Speech by Prvoslav Vujcic on the plateau in front of the Toronto City Hall on March 22, 2008.
NEXT YEAR IN KOSOVO
Only for one reason have we gathered here today. That largest and most honourable of reasons. To show our brothers in the fatherland that we are not alone. We're not alone here and they over there are not alone. We are with them together today. To show our brothers and sisters in the fatherland that we, Canadian Serbs, support them in the legal battle to preserve the integrity and sovereignty of our joint fatherland Serbia.
Serbs, don't fall prey to the demagoguery of those who are only Serbs by birth and not with their heart and soul. Don't fall prey when they tell you that with demonstrations, petitions, protest letters, prayers, charity dinners and other manifestations of good will that nothing can be done. The curse from selling religion for dinner can go on that small piece of soul which for a long time isn't owned by those cursed ones who are trying to talk us out of this. Let us turn to our own origin and to our roots. We, Serbs, should not have let Kosovo divide us and be a seed of our most cancerous schism. Kosovo must unite us. To smart people, holy lands serve as a unifying factor and not for divisions.
We have the example of the Jewish people. For centuries, they wanted their state. And then, one day, after long centuries when they offered them a state, they were asked, "Why here, why in Jersualem?" "We'll give your more fertile land with more hectares – twice as much!" You know what the Jewish people said? They said, "No! We'll do it here beside the walls, beside our holy temple, beside the Wailing Wall – that's where our land is."
And what are Serbian politicians doing in these tough moments – the toughest in Serbian history? They're closing down the governing cabinet. Our politicians in the fatherland are missing the wisdom of statesmen and national consciousness. Predators and thieves are looking out for their own interests. There are pressures from all sides. Our national and spiritual being has been eaten from the inside and out. Individuals in Belgrade – in my Belgrade – that are at the top of the pyramidal government have trampled on their oath to the Serbian people and to the Serbian state. Every one of them looks at their party's and their personal interests. They even look at their party's interests out of their own personal interests. Serbian democracy is not only not mature but it has prostituted itself so much that one can almost not tell if there is someone who has enough strength, wisdom and national awareness to lead us as united, repented and reconciled on the path of rescue from spiritual and biological extinction. We have a paradox here in Canada. They withdrew our ambassador Mr. Batakovic. One of the rare smart Serbian intellectuals – a patriot who was here among us. If there ever was someone like that in the embassy then it was him. They tell us, brothers, that it's for our own good. You are, justifiably, upset. I understand why because I too am a part of you. But those consequences of his being withdrawn will be felt. Their demagoguery over there cannot tell us what to do here. For years – decades – we Serbs across the pond and across the ocean are a mirror of what is going on in the fatherland. The Serbian Prime Minister said, "I give my mandate to the people!" Well if it's like that: we are the people! We here are the Serbian people. May God let them look up to us. Enough of us looking up to those tycoons, thieves, criminals there. Look at Belgrade. Who is protesting in Belgrade!? Who is protesting today in Belgrade? No one! But we have gathered here.
Napoleon Bonaparte was passing by a synagogue during the Tisha B'Av fast. Hearing the cries and wailing echoing from inside the synagogue, he paused and immediately sent his emissary to see what is happening and asked, "Why are the Jewish people crying in this synagogue?"
The emissary informed him, "My Lord, the Jews are crying because their temple is destroyed."
Napoleon became enraged, turned towards his generals and furiously shouted, "Why was I not informed about this!? Which temple of theirs is destroyed!? When did this happen?"
The emissary leaned over to the enraged Napoleon, "My Lord, on this day, over 1700 years ago in Jerusalem, the Romans destroyed their temple." Napoleon went silent for a bit, thought it over and said, "A people who mourns their destroyed temple for so long and who exists for all those long centuries will surely build it again." For centuries, the Jews greeted each other with on their holiday Hanukkah, the holiday of light, ceremoniously and piously: Next year in Jerusalem or see you in the land where milk and honey flows and they are in their own land. Does milk and honey flow for them there? No. Blood flows. Streams of blood and rivers of tears flow over there by the Wailing Wall but they are there on theirs. They don't give up. They defend every Israeli metre from within and from out from their fatherland's ground and their homeland's distance wherever their home is, in whichever country they are in and whichever part of the world they are in whether the people they live with like them or not.
