November/December 2005
Serbian Student Revolution, 1998-2000 Edited by Walter Wink and Jo Clare-Hartsig The success of a student revolt in Serbia has gone unnoticed by many, but it will bedazzle the beneficiaries for ages to come. I have presented it in drama form so that it can be enacted for groups of every kind. Narrator: “No one seemed to know how to remove the Serbian despot, Slobodan Milosevic, from power. seventy-eight days of NATO bombing only appeared to strengthen his hand by confirming what he had been saying for years, namely, that there was a worldwide conspiracy against Serbs. Within Serbia the situation had been getting progressively worse for several years. A student movement succeeded in reinstating university leaders whom Milosevic had fired, and in so doing, discovered a power they hadn’t realized they had. They called their movement Otpor, or Resistance. Act 1 Narrator: A group of students seated in a half-circle. One speaks: “Who should we elect as leader?” Student 1: “If we refuse to have leaders, the regime will not know where to strike. If they kill one of us, fifteen will take that one’s place. We can function without a hierarchy and be more powerful.” (Students ponder, then nod in agreement.) Student 2: “Then what shall we do to let the regime know we are here?” Student 3: “I have an idea. Let’s have a birthday celebration for Milosevic in the city of Nis, where we are strongest. We can make a huge birthday card everyone can sign. We can encourage messages like, ‘Thank you for the childhood you have taken from us, for the unforgettable war scenes you have given us. Happy birthday, Mr. President, may you celebrate the next one in prison at The Hague, with the other war criminals.’” All: “Terrific! Great idea!” Student 4: “And let’s not forget the power of graffiti and stickers. How about something like, ‘He’s finished.’” All: “Right on!” (Etcetera) Student 1: “Maybe this will wake the public from its sleep.” Student 3: “Wait a minute. I’ve heard of an American in Budapest named Robert Helvey who trains people in nonviolent direct action using the insights of Gene Sharp. Why don’t we get him to do a workshop for us, and then we can come back and train our people here. One thing is clear: If we don’t maintain a discipline of nonviolence, we will end up with civil war, and that is a prospect too horrible to imagine.” Student 4: “Let’s contact Helvey.” (Exit.) Act 2 (Two students enter on stage right and walk to stage left, speaking as they go.) Student: “That seminar had a terrific impact on me.” Student: “Yeah, that’s the first time we thought about nonviolence in a systematic, scientific way. Let’s get people together and figure out how we can apply this.” (Exit.) Act 3 Narrator: “In a short time, Otpor grew from 2,000 to 70,000. Each member was given a manual based on Gene Sharp’s research; most were given actual training. It helped to dispel fear, for, as another said, “We learned that fear is a powerful but vulnerable weapon because it disappears far faster than you can recreate it.” (Students come in with partially painted posters, stickers, cans of spray paint, Otpor T-shirts, flyers. Everybody sets about painting posters saying, “He’s finished.”) Student A: (turning and addressing the audience) “We were lucky we had a ‘plant’ in the Milosevic regime who tipped us off about the snap presidential election. That two weeks of lead time made it possible to get all this together. We have posters, T-shirts, and sixty tons of election propaganda. Plus, we have 2.5 million ‘He’s finished’ stickers. All this stuff is disseminated throughout the country and ready to be released — today!” Student B: “But all that material will be useless if Milosevic steals the election. How has our training in election monitoring gone?” Student A: “It has been amazing. Students were trained by Helvey in Hungary and came home and trained our own people. We have — get this — 20,000 election monitors! Short of killing us all, there is no way that Milosevic can win.” Student C: “Milosevic doesn’t know what he is up against. He will be acting based on fear, but will underestimate our strength.” Student B: “But we still must anticipate his trying to steal the election. What then?” Student C: “We will be ready. Let’s call on our supporters to converge at various locations throughout the country. The state security forces will be overwhelmed by our numbers. Milosevic will have no option but to concede defeat.” Narrator: (Turning to the audience as the students gather up their gear) “Sure enough, Milosevic tried to steal the election. And we were waiting. The birthday greeting that Otpor sent to Milosevic, ‘May you celebrate the next one in prison in The Hague,’ has literally come to pass. He is in prison there today.” (Students exit stage.) (Adapted to dramatic form from A Force More Powerful, by Peter Ackerman and Jack Duvall, pp. 478-90.)
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