Antonijevic: No matter how you see blows in the Sherpas, it is more important how you listen to it – Sociedad

Photo: Fonet / Zoran Mrđa I believe in awakening the spring of everything, including a healthy political life: Milan Antonijević
Photo: FoNet / Zoran Mrđa

Tears are not a “cheap political point”, it is too much for a country that played with lives, much less with specific campaigns and attacks against individuals and their families, children – Milan Antonijevic, executive director of the Open Society Foundation, points out to You give a question to comment on the lighting of torches by supporters of the Serbian Progressive Party and the release of “Djilas, thieves” in front of the building where Dragan Djilas lives and his shocking testimony, which the regime saw as “cheap political points”.

As Antonijevic points out, all the action is worrisome, that white Mercedes with which the owners of the loudspeaker, since the singing was heard, fled and hid in the building of the Municipality of Vracar.

– You can’t ask who started it first, especially when you’re in power. Another problem is liability, we see that misdemeanor charges have been filed in some isolated cases, according to the police director, but they are not in the misdemeanor court, as investigative journalists write. We can only believe that the state of emergency has ended in the courts and the prosecutor’s offices and that they will begin to do their job, explains Antonijevic.

* Parliamentary elections are scheduled for June 21. The coronavirus pandemic is nowhere near the end, do you think the government’s decision to go to the polls in a month and a half is responsible?

– June 21 will be here soon. But as I answer your questions, it’s hard not to remember that just over 24 hours have passed since the curfew, state of emergency, Skype trials, presentations to the profession, daily press conferences, meetings with the military at borders and around migrants. Camps We also learned how each of us works under extraordinary circumstances, and since 1999 and 2003 we have not had such large negative cuts affecting our lives, to all residents, without exception. Everything has been too intense in the last days for us to see, without much emotion, what the elections announced for June 21 would be like. For young people, these days will be marked by entrance exams to universities, high schools, so I doubt that they think about voting for the first time in their lives.

* How do you evaluate the entry speed in the electoral race?

– Somehow, imperceptibly, we came from the regime that kovid 19 dictated for fifty days to political dictates and the electoral campaign. In the new Vreme, a text was published in which I wrote and explained in more detail what the dangers are, what standards should be applied to democratic elections after a pandemic, and how the Venice Commission would view those elections. I advised to wear legal glasses, instead of political glasses, to analyze the first movements after the abolition of the state of emergency, the first movements after the decision of the National Assembly on St. George’s Day. I have to complain, a little out of context, that Filip Švarm renounced the title that I sent with the text of my author, so that instead of the dictatorship of Đurđevdan, we obtained the Dictatorship of Human Rights. You will admit that the Djurdjevdan dictatorship is a more effective title, somehow more far-reaching. But, let’s go back to the elections and your question, there will be many dilemmas, whatever the day chosen, from security by collecting signatures immediately after such firm measures, to the possibility of freedom of assembly and other rights necessary for a democratic electoral process and just. When we add to that the media situation, the unequal representation of the actors on the political scene, on June 21, seems too close. Every time these parliamentary and local elections are held, they will be the entrance exam to democracy after the state of emergency, of course, all on the condition that we do not return to the bad daily numbers and to the return of the pandemic. My former colleague, lawyer Milena Vasić, wrote on Twitter that “freedom, combined with individual responsibility, will be more difficult for people than slavery.” We will see if there will be those personal responsibilities and if we will be able to stop the epidemic, at least within our borders. If I did not go deeper into the notion of border, I would go to another topic.

* In that sense, do you expect the opposition, which previously announced a boycott, to change its decision and go to the polls?

– The decisions change every day, we did it during the state of emergency, I do not see why the political parties and movements, all the political actors would not reconsider their decisions. The Open Society Foundation reversed everything planned for this year, as soon as the pandemic started. You have to adapt to the moment, help where you can, you cannot pretend that the environment does not change, and drastically. We have seen some decisions, some more announcements to go to the polls that surprised us this week. I always support critical thinking, it is the basis of an open society, no matter which side the decision falls from. Politics allows the impossible, which is why we started mediating in the dialogue of political parties at the end of July last year at the Faculty of Political Sciences, nine months ago. It was impossible to imagine that electoral legislation would change immediately before the elections, and now we see that it can also change during the pre-electoral process.

* Speaking of which, you were a mediator between the government and the opposition. Is there a way to get closer to their views?

