Communication of different ones is a privilege, while communication of different but equal ones is the best possibility for recognizing mental megalopolises and always exciting discovery of new things – in ourselves and in others.
Every culture exists, first of all, as an intercultural, because by its very nature it unites, not separates, people and nations. Intercultural communication is able, through dialogue, tolerance and exchange, to open a qualitatively new space in which every ethnic, religious, linguistic or any other group and individual will retain their individuality and, in equal interaction, exchange with each other and with other cultures and cultural traditions, and all other collective goods, and jointly participate in creation of new values.
Owing to the millennial duration, internal tolerance and connection, at the southern end of Montenegro, in Bar and Ulcinj, we have enjoyed the fruits of all cultures, civilizations and religions that came to our area, accepting the useful and beautiful from each. At the same time, different groups complemented each other by covering their shortcomings with their virtues. The general cooperation developed in that tolerant environment resulted in the permeation of cultures, their merging and expansion, or more precisely, impregnating connections.
The formula of cohabitation
Getting to know each other, treating the other and the different in the most beautiful way, ruling in peace and modesty, is a human obligation, just as it is the most sacred duty to respect everyone’s dignity, life and property, and to do good.
Therefore, only those who are inspired by these principles and are guided in their daily life, who are rooted in their own culture, have no fear of diversity and take a positive attitude towards cultural and any other exchange. In such an atmosphere – of mutual respect and care, mutual responsibility and mutual cooperation, different communities and cultures can live together, permeating and enriching each other.
The cultural heritage that nestles in towns is more permanent than a political rule: those who lose the spirit of their towns cannot survive in the long term, even if they continue to rule politically; those who breathe the spirit into towns will be permanently present in that space, even if they lose political power.
Research shows that in each cultural type there are less than a fifth of the original (independent) elements of the mother culture, and that all the rest, through acculturation, came from other cultures. That is why many common cultural elements can be identified in the cultures of these peoples, which ensure mutual cultural communication and tolerance of cultural diversity for millennia.
The national, religious and linguistic communities in this particular area nurtured their own value systems, but have also influenced each other. If that influence would not be mutual, we cannot speak of interculturality but of multiculturalism, of the parallel existence of several cultures. Multiculturalism, therefore, emphasizes differences, and interculturalism puts in the foreground the system of connections between people of different cultural traditions and/or value systems.
An experience of diversity and symbiosis
The area of the towns of Ulcinj and Bar is a kind of microcosm with a millennial experience of social, ethnic, religious and linguistic differences.
It is still a pluralistic community in which peoples (Montenegrin, Albanians, Serbs, Bosniaks, Muslims, Roma, and Croats) coexist, many languages are spoken and all monotheistic religions are represented.
To live in area like this means to feel the movement that is in contact with history. And it is possible to maintain and develop it only owing to the great mobility, vitality, dynamism and openness of tradition as such.
Although bordering societies are more prone to division and conflict, it has been shown here that even when wars were raging around, this is a region of interaction and exchange. Intercultural traditions, daily contacts, brotherhoods, godparents, friendships and acquaintances were stronger than the forces of hatred and bloodshed. Even when it was not liked by various civil authorities or manipulators of religious and popular feelings.
Of course, throughout history there was religious and ethnic rivalry, assimilation, the struggle for influence and human souls. But even those who changed their identities did not completely abandon and forget the legacy of their previous identities. If we have changed our religion, we have not changed our blood. God is one, we just pray to him in different ways, said the good people of the Mrkojević’s.
And identity is, above all, a social bond between an individual and a collective, that is, a community. In that community are our brothers, sisters, neighbours, relatives, friends, the neighbouring village. That is why the identity here was usually multi-layered and that is why people were never religious fanatics.
And as such, they were much more tied to land and space than to nation or religion. Historically, man and women of Ulcinj and Bar were more proud of their urban identity than their ethnic identity, which is why they have passionately defended their communal rights throughout history.
The ethics of co-responsibility and the ethics of coexistence of different cultures and religions, along with collective memory, were and are the vital force of these communities and towns. It means accepting all of our identities without considering them mutually exclusive. And always bearing in mind that democracy and freedom (and freedom, as De Tocqueville noted, is the natural state of small societies) presupposes tolerance.
On these foundations, towns have survived, grown, and developed for centuries. Regardless of who they are and where they came from, what religion, race, or skin colour, what social status, their inhabitants were.
So everyone is given their due. The other and the different are not ques tioned, they do not cancel the differences, because they are blessings.
