What Can Serbia Do For The Serbian Diaspora?

06/06/2022

Over the Christmas Holiday, Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Selaković and members of his staff, visited the Serbian community in the Chicagoland area. The OSC “Ravna Gora” made the decision not to attend. Although the section in question of the Consulate’s website was slightly changed after our first letter, it was far from sufficient in light of actual accounts during that time period

By DUŠAN IVANČEVIĆ

Over the Christmas Holiday, Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Selaković and members of his staff including the Director of the Office for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region, Arnaud Gouillon, visited the Serbian community in the Chicagoland area. It was our understanding that the Serbian Delegation wanted to meet with local Serbian organizations for a “question and answer” session. The Serbian National Defense Council of America hosted the event at its facility on January 8 that the request of the Serbian Consulate in Chicago. This was the first meeting of its kind initiated by the (post Yugoslav) Serbian government with any patriotic organization in the Diaspora.
However, the OSC “Ravna Gora” made the decision not to attend for the following reasons:1) No agenda was agreed to for a meeting and 2) Two letters were previously sent to the Consulate regarding the WWII section of its website and we have yet to receive a written response to either.

Although the section in question of the Consulate’s website was slightly changed after our first letter, it was far from sufficient in light of actual accounts during that time period. Not to mention, President Vučić’s comments regarding the Halyard mission observance at Pranjani in 2020, only amplifies the inaccuracies of that era put forth by the Serbian government and its unwillingness to depart from the Communist version of WWII. This needs to be corrected and an apology from President Vučić would be a start in the right direction.
As we have stated repeatedly, we are willing to engage in helping better both interests in Serbia as well as in the Diaspora but only upon a foundation of truth. We can not gloss over what has happened in the past and place it behind us like it never happened. The current and future Serbian governments must come to terms with the injustice their predecessors exacted upon Serbia, the Serbian community in Yugoslavia as well as the Diaspora during and after WWII. Not only was the Titoist regime responsible for infiltrating and dividing patriots in the Diaspora and the murder of Serbian dissidents around the world, it was also responsible for our church split in 1963. We have not fully recovered from any of it and truth is the best remedy for healing.
After WWII, tens of thousands of Serbian ex-patriots made their way to the free world while the Yugoslav Communists and Croatian Ustashe (over 80,000 who crossed over into the Partizans bearing full rank)were building a new Yugoslavia upon the ruins of the Kingdom they destroyed and upon the blood of over a million innocent Serbs they killed. Let there be no doubt, we are aware of our history and until this history accurately reflects all Serbs, it cannot and should not be put behind us as it will only lend itself to be repeated, God forbid.
Regarding the visit of the Serbian delegation, I must say it was encouraging to hear the statements made publicly by its representatives during their time in our community. Based on their comments, one would be inclined to believe that Serbia is returning to its roots. And what was especially positive is that Minister Selaković wanted to know what Serbia can do for the Serbian Diaspora.That being said,we have a request. We would like for the Serbian government, first and foremost, to revise their WWII segment on their website.

(Serbian newspaper, Chicago, april 2022)