"Vremen" has repeatedly written about the cult of personality that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has been diligently building for years, with the help of a power that - unprecedented in recent Serbian history - is almost absolute in depth, throughout society, from the level of presidents of house councils and local communities. to the level of the President of the Republic, with the help of the inexhaustible financial possibilities of his own party and with the tireless and continuous media support and promotion of all the largest media in the country.
In this, of course, he has the wholehearted help (which, it seems, is also an obligation) of all those below him in the progressive pyramid of power, so the officials, including the prime minister, compete to see who will praise the "boss" the most, who will show him the greatest , the best and wisest statesman since the existence of the state of Serbia, with the obligatory addition that the life of the most powerful is threatened by some weak, cowardly and treacherous scoundrels, such as the opposition, journalists, actors, writers, directors, judges, but also from a foreign factor that never sleeps... Sometimes it turns out to be bizarrely funny, like Aleksandar Vulin's statement from 2019, when he said that "Aleksandar Vučić would not be alive today if they had managed to slaughter him the babu who ran away, who ran away from the pit and the dagger carrying his father in her stomach", but mostly ministers, MPs and other followers make an effort, so they say that Vučić is "like St. Sava" (Goran Vesić), the greatest visionary (Bojana Radaković), the solution to all problems (Zoran Đorđević), the last and only free leader in Europe (Marko Atlagić)...
And this has been going on for years - there were even official initiatives (Ana Brnabić, Mladen Šarčević and Aleksandar Vulin) to hang Vučić's photos in institutions, all for the sake of "strengthening the cult of national symbols of the state".
However, the recent action of Vuk Jeremic and three other officials of the People's Party, when they came to the Presidency of Serbia on Andrić's venc and invited Vučić, as Jeremic said on TV N28 on June 1, "because the president publicly invited them", but also that he they ask "is he normal when he invites the citizens of Serbia to a fight" - it seems that she has shaken Vučić's status as a demigod. Vučić's decision to actually come down and clash, at least verbally, with the opposition, showed not only why in all these years in power he never went on a TV duel - he would not have been able to withstand it if he did not catch fire and turn into a shaggy-looking Mr. Hyde, who with difficulty hides beneath the surface - but also the painful fact that the president calls people "girls" using it as an insult, and the carefully constructed image of a hooligan who fears no one is shattered in less than a minute. And we will dedicate this text to those two roles, along with some obscure details from the president's biography that were communicated either by him or by members of his family and his closest circle.
BEAT WHO YOU WANT IN YOUR HOUSE
I guess there is no head of state who would come down to fight with the opposition, which Vučić, it seems, only became aware of afterwards, diminishing the significance of this bizarre event. Thus, on June 26, when asked by Barbara Životić from Studio B, known for the phrase "lynching-rape-violence", to explain what happened, Vučić dropped the ball, at the same time using his favorite "what were they doing?" propaganda technique:
"I'm not one of those and you saw that I was in no hurry and I didn't want to explain anything, because I don't think it was important." For me, the problem is something else, for me it's a problem when you say to the Prime Minister of Serbia, 'You stupid, corrupt, scumbag' and when you use the worst possible expressions, not because she is the Prime Minister, but you must not say that to any lady, to any woman you may say. It's not normal to say that, except in a private argument, but in public discourse it doesn't make much sense to anyone else," said Vučić, probably thinking that women are allowed to speak like this, but "within their own four walls".
It reminded of the "famous" statement of Vučić from February 2017, when Oliveri Jovićević said the following in "Upitnik" on RTS (of course, without the host's comments):
"Why didn't you ask me about the shooting range tonight?" So what about these experts who are protesting, throwing people in containers, beating people, what, is that all normal? So beat whoever you want in your house, don't beat here."
Then, in his answer to Barbara, Vučić switched to hooligan boasting: "I will not participate in those stories of 'friend teachers, he told me this, he told me that' in which they participated yesterday." They also shouted and insulted, five of them, and I alone. They didn't threaten me with anything, the fact that they shouted, screamed, it's a political performance, I have nothing else to blame them for. And whining and crying and adding three to the cards or stealing on the marbles to 'trokish', it really doesn't occur to me: 'oh, what a mangup I am, and what are they like', it just doesn't work and doesn't make too much sense ", said the president, among other things, adding that he would do the same again and that he lost "10 precious minutes" because of this event.
But the next day, as the tabloids like to say, "a recording" of this unusual event "surfaced".
