The Killing of Avram

Yugoslavia hasn't seen any political importance to equal the ousting of Governor Avramovic since federal Prime Minister Milan Panic was kicked out.

Avramovic was criticized for exceeding his authority and did not adhere to state policies drawn up by people who know how things should be done because they have already destroyed one state. The technique was pure routine. After a break in the session of the federal parliament Chamber of Republics, deputy Speaker Radmilo Bogdanovic congratulated Speaker Radulovic for doing things exactly as planned. The whole thing wasn't done in a matter of hours since the opposition managed to get the session extended for another day so that someone in Yugoslavia would hear what was being done.

"The problem isn't ousting the governor, but why," Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) MP Miki Savicevic asked at one point. Two days of parliament debate later and no one explained why the man who has all the necessary international references was being kept out of negotiations by the authorities who sent in a man with the reputation of causing the worst inflation in recorded history. Did they expect the World Bank to open an inflation department? Judging by the evaluations of the new world order they mentioned to date, that might be what they had in mind.

The whole thing would not be explainable without taking into account the values the authorities are based on with obedience and loyalty ranked much higher than ability. The authorities simply can't stand anyone who won't obey and the price isn't important.

Avramovic offered an explanation when he spoke of the block in negotiations without any reason and said that "shows that Yugoslavia hasn't decided what to do. Yugoslavia is just saying it has decided. It hasn't decided whether it wants to be part of the world or join the club with North Korea and Angola. That is the central issue."

They went after Avramovic because he allegedly did not provide information (when a member of the National Bank (NBJ) council said that Avramovic shouted Liar! and left the hall. Reports said he felt ill and was escorted out of parliament.)

The whole thing shows that these authorities can't be changed from the inside and that no one on the outside has the power to change them. The authorities invested a lot in making the governor popular for saving them from total ruin in 1994 and giving them Program II in 1995 and sowed the seed of optimism.

In his letters to presidents Zoran Lilic, Momir Bulatovic and Slobodan Milosevic, the governor said everything that is happening to him is a nightmare. He can be believed when he says he didn't ask for authority at age 77 to gain glory or wealth. Sick as he was when he entered parliament, he looked a little like Gandhi on hunger strike, and we can believe him when he says his wife would give him a hard time at home for arguing with everyone.

Branko Milanovic said in Nasa Borba on May 6 that Avramovic's appointment opened up the issue that is as old as humanity: what should honest people do, especially intellectuals, when they face criminal or dictatorial regimes? Should they ignore them as Cesare Paveze did with Mussolini or resist them as Solzhenitsin did or work for them in the belief that people will benefit.

As with Cosic and Panic, the regime showed that outside staff are there only temporarily. New Democracy (ND) which is trying to present its polices as pressure from changes on the inside and which should fear the end of its coalition mandate was quick to disown its "potential ally on the inside" and said naively in a statement that both Kontic and the governor are to blame.

In his speech in parliament, Avramovic drew what little energy he had to prove the "time bomb is ticking", that a catastrophe is looming if we don't get out of this dead end.

The dismissal procedure showed how the incomplete state operates. Professor Pavle Nikolic said the FRY constitution says parliament dismisses the governor and no one else. Article 211 of the rules of parliament says the governor should be dismissed under federal laws which don't exist.

With his refusal to print money, Avramovic tried something that in local political mythology is linked to Laza Pacua who refused to give the Serbian king loans and kept paying debts to Germany during World War I but whose dinar was convertible even in Corfu in 1915. Naturally, the governor had to clash with speculators used to authorities based on false money and come under pressure from ministers.

In his letter to Kontic concerning the government demand for the NBJ to pay for oil which was lost in the war, Avramovic said: "I would be grateful if the pressure from our governments would stop their pressure on the NBJ to force it to do things I have serious doubts about."

Those examples show that the regime is in no hurry to consolidate the situation and that it is sticking to the logic in minister Tomic's statement: "Yugoslavia survived under the sanctions and it can hold out a few months longer."

Montenegro's famed reformism also turned out to be fiction. Montenegro's rulers chose between Avramovic who they supported and Kontic whose federal government they attacked and opted for Kontic. Parliament reporters speculated on the favors the Montenegrins got; there was talk the government could withdraw its draft laws on privatization and companies and no one paid any attention to the part of the governor's speech in which he said the NBJ council of governors talked about someone who wanted money for tourism and other things.

The SPO, DS and GSS said they would defend the governor. The SPO parliament group submitted a proposal on conducting talks with the IMF and requested the dismissal of Kontic and appointment of Avramovic as chief negotiator. Draskovic called the population to come to parliament. Those parties accepted the governor's platform, they're on the way to getting a really good election platform and they really should not be criticized for simply not doing more to animate people.

In his letter to Milosevic, Lilic and Bulatovic, Avramovic said he counted on mass support in his final battle: "You know that a proportion of the people have faith in my financial leadership and haven't forgotten my role in saving them in January 1994 nor have they forgotten that Kontic, Zebic, Kovac and several other high-ranking officials were responsible for the catastrophic inflation of 1993 which brought us to the brink of national disaster."

It seems that proportion of the people have forgotten already.

The Nezavisnost union led the metal workers strike along with other unions and on Monday, May 13 it rallied over 2,000 people in front of the Serbian government building where they voiced support for Avramovic among other things. The governor addressed the protest and probably overestimated the reform potential of the Yugoslav working class when he said intellectuals are soft and workers' energy can bring changes. "I am convinced that today, more than ever, as long as workers don't show they want changes no changes will happen."

Avramovic underestimated only one fact from 1962, through 1965, 1968 and 1985, there wasn't a single attempt at reform that wasn't toppled by the working class in coalition with the ruling class.

The metal workers had two slogans: "Avram, don't give the thieves any money", and "Salaries or social unrest". That was exactly what the authorities were waiting for because that is easy to coordinate. Send a truckload of money to Nis to stop the strike. Wait a few more days for strikers in Leskovac. In that context, one opposition leader said the regime will try to cause a controlled inflation because it has mechanisms to control the emission of money, at least temporarily. Part of the control mechanism is the JUL infrastructure. That system could work until others see how it operates and then a catastrophic new hyperinflation looms.

The Nezavisnost union called workers to stage a mass protest on Tuesday, May 14 in front of the federal parliament to demand an immediate start of talks with the IMF and World Bank based on Avramovic's platform, the adopting of the governor's privatization law and live TV coverage of the session. Some 2,000 protesters braved the rain to show support for the governor.