"How nothing ever changes in our country" - Elections in Serbia featuring Tomislav Markovic
Photo via Pexel
The following text is based on an article and audio recording by Tomislav Markovic via Zurnal
Serbia's elections have once again been rigged, citizens have once again taken to the streets to defend the election results, and the authorities are once again deploying their thugs, arresting and beating demonstrators demanding a repeat of the elections.
International observers have once again noted too many irregularities in the elections, and the call is once again made for someone like Felipe Gonzales to come to Serbia and end the political crisis.
"Once again" is the key phrase in Serbian political and social life, if there is any life where everything repeats and recurs. The current impression is that we are stuck in a destructive infinity, constantly moving in the same circle, without hope for a breakthrough into something new and different.
Among the protesters against election manipulation, complaints are often heard about how nothing ever changes in our country. "Here we are on the streets again, just like in the '90s, fighting against the same people as 27 years ago," some say. "I spent the '90s protesting, and now my child is on the streets," say others.
Some sincerely wonder: How did we end up with such an inhumane regime? Or: What did we do wrong to be punished with Vučić and his horde of insatiable courtiers? Oh, what did we do wrong? It seems that we are simply unrivaled in the art of pretending to be naive. Mass graves of our sins and guilt are full, but we prefer to turn our heads the other way.
The opposition in Serbian society wants Vučić out of power and never to return. Few think about how Vučić got there in the first place as the autocrat and master of Serbia. Few are interested in how the radical criminal sludge from which the autocrat emerged was created and how Serbian society so easily succumbed to insane nationalist propaganda. Few want to remember the mass euphoria with which Slobodan Milošević was welcomed, almost like a messiah.
Most regime opponents wish for the downfall of the progressives but not to reassess the last thirty years of our history, to confront the monstrous order we created, and the criminal legacy of Milošević's era, whose ideological foundations are still preserved today.
If some Serbian Rip Van Winkle were to wake up after a few decades of sleep, he could calmly continue his life as if nothing had happened. Changes are mostly cosmetic, but the essence remains the same; almost everyone is in power, and the same topics dominate political life.
The government and the opposition compete better to defend Kosovo as an imaginary part of Serbia; regime media still hunt for traitors and fifth columnists; RTS is still an unfree TV Bastille; the idea of Greater Serbia is alive and well, now called the Serbian World; genocide and crimes are still denied and relativized; Ratko Mladić is still a Serbian hero, and the few individuals who speak about Serbian responsibility for wars and massacres are still foreign mercenaries and national traitors.
Admittedly, some things are different. Today's protests lack the intensity and energy of those in the 1996/97 season when Serbia was on its feet for months. It was unthinkable for protests to pause during the New Year and Christmas holidays then. Still, today, it is typical and expected.
Today, there is neither the comprehensive rebellion of the entire society nor the massiveness that characterizes daily street protests. Well, if we had endured several wars in the last five or six years, hit rock bottom of poverty, had salaries of five marks, were constantly under sanctions, in isolation, unable to travel anywhere without a visa, and continuing education abroad was a distant dream – probably the protests would be more massive, energetic, and determined even now.
Some things have changed, but self-centeredness remains unchanged. We have never collectively rebelled against the wars and crimes committed in our name, neither then nor now; our personal interests have always been more important than the harm we caused to others. Such egocentrism may be part of the natural order of things. Still, a decisive step out of that natural order is necessary for radical change.
The phrase "Groundhog Day" has become a familiar metaphor for societies unable to break free from a vicious circle, constantly repeating the same mistakes and treading water. Like any other phrase, it is used with little consideration for its origin or a deeper analysis of its meanings. There is something ironic in the fact that only the title phrase from Harold Ramis's entire film has stuck, used frequently and easily, suggesting a certain fatalism and hopelessness.
"Groundhog Day" is not a story of being trapped in time, condemned to repeat the same mistakes, but of personal transformation and redemption. Phil Connors' transformation begins when he honestly and sincerely confesses to Rita what is happening to him, demonstrating that being trapped in one day is real because he has learned everything about the small town's residents.
From that moment on, reliving Groundhog Day became a gift Connors used to help others and learn many things, like playing the French piano or sculpting ice sculptures. And to become a better, different person, the one Rita falls in love with.
The film ends with an exit from the time loop because Connors, through his transformation, has broken the spells that bound him. But even if that hadn't happened, if he had remained forever on Groundhog Day, it wouldn't have been a tragedy because he became a man who knows what is important in life and appreciates the value of existence.
That point constantly eludes us, hence the fundamentally wrong use of the term "Groundhog Day." The main character used the frozen time to escape the prison he had built himself. Phil Connors from the beginning of the film and Phil Connors from the end are more different than a rabbit and an orchid or a cloud and sand.
Our problem is not that we are trapped in Groundhog Day but that we refuse to understand how we ended up in such a state and do not use the time given to transform ourselves and our society. We have not even reached the first step; we have not looked at ourselves in the mirror and admitted the harm we have done to others. The reasons for our entrapment in an eternal repetition of the same ideological, political, social, and cultural patterns are diverse, but one is still predominant.
We do not believe in repentance and redemption, in transformation and change, in the possibility of a fundamental transformation of personality and society. We first need to renounce these unfounded superstitions to move from a standstill. After that, space will open up for hope that we will eventually reach a future that will not be a copy of a bad past.
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