Speech by Slobodan Milosevich at Gazimestan on 28 June, 1989
Speech by Slobodan Milosevich, delivered to 1 million people at the
central celebration marking the 600th anniversary of the Battle of
Kosovo, held at Gazimestan on 28 June, 1989]
Compiled by the National Technical Information Service of the Department
of Commerce of the U.S.
By the force of social circumstances this great 600th anniversary of the
Battle of Kosovo is taking place in a year in which Serbia, after many
years, after many decades, has regained its state, national, and
spiritual integrity. Therefore, it is not difficult for us to answer
today the old question: how are we going to face Milos [Milos Obilic,
legendary hero of the Battle of Kosovo]. Through the play of history and
life, it seems as if Serbia has, precisely in this year, in 1989,
regained its state and its dignity and thus has celebrated an event of
the distant past which has a great historical and symbolic significance
for its future.
Serbian Character -- Liberational
Today, it is difficult to say what is the historical truth about the
Battle of Kosovo and what is legend. Today this is no longer important.
Oppressed by pain and filled with hope, the people used to remember and
to forget, as, after all, all people in the world do, and it was ashamed
of treachery and glorified heroism. Therefore it is difficult to say
today whether the Battle of Kosovo was a defeat or a victory for the
Serbian people, whether thanks to it we fell into slavery or we survived
in this slavery. The answers to those questions will be constantly
sought by science and the people. What has been certain through all the
centuries until our time today is that disharmony struck Kosovo 600
years ago. If we lost the battle, then this was not only the result of
social superiority and the armed advantage of the Ottoman Empire but
also of the tragic disunity in the leadership of the Serbian state at
that time. In that distant 1389, the Ottoman Empire was not only
stronger than that of the Serbs but it was also more fortunate than the
Serbian kingdom.
The lack of unity and betrayal in Kosovo will continue to follow the
Serbian people like an evil fate through the whole of its history. Even
in the last war, this lack of unity and betrayal led the Serbian people
and Serbia into agony, the consequences of which in the historical and
moral sense exceeded fascist aggression.
Even later, when a socialist Yugoslavia was set up, in this new state
the Serbian leadership remained divided, prone to compromise to the
detriment of its own people. The concessions that many Serbian leaders
made at the expense of their people could not be accepted historically
and ethically by any nation in the world, especially because the Serbs
have never in the whole of their history conquered and exploited others.
Their national and historical being has been liberational throughout the
whole of history and through two world wars, as it is today. They
liberated themselves and when they could they also helped others to
liberate themselves. The fact that in this region they are a major
nation is not a Serbian sin or shame; this is an advantage which they
have not used against others, but I must say that here, in this big,
legendary field of Kosovo, the Serbs have not used the advantage of
being great for their own benefit either.
Thanks to their leaders and politicians and their vassal mentality they
felt guilty before themselves and others. This situation lasted for
decades, it lasted for years and here we are now at the field of Kosovo
to say that this is no longer the case.
Unity Will Make Prosperity Possible
Disunity among Serb officials made Serbia lag behind and their
inferiority humiliated Serbia. Therefore, no place in Serbia is better
suited for saying this than the field of Kosovo and no place in Serbia
is better suited than the field of Kosovo for saying that unity in
Serbia will bring prosperity to the Serbian people in Serbia and each
one of its citizens, irrespective of his national or religious
affiliation.
Serbia of today is united and equal to other republics and prepared to
do everything to improve its financial and social position and that of
all its citizens. If there is unity, cooperation, and seriousness, it
will succeed in doing so. This is why the optimism that is now present
in Serbia to a considerable extent regarding the future days is
realistic, also because it is based on freedom, which makes it possible
for all people to express their positive, creative and humane abilities
aimed at furthering social and personal life.
Serbia has never had only Serbs living in it. Today, more than in the
past, members of other peoples and nationalities also live in it. This
is not a disadvantage for Serbia. I am truly convinced that it is its
advantage. National composition of almost all countries in the world
today, particularly developed ones, has also been changing in this
direction. Citizens of different nationalities, religions, and races
have been living together more and more frequently and more and more
successfully.
Socialism in particular, being a progressive and just democratic
society, should not allow people to be divided in the national and
religious respect. The only differences one can and should allow in
socialism are between hard working people and idlers and between honest
people and dishonest people. Therefore, all people in Serbia who live
from their own work, honestly, respecting other people and other
nations, are in their own republic.
Dramatic National Divisions
After all, our entire country should be set up on the basis of such
principles. Yugoslavia is a multinational community and it can survive
only under the conditions of full equality for all nations that live in
it.
The crisis that hit Yugoslavia has brought about national divisions, but
also social, cultural, religious and many other less important ones.
