Resistance (OTPOR)

Sometime around noon on Wednesday May 17, 2000, the only free broadcast news in Belgrade were coming over the waves of Radio Pancevo. The signal of Radio Yugoslavia was then intensified and the voice of the speaker was heard:  "Music is the remedy!" The old saying goes: "All is well, nice music on the radio - a coup d'etat is unfolding." With this in mind on Wednesday at 3 p.m. we are handing this text for publication with a huge dilemma of whether we should wait a while and inform our readership of how the citizens of Belgrade are annulling this senseless act which the Serbian government had embarked upon the previous night. During the previous night, at 2:30 a.m. the regime had taken over the frequencies of Studio B and Radio B2-92, Studio B's transmitters and Studio B's bureau in Mladenovac. Which means that in the night between May 16th and 17th , 2000 the final settlement between the Serbian regime and the Serbian opposition has started to unfold in Serbia.

More than that, what can be freely noted is that on May 17th a crawling introduction of a state of emergency has been introduced in Serbia. The takeover was executed by uniformed men wearing masks on their faces. Actually, it seems as though Studio B was taken over by uniformed men while allegedly men in plain-clothes entered the premises of radio B2-92 however, according to one testimony, an intervention unit went over the building to "check it out" in its entirety. The decision to take over the property of the Studio and to replace the old management and appoint a new one (the new editor is a certain Ljubisav Aleksic, state-owned Radio Television Serbia's (RTS) journalist, while the newsreel is anchored by Nebojsa Kotlajic, another RTS journalist) was signed by deputy prime ministers of the government of Serbia, Vojislav Seselj and Milovan Bojic. The government has taken over Studio B on the basis of a request of the Ministry of Information of Serbia and on the Property Act of the Republic. Studio B's editor-in-chief Dragan Kojadinovic stated at the joint session of the city government and Studio B's managing board that in the explanation of this decision Studio B is accused of calling for a destruction of the constitutional order and of having incited terrorist acts. He denied those accusations. He later stated that he personally expected to be arrested. Kojadinovic announced that some of Studio B's employees were trapped inside the Beogradjanka building while the majority of the employees were not allowed to enter the premises and their offices.

During the morning, a group of people gathered in front of Beogradjanka, amongst others Studio B employees as well as Professors of Belgrade's Open School who were also disabled from entering the building. In front of the entrance, in the parking place of the nearby Church of Ascension, an empty bus devoid of police insignia and special registration plates was parked, but with a flag of the Policemen's Club on the inside mirror... Radio B2-92 started to broadcast its program via satellite. The Blic daily editorial office, also situated in the Beogradjanka building, couldn't operate in this situation however the editorial office continued to prepare its next issue in the Danas daily editorial office. The previous day the Borba printing house had refused to print Blic daily. The situation has reached a point where it is practically impossible for Radio Index to continue its broadcast. On Wednesday morning Studio B's program was aired without any interruptions, the ads and entertainment programs were broadcast, at 9 a certain movie with pornographic scenes was broadcast and the program was completed with news taken over from RTS with a hastily taped video clip aimed against the freshly evicted editorial office. "Here's how they prepared the program in an intoxicated state, here are Otpor's posters, etc..." One of Studio B's employees who was trapped in the building and who was allowed to leave the building around 11 o'clock, stated that an RTS team was sitting in Studio B's production room. General Perisic, leader of the Movement for a Democratic Serbia, in a statement for Beta criticized the leaders of the democratic opposition as well who "failed to undertake any preventive measures such as forming information centers and crisis headquarters which would defend independent and privately owned media".

On Wednesday around noon the Serbian opposition activated its decision from March to call upon all citizens to take part in a general strike in case Studio B was attacked. "Following the government's decision, this country has entered the realm of an open dictatorship. Let's stand up against such violence immediately and with all of our energy since our future and the future of our country depend on that. All of us have the honor to defend our fatherland from  government violence and to fight for a new and democratic Serbia" is stated in the announcement. In that announcement the opposition leaders assess that the government of Serbia has "taken the country into the realms of a state of emergency and has absolutely endangered its internal stability". "Arrests, beatings and harassment of the people, the clampdown on the media and the state media lynch of all who dare to publicly criticize the government has shown that the regime has decided to turn this country into a privately run estate of a tiny group of people who absolutely don't care what will happen to a huge majority of the citizens in Serbia and its democratic institutions", as stated in the announcement. The Serbian Renewal Party called upon the citizens of Serbia to stand up against the "Axis Powers" of the ruling parties via  "all out disobedience and mass protests throughout Serbia". In its announcement, SPO called for a protest - "in all the cities, villages and roads" - of the students, pupils, army conscripts, drivers, doctors, writers, farmers, journalists, all those who are hungry, invalids, mothers, refugees and all those who "refuse to be slaves and who want freedom". Extraordinary on duty calls were introduced in the Bor and Negotin SPO boards. The G17 organization announced that a National Front for Constitutional Defense should be formed.

