I'm a Yugoslav and ashamed of it

For those of your readers who remember my previous letters on the subject of Yugoslavia, the above statement might come as a surprise. I stood by my country all these years as it was subjected to smear campaigns and demonization. Yugoslavia was blamed for all the evils in the Balkans, the whole population was quarantined and subjected to sanctions, and in the end there was bombardment. I tried to speak in a favorable light about my nation at a time when mainstream media were depicting Serbs as a subhuman species, monsters hardly worth the expensive bombs being dropped on them. Inspiration to talk came easy to me because I knew, as did my fellow countrymen, that these were all lies and propaganda.

Now my government is the toast of the West, but I am ashamed.

I am ashamed because my government has arrested the director of the state-owned television station, claiming that he is responsible for the deaths of 16 workers killed during a NATO bombing of the station. He is responsible, my government says, because he knew, or should have known, that NATO would bomb the station. In their view he is to blame for not evacuating all of the employees. The very same day that the authorities made these charges, Mr. Solana, who was secretary-general of NATO at the time the bombings took place, which, in my view, makes him directly responsible for the bombings and unnecessary deaths, paid an official visit to Belgrade and was treated with all the honors becoming a state guest.

I am ashamed because there is no freedom of information in my country any more. My government took control of all media, so now there is no need for me to read more than one newspaper -- they all say the same things. My government is now using its media monopoly for a smear campaign against its political opponents. Any accusation can be printed, no matter how fantastic, and no proof is required. This was something the Serbs could previously see only in the Western media.

I am ashamed because my government is ready to arrest somebody at the whim of a foreign power. My shame intensifies when I am made aware that such an arrest is made to "earn" US$50 million in so-called "aid", and that the facts of the deal are readily available even on CNN.

I am ashamed because my government's Secret Service intimidates refugees from Bosnia, forcing these people to "voluntarily" attend the so-called "court of law" in The Hague.

I am ashamed because my government is making special laws that do not apply to everybody, but rather for specifically named people. Take for example, the law that requires 200 individuals and their families to prove that their property was legally earned and that taxes were paid on this property. What's more, even if these people are able to prove their innocence, my government can still (arbitrarily) decide that they have to pay additional taxes because of their special relations with the previous regime.

In writing this letter, I want to distance myself from my government. I hope for early elections to bring about an alternative, popularly elected government. At least a government different from this current one. This is what we, the Serbs, deserve.

BRANIMIR SALEVIC

Tangerang, Banten