Latest news with #SlobodanMilošević
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Serbia's Exit festival to go ‘into exile' amid government pressure over student protests
One of Europe's largest music festivals will no longer be held in Serbia and could go 'into exile' in Germany or a neighbouring Balkan state after Belgrade withheld funding over its support of the country's anti-corruption student protesters. Exit festival, which is held every July in a medieval bastion fortress in Serbia's second city, Novi Sad, was founded in 2000 by student activists from the protest movement that helped topple Slobodan Milošević. Affordable ticket prices and starry lineups mean it has acquired a reputation as Europe's premier music event with a social conscience, with 210,000 people from more than 80 countries attending in 2024. On Friday, however, Exit's organisers announced that its 25th anniversary edition from 10 to 13 July this year 'will be the last to take place' in Serbia, citing 'undemocratic pressures' from the government of the president, Aleksandar Vučić. Novi Sad has emerged as the hub of the protests that have swept the Balkan state since a concrete canopy collapsed on to a busy pavement at the city's central station last year, killing 14 people. On its social media channels, Exit has endorsed the demands of student protesters, calling for the resignation of the responsible minister and a full investigation into the disaster. The festival has donated food and sleeping bags to protesters blocking access to universities and municipal buildings, and plans to give student activists their own stage at this year's festival. The festival's outspoken stance appears to have drawn the ire of the government, with authorities withholding about €1.5m in national and regional tourism grants and some sponsors dropping out. 'The only way we could continue the festival beyond this year is if we decided not to be free from political influence,' said Exit's founder, Dušan Kovačević, explaining that his festival needs about 15% direct government funding to remain affordable but usually brings approximately €25m into the Serbian economy every year. 'And we cannot be threatened.' Authorities say their 'strategic repositioning' is not politically motivated, blaming financial pressures for being unable to provide support. 'They are trying to govern by fear,' Kovačević said. 'That's not the way to go, especially in a country a political history like Serbia's.' Kovačević said he was in talks to hold 'Exit in exile' iterations of the festival from 2026 after receiving invitations to hold musical events in Germany and several countries in the Balkans, as well as in Egypt. 'We may do it for one year, or maybe two or maybe five,' he added. This year's festival has a lineup that includes the Prodigy, Sex Pistols, the French producer DJ Snake and the Russian singer Nina Kraviz. Asked whether Exit would leave its home country permanently, the festival's organisers said: 'It remains too early to say if or under what conditions the festival will return to Serbia.' The government has been approached for comment.
Saudi Gazette
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Croatia's new 'graveyard law' stirs Serb minority's sentiments
ZAGREB — Croatia's war of independence ended almost 30 years ago. However, the EU and NATO member's lawmakers felt some matters stemming from the conflict had not been fully laid to rest. On Wednesday, MPs overwhelmingly voted in favor of a new piece of legislation called the Graveyard Law, replacing the two-decades-old policy with a fresh set of rules which now demand the removal of graveyard inscriptions and plaques erected during the 1991-1995 conflict "not in line with the constitutional order". The new law, as explained in a statement released by the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets, outlaws inscriptions made during the "occupation and peaceful reintegration" and contains "symbols that might offend the morals and feelings of citizens." The law particularly targets gravestones made after 30 May 1990 — the day when the former Socialist Republic of Croatia inaugurated its first multi-party parliament, an initial step on its path to independence from the rest of Yugoslavia. Its ethnic Serb minority, backed by Belgrade and the nationalist regime of Slobodan Milošević, increasingly disagreed with Croatian President Franjo Tuđman's push for independence. The ethnic Serbs, who were at the time Croatia's largest minority and represented some 12.2% of the population according to the 1991 census, soon unilaterally declared a breakaway state of Republika Srpska Krajina, or the Republic of Serb Krajina, in the country's east. By April 1991, the armed rebellion escalated into a full-fledged war, with the newly-founded Croatian armed forces on one side and the rebels, paramilitaries and the Yugoslav People's Army troops on the other. A series of initial skirmishes and sieges laid waste to cities like Vukovar in Croatia's northeast and led to an international community-arranged stalemate monitored by UN peacekeepers. However, in 1995, the regrouped and rearmed Croatian army's Operations Flash and Storm, respectively, ended the war by pushing out the Serb forces — and most of the ethnic Serb population — from its territory. Now, the new law plans to remove any memorials glorifying either the Republika Srpska Krajina or otherwise celebrating the enemy forces, including referring to Croatia as "Serb land". The legislation states that any citizen can report a tombstone, plaque or other monument as potentially problematic. If found to be at fault, plot owners or relatives of those interred will have 30 days to change the inscription. Otherwise, they would face a fine of €1,000 to €5,000. The decision on what might be in breach of the law will be in the hands of a local commission, consisting of five independent members, including a historian, an art historian and a lawyer. Earlier in April, Minister of Construction, Spatial Planning and State Property Branko Bačić said that the changes to the law were prompted by the fact that "after the occupation of a part of Croatia during the Homeland War, certain graves, monuments and memorial plaques remained with inappropriate names contrary to the constitutional and legal order of the Republic of Croatia." Serb minority representatives have blasted the new legislation, arguing it has turned a communal issue into a political one. Lawmaker Milorad Pupovac, from the SDSS party, earlier criticized the law, saying it creates