Morals

Valjevo resident Vladan Radosavljevic, chairman of the initiative board for the registration of the Ravna Gora Movement, got, in the name of the people, a ruling from the Serbian supreme court which rejected an appeal against the Serbian Justice Ministry's five rulings that the movement could not be registered as a political organization.

Over a year ago, the ministry disputed the movement's right to register because "the Ravna Gora name offends public morals". The ministry said everyone knows very well who was on Ravna Gora mountain and who Draza Mihajlovic was and added that the Chetniks were defeated while Mihajlovic was found guilty of cooperation with the occupying forces and betrayal of the people and sentenced to death.

The movement appealed the ruling and wondered why they are the only ones who associate the regime with the Chetniks, unlike the monument to Mihajlovic on Ravna Gora or companies named Chetnik or Ravna Gora. They also voiced surprise that the reason why they were refused registration is their name not their program. The supreme court decided that the ministry "showed in detail that the ruling is based on fact".

Big

Banja Luka's private Radio Big went on the air again on 90.71 and 91.7 MHz recently. Under a decree by Bosnian Serb Information Minister Miroslav Toholj the station was banned for a while or more precisely its frequencies were turned over to state radio Banja Luka. Big and Radio Krajina broadcast statements by independent Bosnian Serb parliament deputies Dodig and Grahovac and statements by opposition parties, dead soldiers' mothers and others all covering the same topic: enough lies and casualties.

On the night of October 12-13, Big put newly arrived refugees and Banja Luka residents on the air while the city was shaking from Moslem and Croat shelling at the nearby front lines (just 30 kilometers away) and let them say what they wanted including their lack of trust in the authorities.

The return of the station was welcomed but concern was also voiced. Their first scoop was an interview with Arkan. Listeners are now tormented by the question whether Big was allowed back on the air because the authorities saw that the media have to be more liberal (which very few believe) or because the authorities got their paws on the station.

Trust

Although illiteracy was abolished in Vojvodina long ago, 18% of the people Novi Sad's Scientia agency polled there said they trust private banks.

An economist from Ruma said state guarantees could get people to trust private banks again but stressed that would take 10 years. A pensioner from Gajdobra said he would invest in a private bank "at good interest rates" and a worker from Srbobran just asked: "what would I put into it?"

Storm

"Eighty-three year old Djuro Pauca, a Serb from Zaluzje near Donji Lapac, believed Croatian President Franjo Tudjman's message and didn't leave his home. He waited calmly for the Croatian army to arrive. That trust cost him his life. He died October 3rd in Rijeka.

When the Croatian army took Zaluzje in operation Storm they found Pauca in his home. First they insulted him, spat at him then they beat him up. A Croatian soldier found him lying unconscious in his front yard later. He revived him and took him to Knin hospital. He was transferred to Zadar and hospitalized from August 15 to September 3. Once he recovered enough, Pauca went to his relatives in Rijeka determined to go on to Belgrade and close relatives.

Once again, he trusted Tudjman and his statement that Serbs in Croatia would get fair, legal treatment. He asked the Croatian authorities for documents to use to travel to Belgrade. He didn't get them. While waiting for travel documents, he died in Rijeka from the beating he got. Even then Pauca wasn't left to rest in peace.

His poor relative in Rijeka couldn't get enough money together for a funeral and the state wouldn't bury him because he was a person without citizenship. Pauca's travels finally ended in his village. Five people in Rijeka, who knew him as a decent and honest man, got together the money to bury him in the Zaluzje cemetery.

Feral Tribune, October 27, 1995

Electricity

Only power cuts can save us from bankruptcy, people whose electricity bills stand as high as their salaries believe. At those prices, electricity is threatening the acceptable image of inflation: Milovan Zivkovic, director of the Federal Statistics Office, said October's inflation will stand at 10.2%, the same as September if the new electricity prices are imposed after November 1. If the prices cover October, inflation will stand higher than in September.

What's the use of electricity if it makes our lives miserable and harms the report we received from official places on our lives.