"...Where I left off, others will continue, always with the same hope, Which we know is meaningless, but we dedicate our lives to it anyway. My country will remain what it was, the backyard of empires, which heals its humiliations with provincial daydreams..." (Česlav Miloš)
Let's assume that every columnist, when he agrees on a social or political topic with his editor, always starts from a simple question: what will this do for me, again?
Then for a few minutes, hours or days - he flies around the blank paper, trying to find a better answer than: freedom of speech is an important element of every democratic society. A personal attitude, which is being built, is the basis of the fight for any other freedom. A person cannot even want another freedom, without the freedom of his own opinion. If so, then sit down and write.
Let's assume that every dictator, or the one who would like to be one, starts from simple questions: what will freedom do to the majority if they are not used to it? What will freedom do to those who have not learned enough about it? The new Serbian president and mentor of the future prime minister is not much different from his idols, so he is most concerned about the freedom of the media, opinion and expression. He abolished that first. Because what good is this kind of freedom? He gave them a bunch of other freedoms, including the freedom to beat (but only in his house, he emphasized). Of course, everyone has the freedom to endlessly entertain themselves with media that is shaped so that this freedom, of which they know little, does not disturb them.
That essence, the core of democracy: that everyone has the right to say what they think and to represent their opinion - in Serbia it is perceived as a dangerous virus, against which it is best to immediately carry out mass vaccination. Type A vaccine implies bribing everything and everyone, against that freedom. Type B gives the possibility of stopping in front of intimidation, through personal messages or even stronger media content that causes panic. Type C also provides a sedative effect: a topic suddenly appears, for example on a public media service, about which the interlocutors seem to talk freely, thus calming citizens who, for some crazy reason, still need dialogue. This last type of vaccine implies the permission of the low-circulation press that is not in favor of the regime, the use of the Internet and, in general, everything that creates the appearance of freedom.
Dialogue is only good if it is tightly controlled. In Serbia, the dialogue is excellent - because it is completely controlled. In Serbia, dialogue is not a problem - there is no dialogue.
This parody of democracy and pure logic has been in effect for a long time, however. Any criticism is equated with anti-state action, therefore it must be publicly exposed to ridicule.
So it is logical that any attempt at democratic behavior, including freedom of speech, is extinguished immediately, thereby creating some kind of anti-democratic reflex. Usually, after an attack by tabloids and pro-regime media, a general anti-democratic reflex follows, along with the impossibility of defending an individual or a group that exposed itself to "anti-state action".
If that is not enough, then the Leader will come to Dnevnik RTS and personally declare you "Haradin's Serbs". Then strangers threaten you, and your children cry (fortunately, my sons laughed). Well, after that it often follows: surrender.
These are all lessons that we, personally or from our elders, learned a long time ago. Some wonderful writers have written significant words about different types and motives of surrender. Disappointment, resignation, calling, smearing, despair, bribery, acceptance, cooperation, up to the worship of a system that creates and nurtures an anti-democratic reflex.
That's what Orwell said: "It's not enough to obey him - you have to love him!"
The atmosphere in Serbia is oversaturated with fear and only critical individuals who lack spiritual freedom protest. The ones that vaccines don't work on, for now.
However, the problem with these individuals is twofold, because they are not liked by the opposition leaders either. Because why, in the name of the world, should they suffer freedom of thought and representation of personal views, from people who are not used to it or from individuals who are not leaders, at least not bigger than them? Why should the leaders of the opposition put up with anything, in addition to putting up with the Leader or putting up with each other? And so we go round and round. That is just one of the reasons why our opposition is in this state. The long nurturing of the anti-democratic reflex influenced the creation of an acquired reflex in the opposition as well, whose consequences exceeded all forecasts. Opposition leaders endure criticism with the concentration of a chicken, which then, although a little cute, chases everything away.
When a leader appears in Serbia who does not nurture this anti-democratic reflex, they will declare him crazy. Because for too long we have been living in a system that favors media darkness, autocracy, self-censorship, corruption, laziness, irresponsibility, incompetence, arrogance, misogyny, bad taste, fear, stupidity and the worst forms of sycophancy. But still, for the sake of truth, the system also favors self-criticism - just listen to how much the Leader's associates sprinkle themselves with ashes whenever necessary. Our problem is that most opposition leaders expect this form of self-criticism from their followers. Or dreams.
(Bojana Maljević is an actress and producer, "Twitter, scumbag, foreign mercenary" in her free time)
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