Dead End

The participants of the protest which has turned into a liberation movement in Serbia has been drawing out only the best of themselves -only imagination, cheerfulness, kindness, solidarity, and responsibility -and it is very difficult to imagine that any of them, when they return home, are beating their children or quarreling with their neighbors. It is as if though the daily demonstrations for the recognition of the electoral victory of the opposition have turned, incredibly efficiently, into a ritual of exorcising evil spirits. The Republic Square and streets of Belgrade and other cities have become huge purgatories in which people joined together and individually squeeze out and throw off all the poison that has been accumulating for years, which consisted of lies, hatred and stupidity. The issue was political only at the beginning and the word was only of support to the coalition Zajedno and a protest against the electoral theft. However, it was clear that the very mention of Milosevic's name was causing a deeper reaction. Speeches were interrupted and there was whistling, hollering and thumping for twenty minutes, almost as when in moments of religious rapture the message is sent out, "back off Satan". That choir is now a lot shorter, which means that the job has been completed and that inside, people no longer feel anything for the things which Milosevic symbolizes. This movement can obviously endure more and grow, yet already now its strength is sufficient to make it possible to say that Belgrade and Serbia are prepared for something totally new. The until-recently confused and scared people who were tottering towards the end of the century and millennium as if they were moving towards an abyss, to whom each lunatic was able to sell his fix, have all of a sudden found their balance. The black magic of all world conspiracies is no longer effective. People are no longer paralyzed with fear of Serbian enemies; they have uncovered in Milosevic's regime, television and press the real source of all that and have matured overnight. These days, even outside the protest walks and meetings, it is easily discernible how people are no longer irritable and quarrelsome, how a smile and kindness no longer comes to them with difficulty, and that is the best way to see that these are no longer Milosevic's people. Not a single person anymore wishes to resemble the former leader. An emotional and mental transformation has occurred which however still isn't politics, nor even a certain stand and clear orientation. That transformation is more and less than politics. It represents an openness towards reason, truth and uprightness, which even the best policies on their own cannot guarantee and attain. Yet, not even this worthy braveness, determination and demonstration of solidarity of the citizens on its own can guarantee that we shall acquire an equal, or sufficiently good and responsible government and policies. Everyone has, in the course of these meetings, seen that the very citizens, by their reactions, witticism and creativity, are actually creating and leading the movement, opening up and showing the road to the leaders of the opposition. The three of them found their bearings as best as they could, learning along the way and mainly following the spirit of the movement. One of the initial mistakes was calling Dobrica Cosic, whom the citizens rejected knowing that he carries too much of Milosevic in him. The best ideas, such as a traffic blockade and rattling pots and pans in time of the state-television prime time newscast, have been enthusiastically accepted, worked out in detail and applied with unbelievable imagination and persistence. The movement instinctively rejects violence, which was plainly evident during Milosevic's counter-rally. None of his unfortunate supporters were truly beaten, even though they were in the minority and actually consciously sacrificed. The movement does not want a conflict with the police yet it wants its protest walk and defends the right to whistle in front of the buildings of state-television, radio and Politika daily. Making noise at the time of the prime time newscast lends the protest with new possibilities for expression and is connecting people in a different way in the streets, transferring the joy and bravery of the protest into the houses and neighborhood. However, it would be worthwhile to draw deeper conclusions from this willingness of such a large number of people to even individually express their relationship toward Milosevic's television. The opposition speakers (especially Djindjic) are accusing the regime for stealing from the people, and this is definitely something that meets with large approval. No one has forgotten Jezda, Dafina (wheeler-dealers), the printing of worthless money and the extortion of foreign currency, just as it is not overly-necessary to explain to anyone what it means when ministers are at the same directors and large company owners. However, it seems that the people understand that there are worse and more evil things than such thefts, and those are lies. I believe that this movement is in its largest part directed against lies, lies which make even thefts possible and unpunished, yet which have generated many other misfortunes. That false image of oneself, others and the whole world, was the basis of Milosevic's policies from the beginning. His solution to the Kosovo problem was based on lies, the horrific and disastrous war was brought on by lies, his peaceful turning point was supported by false reasons, the sanctions and isolation were explained by lies, the war against the opposition was waged by lies, lies maintained a crumbling regime and only with lies could they convince us that JUL was a party of the future. Finally they are even trying to suffocate this movement more with lies than with the police. The protest aimed against television is now saying, as clearly as possible, that they no longer believe Milosevic. Not even those who had once believed certain things believe him now and no longer know when, about what and how much he had lied to them. It seems to me that they are now utterly prepared to hear a different story about all that had been going on here for years since they feel as if they had just shaken off a horrible nightmare, which obviously didn't solely involve the electoral theft. Now people are simply asking someone to convincingly explain to them what had happened and why they are so happy all of a sudden. This country cannot free itself of all problems overnight, but the citizens are very disposed to put it all down to Milosevic's heritage and are simply calling upon the opposition to throw off all of his mortgage. Therefore, the opposition has a great and rare chance to freely and bravely open up all subjects, Kosovo and the Bosnian war, all that had been blocked and tied up in a deadly knot of lies, threats and blackmail and presented as national interests. The people who are demonstrating do not wish to be held as hostages of anything, and know too well all the pitfalls and all the excuses by which the regime had so adroitly managed them all these years and kept them in a state of fear and submissiveness. The opposition now cannot deal with slight calculations, cannot show any fear of the television accusations which no one believes anyway, cannot lose its initiative and gamble away its chance to truly be at the head of a liberation movement and show that it can lead the country towards a new direction. It cannot do this since it would disappoint the best spirit which this nation had ever displayed, since it will not gain the confidence of the world and since, finally, possibilities still exist for everything to swerve towards a catastrophic direction. Milosevic has started printing money again, which is a way to quickly manufacture complete chaos, to force the people to stock up on everything, to mindlessly chase after bread and milk, and to retreat from the cities to the country. This could easily be his strategy of destruction and revenge against the cities with the idea to -at a certain appropriate moment- once again re-establish his "law and order" once the resistance weakens. In achieving this, he would definitely be helped by Seselj who is waiting for his cue and is practicing strictness in Zemun. A quicker way possibly exists which would enforce a state of emergency and, judging by all counts, the tyrant has almost decided to try that as well, which does not exclude hyper-inflation nor a true secession of Montenegro. These days he is obviously waiting for something. His "institutions of the system" are in no hurry to respond to the requests and recommendations of the OSCE, while he is refusing to see foreign diplomats and is showing no intentions of making political concessions. If he had wanted the reforms which he had spoken of, he would first of all have had to renounce his own wife and proclaim her as the chief culprit. Since he won't do that, there can be no word of reforms, and I believe that the above named madam expects him to fight to the very end. The police have remained the sole support of this regime, and when it comes to that, even the police usually doesn't turn out to be all that reliable. I do not seriously believe in a state of emergency success, although the demonstrators should take care not to give rise to it. I don't know what the tyrant is still waiting for. Maybe nothing. Maybe only for someone to come and pick him up and inform him that the country has liberated him, that he no longer has to worry about anything and that in future others shall take care of him.