Among all these divisions, nationalist ones have shown themselves to be
the most dramatic. Resolving them will make it easier to remove other
divisions and mitigate the consequences they have created.
For as long as multinational communities have existed, their weak point
has always been the relations between different nations. The threat is
that the question of one nation being endangered by the others can be
posed one day -- and this can then start a wave of suspicions,
accusations, and intolerance, a wave that invariably grows and is
difficult to stop. This threat has been hanging like a sword over our
heads all the time. Internal and external enemies of multi-national
communities are aware of this and therefore they organize their activity
against multinational societies mostly by fomenting national conflicts.
At this moment, we in Yugoslavia are behaving as if we have never had
such an experience and as if in our recent and distant past we have
never experienced the worst tragedy of national conflicts that a society
can experience and still survive.
Equal and harmonious relations among Yugoslav peoples are a necessary
condition for the existence of Yugoslavia and for it to find its way out
of the crisis and, in particular, they are a necessary condition for its
economic and social prosperity. In this respect Yugoslavia does not
stand out from the social milieu of the contemporary, particularly the
developed, world. This world is more and more marked by national
tolerance, national cooperation, and even national equality. The modern
economic and technological, as well as political and cultural
development, has guided various peoples toward each other, has made them
interdependent and increasingly has made them equal as well [medjusobno
ravnopravni]. Equal and united people can above all become a part of the
civilization toward which
mankind is moving. If we cannot be at the head of the column leading to
such a civilization, there is certainly no need for us to be at is tail.
At the time when this famous historical battle was fought in Kosovo, the
people were looking at the stars, expecting aid from them. Now, 6
centuries later, they are looking at the stars again, waiting to conquer
them. On the first occasion, they could allow themselves to be disunited
and to have hatred and treason because they lived in smaller, weakly
interlinked worlds. Now, as people on this planet, they cannot conquer
even their own planet if they are not united, let alone other planets,
unless they live in mutual harmony and solidarity.
Therefore, words devoted to unity, solidarity, and cooperation among
people have no greater significance anywhere on the soil of our
motherland than they have here in the field of Kosovo, which is a symbol
of disunity and treason.
In the memory of the Serbian people, this disunity was decisive in
causing the loss of the battle and in bringing about the fate which
Serbia suffered for a full 6 centuries.
Even if it were not so, from a historical point of view, it remains
certain that the people regarded disunity as its greatest disaster.
Therefore it is the obligation of the people to remove disunity, so that
they may protect themselves from defeats, failures, and stagnation in
the future.
Unity brings Back Dignity
This year, the Serbian people became aware of the necessity of their
mutual harmony as the indispensable condition for their present life and
further development.
I am convinced that this awareness of harmony and unity will make it
possible for Serbia not only to function as a state but to function as a
successful state. Therefore I think that it makes sense to say this here
in Kosovo, where that disunity once upon a time tragically pushed back
Serbia for centuries and endangered it, and where renewed unity may
advance it and may return dignity to it. Such an awareness about mutual
relations constitutes an elementary necessity for Yugoslavia, too, for
its fate is in the joined hands of all its peoples. The Kosovo heroism
has been inspiring our creativity for 6 centuries, and has been feeding
our pride and does not allow us to forget that at one time we were an
army great, brave, and proud, one of the few that remained undefeated
when losing.
Six centuries later, now, we are being again engaged in battles and are
facing battles. They are not armed battles, although such things cannot
be excluded yet. However, regardless of what kind of battles they are,
they cannot be won without resolve, bravery, and sacrifice, without the
noble qualities that were present here in the field of Kosovo in the
days past. Our chief battle now concerns implementing the economic,
political, cultural, and general social prosperity, finding a quicker
and more successful approach to a civilization in which people will live
in the 21st century. For this battle, we certainly need heroism, of
course of a somewhat different kind, but that courage without which
nothing serious and great can be achieved remains unchanged and remains
urgently necessary.
Six centuries ago, Serbia heroically defended itself in the field of
Kosovo, but it also defended Europe. Serbia was at that time the bastion
that defended the European culture, religion, and European society in
general. Therefore today it appears not only unjust but even
unhistorical and completely absurd to talk about Serbia's belonging to
Europe. Serbia has been a part of Europe incessantly, now just as much
as it was in the past, of course, in its own way, but in a way that in
the historical sense never deprived it of dignity. In this spirit we now
endeavor to build a society, rich and democratic, and thus to contribute
to the prosperity of this beautiful country, this unjustly suffering
country, but also to contribute to the efforts of all the progressive
people of our age that they make for a better and happier world.
Let the memory of Kosovo heroism live forever!
Long live Serbia!
Long live Yugoslavia!
Long live peace and brotherhood among peoples!