RIGHTS-YUGOSLAVIA: ‘Yugo-Nostalgics’ Start Cyber Republic

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric-Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Aug 9 1999 (IPS) - A “Cyber Yugoslavia (CY)” without armed forces, police, supreme leaders, ideologies nor ethnic hatred is now giving virtual citizenship to people who feel deprived, or nostalgic, of their homeland.

The virtual state grants its citizens many rights often denied in real life by the ethnic states created after the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1991. “We lost our country in 1991 and became citizens of Atlantis,” says the web site at http://www.juga.com.

“Juga” was a popular nickname of the former Yugoslavia, the multinational country constituted by Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.

“We don’t have a physical land, but we do have nationality and we are providing CY citizenship and CY passports,” the organisers say. They are also planning to apply for United Nations membership when the registered citizens reach five million.

The site welcomes anyone who “feels Yugoslav, regardless of current nationality, to apply for CY citizenship”. “We are allowing double and triple citizenship. If you feel Yugoslav, you are welcome to apply … and you will be accepted” the site says.

The invitation is a fine irony that thousands of former Yugoslavs understand too well: many faced enormous problems when Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina broke away from the federation.

Slovenia and Croatia were swift in denying citizenship or raising bureaucratic hurdles to people who could not prove ethnic “purity,” in spite of the former federation’s discouragement of nationalistic attitudes.

Ethnically mixed Slovenians and Croats – born from mixed marriages – still face problems when they want to claim or sell property, obtain working permits or just stay in their country of birth.

Hurrying to do away with anything that would remind people of the country they once shared, all newly created states also denied dual citizenship rights.

The same was done to thousands of non-Serbs in what since 1992 became the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), integrated by Serbia and Montenegro.

Once Cyber Yugoslavia reaches a citizenship of five million, it will apply for UN membership and “we will ask for 20 square metres of land anywhere on Earth to be our country. On that land, we will keep our server,” the site says.

The founding father of CY is Zoran B., a computer programmer who emigrated to western Europe along with more than 300.000 young and qualified people who have left Serbia since 1991.

Zoran B is a seclusive person, who has given only one interview so far – via electronic mail – to the Croatian independent weekly Feral Tribune.

As being Yugo-nostalgic is one of the least desirable characteristics in Croatia, the weekly asked Zoran B whether he plans to reestablish Yugoslavia in any manner.

“No,” he says, “CY does not represent the reestablishment of any Yugoslavia…It is not even a movement…It is a thing of its own, living only in cyber space.”

Most of those who have applied for CY citizenship come from the former Yugoslav republics, Holland, Portugal, Germany, Spain, Great Britain and the United States. But in a way that once used to be good manners in the former homeland, in Cyber Yugoslavia ethnic origin is not an issue.

Like any other country, CY has ministers, constitution and symbols. Unlike any other country, however, every citizen can head a ministry of his/her choice.

Every applicant names his or her portfolio, which so far range from fishing, knitting, , cocktail making to disarmament, nice talking, dancing, sunset watching or wining and dining. A list of citizens and ministries is available at the site.

Mocking the rigid and sometimes pompous constitutions of the former Yugoslav republics, CY’s constitution is “variable”.

“Every citizen has the right to suggest a change in the Constitution. This suggestion has to be accepted or rejected by the entire CY population through the method of public vote,” the chart states. A two- third majority vote is required to implement changes.

“No person can become President, King or Prime Minister of CY, nor to impose his/her personal will on the citizens of CY” the republic’s founding chart warns, wary of bitter experiences in the region, where leaders tend to identify themselves with the nations and states they rule.

CY’s symbols – anthem, flag and coat of arms – are also “variable.” Citizens may vote for or against them. Again, this is an irony referring to the new states’ hostility to any symbols that may remind people of the former federation.

Croatia is probably the place where such hostility has been most visible, with the new authorities establishing symbols and names from World War II, when Zagreb was a German puppet state, including those of the feared “Ustasha,” the local fascist paramilitary organisation.

Cyber Yugoslavia’s official language is “any language suggested”, the site says, mocking the fervent desire of former Yugoslavia’s rulers to get rid of linguistic links among them.

Although it is hard to distinguish differences between Serbian, Croatian or Bosnian except for the alphabet (Serbians use Cyrillic), the Croatian government insists that its language is completely different and has even introduced “court interpreters” for languages that are basically the same.

“This land will grow as our citizens wish. Neither faster, nor slower. Neither more, nor less. So, this site will always be under construction. For a solid country to grow, even a virtual one, it takes some time” the CY’s creators say.

The virtual republic was launched in July and it has already more than 2,000 citizens so far, with some 300 people applying every day.