| THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC December 7, 1996 WEST IS OUT OF STEP WITH BELGRADE UPRISING By Bob Djurdjevic Europe’s last two remaining "red" egg-heads - Slobodan Milosevic and Franjo Tudjman - have become objects of an "egg revolution," according to the Nov. 29 London Times’ lead editorial. The latter comment was derived from the fact that "these were missiles of choice" hurled at the government buildings by the pro-democracy demonstrators in Belgrade. Ever since Milosevic’s government decided to annul the results of municipal elections won by the opposition earlier this month, hundreds of thousands of Belgraders - young and old, scared and bold, but all braving the cold without having to be told - have been challenging their bodies and minds as well as the scurrilous Milosevic regime for over 10 days running. But they have a ways to go... For, the Times’ egg-metaphor draws the parallels with the 38-days of the Czech people’s uprising in 1989, dubbed the "velvet revolution," which toppled the Soviet-installed, Prague communist regime. Some of our Belgrade sources confirm the notion of a popular uprising. "I am getting an irresistible impression that the masses are leading the (political) leaders, not the other way around," a retired Belgrade university professor reported to us by FAX on Nov. 27. The next day, this source added: "The opposition was not ready to assume power. So the people are now showing them the way. And they (the opposition), surprised and confused by the turn of events, are doing their damnedest to confuse the people as well as themselves." Revolutions are never neat, of course. Confusion is usually a part of them. But that’s where similarities between Belgrade ‘96 and Prague ‘89 end. And where the differences begin... Back in 1989, the West, not to mention the Vatican, was weighing in heavily on the side of the Prague demonstrators. Having an important insider-traitor at the Kremlin on its side - Mikhail Gorbachev - the West could afford to egg on the "velvet revolutionaries" (here’s that egg connection again!). Until having been shamed into making some lame comments, the West has been deafeningly absent in its support of the Serbian pro-democracy demonstrators. It took more than a week of continuous street protests in Belgrade for the State Dept. spokespersons to condemn Milosevic’s annulment of the municipal election results. What were they waiting for? For the crowds in America to join their Serbian pro-democracy brothers and sisters? "Western governments have been ready to do business with the disreputable Presidents of Croatia and Serbia, Franjo Tudjman and Slobodan Milosevic," the London Times’ editorial condemned the Western politicians. "They have chosen to disregard the ruthlessly undemocratic nature of their regimes, not to mention their responsibility for igniting the Bosnian war in the first place, because they were convinced that the key to peace lay in their hands." The Times’ editors also said that, "an even greater mistake is to treat them (Milosevic and Tudjman) as ‘factors of stability’ in the region. They are nothing of the kind. Under a thin veneer of electoral politics, they run police states that are themselves inherently unstable... If the West is serious about lasting peace in the Balkans, it should be encouraging the forces of political reform in Croatia and Serbia rather than pampering dictators with more power to do harm than good." Now, contrast this British view with the waffling of the American "bleeding heart" liberals who write the New York Times’ editorials. "The Serbian leader continues to be a necessary diplomatic partner," they said in the Nov. 28 editorial. A "necessary diplomatic partner?" Read - a traitor of his nation’s interests and a New World Order’s vassal in "NWO speak." But what if what’s happening these days in Belgrade, is not just an "egg revolution?" What if it’s a start of the world patriots’ resistence to the U.S. liberals-led plutocracy - dubbed the New World Order? What if what’s happening in Belgrade these days is more akin to Sarajevo 1914 or Belgrade 1941, than to Prague 1989? What if the Belgrade uprising turns into a spark which ignites populist movements against the NWO world-over, starting with Russia, and NOT necessarily exempting the West, either? After all, it’s only in the methods of oppression that the subjugation of the Serbian or the Russian nations differs from those carried out by the NWO in the West. Here, it’s been more perfidious, but not less damaging, to sovereign nations’ interests. As the London Times editorial concluded, maybe "these (Belgrade) demonstrators know what the West is reluctant to admit: that future Balkan peace, never mind prosperity, cannot be assured without accountable government. It is high time for the West to take their side." Maybe these Belgrade demonstrators know is what even the London Times was reluctant to admit - that future WORLD (not just Balkan) peace, never mind prosperity, cannot be assured without accountable government(s). And that it is high time for the West to walk its democracy talk in the Belgrade streets alongside the Serbian demonstrators, not alongside the Balkan dictators. Bob Djurdjevic |