"Adio" to Dubrovnik A tale of two refugees Full Monty Parlor Games Share My Fire Car - the relationship-saving device Going Straight West A year to expirience, a lifetime to understand Meeting Vuk Cultural insensitivity Sex in Serbia Buvljak experience What's news in Yugoslavia? part II What's news in Yugoslavia? Trust issues: Yugoslav Banks Hosting, Serbian style Flat-hunting Staying legally in Yugoslavia Welcome to Belgrade Border crossings The Paper Chase: Single - entry visas

Without trying to put the gloss on this city's good sides, I can honestly say Belgrade offers a lively cultural scene, strains of urban club culture found in Western Europe, some of the most attractive people in the region, unbeatable cuisine, a zest for having fun, not to mention wonderful hospitality towards foreigners. At the same time, the wear and tear is evident, as Serbs in Belgrade often behave like New Yorkers during a summer rush hour. If there is something characteristically "Balkan" in its negative connotations, traversing the town will reveal it in the audible traffic commotion, pushing and shoving and lack of eye contact between people. Yet inside Belgrade homes, there is a level of gentility and hospitality that comes so naturally that the contrast between the inner and outer realms of this town becomes almost surreal.

From the outset, Belgrade appears bland and imposing upon arrival, but to gain an appreciation for the city, aesthetic measurement tools have to be tossed. While not to be compared with the region's other beuts, I came to know and eventually grow fond of the various layers of urbanalia that surround me daily: gypsy brass bands belting out trubaca tunes around the train station, the Kafka-esque labrynths of outdoor passageways, all-night barbeque stands, kiosks placed on the hood of a Yugo... even the massive stretches of uniform apartment blocks on the outskirts offered their own unique contribution to the Belgrade skyline.

Why should any of this change? There are many things I should ideally hope Belgrade can move toward: less greed and corruption, a healthier environment, better public transportation, more equitable health care, more opportunities to develop financially and creatively, a system in which citizens are not subjected to politics from above but one in which they can exert their interests -to reclaim their livelyhood and their European spirit.

A key part of this process is a government open to change, to private and grassroots initiative, to foreign capital, to new ideas and expertise from the wider world. In the current state of affairs, Belgrade's channel to the West is growing, but only because of economic necessity, and much too slowly to catch up soon with its former Communist neighbors.

When I try to imagine Belgrade becoming the next hot destination for Western expats hoping to make a difference in this world, I think only of the visa problems the foreign NGOs encounter and political and economic instability that prevents Western firms from investing here.

Six months ago, the picture looked slighty brighter with a new opposition-led government at the helm. Tentatively, I stayed on as a journalist and an employee of a promising Internet company to see whether the local elections might just be a key catalyst to further political and economic changes. Now it is Oct. 4, the eve of the second round of the presidential elections, and I am packing my bags to leave Belgrade.

The Socialists' choice, Zoran Lilic, speaks only for the interests of maintaining Milosevic's deeply entrenched power base. His opponent (?) Vojislav Seselj, a far-right nationalist and extremist along the lines of France's Le Penn and Russia's Zhirinovksy, is much to smart to be ignored and far too dangerous to win the presidency -lest Serbia's interests be another war with Croatia over Eastern Slavonia.

The opposition, which made people believe last winter that the dark days of the Socialist elite would soon be over, crumbled and demonstrated that a grassroots movement would require much more time to mature into a considerable force against Milosevic's nine-year government.

But who really orchestrated the breakup of the opposition? The "public secret" goes that the two power-hungry leaders of the once unified opposition bloc Zajedno were both tempted by various offers from Slobodan Milosevic, himself. As I've been told, behind-the-scenes bargains have happened before, which has led to most of Belgrade's voters to develop a healthy distrust of the two politicians. Charismatic opposition leader Vuk Draskovic gained in parliament, but what price will he pay for obediance to Milosevic when it comes time to constitute the new parliment his party will share with the Socialists and Radicals?

His former coalition partner Zoran Djindjic was ousted from the mayorial seat, which also meant losing the hotly contested local TV and radio station Studio B. Now Djindjic is attempting to rouse the remnants of the fragmented opposition and the sternly apolitical students into another election boycott and demonstrations, the likes of which we saw last winter. But the stakes are higher now, as the numbers of police troups ready to wield batons can attest.

The mood here this week could be summed up with a giant shrug. My acquaintences and colleagues who shivered in the cold while protesting for three months feel all is futile and all decisions have been made which will dictate the course of events for possibly the next decade. So, life goes on. Young people will continue to find their own venues of escaping the dismal realities of living in Serbia today and the even more dismal prospects of leaving the country, while others will retreat to their families and close circles of friends.

But the case is not closed yet. The new parliament could buckle under squabbles, leading to a split within the Socialist ranks, Montenegro's breakaway presidential candidate Milo Djukanovic could stir things up on the federal level, the world might continue to watch Kosovo grow more violent, yet may not move to do anything about it.

How a voter here can continue to support this regime, the same one which drove this country into an almost inescapable deep hole to begin with, defies logic. Moreover, how can a people that suffered severely due to its government's role in the war in Bosnia and Croatia then lend their votes to cheavenistic Seselj, who promises to work toward a Greater Serbia?

As many Serbs tell me, political attitudes have been reinforced under oppresive circumstances, but beyond education, wealth and basic differences in intelligence, there are some basic cultural factors at work that go beyond my western, rational way of thinking.

Atitudes among the younger generations of voters are changing, especially in Belgrade, but in the countryside, kids who looked like they just stepped out of an MTV music video told me Serbia must reclaim Macedonia, because it is really south Serbia.

In these smaller towns in Serbia: Sombor and Kraljevo a deep thirst for historical revenge and a sizable refugee population means the Radicals can count on for their vote. High unemployment and a lack of independent media assures the Socialists message comes across strong. Finally, Seselj, is now perceived as the strongest "opposition" choice, for those believe Milosevic sold out their bretheren in Bosnia and Croatia.

A trip through the ethnically-cleansed entity of Republika Srpska (USD 30 for "visas" to travel in and out of the so-called borders. Worth it for the stamp alone) was a sad testimony to all that has been sacrificed for a new form of repressive fuedelism.

But never mind. The men accused of waging the most grisly war Europe has seen since WWII still have big fans among Serbs in Bosnia and Serbia. At a restaraunt in Sabbats, just inside the Serbian border, our toothless bus driver proudly pointed to a full scale painting and photograph of indicted war criminal General Mladic that hung side by side. "He's our general," he said.

I am certain that lasting peace in this region is still only within control of Belgrade's regime and associates in Pale (where American Serbs suggested I spend some time to get "educated" before I write any more anti-Serb propoganda).

The predictable outcome is that the region will continue to backslide and the cycles of revenge will continue for some time. So while cities like Sarajevo, Zagreb and Belgrade are to be experienced for the glimpses they provide into the rawer forms of human nature, Belgrade and surroundings probably won't attract much else in the near future than a lot of negative media attention.

But I hope I'm wrong.

by Jennifer C. Brown    

To click here...            Talk back index...

Your previous talk back on the subject above:
live and work in your country - OBRUTU THOMAS OGAGA
you did understand--- - northern star
Coming to Belgrade - Daniel Martel
Jennifer.Neither understanding nor experience can change a bioused mind. - Lawrence Shoup
A very objective picture! - Zoran Dimitrijevic
Interculteral Encounters - Jill Starr
You ain't seen nothin' yet - Krazy Serb
SENIOR CITIZEN - ELLEN DUNCAN
I intend to live and work in Belgrade - James Price Chuck
just plain, thank you - Dejan Stevanovic
place to go out - Dejan Nikolic