The citizens protest is scheduled to begin on Wednesday around 7 p.m. from the terrace of the city assembly. Protests shall commence in all cities on a daily basis. City assemblies are scheduling permanent sessions. On Wednesday morning that idea was first introduced by the president of the executive board of the Nis city municipality Branislav Jovanovic, who suggested that the assembly in Nis, following Studio B's takeover in Belgrade, should be in session constantly. "What we have before us is obviously a violent takeover of the government of Belgrade and that scenario is most likely also intended for Nis", he exclaimed, adding that the assembly in Nis must stand with their "colleagues from Belgrade in their defense of the capital city and free media". A similar decision was announced in Pancevo.

Things were slowly heating up on Wednesday. Ognjen Pribicevic, the councilor of the SPO president announced that the raid on Studio B will bring about unimaginable consequences. Vladan Batic, president of the Christian-Democratic Party told the Beta agency that an informal state of emergency was introduced in Serbia and that "all looks like an introduction into a civil war": "Instead of pacifying all tensions, and instead of trying to find some sort of political compromise, the regime is heading towards a maximum increase of tensions." Slobodan Orlic from the Social-Democratic Party and Zarko Korac from the Social-Democratic Union announced that the opposition would commence its demonstrations that very same day. The vice president of the Democratic Party Boris Tadic assessed that the government was taking "responsibility for inducing  further conflict and of abolishing elementary citizens rights" upon itself. The president of the Democratic Party of Serbia Vojislav Kostunica addressed the presidents of Serbia and Yugoslavia for the first time in a letter: "Dear Sirs, Serbia and Yugoslavia are on the very brink of a civil war. It is hardly necessary to count all the signs which point to that fact, they are that obvious. The country is staggering under the weight of external and internal violence ... I find it difficult to believe that you are not aware of this, despite all of the false media reports presented to you by the editors who are licking up to you and feeding you stories which don't have anything to do with reality. I also find it difficulty to believe that you are unaware of the futility of openly hunting down all those who think differently which you have introduced a while ago with the open cooperation and enthusiasm of your coalition partners. Finally, I cannot believe that you cannot comprehend how senseless such moves such as last night's raid of Studio B's editorial office are, and what such political and other consequences can be. You must be aware that you cannot preserve power in such a manner for long, even under such chaotic conditions of a partially suspended state sovereignty which still hasn't collapsed and hasn't become drenched in its own blood, and the only way you can preserve your personal honor is by calling truly democratic elections. The constitution gives you this right while unwritten human laws oblige you to do so. In case you fail to call the elections, you shall neither preserve the state nor an inkling or your personal integrity..."

Once again we are reminded of Diderots' s letter to Louis XIV: "You are sitting on a volcano!" The leader of Social-Democracy Vuk Obradovic assesses: "That was a declaration of war against the democratic opposition and the entire democratic Serbia." The president of the Democratic Alternative Nebojsa Covic stated that this was the initial phase which would bring Serbia to an information darkness and in this darkness "a scenario of which Goran Matic has spoken of so persistently is supposed to unfold and initially invented by Mira Markovic".

The Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia called upon its members and citizens to gather in front of the Nusic monument in order to defend all threatened media. Otpor has announced that it would join the rally. In the course of the day, while preparations of this issue are being completed, the opposition is in the midst of feverish activity while groups of people have slowly started to gather in Belgrade. The presence of the police was not evident, although your reporter noted two military police jeeps, one in Konjarnik and one in Slavija. The crews in those jeeps didn't seem as though they were in full combat readiness.

The executive council of the Belgrade Assembly in its extraordinary session on Wednesday morning announced that it would employ all legal means to return Studio B into its possession. The president of the Assembly Spasoje Krunic stated that he had vainly tried on Wednesday to establish communication with the Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic who proved to be unavailable.

