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Comrade Peng answered: "Not too many, about 5-6 millions. And you, Comrade Milosevic, how many discontent opponents do you have in Yugoslavia?"
A bit confused, Milosevic answered: "How many? Well, not more than you have comrade Peng. About 5-6 millions."
This is one of the newer jokes going around Belgrade, of course, but something must be rotten in the state of Yugoslavia when ungrateful people --- despite all Big Daddy's efforts to convince them what a "wonderful, prosperous, victorious and free democratic country" they have --- (O yes - he said it indeed!) continue to resist and seek freedom. The people decided to vote for Dr Vojislav Kostunica, the candidate of DOS coalition (Democratic Opposition in Serbia consisted of 18 political parties)!
The past nine months - starting from January 2000 when Milosevic categorically announced the "beginning of the glorious reconstruction of the state infrastructures destroyed during NATO aggression" and the witch hunt against "foreign and nonpatriotic interior enemies and NATO servants" - were extremely difficult for all Yugoslavs. All the mistakes of the International Community had proven God's gifts to Milosevic. The 10 years of sanctions which afflicted only common people but not the untouchable regime created a picture of unscrupulous western bullies in the minds of most Yugoslavs and consolidated Milosevic's position as a lonely Don Quixote.
The feelings of anger and grief, the graves and wounds as a result of the past war were still very, very fresh. It was impossible to forgive or forget, considering the fact that the victims were again common people but not the regime.
The mass of hundreds of thousands non-Albanian refugees leaving Kosovo under threat after arrival of the KFOR and in front of their eyes, the violent but not punished attacks of KLA "victors" kidnapping and raping non-Albanians and the sight of hundreds of years old burned orthodox churches and monasteries were Milosevic' s ultimate proof that the European Union (EU,) International Community, NATO and the UN took only one side not giving a damn for multiethnic Kosovo as it used to be before this ethnic cleansing.
The ultimate mistake was, after all of this, putting Milosevic on the Hague's Tribunal warrant. The Great Master of the Game knew how to use these feelings and make his advantage. The slogan was "The West = NATO". Xenophobia was promoted as an official state policy. All the foreigners became enemies together with the "unpatriotic domestic collaborators whose only goal is to destroy the country and let NATO occupy it". The secret police managed to arrest two "terrorist" groups - The Spider and The Wasp - whose goal was, it was stated, was "assassination of President Milosevic and creation of chaos in the state".
Two other groups (with unknown bug's names) of Dutch and British former solders or who knows what they really were, were arrested for the same reason.
The funniest of all was the statement of the state Ministry of Information that those people had the task of waiting for Milosevic to show up on the street and than to kill him or abduct him. Poor guys! Poor, poor terrorist amateurs! No one had told them what the smallest kid here knows - that Milosevic is scared to death to show his face publicly and even when he does it, he is surrounded by an unbelievable securityforce able to prevent a fly from approaching him.
When the problem of obvious foreign mercenaries was solved, the regime turned his eyes on the ungrateful domestic crowd.
The State TV and other parts of the regime's media declared war against traitors, nonpatriots and all the different thinking renegades who did not believe in the " glorious reconstruction of the state infrastructures and victory over NATO aggressors". The State TV news and the regime's newspapers were showing pictures of prosperity - the supermarkets full of milk, cooking oil, sugar, meat; the gas station filled with gasoline; pharmacies full of medicines.
Of course, nothing of this was truth in a country where the standard monthly wage is the equivalent of $40 (USD).
For the past nine months, I managed to boy sugar and oil only twice in those fabulous supermarkets (after few hours of waiting I've got 2 liters of oil and 2 kilograms of sugar). Everything else I'm buying on the black market when there is any.
A friend of a friend was arrested few months ago. His crime? Well, he dared to say in public that whenever he is without the gasoline, he turns on the TV and fills his car --- instead to trying go buy it at a gas station. He was sentenced to spend 5 months in jail. A wrong word or sentence, written or spoken were enough for one to be labelled as a traitor and foreign mercenary and end in the jail.
A lot of common people, as well as journalists and writers, felt it on their own skin.
Thanks to the low level of public information, the independent electronic media and newspapers were prosecuted and punished or took over by the regime. The autonomy of Belgrade's University was revoked by the State (there was too many unbelievers and potential "unpatriots") and a lot of different thinking professors were discharged. Once again, the people went out protesting and were severely beaten. And, once again blood saturated the streets of Belgrade.
