Wide-Eyed Fear

The Faculty of Philology of Belgrade University is being transformed today into a terrible symbol of the Serbian State.  Everything is coming apart and being destroyed, with Dean Marojevic not holding back the least bit, but merely bringing in more security guards, ever more sure of the fact that he is in the right.  The resistance being offered by the professors and the students is convincing him of this.  He is probably sure of having hit at the very heart of the monster which is the New World Order, and that this battle must be waged right down to the last student.

This beehive, this snake’s nest of foreign languages and literature - just like Serbian culture which is abuzz with Western influences - must be cleaned out once and for all, must be dug over, burnt down and fumigated with the holy fire of the faith in Russia.  The students, ignorant and susceptible such as God made them, understood that they are dealing with dangerous, fundamentalist darkness.  Resistance has become total.  But, since the Dean knows that he weighs more and is worth more than all else put together at that Faculty, he has dug trenches around himself and has erected walls against that foreign, inimical, professor/student population.

People who look like the most talented graduates from correctional centers, who would certainly fail every basic test in fundamental sense of humanity, have become permanent staff members at the faculties of Philology, Electrical Engineering and Law.  This staff, these professional bouncers and money collectors are evidently more important than the professors and the students.  It is probably they who should be the principal carriers of the future and the development of higher education in Serbia.
The case of the Faculty of Philology is especially important because the situation there has become brutally clear and devoid of all superficialities.  Nearly the entire Faculty stands against Dean Marojevic.  The only people who are with him are the bouncers.  That, essentially, is the scene in Serbia today.  Insanity surrounded by force which is no longer concealed, without any justification either being demanded or given.

Milosevic and Seselj are behaving as if they found themselves in the position of Dean Marojevic, but, in contrast to him, are behaving like this without any apparent reason.  They have resorted to the police and the courts more than ever before at a time when the inner resistance against this regime appeared to have reached its lowest point.  As force is always the weapon of last resort, the regime appears to be convinced that it has no other options left at its disposal.  I believe that the regime’s assessment of its own strength is more correct than ours.  We merely see the feebleness of the resistance, while they feel the loss of legitimacy.  They are less worried by the opposition than by their own weakness and lack of any coherent idea.

The only thing Milosevic could come up with was to send Milutinovic once again to Pristina, hoping to create an impression of some initiative and action which, however, is completely devoid of any substance.  This “continuation of talks” has not been attended by any Albanians or foreign observers, and even the Serbs of Kosovo want nothing further to do with either Milosevic or Seselj.  Both of them would get the same reception there that the students prepare on a daily basis for Dean Marojevic.
There is no revolt or protest, but there is caving in and defeat, so that force is being demonstrated by way of prevention, as if resistance is being awaited and elicited.  However, this time the regime has been left alone with its brute force which is merely turning every which way, unable to direct itself in any direction, except against the students and the press.  It is a situation in which there is no other option but to gnaw at ones tail.

Milosevic has ultimately taken all sense away from his own power, having degraded it and left it open to ridicule.  He has sent the police to Kosovo to kill and be killed in vain, has directed the Army to wage battle against NATO - and it is small surprise that he could no longer count on his Chief of State Security and the Chief of Staff of the Army’s Headquarters.  Both Jovica Stanisic and General Perisic were loyal to him to the very limits of that which could be understood as state interest.  But he went even further.
It should be noticed here that both Stanisic and Perisic, two men who were the cornerstones of all state power, have refused all minor and supposedly honorary positions.  This has rarely happened to Milosevic in the past.  He usually managed to execute such demotions with relative quiet, to take care of and to relocate people to reservist status, from where some, like Vucelic, could return to the front stage limelight.  If this procedure can no longer be implemented, the likeliest reason is that both Stanisic and Perisic no longer believe in the future and longevity of the regime which they served.

It appears that Milosevic is entering that phase in which rulers of his ilk begin to fear conspiracies and begin to harbor suspicions against everything and everyone, especially against those people who are closest to them.  There is no cure for this sickness.  It usually progresses fairly quickly, but do not hold me to my word.