An urgent session of the City Assembly was scheduled, and prior to that a meeting of the heads of all deputy groups. The executive council of the City Assembly called upon the citizens to rally. Spasoje Krunic announced that the institution which he heads would undertake everything to establish a dialogue in order to overcome the current situation, but that Belgrade cannot allow the truth to be hidden by guns, he added that this situation cannot last long and added: "May God help us!" The City Assembly and its public company Studio B have sued the Republic of Serbia for impeding their ownership rights.

On Wednesday around noon the leaders of the political parties started gathering in the City Assembly. Vuk Draskovic didn't attend the meeting, his councilor Andjelko Tripkovic refused to answer whether he was in Belgrade. In Stari Dvor, the City Assembly headquarters, the ambassadors of the countries which have remained in Belgrade started arriving. The meeting in the City Assembly was attended by diplomats from Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Germany, Poland, Austria, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Israel, Greece, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Macedonia, Japan and a couple of other countries. Following a question as to whether the regime had decided upon such a move since the Yugoslav minister of foreign affairs was "given a green light" on the previous day, one opposition foreign relations expert said that on the basis of his information the Russian message was contrary - a dialogue and not confrontation is expected from Belgrade's regime.  

The regime could possibly find support for this act in Iran, which has recently shut down 17 opposition media. The first reaction of a shrewd political analyst and otherwise good forecaster upon hearing the news of Studio B's clampdown was: "So the election silence has started!"

Events which preceded this incident seemed fairly harmless.

Since it had opted against a direct confrontation with the regime in Pozarevac last week, the opposition had to come up with some kind of answer and was in a dilemma from the very beginning - should it, once the regime has let off some of its steam, organize another meeting in Pozarevac or should it stage another warning rally in Belgrade where the last rally seemed so powerful. Apparently SPO was for the idea that the "rematch" be staged in Pozarevac while most of the other parties favored Belgrade. On top of that, SPO was focused on the organization of its traditional rally in Ravna Gora and called others to take part. Others more or less steered clear of the famous Chetnik general Draza Mihajlovic remembrance and it seemed uncertain whether Vuk Draskovic would be present at the Belgrade rally on account of that. That doubt proved to be groundless: SPO was deeply involved, that very same party had organized and stopped the rally in Pozarevac and a day prior to the Ravna Gora rally, Veroljub Stevanovic organized a protest rally in Kragujevac in which some ten thousand people took part. Draskovic appeared in Belgrade, somewhat tired looking and spoke. Something else made this Belgrade rally dramatically uncertain. The president of the Executive Board of Vojvodina Bosko Perosevic was murdered in Novi Sad and the regime immediately started abusing this tragic event to organize a harangue against the student organization Otpor and the Serbian Renewal Party, also taking top  officials from the Democratic Party and the League of Social-Democrats of Vojvodina into custody. In Jagodina a group of New Democracy activists were taken into custody... At one point it seemed as though a general persecution of the opposition had commenced, there were lots of news of police arrests and interrogations. The regime was charging with full force, openly and politically using the police force - criminal files were opened for members of the political parties, people were taken into custody, pictures and fingerprints were taken. The regime launched its very own positive PR campaign - on May 15th the entire ruling politburo had shovels in their hands, they were busy opening up building sites for apartment blocks in Cacak, Kragujevac, Nis, Bor, Majdanpek, Vranje, Zajecar and Pozarevac (second try!). Judging by the number of present people those working ceremonies were reminiscent of small private parties and where the group was slightly larger, uniformed and plainclothes policemen stood in the front rows  with their backs turned towards the speaker, watching the people who were obviously brought to those building sites in an organized fashion. This might have been a reaction to the Novi Sad assassination or an indication of the growing paranoia in the government. Some time before this incident, self-protection measures were announced in the federal government (without mobile phones and without mentioning any names, positions and institutions in phone conversations). Actually, what they fear most during such gatherings is that another Trstenik "case" could crop up. The citizens there, led by the municipal president, came to the opening ceremony of the new bridge built in place of the old one which was destroyed by NATO, and properly outshouted Milutin Mrkonjic, Srdjan Smiljanic and entourage who were trying to prove with that parade that they were the ones who had built that bridge (having failed to invite the opposition president of the municipality to the festivities) even though that bridge was built by money collected from its citizens and the help of the construction company which didn't even receive payment in its entirety.

