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April
10, 2003
Bolsheviks
in Belgrade
Serbian
Purges Unmasked
Empire's
cheerleaders gleefully
reported last week that the Bosnian Serb Republic has
been eviscerated by the Imperial Viceroy, a move aimed at
"bringing the disobedient entity to heel." In yet
another move towards the misguided centralization of Bosnia,
the Republic lost control of its military and intelligence
services, as punishment for allegedly repairing Iraqi aircraft
engines and "spying"
on its NATO occupiers. Bosnian viceroys have "interpreted"
the Dayton peace agreement rather loosely in the past, but
Paddy Ashdown's actions flat-out violate the agreement he
has a duty to uphold.
It says volumes about the
current state of the Balkans, then, when Ashdown's outrageous
abuses go virtually unnoticed next to the ongoing purges in
Serbia.
Democratic
Terror
By
last Friday, over 7000
people had been detained for questioning, with some 2000-plus
remaining imprisoned. Even though Dusan Spasojevic, the mob
boss allegedly behind the Djindjic assassination, was killed
by the police, and the man accused of actually shooting the
Prime Minister "confessed"
to the deed, and the government announced that the actual
killing was "solved,"
the purges continue.
Only the naïve could
believe that the government's goal was simply to catch and
punish the Prime Minister's killers. Their true aim was to
sweep Serbia with an "iron
broom," and remove all the troublesome elements –
in the best tradition of totalitarian police states. The purge
even has a name, Operation Saber (Sr. sablja), aimed
to threaten, not reassure.
And
what a purge it is: judges, military and police officials,
lawyers, even some politicians, all have been targeted in
the past
three weeks, and the hunt is about to get even bigger.
Of course, the government claims it is only going after "criminals."
But their definition of "criminal" is whoever they
arrest!
Allegations of criminal conduct
by certain individuals may not be too hard to substantiate.
Some of those arrested have a reputation for belonging to
organized crime, and no doubt much of that reputation is well-deserved.
And it is a fact that Serbia is plagued by violent criminals
as much as the rest of the Balkans, perhaps even more because
of the decade-long blockade and war devastation. Unable to
strike at their Imperial tormentors, and mistakenly believing
the government is there to protect them, the people of Serbia
have embraced the purges as a way to vent their impotent rage.
That their elementary rights
of life, liberty and property are in danger is on no one's
mind. That the government didn't have such sweeping powers
in the worst days of Milosevic's "dictatorship"
is hotly rejected, but true. This is "democracy,"
after all. If one is to believe the government and the media
– who are even more "embedded"
than American reporters in Iraq – there is universal support
for the government's actions. But that argument is meaningless.
The majority can be, and often is, wrong.
Despite the support
and even cheering
from the Empire, the mass detentions and complete isolation
of suspects has even the stalwart imperialist Human Rights
Watch crying
foul, indicating that Washington would really prefer if
Belgrade was just a bit more discreet about this.
The Belgrade Jacobins have
other plans.
'A
Vast Conspiracy'
Already
on April 2, the German-owned daily "Blic" published
an official communiqué of the Serbian police accusing
the opposition parties of complicity with the assassination.
As the accusation did not get enough attention, it was repeated
this Tuesday.
"Serbian
Government Discovers Clan Plot to Overthrow Authorities,"
screamed the headline in Glas Javnosti. According to
the government, the Djindjic assassination was a coup
attempt by the allies of Slobodan Milosevic, enemies of
the Hague Inquisition, anti-democratic forces, nationalists,
and "political parties dissatisfied with the division
of power and the influence of DOS" [the ruling coalition].
In other words, it was a massive conspiracy that not only
killed the Prime Minister, but threatened the entire State!
Heaven forbid anyone suggests
that Djindjic was killed because of his mafia connections.
The government says this was a lie the conspirators intended
to peddle, so as to justify their takeover of power. So, was
the New York Times' Steven
Erlanger one of the conspirators, then?
Even Dragoljub Milanovic,
former manager of the state television convicted of failing
to anticipate NATO's
bombing (in a travesty of justice, as the actual culprit
was out of reach) was linked to the conspiracy.
The entire thing reads so
much like a plot of a cheap spy novel, Tom
Clancy should be worried.
Self-Serving
Fabrications
If
the government's Official Truth sounds like something written
up to secure popular support, that's probably because it is.
There is definitely a hint of Bolshevik
bluster in the government's conspiracy theory. One can
almost hear expressions such as "counter-revolution,"
"enemies of the People" and "threats to Democracy."
Plus, it is written in the style of socialist propaganda still
rooted in Serbian officialdom.
As a theory, it makes little
or no sense. Milosevic's supporters are few, scattered, bitterly
divided by factional struggle and largely lacking of any serious
political program or philosophy (much like the government
itself). How could they have possibly hoped to seize power?
