| Log Revolution | |||
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| Part of thebreakup of Yugoslavia | |||
 A map of all three self-proclamied proto break-away states of Krajina | |||
| Date | August 17 – December 19 1990 | ||
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| Caused by | Serbs claiming to being terrorized by the Croatian government | ||
| Goals | To secede and create their own autonomous state in Croatia | ||
| Resulted in | Paramilitary victory
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TheLog Revolution (Serbo-Croatian:Balvan revolucija /Балван револуција) was aninsurrection which started on August 17, 1990, in areas of theRepublic of Croatia which were populated significantly byethnic Serbs.[2]A full year of tension, including minor skirmishes and sabotage, passed before these events would escalate into theCroatian War of Independence.
In 1988–89, aseries of street protests inYugoslavia by supporters ofSerbian leaderSlobodan Milošević succeeded in overthrowing the government of theSocialist Republic of Montenegro as well as the governments of the Serbian provinces ofVojvodina andKosovo, replacing their leaders with allies of Milošević.[3] The western Yugoslav republics ofSlovenia andCroatia successfully resisted the attempts to expand the revolt onto their territories, and turned against Milošević. On 8 July 1989, a large Serb nationalist rally was held inKnin, during which banners threatening aYugoslav People's Army (JNA) intervention in Croatia, as well asChetnik iconography was displayed.[4] In the lead up to thefirst free elections in April and May 1990, the ethnic relations between the Croats and the Serbs inSR Croatia became a subject of political debate.
The local Serbs in the village ofBerak put up barricades in order to disrupt the elections.[5]During the act of government transition from the former to the new authorities in Croatia, the JNA organized a "regular military maneuvre" in which aregiment of paratroopers was deployed to thePleso Airport, which was taken as an implicit threat.[5]On May 14, 1990, the weapons of theTerritorial Defense (TO) of Croatia were taken away by the JNA,[6] preventing the possibility of Croatia having its own weapons like it was done in Slovenia.[5] According toBorisav Jović, thenpresident of Yugoslavia, this action was done at the behest of the Republic of Serbia.[7] This action left Croatia extremely vulnerable to pressure from Belgrade, whose leadership began to intensify their public challenges to Croatia's borders.[8]
In an act of protest, the militant part of Croatian Serbs in some areas where they formed a majority started to refuse authority to the new Croatian government and beginning in early 1990 held several meetings and public rallies in support of their cause and in protest against the new government.[2] These protests were in support ofSerbian nationalism, a centralizedYugoslavia and Milošević (seeAnti-bureaucratic revolution).
In June and July 1990, Serb representatives in Croatia openly rejected the new government's proposed amendments to the Constitution of SR Croatia which changed the name of the republic and entered new state symbols.[5] The Serb population associated these with the symbols of the Nazi-alliedIndependent State of Croatia during World War II, although theCroatian checkerboard is a historical symbol that had already officially been contained in the emblem of theSR Croatia withinYugoslavia.[9]
In the summer of 1990 the process of dissolution was ongoing, with the Croatian government implementing policies that were seen as openly nationalistic and anti-Serbian in nature, such as the removal of theSerbian Cyrillic script from correspondence in public offices.[10][11] In late 1980s, a number of articles had been published in Serbia about a danger of Cyrillic being fully replaced by Latin, thereby endangering what was deemed a Serbian national symbol.[12]
As tensions rose and war was becoming more imminent, Serbs in public institutions were forced to sign "loyalty sheets" to the new Croatian government, with refusal to do so resulting in immediate dismissal. The policy was especially noticeable in theMinistry of Internal Affairs, as some of the Serbs serving there were arrested for supportingKrajinaMilitia also known asMartić's Police. Pressure was also placed on Serb intellectuals likeJovan Rašković that promoted ideas ofGreater Serbia.[11][13]
Led byMilan Babić andMilan Martić, the local Serbs proclaimedSAO Kninska Krajina in August 1990 and began blockading roads connectingDalmatia to the rest of Croatia. The blockade was mostly made fromlogs cut down from nearby woods, which is why the event was dubbed the "Log Revolution". The organizers were armed with illegal weapons supplied by Martić.[2] Since it was a planned action, timed during the summer holiday season and severing land ties to the popular tourist region ofDalmatia, high economic damage was done toCroatian tourism.
The revolt was explained by the Serbs with words that they are "terrorized [by Croatian government]" and that they "[fight for] more cultural, language and education rights". Serbian newspaper "Večernje Novosti" wrote that "2.000.000 Serbs [are] ready to go to Croatia to fight". The Western diplomats commented thatthe Serbian media is inflaming passions and Croatian government said "We knew about the scenario to create confusion in Croatia...".[14]
The minor skirmishes of theLog Revolution had apparently caused a police casualty in the night of November 22/23, 1990, a Croatian police car was fired upon on a hill nearObrovac and one of the policemen, 27-year-old Goran Alavanja, died of seven gunshot wounds. The incident involved three policemen of Serb ethnicity[15] who were reportedly shot by a sole rebel Serb gunman, but the murder was never actually officially resolved.[16] Circumstantial evidence points to a group led bySimo Dubajić having perpetrated the murder.[17]
In another earlier incident nearPetrinja, another Croatian policeman, Josip Božićević, was shot by a firearm in the night of September 28, 1990,[16][18] and a leaked Ministry of Internal Affairs memo classified this as a fatality.[16]
On December 21, 1990, the municipalities ofKnin,Benkovac,Vojnić,Obrovac,Gračac,Dvor andKostajnica adopted the "Statute of theSerbian Autonomous Region of Krajina".[19]
Over two hundred armed incidents involving the rebel Serbs and Croatian police were reported between August 1990 and April 1991.[19][20]
The Serb National Council on March 16, 1991 declaredKrajina to be independent of Croatia. On May 12, 1991 a referendum was held with over 99 percent of the vote supporting unification with Serbia.[21][22] On 1 April 1991, it declared that it would secede from Croatia.[23]
Afterwards the Krajina assembly declared that "the territory of the SAO Krajina is a constitutive part of the unified territory of the Republic of Serbia".[21] The open hostilities of theCroatian War of Independence began in April 1991.
As a part of hisplea bargain with the prosecution, in 2006 Milan Babić testified against Martić during hisICTY trial, saying Martić "tricked him into agreeing to theLog Revolution". He also testified that the entire war in Croatia was "Martić's responsibility, orchestrated byBelgrade".[24] They were both convicted forethnic cleansing of Croats and other non-Serbs from Krajina.[25]
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