– Attitudes are still too far away, the gap we pointed out has been preserved, but some movements that have withdrawn give reasons to change the media scene, I think the awakening of the spring of everything, including a healthy political life. Here comes the report from the influential Freedom House, followed by the European Commission report in early June on the state of our nation, state, institutions. I even believe in the awakening of REM, and obviously many things are happening in the frequent sessions of the Council of this body, of which the public is not very aware. Interesting, as I understand it, are the REM votes, the debates, the issues and the initiatives.

* What do you think about hitting the Sherpas at 8:05 p.m.? Does this citizen revolt have any perspective?

– No matter how you see the blows in the Sherpas, it is more important how you hear the blows in the Sherpas. It is much more important how our institutions, how the government sees this broad and spontaneous action throughout Serbia, which has accumulated dissatisfaction, which it will not see if it puts on pink glasses. I mention glasses a lot these days in the texts, I’m afraid to unconsciously admit that I also need some, but real, diopters.

* During the state of emergency, we witnessed a large number of human rights violations in Serbia. Roma are harassed, migrants are locked up in shelters, violence against women has increased … How important is it that the state does not oppress its citizens even when it comes to a virus pandemic and how citizens can protect themselves of such state movements?

– We must put aside all these legal issues, many good initiatives have been submitted to our Constitutional Court, the European Court of Human Rights has been announced on the issue of the Roma. To be honest, the introduction of the state of emergency was not unconstitutional, but in the following days, immediately after March 15, conditions had to be created for the National Assembly to sit down, not to wait forty-odd days to confirm everything. that was done. Let’s go back to the marginalized groups, it is important how that gap was filled during the pandemic. We must admit that a greater lack of preparedness for the pandemic occurred in informal settlements mostly inhabited by Roma, as well as in all the others that were left without any income and the state had to play a bigger role there. We all helped where we could, help was sent where it was most needed. The Open Society Foundation has been doing this from day one, in addition to increasing support to RHIF for the purchase of respirators, COVID testing and protective gear, we have also supported initiatives that directly assist the most vulnerable during a pandemic. Another problem is migrants, and the event in the migrant camp speaks of the rampant and unprovoked campaign against them, when, after a crazy car accident and hysterical screaming, no one was hurt by a miracle, neither the migrants nor the soldiers who “guard” them. They were saved by a miracle, not by the army, but I hope we will see the court, the prosecution, who is behind this violence, who, apart from the media, incited it.

The devastating consequences of fake news

* “We celebrate” Media Freedom Day on May 3. We are witnessing attacks on journalists, arrest of journalist Ana Lalic, burning of journalists’ houses, constant threats, tabloidization … Serbia is falling on the list of countries in terms of media freedom year after year … How important is that the media be free and how to achieve it in Serbia? How can the opposition obtain space in RTS, but also in other media held by the government?

– I hope it is a rhetorical question, we all know the importance of free media and we see the devastating consequences of controlled media and fake news. You can ruin lives with a written word, a cover, a relentless campaign on national frequencies. Just remember what happened on January 16, 2018, how a multi-week campaign ended.

“The Western Balkans region can give us stability”

* In Serbia, almost throughout the region, the relativization of crimes and criminals is in force. We only see what Seselj is doing and how much the government allows him to spread hate speech. Even his comrades-in-arms, Vjerica Radeta and Petar Jojić, do not want to be extradited to The Hague. How do you see the region in the coming years?

– Regardless of your question, which goes more to the past, you know that we should not forget crimes, nor criminals, I would still look to the future, because “you and I will meet there”, Djindjic told us a long time ago. See what mature relationship we see today in Croatia towards Jasenovac. That act of the Croatian president must be a model, and we had examples from our country, also of responsible behavior, let us not forget either. In any case, the region can only come out of the impasse together, it was demonstrated during the pandemic, we sent support and received it from the region, meaningless taxes on goods arriving in Kosovo from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were abolished, we received support from all of the region during the 2014 floods and we also sent support to partners in Albania, after the devastating earthquake that hit them. Each movement must move towards regional cooperation, because in parallel with building relations, first with EU partners, but also with all others on complex international relations and geopolitical issues, the Western Balkans region is the one that can give some stability, the markets face each other. To others To end on a positive note, we need a big dose of optimism, optimism has a stronger effect than the kovid 19 vaccine we are waiting for.

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