Freedom has awakened

He warmed the hearts and hands of those gathered, there were also tears, and the impression of many is that Vladan Šćepanović, a man from Nikšić, the night before last in Podgorica, simply shook the protest "Resist - 97.000".

He introduced himself with the words that he is a revolutionary and an oppositionist, and there was no need to talk about ideology after the several thousand gathered greeted him with "comrades".

Those who know him were not surprised by his speech, because Šćepanović always spoke with his heart, not his head. That is why, as he admits, he has always had problems, but he does not give up the fight.

"I was and remain a communist and revolutionary. I'm not a Yugoslav, but a Yugoslav by nationality. I took an oath as a pioneer to the country that I only recognize, where everyone was good and which I did not want to change. Politics came naturally. As soon as we entered the '90s. year and as soon as I saw what was being done, how politics was conducted and which people were leading politics, I opposed it. And I never got out of it. Politics is our bread, water, air, what your life depends on, your existence. Until this thirty-year agony is resolved, I will be in politics. Politics is a struggle for me. The only thing is that a fierce guild is paid for in that fight, and my family and I paid for it with debt slavery, poverty, reputation that we shook because of that situation. We had a choice - either to 'sell out' or to fight and go through what we went through. We chose the latter", he told "Vijesti", an unsuspecting professor of literature and a kind of hero of the second "Resist" protest.

Unlike almost all previous speakers, Šćepanović harshly criticized the police at the protest for their actions during earlier opposition protests, telling them: "Be ashamed of the baton, when you have no face." He says that he dropped out of college when he was in his second year of studies and instead of a pen took a rifle. He volunteered for military service, which did not surprise anyone knowing his ideals.

"Maybe someone will say that 'fools die for ideals', but if that ideal is freedom - I am ready to be a 'fool'. And I know that thousands of people are ready for it. Che Guevara's image has been tattooed on my shoulder for 20 years. It is the spirit of Che Guevara who is currently walking our streets that is our trump card and we must not let him down because he does not come to us that often".

On Saturday, he told the citizens gathered on the street that on March 8 of this year he had a third daughter whom he named Freedom and that, when his children tell him that "Freedom has awakened", he also believes in the awakening of another freedom - that of the people.

"I believe in the birth of freedom because it would be absurd not to believe in what I have been fighting for for years. I would not like anyone to interpret my speech as pathetic, because pathetic is reserved for cowards. I have nothing to do with it. The fall of this government and the rebellion against it is my dream. I'm living that dream. The last straw happened a long time ago. The only question is how much power the people have to persevere in order to valorize all that struggle and to reach the goal. We must not forget any detail, starting from the nineties, so that people would understand how much evil those in power have inflicted on this beautiful but unfortunate country. The problem is that people protect the smallest benefits with transparent justifications - they are all the same. I'm not interested in that. It's not like that. Each of us can find a thousand reasons not to go out on the street. But this reason for going out is stronger than all those thousand".

Vladan's eldest daughter Nikoleta is eight years old, and Jelena is three years younger.

He says that it pains him that out of five birthdays of Jeleni, he was only at one because he was going abroad to "do physical education".

"No one can bring back those missed birthdays. But I went for them. And I fight for them. That struggle of mine continues. I'm going out to work again very soon. Those are the hardest physical jobs, but I have to. What I earn is not enough to live on or to solve the situation I am in, but I am struggling. And I will return to my family and Montenegro again. And when I'm in Montenegro, I won't go back even one step. They can't buy my family, me and my comrades even for a living, not to buy us for packages, work, money. Our price is freedom”.

Šćepanović said at a rally a few years ago: "Let our peace be their unrest." He says he still sticks to it.

We must fight for the change of government

Šćepanović says that he is a member of the Presidency of the Workers' Party and points out that tomorrow he would stand up against her or anyone else, if she did not work properly as a government.

"If the same party comes to power, or anyone else, and does not prosecute the people it should prosecute, does not implement the changes that everyone expects, I would stand up. I would not be silent on any wrong word or move. At one of the rallies, during the Democratic Front demonstrations, I said that I was not interested in which government would come, but if it does not do its job properly, I would be the first to stand up against it. We have to get to that line of changeable power, so that no one in power feels secure and enthroned and thinks they can rule forever".