Wampum

Principal Off-Rez, call handlers (pt 2)

It is probable that tomorrow Slobidan Milosevic will win a seat in Serbia's Parliment, as will Vojislav Seslj.

To recap: 6.5 million voters, 250 deputes, some 4,000 candidates, distributed across19 party and ad hoc coalitions. Three years ago 18 parties found common purpose in ending the Milosevic autocracy. Beyond that goal -- to the problems of national reconstruction after the NATO War and the UN Sanctions, their center could not hold.

Mr. Milosevic heads the list (trans: top of the ticket) for the Serbian Socialist Party (SPS). Mr. Vojislav Seslj heads the list for the Serbian Radical Party (SRS). Mr. Seslj also holds the distinction for standing in this election from a cell in The Hague.

Photo: AFP.

Mr. Seselj surrendered voluntarily to the ICT in February 2003, where he will also answer to charges of war crimes. Mr. Milosevic was involuntarily transfered to the ICT in June 2001, which had as a side effect the fracture of the 18 party coalition into two principle segments -- the Serbian Democratic Party (DSS) lead by Vojislav Kostunica and the Democratic Party (DS), lead by Zoran Jindjic, who served as Prime Minister until his assassination on March 12th 2003 in Belgrade.

So, why is this happening? Why is the smart money on the Parties of deposed war criminals to at the very least seat their leaders tomorrow? Are Serbians depraved? Are Serbians stupid? Is this the Balkan form of Holocaust Denial?

Three years of internicine bickering, visible corruption, and the vulnerabilities of Parties and candidates who are "reformist" and "pro-western" to critiques of opportunism, self-agrandizement, lack of social solidarity, and corruption after a period of prolonged militarized isolation. Which means that about the time GWB's second term draws to a close, if similar or worse conditions of reconstruction are achieved in Iraq, there may be quite a few Baathists and Integralists who are as popular as, if not more popular than, "reformist" and "pro-western" candidates in the first genuinely free elections -- that is, elections in which the "bad guys" are allowed to run, perhaps even allowed to win -- in Post-Occupation Iraq.

Here in the US the opposition party is divided -- is the weakness of the incumbent party its economic record, or is the weakness of the incumbent party its military record? What really distinguishes this electorate from the Serbian electorate, or the eventual Iraqi electorate?

In Serbia, a platform that has had its military plank removed by NATO (N.B., under the command of Wes Clark), relieving it of a liability, but otherwise unchanged, and adamantly opposed to the current administrations of the EU and the US, looks to be competitive with a platform that had no military plank to exercise, or be exorcised, and presents a profoundly differing economic plan from the prior regime's. The return of the Serbian War Party, pacified.

In Iraq, a platform that has had its military plank recently removed by the US/UK (N.B., under the command of George W. Bush), relieving it of a liability, but otherwise unchanged, and adamantly opposed to the current administrations of the US and the UK, may be competitive with a platform that had no military plank to exercise, or be exorcised, and presents a profoundly differing economic plan from the prior regime's. The (future) return of the Iraqi War Party, pacified.

In the US opposition, a platform that defines itself primarily by the removal of the military plank from the current administration's platform is highly competitive with a platform defines itself primarily as offering a profoundly differing economic plan from the current administration.

Everyone who writes for wampum acts on the premise that the incumbent party can be defeated on its economic record. A premise that may not be tested. After a morning of chasing children about and fixing meals and running appliances and stealing moments to string together disjoint concordances, I think I understand why war criminals are going to elevated from international detention to national chambers of deputies, and some part of why our party is feverish and shivering from political influenza.

Posted by at December 27, 2003 10:10 AM | TrackBack