbelievable to me: "oh, impossible! Well, they wouldn't dare!” This shows that, as much as I always expect the worst from "these", deep down I am still naive: I believe that even the worst thieves have a limit that they do not cross. Of course, they don't have it and they will cross it, and there will be no one to stop them.
I know very well that Zemun's "Yugoslavia" will not be demolished because it is called that - after all, they could always rename it, nothing stands in their way, least of all respect for the precious heritage of the country they never understood. But I can't escape the impression (impression is an excellent kidnapper) that the name does not work in any way in favor of this hotel and this magnificent building, because it additionally leaves it without protection, like some historical stepchild. And also the fact that "Yugoslavia" was designed by three architects from Zagreb! If there was at least some notable name of Serbian architecture, maybe - not very likely, but still - something could be done, and like this... Welcome to the desert of the real "former 'Yugoslavia'". Behind her is a devastated wilderness, and after that comes a future in which being a "former" will be a privilege.
