Discussing her new book (‘Ulje na vodi’ (Oil on water), Peščanik editions, 2010), the well-known Belgrade critical historian proposes some alternative reasons for celebrating Vidovdan, more positive than those of Official Serbia.
Dubravka Stojanović: The subtitle of my book is ‘history of the present’. We have spoken about this on Peščanik – about the connection that exists between past and present. The first connection here is that past and present are in fact not separated. We have often spoken about what historians call processes of long duration. About processes that may last several hundred years, and which intertwine in ways that ensure our present will turn out in the end to be exactly as it is.
The other connection between present and past about which I would like to speak today is that the past and historical facts are not self-explanatory: that as such they have no meaning. It is the present that really provides them with meaning. This is what we have often talked about – about construction, deconstruction, collective memory, the policy of memory. In other words, we create today what we will remember from the past, endow in retrospect certain events with meaningful significance.
It is Vidovdan today, and we can ask the two Svetlanas whether this is accidental or intentional. Let’s say it’s intentional and let’s give it another meaning, like those who alter the Second World War. Let’s deconstruct and construct, let’s ask ourselves, to begin with, why we in fact celebrate Vidovdan. This state holiday, established in 2002, is celebrated as a working day; but I hear these days that on this day for some reason children are issued with their school certificates. If we were to ask, if we were indeed to ask ourselves, what is being celebrated, I think we would not know. Are we celebrating defeat, are we celebrating sacrifice, the celestial empire or the Turks?
I have spent the past few days looking up what happened on 28 June and have realised that there is a whole list of negative and of positive events, and that what Official Serbia celebrates are negative and fearful events. See, it is Vidovdan today, look at the press, watch the television, and they will all speak about the following: the Battle of Kosovo, the Sarajevo assassination, the Informbiro resolution (which is an ultra-negative event for our nationalists), Gazimestan, the surrender of Slobodan Miloševic. In other words, a whole series of tragedies for Official Serbia. But I also found a series of highly positive events which, changing the paradigm, constructing and deconstructing, I wish to freely proclaim here as the Other Serbia’s holidays. J.J. Rousseau was born; the Versailles Peace treaty was signed, ending the First World War and creating most contemporary European states; and four empires fell. It is thus interesting that when they speak about the Sarajevo assassination, they don’t say that on that same date there was a peace treaty that ended the Great War. The Vidovdan Constitution was adopted, which contained many problems yet was a constitution of the common state of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes that also had many positive features. And finally, why not, Slobodan Miloševic was surrendered. My favourite is something else: that precisely sixty years have passed since 1950, when the Belgrade – Zagreb motorway was opened. That is an event in economic history, in which we are not interested, and in economy in general, for which we don’t care; an event that spelled connection, that illustrates constructive parts of history, an event that speaks of peace. Nevertheless, I want to propose that we should henceforth celebrate Vidovdan as Peščanik’s tenth birthday. To paraphrase the title of John Read’s book on the Russian revolution, these have been Ten Years that Shook the World, and we will thereby celebrate our commitment to the virtual empire.
Peščanik Promotion, Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Belgrade, 28.06.2010.
Translated by Bosinan Institute, 28.07.2010.
Peščanik.net, 28.07.2010.
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