1. Images of Serbia and the Balkans
in the last decade: a short
investigation conducted on the two
major Italian newspapers: “Il
Corriere della Sera” and “La
Repubblica”.
A small contribute for a cultural
history of Serbia.

2. Christian Costamagna
PhD candidate in History
University of Eastern
Piedmont,Italy
Intern at the Institute for
Contemporary History,
Belgrade, Serbia
Autumn 2011

3. I
would like to thank the Institute for
Contemporary History of Belgrade, and in
particular the Director, Prof. dr. Momcilo
Pavlovic and the vice-Director Prof. dr.
Predrag J. Markovic for giving me this special
opportunity.
Special thanks

4. Maria
Todorova in her book “Imagining the
Balkans” tried to map “Balkanism”, the
discourse that led to the negative
stereotypes about the Balkans along the
history. She used varied sources, from
academic to journalistic ones. Somehow,
Todorova’s book is a reaction to the war in
former Yugoslavia and the mental association
between “violence” and “Balkans”.
Balkans and stereotypes

5. Parallel
to the image of the Balkans in the West,
we have a similar problem, the image of Serbia
and Serbs in the West, in particular the
perception of Serbs in the 90s of the past
century in Western mass media. It is so far an
open dispute if the Serbs have been represented
as the “bad guys” (Woodward 1995:297;
Johnstone 2002:65; Huntington 2001:433;
Wiebes 2003:63; Bourg & Shoup 2000:162) or
“good guys” (Sadkovich 1998; Anzulovic 1999:7)
Serbia and the West

6.  In
the following work I intended to focus on the
perception and images of Serbia and the Balkans on
the two major Italian newspapers (“Il Corriere” and
“La Repubblica”) in the last decade.”Il Corriere della
Sera” is a Milan based general-interest newspaper,
first in Italy. Its main shareholders are among the
biggest financial and industrial groups in Italy. It
used to be considered a “conservative” newspaper.
“La Repubblica”, based in Rome, is also a generalinterest newspaper. Its main shareholder is the
industrialist Carlo De Benedetti. It is openly centre
leftist, in favour of “Partito Democratico”.
Newspapers and perceptions

7. My
goal is not to ascertain the historical
“truth” of those events. I will not question
the disputable knowledge of each journalist
who wrote about the Balkans and Serbia. It is
pretty clear however that we shouldn’t
expect from a journalist to be an expert
about every single field of the human
knowledge. They are not expected to be
scientists.
Journalists, not academics

8. Why
the last decade? I explicitly avoided the
war period. I think it can be even more
interesting to see the stereotypes about Serbia
and the Balkans without Milosevic in power in
Serbia and after the wars. The West strongly
supported the DOS coalition before and after
the September 2000 Elections. I believe it is
easier to find examples of propaganda and/or
biased information during an open conflict than
during a period of peace. All in all, the
stereotypes are hard to die, in any case.
Stereotypes after propaganda?

9. If
we want to apply a macro level of analysis
of the events I chose, I think that the best
one is the path of Serbia toward the
European Union. So let’s see the images and
stereotypes in the major Italian newspapers
(totally almost 1 million readers daily) about
Serbia, Serbs and the Balkans, after the
wars, toward Europe, through
democratization.
Serbia & EU

10. In order to simplify the research, conducted on the free online
archives, using keywords, I selected some of the most
symbolical events happened in Serbia in the last years:
 23rd December 2000 Political Elections
 The arrest of Slobodan Milosevic: 31st March 2001
 Assassination of Zoran Djindjic: 12th March 2003
 Kosovo’s riots -pogrom against Serbs: 17th-19th March 2004
 Slobodan Milosevic’s death, 11th March 2006
 Montenegro’s independence (referendum): 21st May 2006
 Bosnian genocide case (Bosnia vs Serbia), judgment of the
International Court of Justice (the Hague): 26th February 2007
 Kosovo’s self declaration of independence: 17th February 2008

A few symbolical events

11. The
scope of this work is very limited and it
does not pretend to be exhaustive. It can’t
offer answers, but it can suggests new ideas.
Ideas, not answers

12. Corriere
Repubblica
 Serbs

believes in
Santa Claus thanks to
Vojislav Kostunica “new
hero of democracy, new
saint, today more
popular than Tito and
Milosevic himself”.
“The first challenge of the
new Serbia against the
ghosts of the past”. For
three months the Western
European diplomacies helped
strongly Kostunica’s Serbia.
This help was essential in
order to let the DOS
coalition win with an
extensive majority the 23rd
December elections
23 December 2000 Elections

