We, the Serbs and others, in order to…

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Serbia is about to get a new constitution. This entire weekend, we will be able to vote in an referendum on whether to approve something that entire parliament passed.

Personally, I am not sure whether to boycott or to vote no.

I would boycott it because there was no public input in writing of this constitution, to call media coverage of opinions biased would be an understatement of the year, and the document is full of “Kosovo is Serbia” statements (e.g. preamble, or president’s oath).

On the other hand, I would vote no because minority rights are not adequately protected and because democracy is not institutionalized. The latter is primary in my opinion, really: we will still not vote for people, but for lists of people for the parliament and institutions are not adequately defined and separated. I simply don’t see how my vote will ever count nor how I will get any sort of representation in this country. There is no individual person representing me, nor my vote.

Finally, there is a good thing or two about this document. It will allow for positive discrimination and protects my right not to serve army under arms (even in war, if I read this correctly), which is probably the first step to abolishing conscription. It’s nowhere as good as pledging not to have army any more, of course.
But overall, lack of governmental representation, transparency and responsibility, as well as the fact that it all smells of project “Great Serbia” are all enough for me to be against proposed constitution.

P.S. I deliberately did not quote any parts of the document, because it is simply badly written in its concept, full of dubious compromises (political ones, regarding current affairs) and not worthy detailed discussion. Use Google to find the full text if you haven’t read it yet.

P.P.S. Whether it passes or not, I don’t care, because one thing we learned in last 15 years is that nobody gives a flying fuck about law in this country, especially the ones which don’t carry any punishment (like the Constitution).