He was born 80 years ago and fell a martyr 15 years ago (August 20, 1941 – March 11, 2006)
By Vladimir Kršljanin
How the XX and XXI centuries will connect, many Serbs and many in the world did not understand. And if they understood, Slobodan would still be with us.
The XX century was the century of socialist revolutions. And the XXI century is a century of synthesis of the just and effective society (socialism) with centuries-old cultural traditions. And the age of synthesis of the best in all cultures, the best in mankind, the true birth of mankind.
This linking of centuries and this universal human synthesis, the colossal results of which we now see in Russia and China, were begun by Slobodan Milošević.
Slobodan Milošević was a great Serb, a great socialist and a great man.
He perfected Yugoslav socialism and freed it from historical blunders. Unfortunately, thus improved, the system became too good for Western aggressors to allow it to survive.
Slobodan made it so that Historical Serbia was resurrected – as a great idea and achievement of Balkan history, as an enlightened democracy, and as a fraternal country and ally of Great Russia. And of course independent, creative and just. By the 5th October coup and by the murder of Slobodan, they tried to destroy it, but they did not succeed. She is here again. But in fact, if she is resurrected, then she is eternal. As well as Slobodan, who fell a martyr for his people and their faith.
He had endless charisma and endless modesty. As a politician, he was the most consistent socialist, and as a person, the most moral Orthodox Christian.
He returned Kosovo and Metohija to the constitutional system of Serbia, began deep economic and democratic reforms, resisted the breakup of Yugoslavia and the separation of parts of the Serbian people from their homeland. He led the people’s struggle for freedom and defense against NATO aggression. Thanks to his wisdom and the will of the people, in the most difficult international circumstances he achieved the Dayton Agreement and Resolution 1244. The largest number of Orthodox churches were renovated and built while he was at the head of Serbia.
Slobodan was also our catechon. Serbia temporarily lost its independence when he was overthrown in a putsch organized by outside powers. Even against this putsch, he did not use force, because he was confident in the democratic strength and the future of his people. Federal Yugoslavia was abolished only when he was sent to The Hague, and Montenegro was torn away from Serbia only when he was killed.
Putin’s Russia signed a free trade agreement with the Milošević government. She provided a peaceful transit of power after the putsch. She gave guarantees for Slobodan’s medical treatment in Moscow (with special efforts by former Prime Minister Primakov), which were rejected by the Hague Tribunal. She even agreed to the funeral of Slobodan in Moscow, with state honors. Publicly and officially, she rejected in the UN Security Council the tribunal’s report on Slobodan’s death. Slobodan’s wife and son received political asylum in Russia, and the son subsequently received Russian citizenship.
The fate of Slobodan united the freedom-loving and progressive world. With the demand for his release, patriots of the Serbian diaspora and Western European communists marched along the streets of The Hague, from the center to the Nazi prison in Scheveningen, carrying crosses to commemorate those who until then had become victims of the tribunal, and all this to the loud sounds of Tchaikovsky’s Marche Slave , written back in 1876 to the glory of the Serbian struggle. The International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milošević, as well as during the trial of Dimitrov for the Reichstag fire, gathered the most distinguished intellectuals, artists and activists of the world.
Slobodan has made senseless the most costly and worst mistake in the history of the UN, the NATO pact’s lackey body – the Hague Tribunal. This illegal and criminal quasi-court therefore killed him, despite the campaign for his medical treatment, which was waged throughout the world, but was not heard enough. One of the first international events reported by the newly created Russia Today was – the funeral of Slobodan Milošević. There remains a moral duty of Serbia and the world – to review the work of the tribunal and prosecute those responsible for the murder of Slobodan Milošević.
A million people came to Slobodan funeral. Gennady Zyuganov, Sergei Baburin, Konstantin Zatulin, General Leonid Ivashov, Ramsey Clark, Peter Handke, Mihailo Marković, Milorad Vučelić, Aleksandar Vučić (read Vojislav Šešelj’s letter), Branko Rakić spoke in Belgrade and Požarevac… Ivana Žigon recited the „Stubborn Poem“ of the poet Dobrica Erić.
Orthodox Russians and Serbs fought shoulder to shoulder in the twentieth century for the victory over fascism and for a humane world. They fought, and at the cost of huge sacrifices, they won, giving the world a new and lasting system of international relations and international law. This system should be preserved because the world is entering a period of great synthesis. Slobodan Milošević forever dismantled the Cold War effort to divide Serbs and Russians. Thus, with his faith and sacrifice, he resurrected Historical Serbia and created a new chance for Europe, Eurasia, and the world. In this way, he poured the greatest human achievements from the XX into the XXI century and created a road of cooperation between states and cultures, for a new, peaceful and just world, which today is successfully led by moral powers, Russia and China, and in which Serbia has its decent place.