13. Corriere

After Milosevic, the West feels
guilty towards the Serbs and
because of that feeling the West
is promising great investments in
Serbia, the access to the
European Union and the right of
Serbia to defend herself from
the aggression of Albanian
terrorists in the southern part
of its territory. The Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia deserved
this treatment, because she is
doing a lot of good work
Repubblica

This frightening repetition of
the history is not due to
cultures prone to
extermination, as usually thinks
the European public opinion but
by the fact that the
extermination, in Former
Yugoslavia, per se, has never
been sanctioned, except with
another symmetrical
extermination. The results is
that the South Slavs are fully
aware of the crimes they
experienced but they are not
aware, or just a little bit, of
the crimes they are guilty.
23 December 2000 Elections

14. Corriere
Repubblica

 If an hypothetical
Nuremberg of the Balkans
will reveal that Milosevic
is not the evil, but just a
political opportunist, and he
was not the only one to do
mistakes, “it means that
the war crime is not an
exclusive of Milosevic, nor
a Serbian chromosome, nor
a characteristic of the
Balkans.”
The “semi-new Serbia” can finally
claim to be a victim of the man,
Slobodan Milosevic, responsible
for the “Yugoslav carnage”. The
trial of Milosevic in Serbia, can be
even better than a trial imposed
from the West at the Hague, just
in case Serbia will be able to face
its past. Serbia will have the
opportunity to explain to herself
why Milosevic had so much
popular support while he was
orchestrating the ethnical
cleansing in Bosnia, an event very
similar and very close to the
Holocaust.
The arrest of Milosevic, 2001

15. Corriere
 “After so many mistakes
committed by the West in
the old [SFRJ] Yugoslavia
we should help the Serbs
to get rid of Milosevic,
but without giving the
impression that this is
happening because
someone, in a Western
capital, issued an
ultimatum.”
Repubblica
 To try Milosevic in Serbia,
at least as a first step,
could save the Serbian
national pride, the
opportunity to rebuild
the recent history, and to
further the democratic
process in the country.
The arrest of Milosevic, 2001

16. Corriere
 Milosevic
considered
himself the protector of
all Serbs. In fact,
after he lose the power,
there are more Serbian
refugees than Albanians,
Croats or Bosnians ones.
These peoples suffered
due to Milosevic’s politics,
but now it’s over
Repubblica
 “Serb tribe” does
not like Milosevic,
but does not like
also who bombed
Serbia and who is
forcing Serbian
justice with the
promise of a bunch
of dollars.
The arrest of Milosevic, 2001

17. Corriere
Repubblica
 “Serbs,
 Serbian
instead,
defeat after defeat,
have been expelled
from Krajina, from
Mostar, Sarajevo,
Kosovo.” The Serbian
refugees amount to
700,000, like the
“population of Turin”.
tradition is
characterized by
paradox and
weirdness. Milosevic
executed the plan of
Great Serbian, as
conceived by the
intellectuals of the
Serbian Academy of
Sciences.
The arrest of Milosevic, 2001

18. Corriere
 Djindjic was killed
because, with his
politics, he was the
“symbol of the West”.
Venturini can’t
exclude, in the
future, “…the
destabilizing chain
reactions so typical
of Balkan History.”
Repubblica
 Djindjic was pro
Western, and
because of that he
was not very
popular in Serbia.
Djindjic’s murder, 2003

19. Corriere
more you know the
Balkans, the less you
understand them”.
Serbia is a weak state,
a poor country,
forgotten after the
“humanitarian bombing”,
a land of organized
crime; still Serbia is
important for the
stability of the Balkans,
Repubblica
 “The
 Balkans’ ghosts
are coming back.
“Shock in
Germany,
traditionally
close to
Serbia.”
Djindjic’s murder, 2003

20. Corriere
◦ “The West don’t
trust Kostunica and
bet on Djindjic, who
speaks perfectly
German and studies
rapidly English. But
in the Balkans still
counts other
languages and codes.”
Repubblica
 We
should fear that
Serbia didn’t face her
past. The impression is
that Zoran Djindjic is
the last victim of the
never ending Yugoslav
war.
Djindjic’s murder, 2003