With what? Milosevic abandoned his position of strength
when he ceded power to Kostunica in October
2000. Why would he try to reclaim it by force, two
years later, from an Inquisition jail cell – a position
of weakness if ever there was one?
Then, the people allegedly
in charge of executing the "conspiracy" were the
same people who helped Djindjic seize power in October
2000 and arrest
Milosevic in April 2001. There's plenty of circumstantial
evidence linking Djindjic and his henchmen with underworld
figures. It is far more likely that Djindjic had a falling-out
with his mobster pals, who then had him whacked. That the
government specifically insists that this is a lie
the conspirators would tell indicates it hits too close for
their comfort.
Actually, there are plenty
of allegations in the government's story that sound just like
what the government itself is doing right now: chaos, state
of emergency, heavily armed police on the streets, repression...
By accusing its enemies, it avoids accusations itself.
Clearly, the "great Slobist
conspiracy" is a deliberate attempt at misdirection,
a self-serving fabrication on par with the Inquisition's indictment
of Milosevic.
Just as the indictment seeks
to blame
Milosevic for everything that happened in the western Balkans
in the 1990s, thus absolving the Empire and the Designated
Victims of any and all responsibility, "Operation
Saber" seeks to blame Milosevic for everything
that has gone wrong with Serbia since DOS took over, thus
absolving the DOS of any responsibility. Besides, isn't
it odd that opponents of the Hague Inquisition were specifically
fingered as conspirators? Or that the government immediately
pledged to change
extradition laws and arrest
more "indictees" on behalf of the Inquisition?
Purging
Kostunica?
Another
self-serving aspect of the conspiracy theory is that, by accusing
anyone even slightly opposed to the government of being part
of the conspiracy, the government creates a pretext for purging
them and establishing unchallenged rule. Why else would they
try to implicate Vojislav Kostunica, of all people?
Yes, this quiet professor
who believed in limited government so much that he stood by
while Djindjic ran roughshod over every law in Serbia, is
really a cunning Enemy of the People, says the government.
His advisors allegedly
met with the suspected assassins a day or so before Djindjic
was killed.
Fact is, Kostunica's DSS is
the only party that demonstrates any kind of honesty. They
do have an appalling lack of political skills and anything
resembling a coherent program, and they are centrists in a
situation that tolerates only extreme positions, but they
are also the only clear alternative to the ramshackle DOS
coalition. Most parties in the current government are no more
than vessels for their leaders' political ambitions. Even
Djindjic did not dare call an election, knowing his popularity
ran in single digits. His flunkies would be even worse off.
Kostunica's DSS is a real threat, much more than the hyped-up
"remnants of the Milosevic regime," and for that
it has to be eliminated.
One
Land, One People, One (Dead) Leader
But
the very last straw is the recently approved draft law allowing
the confiscation
of property associated with organized crime. Can there be
any clearer proof of government greed?
It's a scapegoating
process, pure and simple. And the people approve because they
are conditioned to obey, because after all the suffering they've
been through, they crave a resolution the purges promise to
bring and need a black-and-white reality they could
trust. Humiliated, violated, robbed, befuddled and brainwashed,
the Serbs have been maneuvered into demanding tyranny, and
DOS is more than happy to oblige. The only thing lacking is
the Fuehrer figure. Then again, the "martyred"
Djindjic is better suited for that role than anyone alive.
Being dead, he is immune to criticism.
The globalist intellectuals are
beaming.
They challenge insignificant details of government actions
– to create an illusion of credibility and independence – but
applaud its essence. Turns out, their incessant calls for
"de-Nazification" were Orwellian in nature, calling
in fact for its exact opposite.
The
Choice
A
month
ago, Djindjic's tragic and regrettable death presented
Serbia with a fateful choice: reject a totalitarian legacy
of the XX century and move away from a repressive, managerial
State as a model for its future – or reject liberty and wallow
in the muck of collectivist single-mindedness, lapsing back
into the comfortable noose of tyrannical statism.
Driven mad by the wars, sanctions,
poverty and cognitive dissonance of propaganda, the people
have most definitely chosen the latter. To be honest,
most were never aware they were making a choice at all, and
the government did everything to ensure its favored outcome.
But the choice was made, and now there will be consequences,
in the form of all the evils that tyranny and statism usually
produce.
There will be more poverty,
more violence, more madness, more propaganda, more theft,
more lies, more decay and more death. They will be spun, justified,
blamed on others, denied or ignored, but they will be real
nonetheless. And they will persist, until the people realize
the reality of their choice, and the need to change their
minds. But once they do, there will be Hell to pay.
–
Nebojsa Malic
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