Question

The former Yugoslavia became a flash point for tension, war, and genocide. Why did this happen, and how successful were attempts to stop it?

Answer 1

There are many factors, which have led to the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the warfare in the former-Yugoslavia. These factors range from historical reasons to economic reasons. Though a combination of all of these many factors led to the division of Yugoslavia and the Bosnian conflict, this paper focuses solely on the fall of communism. In order, to better understand how the fall of communism contributed to the rise of religious nationalism, this paper focuses on the treatment and role of religion under communist rule and following the collapse of Yugoslavian communism.

The communist government under Tito’s rule kept religious nationalist tensions from tearing Yugoslavia apart through repression, a focus on a common threat, the concept of self-management, the calculated implementation of boundaries, and the recognition of Muslim as a nationality. However, these same tactics led to heighten religious tensions upon communism’s collapse.

Religion in Yugoslavia has also had many differing roles throughout the communist era and after communism’s collapse; demonstrating that the role of religion was not constant under Yugoslavia’s communist rule. There is also a sharp contrast between religious roles during communism and after communism.

In March 1945, a communist government, led by Josip Broz Tito, took control of Yugoslavia. The November elections secured this communist government’s reign for almost half a century. Tito established the communist rule in Yugoslavia by repressing or eliminating potential dangers to the regime.

Tito secured communist rule by first by making sure that most political leaders who were part of the Yugoslavian government prior to World War II were incarcerated or exiled. He next targeted the Ustasa members and other Nazi collaborators. The majority of these Ustasa members and Nazi collaborators were executed, if they had not taken to the opportunity to flee when the communists took control of the government.

The Ustasa was an infamous Croatian organization, which conspired with the Nazis; committing numerous attacks in Yugoslavia during World War II against non-Catholic segments of the Yugoslav population. Their Serbian counterparts were the Chetniks.

The Chetniks were Serbian guerrillas who committed similar atrocities. region had greater say and control in how their region functioned.

However, in practice the League of Communist of Yugoslavia (LCY) still retained the majority of the control of how the country operated. This control was not to the extent that it had been when Yugoslavia was consciously emulating the Soviet Union. This decentralization though not significant led to an increased regional focus, which may be seen as the beginnings of regional unity that eventually led to regional nationalism and the break up of Yugoslavia.

The next significant time period for religion was from 1965 to 1971. During this period, another great social change, which also contrasted with the initial communist regime took place, this social change was the "relaxation" of the restrictions on citizens. Yugoslav citizens were permitted to leave the country and travel around the country more freely than their eastern European counterparts(Singleton, 245). They were also allowed to "read Western literature, buy foreign newspapers, and exchange ideas with ordinary citizens of other countries"(Singleton, 245). This relaxation of government control was also being experienced in the Soviet Union, due to Kruschev’s open criticism of Stalin. However, clearly, the average Yugoslavian citizen experienced greater freedom than the average Soviet citizen did during this time period.

During the rise of religious nationalism, these churches believed that by linking themselves to the various nationalists, they could promote growth of their religions and firmly establish their religions. Various churches, thus, willing became pawns of political opportunists because of their newfound popularity, which was the result of religious fanaticism. They reacted for the most part passively to the atrocities committed in the name of their religion; and at times members of their clergy disturbingly have taken active roles in the atrocities committed.

The Roman Catholic Church of Croatia stood by as religious nationalist, Franjo Tudman, changed the Croatian constitution and began the systematic decay of the few civil liberties afforded Croatia during communism. He did this by removing all non-Croatians from positions of power and proceeded to take control of the media (Denitch, 45). He dehumanized non-Croatians, especially targeting the Muslim population. His government also used propaganda, and was responsible for genocide and other war crimes (Sells, 101).

The Roman Catholic Church of Croatia has maintained a passive stance despite these atrocities committed by the Croatian government. Their stance is reminiscent of the stance, which they took during the Ustasa’s atrocities against non-Catholics during World War II (Sells, 79).

The Serbian Orthodox Church’s stance has similarly been one of passivity in the face of religious nationalism. Religious nationalist, Slobodan Milosevic, has also taken control of the media for propaganda uses and has called for a "Greater Serbia". His authoritarian rule has dehumanized non-Serbian people. Under his rule, Muslim citizens and Muslim sympathizers have become targets of violence.

Milosevic and the Serbian government have carefully designed the destruction of the existence of Islamic culture in the former-Yugoslavia, by burning books which didn’t support their ideology, by destroying mosques, and by destroying Islamic architecture (Sells, 78). Destroying all signs of the existence of Islamic culture, has also entailed the systematic murder of Muslim civilians.

Similarly, the Serbian Orthodox Church refuses to admit that their clergy have also stood by in the mist of violence and even, on some occasions, "blessed" those who have committed war crimes (Sells, 80).

The Serbian Orthodox Church has even gone so far as to declare that the accounts of genocide and other "crimes against humanity", including the establishment of concentration camps, are false.

Religious contribution to the conflict has not been solely a negative one. One example is from a Geneva conference between two prominent religious leaders, Patriarch Paul I from the Serbian Orthodox Church and Franjo Cardinal Kuharic from the Roman Catholic Church in Croatia., which took place in 1992. They prepared a text, which demanded an end to the violence against all religions and all religious places of worship. It also called for the release of all prisoners of war and hostages. The text also demanded the safe return home of refugees and deportees. It also called for the freedom of clergy and members of the different religious groups to practice their respective religions unfettered. It called for an end to the disruption of humanitarian aid. Finally, it demanded an end to ethnic cleansing (Mojzes, 148).

Another positive contribution to ending the conflict in Yugoslavia has come from the members of religious institutions and Yugoslavian citizens who have condemned the religious nationalism and the war crimes. The examples of resistance include housing fugitives and helping victims escape(Sells, 78). An example of a member of the clergy not being passive, is when Michael Sells writes of a priest who attempted to help a Muslim captive. Another example is a Franciscan by the name of Marko Orsolic, who set up the International Center for Interreligious Dialogue, Justice, and Peace, which is an organization that is dedicated to developing a greater understanding between different religious groups (Mojzes, 149). There are not many accounts of these types of defiance by clergy and citizens. Unfortunately, the role of religion in Yugoslavia after the fall of communism has mostly been a negative one, at least in the case of the two most powerful religions in the region today.

The role of religion has throughout Yugoslavian communist rule and throughout religious nationalistic rule has been shaped by those in power. The treatment of religion by the Yugoslavian communist government shifted with the pressure of the West. The treatment also change as Tito enforced Yugoslavian unity. Tito was very careful to repress religious nationalism, whenever it emerged, and to use other calculated tactics to keep religious nationalism from becoming a major problem for the communist government.

However, these tactics, to build unity and end religious nationalism, may have actually worsened the situation in Yugoslavia by increasing the religious tension. When communism collapsed in Yugoslavia these tensions escalated into the Bosnian conflict.

The role of religion in post-communist Yugoslavia has been, for the most part, to link itself with religious nationalist, the two most prominent examples of this being the Roman Catholic Church of Croatia and the Serbian Orthodox Church. This collaboration with religious nationalist also can be viewed as the offspring of communist Yugoslavia’s initial harsh repression of religion and its subsequent control of religious expression and freedoms.

Yugoslavia was unified under a charismatic leader, outside threats to their independence, and self-management and the communist regime’s repression of religious tensions, with little recurrences of religious nationalism. With the rise of religious nationalism following the collapse of communism and the ensuing Yugoslavian conflict, it is clear that, in the words of Paul Mojzes, "Communists were able to dispose neither of nationalism nor of religion despite their efforts in each directions."