21. Corriere

In Belgrade“Hate is in the
air” and the manifestation is the
expression of the failure of the
cohabitation of different ethnic
groups. Imarisio, talking about the
setting to fire of the mosque in
Dorcol (Belgrade),says that
“nobody condemned that episode.
The hate for the Albanians is an
interclass feeling”. The very
same youth who contested
Milosevic in the middle of the
90s, the so called “best part of
the [Serbian] society”, now they
are crying out ferocious ultranationalist slogans. In this new
crisis “the Kosovo Serbs look
like victims”.
Repubblica

Albanian nationalists wants
an independent Kosovo: if
so, it will become (and it is
even now) just a big centre
of crime, trafficking of
arms, prostitutes and drugs.
There is not difference,
according to the journalist,
between extreme Albanian
nationalists and criminality
and gangsters.
Kosovo’s pogrom,2004

22. Corriere

the lack of a Western strategy
in the Balkans, give the
impression that both Great
Albania and Great Serbia are
both “plausible” and “rational”.
When the Europeans and American in
1995 bombed the Serbs of Bosnia
and during the 1999 campaign against
Serbia, they stated to do that in
order to stop violence and protect
civilians,for “humanitarian reasons”.
In both cases the result was a mess;
it was quite clear that Bosnia and
Hercegovina, after Dayton, was a
“fictitious state”
Repubblica
 The
independence of
Kosovo is not possible
without the splitting up
of the province,
between Albanians and
Serbia. But, if we accept
this principle of
subdivision and resettling
of population, so all the
entire Balkan region
should change its
boundaries
Kosovo’s pogrom,2004

23. Corriere

“In Bosnia and in Kosovo we
created two soft
protectorates”. Instead “of
giving Serbia dignity and
prosperity, we humiliated
her”. Romano states that in
the lack of a real solution
from the West, in order to
solve the problems, we shall
“draw a new map of Former
Yugoslavia.” If needed, we
should “call into question
Dayton agreements” and the
UN 1244 Resolution.
Repubblica

As stated above, this
process should lead toward
an exchange of populations
and of territories, “like at
the beginning of the XXth
century with the Balkans
wars.” Without the Nato
soldiers in Kosovo, today, in
this province and in other
areas of the Balkans, there
will be hundreds of
thousands of victims.
Kosovo’s pogrom,2004

24. Corriere

The sentence of History is
clear: the most responsible
for the carnage in the
Balkans are Slobodan
Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic
and Ratko Mladic. If Serbia
wants to join the European
Union, she must face her
past. Venturini thinks that
Serbs are not the only
responsible for the
atrocities of the war in the
90s.
Repubblica

Valli, reports the thought of
Prof. dr. Joze Pirjevec, about
the Serbian mentality,
referring to the time of the
Kosovo war (1999). “…After
the first bombs, instead of
collapsing, Milosevic’s Serbia
resisted. It was not taken
into account properly the
mentality of the dictator
and the Serbian people,
convinced to give the very
best of itself under
threat.”
Milosevic’s death, 2006

25. Corriere
 “After the death of
Milosevic, the Balkan
Nuremberg [ICTY] is not
even anymore a Serbian
Nuremberg, it is just a
house of cards, a list of
victims without justice…”.
Repubblica
 Milosevic will go down in
History as a butcher.
The influence of Milosevic
over Serbs, was not
greater than the influence
of Serbs over Milosevic;
he was very popular.
“Serbia gave him a
mission and for many
years gave him a genuine
consent.”
Milosevic’s death, 2006

26. Corriere
 In
the Balkan tragedy,
Milosevic defended a
“multi-ethnicity that
today exists just in
Serbia”. Serbia is now
surrounded by ethnically
clean states; initially
Belgrade oppressed its
neighbors, and later the
Serbs in those areas
suffered retaliations
and ethnic cleansing.
Repubblica
 “Serbia expiates her
sins”, and if she
doesn’t approach the
European Union, she”
will hate the West”
and will go back to
nationalism, like
during the Milosevic’s
era.
Milosevic’s death, 2006

27. Corriere
 “European Union is
looking at another failed
project in the Balkans.”
Three years ago the
European Union “forced”
Serbia and Montenegro
to create their Union,
now she is “dictating the
terms of separation.”
Repubblica
 “How will react the
various ethnical
components of a
state now dissolved
– Yugoslavia – yet
very dynamics in a
boiling context like
the Balkans?”
Montenegro’s independ. 2006

