So Small, And Already a Seselj

The job description of a spokesman states that this job requires the skill and precision of a mine specialist: someone who speaks in the name of a politician or an entire political party has to be so skillful as to recognize and deactivate every mine his chief or the party to which he belongs could step on.  In situations of fierce political conflicts, if necessary, a spokesman is also expected to plant mines for the other side.  And those who are not cautions — well, it’s their loss.

Nearly every Thursday, at his regular press conferences, the spokesman for the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), Ivica Dacic, appears to be trying to prove that his job description includes something totally different — planting mines meant for yourself.  At once Dacic was authorized on Thursday to say something in the name of his party which was denied as early as Friday, unofficially giving him the sarcastic reputation of a spokesman who, except on the level of catch phrases and parroting of general facts, usually knows very little of what is really happening in the house in whose name he speaks.

EXAMPLES IN HIS CAREER: If memory serves us correctly, on the same day that Dacic announced that SPS will never succumb to street pressures in acknowledging the results of local elections in Serbia (that is to say, the rigging of the election results), Slobodan Milosevic (surprisingly, without even consulting his spokesman) proclaimed the infamous lex specialis.  Prior to that, Dacic also claimed that the opposition is “speaking nonsense and is looking for victory where there is none.”  Before the national currency was devalued, Dacic accused the independent media and political centers subscribing to the notion “the worse the better” that they are participating in the destruction of the dinar and in spreading an atmosphere of ruin, only to be fairly discouraged and surprised at seeing that “the dinar has been defended”.  Soon after, the dinar was devalued.
Leading into last year’s elections, Dacic forecasted that Vojislav Seselj and the Radicals are quite certainly heading for “the depths of political anonymity”.  When leading into those elections the Socialists called on all progressive forces of society to stand united, Dacic explained at a press conference that this call does not include the Radicals because “the Radical Party of Serbia can hardly be taken for a leftist, democratic force by anyone.”  When Seselj became runner-up to Milan Milutinovic in the presidential elections, Dacic claimed that “the extremist policies of Vojislav Seselj can serve as an alibi to those who did not succeed with threats, pressures, sanctions, and war in the region, to now succeed in realizing new measures against Serbia.”  Several months later the Radicals entered the Government of National Unity, and Seselj overnight rose from “the depths of political anonymity”, where he was sent by Dacic, only to become vice-president of the government of Serbia.

When refugee camps in Kosovo were bombed, the SPS spokesman accused “certain media” because of this.  “I consider the reports of certain Yugoslav media, in which Albanians are accused arbitrarily and without proof, as immoral acts which are typical examples of provocation and inter-ethnic hatred at a time when our region is most in need of strengthening peace and living together based on the principles of national equality of all citizens of Yugoslavia.”  Of course, that was at a time when SPS candidates regularly “received” several hundreds of thousands of votes from Albanians in Kosovo.  Today, the SPS spokesmen is no longer unsure as to who it is that is bombing Kosovo, and at a press conference he explained that in the battle against terrorism there are in fact no civilians.  According to Dacic, those who die as civilians in conflicts with terrorists usually do so because of a decision to remain with the terrorists.

The SPS spokesman recently commented on the elections in Montenegro, claiming that elections there were held with strong pressure from the Mafia and the police, and with a powerful media blockade.  Dacic claimed that by acknowledging the elections in Montenegro, the international community is actually supporting terrorism in Kosovo and the Montenegrin Mafia.  On the basis of these statements many people predicted that Belgrade will never acknowledge Djukanovic and his government.  Soon after it turned out that Milosevic was calling them to Belgrade and was looking for paths toward cooperation with those who won “with the help of the Mafia and the police.”

On the basis of certain examples from the stellar career of Ivica Dacic as SPS spokesman, it could be said that he does not miss a single opportunity for stepping on what he himself plants in press conferences.  Admittedly, it must be stated that Dacic never makes a mistake when he does extra spokesman jobs after election days in the capacity of spokesman of the State Election Committee.  Then they give him the real facts and do not allow him to improvise.  His statements about the election results ultimately differ only minutely from the official ones, even though they come a lot sooner.  In those nights, Dacic is exceptionally precise and inspired when he taunts the opposition after every new election defeat.  Only one single time after election day, during the local elections in November of 1996, when it was clear that the Left was losing out, did Dacic send reporters back to their editorial offices before midnight, stating that he had nothing more to say.

