TIME EUROPE
October 16, 2000, Vol. 156 No. 16
The End of Milosevic
After 13 years of rule, the tyrant who haunted Europe is ejected by a furious Serbian revolution. An inside look at the people's putsch
By JOHANNA MCGEARY
Every revolution has its moment of combustion. Yugoslavia's came on an autumn Wednesday in the persons of three elderly men on a tractor. Hundreds of Slobodan Milosevic's dreaded special police had swept down on the hard-bitten diggers at the Kolubara coal mine in Serbia's heartland who had first initiated popular resistance by refusing to work. Attempting to force out the 7,000 striking miners intent on crippling the country's electric grid, security troops surrounded the complex and blockaded a key bridge with police buses. But the workers stood fast, broadcast for help on radios and cell phones, and 20,000 pugnacious citizens converged on the mine. As they approached the barricaded bridge, those three old men plowed their tractor straight into the police blockade, shoving the buses aside and opening the way for thousands to break through as the security men melted away. Armed with the awesome revelation of its own strength, a grass-roots revolt had begun, and from then on nothing could stop it.
The next day that delirious display of people power was repeated over and over in the capital of Belgrade as hundreds of thousands of Serbs stormed the bastions of Milosevic's oppression and these too gave way. First the parliament building, seat of Milosevic's political apparat, went up in flames as protesters tossed Milosevic's doctored ballots out the windows. Then state television, main prop of the regime, went black as protesters broke in the front door while police fled out the back. Then the official news agency switched its allegiance to Vojislav Kostunica, the unassuming constitutional lawyer whose election Milosevic was trying to steal. Riot police doffed their helmets and threw down plastic shields to join the insurrectionist carnival. Army troops sat quietly in their barracks. By nightfall, Milosevic had nothing left to sustain his rule.
Years of pent-up frustration under Milosevic's blighting misrule had finally erupted in a tumultuous showdown, as each new success taught Serbs to see they had the power to change their future. The revolution ran at cyberspeed from the disputed election two weeks ago, ending victoriously in the dizzying events of one day. Just like that, the Serbs took back their country and belatedly joined the democratic tide that swept away the rest of Eastern Europe's communist tyrants a decade ago. The West gloried in the exit of the man who fueled savage European conflicts for a decade and cost his enemies so much money and blood.
It dawned even on the out-of-touch Milosevic that his people were ready to retire him. In an astonishing moment Friday night, the strongman who had ruled so long through his control of television stood stiffly before a camera he no longer owned, his jaw trembling slightly as he said he would step aside. He conceded electoral defeat and congratulated the man he "just learned" had outpolled him. But ever defiant, he warned he had no intention of bowing out altogether. After a "rest" spent visiting with his grandson Marko, he would be back to rebuild his Socialist Party of Serbia and resume an important role in the country's political life.
For bone-weary Serbs, though, it was enough that he was gone now. The euphoria of freedom swept across the country. The Serbs had surprised themselves with their own empowerment, earning an exhilaration so strong that no fears about the future could quench it. They filled up the capital again Saturday to see their democratically chosen leader sworn in. In Washington and the capitals of Europe, NATO's leaders rejoiced that their campaign to unhorse the Serb autocrat had been won, promising the new President aid and an end to economic sanctions--even if the fugitive indicted by an international tribunal had yet to be brought to justice. And they put off until tomorrow any worries that Yugoslavia's new leader might prove a distinctly prickly partner.
What happened last week looked inevitable as it unfolded live on TV. But it didn't even look possible two weeks ago. Milosevic unwittingly set his fate in motion last summer when he tampered with the constitution and called an election nine months early to buff up his democratic veneer. Voters didn't like that, but when Serbs went to the polls Sept. 24, even they suspected the country would cement his presidency in place for another four years. And when the opposition declared a runaway victory on Sept. 25, claiming Kostunica had got 52.4%, compared with Milosevic's 38%, the Serb autocrat still looked strong, albeit shaken. He set about rectifying the decision in his usual way, urging the cronies who packed the Federal Election Commission to rig the count. But the tally was so lopsided that even he could not plausibly claim victory outright. He had to concede he had come in second, but he settled for a second round of voting to buy time to cook better results for the runoff.
Imagine the Serbian leader's surprise when the opposition didn't just fold. He had counted on its usual spineless disunity. He didn't realize the uncharismatic Kostunica was the critical ingredient that let Serbs imagine an alternative future. He didn't know how bitterly Serbs blamed him for their blighted lives. The accumulated woes of $45-a-month salaries or no employment at all, four lost wars and untold thousands of lost Yugoslav lives, the NATO bombing that dashed an impoverished economy into visible ruins, the bitter years of sanctions and international opprobrium. Domestic repression and self-serving propaganda had reached critical mass, draining away the last vestiges of his once genuine popularity. "The underlying discontent, up till now only flickering, burst out," says Milan Milosevic, a political analyst at the independent Belgrade weekly Vreme. "Everything needed to make the change possible was suddenly there." MORE>>
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October 16, 2000
COVER STORY
The End of Milosevic
After 13 years of rule, the tyrant who haunted Europe is ejected by a furious Serbian revolution. An inside look at the people's putsch
EUROPE
Hague's Happy Hour
But will it last long enough to carry the Conservatives to victory in the next elections?
BUSINESS
Top Marks for Hollywood
German film production companies are pouring money into big U.S. movies — with mixed results
Bucking the Trend
By avoiding the pitfalls of early excess, a handful of Internet fashion retailers have survived the purge
A League of Their Own
German women — and some financial firms — have learned that investing is not necessarily man's work
SOCIETY
A Matter of Manners
So you think the complexity of contemporary life means you don't have to mind your Ps and Qs? Think again
THE ARTS
Milan's Rare Gems
The mix of errors and personalities evoked in next spring's fashions leaves no clear message
The Lord of the Dance
Director Stephen Daldry tugs at the heartstrings, but not too hard, with his first film, Billy Elliot
Music of Conviction
John Tavener's latest works find spiritual value in unlikely places
With A Family Like This
The machinations of the Gucci clan yielded a book that appeals to lovers of business and gossip
DEPARTMENTS
On Your Own Time
Warsaw
World Watch
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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