The Call of Wilderness

Those people in Serbia who have not yet lost interest in political affairs can be categorised in two groups. The first group – those who are devoted to collecting evidence of wicked and iniquitous nationalism demonstrated by Vojislav Kostunica and his secret liaisons with obscure priestly circles; the second group – those who prefer to panic about secret liaisons between Zoran Djindjic, the international mafia and the local underground. None of them are finding sufficiently convincing evidence, but that does not bother anyone – it can only mean that secrets are very well concealed and that one should be even more anxious.

Politics is nothing but conspiracy and intrigue – this is the most frequent conclusion of this Shakespearean world. If Kostunica does not return Serbia to the twelfth century, Djindjic will have it robbed and sold to foreign depositor and tax collectors. However, let me note that this sort of fear softened a little and that the general atmosphere became somewhat less toxic. As an example, the affair regarding Vuk Obradovic is soon to be over and an attempt of producing a conspiracy around it stands no chance to succeed. Obradovic and his solicitors have so far convinced nobody that the general’s sexual adventures were actually his attempts to fight against corruption and that the molested women went public as soon as he bumped into something really serious. He tried to point the finger at Djindjic and place himself under Kostunica’s protection, but as the latter is not prone to such politics, it seems that he refused to have anything to do with it. Not everyone who accuses Djindjic is welcome in Kostunica’s arms, or vice versa, which is a nice change of a political fashion in the FRY.

Although the Prime Minister repeats that his Government is not marked by financial scandals, it will hardly avoid at least a few scratches after the famous tobacco affair. I don’t say that I don’t trust him, but he is to some extent a victim of his own childish image of someone who gets involved in risky business and maintains contacts with mistrustful people. If he intents to score some substantial results with this Government, which he appears to regard as his life mission, Djindjic will have to make a small effort to give the cold shoulder to those cheap effects intended for those who still have no legal right to vote. To safeguard a government from financial scandals is a huge ambition, perhaps the supreme one. Namely, Serbia is on the threshold of a general overhaul, and it is stepping into it as a devastated country without the respect for its own tradition and law, with no custom of abstinence and long-lasting scheduling, so without any fear of God – which means that all the conditions for financial corruption and embezzlement are perfectly met. The danger is not only in procuring concessions, factories or market advantages by certain individuals. What is alarming here is a way beyond usual transitional nuisances that struck all countries of the former East Europe – it is a real social breakdown. Embezzlements and murders connected to enormous sums of money do not cease even today. If the current authorities prove immune to corruption, it will cause more and more assassinations, since such jobs do not tolerate withdrawal and quitting.

How can we be so sure about who really plays in compliance with the law, or which of the two became treated as officially authorised: corruption or the judicial system? What would be the difference?

This is a real wilderness, much worse than one that befell on the former communist countries after the fall the Berlin Wall. In our case, many beasts are already unbound, while death and homicide are just parts of an everyday routine. That means that the state is likely to lose the battle against chaos.

If Djindjic’s ambition does not come true, if this Government fails, corruption will expand to the immeasurable limits and will devastate all social functions of the state. Serbia could remain without its education system, health care, pensions, courts and without the middle class. Instead, it would be ruled by a small number of the extremely rich surrounded by an ocean of misery…

Similar collapse occurred in Albania and, to some extent, in Bosnia. There is still no proper medication. If we wish to evade this kind of fate, everyone will have to give his best, plus to be extremely lucky. From this perspective, I do not see how come that some people are patient enough to hollow out tunnels around Djindjic and Kostunica. If that conflict really comes to light in the near future, it will mean that both of them are disgraced in advance, dragging us with them.

If Djindjic is obliged to safeguard his Government form financial scandals and corruption, Kostunica has a chance to lend a hand and bring the disagreement about the co-operation with The Hague to an end. I don’t claim that all the time is lost and that Milosevic’s extradition is supposed to have already happened, but it seems that it is something that will have to be done. Kostunica’s dilemma about that whole matter is worth every respect, but we are dealing with very important issues at the moment, so he could eventually make up his mind in that direction and urge SNP (The Socialist National Party) to abandon any further opposition.

It could be said that even that promised and conditioned international aid is also some form of corruption, but at the highest global level, so it should encourage Serbia to fight against a much smaller local corruption with the aid of this bigger one. Finally, we are coming to the ultimate questions concerning the global organisation of the world, but such issues are far too luxurious for a country like Serbia.