In the Name Of the Rose

There are no more luxurious black limousines on the parking lot in front of "Sava" Center. The Second congress of the Socialist Party of Serbia has ended. And while some claimed that this was "a congress of war criminals" and the like, it seems that none other than demagogue Dusan Mitevic (for those who have forgotten: the former director of Belgrade television) best described this gathering at which Slobodan Milosevic was once again elected president of the socialists. Appearing on television Studio B, Mitevic said that the Congress of the Socialist Party of Serbia was a congress of unification and the recharging of batteries in the certainly strongest party in Yugoslavia. And all those who, because of (un)justified hatred or any other kind of animosity towards the socialists and him personally, did not take this seriously, made a terrible mistake. At their congress the socialists truly and definitely "united", and what's more, this was done around the man who, according to all public opinion polls, still brings the largest number of votes at elections. Counting on the simple fact that most adult Serbs experience the word "change" as something to be afraid of, by officially returning Milosevic "to the throne", the socialist have once again made topical their victorious slogan "there is no uncertainty with us" and, quite possibly, once again gained favor with the quiet, frightened majority which is to decide the forthcoming elections as well. Also, with their congress, the leaders of the Socialist Party of Serbia have also shown that those who claimed, over the past few months, that this party doesn't want elections were not short-sighted. It seems that representatives of the opposition haven't realized that the election campaign started already with Slobodan Milosevic's unannounced visit to the Serbian government and that all the moves the ruling party made afterwards (including the tension over the referendum and the adoption of the federal electoral law), served only one purpose - the elections. The fact that some will say that elections which the socialists are eager to have are no good elections, doesn't mean absolutely anything. Or even worse, it means that Milosevic's opponents had hopes that the authorities would surrender power without a fight, which is a pretty crazy idea. The fact that, at the congress, the debate on the loudly announced cadre changes was held behind closed doors also shows how strong the socialists are. Unlike the opposition, whose leading figures keep quarreling over the press, the radio and television, the Socialist Party of Serbia carefully hid its dirty laundry from the public, and the statement by the party's new secretary general and the acting president until the official beginning of the election campaign, Milomir Minic, came as a strawberry on the cake. He said: "No one from the previous leadership has departed with accusations, and the work of the leadership has been assessed as good". The respect of the principle of democratic centralism, loyalty, persistence and the already proverbial shrewdness in the struggle for preserving power - all this is something that largely characterizes also the party's newly elected officials. The next thing the Congress showed is that demagogy, especially that which is successful, still remains the leading ideology of the Socialist Party of Serbia. In other words, the party will continue to talk about how it is for the workers, and the peasants, and the intellectuals, it will probably see to it that the "situation in Kosovo" be very quiet until the elections, it will say that it has nothing against private property, but that the process of privatization "must in no way be the robbery of socially-owned property" - all in all, they will use some fifty well known words which at the same time frighten and attract people... After everything it sounded very tragic when a journalist said: "They always know what they want"; however, most tragic of all is the fact that there were those (among both the opposition and journalists) who sneered at the socialists after the Congress. Meanwhile, Mr.Milosevic removed from his surroundings those who bothered him for one reason or another, he said that he has no intention of "trying to please" and to "condescend" to the opposition, he surrounded himself with a team that is young enough to be aggressive on the road to the benefits that are accompanied by power and set off to win the elections once again. And while others spent their time thinking whether the Socialist Party of Serbia and its leader want elections and kept discussing the number of electoral units, the ruling party got several laps ahead and once again brought them in a position not to run along with it, but behind it. All this could be seen precisely at the recently ended congress of the Socialist Party of Serbia, at which Milosevic once again said "Good luck comrades", while a journalist exclaimed: "Hell, there going to win again". After that the black limousines quietly left the parking lot in front of the "Sava" Center, and only those who don't take things seriously weren't truly frightened by what was said there.