Republika - Voice of Civil Self-Liberation



Belgrade, Year XX (2008)	Issue No. 422-423	1st - 29th February 2008

The Scale Tipped

Leonid Sejka (1932-1970), Kadis 11, 1968

Our readers have learned about presidential election results from the other media. They probably expect Republika to give a principled opinion.
Elections provided formal democratic legitimacy for the policy of reforms and openness toward the world and the future, which is symbolized by Boris Tadic, who received some hundred thousand votes more than Tomislav Nikolic, a living image of destructive ideology and politics that did gain strong factual legitimacy in these elections.
Both sides have equally strong foothold and therefore their own reasons to celebrate a victory, though none won definitely. As it is, there was no real victory. The

tip of the scale pointed to one side at this moment; the boat did not flounder, but direction of the navigation from hereon is neither clear nor safe. Such election outcome was probably a result of many years of collaboration ("cohabitation") between parties of the old and the new government that peaked in the "Kosovo Constitution", with which a chance was missed (though not forever) to set foundations for a constitutional democracy in Serbia.
What happens now is uncertain and depends mostly on the factual "balance of forces" in the said "cohabitation". It is also uncertain what happens outside of that.
Let us hope there will be time for sober analyses and dialogue.

N. P.


A Winner Facing Temptations Unless Tadic does something to modernize his policy and make it more principled, Serbia will relapse into old problems and fears... Dragos Ivanovic




A Big Political Grocery Store Almost equally as the Kosovo status issue, the sale of Naftna industrija Srbije oil company to the Russians captivated attention of Serbian public for weeks. The official Belgrade definitely made its mind: the NIS will be sold, without a tender procedure, to Russians... Zlatoje Martinov Encouraging New Primitivism Director Emir Kusturica held the first Kustendorf international student film and music festival at Mokra Gora Mt., in the Wooden Town on Mecavnik hill, from January 14 through 21, 2008. The Ministry of Culture cashed out four million dinars from the state budget for the festival... Lidija Jovetic Russian-Serbian Spring of the Middle Ages In 2002, when Moscow's Citizens Club informed Russian and international public about what was going on in museum halls - in the museum carrying the name of Andrey Sakharov - to many it looked like an incident, but serious Russian press did not see it that way and the public was in uproar - for different reasons... Mirko Djordjevic



Wrenching from Despair Only when the state assumes part of the responsibility for its property, and stops placing blame on other owners and workers, the otherwise painful and risky process of transition may lose some of its danger and no longer be a fountain of despair, from which people are trying to break away dramatically ... Nebojsa Popov



On Pagan Legacy in Serbia at the Beginning of the New Millennium Bojan Jovanovic's book, the occasion for this text, is an opportunity to consider several issues which the author opens in the framework of anthropological/ethnologic and psychological analyses of the so-called national character (of Serbs), or their inherited temper, which may partly account even for some contemporary events in Serbia... Zagorka Golubovic



World Nobles in the "Battle for Kosovo" Serbian political elite, including both its ruling and the opposition part, is "defending Kosovo and Metohija" with all its might. Every self-respecting member of the elite is vowing they will not give Kosovo and Metohija away, swearing they will refuse to recognize potential independence of Kosovo, as if the independence depended on their recognition only... Bozidar Jaksic