The result of an utmost repression and regime's paranoia was the appearance of a group of young people --- mostly students --- who called themselves "OTPOR" (a word which means "The Resistance" in our language,) or urban guerrillas. In order to bring down the regime, they started a woodpecker strategy - knock thousands of times into the tree and maybe a hole will appear.
Those kids knew the mentality of the Serbian people very well. They knew that in the most difficult times the only thing that would be able to move the crowd despite fear is HUMOUR. So, they performed a lot of cute and imaginative street actions (two of those were "IT'S TIME" and "HE IS FINISHED"), making fun of Milosevic and his regime - and that's what Milosevic and his Yes-men hate above all - and these actions captivated all the sympathies of those "unpatriotic, unbelieving domestic traitors" which was the synonym for the regime's opponents. Their symbol was a constricted fist.
Soon, a majority of young people all around the country -- and even older people! --- started to wear T-shirts with this symbol! That was a beginning of bravery for us! Then leaflets appeared with a scanned picture of Milosevic's wife and the slogan "Vote for my husband once again".
The OTPOR group was a counterbalance to the weak and sterile Serbian opposition, splintered with interior misunderstandings, hunger for power and money, alienated from the base, with the majority flirting with the regime and the rest of the world, but incapable of changing anything. Such an opposition was loosing support among Milosevic's opponents and OTPOR was a breath of fresh air in the middle of the stinking oppositional swamp in Serbia.
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It is well known phrase here: "two Serbs, three political parties." (After all, there are over 150 registered political parties in the YU). But this time, maybe the first time at all, 18 major parties united and formed a strong coalition - DOS or Democratic Opposition of Serbia with Dr Vojislav Kostunica from Democratic Party of Serbia as a presidential candidate. The campaign started, but the regime strucked back.
It became quite normal for the police to beat kids on the streets only because they were wearing those T-shirts with the constricted fist - symbol of the OTPOR. Not to mention what was happening during their funny street actions all around the country. It wasn't important if the kids were 14, 15, 17, or 18 years old - they would be beaten, molested, put in jail or detained in police stations.
The parents and the grandparents who decided to protect their children were also beaten, arrested and sentenced. Many of those grandparents were Milosevic's supporters and his strongest base but the injustice and intolerance of the police over the kids converted them. Then something happened, something that overcame the fear for personal existence and life many had harbored. Some kind of utmost rage and determination aroused by such demonstrations brutality and overweening vanityby the insensate representatives of the Milosevic regime. The older people, professors, layers, writers, actors, directors, scientists, joined OTPOR, DOS and G-17 a nongovement group of independent experts.
People could see the face of the Great Master of the Game only on TV, while DOS 's candidate, Dr Vojislav Kostunica entered the masses without a single bodyguard. He spoke with the people shaking hands with them and gaining their affection. The State TV used inuendo and the words to muck members of the DOS coalition labelling them as NATO agents (since 1999. the NATO word here has the most negative of connotations among both sides and the effect should not be underestimated), but unfortunately could not find anything to hook Dr Kostunica himself.
Then Dr Kostunica managed to do an unimaginative thing - to revive hope in the future and a return to normal life. It was well known that for the last 11 years he decisively spoke and believed in the same principles of legality, democracy and dialogue with the rest of the world. He is one of the rare "clean" politicians in Serbia who never flirted with Milosevic, never accepted to play a part in his "oppositional" chess game, who did not gain high bank accounts abroad, villas, boats, weekend houses, bodyguards etc.
Thanks to his political position had always been to be honest enough to strongly criticise both sides - the opposition and the regime - and wise enough to stand for what he believes in. Such a man was the only credible threat for Milosevic.
The gathering of signatures for the candidate lists were extremely interesting. For example, it was enough for the DOS coalition to advertise the invitation in one independent newspaper and 200,000 people from Belgrade, in only two hours , came to undersign the list in support of Dr Kostunica's candidacy. From the other side, Milosevic's henchman decided to blackmail employees, promising them discharges and deprivation of wages if they refuse to undersign. As the time was passing by, you could almost touch, feel and smell the scent of fear, hysteria and panic broaden from the regime's media and propaganda.
