Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- Serbia: Hard Times with a New Start The Heavy Legacy of Ethno-Nationalism Martin Woker The downfall of dictator Slobodan Milosevic inaugurated a process of renewal in Serbia, the outcome of which is still utterly uncertain. A large percentage of the populace lives just barely above, if not below, the hunger line, and people are increasingly bitter at the wrangling within the new political leadership. >From the marketplace in the center of Belgrade, one can see into a good many private kitchens in this once beautiful and proud, now crumbling metropolis at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. In addition to booths offering used clothing and very cheap textiles from the Far East, the market is populated by women ranged alongside displays that are hardly worthy of the name: a few carrots, onions and potatoes at one, at another a small pile of apples, grapes and some plums, going for the equivalent of about 20 U.S. cents per kilogram. People carry their purchases home in small plastic sacks; overstuffed shopping bags are nowhere in evidence. In the streets off the busy pedestrian zone, garbage containers are systematically searched, mostly by elderly people shamefacedly looking for something usable, sometimes by mothers with their children. Monthly wages here currently average the equivalent of about 88 U.S. dollars, but roughly half the labor force has no regular income. At the same time, in the courtyard of the five-star hotel on the other side of the Sava, palms and other tropical plants provide a cooling shade which is not really necessary in the fully air-conditioned building. Room prices here run about 220 dollars per night. A sign at the entrance points to a seminar currently under way, titled "Sava Investment." The Cesspool of Europe "We are the cesspool of Europe," says Bozidar Jaksic, coordinator at Belgrade's University Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory. The shrewd sociologist greets us in his office on the Ulica Narodnog Fronta (Street of the Popular Front). Although Belgrade is certainly also one of Europe's most environmentally polluted capitals, his comment is intended to be taken in a nonliteral sense. Jaksic's analysis goes like this: The collapse of Titoism did not result in democratic conditions in Serbia or any other regions of the former Yugoslavia. Although a large number of political parties were formed in Serbia in the early 1990s, most of them were ethno-nationalist movements. In that climate, Slobodan Milosevic and his ex-Communist Party found it very easy to take on an old, familiar litany: one people, one country, one party, one leader. This resonated with the populace and brought Milosevic the support of a majority of the people, along with part of the Orthodox clergy. The vulgar atheistic slogans from the Tito era were then replaced by no less vulgar religious propaganda. It never penetrated the public awareness in Serbia that a state can only be truly democratic if it is based on a secular foundation. Moreover, during the past years the groundwork was quietly laid for a return of the hopelessly discredited Karadjordjevic royal family. Recently, the bluebloods have been reinstalled in one of their palaces in a prime Belgrade location. The tradition of constitutional monarchy, as it is known in a few well-established republics of Northern Europe, does not exist in Serbia or anywhere in the Balkans, notes Jaksic. New Oligarchies In Milosevic's day the opposition parties differed from one another less in their political programs than in their leaders. This "F�hrer principle" constituted the fundamental social ill and prevented any progress toward democratization. And in this respect not much has changed since the downfall of Milosevic on 5 October of last year. Most of the 18 parties in the present governing DOS coalition are undemocratically structured, so they cannot be expected to push for an open society. The party leaders have already forgotten that they were elected not because of their programs, but because the people were fed up with the miseries caused by Milosevic. Their election victory was largely the result of unremitting effort on the part of activists from outside party politics � trade unionists and members of the largely student-dominated Otpor movement. But the DOS leaders have already created new oligarchical structures. Countless so-called coordination meetings awaken uncomfortable memories of the Tito era. Yet the people who share power today are those who a short time ago were loudly calling for the rule of law and greater transparency. "How is it possible," asks the critical Jaksic, "that the Serbian government needs no fewer than seven vice-presidents? Switzerland gets along with seven ministers in its entire cabinet. The difference, no doubt, is that Switzerland is a poor state with prosperous citizens, whereas here certain people want exactly the opposite." Jaksic