Sa zaprepaštenjem i zabrinutošću pratimo institucionalni pokušaj diskreditacije Milorada Popovića i izdavačke kuće OKF, čiji smo autori i saradnici.
Sama akcija javnog sramoćenja uglednog crnogorskog pisca i najuticajnije crnogorske izdavačke kuće, najavljena od strane ministarke kulture u televizijskom intervjuu, pripada spisku praksi totalitarnih, nipošto demokratskih društava kakvo crnogorsko ima pretenziju biti.
Sredstva dodijeljena za realizaciju precizno pobrojanih i definisanih projekata predstavljaju se kao sredstva dodijeljena Miloradu Popoviću, lično. Takva jeftina populistička i brutalna propaganda, moguće, naručiocima blaćenja donosi ličnu satisfakciju i kratkoročnu političku korist, ali je njena konačna žrtva crnogorska kultura.
Mi smo pisci i ne bavimo se revizijom i inspekcijom, nego književnošću. Ističemo da su Ars, OKF i Milorad Popović uradili nemjerljiv posao na promociji crnogorske književnosti, kao i promociji regionalnih književnosti u Crnoj Gori. Crnogorska je književnost malog jezika, što znači da je slabo vidljiva. To nije pitanje kvaliteta, nego brojeva. Za to što je danas crnogorska književnost i vidljiva i cijenjena dio zasluga, svakako, pripada OKF-u i Popoviću, koji je svoju misiju promocije crnogorske književnosti, zbog koje je, uostalom, i dobio podršku države na konkursima, vodio sa punom sviješću da crnogorska književnost mora biti savremena, kosmopolitska i otvorena. Zbog toga smo, uostalom, i mi odabrali Ars i OKF kao našeg crnogorskog izdavača. U najkaćem: OKF je radio posao koji u nekim drugim državama obavljaju Agencije za knjigu, čiji budžeti višestruko premašuju sve što je Crna Gora preko Arsa i OKF-a uložila u svoju književnost.
Nove crnogorske vlasti i ministarka će, jasno, voditi kulturnu politiku shodno svojim ideološkim i političkim projekcijama, što je legitimno i podrazumijeva se. Nije, međutim, ni legitimno, niti etično, voditi kampanje protiv ljudi koje je ministarka javno označila kao one koji će, kao njeni kritičari i politički neistomišljenici, biti predmet njene osvete. Sa stanovišta interesa crnogorske književnosti, likvidacija Arsa i OKF-a je katastrofalan i dugoročno štetan potez.
Potpisnici:
Petar Andonovski, pisac
Svetislav Basara, pisac
Vanda Babić Galić, spisateljica
Boban Batrićević, esejista
Alen Brlek, pjesnik
Dino Burdžević, pisac
Ahmed Burić, pisac i prevodilac
Rajko Cerović, esejist
Branko Čegec, pisac
Adnan Čirgić, esejist
Katica Ćulavkova, spisateljica
Marija Dejanović, pjesnikinja
Dubravka Đurić, prevoditeljica
Hadžem Hajdarević, pisac
Monika Herceg, spisateljica
Jovica Ivanovski, pisac
Ervin Jahić, pisac
Miljenko Jergović, pisac
Lejla Kalamujić, spisateljica
Marija Krivokapić, spisateljica i prevoditeljica
Ljubeta Labović, pisac
Ivan Lovrenović, pisac
Škeljzen Malići, pisac
Ethem Mandić, pisac
Tomislav Marković, pisac
Dijana Matković, spisateljica
Miroslav Mićanović, pisac
Josip Mlakić, pisac
Milorad Nikčević, esejist
Aleksandra Nikčević-Batrićević, prevoditeljica
Andrej Nikolaidis, pisac
Boris A. Novak, pisac
Josip Osti, pisac i prevodilac
Marko Pogačar, pisac
Ivica Prtenjača, pisac
Vukić Pulević, esejist
Aleksandar Radoman, esejist
Vasko Raičević, pisac
Nenad Rizvanović, pisac
Abdulah Sidran, pisac
Mile Stojić, pisac
Vili Firt, prevodilac
Dušan Šarotar, pisac
Đorđe Šćepović, pisac
Faruk Šehić, pisac
Dragana Tripković, spisateljica
Damir Uzunović, pisac i izdavač
Elvira Veselinović, prevoditeljica
Sreten Vujović, pisac i prevodilac
The appeal of the authors and associates of OKF and the magazine Ars
It is with astonishment and concern that we observe the institutional attempt to discredit Milorad Popović and the publishing house OKF from Cetinje.