You can't see much on the video, but you can hear Vuk Jeremić saying: "Come on, come out, do you want to go out together?", Vucic answering him: "Let's go out, let's go. 'Do you want to come in? Come on, lopuja, wherever you want, you'll stop here."
At that, Vučić's security, apparently the most reasonable in the unpleasant event and the only one who behaved professionally, says to the president: "Mr. President, they are broadcasting everything live outside, don't, it's not a good idea."
That's when Vučić seems to start retreating, Jeremić and the others shout at him "What are you running away from?", and Vučić replies: "He was scared of you, girl, I won't hit you, I want you to lynch me, girl, I want you to lynch me, girl one, you must not, girl, you must lynch me, you must not lynch me." Where are you, secikeso, from Trstenik? Well, thieves are one" - and that's where the video stops.
And then the next day, on Vidovdan, the president spent much more than 10 minutes in an unconvincing mix of spin, justifications, attacks, passive aggression and pity-mongering.
"But I also grew up on the street." I'm not ashamed of it. I came down and something came out, the only word for which I apologize to the people and citizens of Serbia. I went down and I said: Come on, here I am, I'm alone, the five of them surrounded me, lynch me, little girl. I see that the main attack is that I called them girls. And then they got there, and that, be careful, those whose boss beat his wife, officially, beat her to death, in front of the children, and beat her father too, to say that because I said 'girls', and I was wrong and I apologize, I left it from the street, I left it when I was 20 and a half years old, yes, I spent a lot of time on the northern stand, I neither regret nor regret it, on the contrary, and on I am proud of that part of my life. Past time for that, I started studying and was one of the best students. The rest flew out of my mouth when I saw them, those batterers in the attempt, who threaten everyone every day. I was wrong, there is nothing more beautiful in the world than a girl. I have one, the girl is Milica today," said Vučić under his breath, explaining that this is how he defended every house, every man, every household, every family, every woman and every child, that this is how he defended Serbia .
And then he continued with something that would probably shock every citizen:
"You talk to me, who dreams of female children, who held in his hands his stillborn baby who should have been named Neva, to tell me about it, and to give me these lectures about women, you who carry phones when they beat women, you record with your phone, just like you used to record with your phone back then. And I'm guilty because I didn't back down even an iota, because you didn't move me even a millimeter, because I told you to your face, you 500 kilos, that you are a slob and that you are a secikesa from Trstenik because you stole gas from the people in Trstenik, because you did everything worst for your country. I am guilty, I am, I admit it, I was wrong. And then they came to the point that I was guilty because someone raped someone at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts and because a member of the DS government, Zoran Đinđić, raped a woman. I'm guilty of that too. Me, who would jump up to punch and fight any man who raised a hand on a woman, while they were taking pictures on their phones. And that is the difference between me and them.
And in the end they admit that they did all that just to be able to get space on television and nowhere and nothing else. I didn't know about that. I didn't know about their hidden phones or anything else. I went out and refrained from it, to be quite honest. I let them scream, scream, say whatever they want, you can't do that. But I didn't back down even an inch, because I don't let them go to the houses," said Vučić, letting people know that "you don't have a perfect president", that he is "wrong", but that he has more knowledge and education than "all those ", that they will not give Serbia, as well as that "our people see everything and our people, I'm sure, will be able to judge the best".
photo: tanja valič / tanjugTHE MOST FAVORITE PROJECT OF THE PRESIDENT OF SERBIA: Belgrade on the water
MISOGYNY
This is not the first time that Vučić has tripped over the issue of attitudes towards the female gender - whether he communicates his views himself, or when he has to defend people from his environment when they make a mess. And it is quite clear that no one would accidentally use the word "girls" four or five times as an insult - no, for Vučić it was an insult.
Let's remember, in 1997, in an interview-duel with Goran Vesić, Vučić answered the host's question whether he was married as if from a cannon: "I'm not married, thank God", and to the host's statement that neither he nor Vesić were married because "the women next to you two can't come to terms," Vučić replies: "At least we know who the boss is!" (He will marry Ksenija shortly after this interview.)
About ten years later, he will say the following about Ksenia: "I love the woman very much and I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world." I just adore her. As a person, she is very restrained and measured. He never asks me where I'm going or when I'm coming back. And she doesn't go anywhere without her children and husband. She goes out with her friends to a cafe when I think it's a suitable date."
When Milenko Jovanov stated in the 2017 campaign that Vuk Jeremic's wife was the head of a drug cartel, Vučić "ironed" it by saying that "little Milenko was wrong", with the kilometer addition "and what did they tell me about my family".
