Anti-Serb sentiment

Serbophobia, or Anti-Serb sentiment, is a term used to describe a sentiment of hostility or hatred towards Serbs or Serbia.

Use of the term in history

The term was used in the literary and cultural circles since before World War I: Croatian writers Antun Gustav Matoš and Miroslav Krleža had casually described some political and cultural figures as "Serbophobes" (Krleža in the 4-volume "Talks with Miroslav Krleža", 1985., edited by Enes Čengić), meaning that they perceived an anti-Serbian animus in a person's behavior.

Acin-Kosta, Milos in his book Draza Mihailovic i Ravna Gora dedicates a section of his book to Serbophobia during WWII.[1]

In the 1986 draft Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Serbophobia is mentioned.[2] Another example of this use of the term in the 1980s was the meeting, which was organized by the Serbian Writers' Association on February 28 1989 and was devoted to the theme of "Serbophobia". The meeting discussed the Croatian genocide of Serbs, including references to the Jasenovac concentration camp.

Cadik Danon, Chief Rabbi of Yugoslavia et al. in an open letter to the American Jewish Committee in 1995, during the bombing of the Serb Republic by NATO, wrote of a background of,"... unrestrained anti-Serbian propaganda, raging during all this war, following the Nazi model, but much more efficient means and in a much more sophisticated and more expensive way. ... Even American Jews were not able to withstand this propagandistic poison,... they did not recognize the Nazis and racist nature of the Serbophobic dogma. They did not identify Serbophobia as a twin sister of anti-semitism, ...".

National Library of Serbia's catalogue lists following books written about serbophobia:

• Serbophobia and its sources: Mitrović, Jeremija D. (1991). Srbofobija i njeni izvori. Belgrade: Naučna knjiga. ISBN 86-23-03053-2. (second edition Srbofobija i njeni izvori. Belgrade: Službeni glasnik. 2005. ISBN 86-7549-423-8.)
• Serbophobia and antisemitism: Ekmedžić, Milorad (2000). Srbofobija i antisemitizam. Šabac: Beli anđeo.
• On serbophobia through centuries: Blagojević, Lazar (2004). O srbofobiji kroz vijekove. Šamac: Prosvjeta. ISBN 99938-687-2-8. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

Instances of Serbophobia

Template:Discrimination2 According to those who use the term, Serbophobia can range from individual hatred to institutionalised persecution.

• An example of Serbophobia is the jingle Alle Serben müssen sterben (All Serbs Must Die), which was popular in Vienna in 1914 (also occurring as: Serbien muß sterbien).
• Other examples of Serbophobia can, according to some , be found in language used to refer to Serbs by other groups in the Balkans. That use of the term "Vlah", as well as the use of the word "Chetnik" as a derogatory designation for anything connected to Serbs (rather than a paramilitary as in its standard meaning) has also occurred in modern times, during and after the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s ([3]. The word shkije in the Albanian language is a derogatory word for Serbs [4]. The same word has also been used by Croats ([5]). The term "Cigan," meaning Gypsy, is also a popular derogatory word for Serbs among Croats.
• Serbs are greatly underrepresented in the Croatian civil service in most areas with a significant Serb population. [6]

The International Court of Justice in 1997 found genocide had been promoted by

• a 'Patriotic Song' which read as follows:'Dear mother, I'm going to plant willows, We'll hang Serbs from them. Dear mother, I'm going to sharpen knives, We'll soon fill pits again.'
• the publishing in a newspaper of, "Each Muslim must name a Serb and take oath to kill him."
• the radio broadcast of "public calls for the execution of Serbs"

An overview of anti-Serbian sentiment in history

Like most other nations, the Serbs have been involved in numerous ideological and/or armed conflicts and have been both prone to and the target of chauvinist sentiment time and time again in history. Thus, during the 19th century, Croatian nationalist polemist Ante Starčević and his followers have expressed certain negative views of the Serb people (see Ante Starčević). As previously noted, anti-Serb jingoism was present e.g. in Austria-Hungary in connection with the conflicts preceding and during World War I. After the war, there were significant ethnic tensions in the newly established Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918-1945), which was dominated by the Serbian nation. During World War II, these tensions culminated, among other things, in the genocidal extermination of Serbs in the short-lived Independent State of Croatia (see Jasenovac concentration camp). In the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945-the 1990s), some of the ethnic problems persisted. A new culmination of ethnic hatred on all sides was reached immediately before, during and after the Yugoslav wars.

Criticism

Some critics associate the use of the term Serbophobia with the supposed politics of Serbian victimization of late 1980s and 1990s as described, for example, by Christopher Bennett.[7] According to him critics, Serbian nationalist politicians have made associations to Serbian "martyrdom" in history (from the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 to the genocide during World War II) to justify the supposedly aggressive Serbian politics of the 1980s and 1990s; these associations are allegedly exemplified in Slobodan Milošević's historic speech at Kosovo in 1989. The reaction to the speech as well as the use of the associated term Serbophobia is a matter of heated debate even today.

According to political scientist David Bruce Macdonald, the modern concept of Serbophobia was constructed in the late 1980s as part of the wave of Serbian nationalist propaganda that was led by Dobrica Ćosić and Slobodan Milošević.

See also

• Srbe na vrbe!
• Anti-Bosniak sentiment
• Anti-Croatian sentiment
• List of anti-ethnic and anti-national terms
• Xenophobia
• Nationalism
• Chauvinism
• Discrimination

External links

• Cambridge Papers article Victim Chic? The Rhetoric of victimhood including Serbophobia
• Northern California Jewish Bulletin
• Mentioned in Library of Congress of USA

Use in various languages

• Neue Serbophilie und alte Serbophobie, "New Serbophilia and Old Serbophobia", a Junge Welt article, in German
• Marc Fumaroli, an article from Lire, a French literary magazine, in French
• Europa e nuovi nazionalismi, an article by Luca Rastello, in Italian
• Бомбы или гражданская война, a Sevodnya article, in Russian
• Сатанизација Срба, коме она треба?, a book by Boris Olijnik, in Serbian
• 'СПЦ може да предизвика србофобија кај Македонците, a Nova Makedonija article, in Macedonian
• Ku është antimillosheviqi?, an AIM article, in Albanian

References

• Србофобија и њени извори, Јеремија Д. Митровић, Издање: Политика и друштво, 1992, ISBN 86-23-03053-2