The Serbian New Year

Over the two-month protest that has seized all the relevant centers in Serbia, some days had the flavor of a rare political feast during which the metamorphosis of the demonstrations into games and processions occurred. The events were marked by the fusion of intelligence and blind intuition, of urban Western culture with the Orthodox religion’s rituals. The celebration of St. Nicholas with the touching scene of an elderly couple dressed in a brand new outfit burning the ceremonial candle on their terrace was contrasted by the real ecstasy during the celebration of the secular New Year, by the celebration of the Orthodox Christmas with incense, bells and whistles and finally, the celebration of the Serbian New Year.

The events had the indisputable political charge of the fight for freedom and justice, but also the magical characteristic of exorcism and purification of souls. Since, in fact, over the last two months the unique culture renaissance occurred, and since the demonstrations of this kind always leave the seal and determine the profile of the future generations, it could be said with certainty that in the years to come many will develop a different frame of mind and musicians and urban engineers, city planners and architects will have to take into account the existence of such public function of the city. Belgrade (and along with it, dozen of other Serbian cities) has demonstrated that it holds somewhere in its mentality the features of a Mediterranean city, at least because of the fact that this much political activity could probably only be found in the streets of the modern Athens, where, by the testimonies of those who have witnessed such events, political meetings are always spectacular.

Although in a different constellation it could have proved dangerous, the streets and the city’s square have evolved into the unique "institutions of the system" in which a substantially firm collective feeling of freedom has ripened, along with the even more important determination that the feeling should be transformed into political action.

The opposition politicians have articulated their devotion for autonomy of institutions, including the freedom of media, but since they are amidst the fight for power and the power spoils, and since they still like to impose control over whatever they can, anyone able to do so should be careful about the brotherly hug which can sometimes be so strong that it breaks bones.

The government has, however, shown the signs of believing that it could deflate the protest of the rest of the citizens by making the students fall out of the game. That could be true were it not for the fact that the protest has seized also the cities that are not university centers.

Still, by the logic of the ownership rights which, by the way, could once start functioning in this state also since the battle about the ownership is also being fought, the microphone that night belonged to the students, the witty and insolent favorites of this city. The organization was theirs.

During the week before that, they were the ones who made the engagement of the police forces for the protection of the empty Terazije completely senseless by organizing passive resistance against the police cordons, protesting because the police did not allow them to stroll peacefully through the Belgrade streets over a period of more than two weeks. They created educational programs for the police, reading them the novel by Dostojevski and distributing fliers consisting of the explanation of the meaning of the word "walk": (in English: walk, stroll) to advance on foot at a moderate pace from the point A to the point B with 40.000 friends accompanied by the strange and peculiar sounds.

After some twelve hours of testing each other’s patience and all the while playing chess, soccer and leading cheerful conversation with the police, the police withdrew so that the students could walk through the Belgrade streets in the early morning of January 10, in a festive and active mood. Tragedy nearly happened that morning when a young man hit the column of walkers with his car and several student suffered lesser injuries. They endured until morning in order to leave their written request to the President of the Serbian Government to instantly remove the police forces from the Belgrade streets.

On Saturday (11th) at 6 PM the police were again in the streets, but while they were guarding one group of the students, another escaped and literally ran through the entire city and returned to the vicinity of the cordon. After midnight between Saturday and Sunday, the police withdrew in front of the lords of the city’s nights.

Being the group that has not much to win except maybe a brighter future, the students took the position that experts in the area of conflict resolution, which is not very developed here, highly regard the position of someone who is by its profile the most acceptable for the both parties in dispute.

Although dozen of diplomats paraded through Belgrade and although there were certainly other ways of exchanging messages between the government and the opposition, the students were a handy group to transfer the government’s readiness for loosening up. Even Milosevic did not compare them this time to the collective farm workers as he did in 1992. This time it was done by Seselj, anew his "traveling companion".

During the conversation between the students and the two vice presidents of the Serbian government it was hinted that the request for the shift of the rector of the Belgrade University Dragutin Velickovic could be accepted. Although in a very vague manner and covered with a shroud of secrecy, it was also said to them and put on paper that the government would in fact acknowledge the results from November 17 and establish responsibility. Before that the news on the acknowledgment of the results in Lapovo and Vrsac came. Following that, after the weekend, there was news that, following the strange correspondence between the Ministry of Justice and the election committee of Nis, the victory of the opposition in Nis was acknowledged; finally, on Tuesday the city election committee of Belgrade confirmed its previous decision and announced the victory of the opposition. In fact, exactly what your chronicler had hinted in the last issue of the Vreme weekly happened in this cheerful game with high stakes: the moment is approaching when one man will "sit down, sip his whisky, recall that he used to be a banker and un-ideologically closing his eyes he will settle all due claims".

Everything was carried out as a paraphrase of the saying that the English parliament can do anything but turn male into female - the government showed that it can change the calendar. When it became clear that it will deliver the hastily repackaged parcel from November 17, the opposition leaders started to recalculate - they will not say thank you for the stolen and then returned victory (Vesna Pesic) and will seek responsibility; they kept repeating that the goal of the movement is not only the local government but the global economic, political and moral reform, reconstruction and the Serbian integration with the world (Djindjic). Their wish to defeat Milosevic in the elections was clear from their speeches (Draskovic) - that the political consolidation of the country is the necessary precondition in order to start negotiations on basic concessions of political equality, on freedom of the media and on those responsible for the existing situation, those who forged the elections and misused the police. They pointed out that, in case the opposite occurs, the doors are open for revolution.

