
Free, decent and democratic Serbia were the ideas of the October 5th changes. The people also wanted the country to be organized as a normal legal state and to make a decent living from their work. On the twenty-second anniversary of the events of October 5, in which Slobodan Milošević was ousted from power, Serbia is facing similar, or even the same problems as then – fragile democratic institutions, intolerant public speech, irreconcilable political divisions, unresolved national disputes.
Even today, like in 2000, close former allies and associates of Milosevic are in power, and as 22 years ago, it seems impossible to change power in regular elections. The difference is that some of Milosevic’s former opponents are now allies of the current regime, that the opposition is weak and divided and that there is no person “who dare to look us in the eye”.
Although the five October changes are mostly just memories, the participants of those events claim that the ideas of October 5 have not failed, although much of them have not been realized.
Žarko Korać, one of the leaders of DOS and former vice president in the government of Zoran Đinđić, says that October 5, no matter how hard opponents try to belittle it, remains a bright moment in Serbia’s history.
He is a symbol of the awakened hope that Serbia can do differently, and not just with the politics of violence and nationalism. Hope awakened is always an opportunity, never a done deal. It depends on contemporaries how much they will realize that hope. Despite overwhelming resistance, Serbia then began to change democratically. And at high speed,” Korac notes.
He also points out that the murder of Zoran Djindjic was a real and symbolic shot at the beginning of that change.
Milošević’s legacy killed him. None of the later leaders of Serbia was capable, nor did he want to change Serbia at that speed. They adapted to the political legacy that killed Djindjic.
So that today Serbia would be a sad picture of the stalled democratic transition and the renewal of the most disastrous nationalist platitudes of the pre-October authorities”, notes Korać, while Srđan Milivojević, a former member of Otpor, believes that October 5 is the most significant day in the country’s recent history.
He notes that the citizens of Serbia can still learn from that event that it is possible to defeat a dictator if we want to.
“A huge amount of positive creative energy and a great hope and Idea have been spent, because on 5 October justice was not satisfied, because the law on lustration was not implemented, the law on confiscation of property acquired through crime was not passed and the law on the prohibition of criminal organizations was not passed,“ notes Miliojević and adds that people lightly accept the thesis of the defeated political forces that nothing has been done and that after 5. October is worse than before that big day.
They have forgotten, he says, wars, sanctions, hyperinflation, shortages.
“There are those of us who will never abandon these ideas and this system of values and the struggle for the common good. What October 5 teaches us is that every force and injustice comes to an end. Good is always stronger than evil,“ says the former Otporaš.
Rasim Ljajic, leader of the SDPS, was one of the leaders of DOS and the leader of the five October changes, but for ten years he has been part of the government that was defeated on October 5th.
He says for Danas that there is no doubt that October 5 is a positive historical event, because, apart from the democratic change of government, Serbia came out of international isolation.
“5th October ideas such as European integration, social reform and economic development are still alive and were a priority for all governments after 2000. The second question is how much of this has been realized in practice. In any case, despite all the challenges, this date is important for the development of democracy in the country and its overall progress,” Ljajic concluded./Danas/