And otherwise, the pattern by which he justifies both his own and other people's misogynistic outbursts is clear. First, if possible, the part "that's what he did during the DOS", as he defended Milutin Jeličić in 2019, then comes the line "and what did they do?", to end with the fact that he, Vučić, is the biggest victim and target: "Our authorities talked to Milutin Jeličić and it was a complicated issue for us, as for the party. We are a responsible political party, by far the most serious, unlike others who, when they steal money, when they threaten to rape, when they beat women, when they call women fuks and whores, then it is normal, normal, it must not even be talked about on this television, since they are generally protected thanks to the staff they left behind, and that is probably something that goes without saying, but we have to react. I would like to remind the citizens that we reacted in the case of Grock, we reacted as a political party, of course the state authorities did their job. So that man is, just so people here know, I've won the election five times in Bruce, five times myself. And he did not commit the acts attributed to him during the time of SNS, but when he was a DOS member.
(...)
I am the father, in addition to two sons, of one female child. I believed that in that struggle within the party, there were two schools of thought, one was in favor of no longer yielding to the attacks on various televisions that they say are mine and ours, and in fact they are campaigning against us all day long, various fraudsters and liars who asked for money to take away motherhood from some women, today they salted our minds that we were the ones, so they said, they accused me, and Milutin Jeličić is right here, they didn't accuse him at all, but me. And they ran that campaign, he didn't lie about anything, but you pretend to be naive sometimes. And there was another school, which was led by the majority of women from the SNS and which demanded that this man resign until the court proceedings are over, because it makes no sense - we are you, and four ladies told me this from the top of the SNS - and we are the ones who point out their violence every day, who say that we don't want bullying in society, that we don't want violent behavior in society, we are asking you, president, to act."
And how he reacts to proven misogyny - "I love these female journalists who kneel easily" - was seen in the example of Bratislava Gašić. In May 2017, Vučić announced that Gasić would be the new head of the BIA, noting that the former defense minister "lasted a year and a half without a single function", that "he was excluded from the public scene for a year and a half and paid a high price for one incident".
However, it is not known whether the president reacted to the statement of Aleksandar Jovicic from 2018, when the now arrested mayor of the municipality said the following: "And don't forget, Aleksandar Vučić is not a woman you are going to slap and hide behind immunity!" He is a man who will protect that unfortunate woman and our Serbia with the same enthusiasm!"
Admittedly, Vučić reacted when Sinisa Malog's wife threatened to tell everything about her husband's affairs, complaining that the mayor at the time took away her children with the help of judges and lawyers. Then Vučić said that the children should be with their mother and - that's how it was. Spouses Mali came to an agreement, the children went to their mother, and Maria Mali canceled an already recorded interview for television with a national frequency.
Readers will also remember the unfinished and obvious gross "foul" of Vučić, when he was in the company "Jurotaj" and addressed a foreign investor: "You, Toprak, took all the women to work." You took all women to work for you. Well, that's why you're happy, you think you'll... Eeeeeee." He will remember, perhaps, that SNS appointed Safet Pavlović to the head of the municipality of Žagubica, who was arrested in 2002 for brokering prostitution, because two undeclared Moldovan women were found in his bar and a Romanian woman, suspected of prostitution...
photo: Aleksandar DimitrijevićWITH BROTHER ANDREJ,…
HOOLIGAN ATTEMPTING
For some reason, apart from the mentioned misogyny, Vučić has been convincing citizens for decades that he is not ashamed of his fan past, that he fought, that he was arrested, that he "barely stayed alive", that he knows "the whole team from the North"...
It is interesting, though, that there are not many such descriptions in "Velika Serbia", a radical newspaper, before 2000, but Vučić's hooligan ventures began to appear in the public after the October XNUMXth changes.
For example: "I sat in the house (on October 5) and experienced it as a tragedy for the Serbian people." Then I went outside, some drug addicts attacked me, so I had to beat them up. Two of them attacked me, I was with my son. I had to beat both of them. I knocked both of them out. They didn't want to calm down, they attacked again and then I knocked them out one more time. Then they calmed down."
Or: "The other night, when I was at Sljivančanin's house, a policeman hit me, even though we could have beaten them to death." Those cops who got together. I took the hit and I didn't want to fight back at all. We could beat them like kittens! The poor people got scared and started apologizing to me."
Or: "As a boy from the Belgrade asphalt, I was beaten 50 times, several times I barely survived in Zagreb, in Split, here and there."
