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I am proud of the changes on October 5 and of my contribution to the victory of DOS in the 2000 elections. On October 5, Serbia had the opportunity to live again, says Zarko Korac, one of the leaders of the then Opposition Democratic of Serbia, in an interview with “Blic”.
He claims that ten years before that, he was in real opposition to Milosevic’s policy and presented the price for that, considering that policy the worst in modern Serbian history.
– It has only produced death, destruction and crimes of such proportions that, sadly, most of our society cannot take it more seriously even today. By the way, I do not belong to the people who complain about the so-called inevitable fate, but I think it is a moral duty of man to try to fight to make the world a better place to live and to try, as far as possible, to prevent crime . Each of us in the terrible nineties could see what he is made of, what he is like as a human being.
Who are the people who have borne the greatest burden of change?
– In the early 1990s, the highest price was paid by people who opposed the war. Not only rare political parties with this program, but also journalists, public figures, all those who lost their job or left it voluntarily, not wanting to be in the service of nationalist madness. They did not pretend not to see that war was being prepared or that violence was being exercised against members of minorities, such as Seseljevo in Hrtkovci. Unfortunately, there weren’t too many. Milosevic had enormous support in society and it was easy to demonize anyone who opposed him.
What was your role in that period?
– I have always advocated a truly minority anti-war and non-nationalist policy that was much more supported in the region and in Europe than is usually thought. Paradoxically, it helped to break at least a bit the image that was persistently created by Milosevic’s propaganda that everyone in Serbia thinks the same thing: the famous conciliarity with the leader who saves us from the evil world order, whatever that may be. But in the premises of the party of which I was president, the Alliance of Democratic Parties was created, which consisted of: LSV Nenad Canak, SVM Jozef Kasa, Reformist of Vojvodina Mile Isakov, Sandzak Democratic Party of Rasim Ljajic and Coalition of Sumadija Cole Kovacevic . The first demonstration was organized in Novi Sad. We weren’t sure how many people would come, and maybe ten thousand people came to fill Miletić square. Don’t forget that that was after the war with the NATO pact, which the regime claimed we got, and then-Chief of Staff Nebojsa Pavkovic nominated Milosevic for the Order of the People’s Hero. It was evident that the people were no longer afraid and were tired of the lies and policies of the SPS. We continued with the rallies and the Alliance for Change, another group of opposition parties (SPO, Civic Alliance and DS) came to the rally in Kikinda. That was the key moment, the basis for the creation of DOS, which was later joined by other parties.
If we look at what was happening in the streets, then how did the political opponents of the Milosevic marriage go through, were you afraid? What was the atmosphere among the carriers, the key people of change?
– We were fully aware of the dangers of opposition action in the war and after it. There were really a lot of threats and some were really serious. Do not forget that the war was initially about a hundred kilometers from Belgrade, Serbia was full of armed people who often spent the weekend on the battlefield and returned home, the so-called weekend warriors. Her constant threats that we are traitors supported by the media could be an introduction to our murders. Just a small example: I was an opposition MP in the 1990s, and after the Assembly session, you walk out of the Assembly building, and some SRS and SPS MPs draw their weapons from the goal. They came armed to the Assembly sessions! In the late 1990s, aware that it was weak and would be held accountable for horrible crimes and looting, the Milosevic regime began killing its political opponents. Curuvija, Ivan Stambolic, various murders of Vuk Draskovic … He used parts of state security for those murders, which is especially dangerous because state crime is especially difficult to prove. It was no longer a political story, but a struggle for survival. For example, DOS rented premises in an old building in Skadarlija. State security at the time filmed us the entire time from the apartment across the street, literally until October 5. He recorded phone conversations, followed us, and finally made a list for our arrest, all with the addresses where we lived on the eve of October 5. It gave us the strength to persevere with the growing support of the citizenry. If it weren’t for that, the regime would surely arrest us or at least kill some of us. As in a Shakespearean tragedy, the Milosevic couple prepared to defend their government with blood.
