Voting in the elections is just foreplay, a qualifying round of sorts. They could have easily played Keepsies instead, because the things they said during the campaign are no longer valid in their negotiations on forming the government. That means we voted on the basis of what they said they would do and now we see that none of that matters, because they say – the cards have been dealt in a certain way, now you step aside, you no longer matter. You people are asses who agreed to being used in such a way, and now we will make an arrangement.

I don’t mind them saying, because they are stronger – this is ours, you can’t do anything to us and we will make a deal as we see fit. At least no one is making an ass out of you. And the second thing that is bothering me is that in a time when a power-sharing agreement is being reached, the president of a party, who incidentally is facing war crimes charges at

The Hague , says that Zoran Djindjic’s assassins should be celebrated. I don’t think that man said it by accident at this very moment. And what is the message that we are now being sent? It is a message that we stand on two different sides and that we are divided in such a way that the division does not allow us to sit and talk things through but that one is allowed to kill another, if he does not agree to certain conditions. That is what we are told.

It is because of that, if for no other reason, that I would like these negotiations – and I think the deal was made a long time ago – to fail. And talking about deals – why are we getting Aleksandar Vucić, the Radical, for a Mayor? Well, we are getting him because the DS and DSS have agreed to change the law so that the Mayor is not chosen by direct election, for fear of the Radicals coming to power in Belgrade. Now that law is working against the DS.

….

The group Most (Bridge) had conducted a research among high school students. Over 20 percent of boys consider listening to foreign music problematic, considers it unacceptable. Fifteen to sixteen percent of girls agree. Over 30 percent of boys think that homosexuals must be beaten up and 20 percent of girls agree. What, that’s surprising now? Should we be confused? The idea of asking that question, how about that! I don’t know how someone thought of asking that question, but it’s obvious that that person knows a lot more than me for asking it. And the results they got are totally devastating, but what does that tell you? The first reform to be stopped, when Zoran Zivkovic’s government was brought down and the government of prime minister Kostunica came in its place – was the education reform. One of the first things that Zoran Djindjic’s government did was the reform of the education.

Three different analyses were conducted during the 90s and in the early 2000s, which have shown that our education system is what Dubravka Stojanovic humorously calls – the army drill. The question is whether we want education as an army drill or we want an education formed by citizens able to reach decisions rationally and to participate in the political life in a rational manner.

Those two girls, of all the people in the streets that day, were the only ones sentenced to prison for stealing sneakers on February 21st. Some other men were on stage that day, had their pictures taken, but only those two girls deserved to be indicted and put on trial. We have a person who called for violence from that very stage against those who think differently, and who was not charged for it. That person was introduced by the prime minister himself. And what have we got? The girls are sentenced to 10 months of probation and we get a headline in the newspapers – They got away with it! Well, what should they do, execute them?! This sort of shifting the focus from what is essential and this sort of sadistic need to hurt someone is so paradoxical that you feel the urge to organize a committee for protection of these girls, to defend their honor, the moral integrity of those persons. That’s the urge you feel, that’s how twisted everything is.

The city was shattered, destroyed, it all went to pieces in those couple of hours, and we found the culprits: two girls, how about that, stole the sneakers from an already broken window. Who broke the store’s window, in the first place? Where are those guys that also looted the stores? Why did this “hero” record only those two but didn’t record all those around them? And let’s not talk about what came out in Blic a month ago, the article about what was done under the heading of the Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija and how much money was spent doing that.

Peščanik, Radio B92, 30.05.2008.

Translated by Ivica Pavlovic

Peščanik.net, 29.05.2008.


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Dejan Ilić (1965, Zemun), urednik izdavačke kuće FABRIKA KNJIGA i časopisa REČ. Diplomirao je na Filološkom fakultetu u Beogradu, magistrirao na Programu za studije roda i kulture na Centralnoevropskom univerzitetu u Budimpešti i doktorirao na istom univerzitetu na Odseku za rodne studije. Objavio je zbirke eseja „Osam i po ogleda iz razumevanja“ (2008), „Tranziciona pravda i tumačenje književnosti: srpski primer“ (2011), „Škola za 'petparačke' priče: predlozi za drugačiji kurikulum“ (2016), „Dva lica patriotizma“ (2016), „Fantastična škola. Novi prilozi za drugačiji kurikulum: SF, horror, fantastika“ (2020) i „Srbija u kontinuitetu“ (2020).

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