Or: "I was once detained in Zagreb when I came to the matches between Dinamo and Crvena zvezda. I often fought, I think the leaders of the Bad Blue Boys know that too. Hardly any of the BBB leaders will say I'm a coward."
Or: "I have nothing to be ashamed of." And when I was beaten around the stadium or in the stands, I never reported it to the police. I behaved like a drooling mangupčić who still held to his honor. Even the 'dealers' and 'gravediggers' who know me from that period can say that today."
Vučić said all this between 2003 and 2014. And on June 28 of this year, while he was explaining what was happening when his guests came to the Presidency, the president also announced the following: "I didn't reach the bar, I was a fan, I didn't have the strength and courage to reach the bar, but I watched, I remember, back then, Toda, Matket, Peca, Suca, Šicka, Stanet and Crvko, that's the generation, they're a bit older than me, as you can see, I know everything." adding to the journalists that they saw "with what blissful peace, while screaming, I said myself, 'and there you are, secikeso from Trstenik'."
photo: "happy" / printscreen...MOTHER ANGELINA...
Of course, the infamous "Cirilica" show remained, the evening before the election silence in 2017, when TV Happy finally justified its status as a children's television, given that the prime minister at the time Milomir Marić dragged mom and dad to talk about him. At the time it seemed bizarre, today it is just a drop in the ocean of media spin that has no intention of stopping - only then, and there both father Vučić and son Vučić recalled the hooliganism of son Vučić, with Aleksandar's constant whining that mother Angelina always loved her other son more , Andreja (even Marić asked Aleksandar why he constantly complains to Angelina that she prefers Andreja).
"I was much worse than him (Andrei). He was always calmer and nicer in those times. I created a problem for them, I created a problem for my father, he always had, since the Ustashas killed his father, so he never even met him, because he was in his mother's womb, who was deported to Serbia... He always had some kind of, we often talk about it, he always had some kind of complex towards Croats, and I know that when I go to Bugojno, I can't say, he scared me, but he hesitated and said be careful, be like this... And then I remember, somewhere I had 17 years old, still a minor and someone touched Andrej in the city center and then I got into a fight and then they put handcuffs on us. And now it was a big deal for Bugojna, Izudin the Captain from Karadž came, put handcuffs on our hands and lead us through the city. And now I see that everyone is having a hard time, everyone is uncomfortable, I don't really care, I was a bit silly at that time. And how should I communicate that to them now, how should I tell them, I kind of shrugged it off, so after that I didn't even ask anything anymore, I did what I wanted, I was completely relaxed," said Aleksandar Vučić in "Cirilica".
photo: Presidency of Serbia...AND WITH CONSTANT MEDIA PRESENCE: A. Vučić
Let's remember that it was also the show in which he convinced his own mother how much he weighed when he was born, in which he told that his father was not happy, that he was frowning, but that the midwife encouraged him with the words "it will be that's a soldier's and a half", and then dad Andjelko told how Aleksandar vomited next to the pole one morning when he was driving him to the exam...
Unprovoked, in order to show how dangerous he was, Vučić told in this anthology show how, when he was in London and worked for two and a half pounds in a hardware store, he was chased through the streets by no less than Scotland Yard:
"And then I learned something else - I was taught by the Montenegrins on Bayswater, because we Serbs have a church on Shepard's Bush, and now there were various people there, from the Chetnik emigration, the people of Ravnogore, the people of Ljotice, the people of Nedic, all the possible ones, to this new one in the nineties. And they figured out that when you put aluminum foil on 10 pennies, since those machines in London probably react to the weight, it gives you 50 pennies. And I will never do that, where I do something like that, you work to earn money and I never call them. I took it for the first time, covered it with that aluminum tape, and they abused it so much that I guess they started placing those alarms all over the payphones. And at that moment, as I inserted those first 10 instead of 50 pence, it started ringing, the police are chasing, Scotland Yard, I don't know who, who is chasing everyone, run here, run there, they said, forget about all that, no you can get 40 pence for nothing any way you want.'
And then, before Milorad Dodik and Lazar Ristovski came as guests, Vučić gave himself a piece of advice: "Listen, you can't do anything, just don't be afraid of what the reaction of the commissioner and everyone else will be in this the country. Go, fight, because you fight for the truth, because justice and law are on your side, go and tell them to their face. And I lived to go to some pointless show on RTS, just to tell them to their face what they are, what they are like and who they are."
However, that time seems not to have come yet, and the opposition gets the opportunity to come face to face with the president only when he is ambushed...
The text uses quotes from Slavisa Lekić's book All the best, Vucic and from the website "Istinomer"
