Vreli dalmatinski srpanj 1989.
Hot Dalmatian July 1989

Summary/Abstract: The paper analyzes the events in July 1989 in Dalmatia, which had a great impact on Serbo-Croatian relations (and consequently on the whole of Yugoslavia). The paper will show how the following can be clearly seen in just one month: the directions of development of the Yugoslav crisis, the chain reaction caused by the explosion of Serbian nationalism in the late 1980s, the collapse of the so-called Croatian silence and changes in the editorial policy of an important regional newspaper – Slobodna Dalmacija. That month, after the continuation of the Gazimestan rally in Dalmatian Kosovo, Dalmatia will become the scene of dozens of incidents on a national basis that will be used by Serb and Croatian nationalists to construct the spiral of hatred and win or consolidate the power in both republics. The protagonists of the compromised policy, sometimes also called the Croatian silence were quickly marginalised and then removed from the political scene, and a special session of the LCY Central Committee dedicated to national relations, held at the end of the same month, symbolically marked the end of the illusion that the federal party has enough power, ability and even willingness to stand in the way of flared nationalism. The scene for the violent 1990s was then fully set.

• Details
• Contents