In such an atmosphere, the opposition (persecution plus reconstruction PR activities) continued with its preparations for its rally without any significant campaigns yet with the active support of Belgrade's Studio B, which announced and broadcast the rally. TV Pancevo's reporters and crew were also there which enabled live coverage. That multiplied the auditorium but might also have been one of the factors why a reduced number of people arrived at the square. The mass which gathered in the center of Belgrade on May 15th took up around 60 percent of the space which was full of citizens on April 14th and the "density" of the mass reached only around 60 % in comparison to April. If there were around 120.000 - 150.000 people in April, then a simple calculation will arrive at around 40.000 - 50.000 participants in a too long and too drawn out competition in rhetoric.

The coverage wasn't the main cause of that apparent "deflation" on May 15th. This rally was announced as a rerun (bigger and prettier) of the April rally, yet the announcement didn't declare a single new attainable and tangible goal. Whether due to the fact that opinions varied amongst the opposition as to whether it was time to wait or launch an offence, or whether on account of the bulky system of consultations or whether because of the estimate that it "still wasn't time", or due to the dread of a state of emergency - all in all, it all boiled down to the call: "Head for the rally brothers!"

In such an atmosphere, burdened with hesitation in the opposition ranks, the regime campaign and a political funeral which was held that very afternoon in Novi Sad, it was important that the messages coming from that spot should be wise and calm. There were appeals (Vuk Draskovic, when he called on disobedience against lawlessness); there were warnings (Zoran Djindjic when he threatened: "If you start aiming at our kids, that's the end!" and added that that would suffice and that after that there would be no more speeches nor rallies); laments followed (when Nebojsa Covic said that They are now trying to arrest our kids while protecting theirs); there were emotional appeals (when Goran Svilanovic called upon all Belgrade women who had either hidden their sons from the wars or sent them off to war, to find a place in their hearts for the two little girls who had lost their father the day before, while Those Two - didn't even spare them a glance, just like they didn't even look at all those who had been killed, or had lost a limb in the war); there were warnings (when Zarko Korac said that the government is losing its head more and more and that They have started to prepare for witch-hunts and political trials); there were accurate diagnosis (when Micunovic stated that power cannot be retained by spreading paranoia and that it is evident that They "have somewhere deep down in their souls already handed over their power"); there was self-criticism (when general Perisic said that the government is responsible for the situation in Serbia, along with Serbia's inactivity and when he called upon the citizens to get rid of both with rallies if they fail to keep their promises).

Why was the previous, April rally in Belgrade prettier and better than the May one? Because the April one brought with it the news ("Here we are together, praise us!"), while the May one merely commented events from Pozarevac and Novi Sad.

What, on the other hand, did the public have to say? The people who attend these rallies know the speakers, they know their intonations and pathos and even before the speaker say, "now he'll talk about witches", they then shout "red gang" or wait for each word to fall in order to copyedit it: "I-dentical!", "without an 'n'!". None of the speeches which they heard at the rally could be classified as the fruit of a top rate inspiration even though the opposition representation now seems rhetorically leveled out and distinct - they pronounce a word and wait for it to fly to the other side of the square like a pigeon.  There was nothing in those speeches which the mass, in the habit of attending such opposition rallies, has been waiting for in the last ten years - there were no clear instructions for action. Many of the opposition players are losing patience and getting irritated with that hide and seek game... A part of the opposition members are obviously starting to lose their patience.

Following a rhetorical question posed by Vuk Draskovic: "Ladies and gentlemen, Serbian citizens, what are we to do?", a part of the younger crowd started chanting a single word: "Rebellion, rebellion, rebellion!" That word was chanted in the course of this rally a couple of times, and more or less set the tone at SPO's Ravna Gora gathering two days prior to that. Such an acclamation of rebellion is slowly taking over the place of the morbid instructions to the president on how he should save Serbia, sung in unison by the fans during football matches (at the finale of the Zvezda - Napredak football cup a huge mass of people were singing it).

The opposition leaders tried to abate that message on May 15th. Vojislav Kostunica mentioned how recently a graffiti appeared on a beautiful building in the center of town "Serbia kills!", saying that that claim wasn't true: "Serbia is being killed by violence from outside and within, and we are here to stop that violence once and for all!" Draskovic appealed upon the officers, soldiers, policemen, academicians, workers and farmers to resist the general lawlessness which would make a rebellion unnecessary; yet, if the terror is not stopped and free elections are not called, "what must happen will happen...".

