Centre for Civic Education (CCE) recalls that ten years ago, as a “gift” marking the tenth anniversary of the restoration of Montenegro’s independence, the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts (CANU) publishedthe first volume of the Dictionary of the Montenegrin Vernacular and Literary Language.
The Dictionary, presented in April 2016, was withdrawn by CANU as early as September of the same year. The reason was the inclusion of offensive and unacceptable entries referring to Bosniaks, Albanians, and members of the Islamic faith, as well as inaccurate statements concerning anti-fascism.
The scale of the scandal was such that, on 30 July 2016, the Parliament of Montenegro adopted a Resolution calling for the withdrawal of the Dictionary and an apology from CANU. The Resolution was supported by 42 MPs, without a single vote against or abstention. It was proposed by then MPs Nik Gjeloshaj and Genci Nimanbegu.Despite this, the then President of the Council for the Preparation of the Dictionary, Tatjana Bečanović, publicly stated that the Dictionary would neither be withdrawn nor would an apology be issued.
The Resolution on the Dictionary of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts called on the Parliament and the Government of Montenegro to provide financial support for the preparation and publication of a revised edition, with the engagement of the “entire scientific potential in Montenegro.” CCE regrets that this has never been done. Ten years later, not only has the first volume not been revised, but work on the Dictionary has not continued either. Today, the CANU website lists only the cover of this edition among its publications, as a reminder of yet another failed project paid for by the citizens of Montenegro. According to the information available to CCE, that first volume, which was quickly withdrawn, cost EUR 47,362.08, making it arguably the most expensive cover of a non-existent publication.
In its response to CCE regarding the revision of the first volume, CANU referred to an earlier decision of its Presidency from December 2016, according to which work on the Dictionary, depending on available budgetary resources, was to be continued by the Lexicographic Centre. Since the Lexicographic Centre is a research unit within CANU, it is clear that CANU should have information on any possible progress, assuming there has been any at all. Although the public is not aware of any formal decision to suspend work on the Dictionary, after 2016 this project no longer appeared among CANU’s activities.
Montenegro was left without this “gift” for the tenth anniversary of independence, and for the twentieth anniversary there are no similar projects even on the horizon.
Particularly troubling is the fact that the disputed entries from the first volume have never been revised, which reflects a serious misunderstanding of the values on which modern Montenegro rests, as well as a lack of responsibility on the part of CANU’s leadership to defend precisely those values through its work.
If CANU has failed over the course of a decade to revise even the first volume of the Dictionary containing nationalist and chauvinistic entries, and if we know that Milan Stojović, a wartime propagandist, is also involved in preparing the Encyclopaedia of Montenegro – a project that will cost citizens nearly one million euros by year’s end – it is entirely justified to question if the Encyclopaedia will suffer the same fate as the Dictionary.
Finally, if CANU avoids dealing with the state of society in Montenegro because it is supposedly focused on projects, then it is legitimate to ask: why do those projects not have clear deadlines, indicators of achievement, and clearly assigned responsibility for their implementation?
Sara Čabarkapa, Active Citizenship Programme Coordinator