THE WHEEL has come full - circle. In 1985 the Serbian Academy of Art and Sciences published its virulently nationalist Memorandum alleging oppression of Serbs in Kosovo by the Albanian majority.
These fictitious claims were used by Slobodan Milosevic to fight then League of Communists of Serbia on a nationalist programme. the latest of his erstwhile allies to In March 1991 Borisav Jovic, then President of the 8 person Presidency of Tugosivia, brow. beat the other members into sendine tanks on to the streets of Belgrade to crush student protests against Milosevic. Today the army retuses to suppress demonstra tions.
Denounced
Late in January 1997 Jovic de. nounced Milosevic's undemocratic methods within the ruling Serbian Socialist Party (SPS) and threatened to form a rival party of the left. series "The Death of Yugoslavia' will remember that Jovic managed to make Milosevic seem a reasonable human being. His •left cro. Workers throughout the former Yugoslavia certainly have nothing to gain from him.
is threat to form a new party is, however, a recognition that Ms losevic's time is running out. In new elections Jovic would quite possibly beat the SPS, thereby hastening Mi. losevic's departure.
Whether or not jovic could find common cause with Zajedno, the motley coalition of liberals and Serb nabonalists leading the current pro tests, is another matter. Zajedno leader Vuk Draskovic in particular welcoming the man who had him se verely beaten and then thrown into jail by troops unleashed on the streets of Beigrade in March 199l.
Recognising he is under pressure. Milosevic is returning to the issue that first gained him power • antiAlbanian chauvinism. Albanians have been blamed by state run television for fomenting the current protests. On January i6 a car bomb seriously injured Radivoje Papovic, Serb chancellor of the university of Pristina in Kosovo. The Serb chauffeur was also Injured.
milosevic and his nenchmen in Kosovo have blamed the bombing ence. The sophisticated nature of the remote controlled bomb sug gests, however, that it may have een planted by Miloseric support.
Up until recently most Kosovo AJ.
banians have followed a policy of peacetul resistance to sero oomination. They have organised their own schools, hospitals, welfare services Independently of the Serb authorities. They do not challenge Serb rule, they simply ignore it.
More militant However, more miltant currents are emerging in Kosovo, determined to put an end to Serb rule. Support socialism racy. The most extensive Marxist analysis of Ireland since the 1940s. Available from Socialist Outlook for just £4.50 Send cheque payable to Socialist Outlook Fund to PO Box1109, London N4 2UU for them is growing and they are exsected to win a majority in the elec tions for Kosovo Albanians planned for May.
The rise in tension gives Milosevic perhaps his last chance of survival, though it also entals enormous risks. Anti--Albanian sentiment remains strong in Serbia - not least among those protesting against Milosevic. However war weariness is also strong. War in Kosovo would almost certainty lead to now economic lanctions against Serbia, exacerbaring already bleak economic probMiseric has had to down play nationalism and increase socialist rhetoric to retain the passive alleglance of Serbia's working class. His already far from successful efforts at ensuring workers are paid regularly would be undermined by a new war.
On the other hand war in Kosovo could possibly helo to isolate 7a edno. The opposition has certainly en imaginative in finding ways to get around milosevics ban on dem onstrations: convoys of cars, all breaking down at the same time: dog owners all taking their pets for a walk in the same place. A religious procession on the Serbian Orthodox PRESIDENT Sali Berisha has launched a crackdown on Albania's left opposition parties as his reponse to the growing protests that have wracked The general secretary of the Socialist Party, the leader of the Social Democrats and a top leader of the Democratic Alliance were all arrested as the government took sweeping powers to use the army to put down demonstrations and attempted to blame "red terror" for fomenting the protests.
As an after-thought, the ruling Democratic Party pushed through legislation banning the pyramid savings schemes whose collapse has triggered the mass protests, with hundreds of thousands facing the loss of Christmas Eve attracted over 500,000 people - the biggest protest Despite determination and imagi nation Zajedno have still not attracted active support from the working class or peasantry. Protests remain dominated by students and Intellectuals.
This lack of working class and peasant support may push Milosevic into a gamble in Kosovo push Voislav Seselj and Arkan off he fence. In last November's elec. tions Sesell's Serbian Radical Party won 18 percent of the votes. Seselj was elected mayor of the Belgrade suburb of Zemun. Significantly his election result was not challenged.
Both have remaned alool from the protests, as Jean Marie Le Pen gratulate Seselj on the role he (erroneously) belleved his fellow extreme right- winger was playing.
Le Pen's visit was all the more right- wing Croat militias in Croatia while Sesell's (and Arkan's) paramil. anes were conducted a reign of ter ror against Croats.
Arkan and Seselj are undoubtedly their hard-currency savings. repressive regimes.
enjoying Milosevic's predicament -not least since Mirjana Markovic (Milosevic's wife) has been using the priveleged position of her tiny United Yugoslav Left (UL) to grab some of the profits from their trading interests. They also harbour grudges against Milosevie for being pushed sut of coalitions with the SPS when miloser decided ne no longer needed their support. A return to anti--Albanian camins cou see seen no on sack in favour, with their para-gaged in the terrorist activities they previously practised in Croatia and Bosnia. It may take the steam out of anti--Milosevic protests. However this would be a last desperate gamble for Milosevic. War in Kosovo may not attract support. Seselj and Arkan are by no means reliable allies. They may Zajedno, who are more consistent has already arranged a bolt-hole in Greece and reportedly transferred large amounts of stolen cash out of Serbia.
Two pyramid scheme organisers have been arrested, and future schemes will lay their organisers onen to 20 years in iail. But the question on the lins of protestors is how such a massive financial scam, embracing an estimated S250 million - one cishth of Albania's 1995 GDP - could have flourished So massive is the crisis, with so many individuals demanding compensation, that to return the lost savings could trigger the total collapse of the
IG WOMEN