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rfmcdonaldFrom Vesna Peric Zimonjic's Inter Press Service article "Some Get Lazier, Others Work Harder":
The various ethnic cleansings associated with the Yugoslav wars of succession created considerably more homogeneous nation-states out of the territory of the former Yugoslavia--Croatia and Kosova/o are now more homogeneously Croat and Albanian respectively in population than they were in 1989, the majority of Serbs in Vojvodina province has been strengthened, and the three major ethnic groups of Bosnia-Herzegovina now live geographically separated existences. More, some marginal agrarians regions populated by ethnic minorities subjected to campaigns of ethnic cleansing, most notably Croatia's Krajina region, are likely to have been permanently depopulated. Still, Zimonjic points out, as economies revive and war-imposed barriers to migration fall, and the various logics behind the idea of a reasonably cooperative western Balkan reason reassert themselves, a certain amount of multiculturalism to the region is going to be restored.
Thousands of young Serbs from Bosnia or the second biggest Serbian town Novi Sad spend their summers working as waiters in Montenegro, where the Adriatic coast is witnessing an unprecedented tourist boom.
"I would not agree that we Serbs are lazy," 22-year-old student Dragan Stamenkovic told IPS. He is spending his fourth summer in a row in the popular Montenegrin resort of Budva. "It's just the matter of weighing opportunities –- where's better to earn something. Once I graduate I won't be sitting and waiting for a job to land in my lap. I've learnt to look for it."
Much the same goes for young Croats and Muslims from Bosnia, who head for the Croatian or Slovenian Adriatic coast, where they can earn up to a thousand dollars a month. Several months at the coast provide them easily with funds needed for the next school year.
Another trend is a renewed migration of workforce, that was brutally curbed by the wars of disintegration in the 1990s.
Prior to the wars, it was normal for Bosniak miners to seek jobs in Slovenia, for Serbian surgeons to go to Bosnia, or for ethnic Albanians to go all over former Yugoslavia in search of good salaries. After the wars, free movement between former republics was cut completely. Changes began after the region returned to normalcy.
After a break of more than 15 years, advertisements now appear in the Serbian press for butchers, hairdressers, bakers and cooks to move to Slovenia, the only former Yugoslav republic that is now a member of the European Union (EU). The tiny nation of two million offers salaries three times higher than in Serbia.
Slovenia also needs doctors and qualified nurses, and many Serbs are ready to pack their bags and leave. An ophthalmologist or dentist can get a starting salary of 2,600 dollars a month in Slovenia, compared to 700 dollars in Serbia.
"This is a quality leap forward, a return to normalcy," Belgrade physician Jovan Radjenovic told IPS. He and his paediatrician wife are leaving for Ljubljana in Slovenia in September.
"Twenty years ago it was normal to be mobile, to move and look for a better salary. Then the wars ruined everything. Now it's time to start all over again, in the new-old sense."
The various ethnic cleansings associated with the Yugoslav wars of succession created considerably more homogeneous nation-states out of the territory of the former Yugoslavia--Croatia and Kosova/o are now more homogeneously Croat and Albanian respectively in population than they were in 1989, the majority of Serbs in Vojvodina province has been strengthened, and the three major ethnic groups of Bosnia-Herzegovina now live geographically separated existences. More, some marginal agrarians regions populated by ethnic minorities subjected to campaigns of ethnic cleansing, most notably Croatia's Krajina region, are likely to have been permanently depopulated. Still, Zimonjic points out, as economies revive and war-imposed barriers to migration fall, and the various logics behind the idea of a reasonably cooperative western Balkan reason reassert themselves, a certain amount of multiculturalism to the region is going to be restored.
