Serbs Deserve Pity for their PM’s Racist Slurs

These beautiful creatures bathe their gorgeous bodies in rivers, protect honest people, but become merciless when they decide to punish injustice. (As far as I know Serbs have their own version of the Zana, the Vila). I have always been impressed by the fact that a strong patriarchal culture, like that in the Balkans, crafted fairy tales with strong women as protagonists.

Balkan people are proud of their mountains. The Ancient Greeks chose Mt Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece, as the mythical home for their twelve gods. And our region takes its very name from the Balkan Mountains.

So, at first glance, nothing is wrong with Brnabic's statement. However, Serbia's PM was not talking about geography and ethnology; she was talking about a hierarchy of cultures and nations.

She referred to Kosovo Albanian leaders as people who have literally emerged from the mountains.

"It's indifferent to them whether they have war or peace out there," is what Brnabic said.

Translated into simple words, for highlanders and plain dwellers alike, Albanians are savage barbarians while Serbs are civilized and peaceful. It is language borrowed from the darkest chapters of European colonialism and racism.

If Brnabic hoped to spark violent verbal or physical reactions from Albanians to justify her racist remarks, fortunately she failed. Albanian politicians condemned her remarks in the strongest terms but without throwing back racist slurs.

Ordinary citizens in Kosovo responded through a funny and creative hashtag, #literallyjustemergingfromthewoods, posting selfies of themselves surrounded by impressive green mountain peaks and woods.

As for the EU officials, they issued a rather academic-sounding condemnation, giving...