The breakup of Yugoslavia was a process in which the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was broken up into constituent republics, and over the course of which the Yugoslav wars started. The process generally began with the death of Josip Broz Tito on 4 May 1980 and formally ended when the last two remaining republics (SR Serbia and SR Montenegro) proclaimed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 27 April 1992. At that time the Yugoslav wars were still ongoing, and FR Yugoslavia continued to exist until 2003, when it was renamed and reformed as the state union of Serbia and Montenegro. This union lasted until 5 June 2006 when Montenegro proclaimed independence. The former Yugoslav autonomous province of Kosovo subsequently proclaimed independence from Serbia in February 2008.
SFR Yugoslavia
1980 DateEvent 4 May Death of Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito. A Presidency of 9 members assumes power, containing one member from each constituent republic and province, with the ninth place taken by president of the Presidium of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. 10 June A group of 60 writers, poets and public intellectuals in Slovenia sign a petition demanding the establishing a space of free intellectual debate, which would include the right to political criticism. The petition also demands the right to establish a new independent journal for intellectual discussion. 1 October A group of 5 Slovenian intellectuals launch an all-Yugoslav petition for the abolition of the Article 133 of the Yugoslav Criminal Code which enables the persecution of individuals for criticising the regime.
1981 DateEvent 11 March 1981 protests in Kosovo: Student protest starts at the University of Pristina. 1 April Between 5,000 and 25,000 demonstrators of Albanian nationality call for SAP Kosovo to become a constituent republic inside Yugoslavia, as opposed to an autonomous province of Serbia. 2 April Presidency sends special forces to stop the demonstrations and declares a state of emergency in regards to Kosovo. State of emergency lasts 7 days. 3 April End of demonstrations during which 9 people are killed and more than 250 injured.
1982 DateEvent February 2 A rock and punk rock concert in support of the Polish Solidarity movement is held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. May In Slovenia, the alternative journal Nova revija is launched. The event is frequently considered as the beginning of gradual democratization in Slovenia.
1983 DateEvent April 12 Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church sign a petition against the persecution of Serbs in Kosovo. April 23 The Slovenian music group Laibach played a concert at Music Biennale Zagreb during which they presented mashups using videos of Tito and pornographic videos (Tito was shown on screen at the same time as an erect penis). This incident led to violent intervention by military and police forces. The band had to leave Croatia and was later banned from the country. Laibach was also involved in Neue Slowenische Kunst.June to August Alija Izetbegović was again arrested by the communists and tried in the famous Sarajevo trial of 1983. Izetbegović was accused and condemned for his writings, and in particular for the Islamic Declaration, in which he wrote that there was a renaissance among the Muslims of the world, who were waking from their lethargy. Although this work was of a theoretical nature and based on being "for" rather than "against", the communists sentenced Izetbegović's thinking to fourteen years in prison. This time he spent five years and eight months behind bars.
1984 DateEventJanuary 1 A group of 26 Slovenian intellectuals and public figures demand the change of the Yugoslav Constitution in the way that it would explicitly protect the freedom of speech and assembly. Signatories include figures like Rastko Močnik, Alenka Puhar, Gregor Tomc, Ivo Urbančič, Pero Lovšin and Dane Zajc.March 14 US policy toward Yugoslavia is changed with National Security Decision Directive 133, but aim of policy is shown in 1982 NSDD 54 which is calling for "silent" revolutions in communist countries.
1985 DateEvent 1 May Kosovo resident Đorđe Martinović is treated for injuries caused by the forceful insertion of a glass bottle into his anus. Investigators come to different conclusions about the event, ranging from self-inflicted injuriesSabrina P. Ramet, Angelo Georgakis. Thinking about Yugoslavia: Scholarly Debates about the Yugoslav Breakup and the Wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, pp. 153, 201. Cambridge University Press, 2005. to rape with a bottle.Jasna Dragović-Soso, Saviours of the Nation?: Serbia's Intellectual Opposition and the Revival of Nationalism, pp. 132-135. C. Hurst & Co, 2002. Martinović claims that he has been raped by an Albanian fundamentalist. This last statement creates a nationalistic outcry in Serbia. 25 May The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts decides to create a memorandum about political, economic, and cultural areas of debate regarding the Serbian people in SFRY. 20 July Presidency of SFRY accepts a report by Milan Kučan which states that the right of the Serbian nation to create its own state is not fulfilled owing to the autonomy of the provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina.
1986 DateEvent April The 12th Congress of the League of Socialist Youth of Slovenia passes a resolution supporting the notion of civil society, with an explicit reference to environmentalist, human rights, gay rights, and pacifist grassroots movements in Slovenia. They also demand the introduction of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, right to strike in the whole of Yugoslavia. The support of conscientious objectors provokes a confrontation with the Yugoslav People's Army. 28 May Slobodan Milošević is elected to the position of president of the League of Communists of Serbia. 24 September Večernje Novosti leaks the Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. 25 September President of Serbia Ivan Stambolić criticizes the Memorandum, stating: "It is a deadly chauvinist war manifest for Serbist commissars".
1987 DateEvent 20 February The Slovenian alternative journal Nova revija publishes the Contributions to the Slovenian National Program, a collection of sixteen articles in favour of an independent and democratic Slovenia. 26 February The "Poster Scandal" breaks out. Earlier in the year, the Slovenian neo-avantgardist artistic movement Neue Slowenische Kunst designed a poster which won a competition for the Yugoslavian Youth Day Celebration. The poster, however, appropriated a painting by Nazi artist Richard Klein, by only replacing the flag of Nazi Germany with the Yugoslav flag and the German eagle with a dove. The provocation, aiming at pointing out the totalitarian nature of the Titoist ideology, provokes an outcry among the pro-Communist public in both Slovenia and Yugoslavia. 24 April Slobodan Milošević delivers a speech about Kosovo to a crowd of 15,000 Serbs and Montenegrins, telling them: "You will not be beaten". Later that evening, Serbian television airs a video of Milošević's speech. President of Serbia Ivan Stambolić later remarks that after watching this video he has seen "the end of Yugoslavia". 26 June One thousand Serbs and Montenegrins from Kosovo protest outside of the Belgrade parliament building against persecution by ethnic Albanians. 2/3 September Aziz Kelmendi, a JNA soldier of Albanian nationality, kills 4 other JNA soldiers and wounds 7 others. During the funeral Albanian-owned shops are attacked by mobs. 10 September Reform of the Serbian constitution. 24 September During the 8th Session of the League of Communists of Serbia, Milošević defeats Ivan Stambolić, who later resigns. November The Helsinki Committee of Yugoslavia was founded. 9 December The Litostroj strike breaks out in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Workers demand the right to establish independent trade unions and political pluralization. The organizing committee for the formation of an independent the Social Democratic Party of Slovenia is formed. The event is considered as the beginning of the process of political pluralization in Slovenia.
1988