an impression that Croatia was "pockmarked with (Serb nationalist) graveyards," which he said was not true. "There are people who are bothered by symbols associated with the Ustasha ideology and idea, which can also be found in certain cemeteries, but also outside the cemeteries on monuments, and they offend their religious and national feelings," he said at a parliament session in late April, referring to the Croatian Nazi collaborationist units from World War II and their tombstones and other memorials, which the law does not ecompass. While his party was in favour of removing any troubling remnants of the 1991-1995 war, Pupovac added, "We are now afraid of what might bother you next". This is not the first time in recent years that Croatian authorities have attempted to tackle this sensitive issue. In August 2024, a judge in the city of Zadar on the Adriatic coast fined two Croatian citizens who are singers in a local folk band over references to the Republika Srpska Krajina and the Serb participation in the war. In his rationale, the judge stated that "songs with this content cause unrest among citizens, especially among citizens who were directly exposed to war suffering," and "disturb the coexistence of Croat citizens of Croatia and citizens of Serb ethnicity." Most ethnic Serbs have not returned to Croatia following Operation Storm, and the minority now comprises around 3.2% of Croatia's population, according to the 2021 census. — Euronews
Euronews
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Croatia's new 'graveyard law' stirs Serb minority's sentiments
ADVERTISEMENT Croatia's war of independence ended almost 30 years ago. However, the EU and NATO member's lawmakers felt some matters stemming from the conflict had not been fully laid to rest. On Wednesday, MPs overwhelmingly voted in favour of a new piece of legislation called the Graveyard Law, replacing the two-decades-old policy with a fresh set of rules which now demand the removal of graveyard inscriptions and plaques erected during the 1991-1995 conflict "not in line with the constitutional order". The new law, as explained in a statement released by the Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets, outlaws inscriptions made during the "occupation and peaceful reintegration" and contains "symbols that might offend the morals and feelings of citizens." The law particularly targets gravestones made after 30 May 1990 — the day when the former Socialist Republic of Croatia inaugurated its first multi-party parliament, an initial step on its path to independence from the rest of Yugoslavia. Its ethnic Serb minority, backed by Belgrade and the nationalist regime of Slobodan Milošević, increasingly disagreed with Croatian President Franjo Tuđman's push for independence. The ethnic Serbs, who were at the time Croatia's largest minority and represented some 12.2% of the population according to the 1991 census, soon unilaterally declared a breakaway state of Republika Srpska Krajina, or the Republic of Serb Krajina, in the country's east. By April 1991, the armed rebellion escalated into a full-fledged war, with the newly-founded Croatian armed forces on one side and the rebels, paramilitaries and the Yugoslav People's Army troops on the other. A private car passes beneath the barrel of a Yugoslav federal army tank that is on guard at the village of Glina, 5 July 1991 AP Photo A series of initial skirmishes and sieges laid waste to cities like Vukovar in Croatia's northeast and led to an international community-arranged stalemate monitored by UN peacekeepers. However, in 1995, the regrouped and rearmed Croatian army's Operations Flash and Storm, respectively, ended the war by pushing out the Serb forces — and most of the ethnic Serb population — from its territory. Now, the new law plans to remove any memorials glorifying either the Republika Srpska Krajina or otherwise celebrating the enemy forces, including referring to Croatia as "Serb land". The legislation states that any citizen can report a tombstone, plaque or other monument as potentially problematic. If found to be at fault, plot owners or relatives of those interred will have 30 days to change the inscription. Otherwise, they would face a fine of €1,000 to €5,000. The decision on what might be in breach of the law will be in the hands of a local commission, consisting of five independent members, including a historian, an art historian and a lawyer. Earlier in April, Minister of Construction, Spatial Planning and State Property Branko Bačić said that the changes to the law were prompted by the fact that "after the occupation of a part of Croatia during the Homeland War, certain graves, monuments and memorial plaques remained with inappropriate names contrary to the constitutional and legal order of the Republic of Croatia." 'We are afraid of what might bother you next' Serb minority representatives have blasted the new legislation, arguing it has turned a communal issue into a political one. Lawmaker Milorad Pupovac, from the SDSS party, earlier criticised the law, saying it creates an impression that Croatia was "pockmarked with (Serb nationalist) graveyards," which he said was not true. ADVERTISEMENT "There are people who are bothered by symbols associated with the Ustasha ideology and idea, which can also be found in certain cemeteries, but also outside the cemeteries on monuments, and they offend their religious and national feelings," he said at a parliament session in late April, referring to the Croatian Nazi collaborationist units from World War II and their tombstones and other memorials, which the law does not ecompass. While his party was in favour of removing any troubling remnants of the 1991-1995 war, Pupovac added, "We are now afraid of what might bother you next". This is not the first time in recent years that Croatian authorities have attempted to tackle this sensitive issue. In August 2024, a judge in the city of Zadar on the Adriatic coast fined two Croatian citizens who are singers in a local folk band over references to the Republika Srpska Krajina and the Serb participation in the war. ADVERTISEMENT In his rationale, the judge stated that "songs with this content cause unrest among citizens, especially among citizens who were directly exposed to war suffering," and "disturb the coexistence of Croat citizens of Croatia and citizens of Serb ethnicity." Most ethnic Serbs have not returned to Croatia following Operation Storm, and the minority now comprises around 3.2% of Croatia's population, according to the 2021 census.
