The Scars of the Erasure_web

Erasure_4a 10.1.11 20:29 Page 2828 THE SCARS OF THE ERASUREDuring the early 1980s it was also possible to observe, apart from theshort-lived change in the perception of immigration, an increase in supra-nationalidentification. The number of “ethnically undetermined” people rose, particularlythe number of those who declared themselves to be Yugoslavs: 25,615of them in the 1981 census (1.4 percent of the total population of Slovenia); ofthese, 14,942 persons were born in Slovenia (Dolenc 2007, 83). 11Undoubtedly, both ethno-nationalist and anti-nationalist (Yugoslav) tendencieswere present in Slovenia. However, it is possible to argue that the ethno-nationalistconception of sovereign Slovenia would not have succeeded had not agood “basis” for it existed beforehand (see also Bajt in this volume).To illustrate the period towards the end of the 1980s, when exclusion wasunequivocal but by no means state-endorsed, we give below a passage from anote about a skilled welder from Bosnia-Herzegovina (married, with two children),who at the time of the study, in 1988, had been employed in the Velenje coalmine for eleven years. The following is how the researcher (Dadič) recapitulatedthis worker’s narrative:The main motive for moving was work, which he could not find in his local environment.[…] He lived in a dormitory block for seven years and later moved tosome “hole” that used to be an abandoned workshop. He now [in 1988] lives withhis family in an apartment provided by his employer. […] He has a feeling thathe is not accepted in his neighborhood, that people look at him “askance.” He hasalso experienced derision on ethnic grounds from his neighbors. Among otherthings they said, “We gave you everything, what else do you want?” and “If youdon’t like it here, go back to Bosnia”… In the opinion of the interviewee, livinghere is worthwhile only because of money. As to other aspects, there is more sufferingthan peaceful life here. The economic situation has also been deteriorating[…] As to the relations between Slovenes and immigrants, he says that an immigranthere must be much better in all respects to win recognition from the widersociety. He can understand that Slovenes have misgivings about their languageand culture, but in his opinion they are most anxious about their children runningout of jobs. He also said that for immigrants it is more difficult to obtain sick leavethan for the locals. When in the 1970s he wanted to build a house for himself, hecould not obtain a loan, while the locals could […] There have also been conflictsat his workplace, and he noticed several times that other workers did not “sidewith him” but with the locals […] He said that his most difficult experience waswhen his father died, and his workmates did not send a wreath or express theircondolences as they did to other workers (Dadič 1988, 20–1).11 In the early 1980s, 1.3 million people in the former Yugoslavia considered themselves Yugoslavs. Danilo Dolenc(2207) attributed this growing trend to the fact that Tito’s death inspired people to reassert their enduring commitmentto brotherhood and unity.