Dr Kostunica and the DOS representatives went on a visit to Kosovo which Milosevic did not dare to do, but the long arm of Big Daddy organised an attack on his opponent. The boomerang came back. After the attack on him, Dr Kostunica gained more recognition than ever.
During the first half of September, I was in my home town, Zajecar, visiting my parents. The campaign of both sides was reaching the climax.
Zajecar was once a small but rich industrial town. During the past 10 years, thanks to the raping Socialist's stranglehold, this town --- like a lot of other provincial towns --- became a black hole of depression, unemployment and poverty. An iron fist of the left coalition did not allowed any oppositional actions or media, and usually they would win each election. Then I heard that Dr Kostunica would hold a promotional meeting in the centre of the town, and that only one hotel accepted to give him and his associates lodging. I don't know whether this rumour was a truth or not, but it wouldn't surprise me that it really happened that way.
I saw him speaking live many times before, I knew what he would say, and yet I was curious to see how many of those people of Zajecar, scared and terrified by Big Daddy's iron fist would come to hear him. At first, I couldn't believe it - the centre of the town was full of not only the young but alsoolder people too, although it was Sunday, 10 a.m! I could see on each face sealed traces of woe.
Dr Kostunica came on foot through the mass with only a few associates and everyone wanted to touch him, tell him or ask him something. During his speech (I had to admit that he'd become a much better orator than before this campaign) that seal of woe on the faces disappeared, and you could see a true metamorphosis - glowing eyes, determination and hope. I was impressed and for the first time started to believe again that maybe this hope for freedom really has a chance.
Here's the contrast: Two days after, I heard that Milosevic was going to have a promotional meeting in a town about 60 kilometers away from Zajecar. The fastest way to go there was through my home town.
Suddenly, the entirety of Zajecar was under blockade!
The employees from the state firms had gotten the order to assemble for especially prepared buses. The ultimatum was: either they will go to the Milosevic's meeting to another town, or will loose their jobs immediately. For the next 6 hours no one could enter or leave town except on the buses filled by force with Milosevic's "supporters".
Not one truck, car or bicycle.
Well-armed police were everywhere as well as army vehicles and solders. The sky over the city was crowded by police and army helicopters. Something like this I had seen only in the movies and I almost expected to see some domestic SEAL team hover above my head! Big Daddy was on his way to face "his people". Quite a different approach to the campaign, isn't it?
On the Monday, September 25, a day after the presidential and local elections, Big Daddy probably hardly survived the greatest surprise in his life - he definitely lost the elections.
Maybe his headache was the reason for the blocking of all the domestic media providers and all the Internet sites of independent Yugoslav media during that day.
At first, his staff stayed silent, overwhelmed by a state of shock and panic. How could this be possible after unlimited efforts to convince the stupid and ungrateful people of our country of Milosevic's Messian mission and after the very successful attempt to eject undesirable foreign and domestic journalists and observers from the election process?
The official records showed that about 75% to 80% of voters in Serbia (about 6 million people) and about one fifth in Montenegro (total population of about 600,000 people) decided to vote this time. Among them were more than ever before a lot of young people (about 600,000 of them in Serbia obtained the right to vote for this election).
On September 26, it was obvious that something went wrong for Big Daddy and Big Mama (the parties of Milosevic and his wife are coalition partners). The Federal Election Commission was still silent and delayed making public the election results. Big Daddy's headquarters did not dare to proclaim total victory but nor was it ready to admit the defeat. The headquarters of the Radical Party (also Milosevic's coalition partner) and Serbian Renewal Movement congratulated the opposition presidential candidate Dr Vojislav Kostunica on his election victory.
At one of the biggest meetings ever held in the capital of Yugoslavia, under a magnificent atmosphere, over 300 000 citizens of Belgrade celebrated on Wednesday evening the victory of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) and the election of the new FRY President Dr Vojislav Kostunica.
In his address to the crowd, Dr. Kostunica said: "Dear, brave fellow-citizens, free people, we have won!
"We have won in spite of lies and Slobodan Milosevic's violence. We have won despite the sanctions we have lived under for years, despite the NATO bombs which fell last year, despite some democrats in Serbia and Montenegro who have turned their backs on us. There lies our strength, and perhaps our stubbornness, but this is the real Serbia.
