Serbia's Football Racism Shows Nationalism Still Burns Strong

England’s under-21 Football Team faced monkey chants and racism during the game earlier this week. To make things worse, they were met with physical gestures and kicking from the Serbian football team on the pitch. The majority of it was focused on the player Danny Rose, who did tremendously well to deal with the situation with such dignity as he did. It goes without saying that racism affects ethnic minorities that litter their past and identity.

What is even more shocking is that even after 17 years after the Bosnian Genocide, Serbia, as a society and as a nation state, has not progress passed their racist and highly discriminatory views. Even the Serbian FA denies the racist behaviour occurred and went to lengths to accuse Danny Rose of lying. Does this sound familiar? Many Bosnians will remember how Mladic and others tried to completely deny the entire genocide and blamed the victims for the oppression that they, themselves, plotted and instigated. It seems the same rhetoric is epidemic in Serbian institutions and even Serbian society.

Serbian basketball player Marko Jaric, attempted to counter the situation by reminding England of their racist hooliganism and slavery past. At least the English FA have made efforts to tackle the racism & hooliganism that was caused by far-right nationalism that Serbians seem to identify with. At least the English FA did not make excuses and did not condone the racist problem by pointing fingers and effectively saying “your racism is worse than ours”.

We shouldn't be surprised by the level of racism that has come out of Serbia, as it is certainly not the first time. And if they have no moral qualms with mass murdering white Muslims, they would not have a problem in publicly expressing their hate for other races and condoning it.

It's only when their politicians cotton on to the issue did the condoning stop, probably because Serbia is eager to get inside the EU. The EU has a lot on their plate. Does it really need to open its flood gates to a nation that has largely refused to let go of its nationalistic past? Serbia's EU bid should be cancelled.