Serbia

I was a little apprehensive about visiting Serbia because of lingering anti-Americanism from the U.S. bombing campaigns in 1995 and 1999. Before the trip, every person knowledgeable of the area assuaged my concerns and encouraged me to visit. They were correct, though the anti-American sentiment is noticeable, it is not overt. In fact a lot of what I initially interpreted as an anti-American vibe was, as I later discovered, is really just part of a general xenophobia. It turns out that, in contrast to their forefathers, very few Serbians (less than 15%) have visited the West.
The Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia was the most economically successful of all the socialist bloc countries. When Stalin and Tito split in the 1950s, Yugoslavia needed to strengthen Western ties to discourage a Soviet invasion. The result was a communist country liberally engaged in trade with Western economies. Whatever prosperity had been accrued the following decades was obliterated by Milosovic’s maniacal mismanagement of the economy in the 1990s. In an eight year period 30 -40 percent of Serbia’s economy disappeared. Though Belgrade is today a modern and thriving metropolis, the results of the economic collapse can be seen in the large shanty-towns that appear along interstate overpasses on the city’s outskirts.

The most important interview of my trip was supposed to be here and I had planned the entire first half of our trip around his schedule. I called on our first day in Belgrade only to find out that we would be gone the entire week. However, the two consolation interviews, which turned into a 4.5 hour intellectual marathon, were extremely helpful.

The second interview was with the institution’s V.P., who is a western educated Bulgarian. We spent about two hours talking about my thesis specific questions, and another 1.5 talking about Balkan history. He, like many people who are erudite in their knowledge of the region, insists that you cannot understand any of the modern Balkan problems without viewing it through the lens of history. Unlike one of my earlier interviewees, this guy had no concerns over anonymity, though he made much more inflammatory statements. When I asked about the EU suspending candidacy talks with Serbia and what could motivate reform given this withdrawal, he responded very directly, “What Serbia needs is a second bombing campaign…and after that probably a third. I believe that is the only way they will ever wake up and realize that it is 2006 and that fighting over some hill because something happened 600 years ago is ridiculous.” To me, that was a shocking statement, given his position, the location of his office, and the fact that there five Serbian intelligence agencies. However, I’m sure he understands the delicacies of his situation better than I.

We will be returning in July, at which time I have two more interviews with staff members there. Tomorrow we are headed somewhere west and closer to Germany. I’m getting tired of Belgrade and especially tired of our “hostel”.