Certain goals were outlined but more in the form of rhetorical charges (Vladan Batic, Vuk Obradovic) - resignations were demanded from Vlajko Stojiljkovic, Momir Bulatovic, Mirko Marjanovic, heads of state-owned media houses... The government has apparently latched on to the rebellion chants which were repeated a number of times.

At the rally a certain regime activist threw around two sacks of posters from the Inex building on which, under the color drawing of a nazi soldier and Otpor's sign are the words "Madeline Jugend". TV RTS completed its usual coverage of the rally with a close up of one of those posters with the comment that the people had therefore stated what they think of that opposition rally, which is totally absurd - who could possibly afford such luxurious prints!

Those trampled upon fliers were then collected by the young men and women of Otpor with a broom and placed in huge black bags with expressions of disgust on their faces (they would say "yuck!") in the same manner in which houses are cleaned after a party in which a  gatecrasher threw up. If the incapability of the opposition during these last ten years was one of the pillars of this regime, it is slowly emerging that the fact that the opposition is still unprepared for the finale is now compensated by the insolent clumsiness of the frightened regime.

There was something in that opposition rally which made it important to attend it - its ethical dimension. A solidarity was shown with members of Otpor which have for some reason found themselves at the forefront of the regime's persecution. Branko Ilic (a future brilliant speaker) from Otpor stated at the rally: "You have now signed a huge membership form which  cannot be torn apart by any Rolex wearing thugs nor spoiled mommy's and daddy's boys." According to Ilic, the people at the square expressed their solidarity with the victims of the dying regime.

That clash between the regime and Otpor somewhat resembles a boxing match with a butterfly. The regime initially engaged judges to punish those who drew the fist, they then punished the newspapers which published ads with that drawn fist. In the schools groups from the higher grades, obviously following a sing of approval given by the principals, chased and beat up Otpor members in the school playgrounds. The radicals are conducting an all out harangue against them. Police forces took away Otpor posters and black matches with a small white fist (they remembered here that it was an "illegal exchange of goods" and "trade without a license"). Thugs started appearing who beat up the young men who were putting their posters up or tearing the regime posters down, and some of these violent groups started using murderous means in order to frighten the Otpor members such as motor saws. After the insolent behavior which the untouchable groups demonstrated in their contacts with the Otpor activists, the regime tangled itself up in the Pozarevac case, refusing to condemn the security personnel of someone's son. That caused a rebellion amongst the judicial circles and a far-reaching judicial affair which compromises the very pinnacle of judicial power. At the end, following the murder of Bosko Perosevic, regime propagandists tried to create prime evidence for a high treason trial - they tried to connect Otpor with the assassination complete with a conspiracy scheme etc. - in accordance with the following logic.

Pretensions are dangerous. On Tuesday evening Ivan Markovic connected the Pozarevac scenario, the murder in Novi Sad and the chants on the streets of Belgrade and demanded that the State Protection Law be enforced. Can such a regime in such cases carry that operation out without entangling itself into further scandals, overstepping the law and compromising itself in the process? Such propaganda might have effects on a certain part of the public. One granny shouted after an Otpor activist the other day: "Murderer!", while he didn't know whether to run away from her; if he started to run, someone might think that he had truly killed someone.

The mass of demonstrators in the center of Belgrade is dispersing that fear and is massively lifting clenched fists up in the air. Otpor is slowly becoming trendy. When they beat up the Otpor activists in Pozarevac, those kids understood that they "had a case"! Their poster with the disfigured face of one of Pozarevac's Otpor members bears the message "This is the face of Serbia!". Seeing that these kids are stoically enduring the torture, that their message is spreading and that people at the opposition rallies are welcoming their members more and more enthusiastically and massively, the dispersed leadership of the Serbian opposition had in the last few weeks actually followed the rhythm set by the persecution of the Otpor members. Verbally, that opposition is demanding something important (elections); in reality, it had entrenched itself until Wednesday, May 17th 2000 awaiting a large enough scandal to write out an announcement and to call for a rally. Is that a good strategy? Actually, the real question is - is there any strategy in this at all? And then finally, the regime started to work for the opposition. On that hot 17th spring day of the month of May the end has started to unfold.