Democracy in the streets:what we can learn from Serbia

She had guns waved in her face, she had her life threatened, and she was chased by giant dogs… She had guns waved in her face, she had her life threatened, and she was chased by giant dogs and their owners in her get-out-the-vote efforts. After all of her work, Saska tossed and turned in her sleep on the night of Oct. 3, 2000, with one question on her mind:

Could they really bring Slobodan Milosevic down?

Saska, co-director of a non-governmental organization that worked on voter turnout during the 2000 Serbian elections, explained to me in her Belgrade office how the coalition of politicians and activists planned to oust Milosevic as president of Yugoslavia. American activists came to Belgrade to train Serbian activists in grassroots tactics, such as door knocking and phone banking. Their hope was to remove Milosevic the democratic way — through elections.

But as we in the United States would find out a month later, just because there are elections doesn’t mean they will be fair and democratic. Milosevic “won” the election amid many rumors of rigged ballots and a fake report of the results.

Determined to rid themselves of Milosevic on their own, Serbs took to the streets of Belgrade. It’s estimated that nearly one million Serbs (in a country of 10 million) filled Republic Square chanting “Gotov Je,” meaning “He is finished.” This phrase was the rallying cry of the campaign — inspired by the phrase “get out the vote” — to remove him.

Ten days later, Milosevic conceded the election and admitted to committing voter fraud. We rarely hear this inspiring story in the United States, where recently our protests have gone unanswered.

The Serbs, tired of living in poverty and war, wanted to move on with their lives. North Atlantic Treaty Organization bombings left half of Belgrade in ruins, and reports of atrocities committed in Kosovo were revealed to the Serbian public. The Serbs handed over Milosevic to the U.N. International Tribunal in The Hague in hopes of beginning the transition to a democratic society.

But as we would soon find out in the United States, moving on from election corruption isn’t always the easiest process. Three years later, Serbia shows little signs of progress. The bombed buildings still remain half-standing, providing a reminder of the past to every Serb as they walk down the street and wipe the building debris particles from their eyes.

Their prime minister was assassinated, more violence broke out in Kosovo, and tensions between Serbia and the West grew as Milosevic refused to cooperate at the International Tribunal. Political leaders refused to answer questions about wars they start; does this sound familiar?

The trial, which has lasted more than two years, haunts Serbia. War criminals wanted at the Tribunal roam free, surrounded by bodyguards and layers of secrecy. Those who know the whereabouts of these criminals are unlikely to say anything, since those who do usually disappear, like Yugoslavia’s former president Ivan Stambolic who disappeared while jogging.

Many Serbian politicians insist that Serbia should be handling the trial, not the International Tribunal. Meanwhile, corruption and violence rule Serbian politics and the judicial system, making it an unstable and biased environment for a Milosevic trial.

Serbian public opinion of the trials are mixed; some think Serbia is victim of an international conspiracy, some that Serbia itself should handle the trail, others that the court is unfair to smaller nations since it would never try a nation like the United States. Most Serbs, however, simply want to move on with their lives. But like we’re now experiencing, uniting many different opinions under one movement can be difficult.

We could all learn a lesson from Serbia — hopefully by November. The power of the masses united is impossible to ignore. And Serbians must come together in masses once again to take a stance against corruption and war criminals. They must demand that Milosevic be held responsible for leading Serbia down a path of destruction while slaughtering masses in the process. Otherwise, the past will continue to haunt the Serbs and hold Serbia back from progress, stability and prosperity.

E-mail Jennifer Stephan at jls259@pitt.edu.