Resistance to hatred and lies – The Window

Immediately after the constitutional coup called "The Yogurt Revolution" in October 1988, Milosevic's regime began brutal repression against disobedient officials in the province of Vojvodina. An unprecedented purge followed, removing from power everyone who was loyal to the previous government in Vojvodina, those who failed to immediately switch sides, as well as those who intended to perform their job professionally. Among them were numerous editors and journalists, mostly from the Radio-Television Novi Sad and the newspaper Dnevnik. We are still feeling the consequences of this "revolution", while journalism in Vojvodina has never recovered from the hit it received from Belgrade. Similarly, the Belgrade media have not completely recovered from the moral and professional disaster that occurred at the end of eighties and during the nineties of the last century. At the same time, the media in Novi Sad, "refreshed" with new personnel, became not only the outposts of extremist circles from Belgrade, but often made effort to become "bigger Catholics than the Pope". They played a very disgraceful role during the preparation and realization of the wars in the territory of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

In the beginning of the nineties, the dismissed editors and journalists – supported by few courageous colleagues who remained in the "non-political" sections of the defeated media outlets – founded the Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina as a response to the repression of the freedom of the media. In the following year – i.e. two decades ago – they launched a unique project in the region, entitled "The Window" ("Prozor"). During 2 September – 2 October 1991, an alternative TV News was "broadcast" from the window of the Association, located at the address 4 Zmaj Jovina Street, in one of the central streets in Novi Sad. The goal of the project – which was realized using improvised tools – was not only to breach the media blockade and to inform citizens who used to gather in increasing numbers near the Association's window, but to protest against the repressive measures aimed against the media and the campaign of lies led by Milosevic's warmongering system. There was another goal: to make the journalists and their guests, together with the attending citizens, aware of the fact that they are not alone nor insane, and that the only thing that was insane was their environment at the time, which was characterized by lies, hatred, stupidity and forgeries.

Among the speakers who made their voices heard from "The Window" in Novi Sad, or who were interviewed there, were many renowned intellectuals, artists, politicians and journalists from all parts of Serbia, including almost all of the opposition politicians at the time: Zoran Djindjic, Vesna Pesic, Dragoljub Micunovic, Desimir Tosic, Predrag Markovic, Zarko Korac, Nenad Canak, Dragoslav Petrovic and many others, as well as renowned writers as Aleksandar Tisma, David Albahari, Laslo Vegel, Judita Salgo, Vojin Dimitrijevic, Tibor Varadi, Dejan Janca...

Aiming to remind the public of this event – which was crucial not only for the journalistic profession in Novi Sad and Vojvodina, but also for the society as a whole – the Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina (NDNV) organized a "rerun" of "The Window" last Friday, 2 September. However, the new event was organized on the balcony at the address of 3 Zmaj Jovina Street because, in the meantime, the business premises which housed the NDNV for 17 years became the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Around 200 citizens had a chance to remind themselves of some unhappy times, and to hear the authors, editors and journalists of "The Window", as well as some of their old guests. Among those who spoke from the balcony was the former journalist and editor of "The Window", Mile Isakov, followed by Marina Fratucan, Jan Briza, Robert Coban, Branko Lucic, as well as their previous guests: lawyers Tibor Varadi and Vojin Dimitrijevic, politician Dragoslav Petrovic, psychologist Miklos Biro and others. These individuals were among those who 20 years ago had courage to resist the media blackout and to clearly oppose the coming wars, anticipating the years of disaster and horror that would follow, during which many of the citizens of Novi Sad who attended the protests disappeared or fled the country.

Each one of the speakers from "The Window" could be a subject of a story about our society in the last 20 years, a story about principles, persistence and courage, as well as wandering, truth-seeking, compromises... Such stories would sometimes involve changing of sides and return to the right side... The story about "The Window" is unique and it has repeated itself many times during the years. It proves that "new blood" is still needed and that we are still far from professional and responsible journalism we used to dream about. It tells us that the campaign of hatred towards anything that is different has not completely disappeared from our media.

However, during all these years, this story has been told to small groups of people, not much larger than the crowd which used to gather in 1991 under "The Window" to hear something that was not propaganda and lies.

Nedim Sejdinovic

About the authors

MC Newsletter,
September 9, 2011