The Helmsman in Shadow

It is not exactly clear who will the minority coalition Government of the forced compromise belong to. The Montenegrins have left Radoje Kontic, the new Yugoslav Prime Minister, unprotected in Belgrade to regret having so openly rejoiced over his appointment to carry out Panic's duties as the Acting Prime Minister (although he was later fair to the replaced Prime Minister). Kontic presented an opitimistic wish list, whose beginning must be the lifting of the sanctions, which is not feasible with this Government.

Miroljub Labus (the Democratic Party-DS), nevertheless, uttered several sentence on account of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vladislav Jovanovic, who has for a year now been telling an unconvincing story that the international community should re-examine its stand and admitt that we are in the right.

It was obvious that the heads of the parliamentary groups were restraining their MP s not to accress that issue of the Government s personal make-up. Therefore, no one tackled the list of Ministers during the debate.

Milosevic forced the Cabinet on Kontic, which may be taken that heactually does not expect this Government to carry out a complete change, but to take the blame when it gets hot in Belgrade, which will not be long from now, due to the situation which cannot be managed.

After President Milosevic had promised that the fight against crime will top the list of priorities in his policy, Sainovic promised that the citizens in the streets will be able to see as early as next week, which is this week, that the Government is seriously combatting the crime, but the very same week the passengers were cold-bloodedly abducted from the Yugoslav train. Several opposition parties, the Democratic Party, the Serbian Liberal Party and the Democratic Party of Serbia, expressed scepticism regarding the efficiency of the battle of the Yugoslav Government against crime, condemning the Government of pecking at the surface since it itself is a protagonist in deals on the edge of the law, while the initiative to start a parliamentary debate on crime has so far notbeen adopted. However, Sokolovic was forced to arrest former Minister of Trade and Tourism, Sava Vlajkovic, cf. the article Patriotic Mafia, while the course of the affairs seems to be heading towards the involvement of other politicians, rather than towards convincing the public of the resoluteness of the Serbian regime. The Democratic Party already expressed doubt that Sava Vlajkovic acted on his own without knowledge of other Government members, while the People s Farmers Party demanded that Bozovic and the current Minister of Agriculture Jan Kisgeci be interrogated.

It is estimated, and the new Federal Prime Minister admitted it, that 600,000 workers are on paid leaves, 700,000 people are uneployed while another 870,000 workers receive minimum wages. Some 3,5 to 4 million people in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia actually live under the existential minimum. Morover, there are as many as 700,000 refugees on the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, according to the Prime Minister. What can a dependent Prime Minister do, when his helmsman has remained in shadow

In the game of charades it could now be said tha the opposition in Belgrade is not planning to form the Shadow Government and has no anwer ready should that social bomb blow up. The opposition which has still not recovered from the election defeat could hardly provide for anything more than the usual battle with announcements. A slogan on civil resistance emerged, prior to which resistance to fascism could be heard, but these seem to be hints at intentions, rather than a declaration of the concrete plan of action.

Vojislav Kostunica (The Democretic Party of Serbia leader) has replaced the term the civil resistance movement by the term civil resistance to the regime, therefore, the resistance of all whose autonomy has come into question and means building up od civic consciousness.

The Democratic Party of Serbia announces the forming of a sort of Crisis Headquarters, while Vesna Pesic announces establishing of a hot line for all endangered. The Democrats boast of having good relations with weak independent unions.

According to Zoran Djindjic (DS), the opposition has thus far never exerted consideravle extra-parliamentary pressure, because it has not been able to. He believes that thereis no critical mass in Serbia for the emancipating forms of organizing to be created, and reiterates that people s readiness to clinch is not substantial. However, in its latest declaration the Democratic Party pledged its engagement at all public places where collective will of the citizens is being formed, in the Parliament, at public and protest points, in unions and civic initiatives.

On March 1, Vuk Draskovic denied to have announced that he would stage violent demonstrations, claiming that such demonstrations had been announced by the representatives of the Air Force, the Serbian Socialist Party and Seselj s Serbian Radical Party. The Serbian Socialist Party, as the Serbian Renewal Movement assessed, is obssessed with fear that it will lose power, so it harnessed all clerical, police and judicial authorities, but, unfortunately, the Army and managers in the econony and other branches as well, to secure its staying in power, while the people feel shame about what they are going through and bitterness towards the regime.

An outburst of social dissatisfaction is not impossible, one viewer of the Independent Televison Station Studio B has said that each and every day several score thousand people are joining the Party of the Hungry, which will have one executive body only - The Court Martial. It is not to be ruled out that the revolt of the hungry might suit the right radicalism, which is already amalgamated with egalitarian demagogy.

In the last Parliament session the Serbian Radicals pressed for the privatization under state control and for equality of the hungry. Everybody is acting the way they have before. They are running aimlessly on the deck of the Titanic.