It is good that young people today Serbia they don't know much about Ratko Mladić. Because all I can get from the ruling regime discourse is that she is a hero who defended and saved the Serbs (see texts on pages 16 and 22).
Although there are people in the government environment who do not dispute the massacre in Srebrenica, they all claim in unison that it is impossible to talk about genocide. By the way, when it comes to Mladić, a significant part of citizens - often with different political views - ignores the fact that the Hague Court did not convict Naser Orić, Anta Gotovina, Ramuš Hardinaj and some others accused of crimes against Serbs. That, they say, is the reason for the revolt. So, when these people are not punished, Ratko Mladić should not be either.
Outside of Serbia and the Republika Srpska, euphoria reigned over the death of the former commander of the Army of the Republika Srpska, as if his final judgment absolved all perpetrators of crimes against Serbs. In that conflagration of hatred that engulfed Serbia, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo, two key things were forgotten. First - one crime does not cancel another. And secondly, the verdicts were handed down by an international court that was recognized by all the former warring parties, and not a single one is satisfied with its work.
It is certain that the Hague Tribunal can be criticized for everything, but without it, there would hardly have been a shred of justice and responsibility for the crimes committed in the Yugoslav wars. But that is not the essential problem in dealing with the past.
SYMBOLS OF POOR PATRIOTISM, THAT IT CANNOT BE MORE POOR
It is actually about the fact that almost all the authorities in the countries of the region derive their legitimacy from the bloodshed of the nineties. That is why the division into "us" and "them" has been going on for decades, and the perpetrators of war crimes are also divided into "ours" and "theirs". The former are innocent like angels, the latter more crooked than the black devil.
In this context, those convicted of war crimes like Mladic are declared heroes, and people who work for reconciliation are labeled as traitors and traitors. The writer Vladimir Arsenijević also belongs to the latter. He was beaten up by speechless kids right before the commemoration of Srebrenica Memorial Day.
How far such an understanding of patriotism goes - it's sad that it couldn't be sadder - is also evidenced by the case of Croatian general Slobodan Praljko. In 2017, when he was sentenced to twenty years in prison for crimes against humanity, he committed suicide by poisoning himself in the middle of the Hague courtroom.
What did he want to achieve? Nothing but "martyrdom" to make every warmonger, chauvinist and rightist in Croatia happy. He had the guts to kill himself but not to face responsibility for the fields of death he sowed. Chauvinism is never able to look at itself in the mirror. It's a nasty picture.
The young man did not go to such an extreme. Similar to Praljko, he has not expressed remorse or admitted any responsibility, even though he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the genocide in Srebrenica and crimes against humanity. But that's exactly why he became a symbol of Serbian right-wingers and chauvinists. For them, he is a general, an officer who "showed the enemies" everywhere and "avenged extinguished fires", including Srebrenica.
STONE IN THE BOOT
The regime of the head of state and the whole of Ćaciland secretly rehabilitated Mladić for a long time, rehabilitating his own war and political path at the same time. His government mechanism needed the pagan myth of the "heroic general" in order to present the entire Serbian people as his accomplices and followers.
This means that Vučić and his team silently inspired murals with Mladić's image, while loudly relativizing war crimes and advocating historical revisionism. Among other things, because of this, they ruined political and public life.
But now the deceased Mladic has returned to Vučić's life again. What position will he take on his funeral? Will he attend it and thus incur the wrath of the European Commission, or by his absence let down the hardest core of his voters? Especially those he recruits in Republika Srpska (see text on page 8).
As usual when he falls into this situation, Vučić tries to show the attitude of a man who is above all divisions - he does not deal with the past but with the future, the development of the country, the strengthening of citizens' standards and the like in the same direction. Stating that everything will be decided by Mladić's family, Kanda hinted that his favorite would still be a funeral in the closest family circle. And it is clear - he has nothing to ask for.
However, the problem cannot be solved. Namely, while this text is being written, the public is waiting for two pieces of information - when and where Mladić will be buried, and whether, in the next few days, Vučić will call elections for October 28?
If the latter happens, it is possible that Vučić's criticisms of the European Union, neighboring countries and peoples from the former Yugoslavia, Brussels and other "relevant foreign factors" will be read through the lens of their relationship with Mladić. On the other hand, the absence of anti-Western and quarrelsome rhetoric is not something the progressive electorate is used to. In any case, Mladić's death did not come at a good time for Vučić.
ELECTIONS LIKE THERE WERE NEVER BEFORE
It is difficult to count how many times Vučić announced the elections. Now that they seem very certain, there are still people who are skeptical that they will actually be scheduled for Sunday, October 28 (see text on page 6). Simply - the president of Serbia is not a man who should be kept at his word.
Does he have a better chance now than a few months ago? Difficult. The regime has been on the decline for a long time and would have lost easily if there were any honest and fair elections. The whole country and Vučić himself know that. That's why they try to win by other means.
His frenzied summer campaign was only intended to mask that intention. It includes bribing voters with their money, media terror (see text on page 12), abuse of institutions, violence, lawlessness, blackmail, pressure... For progressives, elections are a take-no-prisoners war operation.
And what their formal campaign will look like is clear from Vučić's "punitive expedition" to Užice. In short, on September 4, the residents of Novi Sad and, subsequently, other cities, will see bus columns full of extras playing tricks on the people, as well as beaters and the police, who help them wherever they get stuck by instilling fear.
Election day itself will probably be worse than the worst of the spring local elections. Therefore, it is not surprising that many expect serious riots during the voting, and especially after the announcement of the results. Quite simply, the regime is doing everything it can to keep Serbia even further away from the rule of law.
In fact, the symbol of the announced elections will be a progressive paramilitary base in Belgrade's Pioneer Park in front of the Presidency of Serbia - named Ćaciland. Ratko Mladić would be one of his own there.
In the end - can a regime based on violence, systemic corruption, fear, indoctrination, normalization of the abnormal, hatred, divisions... be defeated in the elections? It can and must, and the Student Movement has been showing how for a long time. Otherwise, the whole country will become one big Ćaciland, in which the mafia rules and values of Ratko Mladić will rule.
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