An Open Letter to Professor Mihailo Markovic, the vice-president of Serbian Socialist Party

Dear Michael...

I first met professor Markovic two decades ago, at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade... I was not lucky enough to attend his lectures regularly, since he was expelled from the Belgrade University along with seven other colleagues. It happened at the beginning of 1975. They were accused of corrupting the youth... and of being enemies of the socialist regime.

Professor Markovic left the country as a famous dissident, a sharp-minded critic of socialism, a progressive intellectual and a fighter for human rights. He was presented abroad as (...) a fierce opponent to political voluntarism and autocracy.

And I along with my fellow students of philosophy and sociology have been arrested mostly for expressing similar views and for defending our professors. We were sentenced to severe prison punishment... and later released on parol. We went back to normal life bearing minor or major consequences. Due to his frequent trips abroad, his friends called him "Michael". I do not know whether his new friends in the Socialist Party still call him that...

After years of Tito's regime, the first post-war multi-party elections were held last year. I expected professor Markovic to join one of the opposition parties or remain a free and independent intellectual and a severe critic of the socialists - but he took a different path.

(...) The first thing he did after becoming the vice- president was to (...) besmirch, without any arguments, his colleagues and best friends from the Faculty of Philosophy and the Institute of Social Science... Then he started a goose-chase which has lasted until today...

A former big humanist, a fighter for human rights, has become a defender of the most stupid, inhumane, sensless acts of the present Serbian regime...

He started praising the dictatorship and a firm grip, he supported the coup in the Soviet Union. He understands democracy as danger and chaos.

A few years ago he started to publicly and openly threaten his political opponents. In the manner of the inquisitors from the Dark Ages he began accusing people and setting dates for trials.

Your "merits" as a politician in power have surpassed all our expectations. Therefore, it is high time you left!