Good morning! What are the names of the people who burned the doll symbolizing Andrej Nikolaidis? What do they work? Why is it not the same when the dolls symbolizing Dritan Abazovic or Andrej Nikolaidis are set on fire? How did Andrej unite civil Montenegro for a moment?
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Who and why set Nikolaidis on fire?
The public in Montenegro protested violently yesterday and the day before yesterday because of the events in Herceg Novi. The mayor of this city said that people did not understand the Mediterranean charm of Herceg Novi. The burning of the Nikolaidis doll is proof that Herceg Novi, as a commune, no longer has cultural ties to the Mediterranean. Herceg Novi is a cultural and political outpost of the Balkan nationalist darkness, and every day it is less and less a part of the Adriatic and the Mediterranean. Scenes from the celebration of Serbian nationalist holidays, concealed beatings of Albanians, concerts of Serbian and Russian nationalists prove this.
On Saturday, the troupe of the Herceg Novi Theater read the accusation and the verdict. They were led by Lidija Petrone Kolar, who, in addition to being an amateur actress, is an official of the Montenegrin Ministry of the Interior. Why is it important to emphasize this? In addition to the fact that a writer-critic of the ruling nationalism in Montenegro was set on fire, the authorities set on fire the opposition member.
That is why there is no comparison with the burning of the Dritan Abazovic doll, who was in power at the time when it was set on fire at the carnival. If, by any chance, Dritan was set on fire now that he is in the opposition, the two cases could be compared.
Herceg Novi and Andrej are at loggerheads. Andrej does not go to Herceg Novi. Just as he does not go to the Serb Republic or Serbia. Not out of hatred, but because he cares for his safety.
Andrej wrote a text 20 years ago in which he strongly reacted to the growing nationalism in that city and to the support for war criminals. It took 20 years for that text to be answered. In a way like this. People who until yesterday were in members of SDP, but now have changed bosses, read the verdict and criticized him for having been Ranko Krivokapic’s adviser.
It is the biggest defeat of Montenegrin society. Because people walk from extreme to extreme because of fear and ambition. For example, people do not believe that Bato Carevic was a Montenegrin and an SDP activist.
Carnival is a time when people get rid of their inhibitions and under masks say and do what they would not do without them. It is also the time when the government is criticized, the ruling ideology is criticized, just as is everything that is bad for a community. Herceg Novi has a lot of infrastructural problems, urbanistically it is more destroyed than Budva, the cultural offer is enriched by Doctor Nestorovic and Doctor Jovana. In addition to all that, the problem was found in the text from 20 years ago and a bunch of false quotes from Andrej Nikolaidis, which were read yesterday during the trial.
The reason for setting Andrej on fire was not that text from 20 years ago, nor the fact that Russian-Serbian ruling portals such as Borba and IN4S constantly remind people of it, the reason was Nikolaidis’s successes as an artist. He was recently presented with the PEN Center Award. He is a laureate of the biggest regional and national awards. He is one of our writers whose works have been most translated. The biggest success of his critics is that they convinced many in Montenegro that he is not our best contemporary writer. And they excluded his works from all well-known bookstores. It is easier to find Andrej in bookstores in Zagreb and Sarajevo, and even in Belgrade, than here.
That’s the bottom line. Those who inspired the burning of the doll would prefer to burn Andrej’s books. And that is the manner of none other than fascists.
That’s it for today. We wish you a pleasant rest of the day.
Kinmd regards,
Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst and columnist
(The opinions and views of the authors of the columns are not necessarily those of the CdM editorial staff)
