The Balkans Outside the Balkanalian Violence of Uni-nationality

/, Literature, Blesok no. 51/The Balkans Outside the Balkanalian Violence of Uni-nationality

The Balkans Outside the Balkanalian Violence of Uni-nationality

This movement is opposed by another, currently dominant trend which we call globalisation, even though it would be wiser to use an older term of neo-colonialism to clearly designate the violent currents of big business and thirst for power, which pushed the contemporary world into a dizzying whirlwind of self-greed and incessant marketable production. The world as a whole is turning into a giant spiral of production and consumerism, where privileged individuals or individual companies succeed by seizing enormous market surpluses which they have to reinvest into the market flows the next moment, otherwise they would evaporate. It is irrelevant how this is done. What matters is to realise that big business has a logic of its own that has nothing to do with human beings. Investment of big capital produces surpluses, which are physically limited, enabling only a relatively small part of the world’s population to take advantage of the privileges provided by these surpluses (such as material wealth, health care, educational and similar services). However, the division between the rich and the poor, the successful and the ruined is not a permanent situation. The sphere of riches is not determined and divided once and for all but is swirling wildly and changing constantly. This impermanence and constant insecurity and the arrogance of those who at the moment swim from wave crest to wave crest, shape the dynamic field of power clashes in which the greatest power acts as the decisive principle to which everyone, who is drawn (willingly or unwillingly) into its dynamics, must pay homage. The currents of capital themselves force all those implicated (and that means us all) to fight for the privileges and also watch out for others so they do not gain the same privileges (and overtake us, for example, in the distribution of subsidies for research and other projects). The end effect of this spiral circulation of capital investments and surpluses is the depersonalisation of people, their devaluation as human beings who are drawn into unscrupulous games of violence. This is wonderfully illustrated by the famous Ellis’s novel, American Psycho (in the description of an individual’s destiny). Or the Star Wars program (at the global level). If we, laymen, try to fathom what is happening behind the scenes of inscrutable corporate projects, we can resort to information, which came out at the fall of the energy giant Elkron, at the partial collapse of the New York Stock Exchange or at the drop in value of the shares of “network companies”. The impression one gets is that companies are increasingly becoming virtual, based on practical machinations and efficient persuasion and lobbying (marketing). In the final phase, it is a matter of pure Balkanisation of the global market, where behind the false fronts of euphemisms and ideological (lobbying) constructs merciless battles are being fought on the chessboard, beyond the ethical (beyond human) sphere of capital flows arid dominant positions. From the very beginning, the Balkans were totally enmeshed in the network of global relations; every little event in this unfortunate peninsula was entirely dependent on the influences and decisions coming from outside. The Balkans were “planetary”: the people’s fate of this territory was not decided only by local factors but also by world negotiators and their interrelations. We had to contend with a complementary game which is not easily summarised or grasped in its every detail and aspect. The contemporary, planetary world was involved, developed and happened in the Balkan conflicts. An excellent illustration of this is the trial in the Hague against the war criminal, Milošević, with whom, at the time of the worst crimes – which he sanctioned and decreed – world leaders concluded agreements and negotiated with him as their equal (under the pretext of peace talks). Let us recall all the ideological phrases that were used to describe the violence of one of the most powerful European armies unleashed on a civilian population (which opted for democracy!): civil war, ethnic conflict, religious war, tribal warfare, nationalistic quarrels, clash of civilisations (Christian and Muslim), while forgetting the desire for democratisation. The same language today fills the front pages of world media, while they completely arbitrarily and selectively interpret the current hot sports and conflicts of the planet, measuring by the same yardstick totally different things (the term of terrorism is forced to include everything that at the moment opposes the interests of those who hold power – as they try to justify, for example, the atrocities perpetrated by Sharon on the occupied territories.) But let us not enumerate to infinity what is quite clear. The planetary environment in which human beings are today trying to untie the Balkan knot is, in essence, balkanised, that is, subjected to the forces of violence and domination that fight amongst themselves and recognise only the argument of superiority. International law is forgotten; the world of international relations is again dominated by military, political and economic supremacy. Thus, if we want to offer a constructive alternative to the situation in the Balkans, we must do so within the relations that we call globalisation.

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Considering the entire matter from this perspective, we see an image divided in two by a certain line. On one side of the line is the kingdom of differences, different cultures, languages and even civilizations, which are synchronous, intertwined to a greater or lesser extent, deeply dependent, but certainly coexisting since time immemorial, representing a reality that cannot be annihilated. On the other side we have the so-called global democracy, proclaiming itself the crown of the world, the most consummate form of an ordered human society and organisation of mutual relations; building its presence on an aggressive, monochromatic uni-culture (dominated by a single language) and excluding the need for dialogue with those who are different or not even acknowledging them. A new division of the world has taken place, which is again based on violence and power. The fact that there are several global systems, i.e., civilisations, which refuse to succumb to the civilisation of democracy, is presented by the West as a necessary evil, as a potential threat of the dark forces or a kind of axis of evil. It presents itself as a progressive party and its aggression as a struggle for best of all possible forms of reality.
Let us take a closer look at these matters and ask the Balkan question once more, on the basis of the points of departure that are proposed by the blueprint for the new world order. Does this mean that absolute power (military and economic domination) is what should decide the relations among everyone involved? Are we to follow the example of democratic West and leave the leadership and formation of conditions in the Balkans up to the institutions of power, which will forcefully solve the problems of artificially enforced “democracy” and violent interventions of the absolute power of “police”? What the language of power and the use of violence can lead to, was experienced in the Balkans to the very essence. Three million displaced persons, hundreds of thousands of casualties, entire regions devastated, economies in ruins, general hatred and mistrust, the blossoming of organised crime and war profiteering, ravaged homes, destroyed traditional values and a lost battle for everyone. Even Belgrade came off badly and regressed for several decades. Chaos, destruction, eking out a life on the edge of poverty, dependence on outside assistance and so on, and so forth. It is clear this is not a path leading to a solution. War deepened the gaps among people to the point of non-recognition. The pain is great and unbearable; the wound is enormous and it will take very long to heal. A great deal of water will have to flow down the Balkan rivers before the conditions in the Balkans are restored and the primordial green forests again sprawl as far as the eye can see; the forests where many different species of trees grow next to each other, providing shelter for the wealth of life that thrives underneath. But this will happen only on condition that a decisive, fundamental shift takes place, away from the use of violence or imposition of false democracy, a democracy that hides extra-human and extra-ethical domination of the interests of mega-capital, of big business which replaces the insightfulness of the mission with the operative model of commission, as was wittily observed by our friend Janko Rožič.

AuthorIztok Osojnik
2018-08-21T17:23:12+00:00 November 27th, 2006|Categories: Essays, Literature, Blesok no. 51|0 Comments