The Montenegrin Association of America was founded in 1994 and is registered as a non-profit tax-exempt corporation. The Organizing Committee, which consists of Blazo Sredanovic (president), Dr. Dusan Petranovic, and Stanko Bubanja, introduced its preliminary program on May 14, 1994.
The purpose of the organization is to rally all Montenegrins and friends of Montenegro, regardless of their ethnicity or religious or political differences, to expand their knowledge about the spiritual and historical legacy of Montenegro, to inform them about current events, and mobilize them to support the development of an independent, democratic, humanistic, economically developed Montenegro which is open toward its neighbors and toward the world.
We knew then and we know now that before us lies a formidable task, but, it is said: "It is better to light even the smallest candle, than to eternally curse the darkness." We seek, by distributing written material about the history and culture of Montenegro, to unveil and make familiar to our compatriots and friends the original principles which formed and sustained Montenegro's existence over the centuries. We are also trying to inform them objectively about current events in Montenegro and to organize them in a common effort to pull Montenegro out of the very difficult situation in which it has found itself recently. Having that in mind, we are working toward establishing local organizations, coordinating their activities, and linking them with other Montenegrin associations around the world which have similar goals. We collaborate with and support organizations in America such as Students Against Genocide (SAGE), which has a chapter at Stanford University, and the Balkan Institute, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C. We work towards the internationalization of the Montenegrin cause.
A considerable part of our activities consists of finding opportunities for collaboration with and assistance to independent Montenegrin associations and institutions in our fatherland which are trying to preserve the historical, cultural, political, national and religious traditions of Montenegro. We collaborate with and support P.E.N. and Matica, the independent media, and efforts toward the renewal and consolidation of the Autocephalous Montenegrin Orthodox Church. Finally, we seek to inform the Montenegrin public about the lives and destinies of Montenegrins who emigrated to America, their successes and problems in their new surroundings.
We estimate that in North America, there are tens of thousands of emigrants from Montenegro. But considering that there are no Montenegrin-American newspapers, the difficulty of conveying our message to them is obvious. Because of this we formed a task force which prepared a project for the inclusion of our Association into the world's information system --- the Internet's World Wide Web. This modern and efficient medium enables us to present Montenegrin history, culture, and tradition to a wide audience. We are using mostly publications which have recently emerged after almost a century of falsification and manipulation of our history. The material presented is something like a miniature encyclopedia of Montenegro in the English language. From July 1996, when we first appeared on the World Wide Web, to November 1997 we have had more than 25,000 visits to our web site from all around the world, from as far away as South Africa, Australia and Japan. We have links to Monitor (an independent Montenegrin weekly magazine) and also to Montena Fax (an independent Montenegrin radio station) so that their news and publications are accessible from our site. To this kind of public information we assign a high priority, because the number of World Wide Web users is growing rapidly and with it, we hope, the affirmation of our vision of Montenegro.
Our organization will continue to spread knowledge and consciousness of our tradition. With our efforts, combined with the efforts of Montenegrins in Montenegro, we hope to make our country better, more beautiful, and better developed and to leave it as such to future generations. Without a Montenegrin nation and state, we cannot call ourselves Montenegrins on this side of Atlantic.
Please contact us if you wish to participate toward our common goals: a free, independent and sovereign democratic Montenegrin state based on private enterprise and individual freedom for all citizens. Your contributions will be fully tax-deductible.
We hope to hear from you soon.
The Montenegrin Association of America 805 Magnolia St. Menlo Park, CA 94025You may return to the montenegro.org home page at any time. Please send your comments to webmaster@montenegro.org
www.montenegro.org Last modified on 1 Nov 1997