In Politova Street, just above Juzno Bulevar, at number 12, there is Club 451, where members of the Serbian Zentropa gather. On Saturday, August 6, the promotion of the sixth edition of the magazine "Zentromag" was held there. The blinds are down, on the walls are symbols of centropia, "open book on fire" and the Norse rune "Tyre", and around them a circle with the numbers 451 symbolizing the temperature measured in Fahrenheit at which the paper burns.
Explaining that they call themselves the "fortress of freedom", it can be concluded that the book destroyed in the flames is a symbol of censorship against "true" Serbian nationalists, as they have emphasized several times. The Tire symbol was widely used in Nazi Germany, and later among neo-Nazis - it symbolizes a warrior.
Visitors could see signs from the Russian letter "Z" to the image of Dimitrije Ljotić and various variants of the Celtic cross to swastikas. The price of the magazine is 400 dinars.
Zentropa member Marko Gajinović gave a long introductory speech. A member of one of the foreign Zentrops was also present - most likely the one from France.
This issue is dedicated to "Serbian Action", and one of its hierarchically high-ranking members, Bojan Mandić, gave a short speech. They describe themselves as a "patriotic, nationalist, Svetosava" movement, as well as inheritors of the ideas of "Zbor", the interwar fascist movement of Dimitrije Ljotić.
In the central part of the magazine, the coat of arms of "Serbian Action" is painted, in the middle is the old sign of Christianity, and around it a tangle of classes and gears, which according to them symbolizes a nationalist-social synthesis.
When Mandić ran out of adequate words, Action's "ideologist" Marko Dimitrijević joined the conversation and explained to the listeners the domains of their ideological struggle.
Two of those present wore neo-Nazi symbols, and one of them asked the question in that spirit: does "Serbian Action" accept "patriots" in its ranks. The answer was no, and the person in question greeted him with mild approval.
Among the leaders of the panel sat a member of Carostavnik, who conspicuously stared at those who tried to see in the corner of the room how far the revision of history goes and the incitement of hatred towards everything that is different from the ideas put forth Dimitrija Ljotić.
The coat of arms of the Emperor, although it was not highlighted this time, consists of a sphere with a cross - a pattern, a shield and a sword, which, as they say, symbolize the doctrine of imperial, militant, Christian monarchism.
Transformation
How does Serbian nationalism develop into fascism? The existence of extreme nationalism is one of the conditions for fascism, but not sufficient. That is, in other words, fascism is one of the ways of further articulation of nationalism - in this particular case, by connecting the fundamental ideas of the Serbian nation to the fascist movements of the 1930s.
Dubravka Stojanović, professor of history at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade and researcher of the extreme right, explains that Dimitrije Ljotić's books in which he presented his views on "anti-individualism, anti-Europeanism, anti-democracy, and anti-Semitism" have become a kind of "bible" for such organizations. He adds that with him it is "rounded, very simplified and basic", which, as he says, suits them.
This is precisely the reason why a person like Ljotić, who was always on the margins of history, is so important for the extreme right in the present. General Milan Nedic, quisling and leader of the puppet government in occupied Belgrade, is also their object of worship, but he does not provide them with "concrete" ideological solutions, as the leader of the Choir, for the simple reason that he did not write much, nor did he have a concrete ideology that he followed.
And while Ljotić is the political idol of Serbian modern fascists, he is a spiritual and religious role model Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović – now canonized as a saint. And Velimirović got his three minutes on the stand. According to him, the three greatest values of the Serbian people are god, king and home - which "Emperor" assumed.
Miloš Perović, professor of sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, agrees that "Serbian nationalism is transformed into fascism under the influence of the global spread of this ideology between the two world wars", i.e. that today's fascists look for their foundation precisely in the mentioned events.
What does Ljotić offer?
"Serbian Action", Zentropa, Carostavnik, and other derivatives that are currently more or less inactive, recognize in Ljotić a messianic role, with which they identify and which they have adapted to their times. Extreme religiosity, collectivity that devours all individuality, Europeanism, which for them depicts the disappearance of the nation-state and the LGBT population, as well as the ubiquitous hatred of Judaism, plus, of course, the inescapable thought of a greater Serbia - these are the main points of their present-day ideologies.
As one of the "moderators" concluded, "Serbian assembly" instead of democracy, and "a revolution of the spirit that should lead to a revolution of the nation".
The text was created as part of the "Radical-right extremism" project of the Balkan Research Reporters Network (BIRN).
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