Rules Of The Game

If, some day, someone decides to write the social history of Serbia, today's events and customs will best be described through the personality and career of Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan. Neither Milosevic, Draskovic nor Seselj, nor any single figure from the field of culture, cannot hope to fulfill the role of a true hero of these times, better than he can. World literature abounds with invented heroes and their fates symbolizing the spirit of the times. In Arkan we have a real character, one that is artistically rounded off, and worked out to the minutest detail. There is no work here for a writer: anything added or invented would not be able to compete with the documentary conviction of Raznatovic's biography.

The type of person who succeeds best in a society, is most representative of that particular society, and Raznatovic, is doubtless, the most successful man in Serbia. In the shortest possible time he has become a champion in all the disciplines which are held in esteem here. On the face of it, however, he started off with a handicap. Two years ago we still believed that a face found on international wanted posters could not become a respectable public figure here, but since everything has turned upside down, his disadvantages have become his advantages.

Years of crime, robberies, and time in European jails will be counted as part of Raznatovic's war years in the struggle against the new world order. It will be proved that he was a patriot twenty years ago, when nobody had dreamed of such things. He was arrested and persecuted only by the West's police forces, while he always had very good relations with the domestic police. Arkan can always testify, from personal experience, to what extent Europeans hate Serbs. His case reflects the precise nature and reasons of Serbia's conflict with the world.

Matters are developing favorably for Raznatovic. There is a tendency in the world to reciprocate in equal measure, so that if they are prepared to accept those who don't like it here, there is no reason why Serbia should not offer asylum to all who have violated the law there, and of proclaiming them victims of the new world order. An exchange of populations is in fashion, so that this kind of an exchange could be carried out to everybody's satisfaction. In this way citizen Raznatovic would gain many experienced business partners, who, in their way, would work on breaking through the blockade and help to include Serbia in their monetary system.

Before Milosevic's struggle for national liberation, Raznatovic did not enjoy public respect. But, his roots are in the old regime, which just goes to prove that state continuity does exist, if only through the most important institution - the police. He was forced to be discreet, but even then, he characteristically linked that which goes together naturally: the underworld, the police, football and a private catering business. It proved that he knew how to discipline football club Crvena Zvezda's rooters, and when the war started, he recruited his volunteers from their ranks.

I don't doubt that this man has taken great risks, but whoever in this country is not in conflict with the regime, has no need for great courage. On the other hand, whoever wishes to be a domestic James Bond can count on the fact that he will have a film-like fate. All in all, the war proved to be a stepping-stone for Raznatovic. He became the owner of a private army, a hero, a liberator, a champion patriot and one of the richest men in Belgrade. Arkan is living proof that the war is beautiful, romantic and profitable for the Serbs. The fact that some international court has launched an investigation for war crimes against him, can only help increase his reputation.

Arkan was elected a people's deputy in Kosovo with a majority of the minority's votes. Success is success. He has achieved this in war, in the re-selling of crude, and in all he has done in life. Times are such that only bores and pedants could have moral objections. Mr. Raznatovic is no longer Arkan, but a respected representative of the people whose views must be taken seriously.

Perhaps someone will think that this deputy does not understand all that takes place in an Assembly. He, however, understands the essence, and the essence lies in the fact that there is no issue here which is not patriotic. Raznatovic has managed to prove that the law on the enforced paying of TV subscriptions along with electricity bills, is of great interest to Serbia. Namely, this law is directed mostly against ethnic Albanians who watch Belgrade television news programs en masse and for free. Everything that is a punishment for ethnic Albanians must be profitable to Serbs, even though it may cost them the same.

Deputy Raznatovic's latest move is perhaps his most interesting to date, because it shows how far Serbia has gone. When the Pristina Football Club, of which he is President, recently dropped out of the First League, Raznatovic decided that this wasn't a good thing, from the point of view of Serbia's interests, peace and riches, naturally. The "holy Serbian land" must have its First League team, otherwise all Serbs will leave Kosovo, since holiness is best proved through football, and naturally, profits collected by deputy Raznatovic.

Many bigger and more important things have been explained and justified by following the same logic, the same kind of national interest. That is why prices are rising in shops, while those of wheat are dropping. The regime's holy national imperative is to sell dearly and buy cheaply, while the opposite holds true when the people are concerned. This is why as much money as is needed is printed. This, in the final instance, is the reason for the war.

In a symbolical sense, this football case surpasses all this. Rules in sport are that which is the most obvious. Football can be taken as a metaphor in order to illustrate where arbitrary interpretations of the rules and their abolishing lead in the economy, politics, elections, party and parliamentary life. It could be said that our elections recall situations where the results are agreed on first, and the game is then played. Or, our propaganda resembles a situation in which a rule would be introduced in football which says that no Serb can ever be in offside. Or, some rules in the economy bring to mind a situation in which the game is played first, and the rules are then drawn up.

We have now run out of football metaphors. What seemed to be the height of absurdity, will become reality. Deputy Raznatovic now wants things fixed so that his team can never drop out of the First League. The ethnic Albanian boycott of the Pristina Football Club must not be awarded. The Serbs, as a parliamentary people, will, if need be, sit down and reach an agreement as to what results are most profitable for them. They will decide whether a player from Herzegovina, Lika or Krajina will give a goal, since the matter must not be left to chance. The rest of the world can continue competing and playing by the rules of the new world order.

This will to place all things under control by abolishing the rules, was also very strong after the victory of the Communist revolution, but weakened with time. And precisely when it seemed that some firm rules could be set up, everything reverted back to the beginning. The coincidence between new national and old party explanations is staggering. It remains for us to view our entire history as a struggle for rules, and the current phase as another triumph of violence and lawlessness.

Serbia's come-back in the world now depends very little on the rest of the world. Even if sanctions were to be lifted tomorrow, who would be able to establish relations with a country which doesn't even know the rules of football. Or, to get back to our hero: how to explain to a world in which politicians are hounded for a traffic violation, that the customs in Serbia are different. The belief which reigns here is that laws and regulations are best understood by those who have violated them most often. If Raznatovic can be a deputy, then none should be surprised if he is entrusted with the task of drawing up a new Constitution one day. No one will be able to take care of our cause and protect it better than he will.