Arandjelovac: B92 vs badly dressed fascism

Hugh Griffiths RSS / 04.12.2007. u 21:54

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the photos and moving images from Arandjelovac made for a whole novel about the situation in Serbia today.

On the one hand, there was the majority, the invited audience, predominately women and men dressed in respectable clothes who would not look out of place in any other European spa town.

Sitting quietly, they waited for their visitors from Belgrade to begin their discussions, but found themselves by  turns embarrassed, discomfited and downright frightened by the great unwashed who had turned up uninvited in their midst.

The yahoos and no-nothings were having a fine time. Their leaders, identifiable by the faint stench of municipal corruption, looked mighty pleased with themselves and it was quite difficult to tell the gravediggers mob from those belonging to the Party of Highway Robbery.

Sporting regalia that became synonymous with rape, murder and ethnic cleansing in the Drina valley in 1992, they came across as exactly the kind of drunken, loutish, criminal, ne’er do wells that did so much for Serbia’s global image all those years ago.

Now as then, these unshaven, angry papac had the temerity to wave the Serbian flag and the presumption to shout slogans speaking on behalf of “the Serbian people” etc while threatening other members of the aforesaid with violence.

 And then there were the police, doing nothing, in scenes reminiscent of the mosque-burning in Belgrade and Nis a few years back.

Ranged against them were the forces of urban resistance, European liberalism and free speech that the staff and audiences of B92 and Vreme have personified for so long. Faced with a peculiarly Balkan brand of fascism dressed up as gaudy patriotism and small town ignorance, circumstances  have perhaps propelled them to be stronger, more dignified and resilient than their counter-parts elsewhere in Europe.

They certainly acquitted themselves with reason and courage, arguing and facing down the cheap fasc for as long as was possible.

They had come to talk to their audience and engage in a debate about what is happening in Serbia today. Politics, economics, corruption, that sort of thing.

Instead they were shouted down by the followers of “All Roads Lead to Cacak” Ilic. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that the B92 program Pescanik had been critical of Mr. Ilic, who’s face, in a twisted take on Dorian Gray is now permanently etched with a history of his bizness activity; corrupted lines which no perma-tan will ever hide.

At Arandjelovac one saw two visions of Serbia, the only good thing to come of it were the photos, which illustrate so graphically the stark choices on offer today.



Komentari (9)

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s56a s56a 22:58 04.12.2007

Djindjic

Ranged against them were the forces of urban resistance, European liberalism and free speech that the staff and audiences of B92 and Vreme have personified for so long.

Hopeless minority after Djindjic assasination! Just listen to Parliament debates... God helpSerbia!

Doppelgänger Doppelgänger 23:02 04.12.2007

True

I have an idea for the liberal segment of the Serbian population: stop shaving, brushing your teeth (knock some out preferably), washing... The enemy would not know how to react. It would be a far stronger critique than the clean, smart style which would even hint at European civilization.

Incidentally, Slavoj Zizek spoke in a lecture of his how during the Socialist years (at the time of the elections which were of course set-up and Communists always won), he, alongside other intellectuals, published a journal the title page of which read: It Looks like the Communists Might Win Again. The regime simply did not know what to do, how to react, how to explain what they had done wrong. A far more efficient crtique than outright, foolish criticism.
dragan7557 dragan7557 12:03 05.12.2007

Re: True

I have an idea for the liberal segment of the Serbian population: stop shaving, brushing your teeth (knock some out preferably), washing..


Why not; stop being humans?
Domazet Domazet 02:04 05.12.2007

How about Urban Resistance giving up on...

...the badly dressed people. They (UR) clearly deserve better. How about you becoming their people. I see one problem though. I mean, with you being their people.The politicians to people ratio in the OBies Country would remain pretty much the same as in the BDS.

Clarification of the abbreviations (for non-native as well as for native speakers):
OBies Country – The country of Others and Betters
BDS – Badly Dressed Serbia
Filip Mladenović Filip Mladenović 03:15 05.12.2007

About love and hatred

IT TAKES TWO FOR LOVE.
FOR HATRED IT TAKES TWO HISTORIES!
m.agrippa m.agrippa 02:08 23.12.2007

wtf?

...against them were the forces of urban resistance, European liberalism and free speech that the staff and audiences of B92 and Vreme have personified for so long.


Oh, come on, Hugh. We're all grown-ups here. Free speech? BS.

Sporting regalia that became synonymous with rape, murder and ethnic cleansing in the Drina valley in 1992, they came across as exactly the kind of drunken, loutish, criminal, ne’er do wells that did so much for Serbia’s global image all those years ago.


Civil wars are a bitch, aren't they? The worst .2% steal the spotlight. Anyway, what regalia did they sport? Looking at the pictures, I saw the regalia reminiscent of, oh, say, the days when over 500 downed Allied pilots were saved from the Nazis. Or further back, when a certain army of a certain little kingdom in the hilly Balkans handed back the Austrians their asses on a plate, before any other Allied army even saw the trenches.

Stuck on the 90s, I see. Move on. Serbia has.

Write more, rant less.
Regards.
AidaPalestine AidaPalestine 18:12 11.02.2008

Something new

Hugh,

'Bout time to write a new article... "Kosovo Independent on Feb. 17th"?? ...just a suggestion

A.
Hugh Griffiths Hugh Griffiths 00:34 18.02.2008

Re: Something new

sounds like an eventful date
djgorandj djgorandj 08:35 01.08.2008

Arandjelovac

www.arandjelovaconline.com New bloog, ads...

Arhiva

   

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