talkpolitics | Come back, comrade Tito! - Hell no, do I look insane?

~~Pozdravljeni, dragi tovariši!~~ Hello, dear comrades! Just before last Christmas, Slovenia celebrated 20 years since "the mother of all referenda" - the vote in 1990 where a landslide majority (88.5%) chose independence and practically gave a legal beginning of the process of dissolution of the former Yugoslavia. Formally, the federation was a pact between 6 republics. According to the Constitution, they had the right of "self-determination", but while the communist party was strong, the lawyers kept explaining that that right had been "consummated" at the creation of the federation.

In 1990, the case was already being interpreted in a different way, and the Slovenians left the federation. This rendered the whole pact void, and Slovenia saw the broad bright European path standing in front of it. And it walked it quickly and efficiently.

Today, Slovenia is practically a prosperous Central European country - member of EU, member of NATO, of the Euro zone and of the Schengen customs area. With a living standard worthy for "real" Europeans (an average monthly salary of 960 Euro). But... There's a big "BUT". Strangely, surveys are showing a growing nostalgy for the former Yugoslavia and specifically for Josip Broz Tito. And most strangely, it's the youngsters who feel it the most. Even those who never lived under Tito.

The Slovenians are an important indicator for the entire former Yugo region. It's no coincidence that they're often called "the Slavic Jews". They don't succumb to passions and they've always walked through the historical tests wisely. The youth radicalism of the 80's was being expressed in the graffiti "Burek - Nein, Danke". When the federation was an obstacle to them, the burek became a harmless collective symbol of their disdain to the "southerners". And that was it. Without any loud and extreme manifestations of nationalism, they prepared well for the dissolution of the federation, and they left it without any casualties and destruction. While the Serbs were rattling sabres against all their neighbors and were scaring the world with claims on half the Balkan territories, the Slovenians appeared as "civilized peace-lovers". Of course this didn't stop them from doing nice profit from arms supplies to all sides. They built highways with European funds, and then they announced they wanted to limit the traffic, so they started selling the most expensive vignettes in Europe. Smart bastards.

But Tito's strangely rising popularity is no coincidence either. His prestige is complex and multi-layered. The former communist dictator is usually associated with ridiculously low prices and extremely high social security, and with the enormous prestige of Yugoslavia - due to its unique independent role in the game of the world powers. It was neither entirely in the Soviet bloc nor exactly in the Western one, and it took full benefit of its dualistic position. It was forming and pursuing its own policies, often in defiance of both centers of power in the world, and no one would dare say a word against it. Because these people have something unique in their mentality - it's the "jebem ti picku" [lit.: fuck your pussy] way of thinking (if anyone has watched some of the Emir Kusturica movies they'll know what that is) = "yeah okay, preach whatever you like to me, brother, I'll nod and then I'll do things MY way; and if you don't like that, fuck off!" That's basically the Balkan way.

It may sound funny today, but much of the Yugo strength rested on the good will and good agreement between the Yugo peoples at the time. It's worth pondering about the question how come they needed a (benevolent) dictator in order to get along with each other so well.

The Tito cult is resurging across the entire former Yugo area. In the first years after the collapse of the federation, his statues and monuments used to suffer wide-spread destruction to the hands of his former subjects who were doing their best to erase the memories of the past - not because they hated it, but maybe because too many deep scars and wounds were put into it in a very short time in the process of the dissolution. But today we're seeing more and more graffiti on the still remaining monuments, and the renovated ones, saying things like "Come back, Tito!"

There's also this new anecdote that when Tito read those, a voice came from the heavens: "Hell no, do I look insane!?"

The old graffiti in Ljubljana which used to say "Burek - Nein, Danke" as an expression of the Slovenians' desire to divorce as far away as possible from their Yugoslavian past, are now getting substituted with "Burek - bi, Dzamije pa ne" (Burek - yes, but no mosques!"), much in line with the rising xenophobic sentiments in the rest of the continent. And the Slovenian investors are re-directing their focus back toward the lands of the former Yugo federation. Probably because it's not easy to make a breakthrough in Europe itself.