The Most Expensive Pamphlet in History

You had an interview with B 92 Radio yesterday. You said that “Resistance” rallied only a few people in the beginning. Who are they?

Let’s just say it started with the ETF protest. The law school protest followed. Our friends who organized these protests invited us to take part as individuals with an experience from the 1996-97 winter protest and other such actions.

What happened that night?

It was an ambush. The four who were arrested met and started drawing some graffiti, when 50 cops turned up all of a sudden. There were cars with diplomatic number plates, secret service agents, ten patrol vehicles and a van. The idea was to draw a clenched fist only.

The SDO told me a different story. They said that your colleagues were arrested by a single patrol unit, that went by after someone had probably dialed them.
The SDO said that, because they weren’t there when two of their anti-fascist activists did this thing. They did it because they liked our idea. A few of our own activists managed to get away and they saw the arrest. No one apart from them saw what happened.

They rest their case on Teodora’s meeting with her father the morning after she was arrested.

This girl was there when it happened. They first saw a car with diplomatic number plates, which is why they started running towards Dorcol rather than Knez Mihajlova, as previously agreed. All of a sudden, 50 cops appeared from nowhere. Those who managed to get away left their spray and other stuff in a safe flat. They were stopped, asked to produce identification documents and searched by police three times after they got rid of their graffiti equipment. During the trial, they were asked what they were thinking of when they drew the graffiti. No one asked them what they were doing. If it were a single patrol unit, not so many people would have been asked to produce their identification documents.

The “Resistance” is being led by two bodies?

I really don’t want to talk about the movement’s organizational structure and how it works. Not because I want to mystify it in any way, but because I think that it could cause a lot of problems. Unfortunately, I had to come out when the daily Dnevni Telegraf was taken to court over a pamphlet I wrote. Someone had to testify and I was the obvious choice. I think we should keep a low profile. It is more important for us to come forward with genuine activities that will encourage people to offer resistance. The Resistance is not an organization, it’s an idea. It rallies a whole lot of people from all kinds of student federations and non-government organizations. It’s an activity, maybe that’s the best way to describe it.

Why do you think it is not a good idea to talk about it?

What happened to our four colleague shows that we’ve got to be very careful because we are dealing with a truly despotic regime.

But, you haven’t confined your activities to a student movement. You intend to create a broad popular movement?

Of course. The important thing is that resistance doesn’t mean violence. We are not a guerrilla organization of any kind and we neither have nor want any sponsors that could supply arms to us.

Isn’t that another reason not to be afraid of drawing public attention?

Four of our members have been arrested. We have made the most expensive pamphlet in history, for the daily Dnevni Telegraf has been fined 200,000 dinars for publishing it. This implies that we live in a despotic, illegitimate state with no freedom of speech, no laws and a state-controlled judicial system. It is not fear, because the people who have joined us have put everything they have on the line. We were always unhappy with people who wanted public attention joining our protests. It’s a bunch of people incapable of doing anything constructive, but they do want time on air. They want to write out statements, they want to be interviewed but they are nowhere to be seen when it’s time to take action.

What is the best way to offer resistance?

We will incite people, suggest the methods and come forward with ideas. Four people have been arrested for drawing a clenched fist. The judge says they have been arrested because there is reason to believe that they could be repeat offenders. If this is the city I know, I believe there will be some 5,000 clenched fists on the walls in the next two weeks.