"Pro-Serb-Nationalism"/"Pro-Milosevic" Baiting and the Death of Yugoslavia

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Thu Apr 1 17:21:46 PST 1999


It has been my experience on this list that those who do not swallow the imperial thesis that "Serbs are the worst rapists, ethnic cleansers, and organizers of genocide" have been repeatedly characterized as "pro-Serb-nationalism" and/or "pro-Milosevic." I have no probelm refuting such characterization, but the frequency with which such epithets are used reminds me of red-baiting rhetoric; only this time, you are not baited for being a red, you are baited for being pro-Serb or pro-Milosevic. Completely misleading, not to mention quite tiresome.

I simply note here that this "Pro-Serb-Nationalism"/"Pro-Milosevic" Baiting has happened less often on three other left-political-elists I'm subbed to. The difference does say something about this list's subscriber demographics.

I also add that even in the left imagination and language, Yugoslavia (a multi-ethnic country) died a long time ago, and only "Serbia" remains in its place, though not all who live in "Serbia" are Serbs and not all who live in "Kosovo" are Albanians. This language use reveals that despite their superficial anti-nationalist rhetoric, they have actually bought into the imperial strategy of carving up Yugoslavia through nationalism.

Yoshie



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