Puppet, kids

Music

00.00.00.00

watching puppet

playing piano, mother and child, people on the streets

Campbell:  Normality has returned to the streets of Belgrade.  But it's a normality that ordinary people fought to end. 

00.17

From the tumult of winter, life has gone back to a daily struggle for survival.  The community has once again been cowed.  And idealists who risked everything for democracy have given up believing.

Intv with Miroslav Maric, puppet

Miroslav Maric:  People lost their faith, their hopes because they saw that nothing changed after 88 or 120 days of marching.  What happened was that they just replaced one set of people with another.  Nothing went for the better.  They remain the same.  Now things are going worse.

Maric handing out sheets of paper, people marching at night

Campbell:  Miroslav Maric was one of the student organisers of the longest mass protest ever staged.

01.24

Music

Campbell:  From across the city, Serbs of all classes marched every day through one of the coldest winters in memory.

01.39

Many like Miroslav's mother Golubica had never demonstrated before.  But after years of dictatorship and economic crisis she felt the time had finally come to act.

Campbell:  You don't mind the rain and the snow?

Maric:  No, she doesn't mind the rain.

People marching with music, people marching in snow, man waving, people holding hands, sign

Campbell:  Their protest forced the once impregnable Slobodan Milosevic to restore opposition wins in local elections that he had arbitrarily annulled.

02.15

In their greatest victory, Zoren Djinjic, leader of the democratic party, became mayor of Belgrade. 

02.26

But the solidarity of the opposition movement has not endured.  Its two former leaders, Djinjic and Vuk Draskovitch, have fallen out and accused each other of treachery and betrayal.

Intv with Vuk Draskovic

Super:

VUK DRASKOVIC

Serbian Renewal Movement

Draskovic:  He started to destroy, to crack down on Coalition Zion even in the middle of last winter demonstration.

Intv with Djinjic

Djinjic:  He personally wanted to exercise power the way Milosevic is doing now in Serbia in a monopolistic, domineering manner - no supervision over the authorities - and with corruption and scandals - that's where we split very quickly.

Golubica walking along into building

Campbell:  For Miroslav's mother, Golubica, and all the other Serbs like her who put so much hope and energy into the opposition, it was a bitter blow.  For her, life has grown even bleaker.

03.19

Intv with Golubica

Golubica:  No, things haven't improved.  The living standard is falling.  People have no money, retirees don't get their pensions, workers don't get paid, many people are starving. 

Kitchens for the poor are being opened.  No, the situation's not good at all, it's worse.

Golubica sweeping, interview with her

Campbell:  Golubica now supports the family by one days cleaning a week.  She and her husband's pensions have not arrived for two months.

03.51

Campbell:  Who do you blame for the fact that things have not got any better?

Golubica:  The disintegration of the opposition.  In my opinion Vuk Draskovic ruined the Opposition.

People marching with umbrellas and whistles

Campbell:  The story of how it went so wrong goes back to the height of the protests.  The apparent cohesion between Draskovitch and Djinjic - as they walk side by side to lead each day's protest - was a mask.

04.25

Djinjic:  We know each others character and I realised thta Mr. Draskovic is a man intent on his own political power rather than institutions or democratic rule.

Intv with Draskovic

Campbell:  Did you have any sense during the protests that he was planning to do this?

04.57

Draskovic:  Yes but I tried to hide that.

People on streets, posters, people marching

Campbell:  The two men finally split when Draskovic decided to run for the Presidency of Serbia, a position Milosevic was forced to vacate when his final term ran out.

Djinjic had agreed to support Draskovitch in his bid in return for being made Prime Minister.  But when it became clear that Milosevic would not allow free and fair elections.  Djinjic and the smaller democratic parties withdrew their support and boycotted the poll.

Chant:  Boycott, boycott, boycott, boycott, boycott, boycott ...

Campbell:  Draskovic insists he could have won, he says he had bargained guarantees from Milosevic of greater access to State media than ever before.

05.35

Intv with Draskovic

Draskovic:  We had, let me say, the best election conditions we had ever during the last seven years. 

Campbell: But still not democratic?

Draskovic:  Not still, of course, but we never boycotted the elections.  In a period we have not any democratic conditions.

People waving flags, flares, chanting, Draskovic at mic, people waving flags, huge crowd

Campbell:  Draskovic went on to contest this presidential and parliamentary elections.  Running a slick American style campaign.  But without the votes of other democratic supporters, he and his party finished a poor third.

06.18

His revenge against his former allies was swift.  His party, the Serbian Renewal Movement, voted with Milosevic's Socialists to expel Djinjic as Mayor of Belgrade.

Draskovitch:  But you know, the man who destroyed Coalition Zion, who committed such incredible and bad things against the coalition against Serbian Renewal Movement, against all democratic Serbia, the dreams from the winter demonstrations cannot represent to the city of Belgrade.  Absolutely.

Poster with graffiti, Campbell to camera

Super:

ERIC CAMPBELL

Campbell:  The biggest winners from the disunity have not been the socialists but a group, many who marched here regard as far worse.  Serbia's ultra nationalists.   

07.11

They are a force that grew up along side Milosevic's new socialism as Yugoslavia descended into civil war.  But they've now come to challenge Milosevic himself.

And with the collapse of the democratic coalition, many Serbians now see them as the only real alternative.

Man stands, walks to put ballot in box, crowd and media there, talks to Campbell

Campbell:  Vojislav Sheshel heads the self-styled Radical Party, an extremist group even by the standards of Serbian politics.

07.39

He received the highest vote in the presidential election.  But because of the boycott voter turn out was just below 50% and the result was invalidated.

But Sheshel looks set to win the presidency in a re-run to be held before the end of the year.  He promises a government prepared to plunge the region back into war. 

