During Serbia’s last census, in 2022, approximately 27,000 people declared themselves Yugoslavs, up from 23,000 in 2011. This is a stark jump for a country with a falling population whose memory of a Yugoslav nation is dying out.
Viktor Ivancic, a prominent journalist from Croatia, explains the phenomenon thus:
„I see Yugoslavianism as a type of resistance, a more responsible and more natural form of anti-nationalism. If someone can be a Serb or a Croat based on their nationality, then I can be a Yugoslav based on my lack of nationality.”
In Serbia, authorities recognise around 20 ethnic minorities, which entitles them with public funding and electoral advantages. Dasko Milinovic, a Serbian author and radio host, is hopeful that this official status will be extended to the Yugoslavs, who outnumber about half of the officially listed minorities. Over a decade ago, Serbian officials dismissed a formal bid to recognise Yugoslavs, citing a lack of „language, alphabet and literature”. Milinovic believes that Yugoslavia had an official language, two alphabets, and was home to the acclaimed author Ivo Andric, who won the Nobel Prize for literature.
If the community is able to gather 11,000 signatures, then the initiative could potentially be adopted.
The Yugoslav federation was formed in the ashes of World War II by Tito and his band of socialist partisans. For over four decades, the federation prospered compared to other socialist nations, but following Tito’s death in the early 1980s, the country began to collapse in a series of wars which cost 130,000 lives.
CENTRAL EASTERN EUROPE NEWS
A New Wave of Yugoslav Nationalism
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