Yesterday, Reuters reported on the ban of the Belgrade pride parade. The decision signals a shameful state of affairs in Serbia. This Balkan country aspires to become a fully-fledged member state of the European Union. However, yesterday’s decision to ban the pride parade demonstrates an utmost disturbing cowardice from the side of Serbian authorities. This should serve as a warning against speeding up the accession of Serbia to the EU.
Any country that is willing to enter the EU is supposed to accept the political conditions posed by the EU to all aspiring candidate states. Among the political conditions, there is an explicit reference to the respect of human rights and protection of minorities. These two principles are among the corner-stones of liberal democracy and they also form a fundament of the common EU values that all the member states are expected to abide by.
Yesterday, Serbia decided to compromise on the issues of freedom of expression and freedom of association by banning the small gay parade in Serbia’s capital. The authorities cited the security threats as the reason for banning the parade:
“The ban was issued in line with the law on public gatherings which prescribes such a measure in cases of probable disruption of public transport, threats to public health or safety of people and property,” Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said on Friday.
[..]
Another government official said that Serbia’s National Security Council, comprised of heads of police, security agencies, the military and President Boris Tadic, ordered police to cancel the event after security assessments indicated “extremely serious security threats.”
“Our intelligence indicated hooligans are poised to attack gay activists, police, media, offices of political parties, foreign businesses, embassies and burn cars,” the official said.
(Reuters)
This is a very cowardly pretext, indeed. Surely, the Serbian government posses enough resources to protect any gay demonstration from violent attacks. It might be costly, but it is viable to protect the free speech and the freedom of association in this newborn democracy.
But it is also a very worrisome signal from Belgrade. One, certainly, can wonder what the long-term consequences of such a decision are. What is going to be the next compromise in order to protect the public order and safety? The ban on trade-union demonstrations?
A more important question, however, is the following – why is the protection of the gay parade not a prioritized issue in Serbia? Does the Serbian government not see the threats to the state of democracy, if such demonstrations are not allowed, because of fearing an extremist backlash?
Let me suggest an explanation: The present Serbian government does not want to risk its re-election prospects by protecting a small, weak and socially excluded minority. Homophobia is an attitude in Eastern Europe, which is so deeply rooted in the social fabric that an open expression of disapproval against gays and lesbians is, to certain extent, and among some segments of the society, even socially accepted. The Serbian government seems to be aware of this popular homophobia and it, probably, is not ready to stand up for the democratic values of protecting all minorities in the society… which is a pity, because Serbia wants to become a member state of the EU.
The EU should contemplate whether Serbia, indeed, is ready to start the accession negotiations. After all, the Union already hosts a large number of countries which seem to have problems with protecting the minorities, and combating the corruption. Certainly, the Baltic States, Poland and other less gay-friendly Eastern European countries might oppose such a move.
But the launching of the accession negotiations is something that any member state can block. Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Sweden and other countries where the LGBT community is seen as an integral part of their social fabric should put an unequivocal pressure on Belgrade.
There might be even some voices within these democratic Western societies opposing a concerted pressure against the Serbian government. They might say that the LGBT rights are a marginal issue (sic!) and that it should not be dealt with on the EU level. Some might even oppose putting pressure on a relatively poor country to ensure a costly protection of a small minority.
Indeed, protection of minorities costs money. Implementing the human rights also costs money. And most certainly, democracy costs money. But then again, that is what we are willing to pay for here in the West, because that is what the West is defined by – democracy, human rights and protection of minorities. Why should there be any double-standards when dealing with the aspiring candidate states?
Reuters, BBC, Aftonbladet, DN, Sydsvenskan, GP
“A more important question, however, is the following – why is the protection of the gay parade not a prioritized issue in Serbia?”
Because the sitaution in Kosovo is much more important since it could easily escalate to an open conflict, which would lead to devastating results for the Serb minority in Kosovo. Securing the parade, which would take at least 5.000 policemen, can not be prioritized due to recent events in nothern Kosovo when KFOR-troops started shooting at unarmed Serb civilians. It is much more important to be prepared to protect those people, if the situation dictates so, than to secure a parade that the vast majority of the Serbian population don’t agree with.
Thank you for deleting my previous comment! Talk about democracy when I can’t state something without you censuring it…freedom of speech, yeah right.
I’ll post the same comment again.
“A more important question, however, is the following – why is the protection of the gay parade not a prioritized issue in Serbia? ”
Because the situation in Kosovo is more important than a parade. Serbian citizens are being violated and shot at in Kosovo, which is a far bigger problem than the organization of a gay parade. Therefore, the 5.000 policemen it would require to secure the parade, could be of much greater use on the administrative line between Serbia and Kosovo in case of an escalation of the situation in northern Kosovo. It is much more important to protect one nations citizens that are in direct danger of losing ther lifes, than to protect a parade that the vast majority in the country don’t agree with and find provoking. That’s why the gay parade can never be prioritized in Serbia.
I’ve copied this comment by the way, so if you delete it again I’ll just simply repost it.
A reply to Marko:
I did not delete your comment. It did not appear at the end of the article yesterday, because I have to approve every comment before it is published on the weblog. Unfortunately, I did not have time to read the comments yesterday, therefore the delay. Now, both of your comments are approved and published.
It is that easy for a small country like Serbia in which the orthodox church is part of the goverment and state to allow the Pride parade.As you wrote the gay comunity in the country is too small and powerless. The parade will happen in a few years, do not have any doubts about that!