Bojan Aleksov is a member of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship in Belgrade. A conscientious objector, he has been active in refugee-service projects set up by Women in Black. The following are extracts from recent letters sent by e-mail.
November 25: The opposition coalition Zajedno (Together) won in 34 cities in the final election round in Serbia, but the results were annulled. This provoked an enormous wave of protest. Today an estimated 100,000 people rallied in central Belgrade. One of their actions was to throw rotten eggs at the state television building.
Police repression is strong, especially in the countryside, where it is easier to intimidate people. It's clear that the regime wants to provoke a violent response in order to justify bringing the army and tanks onto the streets, as they did five years ago. Throughout Serbia reserve police and army forces are being mobilized. Fortunately, the provocations have not yet triggered a violent response.
December 13, 1996: Peaceful demonstrations continue all over Serbia. Today's student march was stopped on its way to Dedinje, the luxury neighborhood that is home to Milosevic and others in the government elite. Thousands of policemen blocked the streets leading to this hill of wealth, privilege and isolation. The universities have closed. Instead, students are organizing public lectures on such issues as democracy, human rights, and freedom of media.
Tomorrow students from Novi Sad start a 90-km march to Belgrade, breaking the state-controlled media's information blockade along the way. In Nis, Kraljevo and other towns, people come to protest but also to hear news as there is no other way of getting accurate information. Journalists in the state media who show sympathy for the protest are dismissed or sent on "forced vacation." The state media has made a "black list" - actors, singers or writers who support the protests are banned. Meanwhile the official media has launched a campaign against intellectuals, broadcasting such messages as this one from a farmer: "We feed them to study and what they do they give us in return? Strikes and demonstrations."
Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini met with Milosevic today, the first high-ranking foreign politician to do so since the elections were annulled. Afterward Dini said Milosevic's decision to cancel the results was final and that the opposition and Milosevic should now negotiate future elections. This sounds like stealing someone's shoes, then wanting to negotiate for the rest of their clothes.
It's not my job to defend the students or the opposition in Belgrade. I disagree with many of their actions and views. Because they lack experience, students are bound to make mistakes. Most are acting politically for the first time. Yet one should bear in mind the situation they work in and their concrete, sincere and well-intentioned goals as well as their peaceful way of protest.
December 22: It's the 30th day of protest. People are whistling and shouting and becoming stronger and less fearful. The sense of solidarity has increased. Protests continue in 40 of the biggest towns with as many as a half-million people marching every day despite the extreme cold. Drums, whistles and other light and sound effects help people warm up. A wide variety of banners are displayed. For the first time in Serbia, other points of view are tolerated as men and women of different ages and political beliefs make common cause for the respect of human rights, free media and political liberties, carrying banners with messages like these: "Democracy in the home, democracy in the state," "He [Milosevic] is responsible for why I am a refugee," "The government says they want a civil state -- tell them to look out their window," "From Usce to Vukovar -- to Srebrenica -- to The Hague [home of the World Court]." Some protesters wave aprons and dustcloths.
Counter-rallies have been organized by the regime's party in different towns of Serbia. Hundreds of buses loaded with coerced workers are being driven from one town to another town in Serbia for pro-Milosevic rallies. People in the counter-rallies carry banners with messages such as, "Slobo [Milosevic], we love you!" or, "You are our idol!" All this looks ridiculous.
Yesterday, an OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] delegation led by former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez arrived in Belgrade to investigate the elections. Courts in Nis and Smederevska Palanka ordered the electoral commissions to recognize the opposition victory, and in some other towns too, courts are rejecting the decisions of the electoral commissions.
Students who walked to Belgrade from Nis were received by Milosevic. He promised to investigate the election results -- but who could know better than he how they had been falsified? Even the leadership of Montenegro [the Republic which together with Serbia forms the new Federal Republic of Yugoslavia] has denounced the election fraud, stating that fraud jeopardizes the country.
