Ivan Stambolić's sneaker

When I entered journalism in the early eighties, one of the rare official interlocutors with whom I quickly became friends was Milorad Stojović. We often talked about my dilemmas related to the meaning and importance of a profession that, to put it mildly, I did not appreciate.

When he was elected to a position - director of Drama or manager of CNP, it doesn't matter now - Pobjeda published the news about it on the front page, along with his portrait. As always, he took the copy to his mother, showing her the cover with satisfaction.

- This is not good for you son, it is not good - she commented briefly.

- What's wrong, what, it's not a good picture - he asked in amazement.

- It's a good picture, but it's not good to be in the newspaper, son. It's not good when you're spanked, and even less so when you're praised - mother ended the conversation on that topic...

***

I probably wouldn't even remember that dialogue, I'm not even sure that every word is in its place, if Milorad and I hadn't repeated the last sentence for years. Until '87. it didn't turn out that not only should the topic not be in the newspaper, but also the author.

That year, at first glance it seemed unprovoked, the authorities began to clean up the so-called Montenegrin nationalists from Pobjeda's column for culture. In fact, it was a prelude to the immense obedience that Titograd, on a scale drastically wider than the media, would show towards Belgrade two years later.

Packs due to alleged separatism started arriving from the Belgrade party headquarters much earlier, after the first anniversary of the death of Josip Broz... What Ijekavica says in the Constitution, educated people write Ekavian. Where did the perper in the Encyclopedia come from, Montenegro never had its own money...

Every, even the most polite answer was interpreted as - separatism. A dangerous word in those days, a label with fierce consequences...

***

Only a few professional journalists and free intellectuals were involved in the polemics, in which Montenegro was lacking even then. The majority, just like today, "actively waited" for what the government would say. And since the fifties, the conflict between pro-Serbian and pro-Montenegrin leaders has been simmering in it.

Their alternating supremacy in the party and the state was reflected most quickly on the media, publishers and cultural institutions, sometimes discreetly and sometimes publicly. This mismatch of the national course - although according to the census Montenegrins were about 80 percent - led to absurd events.

The editors of "Luča" from the Graphic Institute, for example, were, in the early seventies, and in a very short period of time, winners of the state Thirteenth of July Award and the subject of a party investigation.

***

Something similar happened in Pobjeda '87. years. Journalists who until then were praised for their exceptional contribution to culture were expelled from the column of the same name as Montenegrin nationalists.

Momir M. Marković continued the journalistic part of his career - he was previously dismissed from the post of editor on the day of his father's funeral - writing about the fighters who fell in the NOB, since their national commitment could no longer influence reality.

A little later, Novica Samardžić found temporary salvation in TVCG, but a miracle happened there very quickly after the AB coup. I was interested in women's issues, and then - since no one understood what that meant - someone thought of adding ecology to me.

It was only in September that we realized what was going on behind the hill. Most of the party and state leaders were not only aware of the preparations for the famous Eighth Session in Belgrade, but also completely delighted with its progress and results.

The three of us were just a test collateral victim, a prelude to the great purge that the AB putschists will immediately implement in the whole of Montenegro. Cleaning her from herself too...

***

Unlike most of her colleagues, who until then was proud and after '89. ashamed of friendships or acquaintances with the top of the government, I was freed from those worries.

Veljko Milatović, the only statesman and visionary that Montenegro had, I met, befriended and really loved when he was already a pensioner. About ten years later, during the war, I managed to make him angry with one cruel and unnecessary sentence. He hardly forgave me, but I didn't forgive myself...

At that time, most politicians were also inclined to socialize with journalists. Not for Milatović's motives, but because it was known that at some point they would need each other.

It was difficult to reach Veselin Đuranović, mostly only officially. While he was in power, I only got into that shortlist once - if I don't count random meetings due to mutual friends - thanks to the great inconvenience I caused both him and the state.

We only talked a few times, and only after he left power. Almost every time he would remind me of the scandal I caused when I announced the arrival of the legendary president of Italy, Sandro Pertini, with two sentences and a picture like a stamp.

***

It seems funny now, but the Italian MFA made such a fuss that the host Đuranović had to personally apologize for the diplomatic scandal.

One of the most respected European statesmen, even in his old age, is doing honor to Montenegro, and the state newspapers seem to be making fun of him... It was not the intention but ignorance, but in vain...

The two or three of us in the editing chain were interrogated several times. In the end, Đuranović forgave me, but the editor-in-chief was dismissed very quickly.

Vuko Vukadinović had nothing to forgive me for, and neither did I for him. As a responsible prime minister, he addressed the putschists in a dignified manner while they were insulting him from the street and left power. He earned the respect of even those who could not stand the socialist government. He was the only Montenegrin politician whom even Borislav Pekić, known for his contempt for communists, wanted to meet...

***

In the eighties, I also had the desire to meet some politicians, but from the side. First of all, Ivan Stambolić. The way in which that wise politician read the SAN Memorandum from the beginning, as an "obituary for Yugoslavia", kept hope for both Serbia and the SFRY, true only until the Eighth Session. When, as he later explained, "a flood wave of violence and blood was raised"...

And I will never understand that there are still people who admire that "flood wave". Nor will I regret that Slobodan Milošević was not handed over to local judges, many of whom he personally chose.

Maybe it would be easier for him to confess in front of them what good he wanted for the people of Serbia and Yugoslavia, when he wished the politician who opened the way for him - kidnapping, two bullets in the back of the head and quicklime...

That's why I think, without intending to underestimate any individual or collective victim, that the most terrible symbol of the politics of Slobodan Milosevic and all those who have ever supported him is the sneaker of Ivan Stambolic.

Only she overtook the entire quicklime, while half of the Balkans is still struggling in it, thoroughly eaten away...

PS This text was written instead of a congratulation to colleagues on the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of Vijesti. With the desire to never become part of the believing journalistic majority, but to always remain a doubting, checking and questioning minority. The truth will come sometime, I guarantee from my experience...