Serbia's Final Scream

Vuk Draskovic, the arrested and beaten up Serbian opposition leader has started on a hunger strike. Last Thursday this was one of the news items worldwide, and is the best proof that the world doesn't know what is important here. The real information regarding Serbia was the fact Belgrade Television didn't mention the event, which means that at least 90% of the citizens don't know what has happened, and they certainly don't know anything about Vuk's letter-testament.

At a time when all, both here and in the world have something to say about this nation's character, it seems to me that its main characteristic is - being uninformed. Both as regarding the war in Bosnia, and of this case in the middle of Belgrade. I don't know why anyone thinks that the citizens of Serbia should rise and protest when everything is in order and when all those who are guilty are somewhere far away. I don't know why anyone expects the people in the provinces to listen to short-wave radio stations or telephone their cousins in Belgrade in order to learn something which will disturb them or make them desperate.

Even Belgrade, at least its majority, does not wish to know anything. During the last few days the city was rife with rumors. Forged letters by Vuk Draskovic, false witnesses, and even sham lawyers showed up, all in the spirit and tradition of the security service. It wasn't necessary to kill, but to break and politically destroy Draskovic, or at last create the impression that he had surrendered, was vacillating and begging for mercy. The UDBA (secret police) knows how this is done and tried very hard to take the case of Vuk and Danica Draskovic off our consciences, and persuade us that Vuk and Danica are not worthy of our concern and that they are just disturbing our civic order and peace. It was argued that they had deserved the beatings, and that they didn't get them, or rather, that they had hurt themselves, and we were left to choose the version we preferred.

With his announced hunger strike, Vuk has torn down the sticky spider's web spun by the police. He really had no other option and his letter should be regarded as Serbia's Final Scream. Belgrade Television put the pillow over his mouth. I hope that those who made the decision do not have children. Those of us who heard the scream, can no longer sleep.

I understand people who like to eat their meals in peace, but hasn't the time come when we should lose a little of our appetites? Vuk Draskovic could have wriggled out of prison. All he had to say was that he was sorry and was going back to literature. But, he decided to die for his beliefs and for what isn't just his private affair. Not all of us can follow his example, but we are all in the same boat, and our individual appetites are working against us. If once again we do not find a way of expressing our joint will, we can all consider ourselves jail wardens.

It is easy to determine and urge various universal principles of humanity and human rights. However, as far as I am concerned, the most important principle is that Vuk Draskovic must not die of hunger in Belgrade's prison. Not Vuk, not just now, and not here. I admit that this principle does not sound universal. I admit that I am indifferent to some things which mean a lot to Vuk, such as the King, the Church and Ravna Gora, but I cannot imagine that Belgrade could take the death of such a man, who, at the worst times, saved its face as few did.

What Milosevic wants is no longer important, nor what particular regime he embodies here. It is more important that a Biblical sacrifice could take place in this city. If this should happen, then let none call on St. Sava anymore, because we haven't the faintest idea of what Christian morals are about.

The matter no longer concerns politics. Vuk Draskovic was involved in politics in the manner of a rebellious moralist, following his heart, even when it wasn't politically profitable. But, this is the only right way of reacting to political violence. The greater part of the Serbian opposition claims that there is no democracy here, but behaves as if there is. Draskovic refused to turn a blind eye and take part in a mass lie, which is primarily a moral, and not a political stand. He kept a clear and uncorrupted feeling of freedom and that is why he became such a problem for this regime.

When I recall all that he has done in the last few years and how things have developed in Serbia, it seems that he was inexorably heading towards his present situation. Milosevic didn't know how to deal with him, but knew that he must not ignore him, nor leave him free if he wished to introduce a decent reign of terror. Vuk's love of freedom dragged him into prison, and for a jailed man, the final gesture of freedom is a hunger strike to death.

Vuk had become a problem for many people of the opposition. There are those who will tell you that they are not nationalists, but that for some tactical reasons they must pretend that they are, and cannot oppose Milosevic's war adventures too openly. Vuk Draskovic is the opposite case. As a nationalist he could calmly and convincingly challenge nationalist zeal, the insanity of war and the sacrifice of freedom in the name of national interests. By comparing Vuk and Milosevic it would be possible to understand why so much evil has been produced in the former Yugoslavia by fake and insincere nationalists.

Finally, Vuk Draskovic could have become a problem for the West, which along with Milosevic, has just started putting an end to the business in Bosnia. It was assumed from the beginning that Milosevic was unchallenged in Serbia, and many arrangements had been made, regardless of sanctions. Vuk's case only complicates matters, disturbs the negotiators and burdens them with the public's moral indignation.

The Western press will certainly take Vuk and Danica under its wing, so that diplomats will no longer find it easy to meet with a man who is letting the opposition leader die in jail. We must not believe that this time Western pressures will change anything significantly. Milosevic is convinced that he has found a winning formula: the more the West presses one, the more persistent and ruthless one should be. He will stick to it this time too, all the more so as he considers Vuk and Danica Draskovic to be his own private problem.

A dramatic countdown has started. The sand is running out of Vuk's hourglass, and with each day there is more death in him and less life. All that Milosevic has shown so far, is that he does not wish to talk about the subject. All that the defence could do so far, has been to talk, and this has proved futile. It would seem that those around Milosevic and in the structures of authority believe that Vuk Draskovic's death will finally prove that Serbia is a state governed by law.

It is the turn of the Serbian opposition leaders to make a move now. I believe that they will first try to persuade Draskovic into giving up, and it will be a miracle if he listens to them. Tolstojeva Street (Milosevic's home address, ed. note) is the other address they might contact, and they can expect the same outcome. What then? To say that they have done all they could and go back to the Assembly? To wait for Draskovic's death and prepare their speeches? But if Draskovic dies, how will the opposition survive? What hope of changes?

Perhaps someone may think that Milosevic made a mistake, and that Draskovic was no longer a threat to his regime. In such cases it is best to rely on expert and qualified police estimates. The police know better than we do how matters stand, and what they need fear. Perhaps they didn't count on a hunger strike, or perhaps they still don't know if Vuk is more dangerous dead or alive.