28. Corriere
 Belgrade, Podgorica
and Bruxelles hope
that there will be no
violence after the
independence of
Montenegro, clearly
remanding to the
previous armed
conflicts.
Repubblica
 “The
Balkans, a land
geographically close, but,
at the same time, still
very far away culturally
[from the West].” “The
lands that stretch from
Slovenia to Albania,
passing through Bosnia
and Herzegovina and
Serbia and Montenegro,
are yet scarcely known
to the Western world”.
Montenegro’s independ. 2006

29. Corriere
Repubblica
 considering
 Serbia
how it was
organized, it must be a
planned massacre. Kandic
thinks that nobody in the
political scene of Serbia
is prepared to apologize
publicly with
Bosnia/Muslims, it is a
kind of taboo. It will
takes probably decades
is “morally
condemned but
politically saved”.
Serbia is “a Balkan
state divided between
pro-Russia
ultranationalists and
pro European Union
democrats.”
Genocide: Bosnia vs Serbia, 2007

30. Corriere

the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (Serbia and
Montenegro) is not like the
Nazi Germany, and
Slobodan Milosevic is not
like Adolf Hitler. This
thesis, advanced by Bosnia
and Herzegovina in the
Tribunal, was rejected by
the majority of the judges
and also by the entire
Serbian political class
Repubblica

to brand Serbia as a “state
guilty of genocide” couldn’t
help Serbia toward the
European Union. If Serbia had
got that infamous “brand”, she
had to pay for decades war
reparation to Bosnia; if so,
Serbia, would sink in the
debts, isolated, “branded by
the UN”, “condemned to
misery”, would have started
again to “incubate its
historical illness, a homicidal
paranoia”.
Genocide: Bosnia vs Serbia, 2007

31. Corriere

Serbia in the last
presidential elections showed
to be “mature”, but the
independence of Kosovo will
push Serbia far away from
Europe, closer to Russia,
because of possible
nationalistic reaction. The
independence of Kosovo is
the logical consequence,
according to Nava, of the
illegal bombardment of
Serbia by Nato in 1999
Repubblica
 Garimberti open his article
quoting a quotation of Misha
Glenny’s book “The Balkans”:
“the Balkans are a poison to
which Europe has never been
able to find the antidote
and periodically she
remained poisoned by it”. It
is still valid today. “The
ghost of a new conflict is
haunting Europe”. Anyway,
according to Garimberti, the
independence of Kosovo, per
se, is not wrong, just its
method.
Kosovo’s independence,2008

32. Corriere
Repubblica
 It
 Viola
will be good to find a
solution in the Balkans
before the 2014, first
centenary of WW1 (1914
assassination of the
Archduke Franz
Ferdinand of Austria).
Also the Balkans should
have the right to say
“we have a dream”
thinks that it is
wrong to think about a
specific “Balkan
character”; a better
economical, social and
political situation would
stop the violence in the
Balkans. The great
powers have a big share
of responsibility in the
never ending unrest in
the Balkans.
Kosovo’s independence,2008

33. Corriere
Repubblica

 Halter think that a large
autonomy for Kosovo
inside Serbia was a far
better solution. He
remarks that he is not
defending Serbia or
Serbian nationalism, just
the principle of
cohabitation in a common
country.
The violence in the Balkans
or in former Yugoslavia is
not something typical just of
that area. What is really
typical is the phenomenon of
“Kleinstaaterei”, the endless
fragmentation of territories
according to ethnical lines of
purity. Today this
phenomenon is better known
as Balkanization. The selfproclaimed independence of
Kosovo is part of this kind of
Balkanization.
Kosovo’s independence,2008

34. Corriere
Repubblica
 Serbia
 Serbia
is part of the
Balkans
 Stereotypes: both are
pleagued by
underdevelopment and
old hates, violence,
irrationality
 Serbia, afterall, has
its own good reasons
and the Balkans:
essentially similar to “Il
Corriere”
 BUT…
 Generally Serbia is
harshly condemned
morally
Considerations…

35. All
we can say, is that in the two major
Italian newspapers, in the last decade:
 there are negative stereotypes about Serbia
and the Balkans.
On the other hand, we can’t say that
“Serbophobia” prevails.
Considerations

36. THANK YOU FOR THE
ATTENTION!

37. QUESTIONS?