"All of us on Sunday said what kind of Serbia we want to live in. They have once more tried to sneer at the will of the people, they have tried again to steal the elections; they have tried to bargain on the second round [of voting,] but we are saying to them: there will be no second round, there is no bargaining.
"We are fighting for democracy and democracy is based on truth, not on lies. The truth is that we have won this election. If we were to bargain with them we would be recognising lies instead of the truth.
"In any case, democracy is based on the will of the people, on the will of the majority. Who are they? How many of them are left? They are a minority, a minority of those around him. The majority of the Socialists don't want to take part in the fraud. They don't want to be destroyed with him.
"We are strong at this moment because we have the support of the world. Of Russia, of the European Union. This support is important but it is not decisive: what is decisive is our strength, our will, our determination to stop the whims of one man. There will be no sacred individuals in this country; only the will of the people and the law will be sacred.
" My message to the Socialists is that we will not act as did your leaders; we will not hound people who have opposing opinions; we will not burst into other people's houses; we will not buy ruined companies; we will not remove the property of the people from the country.
"My message to the army and the police is that we are one: the army and the police are part of the people, the part which defends the country, a part which should not defend only one man and his family. Slobodan Milosevic is a tyrant who has lost his strength and the only thing left for him is to grasp one simple fact. If he did not understand it while he was in power, then he will understand it when we divorce him from power. We will defend the country, we will defend ourselves, because we have freed ourselves. September 24 was the confirmation of our deliverance."
While the DOS coalition was celebrating the victory which vas more than had been conceivable and absolute, the OTPOR activists from Cacak performed an action in the city centre - one scene featured the conquest of the Socialistic Party of Serbia, ten OTPOR activists climbed to the stage and waved the OTPOR banners!
Serbian Patriarch Pavle and the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church recognised Dr Kostunica as a new president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and appealed to everyone, including the police and army, to defend the interests of people and state instead of the interests of a few individuals. His Beatitude expressed expectations that the ruling parties also will accept the results of the elections. The leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) Vuk Draskovic (after Milosevic a second major looser in this election) invited the Serbian Radical Party to schedule a session of the Serbian Parliament at which "with the help of SPO members of parliament" they would "overthrow the Serbian Government".
But no one really expects that Milosevic will easily give up all that power.
He needed more time to decide what to do - for example something like second round of voting.
So, the Federal Election Commission (SIK) finally stated that on October 8. there would be the second round of the presidential elections. The Election Commission stated Dr Vojislav Kostunica received 48.96 % of the votes, and Slobodan Milosevic 38.62 percent of the votes. Bojan Pudar, legal expert and Deputy Secretary of the the Federal Election Commission (SIK), resigned his position. Pudar's resignation is connected with the work of SIK and the election results.
There are also some rumours that a number of officials in Milosevic's party have already resigned all their functions, and that another number of them have left the country.
The DOS headquarters announced there will be no second round election because the results from 97.5% of the voting materials shows that there were 5,093,038 accurate votes of a total of 5,223,629 (the total number of people with the right to vote in FRY is 7,848,818.) DOS asserts that Dr Kostunica obtained 54.66% and Milosevic 35.01. The DOS coalition won in 90 major Serbian cities, and Milosevic in only 10 (this last data is also very questionable).
Milosevic's headquarters bashfully had to admit the defeat in the local elections.
The news on Thursday, September 28 announced that Slobodan Milosevic met his party's executive board to discuss the organisation of the second round of presidential elections and would not concede an opposition victory in the first round.
Faced with this reality, the Serbian Radical Party has launched a number of initiatives in the Serbian Parliament, including the repeal of the notorious Public Information Act and a call for the replacement of Police Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic. The Democratic Opposition of Serbia has called rallies in several large Serbia cities. A senior Socialist official in Belgrade has told SRNA news agency that strong police forces were put on standby to prevent mass street protests. The agency quotes its source as saying that on Monday the police were ordered to avoid force at all costs but on Wednesday the order was changed and police commanders were told to intervene without violence to prevent gatherings of citizens. The Socialist official is quoted as saying that the new orders were intended to prevent protests against the second round of presidential elections which, he said, the regime was determined to hold.
