Serbia: Gone without bloodshed

The Milosevic era is over and with it, hopefully, the years of blood, carnage and collapse. President Kostunica and his allies face many obstacles and problems, but more than likely these will, sooner or later, begin to resemble the problems faced by normal countries. As Petar Lukovic, one of Belgrade’s best columnists put it ‘To live without Milosevic is a feeling that spreads slowly, that enters the veins slowly, very slowly.’

The World Today Published 1 November 2000 Updated 28 October 2020 4 minute READ

Tim Judah

Balkans Correspondent, The Economist

In 1956 Milovan Djilas, the Yugoslav communist turned dissident shook the world with the publication of his book, The New Class. It argued that the new communist elites had simply usurped the privileges of the old ruling classes and indeed replaced them.

Today Djilas is rolling in his grave. Slip into Rade’s restaurant, a new, chic Belgrade eatery and observe the clientele; media folk, politicians, playwrights and human rights activists. With the fall of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia’s new ruling class looks very much as if it has every intention of enjoying the fruits of its labours over the last, grim, thirteen years.

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