Vuk Jeremić and the Serb nationalist march on the UN General Assembly

Vuk Jeremić, the current chairman of the UNGA arranged for “March on the Drina” to be played during the celebration of the Orthodox Christian New Year at the UN. A military march dating back to WWI that for most Bosnians as well as Croats and Albanians is associated with Serb nationalism and extremism. This is mostly due to its use in pre-war Serb nationalist rallies as well as during the wars instigated by Belgrade. The march can be heard on a large amount of archive footage from the wars in Croatia and Bosnia. While it is immensely popular with Serb extremists, to most Bosniaks, Croats and Albanians its a sign of Serbia´s tainted past and most associate it with war crimes and to the survivors it brings back painful memories.

Of course, it´s no accident Jeremić chose this piece of music, in his youth he was a member of “Delije” the Red Star Belgrade ultras from where war criminal and warlord Željko Ražnjatović-Arkan used to recruit members to his paramilitary unit the Serb Volunteer Guard to serve in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. In interviews as late as 2007 in Serbian newspapers Jeremić had expressed his admiration for Arkan, whom he claimed instilled in Jeremić a sense of pride in being a Serb and defending Serbdom. I know perfictly well the history of the March on the Drina, and while there are diffrent currents of Serb nationalism and the Serb nationalism of WWI can´t be compared to the genocidal rampage of the nineties. It´s also true that in post WWI Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosniaks were systematically targeted by Belgrade and Serbs in Bosnia, stripped of land and relegated to basically being lower class citizens in their own homeland by the victorious and vengeful Serbs.

Serbian writer Miloš Čirić summed up all the reasons why this song should not be played in Serbia let alone at the UN, and be called a “peace march” and he did it back in april 2012, long before mr Vuk Jeremić was elected to chair the UN General Assembly, for the Serbian portal Peščanik.net (Full article)

 

Čirić writes:

“March to the Drina dates back to World War I, and was later appropriated and abused by chetniks, fascists and hooligans of all types, who have been overpopulating Serbia during the last century. In year 1992, on Milošević’s referendum on new state symbols, citizens voted for March to the Drina to become the new national anthem of Serbia, in the hysterical atmosphere of wars for greater Serbia. However, March to the Drina did not become the national anthem, but is widely perceived in the public as one of ‘the most patriotic songs’.

Today, we can hear this song at almost all football games in Serbia and Republic of Srpska; sung by the hooligans; at Ravna Gora (a highland where celebrations of the chetnik movement take place, tr.); at Guča trumpet festival on the chetnik-stage; at the gatherings of the Serbian Radical Party, and ultra-nationalist organizations Obraz , National Alignment and Dveri . It can also be heard on a large amount of archive footage from the war in Bosnia – ‘Serbian state on the other side of the Drina river’ – this song comes as a backdrop for scenes of ethnic cleansing and genocide, committed by the Bosnian Serb forces and the members of Milošević’s paramilitary and police forces.

 

The United States, State Department´s Seventh Report on War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia it was shown how the song was used during the mass rapes of bosniak women in the town of Foča.

The report says :

“Day and night, soldiers came to the house taking two to three women at a time. They were four to five guards at all times, all local Foča Serbs. The woman knew the rapes would begin when ‘Marš na Drinu’ was played over the loudspeaker of the main mosque. (‘Marš na Drinu,’ or ‘March on the Drina’, is reportedly a former Chetnik fighting song that was banned during the Tito years.) While ‘Marš na Drinu’ was playing, the women were ordered to strip and soldiers entered the homes taking the ones they wanted. The age of women taken ranged from 12 to 60. Frequently the soldiers would seek out mother and daughter combinations. Many of the women were severely beaten during the rapes.

The witness was selected twice. The first time, soldiers had entered and grabbed an 18-year-old girl, asking her if she were a virgin. She said she was. Licking his knife, one of the soldiers said that if they found she was not, he would butcher her. The witness pleaded with them not [to] take the girl but to take her instead. “We’ll take you too,” they said. While the witness was being raped, her rapist told her, “You should have already left this town. We’ll make you have Serbian babies who will be Christians.” Two soldiers raped her at that time; five soldiers raped the 18-year-old girl in full view of the witness.” (Full report)

 

It is human to make mistakes and I firmly believe that the U. N. Secretary General did not know anything at all about this song prior to the performance on January 16, however Vuk Jeremić of course knew, or rather he had an obligation to know that this song is far from uncontroversial, first given that it´s a military march and not a “peace march” as Jeremić calls it and second that it has been appropriated by extremists such as himself and that outside Serbia especially in Bosnia Croatia and Kosovo it is mostly associated with Serb nationalism and Serbian state aggression and brings back painful memories. The fact that Jeremić seems oblivious to that makes it clear that he has no business being in that position. In truth, the duties of the UNGA are mostly ceremonial but it is nevertheless a position which he has in this past year openly used to further his own ambition and to, in his own words “work for Serbia´s national interest.”

Someone in that position is supposed to be impartial, willing to compromise, working in the interest of peace and someone who takes initiative but won´t put his own country´s interest first. For a diplomat Jeremić is not very diplomatic, during his time as foreign minister of Serbia he was known for making offensive remarks aimed at Kosovars and the then Croatian prime minister Jadranka Kosor, during a visit to Bosnia in august 2011 he remarked that ; “Those whose best friend is Jadranka Kosor need no enemies,” He made the statement to show his dissatifaction over the fact that Jadranka Kosor had expressed support for Kosovo, and it´s bid for independence.

Jeremić said this after talks with Milorad Dodik whom he has also given support to. Milorad Dodik is a nationalist and a separatist who is a known genocide denier and a destabilizing factor in Bosnian politics and the region. In November last year Jeremić got into a very public argument about the acquittal of Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač and called the ICTY, a UN tribunal a “group of international criminals” recently he made bizzare comments on twitter where he compered Serbia´s conflict with Kosovo to the plot in a JRR Tolkien novel The Hobbit. Reading his comments it´s clear that he compared Albanians to the antagonists in the story, creatures called Orcs. I shouldn´t have to point out how hollow and dangerous that is, conisdering the fact he is chairing the UN General Assembly nor do I want to dig deeper into the mind of Vuk Jeremić. However given his history prior to all this it´s a bit of a mystery that he was appointed at to this position at all, having said that, sadly we are where we are, and I feel that the time has come for the UN Secretary General to show that it is willing and ready to defend its founding principles.

Given the failures of the UN in the former Yugoslavia and especially Bosnia and Herzegovina where an aggression was waged on a sovereign nation for three and a half years and culminated with genocide in Srebrenica and Žepa, both designated “UN safe areas” one of the UN´s most embarrassing failures to date, it should not give space to Serb nationalists to use it as a public forum where they can advance their own or their country´s goals and insult the victims of genocide and aggression. I am sure that the UN Secretary General agrees with that. I am also sure that you agree that it´s in the UN´s best intrest that mr Vuk Jeremić be sanctioned for his outrageous behaviour which may gain him political points amongst nationalists in Serbia but can only do damage to the United Nations.