Sources close to the police confirmed that large numbers of police had been moved to Belgrade from other parts of Serbia in the past three days. But the news of the day was a statement of Podgorica's (Montenegro) daily Vijesti that Milosevic's wife, and President of the Yugoslav Left Directorate, Mira Markovic had a nervous breakdown and was under intensive medical treatment. The agency news said: "According to the paper, which quoted sources close to the left coalition top, Mirjana Markovic fell ill on Monday, when it became obvious that her husband Slobodan Milosevic had been defeated in the Yugoslav presidential elections and that the left had lost the majority of municipalities in Serbia. Mira Markovic, who was sedated at the time, appeared on television for the first time since the Sunday federal elections on Wednesday, in the coverage about the Yugoslav Left session, which 'expressed satisfaction with the elections results'. The coverage was rebroadcast by Montenegrin television in the prime time news program Dnevnik, with a comment that the picture showed 'what kind of satisfaction that was'. Camera showed several times the concerned faces of the Yugoslav Left senior officials."
Meanwhile the vice-president of the Civil Alliance of Serbia and legal expert, Dragor Hiber, told B2-92 about possibilities for filing complaints to the decision on the second round of presidential elections. "The complaint should be filed to the Federal Election Commission itself within 24 hours from the announcement of the decision, and the Commission must declare itself on the complaint within the next 48 hours. Constitutional complaint to the Federal Constitutional Court is allowed, the deadlines are 24, and 72 hours. The final decision has not been made yet, but according to the discussions so far, we will probably use these legal mechanisms, not because we believe that, faced with the enclosed election records, the Commission would suddenly regain its senses and start respecting law and order, nor because we trust the Federal Constitutional Court, but because we want to enable those who had made false and illegal political decisions to get out of those decisions in the easiest possible way by annulling them."
"There is no second round," one of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia leaders Vladan Batic said in a reaction to the Federal Election Commission's decision. "To the well-intentioned warnings from the DOS, the regime is responding with violence that has no legal foundation," Batic told B2-92. "This is a forgery of the citizens' election will. We cannot accept a second round, because despite the fact that the elections were unfair and undemocratic, we have participated in such elections and have won them. We cannot bargain with these things, we are not on a cattle market but in a history. People from that Commission could certainly find themselves accused very soon, because they could be initiators of grave problems, conflicts, violence, repression and terror. Therefore, there is no second round, there are only calls on citizens to defend their political will. We will have to call on citizens to demand recognition of their will and I don't see a force that can oppose that."
Now what?
No one can predict what is going to happen in the next few days.
The manager of the DOS election campaign Zoran Djindjic announced: "We will call on citizens to take to the streets and defend their election will. We will call the citizens to total civil disobedience until the election results are recognised," Djindjic concluded.
In that case you can bet that the spark from one or another side will kindle the powder barrel. Milosevic has nowhere to go. At this point, he is more than dangerous. Like a wounded animal he will defend the present state and a peaceful cession of authority is not likely.
The worst option would be any, and I repeat, any foreign interference.
That would give Milosevic another proof of "international conspiracy" and the reason to go on whereever he is going now.
Some very unwise words spoken in past few weeks by Wesley Clark and George Robertson and latest NATO arms jingling in Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and Bosnia already have given Milosevic an advantage he would otherwise not have. This is not to mention the anger caused by some new sanctions announced by USA. If the foreign community, especially NATO analysts, took more efforts to understand and learn something about the mentality and psychological profile of people in this part of the world, a lot of mistakes - including that horrible NATO aggression would have been avoided.
Here, people still believe in the ancient code of honour and justice, heroism, patriotism and sacrificing their own lives for the sake of their families and the country. They are stubborn, passionate, resolved, ready to react in 99% of the situations emotionally, not reasonably. Therefore, they are unpredictable. Only those who are born here are able to understand this. Before the NATO aggression, 70% of Yugoslavs were against Milosevic, but when the firs bomb fell, they became united hand in hand WITH Milosevic and against NATO. So, forget force and arms, forget blackmailing and compulsion, it won't work. Milosevic is an internal problem of Yugoslav people. At least once, the International Community should leave Yugoslavs to resolve their own problem in their own way. After 11 years of terror, the old debts must be paid and our right is to demand it. So, be with us in spirit. It's still a long way to victory, but the dawn of freedom finally came.