May this be a lesson to us Serbs. May we, Serbs, also greet each other on our Slavas, prayerfully, devoutly, ceremoniously proudly with the only Serbian greeting worthy of this and that world and with Saint Sava's timeless sturdiness: Next year in Kosovo! Until our sanctity is not returned to us! And it will return! Because Kosovo and Metohija, the Serbian holy land, we Serbs will never forget! Not out of spite but because we must not forget our spiritual being so as not to lose our soul's health. We, simply, must remember in order to exist. We do not have a second option.
May all Serbian over-rulings end today in the honourable name of Kosovo and Metohija. All of our ballot boxes have closed a long time ago on Kosovo Field and they await us to come to them. Not to put a ballot, for who knows which time, in them. But to take the Honourable Cross from them and to, from the ashes, raise our burnt churches and monasteries.
Let us save our souls and our roots, brother and sister Serbs, with Saint Sava's greeting and Orthodox memory: Serbia is Kosovo and Metohija! Kosovo and Metohija is Serbia!
Next year in Kosovo! Whenever that may be! Whatever the price may be! However many generations may not see it but who will continue to believe in it! We will see each other next year in a Serbian Kosovo and Metohija, brothers and sisters. Because Kosovo and Metohija is a Serbian sanctity and because Kosovo and Metohija is all of us. So help us God. Next year in Kosovo.
Kosovo and Metohija is Serbia! Serbia is Kosovo and Metohija! Faith, love and hope never die!
Kosovo is Serbia! Kosovo is Serbia! Kosovo is Serbia!
Serbs, don't fall prey to the demagoguery of those who are only Serbs by birth and not with their heart and soul. Don't fall prey when they tell you that with demonstrations, petitions, protest letters, prayers, charity dinners and other manifestations of good will that nothing can be done. The curse from selling religion for dinner can go on that small piece of soul which for a long time isn't owned by those cursed ones who are trying to talk us out of this. Let us turn to our own origin and to our roots. We, Serbs, should not have let Kosovo divide us and be a seed of our most cancerous schism. Kosovo must unite us. To smart people, holy lands serve as a unifying factor and not for divisions.
We have the example of the Jewish people. For centuries, they wanted their state. And then, one day, after long centuries when they offered them a state, they were asked, "Why here, why in Jersualem?" "We'll give your more fertile land with more hectares – twice as much!" You know what the Jewish people said? They said, "No! We'll do it here beside the walls, beside our holy temple, beside the Wailing Wall – that's where our land is."
And what are Serbian politicians doing in these tough moments – the toughest in Serbian history? They're closing down the governing cabinet. Our politicians in the fatherland are missing the wisdom of statesmen and national consciousness. Predators and thieves are looking out for their own interests. There are pressures from all sides. Our national and spiritual being has been eaten from the inside and out. Individuals in Belgrade – in my Belgrade – that are at the top of the pyramidal government have trampled on their oath to the Serbian people and to the Serbian state. Every one of them looks at their party's and their personal interests. They even look at their party's interests out of their own personal interests. Serbian democracy is not only not mature but it has prostituted itself so much that one can almost not tell if there is someone who has enough strength, wisdom and national awareness to lead us as united, repented and reconciled on the path of rescue from spiritual and biological extinction. We have a paradox here in Canada. They withdrew our ambassador Mr. Batakovic. One of the rare smart Serbian intellectuals – a patriot who was here among us. If there ever was someone like that in the embassy then it was him. They tell us, brothers, that it's for our own good. You are, justifiably, upset. I understand why because I too am a part of you. But those consequences of his being withdrawn will be felt. Their demagoguery over there cannot tell us what to do here. For years – decades – we Serbs across the pond and across the ocean are a mirror of what is going on in the fatherland. The Serbian Prime Minister said, "I give my mandate to the people!" Well if it's like that: we are the people! We here are the Serbian people. May God let them look up to us. Enough of us looking up to those tycoons, thieves, criminals there. Look at Belgrade. Who is protesting in Belgrade!? Who is protesting today in Belgrade? No one! But we have gathered here.
