« "Seesaw," Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina | Main | Saturday afternoon reflection »
March 15, 2006
Aleksandar Macasev, Belgrade
Milosevic is dead, long live Milosevic
spectre over Serbia (again)
The problem with Slobodan Milosevic's death is that he is still alive. Milosevic, like every other leader, does not appear on the scene by incidental strike of faith. Every leader is a sheer product of the people. A collective projection of desires into one man. Three months ago I participated in an exhibition with the work called Human after all*. At the beginning of the text for the work I said: "Sloba (Slobodan Milošević) didn't fall from Mars. He was created by the Serbian people". As well as American people deserves George W Bush.
Nothing actually changed, as we all witnessed, with Milosevic's fall, arrest or death. During the "revolution" of the 5th October 2000 the only person who could replace him should be neutral and blend enough not to irritate nationalists and to vaguely fit into sort of a democratic option. That choice was Vojislav Kostunica who was completely insignificant during the protests but fitted perfectly the image of compromise. An empty container that awaits to be filled with people's desires. And he was filled. So after 5 years we have almost the same situation: nationalist who is buying time and tries to make every good doer tired. The only figure who could have changed something was Zoran Djindjic, progressive prime minister who was killed three years ago. Not killed by some hired assassins, but killed by majority of the people. The strongest political option in Serbia right now is Serbian Radical Party, right winged nationalists whose sole purpose is to irritate. People still wants them. As my friend said recently: "Let them have radicals ruling the country. When people realize the true nature of Radicals maybe we will be able to move on". So, obviously nothing actually changed after 5th of October 2000. "Slobodan Milosevic" frame of mind remained.
During the trial in the International court in Hague, Milosevic was almost forgotten. Everybody was tired of the endless testimonials and his arguments. With his recent death he came back to haunt Serbia again. I've heard of his death at the opening of some exhibition on Saturday, 11th of March. "You gotta be kidding" was my reaction. No feelings of any kind. In the afternoon the media were overwhelmed with speculations, news and guessing. One voice was the loudest: "They have killed him". It remained the loudest after three days. Speculations about his health condition, poisoning, all kind of conspiracies... Older generation of sentimental citizens lighting candles in front of the building where his party is situated. Speculations about the place where he should be buried. Belgrade, Russia, his hometown... Some people crying. I don't know how many of them cried for the killed and crippled young men sent to wars by Milosevic. All that "forgive and forget" made me very angry. People have very very short memory. Certainly forget, but never forgive.
Bizarre coincidence is that former prime minister Zoran Djindjic was assassinated on March the 12th three years ago. Even the memory to this progressive man was clouded with the spectre of Slobodan Milosevic. All the media is trying to pay some sort of respect to Djindjic, but Milosevic's death is actually the hottest media stuff. History's sarcastic sense of humor.
Milosevic was one of the last European dictators of the low intensity when compared to major historical ones. People in Serbia actually never touched the bottom because Milosevic was very good in retaining the social peace. People of Serbia was miserable, unhappy and poor, but never hungry. We have never crossed the final line when you literally have nothing to lose and than you can make a real change. Like in Romania.
The latest news is that Marko Milosevic (late Slobodan Milosevic's son) has taken the body from Hague and Milosevic will probably be buried in Belgrade. It is not known weather the widow, Mira Markovic, will attend the funeral because of the criminal charges against her. You can find the news on the issue on www.b92.net/english
Posted by Henry Shepherd at March 15, 2006 09:14 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.watsonblogs.org/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/357
Comments
Very good text! I agree with you in every respect. But alas, people are people all over the world... that we can not change...
Posted by: Seesaw at March 15, 2006 02:41 PM