The very action of public humiliation of a prominent Montenegrin writer and the most influential Montenegrin publishing house, announced by the Minister of Culture in a television interview, belongs to the list of practices of totalitarian, and by no means of democratic societies that Montenegro strives for.
The funds allocated for the implementation of precisely listed and defined projects are presented as funds allocated to Milorad Popović, personally. Such cheap populist and brutal propaganda possibly brings personal satisfaction and short-term political benefit to those who vilify Popović, but its final victim is Montenegrin culture.
We are authors and translators, and we do not deal with audit and inspection, but with literature. We emphasize that Ars, OKF, and Milorad Popović did an immeasurable job on the promotion of Montenegrin literature, as well as the promotion of regional, ex-Yu literature in Montenegro. Montenegrin literature is that of a small language, with limited visibility. It is not a question of quality, but of numbers. For the fact that today Montenegrin literature is both noticeable and appreciated, part of the merit certainly goes to OKF and Popović who led his mission of promoting Montenegrin literature with the full awareness that it must be modern, cosmopolitan, and open, for which, after all, he received state support on public calls. That is why we chose Ars and OKF as our Montenegrin publishers. In short: OKF all these years did the work done by the book agencies in some other countries, whose budgets far exceed everything that Montenegro has invested in its literature through Ars and OKF.
The new Montenegrin authorities and the Minister will, clearly, implement cultural policy in accordance with their ideological and political projections, which is legitimate and it goes without saying. However, it is not legitimate or ethical to campaign against people who are her critics and political dissidents, and who have been publicly labeled by the Minister as ones who will be the subject of her revenge. From the point of view of the interests of Montenegrin literature, the liquidation of Ars and OKF is a catastrophic and long-term harmful move.
Signatories:
Jovica Aćin, author, Serbia
Petar Andonovski, author, Macedonia
Vanda Babić Galić, essayist, Croatia
Svetislav Basara, author, Serbia
Boban Batrićević, essayist, Montenegro
Alen Brlek, author, Croatia
Dino Burdžević, author, Montenegro
Ahmed Burić, author and translator, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Rajko Cerović, essayist, Montenegro
Branko Čegec, author, Croatia
Ranko Ćetković, translator, Germany
Adnan Čirgić, essayist, Montenegro
Katica Kulavkova, author, Macedonia
Marija Dejanović, author, Croatia
Dubravka Đurić, translator, Serbia
Will Firth, translator, Australia
Hadžem Hajdarević, author, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Monika Herceg, author, Croatia
Jovica Ivanovski, author, Macedonia
Ervin Jahić, author, Croatia
Miljenko Jergović, author, Croatia
Lejla Kalamujić, author, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Enver Kazaz, author, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Marija Krivokapić, author and translator, Montenegro
Ljubeta Labović, author, Serbia
Ivan Lovrenović, author, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Shkëlzen Maliqi, author, Kosovo
Ethem Mandić, author, Montenegro
Tomislav Marković, author, Serbia
Dijana Matković, author, Slovenia
Miroslav Mićanović, author, Croatia
Josip Mlakić, author, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Milorad Nikčević, essayist, Croatia
Aleksandra Nikčević-Batrićević, translator, Montenegro
Andrej Nikolaidis, author, Montenegro
Boris A. Novak, author, Slovenia
Josip Osti, author and translator, Slovenia
Marko Pogačar, author, Croatia
Ivica Prtenjača, author, Croatia
Vukić Pulević, essayist, Montenegro
Aleksandar Radoman, essayist, Montenegro
Vasko Raičević, author, Montenegro
Nenad Rizvanović, author, Croatia
Abdulah Sidran, author, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mile Stojić, author, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Dušan Šarotar, author, Slovenia
Đorđe Šćepović, author, Montenegro
Faruk Šehić, author, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Vojo Šindolić, author and translator, Croatia
Dragana Tripković, author, Montenegro
Damir Uzunović, author and publisher, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Elvira Veselinović, translator, Germany
Radmila Vojvodić, author, Montenegro
Predrag Vrabec, author, Croatia
Sreten Vujović, author and translator, Montenegro
Almir Zalihić, author and publisher, Bosnia and Herzegovina
