Playing-Style

I went less as an art lover and more on account of the public - which was more interesting than the stage this time. I suppose someone more qualified than I would say something about this version of Gorski Vijenac (a classic of Montenegrin literature) in which the aluminium scenography gave the impression of being a support to the economy. All I can do is confirm the general impression that Momir Bulatovic's empty seat in the first row seemed strikingly presidential, which only contributed to the overall good, festive mood. Serbia has been awaiting such an empty chair with yearning; however, that act has been postponed due to the fact that too many pretenders are crowding around it, thereby simply not allowing its present owner to get up. Some are already sitting in his lap. That commotion will have to be sorted out somehow. There will be movings about and shiftings and the future arrangement will be influenced by Podgorica as well. They kept convincing me that not a single person is left to represent Milosevic there and that all that Milo Djukanovic talks of is the mildest that can be heard. However, if there is no way Serbia can get rid of him, Montenegro will perhaps refrain from a total confrontation . At worst, they will allow Milosevic to call himself President of FR Yugoslavia, under condition that he does not meddle in its business more than Lilic does.

Which means that Milosevic, who had until now ruled over FR Yugoslavia as the President of Serbia, would be promoted, i.e. degraded to the President of FRY who only rules over Serbia. He might be satisfied with that since the most important thing for his style is that the formula and the actual power do not coincide, that nothing is as it appears to be, that there is a secret compartment in every briefcase, that the meanings are changed and hidden and that he is not left without a chance to falsely present himself.

Naturally, it is nicer when the actual power is larger than the formal one, and not vice-versa; however no one asks the loser what he prefers. The only thing Milosevic is still fighting for is a postponement and a slower pace. I believe that these days his people are working more on undermining the opposition than on strengthening their own positions. Since they can't prove that this country hasn't been torn to shreds, they would like to prove that there is no one who could pick up the pieces. In any case, ever since the whistles grew silent, the only tangible result isn't a consolidation of the regime but rather a discredited opposition.

However, it would be unfair to give Milosevic's departments for machinations and intrigues all the credit for the collapse of the coalition Zajedno. That has always been a part of politics. More important historical processes and events cannot only be explained in such a fashion with conviction, however. Politicians live in a world of intrigues constantly and learn quickly not to become susceptible and not to make hasty decisions without thoroughly looking into all aspects. Whenever any of them seems to be a victim of intrigues and shams, that is because that particular person wanted such a thing and was only looking for an excuse and any kind of proof. Therefore, the very leaders themselves, Djindjic and Draskovic, have caused the current freeze on the opposition coalition, and their contribution is pretty proportional to the size of their parties. Things stand so that their voters already feel cheated once again. Just as they had managed to pry their votes from Milosevic it turns out that what the people had voted for is no longer there. Those people, used in such a disposable way, have no reason to mull over who is to blame and to what an extent, and can easily answer the unscrupulous cynicism of those two with utter indifference.

Djindjic and Draskovic, who are fighting over their votes, have deserved to be left without them - which probably will not happen, at least not in a massive way, because all other alternatives seem even worse. Between these two there are at least differences in their styles and in their current positions. Djindjic seems more modern, since he uses shams and fraud, while Draskovic is nurturing a gangster-like manner of takeovers. Such menacing and aggressive behavior in politics is no longer legitimate, since civilization has turned in the direction of restraining from violence for the benefit of fraud, although some will view such progress as highly dubious.

The alleged points of dispute are Draskovic's presidential candidacy and the idea of the coalition's expansion. Neither one nor the other should be reason enough for the collapse of the coalition Zajedno, i.e. the theft of votes. However, when Djindjic objected to Draskovic's candidacy the latter reacted by deciding to launch an independent campaign and returned to the Ravna Gora line. Djindjic's insistent intentions of expanding the coalition truly do seem suspicious, invented in order to irritate Draskovic as it is not known who could make up for the loss caused by the split with the Serbian Renewal Party (SPO). However, Draskovic has once again taken up the aggressive and ultimatum stand and has severed all communication. He is hopelessly isolating himself, mostly to his own disadvantage and is even refusing talks on the electoral conditions.

It is simply frightening to what an extent this man hates the fact that Djindjic is the Mayor of Belgrade. He is capable of shocking even his most devoted supporters by flirting even with Seselj, only in order to threaten Djindjic that he would replace him. He, on the other hand, makes use of the situation for his own promotion, but which politician doesn't and why is it jeopardizing Draskovic to such an extent? What we have here is what the Americans refer to as a "zero sum game", and is best expressed by the local wise proverb "for one to rise, another must fall". The issue is the utter lack of cooperation and compromise which would benefit all, and without which a modern democratic order is inconceivable. Vuk Draskovic fails to understand this and in that sense he has not moved further away from Milosevic's understanding of power. That does not lead to any improvements but rather to simple replacements by applying the primitive principle that one gets all and the other nothing. In politics that is not a democracy and in economy it boils down to the assumption that an unchangeable amount of wealth exists, so either I shall rob you or you me, but we definitely won't earn and increase anything together.

It seems to me that even Djindjic has not gone a lot further in his comprehension of these things. However, he knows at least how to appear cooperative on the outside and at least while he is in a more favorable position. He does not keep his promises, does not abide by his agreements and signatures and makes severe turning points, as though he wakes up each morning not remembering the previous day and not knowing where he will end up by dinner. However he usually knows how to explain that and rarely makes mistakes as far as personal damage goes. If he truly is capable of bringing some buses over to Belgrade soon, he will know how to nicely recommend himself to the future voters. And Draskovic, if he refrains from immediately calling for Djindjic's impeachment, will possibly send out SPO activists to puncture tires during the night.

Such as they are, they would still have to be capable of somehow taking power in Serbia, to such extent as to ruin Milosevic's plan to rule from Lilic's chair. As the last resort, he would be left with the option of finding some money from somewhere, meaning he would have to sell off as much state property as possible. I don't know whether he would have enough time and whether he would succeed in that, yet I am certain that he is working on it, just as eagerly as he had earlier, for the same purposes, to spend the energy of national aspirations until they have dried up.

Therefore, since he sold Serbian nationalism to the Serbs themselves in its worst possible shape, he is now left to sell the remains of his communism: that is, to forget all those stories about evil strangers and heartless capitalists and invite them over to see whether there is anything they would want from here. In principle, that could work since prices have dropped for everything here. And he will once again innocently ask - didn't you want reforms, privatization, foreign investments and contacts with the world, just as he once asked - didn't you want a Greater Serbia. Therefore, if Milosevic manages to survive this time, that could happen thanks to capitalism, naturally in its worst possible shape again.