BELOW THE BELT: Last Thursday, Ivica Dacic went much further as the spokesman (some say, mere loudspeaker) of his party.  The SPS spokesman, Federal MP, Coordinator of the SPS Sector for Information and Propaganda, Member of the Council for International Cooperation of this Party, Member of UO Tanjug, President of the Football Club “Palilulac”, member of IO KK “Partizan”, President of the Sports Association of Serbia, Vice-President of the Yugoslav Olympic Committee entrusted with financial matters, the most auspicious wedding guest at the wedding of Arakan and Ceca Raznatovic, former journalist and playmaker of a local handball club (played in the Serbian Handball League), one could say a man with renaissance breath and abilities, broke all the rules of political communication in this region.  At his regular press conference he succumbed to hateful speech and used words which are no longer used even in Tanjug’s famous commentaries or among beer drinkers in front of the local corner store in Zitoradje, where Dacic grew up.  He called the Special American Envoy to the Balkans Robert Gellbard an accessory to the criminals and terrorists in Kosovo, calling him a disgrace for the US and for all moral values.  At the same time he stated that it is quite logical that such a rag of a man and diplomats are meeting with the Serbian Opposition trash in the Hague.  In a similar context he spoke about the media that is not in the government’s favor.  As far as Gellbard is concerned, it is interesting that the American diplomat came into Dacic’s viewfinder as soon as he met with a segment of the Serbian Opposition, and not while he was having meetings with Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) representatives in Switzerland.  It appears that something of the sort is a far greater sin in the eyes of the ruling party in Serbia.

Those who are familiar with the matter claim that Dacic received information that Gellbard is certainly on his way out, and that as a result he can direct some venom his way.  Since Vojislav Seselj, who usually goes much further than Dacic on most current issues, also holds his press conference on Thursday, the SPS spokesman made efforts to be remembered this time not only by mines on which he will later step himself, but also by a rhetoric and insults which would put even Seselj to shame.

SURREALISM: At the same time, preparations were taking place for the JUL Congress, so that the youthful Dacic could not fall too far behind in creating the pre-congress atmosphere which was characterized by the mudslinging of the “traitorous” independent media.  In any case, what sort of a Government of National Unity would this be if the coalition partners, regardless of whether their heart beats on the left or the right side, did not harbor complete unanimity with regard to their proven enemies, and did not encourage each other in their favorite activity — in recognizing enemies in every molecule of air.  In such coalitions after a certain time it becomes irrelevant on which side one’s heart beats, or who was the first (Ivica Dacic or Vojislav Seselj) to say that the police van will be dropping by to make an arrest of whom.  Until recently, Seselj kept claiming that one day Dacic will be picked up by a police van, while Dacic kept asserting authorship over the idea of a police van coming to pick up the leader of the Radicals.
Words which Dacic used last Thursday caused many reactions and counterblasts.  The manner in which he spoke becomes someone who bases his arrogance on superiority or, on the other hand, someone who feels that he is losing ground.  In this case all this is not nearly as important as the fact that the level of political communication and general culture is once again dropping very low.  Of course, it remains to be seen what will happen to the people whom Dacic mentioned recently.  As far as Gellbard is concerned, he has someone to look after him, but it is not unimaginable that he might suddenly make a stellar diplomatic career.  For it is worth remembering that Dacic until recently signed off Seselj, while the latter ended up in the government of Serbia.  As far as the “opposition trash” is concerned, it is easiest to resort to the spent phrase that every government has the kind of opposition it deserves.  If this opposition is trash, then the government can’t be much better.

Those who are truly concerned that this country should experience success in any field, regardless of which one, are spending their days nervously expecting Dacic’s next press conference.  In April, Dacic claimed as a noted basketball player leading up to the “final four” in which Belgrade’s “Partizan” participated, that our players and our nation in general have exceptional motivation, and that he would not be surprised if they became European champions.  “Partizan” choked in that championship.  In the interest of our national sports teams, it might be beneficial if SPS were to hold back on its Thursday press conferences, at least for as long as the World Basketball Championship is on.  It would hardly do them any good were Dacic to wish them something.  For, after all, they are off to such a good start.