Napoleon Bonaparte was passing by a synagogue during the Tisha B'Av fast. Hearing the cries and wailing echoing from inside the synagogue, he paused and immediately sent his emissary to see what is happening and asked, "Why are the Jewish people crying in this synagogue?"
The emissary informed him, "My Lord, the Jews are crying because their temple is destroyed."
Napoleon became enraged, turned towards his generals and furiously shouted, "Why was I not informed about this!? Which temple of theirs is destroyed!? When did this happen?"
The emissary leaned over to the enraged Napoleon, "My Lord, on this day, over 1700 years ago in Jerusalem, the Romans destroyed their temple." Napoleon went silent for a bit, thought it over and said, "A people who mourns their destroyed temple for so long and who exists for all those long centuries will surely build it again." For centuries, the Jews greeted each other with on their holiday Hanukkah, the holiday of light, ceremoniously and piously: Next year in Jerusalem or see you in the land where milk and honey flows and they are in their own land. Does milk and honey flow for them there? No. Blood flows. Streams of blood and rivers of tears flow over there by the Wailing Wall but they are there on theirs. They don't give up. They defend every Israeli metre from within and from out from their fatherland's ground and their homeland's distance wherever their home is, in whichever country they are in and whichever part of the world they are in whether the people they live with like them or not.
May this be a lesson to us Serbs. May we, Serbs, also greet each other on our Slavas, prayerfully, devoutly, ceremoniously proudly with the only Serbian greeting worthy of this and that world and with Saint Sava's timeless sturdiness: Next year in Kosovo! Until our sanctity is not returned to us! And it will return! Because Kosovo and Metohija, the Serbian holy land, we Serbs will never forget! Not out of spite but because we must not forget our spiritual being so as not to lose our soul's health. We, simply, must remember in order to exist. We do not have a second option.
May all Serbian over-rulings end today in the honourable name of Kosovo and Metohija. All of our ballot boxes have closed a long time ago on Kosovo Field and they await us to come to them. Not to put a ballot, for who knows which time, in them. But to take the Honourable Cross from them and to, from the ashes, raise our burnt churches and monasteries.
Let us save our souls and our roots, brother and sister Serbs, with Saint Sava's greeting and Orthodox memory: Serbia is Kosovo and Metohija! Kosovo and Metohija is Serbia!
Next year in Kosovo! Whenever that may be! Whatever the price may be! However many generations may not see it but who will continue to believe in it! We will see each other next year in a Serbian Kosovo and Metohija, brothers and sisters. Because Kosovo and Metohija is a Serbian sanctity and because Kosovo and Metohija is all of us. So help us God. Next year in Kosovo.
Kosovo and Metohija is Serbia! Serbia is Kosovo and Metohija! Faith, love and hope never die!
Kosovo is Serbia! Kosovo is Serbia! Kosovo is Serbia!
__________________________
Urban Book Circle® (UBC)
Urban Book Circle® (UBC)
|
__________________________
Speech: Prvoslav Vujcic
All rights reserved 2008. Copyright © Prvoslav Vujcic
C O N T A C T
Published by Urban Book Circle on October 27, 2013
Urban Book Circle® (UBC)
Speech: Prvoslav Vujcic
All rights reserved 2008. Copyright © Prvoslav Vujcic
C O N T A C T
Published by Urban Book Circle on October 27, 2013
Urban Book Circle® (UBC)
