Selim Ibraimi– The war in Ukraine has brought memories of the past from Kyiv to Skopje. The actions of some Balkan states have added to this effect. Other factors echo past traumas. These traumas have their roots before the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the Cold War. Usually, when governments want to expand borders or strengthen an ideology, government officials and politicians take part. Other institutions, such as media and education, also get involved. They become part of the myth that needs to be kept alive and spread in parallel.
Certain politicians have used memories of the past as an effective tool. They have done so from past centuries to modern times. Their goal is to keep the myth alive for daily politics. In the Balkans, collective memory contains myths from the Middle Ages. These myths have brought new wars. They hold some Balkan states outside the EU and in permanent hostility.
Such experiments in our region have been carried out since the end of the 19th century. This occurred without mentioning the Middle Ages. They continued until the recent wars in the former Yugoslavia. Politics and popular strata today implement and interpret the past in ways that carry a high risk. This can lead to exploding religious and ethnic tensions. It even maintains interstate disputes to preserve the collective memory of bad stories.
In such cases, governments and educational institutions take action to invoke historical memory. They place characters from history and politics in the public narrative to incite internal and external disputes. A government dominates public space to strengthen collective memory. It uses its policies to bring back evil by all means.
For example, renaming streets or public squares proves the geopolitics of historical memory. This occurs in every nation, including those in the Balkans. Thus, elements of the past fill the daily panorama in the Balkans. This starts from Kosovo, Bosnia, North Macedonia, and Serbia.
Pictures further manifest this to strengthen historical memory. This supports national and chauvinistic projects for new territories. Some see this as a continuation of the same plans for domination or assimilation of peoples. Such policies aim to produce memories for populations in hostility. This ensures reconciliation can never be achieved.
Therefore, the media and the streets remain key areas. Public spaces continue to witness the politics of memory. These efforts strive to keep infamous projects alive. We must be realistic. The repetition or preservation of historical memory has existed in the former SFRY, the former USSR, and Central Europe. After their occupation, the USSR decided to build war memorials in Austria, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, etc.
Today, such signs are also seen in European countries. For example, we can mention Italy. There, Prime Minister Meloni has ruled out the possibility of removing the tricolor flame symbol from her party’s logo. This is despite calls to give up fascist symbols.
In the Balkans, similar memorials are placed in visible places. People can be “infected” by memories of politics and the past. Religious or national symbols have been encountered in North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia, and other Balkan countries. The worst part is when governments intervene in school textbooks. They alienate or humiliate other ethnic groups in the same region. For example, these actions are unjustifiable for countries that claim to be in the EU one day.
The government of North Macedonia is a NATO member state with open issues with Bulgaria. Recently, it has used the policy of returning memories of the past. The government proposed a law that the Macedonian national anthem must be sung in all schools. This applies regardless of ethnicity.
The country survived the 2001 war. However, poor inter-ethnic relations continue to be a central theme. The government has put inter-ethnic relations in a worse position. Similar movements occurred in northern Kosovo. Local Serbs, political groups, and radical groups refused to integrate. This was due to the influence of the Serbian factor. It is part of the behavior of memories of the past for Serbs as a main factor.
Under these conditions, achieving peace and progress in the region becomes impossible. In the coming years, current policies in Serbia, North Macedonia, and Bosnia will have the opposite effect with internal unrest. When collective memories pass from generation to generation, it is tough to have easy internal reconciliations. Developing good relations with other countries becomes challenging.
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