December 26: Today 20,000 policemen blocked the whole center of Belgrade in order to stop peaceful demonstrations. Major conflict was avoided because instead of marching through the streets, the demonstrators (broken into two separate groups by ranks of police) had a rally. Afterwards they walked back and forth in front of the police waving at each other. Both policemen and demonstrators were peaceful and people tried to make friends with policemen. In this way another of Milosevic's attempt to provoke violent incidents in order to declare a state of emergency failed. This police intervention and the whole state media reporting were organized with the intention of making conflicts just one day before the OSCE report is due to be announced. The citizens of Belgrade have conquered their fear and despite terrible weather conditions -- it was minus 11 degrees centigrade. A funny situation was created by the police. They were supposed to enable traffic on the streets but in fact made it even harder for vehicles to move.
Although today's intervention heightened tensions once again the feeling of relief after Tuesday's events is still dominant even though the death of the first protester was confirmed today. Predrag Starcevic was beaten to death on the bridge connecting old and new Belgrade by some of Milosevic's supporters who had been bused into Belgrade. Another victim, Ivica Lazovic, shot in the head on Belgrade's main pedestrian street by a Milosevic supporter, is in a coma with little hope of survival. Another 58 people are in hospital because of wounds. Although clashes were going on all over the city, police did nothing to prevent them. Luckily, despite all government attempts to spark civil war, this has not happened.
December 28: Today 10,000 people participated in the funeral of Predrag Starcevic. Ten Orthodox priests took part in the service.
Patriarch Pavle issued a message calling for government acceptance of the elections. "The respect of law and justice obliges us all to respect the freely expressed will of the people, to prevent autocracy and violence that never can and never will bring any good to the people and the state."
The OSCE has issued a report upholding the Serbian opposition's electoral victory.
January 5, 1997: It's Christmas time in Serbia.
I've been sick for more than a week. It's very cold and I was too much on the streets, with the result that I had to stay in bed. But today I was able to leave home and take part in the protest because I went by car! Protesters blocked the city with in cars -- a response to the government's ban on marches on the grounds they interfere with traffic. It proved to be a good strategy. All the streets and crossroads leading to the center were quickly blocked. The police was paralyzed and disappeared, which enabled the march of those who don't have cars. Again we have shown there is no way violence can beat nonviolence and that united, motivated, well-organized people can find hundreds of ways for their civil resistance.
Patriarch Pavle and the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church have issued a strong statement condemning the government. The Synod not only blamed the government for election fraud but for many other policies since the Second World War. The bishops declare that Milosevic "has placed us against the whole world, and now wants to set us against each other and trigger bloodshed just to preserve power" and say he has "brought the country and the nation to complete collapse, making people beggars." They called on Milosevic to concede his election losses and give Serbs "some hope for a better and peaceful future."
The long awaited declaration of the Church was made in a direct, decisive and engaged way. There have also been letters from within the Army opposing the government. Milosevic is more and more alone, although he still has control of the police, the secret police and the mafia -- all pillars of Milosevic's system of ruling. The way the state media responds to the protests shows the panic in Milosevic's circles. Today on state radio, the Serbian Orthodox Church was denounced as an enemy of the Serbian people -- yet there was no report about what the Holy Synod has actually said that produced such a condemnation!
The police have prevented marches for the past week and few times intervened against peaceful demonstrators who were only walking around in circles, like prisoners, or walking on sidewalks. Students managed to continue their rallies as well. One day they were running around in different directions with police chasing after them.
Freedom in the city was only allowed on New Year's Day. Half-a-million people gathered for the eve on central streets of Belgrade and on squares and streets of many other Serbian towns. Imagine -- no one was wounded and not a single thing was broken and damaged. Never before have so many people in Serbia gathered in such good spirit to celebrate their liberation from fear, from state oppression, from media lies.
Another important action in Belgrade: Every night from 7:30 till 8 PM, in other words during the time of the evening news broadcast, all over the city people come to their windows and balconies and to make noise: blowing whistles, banging on pots and pans, beating drums, turning on chainsaws and drills. It's the opposite of applause to the official news media with all its lies and efforts to hide the truth. For anyone visiting from other parts of the country, we must look like a city of lunatics, yet it must be said we're sometimes having lots of fun. With all these actions, Belgrade is the most interesting place in the world right now.
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