Rally in Uzice

After Kragujevac, Belgrade, Nis and Novi Sad, the "walking three" of the united opposition (Serbian Renewal Movement, Democratic Party and Civil Alliance) held a rally in Uzice, in the best possible manner. We eventually saw an opposition rally which looked and was treated like a normal event. The authorities did not directly hinder the rally, the people were free to have their attitude about the event, the speakers said what they had to. And they did have something to say: in addition to the usual points, they made some statements which will contribute to a clearer picture of the current political groupings.

Although the citizens were not properly informed - the local radio allowed only the young socialists to "condemn street democracy" - the spacious city square was rather full. Some ten thousand people. The elderly Zdravko Djurovic said that "there were lots of people only in 1961, when Tito came, but that was organized." This rally was characterized by a lack of nationalist luggage; there were only party flags - the democrats dominated. The chamber atmosphere was disturbed only by the loudspeakers which carried the delight of the first rows of people.

And what was there to be heard? Vesna Pesic said that the country was ruled by two Mafias whose fatherland was in Cyprus, that Milosevic represented the authority that no one deserved but that there was not another fishhook that we could swallow. According to her, this is the end of Milosevic because we cannot accept the minimum of the minimum and that is all that he has to offer. That is why this is our chance for a change - the opposition are together (this statement was greeted by the people) and know what they want. They want to replace the ruling party, revive economy and give people options.

Djindjic, with his plastic metaphors, once again proved to be most popular in rallies of this kind. According to the leader of the democrats, the essence of Milosevic's reign is a weak Serbia, because only the weak, the unworthy and the most obedient can be ruled in this way.

Draskovic did well, too. Having established that the name of the ruling party's ideology was theft, Draskovic replied to Mirjana Markovic's speculations on the Rightists and said her party was not a party but a Mafia family which was both Left and Right because it stole both with the left and the right hand. This is why people should raise their heads and go out in the streets because "the decayed pear must fall." Then he cried: "When the squares are covered with people, when the workers and peasants rise and stand, and I call them to do so right away, they will flee into the rat-holes." He added that the army and police were hungry and, as such, "ours" but that "we must provoke them to join us. In the streets! The army and the police are taking the side of the protesting people and Serbia must rebel." And when things are done this way, Vuk said, a program of democratic renewal will follow.

Draskovic said the opposition had united at the people's request and that they now expected the people to do the same. Then he spoke about the "logs in the opposition's eye," the so-called opposition deputies who "sold themselves for a handful of shameful silver coins." Because of such experiences, the opposition must not be naive and this is why, Draskovic said, there was no room for Dusan Mihajlovic and those represented by him, on any list. This was the first time that Draskovic specifically and publicly put a period on the case of the New Democracy. Whether by accident or not, his brother Rodoljub Draskovic, the vice-president of the New Democracy, on the same day abandoned Mihajlovic. Rodoljub personally and publicly resigned and wrote that most of the members were leaving together with him and that he was joining the coalition of the Democratic opposition as the fourth member for the economic revival of the country.

Author of Justice for Serbia in Belgrade

Danke Handke

by Andrej Ivanji

"Croatia surely has reason to thank Genscher; no one here in Serbia has any use of my story. That's why this 'thank you' is so much nicer here," says Peter Handke for VREME

When one reads Peter Handke's book Winter Trip... or Justice for Serbia, a literary text full of personal impressions, one can hardly remain calm and simply decide: "I like it" or "I don't like it." In his interview for VREME given in the cafe of the Yugoslav Drama Theater, tired Handke comments that he would rather keep quiet for a while, but says: "I have no explanation for this. It is partly an aggressive text, but it cannot be called pro-Serbian. It is a text which poses questions, examines, and perhaps this is why it causes so much aggressiveness, as if it caused a chemical reaction. I think it is the hesitation in my text which caused the scandal. Is this useful - we don't know yet."

Scandals broke out when people in Germany and Austria read and discussed Justice for Serbia, probably because most of the public had an opinion about the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, which was represented by the media as a struggle of the good against the evil, which is the essence of every Western and average American action movie. Handke in his text changed the roles which the viewers had got used to a long time before and dared to insult the war reporters who had been in Bosnia. By doing this he arose criticism and protests.

In Serbia, on the contrary, he received only appraisals. "I feel better, or more precisely - more real, where I am criticized," said Handke. "The reading in Belgrade was far less dramatic than the previous presentations of the text."

Handke felt he had to bring Justice for Serbia to Belgrade. "In gratitude to the host, I tried to read a part of my text in Serbian. Then I did not have such strong feelings about it. I hope the audience could understand my reading." Handke's kindness was greeted by a loud applause. After the reading, Handke talked to the audience and the talk turned out to be an exchange of compliments - Handke complimented the Serbian people and the Serbian people, represented by the audience, thanked Handke. A lady in the audience said that in Croatia people had sung "Danke Deutschland" and similarly people in Belgrade could say "Danke Handke."

"When individuals here in Serbia thank me, it is something quite different from Croatia's official thanks to Mr. Genscher. Croatia certainly has a reason to thank Genscher; no one here in Serbia has any use of my story. This is why the 'Thank you' here is much nicer. In the sea of political, moral and philosophical reviews of Justice for Serbia, no one seems to care about literary criticism. While the Serbian poets and writers are unanimously celebrating Handke as a friend of the Serbian people, literary criticism has come from where we least expected it. "Serbia's information ministry has published a brochure which contains one of the most beautiful reviews of this text," Handke said. "The text gives a new meaning to the worn-out genre of travelogue. If I were cynical, I would suggest to my publisher to use this sentence as a slogan and sign it with Serbia's Information Ministry."

Asked whether he was Yugo-nostalgic, Handke said "I did not expect to hear this stupid word from you, although I cannot forget how attached to Yugoslavia I used to be. If it is nostalgia, then in this nostalgia I see a picture of the future and not a connection with the past. Yugoslavia was a fact, a reasonable and only true state in Europe. I am an anarchist by nature, but if I ever liked a state, then it was Yugoslavia."