Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Created	September 1986
Location	Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Authors	Kosta Mihailović, Mihailo Marković, Vasilije Krestić and others
Purpose	Serb nationalism, Greater Serbia

The Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (often referred to as the SANU Memorandum) was a draft document produced by a 14-member committee composed by members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts from 1985 to 1986, presided by Kosta Mihailović. In September 1986, excerpts of the draft were published by Večernje novosti.^[1]

The memo immediately captured the public's attention in Yugoslavia as it gave voice to controversial views on the state of the nation and argued for a fundamental reorganization of the state.^[2] The main theme was decentralisation leading to the disintegration of Yugoslavia and that the Serbs were discriminated against by Yugoslavia's constitutional structure.^[3] It was officially denounced in 1986 by the government of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the government of the Socialist Republic of Serbia for inciting nationalism.^[4] Some^[who?] consider it a key moment in the breakup of Yugoslavia and a contributor to the Yugoslav wars.^[3]

Authors

• Pavle Ivić
• Antonije Isaković
• Dušan Kanazir
• Mihailo Marković
• Miloš Macura
• Dejan Medaković
• Miroslav Pantić
• Nikola Pantić
• Ljubiša Rakić
• Radovan Samardžić
• Miomir Vukobratović
• Vasilije Krestić
• Ivan Maksimović
• Kosta Mihailović
• Stojan Ćelić

Overview

The memo is divided into two parts: one on the "Crisis in the Yugoslav Economy and Society", the other on the "Status of Serbia and the Serb Nation".^[5] The first section focuses on the economic and political fragmentation of Yugoslavia that followed the promulgation of the 1974 constitution. The second section focuses on what the authors saw as Serbia's inferior status in Yugoslavia, and used the status of Serbs in the province of Kosovo and in Croatia to make its point.^{[citation needed]}

The memo claimed that at the end of World War II, Josip Broz Tito deliberately weakened Serbia by dividing up the majority of what was perceived by Serb nationalists as Serb territory, namely present day Serbia, Montenegro, the Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and Croatia with Serb majority populations.^[6]

The memo argued that Tito reduced Serbia's status further by including two autonomous provinces (Kosovo and Vojvodina) within its borders, something that was not done in any of the other Yugoslav republics. Kosta Mihailović made contributions on the economy, Mihailo Marković on self-management, and Vasilije Krestić on the status of the Serbs of Croatia. The document as a whole is often wrongly ascribed to Dobrica Ćosić, who took part in discussions about it but was not on the committee that produced it.^{[citation needed]}

Reception

The memo was shunned by most politicians in 1986, including future president of Serbia, Slobodan Milošević, who publicly called the memo "nothing else but the darkest nationalism", and future president of the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Radovan Karadžić, who stated "Bolshevism is bad, but nationalism is even worse".^[7] Despite these declarations, Milošević, Karadžić, and other Serb politicians publicly agreed with most of the memo and would form close political connections with the writers of the memo such as Mihailo Marković, who became the vice-president of the Socialist Party of Serbia and Dobrica Ćosić who was appointed the first President of the new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992.^[8]

Memorandum points

• Albanians are committing genocide against Serbs in Kosovo (pgs. 41, 56 of memorandum)
• Slovenia and Croatia are taking control of the Serbian economy. Yugoslavia is taking industry out of Serbia (pg. 42)
• There is need for constitutional changes of Yugoslavia because of its unfair mistreating and weakening of Serbia (pg. 46)
• discrimination against Serbs (pg. 50)
• Serbia has given 2 500 000 victims for Yugoslavia (in World War I and II) and now is victim of this state (pg. 52)
• Between 1690 and 1912, 500,000 Serbs escaped from Kosovo where Albanians are committing genocide (pg. 56)
• There is great discrimination of Serbs living in Kosovo and in Croatia (pg. 58)
• Serbs in Croatia are now in danger like never before (pg. 62)
• All writers of Serb nationality from Bosnia are Serbs and not Bosnian writers (pg. 65)
• Serbs' question won't be solved before creation of full national and cultural unity of Serb people without importance where they live (pgs. 70–3)
• During the last 50 years Serbs have been two time victims of destruction, assimilation, changing of religion, cultural genocide, ideological indoctrination and saying that they do not have any importance. (pgs. 70–3)
• If Yugoslavia splits apart, then Serbia must look out for its national interest (pg. 73)

See also

• Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
• Dobrica Ćosić
• Mihailo Marković
• Vasilije Krestić
• Contributions for the Slovenian National Program

References

1. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=KfbI4e1q1yEC&pg=PA322
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ ^{a b} [2]
4. ^ Ramet, Sabrina P. The three Yugoslavias: state-building and legitimation, 1918-2005. Bloomington, Indiana, USA: Indiana University Press, 2006. pg. 321
5. ^ [3]
6. ^ [4]
7. ^ Lampe, John R. 2000. Yugoslavia as History: Twice There Was a Country. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pg. 347
8. ^ [5]

Source

• The Serbian Academy After A Century: An Institution at Risk?, edited by Sofija Skorić and George Vid Tomashevich (published by The Serbian Heritage Academy, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) - explains how in 1986 the unfinished, unedited and unapproved draft of this incipient document was illegally removed from the Academy and published without authorization.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• An English translation of the memorandum - at a Kosovo Albanian site
• Memorandum SANU - ANSWERS TO CRITICISMS, Kosta Mihailovic, Vasilije Krestic, 1995 (English)