Bad and Worse

Can it be possible that things have reached such an awkward point in Serbia where almost pure national rejects have cropped up amongst the people who hold power or are pretenders to it, where there is hardly any sense in choosing and differentiating? And if things aren't as such, if those people are typical or the best, then choices can be made in an easy and carefree manner since long-term wise the situation is hopeless.

This dilemma is luckily unrealistic and naive, however it is truly unusual to see what the government and the opposition look like and what their conduct is like in this election year. For Milosevic, the only good news can arrive from the opposition, which is also primarily counting on his bad luck and not on its own intelligence and virtues. There were a lot of opportunities for rejoicing on both sides lately. Only the citizens had nothing to be merry about, since they see that this shall be a season of choosing evil out of fear for something worse. Once the campaign starts, someone who has not been proven a liar shall probably remember to promise something nice. However, for now all we hear are threats and insults, and only a meager few have remained unchecked.

Milosevic has succeeded, mainly thanks to the opposition itself, to dilute and put a stop to that liberating flourish which, throughout the protest, looked irresistible. Yet new misfortunes befell him, no thanks to the opposition. Milo Djukanovic has remained while Radovan Stojicic departed.

The assassination of the first policeman of Serbia has, to say the least, harshly discredited the regime, whoever ordered, organized and conducted it. If the underground did, it means that it is practically almighty in Belgrade, i.e. that the police is helpless, and this occurs only when they merge and mingle too closely and when all forget who steals and plunders and who upholds order and the government. Since it became impossible to differentiate criminals from patriots during the war, since credits and acknowledgments were acquired on account of the crimes, it is logical that the underground views the police as its equals and that someone could have gotten the notion to assassin Stojicic as a simple gangster.

Otherwise, criminals hardly ever and hardly anywhere dare to enter into open war with the police. If they were the ones who performed this, it is because they feel as legal as the police are criminalized here. To the question of how such an assassination could have come about there is no better answer than the funeral scene where Zeljko Raznjatovic - Arkan was standing next to Slobodan Milosevic. That means that the issue here isn't a war of the powers of lawlessness and of order, but rather a collapse and defeat of law, when accounts are internally settled through bypassing the separation line.

Milosevic probably cannot exclude the political conspiracy motive, but even if that wasn't it's primary goal, this murder is a political fact. It shows that today in Belgrade someone exists who is capable of paying, organizing and impeccably conducting an assassination of the highest rank, and with such knowledge it is anything but pleasant to find oneself as a potential target.

On top of that, this incident occurred at an awkward moment, exactly at the time when Milosevic is trying to weaken and remove the Montenegrin Prime Minister Djukanovic, at the same time primarily insisting upon control over the police. The police, naturally, equals the government, and the murder of Stojicic is, whichever way you look at it, filth which shows what type of police and government Milosevic would like to impose upon Montenegro as an example. I'm not saying that all of the people there are clean and infallible, however in this conflict Djukanovic is obviously growing into a powerful and serious figure on whose serene and measured resolution all Serbian politicians could model themselves.

However, for Milosevic, the fact that he and his loyal ally Momir Bulatovic seem to be outdated, unpopular masters of behind-the-scene party intrigues and demagogic media manipulation is a lesser problem to him. The real trouble lies in the fact that it isn't working and the fact that Djukanovic is winning in Montenegro in open battle, in full view of the public. This means that not only Bulatovic has been defeated but also that the secret rules of inter-party conflicts are not valid anymore by which all reformists are always in the minority.

Not even the accusations of separatism and attempts aimed towards a collapse of this Yugoslavia were of any help. Djukanovic's stand was unchallenging yet self-assured and superior, showing that for all possible and expected complications in the relations between Serbia and Montenegro the one who hands out pensions on time and is granted international credits cannot be at fault, unlike the one who cannot and does not know how. Who will believe that Djukanovic - who arrives from Greece with credit - is breaking up the state, and not Milosevic who is spending government funds for a private journey, unsuccessfully trying to sever that deal at the same time? It is definitely true that the state in which two systems are being implemented must weaken, but why should the better, more contemporary, more efficient and more democratic of the two retreat?

All these are excellent reasons to lift the spirits of the opposition in Serbia. However, Milosevic is not waiting in vain for Coalition Zajedno to present him with a chance to survive. The three leaders did manage to draw up and sign an agreement, yet it is evident that a lot more leaps, conflicts and political wanderings are in store. By this I do not believe that the greatest problem lies in the fact that Vuk Draskovic maybe isn't a good presidential candidate. No one apparently shall be a good enough candidate for that position which has become too important and it would be ideal if we could simply not vote for a president this time, just like when a jury decides not to hand out an award.

Draskovic has already had a haircut and if he would give his utmost and seem absolutely infallible from now until the elections, he might be able to win over some of those he had repelled so far. However, he is showing signs of returning to the very initial stage of his political activities when he had the impression that he would, on the wave of a global collapse of communism, easily win by simply mentioning the king and Draza Mihajlovic. This opens up even fewer doors than before and if he keeps to those rhetorics, Draskovic shall damage his election chances and the Coalition Zajedno as well.

Namely, neither the Democratic Party nor the Civil Alliance of Serbia share the restoration enthusiasm of the Serbian Renewal Movement, and it is definitely not an idea which is forefront in the minds of the majority of the half-famished citizens of Serbia. I have nothing against re-imposing the old names of our city streets, even though in Belgrade a lot of those bear

names of people no one remembers anymore. However, that should definitely be conducted in a careful manner devoid of any revengeful fervency. And if instead of the partisan names and dates we acquire Chetnik ones, the opposition shall without a doubt lose a lot of votes and offer propaganda ammunition to the regime. Namely, that shall not stand as a road towards national reconciliation, but rather as a digging up old trenches and a new remodeling of history.

Attempts to bring back everything to its initial stage were not successful even in the other former communist countries, where that was a much easier task since they did not have real civil wars, Chetniks and partisans on their hands. That conservative, restoration idea has its arguments and sympathizers, but if it aims to win, the opposition must widely expand its network and open up towards modern liberalism and towards rhetorics of social justice and protection.

Zoran Djindjic is not devoid of weaknesses either, although different to Draskovic's. All see him as a modern and pragmatic man, however he has been known to oversee the limits of pragmatism. He has probably lost a lot when he had to admit that he had met with Milosevic at the time of the protest. Even though that was a mistake, I personally would not judge him too harshly for it and I believe that their conversation really had to have been of no consequence. However, I don't know how to forgive him for fiercely denying his visit to Milosevic at the meeting two days later. He who speaks of democracy must be aware that in a democracy such things have a very high price and it is his pure luck that the regime propaganda cannot efficiently utilize this episode.

I had to say all of this because I am under the impression that the majority of the opposition is putting the citizens of this country into much too strong of a temptation. If such a large number of people wish to shake off this current regime and if their greatest hopes are linked to Coalition Zajedno, Draskovic and Djindjic should not take their support for granted and treat them as if they were hostages who have no other option than to close their eyes, swallow all and hand them their votes.

If nothing else, they have to think about Seselj who Milosevic is obviously planning to launch as the main favorite to anyone who is set upon voting for the opposition.