Referendum Against the War

After participating in the protest in Senta, Nenad Canak and a few other pro- peace activists were arrested and forcibly mobilized. This has enraged the public opinion. One of the organizers of the Senta rally Janos Sloboda has said of himself: "I am old, ill and exhausted,only good with my pen and not skilled in politics". He has send an open letter to Canak where he, perhaps containing his fear, perhaps hiding his age, hoping that he will dramatize the events, writes: "We had no idea that we might be seeing you for the last time." He also says: "My best friend Zoltan Varga, a notable Vojvodina's writer with most of his works translated into Serbian, immobile and fragile, has said to me almost in tears 'I have a feeling we shall not see him again!'". According to one source, Canak has refused to carry arms because of his "religious beliefs", while the other source claims that he is in Ilok, the third - in the Petrovaradin garrison, while the fourth says that he is awaiting trial in a military prison somewhere in Serbia. Janos Sloboda is thanking him on his anti-war efforts and assistance "to us, the people of Senta who since September 7 1697 (the day they lifted the Turkish rule after the Eugenie Sawoyski's victory) have not done anything remarkable, always being only the innocent victims (1849, 1918, 1941 and in 1944) of the various revenges and reprisals on account of the past victims". In that exalted letter of the exalted tone he says that the citizens "of our peaceful small town in Backa which is just about to loose the status of the town given in 1508, have summoned the courage to yell 'no' and 'nem' in all the languages official and semi-official albeit in official use - according to the latest municipal statute". These hints point out that the Senta rebellion was incited not only as the anti-war protest but was also fueled by the old political discontent. After Zablje, Curug, Kac, Novi Sad, Zrenjanin, Kikinda, Pancevo, Subotica and Backa Topola the reservists' dissatisfaction in Ada and Senta, with the majority Hungarian population, has not gained new political dimension. The Supreme Court of Serbia on November 12 voted against Senta and Ada referendum outcome as being anti-constitutional and unlawful. The Supreme Court judges had said: Slobodan Vucetic has said that by the Serbian constitution a town is defined as the territorial unit responsible only for local government, while the matters of defence being regulated by the state; Djuro Svorcan has declared that referendum encourages the breaking of the State's law on people's defence; Balsa Sadijer claims that it presents an evident example of the violation of the Constitution, because some of the municipalities are not only attempting to become states within a state but are also trying to take over the supreme functions of the Republic. There could be no complaints about such a decision in the time of peace. However, there are a few problems here: the Serbian government supports the plebiscite of Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it has supported the Milan Babic's (President of SAO Krajina) plebiscite, but same as it has tried to obstruct the Moslems' polling it, now with more muscle, tries to suspend the referendum of its citizens on such relevant matters as war and peace. "The traitor" questions on the banned referendum in Ada and Senta were: "Are you for this war, do you approve our citizen's participation in it, do you agree that forcibly mobilized citizens in the war zones and training centres, who are held against their will, should return home?". The public polls carried out in August 1991 by The Institute for Political Studies have shown that the war is not strongly supported in Serbia - which is indicated by the fact that 80% of the respondents were for keeping the peace at all costs (77,69% Serbs and those who declare themselves as Yugoslavs). 54,9% of these have declared with resignation: "I do not want to go to war, but if one has to go, one has to go". Anton Agoston, the MP for the Democratic Union of Hungarians from Vojvodina has said for VREME: "Neither is this the 'most repulsive manipulation and cynicism' (this is the ruling party's accusation) nor does it represent the disloyalty of the Hungarians. We shall be loyal to the country we live in if it has the internationally recognized borders. If it is to be the Great Serbia and we were to live in it, and if it's borders are internationally recognized we shall defend them. What we now have is the civil war and we do not want to participate in it. According to the information, I have - and I shall keep relying on them until General Tomislav Simovic presents the facts proving the opposite - in the war zones are as many as 10% of the Hungarian reservists. I think that they are mobilizing Hungarians in Vojvodina instead of Albanians, Moslems, while in one part of Vojvodina they were mobilized instead of Serbs. This is what we are fighting against, just as we are fighting against the bitter fact that 20.000 Hungarians, because of the fear of mobilization and, have fled Yugoslavia". The diary of one reservist who escaped to Hungary testifies the war resistance is much more deeply embedded that the "activities of certain political parties": "...The commanding officer has all the rights. He decides about life, death and about the fates of his soldiers. He keeps saying that this is a good unit. I don't know what he has in mind - competence, bravery, obedience, discipline? People are shabbily dressed, most of them are unshaven, their faces are swollen, they are bad tempered and worried. 'They say we shall get replacements on Saturday'. They go to nearby cafes in the evening while some stay at the club to watch porno films with young soldiers..." "...I might not even live to get in front of the court martial. There is no way back. Anything is possible. I base this on with my yesterday's conversation with the sergeant (who was a bit tipsy): 'I have the right to kill you if you don't obey orders, but what comes after that? There are your children, they can ask for revenge!'." "...I phone my wife to come right away...I have decided. I am going abroad." "...We come out of the gate. 'Wait for me tonight in the cafe!' She asks no questions, understands everything..." "...There are two soldiers by the customs officer. How come? It is over. They must be helping the police in their hunt for the deserters. One turns and I see the frontier guardsman's badge. They are not M.P.! The policeman sulkily stamps the passports. We have passed through. At last." "The Serbian government will certainly not admit that the whole thing is 'rotting away' from the top and is trying to "eliminate the little flaws". (The ruling party ideologue Mihajlo Markovic stated last week that the government has decided to reject the Hague document, counting on the assumption that "some inner weaknesses can be eliminated while by mobilizing large forces we can strengthen ourselves". Someone must be held responsible for the defeat. For instance, the pacifist Nenad Canak and his friends.