 |
|
 |
Thursday, Nov. 30, 2000
|
|
|
First Person
Getting Back to Normal
Ana Miljanic, theater director, Yugoslavia
Ana Miljanic, 30, is theatre director at the Center for Cultural Decontamination in Belgrade. The CZKD is an independent cultural institution which, since 1995, has worked on reviving the liberal spirit of arts and public discourse. By organizing exhibitions, theater performances and public debates, the Center aims to help transforming social atmosphere that has been contaminated by orchestrated nationalism, hatred and destruction. Unaffiliated with any political party or government organization, the CZKD provides a venue for artists and cultural workers to work with colleagues from abroad and from other former Yugoslav republics.
After the massive demonstrations that culminated in Slobodan Milosevic's ouster from power, the citizens of Serbia are slowly returning to their normal lives. For Yugoslavia, getting back to normal means getting the country readmitted to international institutions and receiving the financial aid that will ease the most acute problems of this impoverished society. A normal life also means a life without fear and the belief that from now on, we will solve our problems in a democratic way.
Democracy here is a rather mythical sanctuary where there is no anxiety and no crises. Of course, in today's Yugoslavia no such safe haven exists. The return to reality is going to be a long, slow process. Soon, though, the younger generation will demand an answer to the question, What happened? This cannot be addressed without a thorough self-examination.
One of the heritages of the Milosevic era is that people mistakenly identify the state with society. But democracy does not come with how-to manuals and survival kits. No expert can make a state fulfill all its functions without the existence of a vibrant civil society. The transition process requires profound changes 151; from economic reform to new cultural models 151; not just cosmetic ones that stop at a simple substitution of personnel.
These days the word "democratic" is used as a synonym for "anything goes." I often hear people on the street talk about TV as being free and open 151; free and open to former officials of the Milosevic regime too. In many talk shows these erstwhile apparatchiks advocate change using the rhetoric of the previous era. They ignore the problems in Montenegro, arguing that its entire population is smaller than that of the capital's New Belgrade sector. When asked about war crimes, they shrug and say that there are always casualties during a war, adding that the other side committed crimes too. They offer apologetic denials ("We did not know") or conspiracy theories ("Milosevic was an American agent"). Only a fundamental change of political, historical and academic models can replace lies with truths, myths with facts.
Culture and education must not be spared serious rethinking, since it was precisely the academics, writers and artists who were responsible for the production of this pseudo-history. They perpetuated the myth of the Serbs as the only victims of the former Yugoslavia's history. They called for the sacrifice of the Serbian nation for a greater cause. The past decade's wars were made possible as a result of this inspiration.
Today, the question of the intellectual élite's responsibility for the past seems to be low on the priority list. The very same élites prevent these issues from being discussed, claiming that we are not yet ready to face crimes committed in our name.
The most important question for a moral and true transformation of Serbia remains the question of the Serbs' role in the war. Discussions of this topic are most often defined in terms of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague. The overwhelming preference of Serbia's political and cultural élites is to put Milosevic on trial in Belgrade. The key point is not where Milosevic should be tried, but for what. Arguments for prosecuting him in Serbia are related mainly to repression against Serbs. Though the idea of trying Milosevic for electoral fraud is like bringing Al Capone to trial for tax evasion, it's certain that those segments of the Milosevic regime that did oppress the people of Serbia should be prosecuted.
A Serbian Truth Commission should be created to conduct a fact-finding mission on the character of the Milosevic regime. This institution should examine the entire system and the consequences of his rule. The Commission could make these findings public, because the changes needed to bring about a return to normalcy in Serbia cannot be made without full exposure of this period. But what hope is there that this type of change is possible in Serbia?
The citizens of Serbia were manipulated by the Milosevic regime in populist revolutions and "truth rallies" in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They supported war in the name of putting an end to perceived injustice and humiliation in the former Yugoslav federation. After 13 years these same citizens 151; helped by civil initiatives, nongovernmental organizations and the student resistance movement Otpor 151; forced opposition parties to come together in a united front to challenge Milosevic. These same people stormed state institutions on Oct. 5, taking power and legitimacy away from the decaying regime.
These same people must fight for the right to have autonomous civil institutions in a healthy society. They need all the help they can get, though, since even in a play catharsis only comes after a lot of sweating.
Nominate your own Person to Watch — As part of TIME's Fast Forward Europe special issue, we are scouring the continent to find the people who will be shaping the future. E-mail us at mail@timeatlantic.com and let us know who you think tomorrow's movers and shakers will be — who knows, maybe they will end up in the pages of TIME Magazine or on timeeurope.com!
Check out timeeurope.com for more Fast Forward Europe stories in the days and weeks to come. Our Fast Forward coverage culminates in a year-end special issue and website to be published on December 14
|
|
|
|
 |
