Loosing Grip

If we were to judge by the fact that he has officially wished us a Happy New Year, Slobodan Milosevic is still head of this state. However, that theory has been seriously brought to question by numerous recent arguments, amongst which that ceremonious speech stands as well. It could be deduced from it that the speaker possibly is head of something, but that something could in no way be Serbia, of which he knows nothing, or at least not what we all know, the only thing both we and the rest of the world are talking about. He acted as though he did not notice that he was up to his neck in water, as though by that very stand it would retreat and as though the whole secret of ruling is to be blind and deaf.

I still had the impression that he was unusually slow and unsure, with a higher pitched and almost gentle voice, as though even he no longer knows whether he truly is head of a state. That short pre-recorded speech could have been repeated to the camera several times, and we probably saw the best version he was capable of at the moment. What I want to say is that he sounded almost human, which is a sure sign of weakness and defeat. Yet, that is but an impression of a viewer who could be accused by everyone of being too partial towards Milosevic.

However, what is certain is that he has missed this opportunity to announce a decision regarding whether he will congratulate the opposition on its victory which he has tried to steal from them, which is what the outside world, Montenegro and probably a large number of his desperate supporters are demanding of him, or whether he shall settle accounts with the "fifth column", i.e. that same opposition, as he himself had promised at the rally a week earlier. I believe that his wife is talking him into the latter, as well as the Devil himself whose advice he had usually greatly esteemed.

I see that some deem the fact that Milosevic has said that this is to be a year of reforms as an important step forward. Then we would also have to be happy that he had wished all of us a Happy New Year, without excluding the walkers, students, Montenegrins, demonstrators, whistlers, conspirators, "fifth column" and all who are in a truly good mood these days. I would rather not dwell on interpretations of the mentioned reforms, since if Milosevic is in no hurry to be more precise and specific, we should give him time. This time everyone else has even less reason to be impatient.

Let the man contemplate in peace on the depths of the reforms and let him dispose of the remainder of his time by himself. Finally, it is no small task to give up your primary idea by which this year had to have been a year of happily combining a civil war with a state of emergency, during which the "fifth column" would have been liquidated along with all anti-Chinese forces. Milosevic is hesitating and is waiting for a good enough motive, yet has still not seen one which is why he is talking of reforms in such a dejected way. He did not clarify things further, since that reform would definitely have to start by surrendering Belgrade and most of the other cities to the "fifth column". Finally, reform is a magic word which the tyrants always remember towards the very end, when they run out of ammunition, when they lose their strength and when it is too late for their good intentions.

Whoever had stepped out on New Year's Eve into the streets of Belgrade, Nis or Novi Sad, did not have to watch Milosevic on television prior to that to understand how grieved he is. It was enough to feel that unrepeatable explosion of enthusiasm, since that was the true measure of his grief. Underneath the monument to Prince Mihajlo I saw a man who, at the very peak of elation, while the entire square was lit up by fireworks, love and happiness, was looking at the sky and thanking Slobodan Milosevic. He himself had to have equally deeply suffered, raged and cursed his bad luck.

That New Year's Eve celebration turned out to be so realistic and complete because Milosevic had in the last ten years used up and totally drained all the reserves of negative emotions. He gathered only enemies and called the nation to feel fear, anger and hate which had attained cosmic proportions. On top of that, that perverse pleasure wasn't free of charge. The people had to tighten their belts in order to have the right to feel fear and hate. They then noticed how those manufacturers of hate and collectors of enemies most definitely did not share their poverty. Then Milosevic announced how there were no more foreign enemies, and the people understood that his poverty was futile and absurd, and Milosevic all of a sudden acquired plenty of internal enemies.

The current situation is something which is rarely seen. The head of state in principle still holds all instruments of power and, in the technical sense, is ruling the country. In principle, the question still revolves only around the local elections and local government. In principle, he can still recognize the results of November 17. Moreover, he is not threatened by any physical force and no one is demanding anything illegal of him, while he himself has been caught in the act of demolishing legality. Finally, in principle, he still could find some culprits in the lower echelons who could, with modest compensations, agree to keep quiet and take shelter elsewhere.

Yet, what would it all mean? Milosevic would then admit that he really does not have the power he has, that is that he does not lay claims on it, at least not in the way he has used to and how it only interests him to. As if it was demanded of an absolute monarch to abdicate, and become president of the republic. First of all, he would be obliged to explain how the "fifth column" had all of a sudden turned into a legal opposition and even local authority in the cities. He would find it difficult to avoid opening up an investigation against those plainclothes policemen who had, out of the blue, beaten up the citizens with baseball bats, and it is a well-known fact where that investigation would lead us to.

He would also have to, which is of the utmost delicacy, explain to Mrs. Markovic why he isn't in a position to introduce Chinese socialism in Serbia. He would probably be forced to agree that television would in future broadcast at least twenty percent of the truth, which would totally degrade him, since his people, as can be seen, have rebelled even without that. That would also be an admittance that the counter-rallies were not successful, i.e. that the people do not want him, i.e. that he rules only because his term of office still hasn't expired, i.e. that he is more dead than alive.

Those are the reasons why Milosevic hesitates to accept the recommendations of the OSCE delegation which he had so gullibly invited, not knowing that Felipe Gonzales is not Mile Ilic. Which is why the institutions of the system have become such a favorite syntagm of all official speakers, which somehow sounds amazingly advantageous to them. Therefore, the findings and recommendation of OSCE shall return to the very institutions of the very same system which had stolen the elections and because of which help has been called from outside. No uninvited and especially invited foreigners shall force their will upon us.

However, the main charm of this entire joke boils down to the fact that we all know that no institutions nor systems exist here. We were told how what should have been institutions had operated by those few brave judges of the Supreme Court. I am no longer able to keep track of the news from Nis concerning the official correspondence between their local court and election committee, nor do I feel obliged to understand more than the fact that word is of a simple government collapse.

Therefore, of institutions and systems here, all we have is the ruling Family, their services and the people, or citizens, or however the rest of us wish to call ourselves. Which means that power is one and indivisible which is where the drama over the local authorities springs from, since they know if someone takes away just a piece, he takes all. The regime in Serbia is a tower of cards from which not a single one can be taken out, and the easiest thing would be to take out the one from the very pinnacle. In that way the lowest could somehow maintain their position. Which is why it is good for the future of this country that the crisis has been opened up from the very bottom, over local authorities, since that promises and opens up possibilities of constructing something a little more solid.

Therefore, if the unavoidable change could be accomplished in the best possible way, Milosevic would be the last one to leave his sinking ship. Yet he shall choose his destiny on his own and, judging by all facts, no one can be of help to him there. The citizens of Belgrade and Serbia have already done all that they could, the students have been dead creative, and even the opposition leaders failed to make a single mistake. Intimidation and threats of violence have been removed with unexplainable calm, patience and discipline. It all turned out as though God's mercy has spilled over this country and now all of us can utterly calmly await all that our unfortunate tyrant opts for.