Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Some More Kind Words

One day after reports that a Serbian State Secretary had suggested that Serbia should import Asian women, more interesting and down-right shocking words were uttered today by Serbian Radical Party officials (nothing new there then) at the first parliament session following a one-month break.

Instead of debating the agenda, Serbian Radical Party officials took the stand and attacked Serbian Prime Minister, blocking the parliament from working effectively. Sure, if you think the parliament is a sham, by all means protest about it. However, there's no need to curse and insult people.

Serbian Radical Party official Nataša Jovanović, speaking about Serbian President Boris Tadić said, 'let his seed run dry, may the sun never warm him, let God's punishment come upon him. Boris Tadić is the greatest traitor. The curse will reach everyone one day.' It is elegantly put, but is parliament really the place to be saying such things? She also added that Serbian curses never end and that she thought everyone learned that in school. Of course they did!

Next to step up on the parliamentary floor was the always lovable SRS official Vjerica Radeta (who is no stranger to controversy). She proceeded to praise Radovan Karadžić and Vojislav Šešelj as Serbian heroes before moving on to declare a 'curse' on any Serbian Radical Party member, as well as his seed and his family, who had met with Tadić after the pro-Karadžić meeting on July 29, 2008, at which a Radical Party sympathiser, Ranko Panić, died. Of course, his death is blamed on 'dictator' Boris Tadić, and not the riotous actions of young hooligans and the subsequent police attempts to retain order.

I really am amazed at the words and sentences which are uttered by some Serbian Radical Party members, you just don't say that sort of stuff in parliament! I understand that they are used to talking this way from the situation in the 1990s and obviously they feel very strongly about their cause - but can't they just be a bit more civil and intelligent about it? Someone needs to buy the Radical party an up-to-date calender and show them it's 2008 and not 1998.

The Serbian Radical Party only seem to want to move the country backwards with their support of indicted war criminals and labelling Boris Tadić a traitor. The only traitors here are those whose actions and words are bad for Serbia and its people and their future - and those actions and words mainly come from the Radicals.



2 comments:

Lesha said...

Hi Adam,
sorry if I bother but it's very difficult for me to understand the matter.
I just wanted to ask you how popular these people are in Serbia. How are they perceived by the population? and what's the general feeling about the 1992-1995 war in Ex-Jugoslavia?
I've recently read about some pro-karadzic demonstrations in belgrade, is he really a heroe for so many people?

Adam said...

Hi Lesha,

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you.

Well, the Radicals are still quite popular in Serbia among the general population, but not as much as they used to be considering they were beaten in the recent elections.

Many people do consider Karadzic and Mladic as heroes. They feel that they were protecting Serbs, which I do understand - it was war and a time of propoganda, media darkness etc, so it's no surprise that some felt that way. However, considering what we and they now know, I'm not sure how they can still hold onto some of the views that they have.

The vast majority of people in Serbia, I am sure, are entirely fed up with the whole situation regarding the wars and Karadzic, Mladic etc and they just want to get on with their daily lives and move forward from this country's dark past.

The daily pro-Karadzic protests that have been taking place in Belgrade are attented by around 100 people at most - further evidence that most people couldn't care either way and are more concerned with feeding their families, drinking coffee and going shopping!

Adam