A Torn Bag

Just as he had made a proper decision to accept the OSCE recommendations and recognize all the results of the local elections, the jinxed Slobodan Milosevic was presented with a new bill which was due for payment. He would immediately have to call some similar commission to tell him what he was guilty of in the meantime and how much he still owes whom. The creditors have multiplied to such an extent that there is no way that the man can pay them all up. His efforts not to notice them were in vain, he sent messages how he had larger and more important obligations than paying off debts, he accused, threatened and intimidated. The opposition, students, church, citizens, young and old, practically all who know how to blow a whistle were on his back. Trying to stop the retreat with riots, Milosevic once again employed the classic combination of beatings and concessions, yet once again with no luck. Either that combination no longer works here, or its dosage hasn't been right, so that there were too many beatings and too little concessions. In any case, his debt has increased, and the creditors have not lost the will to collect both that and all preceding ones.

Therefore, in only two days we saw Milosevic's two faces, one devilishly leering, the other generous and apprehensive, yet neither one left a deep impression. Those who were beaten up were back on the streets the next day as living proof that there is no salvation for tyranny. There was nothing left to do other than return what was stolen and here Milosevic all of a sudden decided to leap over the entire judiciary, whose workload he had overloaded. He chose the form of a letter to the Prime Minister Marjanovic, which should remind one of a royal decree, yet since this king has been deprived of his dignity, since he is confessing to theft with that very decree, it all turned out to be comical.

Excluding a part of his clique, no other subjects are left here who need his decrees. It all seems to me that the people would most gladly tell him to sit in his time machine and return to the century from which he had come. He no longer only has the liberated citizens on his back, but also a larger part of the government structure which he had in the course of these two and a half months trampled over and humiliated in all possible ways. What, for example, can the judges now think and what do they think that the people think of them? They have adopted so many decisions, disputed, explained, interpreted the law, called upon the authority and court independence, and now Milosevic has spat on all that and on all of them as well.

What are all those journalists to do who had uncovered swastikas at the demonstrations, and would like to remain in Belgrade and to occasionally drop into the local pub? Where can the Parliament Speaker Tomic, who had recognized neo-fascists amongst the students hide and those who are to take over local government in Belgrade now? Or all those who had organized and taken part in the third round of elections and had in certain places even constituted local assemblies which are no longer valid? Amongst those people and in such professions there aren't that many of them who are capable of employing an easygoing attitude towards themselves, as the renowned local bum, author of the book How I Became an Ox, can.

Finally, I suppose that even the police isn't all too pleased with its performance. Even if they enjoy beating people up, they most definitely enjoy it more when it isn't in vain. All in all, what is left is a large number of faces which shall not be forgotten, and plastic surgery isn't overly developed here. Namely, there are those such as Ljubisa Ristic who, to someone who will recognize him, shall find it difficult to prove that it's a case of mistaken identity, that he isn't the one, but only looks like him. Therefore, things are looking up for plastic surgeons, as well as for hairdressers, beauticians and wig-makers.

Recognizing the results of the local elections Milosevic has called upon higher state interests and relations with the OSCE and the international community. As far as he is concerned, those relations have hopelessly been destroyed anyway, which he had actually already completed. Word is simply of adopting a stately posture, while the real problem remains in the fact that here, at home, his time is up. He would easily deal with Clinton, Kohl and Chiraque, yet he doesn't know what to do with Vesna, Vuk and Zoran.

This threesome, whatever they mess up in the future, deserves the greatest credit for these 77 days so far. Up close and inside they didn't always look as good as outside, they had their ups and downs, some more some less, yet they endured and bore enormous strain. It is true that this liberation movement has its life and its soul, yet the three leaders felt its pulse extremely well and upheld its direction. They have inevitably imposed an obligation upon themselves to back each other up, even if they aren't utterly conscious of it.

During the protest, which has brought misfortune of internal disintegration to the regime, a reverse process must have been unfolding on the opposition side. The cohesion of the coalition Zajedno, however, still hasn't been upgraded in the organizational sense, just as the very protest movement didn't get an independent representative body. It would have been better if it had, since in that manner other demands could have been stressed more easily which do not directly deal with party interests, yet there wasn't much time for organizational work, and it isn't too late even now. Namely, things have reached a point when an organizational form shall be sooner and easier derived at, then for the protest to diminish due to its lack. Psychologically, all is prepared for a new beginning. Many people have politically matured at great speed; the true problems of society have been uncovered; smaller parties and marginal people who did not take part in this battle are disappearing from the scene; all the energy is focused on internal restructuring and a change of order, and can no longer be lured to some different terrain.

After so many days, the demonstrators have acquired self-confidence and a stabile routine, which means that they can always be counted on. In the future, this pre-tested weapon which shall not misfire, shall probably be employed a number of times in the future.

Namely, I suppose that Milosevic shall now be in a great hurry to implement his decision on returning what has been stolen and shall offer some form of a dialogue on other matters. If that proves to sound sufficiently serious, the opposition shall not be able to refuse and shall stop the protest, or at least their participation in it. This is why it is important to know, in case the negotiations don't run smoothly, that hundreds of thousands of whistles are always at hand.

Yet, after recognizing the results and the opposition's entrance into the local assemblies, the battle against the tyrant shall have to acquire some other forms. Even though it enters into all future dialogues with an enormous advantage, the opposition shall need much patience, a sense of reality and caution. Milosevic is a bag with holes, yet no one still knows what lays hidden inside it, while his spies know more than they want to about the opposition. The regime also has financing and television on its side, even though funds are thinning out and they need to be hidden more carefully, and no one believes television. Despite all that, when the dialogue commences, the opposition shall have innumerable ammunition at its disposal which the stupidity of the regime has armed them with as of November 17. Such a lawsuit could not be lost even by an elementary school pupil of mediocre intelligence, yet three geniuses could lose it if they were to start clashing, tripping each other up, forgetting their mutual goal and begin fighting over seniority. Which is why I feel Draskovic, Djindjic and Vesna Pesic cannot avoid initially sitting down and accomplishing the harder part of the business, which consists of a stable regulation of their mutual relations. If they cannot live without each other, if they have to stand together at the republican elections, if the world is trying to accept and support them, then they would also have to draw up a small joint platform. Only a few simple sentences which will sound more articulate than the sound of the whistles.

The issue here is only of the chronology of the moves and we should only worry over such a mistake. Namely, the current coalition can peacefully fall apart and all three leaders are free to go their own ways, but absolutely not before they make the final move in the game against Milosevic. His last hope lies exactly in that, that one second before the end, before his fortress collapses, someone from the opposition shall trip up someone else.