Sheshel speaking to group of people

Sheshel:  A state calling itself the Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina has never existed in the world and it won't exist in the Balkans either.

Serbska Krajena is occupied by the Rupublic of Croatia and the radical party is against any kind of normalisation of relations with Croatia until the whole territory of occupied Krajena is regained.

Reporter:  In what way?

Sheshel:  In the way we will decide.  We can't reject any method in advance.

Sheshel shaking

Music

hands along street

Campbell:  In his campaign video Sheshel is portrayed as a man of the streets.

08.53

Music

Campbell: As mayor of one of Belgrade's districts he's cleaned up the area, built new community centres and streamlined the bureaucracy.

08.59

Music

Campbell:  But he's also confirmed the worst fears of his critics bringing ethnic cleansing to his district.

Intv with Miroslav Maric

Super:

MIROSLAV MARIC

Archeology Student

Miroslav Maric:  People of Croatian nationality, of Hungarian nationalities are getting beaten up.  They get papers to get out of their flats, to get out of their shops, and everything.  That is not the way. 

He even tried to make the Synagogue into a disco club which is in any country, unthinkable, but here he can do it.  And I'm afraid of that. 

If he comes to power, I'm afraid that this can all be worse.  He'll probably make war to all countries of the world.  That's the way he is, he's a great Serb nationalist.  I don't like him.

Sheshel and others at press conference, Sheshel speaking

Campbell:  But in the mess left by Milosevic and his socialist party, the promise of simple solutions to complex problems is an appealing message.

09.56

Sheshel:  We will bring order and discipline to Serbia, wipe away the State and financial mafia, tidy up finances to cary out privatisation, pay out all the arrears in pensions to retirees, disability pensions, child support,  maternity leave allowances.

Intv with Djinjic

Djinjic:  It's true that Seselj's fascism reminds one a little of the fascism which emerged in Europe in the 1920s.  

But this is an impotent fascism.  Mussolini and Hitler's fascism went hand in hand with industrial and military expansion.

Seslj's fascism is the frustrated fascism of a crisis which has no inherent strength. 

Our army is weak, our economy is destroyed, our people are disoriented.  That fascism is not extroverted, it is introverted - intent on self-destruction.

Students walking down stairs, high shot of campus, students in class

Campbell:  Faced with the bleak reality that Sheshel might be the next president, even the most idealistic supporters of the democratic movement are disheartened.

11.06

Once the centre of last winter's student protest, today the campus is quiet.  Many like Miroslav and his friend Sanja are struggling to make up for lessons lost during four months of marching.

Despite their disillusionment, Sanja and Miroslav have continued to fight.  But most of their friends who protested with them have given up trying.

Intv with Sanja

Sanja:  The worst thing that happened is that people lost their energy to fight, they are kind of tired, it took them six years to do something, to get their energy to protest and now they didn't quite get what they wanted so they kind of last their energy.

People marching at night with big sign, 

Campbell:  Now when Miroslav and Sanja march, they're joined by only a token number of protesters.

12.18

In contrast to the thousands of riot police who shadowed the marches last winter, they are followed by just two police vans - a sign of how little a threat they are now seen to pose.

Sanja and Miroslav talking while walking

Sanja:  They're not afraid of us because they know what we are doing.  They know that we just go to march so they can work out what they want now.

Campbell:  They are not scared of the crowds because there are no crowds.

Sanja:  Oh yeah.

Miroslav Maric:  That's one of the things.  They are not afraid you know because there are so few of us and they can bring up to 2 or 3,000 police officers in a couple of minutes. 

They don't need any cause, they can just start beating us because they can say we're disturbing the peace, disturbing traffic and law will approve it.  That's the saddest thing.  They can never be wrong, the police are always right here.

Sheshel speaking

Chanting

on platform,

huge audience listening

Campbell:  But unless the next opposition boycott is successful, Sheshel is in the winning position to be President of Serbia.  At the very least he's the likely Kingmaker.

13.26

To regain power, Milosevic's socialist party will probably have to deal with his radical party.  Vuk Draskovitch rules out joining either. 

Intv with Draskovic

Draskovic:  We are against both, against dying communism in Serbia and very very dangerous growing, let me say, Nazi Bolshevism presented by Mr. Sheshel.

I will force Mr. Milosevic to have a marriage, to go to bed with his own political son, Mr. Sheshel.  He created Cain and he must sleep with him.  I'm not ready to be involved into that marriage.

Magazine rack, big posters in background

Campbell:  But few rule out any coalition in Serbia's chaotic politics - even between Draskovic and Sheshel. 

14.24

The man he now calls a Nazi was once his closest friend.  Both he and Sheshel were best man at each other's weddings.

Intv with Darskovic

Draskovic:  Sheshel from that period and Sheshel later are two completely different men.

Campbell:  Are you still close, are you still friends?

Draskovic:  No, no, no, privately, you know, privately I'm respecting privately any one, Mr. Djinjic, Mr. Milosevic, Mr. Sheshel but politically there's a big gap between our programs.

Intv with Miroslav Maric on the street

Miroslav Maric:  We believe that, well, at least I believe so that it was not supposed to be like this. 

You know when we fought for them, we stood up against the police, against the weather for four months and they betrayed us because now there is no more coalistion between Mr. Draskovic and Mr. Djinjic and there is no more democratic opposition then.

So I don't see where are the results that we fought for.

Cityscape, man

Music

playing accordian

people on postered street

Campbell:  In Belgrade few know what to believe or who to believe in.  The winter of hope has turned into a summer of disillusionment.

15.41

The people who inspired the world now appear too tired or too apathetic to fight.  Serbia's tragedy is that it's search of a better way may have led to something worse.

ENDS

17.35