"Equal and united people can above all become a part of the civilization toward which mankind is moving. If we cannot be at the head of the column leading to such a civilization, there is certainly no need for us to be at is tail"
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The line dresses itself in the respectable wardrobe of progress - "civilization", "mankind", a march toward the future - but its real work is blunt power politics. Milosevic frames history as a single file column, a moral conveyor belt where nations either lead or are led. That metaphor is doing the coercive lifting: it turns a messy plural society into a unit that must be "equal and united", then implies that anyone questioning the unity is condemning the group to humiliation at the "tail". Unity becomes not a civic choice but a survival reflex.
The phrase "above all" is a tell. It elevates belonging to "civilization" as the supreme value, quietly subordinating liberal rights, pluralism, and dissent. The sentence offers what sounds like inclusion, but the inclusion is conditional: you can join the future only as a disciplined collective. In the late Yugoslav context, that kind of language was a political accelerant. It recasts fears about status loss, economic decline, and demographic change into a single demand for national consolidation, the classic move of leaders who want a mandate for extraordinary measures.
The kicker is the false modesty: "If we cannot be at the head... no need... at its tail". It poses as anti-submission, but it licenses escalation. If leading is the only acceptable position, then compromise looks like degradation and restraint looks like betrayal. The rhetoric doesn’t just predict conflict; it makes conflict feel like self-respect.
The phrase "above all" is a tell. It elevates belonging to "civilization" as the supreme value, quietly subordinating liberal rights, pluralism, and dissent. The sentence offers what sounds like inclusion, but the inclusion is conditional: you can join the future only as a disciplined collective. In the late Yugoslav context, that kind of language was a political accelerant. It recasts fears about status loss, economic decline, and demographic change into a single demand for national consolidation, the classic move of leaders who want a mandate for extraordinary measures.
The kicker is the false modesty: "If we cannot be at the head... no need... at its tail". It poses as anti-submission, but it licenses escalation. If leading is the only acceptable position, then compromise looks like degradation and restraint looks like betrayal. The rhetoric doesn’t just predict conflict; it makes conflict feel like self-respect.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
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