Hope Lies In The Proles: The Good Guys Win In Serbia
"Long live free and democratic Serbia. Long live free, democratic and independent Kosovo."
Marko Attila Hoare: "The appeasers have constantly told us that Western support for Kosovo´s independence was pushing the Serbian public toward the fascists; with Tadic´s election victory, we have decisive proof that this is not the case. . . It is clear to most ordinary people that Serbia´s future lies with the democratic states of the EU, not with Vladimir Putin´s authoritarian Russia. Nikolic offered Serbia the prospect of becoming a North Korea surrounded by hostile neighbours, with Serbia´s young people denied the prospect of work, education and travel in the West. The Serbian electorate has rejected this option."
On a related theme, a proletarian-left review Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctine" concludes:
"This book is well researched; particularly well worth a read are the chapters on Russia and South Africa. However, because the main focus of the book is on the development and implementation of “disaster capitalism” throughout the world, without any critical analysis of left political movements, the reader comes away with the depressing impression that workers and the left are always destined to be victims, and not architects of our own destiny."
Marko Attila Hoare: "The appeasers have constantly told us that Western support for Kosovo´s independence was pushing the Serbian public toward the fascists; with Tadic´s election victory, we have decisive proof that this is not the case. . . It is clear to most ordinary people that Serbia´s future lies with the democratic states of the EU, not with Vladimir Putin´s authoritarian Russia. Nikolic offered Serbia the prospect of becoming a North Korea surrounded by hostile neighbours, with Serbia´s young people denied the prospect of work, education and travel in the West. The Serbian electorate has rejected this option."
On a related theme, a proletarian-left review Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctine" concludes:
"This book is well researched; particularly well worth a read are the chapters on Russia and South Africa. However, because the main focus of the book is on the development and implementation of “disaster capitalism” throughout the world, without any critical analysis of left political movements, the reader comes away with the depressing impression that workers and the left are always destined to be victims, and not architects of our own destiny."
posted by Terry Glavin at 6:41 PM
6 Comments:
Terry: I think the link overestimates Serbian sense and underestimates Serbian sensibilities. But I hope I'm wrong.
Mark
Ottawa
Sense or sensibilites, it works for me.
From the BBC yesterday: Serb head in stark Kosovo warning. Despite the warning...errr...threats, I doubt that Tadic is actually planning on going to war over Kosovo as that would effectively scuttle Serbia's plans to join the EU. It's important to keep in mind that the most important issue in the Serbian elections wasn't Kosovo--it was jobs--and Marko is more or less correct in his analysis. I don't think, however, this was "decisive proof" of anything. Tadic won with 51% of the vote versus Nikolic's 47%.
See also this piece I wrote a couple of months ago.
I retract part of my previous post. Serbia's B92 website has more on this Tadic story. Here's his statement in more detail:
“Serbia will defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty using all diplomatic and legal means, but definitely not war,” he underlined.
“Serbia will defend its territorial integrity with dignity, like a European country,” Tadić said, pointing out that Serbia supported the territorial integrity of all the states in the region created following the conflicts of the 1990s.
“Serbia does not accept Kosovo’s independence, it wants a resumption of negotiations and a compromise solution that will satisfy both sides,” the president explained.
His point about supporting the territorial integrity of "all the states created following the conflicts of the 1990s" is particularly worth noting in light of speculation that independence for Kosovo could mean a referendum on the independence of the Republika Srpska from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Thanks Graeme. Good points.
I used to listen to Yugo rock on B92 (very good, Serbo-Croat has a flat sound like North American English, perfect for rock unlike German, French or Italian--the music sounds silly in those languages).
Mark
Ottawa
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