Nightmare

Some twenty years ago a man from this part of the world became famous for exploring the deepest caves, in which he spent a record number of days. It has been a long time since I heard anything about this great lover of darkness, but now it seems to me that that he was kind of a prophet and a forerunner of this nation. They say that those who spend a sufficiently long period of time without any light or sound lose every sense of time. The distinction between day and nigh becomes senseless, dreams and reality become indistinguishable, and, released from all outside restrictions and stimulation, consciousness produces hallucinations which become the only reality. This metaphor, for which I accept legal responsibility, suggests that the darkness which has befallen us was not meant to be temporary, as a necessity resulting from the threat of air raids, but something which would make us believe in the hallucinatory portrayals of our lives, which appear regularly on television and in the diary of Mira Markovic.

As long as there is at least some light, we will refuse to admit that a rubbish dump is in fact a flower-bed, but in complete darkness it is impossible to prove that a dustbin is not a daisy. In a situation where no one can see anything, and every version of reality or everybody’s theory about it is equally credible, JUL’s serenade about ‘nice, nicer’ sounds especially charming. Because, if everything can be anything, there is no reason why anyone shouldn’t prefer nice things to the ugly ones.

When this journal was started  eight years ago, it was the time of the greatest noise and anger, hysterical insults and colossal lies which constituted a prelude to war and the dissolution of the state. The magazine did not seem as a particularly promising business venture, and has not become one since. But our ambition has been to testify reliably, to think freely and clearly, not to incite hatred and aggression, and to preserve a high standard of public discourse and common decency.

It was never easy, but so far we managed to survive. Now the end seems very near. According to the new Press Law and the enforcement procedures which have already been demonstrated, we are facing the highest penalties for the same things which we have opposed for all these years. For lies and insults, for inciting national and racial hatred.
This law was initialized by Seselj’s information minister who is now enforcing it with the help of court officials and some hired parapolicemen.

And Seselj himself rose to power and built his entire political career on hatred, slander and lies, which is something that can be easily proved within 24 hours. Therefore, the radicals and their leader have now become the arbiters of decency, protectors of everyone’s dignity and the guardians of the norms of good taste.

Seselj will moreover explain to me how I must respect other nations and how I must not use dirty words such as ‘criminal’ or ‘witch’ or else he will punish me. And I am supposed to respond with ‘Yes, Master, anything you say’. When someone calls me a spy, a mercenary or a traitor, that of course does not constitute an insult, and no one has to prove the allegation in court, although I would if I were to call that person a liar. The law therefore expects me to accept that I am both a traitor and a mercenary, and promise to improve and become like Seselj.

If I refuse to do so, and carry on as before, the Ministry of Information can sanction my every metaphor, ironical comment  or statement of the obvious by confiscating my own property, that of the editor-in-chief or the publisher.

In the past, we faced threats concerning the confiscation of property only in cases of tax evasion or late payment of heating bills. Now confiscation falls into the domain of the Information ministry, and will be resorted to every time someone is caught telling the truth. It appears that the confiscation of property is fashionable these days, probably because it is believed that it can compensate for some of what was lost in Kosovo.

This nightmare is not only my own, of this magazine or of the media in general. The incredible JUL-Radical aggression also threatens to wipe out the University as we once knew it. Has anyone ever seen eminent professors hold lectures in the street, because they have been expelled from the lecture theaters? Has anyone ever attended such street education? It seems that these ideologically suspect lecturers in electronics are invited to open their own academic kiosks, while who knows who will lecture at state universities. Somewhat miraculously, Vojislav Seselj pops up once again, and he will be the one who will, at the faculty of economics, talk to postgraduates about management. If he can lecture about management, why not about electronics? It seems that this man believes that he himself is capable of filling every gap which he himself creates, in whatever domain of social and political life in Serbia.

I don’t know the secret of Seselj versatility, or the origin of his right to carry out massive foreign affairs projects, such as the potential union with Russia and Belarussia.  Has he hypnotized Milosevic and made him hand over all the strings of power which he held so firmly? Is that why Jovica Stanisic quit? Until recently Stanisic was able to follow Milosevic, and it is in the nature of his work to keep a clear head and rely on good judgment. Whether he left of his own accord or if it was Milosevic who removed him is irrelevant in the sense that either way his departure is a clear indication that things have gone too far and are beyond the domain of the rational.

The Serbian state is changing from day to day. This is no longer the place we once knew, and next week we will be living according to different rules. Or no rules at all. Or we will no longer exist.