Enclosed please find the "Letter of Protest Addressed to Western
Democracies by Montenegrin Intellectuals" and the list of signatories.

A high-ranking European envoy came to Montenegro to tell her people that Europe cannot put up with little states, and that Montenegro and Serbia should be one.  It is the oneness defined by Kostunica's clerical-nationalistic concept of all-Serbianhood. Despite the fact that Montenegro, at the risk of being destroyed like some parts of the former Yugoslavia, became an ally of civilized Europe against the Belgrade dictator, the European leaders says they will join hands with those in Montenegro who were, and still are, loyal to Milosevic. With those who supported the anti-European sentiment, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and who rejoiced in the destruction of the WTC in New York on September 11. This is why the European leaders will have a friendly shake with hands that committed unimaginable crimes over children, women and the old ones because their religion was different.  They will support those who used to be paid by Milosevic, and now are financed by Kostunica, in order to keep Montenegro chained in the ideas of previous centuries.  Meanwhile, Belgrade will endeavor with its lucrative goals to get closer to Europe, and yet preserve the imperial project of Great Serbia. 

The leaders of Western democracies are not questioning how come that Belgrade is not willing to accept the Montenegrin proposal by which Montenegro and Serbia  would form an alliance and the closest possible cooperation of two independent states on the principles of equality and common interests. Is it not simpler to ask for Montenegro's agreement to be merged with Serbia, so that Montenegrins will become a national minority in the Serbian medieval state?  What they say is that Karadzic's Republic of Srpska - created on  genocide and war crimes - has the right to exist.  On the contrary, Montenegro - nourished on a thousand-year history devoted to the ideal of freedom and equality - gets deprived of her right to be.

What a long-term consistency at the summit of civilized Europe! Is it not that their today's position is a replica of what we experienced some eight decades ago? Namely, Montenegro entered World War I as one  of the allied winners, but at the end of the war her allies - France, in the first place - made some back-stage deals with Serbia. In Paris, France, the Montenegrin exiled king was kept under the house confinement, while the Montenegrin chair at the Peace Conference table was vacant. The European summit gave legitimacy to the brutal annaxation of the Kingdom of Montenegro by the Kingdom of Serbia. Thus Europe became an accomplice to the crime the Serbian regime committed against the people who preserved their freedom for centuries, and to the annulment of their internationally recognized state.  The American author Whitney Warren published -- in vain -- his study "Montenegro: the Crime of the Peace Conference" (New York, 1922). Europe assisted the Serbian ruler in abolishing the Montenegrin daily newspaper after 50 years of publication; in shutting down the National Theater after 40 years of existence in Cetinje; in absorbing the Montenegrin autocephalous church into the Serbian one; in closing schools of higher education to force talented Montenegrins to leave their country during the following half a centure. Thousands of Montenegrins who resisted violence were murdered and tortured, and thousands of homes were burnt down – while the French, Italian and English "peace-keeping" forces were in place.

                                                                         2.

We, the undersigned Montenegrin intellectuals, hereby request that the EU and the USA give back to Montenegro what she was deprived of by their will: the right of existance and selfdetermination that is guaranted by the Charter of the United Nations, and by both international covenants on human rights. As well as to respect  her historical rights that were confirmed by Badinter's Commission and Lord Carington's Peace Conference in 1991. Today, after Belgrade has been systematically building its network for colonial rule as well as the colonial state of mind among the citizens of Montenegro for almost one hundred years, and after yet another "Anschlus" of 1989, it is unjust and illegitimate to ask for legal conditions concerning  a referendum that would differ from those applied in other states of Europe and America.

Should the majority of Montenegrin citizens vote in favor of independence as a way to build up freedom and democracy, and to keep their multiethnic and multireligious harmony (rarely seen in the Balkans), then it is up to the Western democracies - in compliance with their own norms and standards - to respect Montenegro's choice to belong to the community of free nations and states.  

