Good morning! Many are trying hard to reshape the political scene, and to make the division into the 30-August supporters and the sovereignist bloc a thing of the past. Whether there is a third bloc depends on only one thing – on the relationship between that bloc and DF.
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Two or three political blocs?
So much energy and resources were spent to push DF and DPS to the margins of the political game, and to create a centrist bloc, which would be devoid of the ballast of corruption and crime on the one hand, and corruption, crime and Greater Serbian nationalism on the other. What are the results of those efforts? They are that DPS is marginalized, and that the so-called centrists every now and then deliver a city and a state resource to the Democratic Front for management. The contradictory attitude towards DF by URA and the Democrat-leaning public is best described by the splits of Zeljko Ivanovic, who only a few months ago said that he believed in the emancipation of Andrija Mandic, that Milo Bozovic was a likeable hero of the street, and today he says that DF is worse than DPS.
If a center exists, in relation to what is that center a center? To the left of DPS and its satellites on the one hand, and to the right of DF and its satellites on the other? Or in relation to equally dangerous and terrible nationalisms, Montenegrin and Serbian? As Ivanovic said, “vulgar Montenegrin nationalism after the referendum” because before the referendum, when he played in the same league with DPS, Montenegro was inclusive. That is why Zeljko and DPS together crucified the Liberal Alliance of Montenegro (LSCG) for cooperation with Serbian parties, and the columnist section in Vijesti was often a platform for “blood and soil” columns.
That’s the problem with false centrism. The problem is the main ideologue of such centrism, whose hypocrisy, inconsistency and inability to introspect, remains, together with DF, one of the main residues of the former era. Most of the former political era left with Djukanovic. We still have to get rid of DF and journalism personified by Zeljko Ivanovic. Intrigue, spin, framing in that block and trying to shape it according to their own standards, keeps Montenegrin politics trapped in the past.
If the center exists, it should be ideological, value oriented and form coalitions not in relation to the past, but in relation to ideological and worldview similarity. We wrote about it briefly yesterday. If we think ahead, we should get rid of the story of sovereignty, unionism and new sovereignty. We need to get rid of the race in populism that will eventually empty the state budget. We should have three ideological blocs. Conservative-traditionalist, whose backbone is DF, and which should be freed from the monopoly of the Serbian narrative. Apart from Serbs, conservative-traditionalists exist among Montenegrins, Bosniaks, and Croats. At this moment, it is difficult to think that they can find a common language, but the de-ethnicization of Montenegrin politics would be most necessary precisely at this ideological pole. The second bloc would be the left block, which would be led by DPS and related parties. For this, it is necessary for DPS to be freed from the rigidity and arrogance which governing brings. They should take off their ties and push their colorful handkerchiefs back in their pockets, they should quit using fine cigars and whiskey, and mingle a little with the people. They should connect with union activists, learn about feminism and the basics of socialist thought. The third bloc is Europe Now, which has largely escaped the dogma of the Sebian Orthodox Church (SPC) that brought them to power. Primarily when it comes to gender equality and the rights of LGBTQ+ people. They could be the backbone of the centrist-liberal bloc, which the URA drowning men could eventually join. If only they would get rid of clericalism in their ranks. As for the Democrats, they are conservatives with a pronounced social streak. If things were different, they would be the model by which the conservative-traditionalist bloc could be built, but Montenegrin politics is Montenegrin politics.
That’s it for today. See you tomorrow at the same time, in the same place.
Kind regards,
Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst and columnist
