Odds and Ends

Amalgamated thoughts and experiences:

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.

Democracy and the Serb

My body is still adjusting to this new life: 65% humidity, 28-35 degrees C, smog, creative driving solutions, strong coffee and cigarets, Yugos, weak beer and heavy food, bureaucracy, 45 hrs+ work week, Serbian language, diplomacy, and deeply rooted fear of the outsider.

What do I mean by fear of the outsider? While I think that Serbia is moving towards Europe (see below entries), there are plenty here who would disagree. The picture to the left is the name of a hooligan firm in BG, associated with Partizan Football Klub. Their name, Anti-Romi (anti Roma people) suggests their politics is Serbia for Serbs. This part of society is not interested in having anyone from the outside (Roma, Croatians, Bosnians, Muslims, Albanians, and Westeners fall into that category) tell them how to live, which laws to adapt and which of their heros to arrest.

Well, this is nothing new, any country that has been occupied and re-occupied for huge swaths of its existence would feel the same. But for Serbia (and possibly for the rest of the Balkans), the other factor contributing to its split personality is fear of change. This is a fascinating time to be here for that very reason. The country, thanks to the forcefulness of its political system, is currently inching towards EU integration, towards Westernism, towards Ipods, Nescafe and BMWs.  It is moving away from socialism, Kafa Domacha and Yugos. Cost of living in places like BG is already very high for such a low income country, tourists are coming with higher frequency, and Kosovo is slowly slipping away.

What isn't changing is the fact that change is being produced by totalitarian means. What's new right? Well, it's an interesting picture here though. I get the sense that if the country were to hold a popular referendum on whether to join the EU, the vote would be split 50-50, or the 'no' vote would just barely win out. In the the face of this indecision, the government is able to maneuver fairly easily. The voting population is uninformed and confused: 8 years ago NATO was destroying buildings in BG, today they are being labeled as friends. 20 years ago Serbs were once again standing up for their own unique identity, but today they are being told to exchange it for a European one (which comes standard with an ipod...).

The government is also fortunate to have a fairly significant concentration of power at its command (despite my current efforts at decentralization) and a disregard for transparency. As a result, legislation, when necessary, passes quietly and without public scrutiny (not unlike the UK in many regards). The saving grace at the moment is, ironically, the radical opposition in Parliament. Only they have the power to stop the current government from doing what ever it wants. This opposition has been able to shut parliament down for all of the last 4 weeks, and it will remain so until early September.

Anyway, whatever the mechanism, Serbians are recognizing they lack control in there own affairs. They (or at least part of 'they') are directing that fear at the most obvious target (Europe, the West, etc) without realizing they have never really controlled their fate (who has?). The result is polarization and anxiety, taken out on foreigners. The most obvious foreigners are the Roma.

I went to a Roma school the other day and celebrated the last day of class with young Roma kids, who wanted to do what all young kids want to do on the last day of class: sing, dance and have fun. But the Church, which occupies the neighboring lot, is so xenophobic towards this Roma school (god forbid they get an education...) that it is building an extension of the already existing wall, so they never have to look upon these kids. Its amazing, and perfectly illustrates how Serbian society is reacting to change. On the one hand you have the Serbs who work with me to help such marginalized groups find a voice, while other Serbs to to great lengths to pretend these margins don't exist.

Multiculturalism, part II

Almost a year ago, while he was still just the lowly Exchequer, Gordo proposed all immigrants/migrants coming to the UK, seeking citizenship, be "obliged" to undertake community service.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6399457.stm

According to the BBC article, this was meant to assist in the integration of these people in British life. But this really amounts to a sort of slave labour, which conjures up images of a colonial past that ought not be repeated, yet seems likely to be. This idea of earning citizenship through a series of tests and labour means British citizenship has more value than any other citizenship in the world, and thus is an exclusive club of individuals who conform to a certain standard. Of course every country has a system like this, and thus we are all guilty of perpetuating this mentality of national superiority.

If we really believe in equality of nations, cultures, ethnicities, etc., then why care where the individual comes from? Why make it a requirement that this person become someone different in order to join your team? What difference does it make if this individual lives in your community as a Nigerian, a German, a Russian, an Argentine, a Malay, or a Brit? Does the small book confirming your national identity really make you a different person?

The conservative and liberal multiculturalists would argue it does. For the conservative, this is a symbol of your inferiority to the hegemonic culture you are trying to join; for the liberal this is a symbol of how you are different, and though its ok to be different, you are only 'authentic' in your Nigerian/German/Argentine/Malay-ness if you have the papers to prove it.

The Resistance/Critical approach is to view these "common" identities as both artificial and racist. The borders put up and maintained by the conservative/liberal approach amount to a desire for ideological purity, and a belief that even though there are multiple identities out there, they can/should never mingle beyond basic recognition of the other.

The critical response is to break the border down entirely, not only through a rejection of borders, "common" identities, and purist immigration policies, but also by fostering an understanding of these "other" individuals as individuals (from their own perspective). Furthermore, a critical multiculturalist will try to see themselves from the perspective of the "immigrant," thereby deconstructing their own position vis-à-vis this individual.

So, for Gordo to suggest there need to be harsher tests and formal labour for those migrants looking for citizenship is a way of forcing a new identity upon them, stripping them of their native one. Of course, this is all presented in a positive light, as the pathway to all the resources and wealth of the West, which is why the individual has left their original home in the first place. So its not meant as a racist, mean, exploitative policy, yet that is what it becomes. What the Americans call "exceptionalism" suggests that because of the clear superiority of a capitalist, democratic, enlightenment based identity, forcing 'others' to adopt likewise, is actually a good thing for the world.

But really, it is both anti-democratic, and anti-diversity.