Calls reemerge for banning extremist groups

"The groups such as 1389 and Obraz have already responded by saying things along the line "Let them ban us, we'll re-organize.""

-- You know what the most annoying thing about them is? They're almost all a bunch of idiots. Honest to God idiots. And I hope B92 pusblishes that because it's the only way to properly explain the collective mentality of these people. They have little to no working knowledge of the history of the nation they are theoretically defending. Hardly any of them have either BEEN to Kosovo Province, or if given the opportunity WOULD go (at least past Mitrovica). They are the ones primarily causing trouble among the multiethnic communities of Vojvodina because they have no experience in living with other people. I had the (dis)pleasure of running into a few of them when I was in Belgrade and, realizing I needed to keep my foreign mouth shut, was still utterly stunned at how little they knew of Serbian history. For them, Kosovo 1389 is all wrapped up in heavily santitized myths that even the most die-hard nationalist at SANU would find ridiculous. According to them, the Ottoman period was nothing but absolute sharia-imposed law, the Austrians were nothing but forced Catholicism, and Tito was some Neo-Ustasha/Communist agent of both the Vatican and the Jews. Whenever they actually WERE confronted by someone who wasn't going to take their BS, they quickly backed away. They're cowards who travel in packs and intimidate. The minute you tell them to put up or shut up, they leave you alone. These are the people who are always ready to "march on Pristina", but if given the opportunity to go there, they'd run in the opposite direction.

The Serbian state aparatus can easily neutralize these groups, but the risk of looking like one is suppressing Serbian nationalism (whatever that means) is still a fear factor. Ultimately we have to remember these are largely a bunch of angry kids with an incredibly warped sense of reality, both for the rest of the world, and their own nation.

Banning them will only drive them undereground. I feel they need as much media exposure as possible so the rest of Serbia can see how foolish they actually are.

If the government does this I expect it to also go after left wing extremist groups. Such as the Anarcho-syndicalist Initiative whose members have been arrested for the attack on the Greek embassy in august.

What;s the point. I seirously doubt the football hooligans who attacked the fans are members of an organized group.

The groups such as 1389 and Obraz have already responded by saying things along the line "Let them ban us, we'll re-organize."

This does nothing but heighten their profile, giving them more media attention and giving them more supporters.

It will be very hard for the Belgrade authorities to at least suppress the violent activities of these Serb-nationalist groups because they’re more powerful then they appear, having a lot of friends in the courts, police, army and church.

If the government does this I expect it to also go after left wing extremist groups. Such as the Anarcho-syndicalist Initiative whose members have been arrested for the attack on the Greek embassy in august.

What;s the point. I seirously doubt the football hooligans who attacked the fans are members of an organized group.

The groups such as 1389 and Obraz have already responded by saying things along the line "Let them ban us, we'll re-organize."

This does nothing but heighten their profile, giving them more media attention and giving them more supporters.

"The groups such as 1389 and Obraz have already responded by saying things along the line "Let them ban us, we'll re-organize.""

-- You know what the most annoying thing about them is? They're almost all a bunch of idiots. Honest to God idiots. And I hope B92 pusblishes that because it's the only way to properly explain the collective mentality of these people. They have little to no working knowledge of the history of the nation they are theoretically defending. Hardly any of them have either BEEN to Kosovo Province, or if given the opportunity WOULD go (at least past Mitrovica). They are the ones primarily causing trouble among the multiethnic communities of Vojvodina because they have no experience in living with other people. I had the (dis)pleasure of running into a few of them when I was in Belgrade and, realizing I needed to keep my foreign mouth shut, was still utterly stunned at how little they knew of Serbian history. For them, Kosovo 1389 is all wrapped up in heavily santitized myths that even the most die-hard nationalist at SANU would find ridiculous. According to them, the Ottoman period was nothing but absolute sharia-imposed law, the Austrians were nothing but forced Catholicism, and Tito was some Neo-Ustasha/Communist agent of both the Vatican and the Jews. Whenever they actually WERE confronted by someone who wasn't going to take their BS, they quickly backed away. They're cowards who travel in packs and intimidate. The minute you tell them to put up or shut up, they leave you alone. These are the people who are always ready to "march on Pristina", but if given the opportunity to go there, they'd run in the opposite direction.

The Serbian state aparatus can easily neutralize these groups, but the risk of looking like one is suppressing Serbian nationalism (whatever that means) is still a fear factor. Ultimately we have to remember these are largely a bunch of angry kids with an incredibly warped sense of reality, both for the rest of the world, and their own nation.

Banning them will only drive them undereground. I feel they need as much media exposure as possible so the rest of Serbia can see how foolish they actually are.

It will be very hard for the Belgrade authorities to at least suppress the violent activities of these Serb-nationalist groups because they’re more powerful then they appear, having a lot of friends in the courts, police, army and church.