The Starvation Brothers

In Russia, the country which has once again become a country of miracles, he would go unnoticed. His hunger strike for the salvation of orthodox Serbia and Montenegro would hardly have been understood as a serious political gestur, even less as a conceptual art. Only his tender age could haver saved him the contemptuous verdict that he is one of those Russian martyr type heroes of Christ's order. They enjoyed certain respect of the ordinary folk and certainly represented the ridiculous side of the famous Russian spiritualism.

The young orthodox Russian who was first presented as a painter, then as a poet, and lastly as a historian "taken by his feelings" as Dostoyevski would put it, has gone on a hunger strike. He must have been noticed by someone from the Yugoslav embassy in Moscow, before which he unfurled his tent. Then the Belgrade television was informed, he was broadcasted and the story had its logical continuation.

The timing was perfect: at the height of the conflict between Serbia and the rest of the world, a Russian, an orthodox, goes on a hunger strike, that last resort of the helpless, an act which must have appealed to all those who are here trying to prove that the Serbs are only the victims who are defending themselves, which the merciless West is refusing to see. Over there, namely, they are used to looking at the facts and do not concern themselves overly with the soul, so they have not as yet comprehended that the siege of Dubrovnik and Osijek are aimed at the defence of Serbs. The western observers are counting the population and the dead, looking at who is destroying what, and when the result is detrimental to Serbs, it can only call upon the soul.

Apart from this, the issue of Jastrebov has struck the cord with newly activated issue of Serbian identity. This issue has been addressed so dramatically that the Serbs, if they were to listen to the most competent experts for their national being, would do nothing until they establish who they are, what they are and where they come from. But there are no satisfactory answers to such questions which could be taken as the base on which to build. The Serbian identity has many roots, and the war with the Croatians has contributed so that the orthodoxy triumphs over Slavism, although earlier in the conflict with the Albanians the Slavism had the priority. The influence of the Orient, the Mediterranean, the mid- Europe may be weaker, but I dare anyone to tray and picture the Serbian culture without them. Where do Serbs begin and where they end? Does a snake has a tail?

The disoriented people, like a person, sinks to a lower mental level and seeks the old, familiar behaviour patterns which they once found useful in understanding certain simpler situations. That would be translating the new to the old and familiar. But when the issue of identity is raised that is a sign of the most profound regression when you admit that everything is new and unfamiliar, including oneself. I do not believe that any nation could find itself in such a state since that would require the erasure of every memory concerning that nation's past, history and culture. It is true that communism tried to submerge some of what was considered to be reactionary tendencies, but trying to prove that in it precisely lies the entire national identity is an even greater illusion and deceit.

This whole story of Serbian soul-searching and trying to find the end of one's tail is much more the issue of the national elite that of the nation itself. The nation, as usual, fights for survival, while the elite which does not have such a problem is pulling the wool over their eyes by inspecting its soul and being which were, allegedly, stunted. They have discovered a serious case of poisoning with the Western materialism and they are advised to cure it with the help of orthodoxy. The view of the world has been trivialized to the utmost kitsch: the people in the West are rich but without soul, while in the Slavic east it is the other way around. So choose Serbia. Would you like to marry for live or for money?

Like all the East European countries, Serbia has, of course, always looked up to the West. Anything worth knowing and discovering, all the incentives and challenge. Every success was verified and acknowledged over there. The East has always been at the rear and smelled of the unfortunate past. In any case, the East was only consulted in the state of crisis, out of fear and weakness. That weakness has assumed dangerous proportions out of desperation time superstition.

Jastrebov was invited to Serbia to join the Association of Slav Countries formed by Russia, Ukraina and Belorussia which certain dignitaries from the Serbian Assembly understand as the official invitation and demand a debate. It is no time for jokes and it is a good thing Vuk Draskovic (the leader of the Serbian Revival Party) stole Jastrebov from the Serbian authorities or they would have certainly promoted him into a new national hero. It was time he sneered back at the Socialists who would gladly have carried this Orthodox youngster throughout Serbia on their arms.

Jastrebov, however, has proven to be wiser than expected. Before he came to Belgrade he promised the help of the Russian volunteers, the hardened Afghanistan fighters. He did not bring him with him, of course, and it was a silly offer to make, but at least he realized what the situation here is and what he is supposed to be saying. He must have turned into Gogol's false government inspector. He is traveling around with his mother, visiting factories. But has anyone stopped to think what will happen if, encouraged by his example, thousands of Russian orthodox prophets start pouring in? All this can turn out to be much more serious since Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union are in a similar situation and are looking for a likely way out. There is no talk of free market, human rights, civil liberties, private ownership. The notion of nation, the state, the church have the priority here.

At the time when it seemed that the demise of communism would mean the enactment of new world order fashioned on the Western model, which has been termed "the end of history", everything was suddenly called into question and the history has become more important than ever. Is it possible that the West was shaken more by the demise of communism in the East than it was when communism reigned supreme? The confrontation is starting again, but it is of a different kind now and it would be presuming too much to assume that the West will understand the challenge on time. The fact that post-communism appears outdated and irrational should not fool anyone. The potent destructive powers of communism are being released whereas the economic progress of the liberal West has proven to be vulnerable to both communism and fascism.

With regards to Serbia, its main misfortune concerns the fact that it has orthodoxy in the form of state ideology as its main alternative. The most dangerous thing of all concerns the fact that such an alternative can win effortlessly and unobtrusively, with the same power holders. The authorities have, namely, shown vitality and adaptability to a greater extent than the democratic society can bear, which means that the social order of that kind could not be established in those conditions. The name of the ruling party will be changed, if need be, until the opposition finally gives up.