March 13, 2003
Who was Djindjic?
By Andrej Grubacic
Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was a long time dissident. During his student days in the mid-1970s, he left for Germany to join other dissidents who were, with the help of western intellectuals, escaping harassment in Titoist Yugoslavia.
After his return to Belgrade, abandoning his anarchist ideas, Djindjic was among the founding members of the Democratic Party in 1989 - one of the main anti-Milosevic parties. A master tactician and a ruthless technocrat he soon took over as its leader. Djinjdic came to international prominence at the end of 1996, when he was one of three opposition leaders who inspired and coordinated nearly three months of mass street demonstrations against the attempts of the Milosevic administration to annul the victories of the "Zajedno" (Together) coalition in municipal elections across Serbia.
The demonstrations - unprecedented in length and intensity in recent European history - brought victory. Djindjic's prize was to become mayor of Belgrade in 1997.
During the Kosovo conflict, when NATO carried out its aggression against Yugoslavia, Djindjic took refuge in Montenegro and the west, leaving the country, and suggestions that "Serbia should be bombed" were not received with support in Yugoslavia
After the aggression against Yugoslavia, Djindjic - as probably the most unpopular of Serb politicians - stayed in the background directing the ultimately successful campaign of another opposition leader, Vojislav Kostunica, in the race against Milosevic.
Kostunica gained the largely honorary post of Yugoslav President, while Djindjic took over at the centre of power - as prime minister of Serbia.
Djindjic had transferred Milosevic to The Hague Tribunal in 2001 - in the face of opposition from the people and many Serb political forces, including President Kostunica.
He introduced neoliberal capitalism of the worst kind in Serbia. His media manipulation and his technocratic behavior made him more and more unpopular, as Serbia was becoming one of the poorest countries in the region. Every day, more than 15,000 workers were on the street, protesting. More than 900,000 people in Serbia were fired (Serbia has a population of about 7 million), unions were aroused and social unrest was brewing.
So called "Workers Resistance", from Kragujevac, an industrial city of Serbia, was vehemently protesting against Djindjic ‘s neoliberal policies. Coalitions and social movements, such as "Another World is Possible", and many others, were starting to take shape, and to resist IMF-iseration of the country. A handful of intellectuals and journalists were fighting against an imposition of a "false debate"- you have to choose between neoliberal "reformists" or "ultranationalists" - and there emerged a so-called "Belgrade consensus": a convergence of the neoliberal and the nationalistic political elite and intellectual commissars who were restoring the capacity of coercion against the people who tried to look beyond both options being presented, nationalism and neoliberalism.
With regards to political parties, for much of the past two years, there has been a power struggle between Kostunica and Djindjic. Kostunica enjoyed popularity, and Djindjic was detested because of his technocratic approach and what is called "reforms" ( meaning: stabilization, privatization, liberalization, in the spirit of the "Washington Consensus") Yet Djindjic was very succesful. He has used his links with President Djukanovic of Montenegro to establish a loosely-knit union of Serbia and Montenegro.
The power struggle with Kostunica finally went Djindjic's way with the replacement of Yugoslavia by the union of Serbia and Montenegro over the past month. This left Kostunica without an office and transferred him back to the opposition. Djindjic was not able to enjoy the fruits of his almost absolute power for more than a few weeks. There are a lot of speculations about today’s assassination. According to one scenario, the most probable one perhaps, Djindjic was a victim of his own alliances with organized crime. Post-Yugoslavia, as every other "country in transition" (towards complete poverty) has seen a "new class" being formed, a group of oligarchs who made their money under Milosevic and found new protectors in Djindjic or Kostunica. A virulent element of this new class, comprised of buisness people and politicians, was mafia and organized crime. Another scenario is interpreting Djindjic's assasination as a political plot. There is a suggestion that he was perhaps executed by Albanian nationalists who are gaining more and more strength in the south of Serbia.
Djindjic's circle, neoliberal technocrats, will use this situation and benefit from it. This is not good: I have seen it happening with Milosevic who had become almost a martyr after his extradition to the Hague. As I am writing these lines, one of the TV stations loyal to Djindjic is broadcasting the movie "JFK". There is, also, another danger, the one of organized crime transforming this situation into a gang warfare. After this, gangs, and mafia in general, could be encouraged. And a situation of complete disorder could be introduced.
In the best scenario, neoliberals-in-power will use and exploit this opportunity for their own benefit and further impoverishment of the country. Nationalist forces could be encouraged as well. As for the people who are fighting for "another Serbia", against neoliberalism and nationalism, for them, at least at the moment, the situation doesn’t look very promising.
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2003-03/13grubacic.cfm