NELE KARAJLIĆ FOR KURIR ON HOLIDAYS, KOSOVO, WAR: 'Serbs are on FIRST-NAME TERMS WITH GOD, and care little for protocols!'

"Serbs are a nation that's on first-name terms with God, and so care little for protocols. They're deeply convinced that God has a special relationship with each and every individual, and as a result, believe that their faith and love for him goes without saying, and feel there's no need to bring it up too much. Of course, during the festivals, the love of God assumes a celebratory, almost performance-like form, which often becomes tasteless. Although two of my great-grandfathers were priests – one of them baptised Princip – the very next generation of my family broke away into Communism, so I grew up surrounded with the major works of Karl Marx and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. That said, my grandfather Simo was the only one in the family to adhere closely to the strict Church canons. He celebrated all the festivals, including Easter. My brother Dražen and me were always looking forward to visiting with him. The egg tapping in particular."

Easter is a time of forgiveness and reconciliation. In that spirit, would you forgive, and who?

"Forgiveness is humanity's greatest achievement, and that's why it is the hardest to attain. A wound in the soul heals only if you forgive the person who inflicted it. I try to forgive not only for Easter but on other days as well. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't. When I do forgive, I feel great."

You said a few years ago that God himself lives in Kosovo and that that’s where his address is. If God is in Kosovo, is there justice for the Serbs there?

"Of course there is, but justice must be found. God's justice isn't the same as the geopolitical one. Kosovo is a holy land. I'm deeply convinced that it is possible to find a model under which it would become large enough for everyone."

Corona is letting up, and we are yet again under the scrutiny of the global powers over Ukraine. How should we proceed?

"Ukraine is the second half of a match that started when the Berlin Wall came down. The first half fully took place in our part of the pitch. The second half has moved towards the east. I hope that the match finishes as soon as possible, and that there will be no stoppage time. In other words, now we should stay silent for a while and not act all high and mighty! The only war-related slogan that I take seriously is what a Japanese karate master used to say – only an avoided fight is also a fight won."

The Nadrealisti (Surrealists) TV show sketches predicted many political developments and events of the 1990s war. If you were making the show now, what would inspire you?

"I'm making Složna Braća (The Tight-knit Brothers). That form gives me an opportunity to show what I think and how I feel now. The new season, whose filming is starting soon, dips a bit into metaphysics, very much like our lives, which have shifted from the real into the surreal post-Corona. If someone had told you back in 2019 that the world's biggest cities – Paris, London, New York, Moscow – would be deserted and without a soul in the streets, you'd have thought they were out of their mind or paranoid. A time has come when nothing is impossible, including The Složna Braća Tavern being the principal location for the warlords' negotiations."

You are on the team of the I Like Serbia quiz show. You seem to lack competitiveness and happily let your opponents get all the points. Do you behave like that in life as well? Or is the exact opposite the case?

"You're the first person to tell me that I lack competitiveness. Either I've grown old, or I lack stamina, but the secret of the success of our quiz and its high viewing figures over the long term is, among other things, the fight that my bitter opponent Oki (Nenad Okanović) and myself have every week until the last minute of the show. Other reasons why this unique project is popular are its general cheerful atmosphere, its lovely host Dragana Kosjerina, and its educational aspect, which reveals how rich the cultural and civilizational heritage of the Serbian nation is. Many European nations would be unable to throw together a single quiz season because they wouldn't have enough questions. We're doing season six."

You have said that politicians must realize that culture is the key weapon that a nation or a state has. Has this weapon been modernized in the meantime like the real weaponry? What is the state of our "combat readiness" in that area at the moment?

"The politicians here still haven't fully grasped the importance of culture. It is still perceived as something of a 'money depleter'. The West, on the other hand, recognizes its importance. This is why the 'cancel culture' wave that has swept over it after the conflict in Ukraine started is no accident. The opposing side suffers a much stronger blow if you hit against its culture and ban its athletes and artists from appearing globally than if you impose economic sanctions, which people see in terms of numbers only. The problem that the West has is that, if you cancel Dostoevsky, you're sawing off the branch you're sitting on."

You have been preparing a concert with Stefan Milenković. How does the audience react when a rock star and a classical music star are side by side on the stage? What are you preparing for the audience at the Tašmajdan Park?

"The preparations are under way. The general public is slowly realizing that it is going to be a true spectacle. Whatever I say about our concert at Tašmajdan will be insufficient and imprecise. We had a proper dress rehearsal in Dubai at the Expo. If people from France, Italy, India, Pakistan, The United States, Russia, and Qatar responded well to our music, I don't see why our audiences at the Tašmajdan wouldn’t respond in the same way."

Kurir.rs, Ljubomir Radanov

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