Movable balance system
In this beautiful garden, there is enough space for every rose (religion, nation, language, culture, civilization). They have their contents, smells, and outlines for centuries, and they bear beautiful fruits. That plurality, along with openness to the new and more advanced, is the basis of the millennial duration of these towns. The spirit and practice of interculturalism are the foundations of the existence of Bar and Ulcinj. Because, only in the meeting with other people and different worldviews can a person know himself in the full sense and realize oneself existentially. That was, is and will be the imperative of the spirit of this beautiful space.
And it becomes a challenge of the world in which we live. This world of ours, this new age, is looking for local solutions to global challenges. Pro sperous towns of the future will be those that are intercultural. They will be able to manage cultural diversity and explore its potential, to encourage creativity and innovation and thereby achieve economic prosperity, community cohesion and a better quality of life, according to the Council of Europe’s White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue We Live Together as Equals in Dignity.
That is why intercultural concepts should be introduced into our schools from the earliest childhood and the beginning of formal education so that children, later young people, can have true knowledge and rich experiences with other cultures. It is the way to prevent intolerance and acceptance of other cultures and their members, one of the pillars of preserving the foundations of our tradition and our survival in this area. Because the fate and future of our culture, that is, cultures, will be reflected, first of all, in their permeation, cooperation and complementation. In a word, in interculturality.
The Czech academic, František Šistek, wrote the following about the specific mentality and sensibility of our people: Although I do not like simple geographical determinism, it seems to me that all of them are characterized by a certain coastal southern warmth, more open heart and thinking, which irresi stibly reminded me of the natural ambience of their Mediterranean homeland.
If temporal permanence is added to spatial connectivity, all of this together makes this civilization and culture an open system in a state of stable but mobile equilibrium. That is why Ulcinj and Bar are not just an archival fact, but also at the beginning of the third millennium living organisms whose inhabitants are in permanent interaction.
That age-old mixture of nations and races, in which everyone gives something, has created male and female citizens, man and woman from Bar and Ulcinj. And they will remain so if they manage to preserve a solid core of interculturalism, similar to those stones on the top of Rumija, which continues to this day and bears witness to the historical processes and changes we are witnessing here.
The largest social capital
Culture and civilization are space and continuity. Throughout history, these towns have moved from the East to the West and from the West to the East. This manoeuvre between the superpowers was full of great dangers and in a constant state of change. They pulse like the Mediterranean, but with an echo.
Everything here takes place a little later, but it never stays outside the coordinates of the Mediterranean and its close hinterland. And that was always ideal in Ulcinj and Bar: equip your ship, take on board whomever you want, sail where you like, and have a calm sea! And give everyone their due.
Not attracting attention, ethnic and religious mimicry and showing loyalty to the state were also a way to ensure a more or less normal existence in times of uncertainty, but also the hope that everything will pass, and that they will remain free, preserve their own existence and their view of the world embodied in an integrative communitarian ideology.
Both Ulcinj and Bar opened up to trade and maritime connections and cultural influences towards the Mediterranean and Balkan areas. They follow civilizational movements and the key formula of coexistence of these areas: that societies are based on justice and are not xenophobic. There were always people of other skin colours, but they were part of these cities, integrated into social and cultural life. Simply, the population got used to different races, languages, and confessions. It is the legacy of the great empires of which they were a part, but primarily of their own traditions.
Faith exists only as love, as something that is exclusively shared and given to others. Otherwise, it would be abstract and as such completely useless. Faith only makes sense when you live it in your own life, but also inother people’s lives.
From such defined faith, the philosophy of interculturalism emerges, which grows into a doctrine, into an experience that does not allow a person to do something that goes against the imperative of justice, honesty, and love, even in the most difficult times.
We have witnessed this at the end of the 20th Century, in that golden age of thugs, swindlers, and cowards. They also convinced themselves that it is enough for just a few people who oppose diversity to poison the atmosphere and make life miserable in our tame towns and villages. We knew even then that such unreasonable behaviour was primarily encouraged and directed from outside.
Despite all the force and perfidious plans, they failed. Because there are deep foundations of national harmony in this area. It is paradoxical, but also a historically confirmed fact: the spirit of coexistence and solidarity is renewed precisely in the most difficult times.
That is why, for all of us who live in line with such spirit, the best news from last year was the research by CEDEM, which showed that the level of ethnic distance in Montenegro has decreased in the last five years. Of course, there is still plenty of room for improvement, but the trends are very good. The living interculturalism of Bar and Ulcinj has a beneficial effect on the entire country and is its greatest social capital.
(Ethnic belonging as a determinant in the montenegro society, CEDEM, Podgorica, 2024)
