The media, in their unrelenting anti Serb campaign, among so much bullshit that has been quoted gazillion times that "sounds" true to the ignorant masses, always depicted Milo's speech at Kosovo in 1989 as the beginning of his "ethnic cleansing" ultra nationalist reign of "terror".
Here is the speech, read it for yourselves and make up your own judgement.
FREE MILO NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Speech by Slobodan Milosevich, delivered to an estimated 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 US
Department of Commerce.]
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!
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