Went to the 'Marine House' again on Thursday. Every Thursday the US Marines open their doors to guests to use the pool and the Volley Ball court. Its a strange experience for me, because it feels like stepping into an American party; loud electric and hip hip music are played, the women, all of them Serbian and artificial, are under dressed and looking to hook up with beef cake US soldiers. Then there are the Marines themselves: loud, aggressive, stacked, and living in the moment. Some of them are ok, some of them are not.
I had the (dis)pleasure of conversing with Dan, who had asked me to explain my job in small simple words because, as he put it, he only understands words he can spell. He then proceeded to suggest that "everyone in Serbia was really angry, but at least we weren't in Africa, because Africans were even worse than Serbs." Thanks Dan, and have a nice life. We will not be friends, as you are not interested in any of the counter arguments I attempted to offer.
I'm not sure if I have ever met such a blatant racist in my life before. It was a bit shocking to be honest. I thought, as I watched him consuming more and more alcohol, and become more aggressive, of the totalitarian character in the Republic. Old Joe from the Bronx had emailed me recently and told me to tick off the descending order of Plato's characters as I encountered them. Well, I have one down. I wonder how Dan feels today? Maybe he isn't showing it, but inside I bet he is torn to pieces. At least, if Plato was right, then that is how he feels.
~~
There was another protest the other day, this time it was on my street, right in front of the Foreign Ministry. The protesters managed to shut down Kneza Milosa and Nemanjina. We hadn't heard anything at work about this, so I was surprised when I saw my street shut off. At first it made me nervous because I could see a lot of Serbian flags waiving, and I thought it might be the SRS again. Instead it was a group of Serbian veterans from the Kosovo War in 1999 demanding back pay. Apparently these old boys haven't been paid yet! 8 years on, I might be a bit upset myself.
It made me think how refreshing it was to see people take to the street so often. Despite the fact that I disagreed with all of the causes of the various protests thus far, I like seeing people stand up for what they think is right. This is, of course, a dangerous thing and it invites the violence seen at the Karadzic protests. It also opens the door to a manipulation of the public by strong charismatic people (as Freud suggested). Yet, if all sides are reasonable, it places these issues into the public discourse in a way that it cannot just be ignored. I think America needs a little more social action. To often are big topics just glossed over because people don't take to the street, or if they do, then they do so in small groups, and thus they are marginalized and even ridiculed by the media.
~~
Off to Ada tonight to give S a farewell bash. He is a fell intern and heading back to the US on Sunday. Sadly though, my planned trip to Bosnia fell through as I am serious low on funds. But life is cheap here, and people generous, thus I will not starve.
The temperature hit 38C/97F today, and my God was that hot. Even just heading down the street to get lunch was brutal, not to mention the bus ride home after work. Sweat was running down my back the whole way. The weekend should be better, and tonight will be spent by the water, so it should be cooler.
No comments:
Post a Comment