During the ninth week the opposition was in a good position to maintain the game whose rhythm erodes the government’s self-confidence and to continue peaceful walks and wait while repeating that they do not trust the citizens of Argos (Danaides?). Along with the feeling that in order to continue the battle with political means discernment should also be expressed towards the moves of the political opponent, Draskovic states, after the news from the Belgrade election committee that it is the step toward reason and that the opposition might stop with the demonstrations if it comes out that the government has really fulfilled the terms set by the opposition. The coalition Zajedno did not participate in the panel discussion in the Serbian Parliament on Tuesday (14th) during which the representative of New Democracy decidedly stated that this organization would not participate in the talks if the coalition Zajedno does not approach the panel. The socialists were hypocritically indulgent. Djindjic has openly expressed doubt that the hint of indulgence was only the trick of the government intended for external use and that after the session of the OSCE the concessions might be withdrawn.

The opposition, with the shadow of repression hanging over it on Wednesday (15th), now organizes the demonstrations with precautions, and the government pulls out great police forces to show that it still has power. With the same precautionary intention the students follow the session of the University Board in front of the rectorate building, exclaiming "Let us have the rector!". It does not seem entirely probable, except if president Milosevic is the victim of the conspiracy, that the regime will make a draw in the next few days that would annul the concessions that he has decided upon after the two months’ hesitation. The moves he made have dismantled the platform about the orderly finalization of the Serbian elections and destroyed the myth of the firm, unyielding government.

Nobody can predict the outcome of the negotiations that will capitalize on the so far most developed democratic energy, or whether all that has so far been gained would be lost, as used to be the rule in the past. In the moment of publishing of this text (Wednesday afternoon), it seems quite certain that the demonstrating citizens of the Serbian cities have won, with style, the first set in the marathon match against the government which has problems with morals, perception of the situation, logic, money and stability in its circles. The victory is of far-reaching importance and it will determine further events in Serbia, because in its course an independent and persistent subject emerged on the scene - the free, responsible and playful citizen. The frolicsome game that has educated an entire political generation is approaching to its end and now follows the sadness of the winner. Both by the Julian and Gregorian calendar, the new year has obviously started.

Montenegro

Three Times "B"

The President of Montenegro and the ruling Democratic Party of the Socialists Momir Bulatovic went alone to Herceg Novi in 1997, while the President of the Government Milo Djukanovic spent the night of the New Year’s Eve in Budva with the President of the Parliament Svetozar Marovic. Is this yet another proof that Slobodan Milosevic has divided the most powerful people in Montenegro? The rumors of this kind were heard also before, but now they seem more credible since they are supported by dissonant statements of the Montenegrin leaders. Namely, in response to the proposition of the opposition that the Montenegrin socialists should join the democratic coalition of the country and in that way bring down the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, the President Momir Bulatovic gave the statement that "the key to the survival and development of the SRY lies in the cooperation and mutual respect of the ruling parties of Serbia and Montenegro, that is, of those parties that gain the support of the majority of the electorate."

At first glance, President Momir Bulatovic has too easily shook off the statements of the President of the Parliament Svetozar Marovic and the Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic.

Bulatovic has, however, announced that the statements made by individuals, if not considered within context, can not put out of force the Resolution of the Montenegrin (read: DPS) Parliament about the events in Serbia, which is such that even Slobodan Milosevic would have signed it. A few hours before Bulatovic’s statement, Marovic has repeated, after his meeting with American congressmen, the most radical statement given to Radio Budva, that is, his threat that Montenegro could step out of the federal parliament. The Prime Minister Djukanovic, answering the question of Vreme, has stated his belief that in Serbia reason will prevail and that in the opposite case, Montenegro will use all the capacities provided by the Constitution. The President of Montenegro has even denied his statements intended only for the foreign public but published also by the local media: in the Blic daily Bulatovic denies the most sensitive parts of his well known interview to the French Figaro: "I did not say that the President Milosevic admitted to me the theft of the votes in Nis and Belgrade and the similar," the President argued.

The threats in the form of heading their own way into the international community and the announcement of printing their own currency have supporters gathered around the new program of the Montenegrin government, which does not correspond to what persistently promotes the couple from Dedinje.

The fact is that from the two statements of Marovic which have circulated in the world press, only the first one was published, from the third-hand sources, in the Pobjeda daily. There was also drama in the Montenegrin state media around the publishing of any kind of attitude of the government that stands out from the parliamentary resolution’s framework. The Montenegrin TV read the whole interview which Predrag Bulatovic gave to the Nedeljni Dnevnik, in which he stressed his devotion to the Socialist Party of Serbia and Milosevic. The mentioned Bulatovic is the chief of the Club of Representatives of the DPS, but also the chairman of the Board of Executives of the Radio and Television of Montenegro. The Pobjeda daily did not publish a single word from that interview, which was a sign of the behavior of the government media depending on the impact from the top. As the opposition to Marovic, Djukanovic and the majority of their associates, the line called "The Three B" - Momir, Predrag and Pavle Bulatovic, the Federal Minister of Defense - was constituted. Furthermore, the news leaked that Pavle was nominated by Momir to be the new president of the federal government. There is a gap between the two lines, which will get deeper or be filled, depending on the events in Serbia.