Anti-bureaucratic revolution

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The anti-bureaucratic revolution was a political development in Serbia and Montenegro , during the course of which large demonstrations were staged by the then Serbian ruler Slobodan Milošević in 1987 and 1989 , which heralded the end of the extensive autonomy of the Serbian provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo , which had existed since 1974 . The highlight of these events was the 600th anniversary celebration on the occasion of the Battle of the Blackbird Field .

The campaign received support from Serbian intellectuals, who had already complained in the SANU memorandum in 1986 about the alleged discrimination against Serbs in “non-Serbian” parts of Yugoslavia, and the Serbian Orthodox Church.

The autonomous status of Vojvodina and Kosovo was reverted to its pre-1974 status in 1989. The two autonomous provinces were placed under Serbian central administration, the previous provincial governments were dismissed and replaced by party officials loyal to Milošević.

This meant major changes, especially for Kosovo, because the autonomy status since 1974 was also associated with its own school system. In the spring of 1989, Serbian was reintroduced as the official language in Kosovo .

As a result, there were large demonstrations by the broad Albanian majority in Kosovo. These were put down, there were attacks on police officers, and a state of emergency was imposed on the region. Kosovar Albanian activists were sentenced to several years in prison. On March 3, 1989, the government of Yugoslavia decided on "special measures" to counter the resistance of the Kosovar Albanians.

On January 22nd, 1990, at the extraordinary congress of the Union of Communists of Yugoslavia, all reform proposals of the Slovenian and Croatian delegations were rejected by the majority of votes of the so-called "Serbian Bloc". These MPs from Serbia, including those from the two provinces and those from Montenegro, were supporters of the political course represented by Miloševićs. Thereupon the Slovenian delegates left the party congress, a little later the Croatian delegates.

literature

  • Josip Furkes, Karl-Heinz Schlarp (ed.): Yugoslavia: A state is falling apart . The Balkans - Europe's powder keg . Reinbek near Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1991. ISBN 3-499-13074-2
  • Laura Silber, Allan Little: Fratricidal War. The fight for Tito's legacy . German adaptation by Walter Erdelitsch. Graz: Styria, 1995. 464 pages.
  • Nebojša Vladisavljević: Serbia's Antibureaucratic Revolution. Milošević, the Fall of Communism and Nationalist Mobilization. Hampshire / New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. ISBN 978-0-230-20521-5