A Police State

All that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia lacked was Dobrica Cosic. Once more, in old age, he indulged in playing the power game, a game that involves cabinets, secretaries, drivers, cameras and arc lights. Cosic has tried on the leading man's costume, the one worn by a man he admired greatly in his youth. In the end he will try to get out of this insane and bloody whorehouse with the halo of a man who did everything to prevent the worst. If he had not stepped into this last role, Cosic would have been remembered for his second-but last one, when he successfully defended and built that which he is now trying to pull down in vain. The wonder state Cosic presides over is close to becoming something out of an anarchist's wildest dreams. With so many buildings in Belgrade, the Yugoslav Interior Minister will have to set up office on some bench in Kosutnjak Park. Pavle Bulatovic, the minister in question, a man whose name will fail to ring a bell with many, was, until recently, one of the mainstays of Milosevic's regime in Montenegro. It is said that he was loyal while a member of Panic's cabinet, something hard to believe, as the police here do not change sides easily, and are usually very good at differentiating between reality and phantasmagoria, so that Milosevic and not Panic had always been the more realistic option.

But, Milosevic threw him out into the street, just in case. I do not believe that the archives, dossiers and equipment, or the rivalry between the federal and republican police were the sole reasons. All that was under control. Cosic and Panic had started voicing views which Milosevic could not tolerate, and so he decided to cock a snook at them, rather than bare his teeth. At the closed session of the State Council, while the Assembly was taking a vote of confidence in the Government, and while they were trying to persuade Milosevic to withdraw; Milosevic told Bulatovic to stop acting the police chief, when all he had was the doorman. Milosevic was being delicate and polite, and it would have been more to the point if he had called the minister a doorman.

Montesquieu's ideal for the separating of the legislature, judiciary and executive authorities has been achieved in a rather bizarre way. The Federal Government has initiated charges against the Serbian police, and the competent court served the police with an eviction order to leave the occupied building. After a short debate, the police decided to, politely and regretfully, reject the eviction order. None were very surprised in this magnificent state, none objected. Who would defend one police from another? Cosic and Panic protested, as was their official duty.

Slobodan Milosevic made himself very clear. If Cosic and Panic do not understand the message, they have only themselves to blame. This is the very same message that Milosevic has been sending to the whole world: if you have nothing stronger than jurisprudence and law, both domestic and international, then show some consideration and let me be. It will be said that Milosevic is arrogant, a view he does not understand since he believes that he has shown great patience and tolerance for those weaker than him, who have also had the gall to seek his resignation.

Serbia has never been blindly obedient to the letter of the law when the limits of authority were concerned, and this is truer than ever today. Since it agreed to democratic forms, this regime has done all in its power to compromise parties, elections, campaigns, parliament, the Constitution and laws. In this way, three forms of authority have been successfully separated, two of which have disappeared completely, but the police have remained. It has turned out that those who call on the law and courts only admit to a lack of power and suffer defeat in advance. This has happened often under tyrannies, but rarely to the president of a state and its prime minister.

The citizens have been given a bad example, but I believe that those who think that no one will live in fear of the courts and law, are going a bit too far. Perhaps this cannot be explained to the world, but everyone here understands that the police cannot be arrested, and that the law does not apply when Cosic and Panic are concerned. They took the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia too seriously. To be precise, Cosic knew, but Panic believed naively that the country of which he is Prime Minister really does exist.

This police scandal is not wholly insignificant, since it helped accelerate the process. Every jurisprudence and law are backed by force, but in a state governed by law this force is also held under control. Force has always been stronger here than institutions. Only the police were unaffected with the disintegration of Communism. Force is now above the law and this is not just a forced and passing incident, but a new rule, and it must be recognized as such.

Cosic was quick to recognize the situation only when it affected him directly. Milosevic, however, has been applying this rule for years, and I do not understand how anyone could have believed that with a state of emergency in Kosovo and war in Croatia and Bosnia, a democracy and legal order could have developed in Serbia.

Cosic is resolved to act according to the Constitution, or rather to pretend until the end. He asked for an urgent session of the Federal Assembly because of Constitutional violations. He has turned to that very same Federal Assembly which considers him and his Prime Minister to be traitors. What else can he do? Cosic mentioned constitutional violations earlier as reason for the introduction of a state of emergency. However, he would run into difficulties here too. He would have to activate the police and army. With the chief of police sitting on a bench in Kosutnjak, he cannot do that. General Zivota Panic would probably advise him to go on a long holiday and not worry about the country.

The President and Prime Minister should resign as soon as possible, but the comedy has to be played out to the end. That is why we will have elections for the Assembly of a state that has been dissolved and which will be renewed only in the case that Milosevic and Seselj win a majority. The reason for the elections is contrary to what Cosic, Panic and the opposition think. Milosevic's power will not be limited or decreased. It will be confirmed democratically, but there will be no such state. I do not believe that Cosic will be deeply disturbed by such an outcome, since he has not worked himself to the bone in helping the opposition, and I think that all that he wants right now is to get out leaving a legacy of unvoiced opposition and an atmosphere of disquiet.

Concerning elections for the Serbian Assembly, I do not see that things could turn out differently. If those who should win do not, a tested procedure will be applied. A property-rights dispute will arise between the Assembly and the police. The assembly building will be given over to the Ministry of Interior, as will be the university, schools, factories, and if necessary, the Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Patriarchate. The courts will not challenge this right, since they will also be under the Minister of the Interior.

This sequence of developments must end somewhere. I admit that right now I do not see any serious obstacles, certainly not in the form of voting ballots. Milosevic has annexed the guns and truncheons and ascertained that the majority is on his side. Elections interest him more as a theoretical and philosophical problem, one that is interesting in itself, but which does not affect life greatly. He would like to win in this event, but if things turn out differently, he will relax discipline. Perhaps it is true that this nation expects salvation from above, and hopes for a Messiah embodied in a king, in Panic, in Cosic. Milosevic has been expended in this role. Since we are already in a biblical state of affairs, perhaps the only thing left is to pray for Moses to come and repeat some of the Ten Commandments which have been forgotten here: Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness... For the time being, these Commandments are incompatible with the concepts of freedom and democracy here.