What was the key in 2000 to achieve change?
– The changes were more and more certain because the citizens of Serbia got tired of the misery, the crude propaganda of the regime, the lack of everything necessary for life, but also the lost war with the NATO pact, which was declared a magnificent victory. The regime’s cynicism can also be seen in the fact that it never published official data on the victims of that war. He just wasn’t interested in those victims. Furthermore, it was clear to most Serbian citizens that the regime’s policy had no future and that the then Yugoslav Republic of Yugoslavia was the poorest and most isolated country in Europe. The opposition offered a return to a normal life that many had already forgotten what it was like.
We can often hear that on October 5 he was betrayed and that on October 6 he was absent. What do you think about that?
– Certainly, the new government had to do many things that were missing. But, in my opinion, that first Djindjic government was the only truly reformed government in the last twenty years that rushed to reform a terribly forgotten and failed state. When foreigners asked us how to help us, among other things, we asked for electricity deliveries! Today, almost everyone has forgotten that we do not produce enough electricity for our needs. The average salary has risen more than five times, we have returned Yugoslavia / Serbia to international institutions, we have begun to return old savings in foreign currency, to pay state debts, to prepare and pass many laws for European integration, to start the privatization of a mostly destroyed economy … they were free and there was a democratic atmosphere in the society, although many media and people from the old regime waged a constant campaign against that government. That period ended with the assassination of Zoran Djindjic, and he was assassinated so that Serbia would remain an undemocratic country, a haven for war criminals and thieves. Today, Serbia is run by two people who, if the purge law had been implemented, would probably have been enlightened, I mean Dacic and Vucic. Tomislav Nikolic, one of the sure candidates for lustration, was even the president of Serbia. These people were elected to these positions by the majority of Serbian citizens. Even without lustration, citizens know what someone did in the 1990s and after. The biggest problem will be the non-acceptance of responsibility by those who supported Milosevic’s policy, when today almost no one mentions it, as if it did not exist.
Where are we today, 20 years later?
– Today, Serbia is in a paradoxical situation: the proclaimed goal is European integration, but many things in political life resemble the 1990s. Media control, demonization of any critical opinion, corruption of the highest government, large numbers of semi-illiterate people in important state positions and something that dangerously resembles the cult of the personality of the leader of the strongest political party. It is very difficult for Serbia to change, it constantly refuses to balance the politics of the nineties, to really reject it and choose a completely different development path. To me, today’s politics seems like an attitude: we will remain the same and have the same political goals, but without war and with the support of the world, which is impossible in the long term. Soon it will be much clearer.
If you compare DOS with the United Opposition of Serbia, are there any similarities?
– The conditions in which the opposition operates in Serbia today are different. First of all, I think their lives are not as in danger as ours. But they have big problems. First, they do not have the real support of democratic parties and European countries. More simply symbolic. They helped us in various ways. Another story is why today they pretend not to see the dire conditions of political life in Serbia. Second, the opposition is so demonized every day that people avoid being in the opposition at all. It is difficult to resist these daily attacks without the opportunity to respond to them. Third, the opposition makes the daily mistake of competing with the SNS on nationalist rhetoric. It seems that she is the only one who believes that the world sees the SNS as an exemplary democratic party, rather than seeing in it a completely cynical and pragmatic calculation that only Vučić can offer a solution to the Kosovo problem. Accusations that Vucic is betraying Kosovo will not help them in the democratic world. I would like to add one more thing, the current opposition has to travel much more to Serbia and talk to the people. Djindjic designed the campaign “Serbia on the right track” and traveled. Through wars, inflation, and constant fear for our lives, we fought for ten years to win the SPS and Milosevic elections. Happiness helps the brave, it has been said for a long time. Only persistence and consistency help in politics, nothing else.
No worse today than in the 1990s
We occasionally hear that today is worse than it was in the 1990s. How realistic is that?
– It is no worse than the nineties, nothing is worse than war, crime and any form of violence. That can be said in affection, but it is not true.
VIDEO: October 5
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