THE CULT OF MILOSEVIC
The personality cult surrounding Yugoslav President Milosevic has reached a
new crescendo over recent weeks following calls to deem him 'national hero'.
By Vlado Mares in Belgrade
Local authorities and Serbian state media have been busier than ever during
recent weeks in promoting the personality cult of the country's president,
Slobodan Milosevic.
In a typical evening broadcast, RTS, the main state news, leads with
breathless coverage of yet another local authority adopting by acclimation
another declaration proclaiming the heroism and wisdom of the great leader.
Telegrams of support are read out, interviews with gushing town councillors
are featured, and clips of Milosevic being presidential are aired.
The campaign started on October 27, when the Yugoslav United Left (JUL),
the party headed by Milosevic's wife, Mirjana Markovic, proposed that
Milosevic - indicted by The Hague as a war criminal - be awarded the
decoration of 'national hero'.
The proposal originated in Varvarin, a very poor town some 150km south-east
of Belgrade. The members of the local JUL declared that the president of
Yugoslavia, Milosevic, is "a symbol of our freedom, our existence and
survival, our faith and hope, our present and future."
The proposal went on: "Milosevic has astutely and heroically issued a
decisive 'no' to the strong-men of the New World Order and firmly, daringly
and heroically placed himself at the helm of his people in the defence of
the nation's sovereignty and the integrity of the country."
Public support for the idea quickly followed. First to add their voices was
the World War Two Veterans' Association from Pozarevac, birthplace of the
Milosevic-Markovic couple.
Describing Milosevic as "the most eminent statesman", the Veterans
Association went on to commend the president for his "fight against the
violations of all norms of world civilisation committed by the US, NATO and
world terrorism."
Sinisa Vucinic, leader of the Radical Party "Nikola Pasic", has also added
his support to the proposal. He believes that Milosevic has turned
Yugoslavia into the "only bastion of true democracy in Europe".
Vucinic's party, which some critics claim consists of himself and his
typewriter, has joined the Yugoslav Left.
Support for the elevation of the Milosevic couple does not, however, end
there. On November 8 in Lebane, 300 kilometres south-east of Belgrade, the
local authorities, which are controlled by JUL, declared Milosevic's wife
an honorary citizen.
A ceremonial session at the local parliament described "the works of
Mirjana Markovic" as "an endless source of inspiration."
Radio-Television Serbia has been broadcasting these declarations as
"headline news" illustrating the people's devotion to their leader and his
wife.
Meanwhile Milosevic has been reciprocating this admiration, handing out
handfuls of awards and honours to loyal citizens. On November 6 he awarded
150 medals to mark the end of the first phase of reconstruction following
the NATO bombing campaign. Most of those decorated were construction
workers, welders and a few engineers. Milosevic also announced plans to
nominate one day in November as a national holiday - Builders' Day.
Of course, the propaganda campaign to glorify Slobodan Milosevic and his
work is not new. But the nature of the campaign and its methods has
changed. The incorporation of Mirjana Markovic is new. And the media's
focus on the elevated and presidential style of Milosevic has steadily
increased. Now it has gone into overdrive.
During the first three years of the Milosevic presidency the personality
cult was constructed in a thoughtful and planned manner. Milosevic was
presented as an important and wise politician, a man of modest, if not
ascetic taste. Journalists and reporters were forbidden from using images
that would damage this impression.
For example, Milosevic was never to be seen with a drink in his hand. At
this time Milosevic would use only one, ordinary car and be escorted by one
police vehicle, during his frequent trips around Serbia. State broadcasters
would discreetly stress that he lived with his family in an "ordinary"
flat, in an "ordinary" suburb of Belgrade, Vracar.
His wife, although known as very influential in Socialist Party circles,
almost never appeared in the media.
All this changed in 1990. The emphasis shifted to the glitter surrounding
the president. When Milosevic toured the country he was escorted by dozens
of vehicles, numerous policemen and several TV crews. RTS turned the trips
into special shows and would broadcast them over and over again.
Milosevic moved his family to luxurious house on Tolstoy Street in the
exclusive suburb of Dedinje. The move was justified on security grounds.
But Milosevic bought the property from the state at a discount price and is
now sitting on a very valuable private property.
Following his election to the presidency of Yugoslavia in 1997, Milosevic
acquired the Beli Dvor ('the White House') as another residence. This
palace was the property of the pre-war Karadjordjevic royal dynasty, and
the post-war residence of the president of former Yugoslavia, Josip Broz
Tito.
At virtually the same time, the Milosevic-Markovic family also moved into
Tito's old house in Uzicka Street, Belgrade. This house was part of a
museum complex in Dedinje. This house was destroyed during the NATO bombing.
The personal fortune of Milosevic and Markovic seems to be increasing at a
rate inversely proportional to the declining wealth of Yugoslavia's
citizens. But this hardly figures into the media coverage of the honorary
citizen of Lebane and her husband, Yugoslavia's soon-to-crowned national
hero, Slobodan Milosevic.
Vlado Mares is an IWPR correspondent in Belgrade
IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT
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