The Price of the Great Goal

War and elections are the best mediums through which a nation can see itself. In the last three years we have had a lot of both, but the image seems to be more dim and less defined.

This is perhaps, due to two kinds of consciousness, the "historical" one and the "small ownership" one which have clashed with great force. The latter sees misery, hunger, hopelessness, empty shops, closed down petrol pumps, cold schools, hospitals without medical supplies, crowds in front of embassies, a monetary collapse, an inflation greater than the one in the German Weimar Republic, kilometer-long columns of unfortunate people waiting for hours for a piece of free bread and a handful of rice - failing to notice that they are on the threshold of achieving "the historical interests of generations, the historical interests of the Serbian people and the Serbian state. The true picture is given by the big-owner, or more precisely, the "historical consciousness", embraced by the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).

Federal Deputy PM and former advisor to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, Zeljko Simic claims that "historical consciousness, embraced by the SPS, covers the whole of the Serbian national being, and the fate of the Serbian state, the future of all its citizens, without overlooking or decreasing the price which must be paid for the attaining of such goals. However, from a long-term point of view, this price is lower than that which we and our offspring would have paid if we were to succumb to outside dictates, pressures and blackmail which are aimed, without a shadow of a doubt, at undermining out statehood, suppressing our spiritual tradition and breaking up our territorial integrity."

"Precisely because of this", says Simic, "the SPS can really be looked on as a party with a historical mission, and its results must be judged when the process which started in the early nineties is completed and politically rounded off, just as achievements reached so far must be looked at more objectively and without bias."

The problem with this type of "historical consciousness" lies in the fact that in its concern for the "whole of the national being", some everyday, banal things, are forgotten - such as hunger, and sickness. Even Marx and Engels knew that the "people must first eat, drink, have a place to live in, and something to wear, before they start taking any interest in politics, science, art or religion". If we were to reject a well-known American sociologist's theory on a human being's six fundamental interests (health, wealth, sociability, knowledge, beauty and justice), it follows that no responsible national interest, both from the short-term and long-term point of view would ever condemn people to hunger, misery, illness and death.

Who, when, where and how told this nation how much the Great Goal would cost? If memory serves well - no one has yet done so to this very day. No one said how many dead there would be, or how many hungry, unemployed, the rate of inflation, the salaries, the number of refugees and emigrants. Those who know the real price that has been paid are keeping this a secret and will tell us at the end, when it will be too late for corrections.

Who defines Serbia's national interests? Is it the "economists" or the men "drawing up the maps"? Those who regard territories as the main national gain certainly belong among those urging a "historical consciousness". War, as the most primitive form of resolving political and national conflicts, is certainly not the medium for defining real national priorities.

Those in authority claim that the truth about us is leaking out and making its way into the world. It is not clear, however, why something more energetic and efficient is not undertaken in this direction. For example, journalists should be taken to Banja Luka (Serb controlled part of B-H), a city untouched by war, and shown all those mosques which have "allegedly", been demolished. It would be interesting to talk to the passengers who were "allegedly" kidnapped from a train by Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic's soldiers. This could be followed by a visit to Hrtkovci where "allegedly", the majority of Croats were forced to flee to save their lives. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent on demonizing the Serbs and this would be a good opportunity of showing that it was a bad investment.

It is not clear how such a tragically divided nation can define its interests. How can this be done by fascist and anti-fascists, racists and cosmopolitans, militarists and pacifists, war profiteers and people queuing for food, criminals and victims of the Balkan slaughterhouse. How to bridge the abyss between Serbs who urge for a state in which all are equal regardless of nationality, and Serbs who claim that they can no longer live alongside Croats and Moslems. Doesn't the latter option give one-third of Serbia's inhabitants, who are not Serbs, the right to rebellion, and the world proof that Serbs can live with others only when they are in a majority.

History will have the final say on "historical consciousness".