On behalf of the Signatories,
(100 independent intelectuals)

Sincerely yours,
 

Miodrag Perovic,
Professor , Department of Mathematics
University of Montenegro
 
 

Encl: List of signatories 
 

LIST OF SIGNATORIES

Prof. dr Miodrag Perovic, Member of DANU (Doclean Academy of Art and Sciences) 
Prof. dr. Ilija Vujosevic
Prof. dr. Svetozar Jovicevic
Prof. dr Milan Popovic, Member of DANU, Director of Univ. Center Internat.  Studies
Vojo Stanic, Member of DANU and CANU (Montenegrin Academy of Art and Sciences) 
Mirko Kovac, Writer
Jevrem Brkovic, Writer, President of DANU
Radmila Vojvodic, Member of DANU
Prof. dr Ljubisa Stankovic, Member of CANU
Prof. dr Vukic Pulevic, Member of DANU 
Prof. dr Branko Pavicevc, Member of DANU and CANU
Prof. dr Branko Radojicic, Member of DANU 
Prof. dr Rajko Vujicic, Member of DANU 
Prof. dr. Predrag Obradovic, President of the University of Montenegro
Prof. dr Mihailo Kulis, Member of DANU 
Prof. dr Nebojsa Vucinic, Member of DANU, Director of Univ. Center for Human rights
Prof. dr Serbo Rastoder, Member of DANU 
Prof. dr Perko Vukotic
Prof. dr Slobodan Backovic, Member of DANU 
Prof. dr Dusan Petranovic
Prof. dr Vladimir Komnenic
Prof. dr Branko Radulovic
Prof. dr Momcilo Martinovic
Prof. dr Sr|an Stankovic                         
Prof. dr Janko Jankovic    
Prof. dr Sreten Skuletic
Prof. dr Mladen Ulicevic
Prof. dr Milan Martinovic
Prof. dr Milenko Perovic
Prof. dr Vesna Kilibarda, Provost of University of Montenegro
Prof. dr Vuk Minic
Prof. dr  Radoje Pajovic, Member of DANU
Prof. dr Bozidar Sekularac, Member of DANU 
Prof. dr Milorad Buric
Prof. dr Vojislav Nikcevic, Member of DANU 
Prof. dr Jozo Pralas
Prof. dr Bozidar Nikolic, Member of DANU 
Prof. dr Sonja Bjeletic
Prof. dr Miljan Pjescic, Member of DANU 
Prof. dr Petar Zivkovic
Prof. dr Branisalv Radonjic
Prof. dr Mitar Misovic
Prof. dr Labud Vukcevic
Prof. dr Grujica Radunovic
Prof. dr Radenko Pejovic
Prof. dr Stevan Popovic
Prof. dr Novak Kilibarda, Writer
Prof. Rajko Todorovic Todor, Member of DANU
Prof. dr. Radomir Vukasojevic
Prof. dr Radovan Radonjic, Member of DANU
Prof. dr Branislav Kovacevic, Member of DANU
Prof. dr Vujica Lazovic
Branko Banjevic, President of Matica Crnogorska 
Marko Spadijer, Secretary of  Matica Crnogorska 
Anka Buric, Painter
Prof. Branislav Sekulic, Painter
Prof. Dragan Karadzic, Painter
Prof. Natasa Djurovic, Painter
Balsa Brkovic, Writer
Cedo Vulevic, Writer, Member of DANU
Boris Kraljevic, Pianist 
Prof. Manja RAdulovic – Vulic, Musicologist
Prof. Aleksandar Cilikov, Painter
Prof. Pavle Pejovic, Sculptor
Prof. Mile Grozdanic, Sculptor 
Prof. Jakov Djuricic, Painter
Prof. dr Antun Sbutega
Doc. dr Radomir Lakovic
Doc. dr Niksa Tadic
Doc. dr Ratimir Saveljic
Doc. dr Andrija Lompar
Doc. dr Rade Ratkovic
Dr Natalija Perovic, Biologist 
Dr Vasilije Jovovic
Prof. dr Pavle Jovicevic
Dr Radoslav Rotkovic, Member of DANU
Sreten Perovic, President of Montenegrin PEN 
Milorad Popovic, President of Association of Montenegrin Writers
Miodrag Vlahovic, Director, the Center for Regional and Security Studies
Nebojsa Medojevic, Director, the Center for Transition
Mladen Lompar, Poet
Sreten Asanovic, Writer, Member of DANU
Snezana Nikcevic, Editor, TV Montenegro
Sreten Vujovic, Writer
Novica Samardzic, Editor
Bosko Odalovic, Painter
Stevo Vucinic
Cedomir Draskovic, Director of the National Library
Nevenka Bajkovic, Editor
Nikola Popovic, Film Director            
Malisa Marovic, Publicist
Pe|a Babovic, Editor
Rajko Cerovic, Publicist
Gojko Kastratovic, Director of Montenegrin Film Library
Miodrag Vukmanovic, Journalist, Editor of Monitor the Weekly Newsmagazine
Janko Vujisic, Poet                    
Dr Branislav Pesic                     
Andrej Nikolaidis, Writer          
Prof. dr Slobodan Blagojevic
Prof. dr Veselin Simovic 

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