Slobodan Milo?evi?

Slobodan Milo?evi? {{Audio|sr-SlobodanMilosevic.ogg|listen}} (Serbian: ???????? ?????????, pronounced {{IPA|}}; born 20 August 1941) is a former President of Serbia and of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as well as leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia.

Early career

Milo?evi? was Montenegrin by origin born in Po?arevac, Serbia. His father committed suicide while Slobodan was in high school; his mother hanged herself ten years later. He joined the Communist Party in 1959 and began his professional life as a banker, working for the Beogradska Banka (Belgrade Bank), at times even residing in New York as their official representative abroad.

Related Topics:
Montenegrin - Po?arevac - Serbia - 1959

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He then emerged in April 1987 as the leading force in Serbian politics. His political positions have sometimes been termed as nationalism, despite the fact that his ideology was strongly marked by socialism, internationalism and other leftist viewpoints. His critics have said that his remarks in Kosovo in 1987 "nobody must beat you" - which he was heard to make whilst amid pressing crowds saying they were suffering police brutality - were nationalistic, others that, as a political representative, he was reassuring them he didn't take lightly any violation of their human rights. He certainly made a precedent in that it was the first time after WWII that some official Communist Party politician publicly took the side of one particular nation. Ivan Stamboli? later said that "he had seen that day as the end of Yugoslavia".

Related Topics:
Serbia - Nationalism - Internationalism - WWII - Communist Party - Ivan Stamboli?

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After he was elected president of the Belgrade City Committee of the League of Communists, Milo?evi? publicly opposed nationalism, prevented the publishing of a book of the works of Slobodan Jovanovi?, a distinguished Serbian philosopher, law professor and politician from the first half of the century. Milo?evi? also advocated retaining Marxism as a school subject, and publicly lambasted Belgrade youth for their low turnout at the Communist manifestation Day of the Youth, saying they desecrated the character and work of Tito.

Related Topics:
League of Communists - Slobodan Jovanovi? - Marxism - Tito

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His mentor and close personal friend Ivan Stamboli? was the party leader in the Serbian section of the ruling League of Communists of Yugoslavia. In September 1987, Stamboli? became the President of Serbia and supported Milo?evi? in the elections for the new leader, to the dismay of the other leaders in the party. Stamboli? spent three days advocating Milo?evi?'s election and finally managed to secure him a tight victory, the tightest ever in the history of Serbian Communist Party internal elections.

Related Topics:
Ivan Stamboli? - League of Communists of Yugoslavia - Communist Party

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Dragi?a Pavlovi?, Milo?evi?'s fairly liberal successor at the head of the Belgrade Committee of the party, opposed his policy towards the solving of the issues of the Kosovo Serbs, calling it "hastily promised speed". Milo?evi? denounced Pavlovi? as being soft on Albanian radicals, contrary to advice from Stamboli?. In 23 September/24th, on the subsequent eighth session of the Central Committee, one that lasted around 30 hours, and was broadcast live on the state television, Milo?evi? had Pavlovi? deposed, to the utter embarrassment of Ivan Stamboli?, who resigned under pressure from Milo?evi?'s supporters a few days later.

Related Topics:
Dragi?a Pavlovi? - Kosovo - Albanian - 23 September

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In February 1988, Stamboli? was officially voted off the position and Milo?evi? could take his place. Milo?evi? would later be charged with ordering the murder of Stamboli?. Ivan Stamboli? was kidnapped in the summer of 2000; his body was found three years later, and in 2005, several members of Serbian secret police and criminal gangs were convicted at the Belgrade court for this murder (among others).

Related Topics:
1988 - Murder - 2000 - 2005

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Milo?evi? spent the better part of 1988 and 1989 focusing his politics around the Kosovo problem. His subordinates organized public demonstrations (so called "antibureaucratic revolution") in which they removed the elected leadership of Vojvodina (October 6, 1988), Montenegro (January 10, 1989), and finally Kosovo in February and March 1989 when the leader of the Kosovo Albanians (most of the province's population), Azem Vlasi, was arrested and when the special police intervened in the miner strike in Stari trg (causing the death of 32 people in the process). On March 28, 1989, the National Assembly of Serbia under the leadership of Slobodan Milo?evi? amended the Constitution of SR Serbia and decreased the autonomy of the two provinces.

Related Topics:
1989 - Vojvodina - October 6 - Montenegro - January 10 - Kosovo - Azem Vlasi - Stari trg - March 28 - National Assembly of Serbia

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On June 28, Vidovdan, Milo?evi? gave a speech in front of a large crowd on the same Kosovo Field, commemorating the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo. In the speech, Milo?evi? said:

Related Topics:
June 28 - Vidovdan - Battle of Kosovo

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: "we are being again engaged in battles and are facing battles. They are not armed battles, although such things cannot be excluded yet."

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This speech was widely alleged to be the official beginning of a Serbian nationalist campaign, that would be a defining element of the Yugoslav wars a few years later.

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This interpretation, however, is wrong according to Milo?evi?'s defenders, who claim that the speech was a positive one, aimed at unity throughout all peoples in Serbia. Examples of this are:

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: "After all, our entire country should be set up on the basis of such principles. Yugoslavia is a multinational community and it can survive only under the conditions of full equality for all nations that live in it."

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: "Equal and harmonious relations among Yugoslav peoples are a necessary condition for the existence of Yugoslavia and for it to find its way out of the crisis"

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Milo?evi? closed with:

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: "Let the memory of Kosovo heroism live forever! Long live Serbia! Long live Yugoslavia! Long live peace and brotherhood among peoples!"

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