Although the outcome of local elections in three municipalities can not be viewed as a representative sample from which far-reaching conclusions relating to the national level can be drawn, the June 7 results are indicative of the political climate in Serbia.

I went to Kolarac for the promotion of Dobrica Ćosić’s book The Time of Snakes. That whole atmosphere at Kolarac, those people who went there – the girl next to me, 17 or 18 years old, burst into tears as soon as Ćosić said “Good day”.

Download annual report of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia (HCHRS) for the year 2008: Serbia 2008, Human rights, democracy and – violence.

An interesting debate is taking place in scholarly publications and on the internet about the causes of the crisis, the ideological convictions and political recommendations.

We are calling for listeners, readers and friends of the show, people from Belgrade and Pancevo to stand up in defense of Biljana Srbljanovic, accused of disorderly conduct.

We would like to inform people’s deputies, the media, nongovernmental organizations and the public that the Government of the Republic of Serbia has forwarded to the People’s Assembly the Draft Law on Alterations and Amendments of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance.

A prominent Belgrade historian comments acidly on the political ambiguities of ‘rehabilitation’ in contemporary Serbian intellectual life.

Getting an ID was turned into an important social event. And when you bend down in front of a clerk desk, you are a broken man, and the clerk gives you a look and starts grinding his teeth.

Democratic Party has proven to be nothing more than a state-owned business enterprise and the primary source of corruption and of tycoons and of the faint-hearted politics which we cannot count on. But at the same time, we have no other choice.

As part of austerity measures to cope with the current economic crisis, a new Law on Citizens’ Income Taxation is in force as of May 8, 2009.

Public reactions to the Šljivančanin sentence represent a direct consequence of Serbian politicians’ habit to nurture a feeling of injustice inflicted on the Serbs.

Following an initiative moved by the municipal Commission on Renaming Streets and Squares to name a blind alley on the outskirts of the city of Niš after Šaban Bajramović, a world famous Roma singer, a group of dwellers signed a petition against the initiative.

The fact that Slavenka Drakulic has agitated the local public, proves only that the conspiracy of silence is widely accepted, writes translator and essayist Mirjana Miocinovic, defending Drakulic against her critics.  

US financial experts are talking of cataclysm and anarchy, but what really worries them is nationalization, writes George Blecher. Meanwhile, at street-level, the crisis is having some unusual effects.

This is a text by Vojislav Koštunica, published in Obraz in 1996.

Our parties were formed in the bars at the Terazije square. They were formed between friends and family. So they are sitting in a pub and agree about everything because they love each other.

This public opinion survey was conducted for the purposes of the Project “Support to the Implementation of Anti-discrimination Legislation and Mediation in Serbia”.

An hour or so before we entered the Servian boundaries from Budapest, an officer in a dizzy uniform of scarlet and gold braid collected our passports, and asked a series of questions.

The issue of crisis in the East is really about the ability of the EU to take on obligations in the areas covered by the common market principles.

Milošević had recognised the weakness of the Serbian population that was created by the vacuum of national identity they found themselves in after the death of Tito.

The best interest of the EU, and probably of the applicant country too, is that the whole process unfolds so that a positive outcome is predictable and practically unavoidable.

The most important news coming from the EU has to do with ideas on how to help the European banks and member and candidate countries to avoid the danger of bankruptcy.

Serbian Orthodox Church as one of undoubtedly most influential institutions in Serbia, has repeatedly demonstrated that it is more influential than it is guaranteed by laws and the Constitution of Serbia.

The part of the verdict which says that our country, Serbia, has through its highest state, military and police officials organised and implemented a criminal undertaking has terrible implications for all of us.

Bones are bones. With the one difference that children have more small bones; they are less durable. And I came upon some small bones of the kind I was expecting to find.

‘Why was Zoran Đinđić killed?’ This is a question which will not be dealt by the courts, but which certainly will be addressed by history.

Anything that the rest of us in former Yugoslavia claimed to know about the Albanians was put together from a hodgepodge of offensive cliches.

The dominant Bosniak policy is skilled at playing a double game: on the one hand, loudly advocating a multi-ethnic and civic Bosnia; on the other, acting in a way that favours the emergence of a two-thirds-majority Bosniak national state.

During the past two centuries Serbian foreign policy makers have failed only too often to understand the nature of the Russian interest in the Balkans.

There is a whole new generation coming up, whose formative experiences are lacking international travel, if we leave out graduation excursions to Budapest or Athens. The consequences of this can be seen in the crime pages in newspapers.

Therefore the situation in Serbia in January 2009 is as follows: the Peščanik is the Enemy, and Ratko Mladić is the Friend.

A candidate status for EU membership would reverse negative trends in Serbia. Not only political elites but also local selfgovernments and citizens need to harness their energy for reaching a consensus on Serbia’s indisputable European course.