Propaganda is non-objective information whose source cannot be verified. It is majorly used to affect people's perception of reality and what is true. It is one of the strategies used during wars by conflicting communities or countries. Since conflict generally derives from the mindsets of people, propaganda comes about to spread malicious rumors or false information to the opponent (Verrall and David). It also refers to ‘information warfare.’ It can be spread verbally or through media sources such as radios, television, or newspapers. During the Serbian-Kosovo war of 1998-1999, card-stacking propaganda was used to sway the public into siding with Serbia, ultimately guiding and leading a path for the war and those who went into it.
Card-stacking propaganda involves manipulating an audience’s perception of certain topics by emphasizing one side through the use of one-sided testimonials. The question of ethnic, international conflict has not been addressed until quite recently; establishing a causal link between ethnic nationalism and domestic violence has been a challenge over the years (MacKinnon). Wars or violent conflicts are caused by racial sentiments, external security concerns, and various dynamics within ethnic groups.
The "fire" of ethnic violence, as in the case of the Serbian-Kosovo war, is propaganda. As a general rule of thumb, the fundamental law or principle of publicity requires that information must be kept simple, one fault is projected onto the enemy, and that the news is used in favor of one side. This is all done through over-exaggerations and distortions using original facts as a basis. Even Socrates argues that rhetoric and propaganda are “knacks” that are developed through taking facts and manipulating them to one’s own needs (Stanley).
At the time of Serbian-Kosovo war, card-stacking propaganda was used by the federal government of Serbia to eventually lead to one of the most brutal genocides the Balkans had ever seen. Albanians were expelled from Kosovo while many fled on their own terms to avoid the events befalling the nation; homes, schools, and religious sites were burned while murders, rapes, and torture occurred to “cleanse the ethnicity” (Momtselidze). During NATO’s involvement against Serbia, a campaign began that lasted 78 days and resulted in hundreds of thousands of Albanians either being displaced or killed (Nardulli, Bruce, et al). According to some reports, then Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic used card-stacking propaganda techniques that bore a similar resemblance of those that Hitler used in WWII. Both leaders used political mobilization and card-stacking to attract masses to not only listen to them, yet also follow them – myths bind masses together. For example, in Nazi Germany, Minister Joseph Goebbels used false information and encouraging phrases such as “Fight against unemployment!” and “Liquidation of the Versailles Treaty!” to establish a “perfect Aryan race.” Goebbels inflicted fear yet also called on the nationalism of German citizens so that they would fall into Hitler’s trap (Momtselidze).
The Serbian regime adopted a similar technique. To bind the population together, Serbian officials spread false information and victimized the Serbian population, claiming that they had to do something to established themselves as superiors since they were of the Orthodox faith. They fought for a "greater Serbia," using this idea to justify their actions. Despite being referred to as murderers and invaders, Serbians still continued to use propaganda. Because Serbia was just coming down from a state of communism, Milosevic used this to his advantage and began to tie their current dilemma into the time when Serbians were defeated by Ottomans, trying to make citizens believe that this would happen again if Kosovo was not conquered. Milosevic called Albanians terrorists, saying they were “fundamentalist warriors of Jihad” due to their dominantly Muslim backgrounds (Armatta).
Milosevic made several claims about Serbia’s past history and how it was occurring again. For example, Yugoslavian dictatorship “oppressed” the Serbs and took Kosovo away from them and that now it was time for them to reclaim it. He claimed, “This is your land, your houses, your fields and gardens, your memories. Surely, you will not leave your land, because life is difficult on it, because you are oppressed by injustice and humiliations. It was never characteristic of the spirit of the Serb and Montenegrin nations to halt in the face of obstacles, to demobilise when they ought to be fighting, to be demoralised when they find it hard going. You should remain here for the sake of your ancestors and of your descendants … No one will beat you again” (Zulic). Milosevic went on to tell tales of Serbian oppression in Kosovo, speaking of young girls being raped, children harrassed and attacked, houses being burned, and other hateful crimes that cannot be verified. Milosevic used personal emotions and played with them so that the Serbian population would continue to follow him. While it is likely that some of these events have occurred, it is documented and verified much more often that Serbians were the ones to inflict these crimes against Albanians in Kosovo, not the other way around (Zulic).
Propaganda within the war continued to be spread through Serbian media, beginning in the early 90’s. Nenad Pejic, a former TV program controller in Sarajevo spoke on Serbian media propaganda, saying, “Without the media, and especially without television, war in the former Yugoslavia is inconceivable” (Brosse). Television broadcasts even showed gruesome images, like dead corpses, that Serbians claimed to be of their own people that have been murdered by Croatian and Albanian troops. While Serbian television broadcasts displayed videos of mass home destructions, raids, and other components of genocide, they never displayed that this is what they were doing to Albanians as well – they simply only showed negative things directed at them, using it to their advantage (De La Brosse).
Milosevic quickly removed independent forms of media and began to control them on his own, specifically printed media. Serbian newspapers began to report that the Germans and the French were deserting NATO and its efforts to help Kosovo. Reports like these from Milosevic and his team made Serbians believe that there was nobody that could stop them. Further newspapers included reports that Albanian refugees in Macedonia were actually actors that were unharmed and hired by NATO to disencourage the Serbians and make them feel bad for attempting to reclaim Kosovo as their own (CPJ). Serbian press was also controlled through false statements of paper shortages and lack of equipment to print papers unless they told stories that Milosevic deemed fit to make Serbians look as though they were wronged and harmed and that all they were doing is simply retaking what was originally theirs.
Serbian propaganda was further developed through the schooling system in Kosovo. Mimoza Gashi, then in her later years of high school, recounts how education was disrupted by Serbian troops. Schools were shut down and Albanians were banned from attending them unless they stopped resisting receiving an education in the Serbian language. Milosevic shut down schools and went on to speak publicly about how the Serbian language was the original and more accurate language of Kosovo and how Albanian education wasn’t adequate enough to keep receiving. Gashi recounts neighborhood moms gathering several children from the neighborhood into their homes and attempting to teach them and give them an education as best as they could. Albanians would not surrender and live under Serbian rules, therefore causing Milosevic to cut off any of their educational institutions to show his own nation that Albanians were not even smart enough to teach their youth.
Based on the preceding discussion, it is apparent that propaganda has an immensely strong impact on war and ethnic conflicts. Language is more than just words, it is a wave that pushes words into actions that create great changes. While language can bring people together, it is clear that it can also greatly tear them apart and cause divisions amongst societies. Card-stacking propaganda in the Serbian-Kosovo war was a raindrop that created a ripple in history that eventually turned into great waves that swallowed civilians whole. It caused Serbians to believe that President Milosevic was right in his efforts to “reclaim” Kosovo as his own, eventually leading to one of the largest genocides in Balkan history.