The Art of Starving

The war in Bosnia is still going strong; the peace in Croatia is barely holding; some people over there still have some goals, but viewed from Belgrade, it has all become so tiring, boring and foreign. Few here follow reports from the battlefields, and few know who is shooting at whom right now, or where, or what they are negotiating in Geneva again. It is more or less clear that Serbs outside Serbia have achieved what they wanted, and that Serbia has been devastated because of this.

What now? Wolves will be howling at Belgrade intersections next winter. It seems that a migration wave from the city to the villages awaits us, something contrary to all experiences of civilization. The city and the citizens have been sacrificed. It was said that in Bosnia, especially round Sarajevo, village mentality was waging war against city mentality. It has now become obvious that this was not accidental, and that we are dealing with a whole anti-city movement, one which is deeply rooted. It is as if someone here had waited for the opportunity of carrying out the perverse idea of returning to nature in a monstrous fashion.

It was known that the city would offer resistance, that it would wish to retain its civilized advantages, imperilled by this movement which is only concerned with changing village boundaries. In wars such as these, the cities are always treacherous and they provoke the revengeful anger of the warriors. The warriors here, and the rooters in the background, can't wait to see the citizens trying to get a sack of flour from the peasants in exchange for Gershwin, Bartok, Dante or Schopenhauer. Treachery is contained in this cultural differentiation, and those foreign names sound like those of inspirators and instigators.

Many preparations have been carried out for this type of cultural revolution. There are a number of home-grown geniuses who are prepared to create works which will take the place of suspect foreign classics.

Translating, will doubtless, become a subversive activity, because there is no foreign language in which Serbia has not been accused and placed under sanctions. Who needs Tolstoy if Russia doesn't wish to take up our cause in the Security Council? Are we going to stage Shakespeare here while the English press is conducting an anti-Serbian campaign?

This, however, will affect a small number of people, and anyway, a cultural revolution cannot last too long, since, as a rule, it achieves the opposite effect. Finally, it remains to be seen if there will be money here to finance anything to do with culture, with the exception of folk music mega-stars. People are faced with ordinary, banal, hunger. This is when one tries to slice an egg into equal parts so that the children won't quarrel, and when you drink a lot of water so that you don't feel hungry, and when you curse yourself for having thrown away all that mouldy bread once upon a time. You don't go to the green market, and you enter a supermarket only when the neighbors can see you. Later on you won't care about such niceties anymore.

The washing machine is too much for you, since you need three salaries to buy a box of detergent. Apart from one electric bulb, everything else that needs electricity, is just a happy memory. On the other hand, you can watch TV which you paid for along with that electric bulb. You can tell yourself that your ancestors didn't have even that much, and that there are others who are far worse off than you are. In fact, you can find many small things to gladden the heart. You, at least, have a grandmother living in the country, and you don't have to walk to work more than half an hour, your windows are on the south side, you still have some salt stacked away, you managed to alter your old coat so that the kid can wear it, the woman at the grocer's left you a liter of milk this morning...

I'm afraid that there is a belief here that once people reach the bottom of the barrel socially, that they then jump up in unison and start demolishing everything in front of them. And now all are waiting, some in fear, others in hope for this to happen. I don't think that anything like a "rebellion of the hungry" has ever taken place because hunger in itself, is not a good organizer of revolutions. On the contrary, misery encourages selfishness, and makes people look after themselves and their families, it forces them to make do from day to day, but it does not help them unite over a long-term, dubious goal. "The world's slaves and captives tortured by hunger," would never have risen unless a fanatic revolutionary organization had not done so in their name.

The hungry can suffer in silence indefinitely, out of fear that things could only get worse. They will stoop to all sorts of small and big crimes, like the nomads from the East, that mass of desperados from the former Soviet Union who manage to reach even these areas. Finally, the people could start demolishing shops, and this could resemble revolutionary anger, but such behavior doesn't seem probable. Misery encourages and strengthens earlier habits, feelings and activities, rather than create new ones. The poor here, as elsewhere in the former Socialist bloc, are more likely to suffer resignedly, steal and plunder, than think of rebelling. Their experiences with the authorities and the state have taught them that they have a thousand more reasons for fear, than they do for anything resembling a revolt.

The Serbian regime has abandoned the model and procedures which allow for a peaceful transfer of authority. Changes, however, must take place. The people can be told that international sanctions, and not the costs of war are the main source of misery, but propaganda has little effect on an empty stomach. The people do not wish to listen to explanations, and the majority of them will admit soon that they do not like queuing in front of a bank to pick up their non-existent money in order to buy non-existent cigarettes.

In such a situation, when the regime becomes very unpopular, it is possible, in principle, to rule for a very long time by fear. The people cannot, however, be forced to work with enthusiasm when they don't have anything, or any reason to do so. Let the tensions continue because of the chaos with money and prices, but soon, this will inevitably be placed under some centralized control, and then we will have all the time in the world. There will be no reason to hurry. Our movements will slow down in order that we might fill up the empty eternity of a day.

This regime's longevity does not depend on how long the citizens can suffer, but on how it can justify itself. If Serbia were England, Milosevic would soon be out of power, just as Churchill was after World War Two, but for a much better reason. It will take a lot more time here, inasmuch as Serbia lags behind in political wisdom, experience and responsibility. The mechanisms of change are different, but the principle is the same. A war and imperialist leader will slowly become superfluous, unless he comes up with a new war.

Just as in a democracy the authorities lose power because of their weaknesses, and not because of the miracles promised by the opposition, so, in the absence of a democracy, they fall because of internal reasons, usually when they lose self-confidence and try to do better. Hunger and misery in Serbia will offer sufficient motives to many in the regime to waver and start thinking, even though they may not seem capable of doing so. So far they have proved to be hardened and impervious to everything around them. But powerlust and patriotic insanity do have their limits. When they start tripping over beggars on their way to work and back home, they might start doubting their irreplaceability.