illustrates the difficulties the DOS leadership is having with democratization by citing Montenegro and Kosovo. The Montenegrins are to be given the right to decide at the polls about possible independence, since a clearcut outcome is not expected. On the other hand, the new leaders are agreed that a similar plebiscite must not be held in Kosovo under any circumstances, because it is clear from the outset that there would be an overwhelming vote for independence. "For twenty years we maintained an apartheid regime in Kosovo," says Jaksic. "Today only five percent of the people there are Serbs. We can't possibly hold the region." But isn't the sociologist underestimating Kosovo's historic importance for Serb identity? "Oh stop it, please," he replies, "that's all nothing but manipulation." The people who caused all the fighting in the Balkans, he continues, are those chauvinists who have steadily insisted that "we can't live together." The only humanitarian reply to that is: "There is no existence without a communal life." Jaksic, who grew up in Sarajevo as the son of a Serbian Orthodox priest, has worked himself up into a rage. "Kosovo is not our problem," he insists. We need employment in this country, a normal life. I want to sit peacefully and watch my grandchildren at play. No matter where it may be." No Recovery Without Clarification Another man who hopes for a peaceful old age is Nebojsa Popov, editor-in-chief of the highly regarded journal Republika. Since 1989, the bimonthly Republika has served as a forum for dissident thinkers from throughout the former Yugoslavia. The publication receives support from the Soros Foundation and the Zurich-based organization Media-Aid in Ex-Yugoslavia. The time to retire has not yet come, says Popov; Republika is still needed. He credits the new Serbian government with initiating some economic reforms and demonstrating skill in dealing with international donors. But, he adds, there is still no question of a parliamentary democracy here: "There are people in the DOS Alliance who see themselves as the new Politburo." Popov is angered by the present power struggle in the governing coalition, which was triggered by the affair surrounding the murder of former intelligence chief Momir Gavrilovic. There is a whole series of other political murders, he notes, which are in urgent need of clarification. Former Serbian President Stambolic disappeared without a trace a year ago; in 1997, Serbia's Deputy Interior Minister Radovan Stojicic was murdered; two years later it was the turn of former Yugoslav Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic. In 1999, during the NATO bombings, a prominent journalist named Slavko Curuvija was assassinated. "These murders came from within the system," says Popov, "the assignments came directly from the center of power. Only when they will have been clarified, will we have proof of a functioning parliamentary system." We cannot expect the totalitarianism of the last ten years to simply dissipate overnight, Popov admits. During that long and difficult period, opposition figures from various camps fought for change. Now that it has come, at least superficially, those who worked so tirelessly behind the scenes must not be simply ignored. Yet the best battlers of recent years � the unionists, opposition journalists, nongovernmental organizations � are not in power today. The creation of a civil society demands things that are simply not available, Popov says. Popov maintains that, in the present situation, it is dangerous to expect an improvement to come from free-market forces alone. "For fifty years we were told that socialism would solve everything. Now we don't want the same old song with just a slight change of lyrics. Something new can arise only when we have dealt with the old. Without thorough clarification and resolution, there can be no healing." No Mercy Night has fallen over the Kneza Mihaila. Crowds of Belgraders promenade through the pedestrian zone on this pleasantly cool summer evening, young and old, loving couples, families, children on skates, people walking their dogs. The world seems at peace, and the ice cream vendors are doing a brisk business. Shop windows display exclusive fashion items from all over the world, now on sale at 50 percent off. In front of a jeans shop, a highly gifted local street musician plays an American folksong on an amplified guitar. "Death has no mercy in this land," he sings and plays with a perfection that would raise cheers from any professional in Nashville. The jeans in the window behind him cost about as much as most of the passersby earn in a month. 7 September 2001 / First published in German, 1 September 2001 http://www.nzz.ch/english/background/2001/09/07_serbia.html Kontakt Impressum [.] [.] [.] [.] [.] [.] [.] [.] Copyright � Neue Z�rcher Zeitung AG ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [email protected] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
