Seselj versus Cosic

Many years ago, when in his own words, he would "swallow" every word spoken by Dobrica Cosic, "jot down every one of his reasons" and when he "tried to follow him both politically and ideologically," Vojislav Seselj did not dream that the whole story would end as follows:

Seselj: "You were on Tito's ship!"

Cosic: "You won a doctorate devoted to Tito!"

Seselj: "Liar!"

Unidentified voice: "Call security!"

And, that was the end. Shortly after this farcical scene Seselj repeated more loudly his old demand for a vote of no confidence in Cosic, and stories went around Belgrade of Cosic's plan to arrest Seselj. The former teacher and student and one-time faithful friends had brought their relationship to perfection.

Nothing happens by chance, as sociologist Slobodan Inic, a participant and witness of events on the famous dissident scene, and the only person who agreed to talk to VREME about relations between Seselj and Cosic at the time.

Seselj's part in the story is not that of a nationalist. According to his own testimony (to be found in several books he published at the time), Seselj started on the road to becoming a Chetnik Voivoda (the highest rank in the Serbian Chetnik Movement) , from inside, as a young rebel challenging party bureaucracy and one falsified Master's degree, about ten years ago.

The problem lay in the fact that the mentor of the man who had falsified the master's degree (Brana Miljus) was none other than Hamdija Pozderac, a top Bosnia-Herzegovina communist party official. The Bosnia-Herzegovina leadership at the time, regarded the clash with the young rebel as a conflict with dangerous "Serbian" ideas, said Inic.

On the other hand, the majority of Seselj's defenders from Belgrade looked on their task as a showdown with Moslem ideas, and Seselj found himself in a rather uncomfortable situation. "He was pressed from both sides and had to make a choice."

An additional reason was the bullying of Seselj into jail. "One day his mother phoned me," said Inic, "and said that they were beating Voja terribly (in jail), that his fingers were blue from the beatings and that he was in a desperate situation. I immediately called Kosta (Cavoski, currently an opposition party leader) and soon after that the committee for the protection of freedom and rights of citizens (headed by Dobrica Cosic) reacted by writing letters to the Bosnian and Yugoslav presidencies. After that Voja was transferred to the prison library and his situation improved greatly."

During the days in jail and the struggle against Bosnia's bureaucracy, Cosic was definitely one of the people who helped Seselj most. According to many testimonies, he also gave material help (taking care among other things, of Seselj's wife and new-born child). Of the spiritual influence, Seselj has already spoken. According to Inic, however, Cosic was also one of those most responsible for the later misdirected development of the young rebel.

"He was radical after his jail experience, and it was necessary to calm him somehow, and get him back to books and the profession. I met him soon after he got out of jail at the Institute of Social Sciences. Dragoljub Micunovic (Democratic Party leader) and I tried to convince him to ease up, to read more. At that time he was tramping desperately around town searching for a job, and literally no one wished to see him. I am positive that Cosic could have helped him then. It's just that he and all the others who had earlier supported Seselj and imbued him with their, basically nationalist ideas, now became afraid of his precipitate and radical stands, and did not wish to have anything to do with him. They didn't want a bomb on their hands, and they had created an atom bomb."

Basically, the whole problem lay in the fact that Seselj, tormented in jail, had taken to Belgrade's salon-like ideas of the Serbian national issue, in the only way he could - through extreme radicalism. He had entered jail as a young rebel and left it as a convinced monarchist and nationalist. Thanks to the clash, and because he could not find a job, Seselj started selling his books in the streets. Inic says that every time he met Seselj, the latter had become more angry, and that in 1989, when giving him "An Open Letter To Mister Dobrica Cosic, Serbian Academician," had said: "I'll show them!" In the "Open Letter," Seselj says that the break with Cosic had left an "open wound," something Inic does not find at all unusual. "He was young and related to Cosic as to a parent. He probably thought later that his parent had betrayed him."

Another example is Seselj's break with Vuk Draskovic, who was godfather to his son. Both were participants of the initially dissident, and later opposition scene. Draskovic and Seselj founded the Serbian Renewal Movement on March 14, 1990. Only a few months later, Seselj came into conflict with Draskovic, probably over prominence in the party.

Bad relations are not only characteristic of those friendships where Seselj was one of the friends. If we think about it, many of the currently fiercely opposed names, are names of those who until two years ago, sat at the same table.

Inic believes that none of them have changed in the meantime. "At that time people also had different stands and their only common link was the struggle against the regime. ...I still believe that at the time, some of us defended Dobrosav Paraga (Croatian Party of Rights leader) and Alija Izetbegovic (Bosnia-Herzegovina President) because that was in accordance with our civil ideas regarding freedom of speech, while others saw future partners in them. I believe that the latter holds true for Cosic.

Another point is that notwithstanding the motives, Cosic long represented a haven for all liberal people from other parts of Yugoslavia. Members of the Slovenian intelligentsia were often his guests.

And when he became the unchallenged dissident leader here, Cosic ran into Seselj who had, by an unfortunate accident, become involved in politics. All the rest is history.