Otpor
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Otpor! (Cyrillic: ОТПОР!, in English: Resistance!) was a pro-democracy youth movement in Serbia which has been widely credited for leading the eventually successful struggle to overthrow Slobodan Milošević in 2000.
It was formed on October 10, 1998 in response to repressive university and media laws introduced earlier that year. In the beginning, Otpor's activities were limited to University of Belgrade.
In the aftermath of NATO airstrikes against Yugoslavia and the Kosovo War, Otpor started a political campaign against the Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević. This resulted in nationwide police repression against Otpor activists, during which almost 2000 of them were arrested and some of them beaten. During the presidential campaign in September 2000, Otpor launched its "Gotov je" (He's finished) campaign that galvanized Serbian discontent with Milošević and eventually resulted in his defeat. Some students who led Otpor (whose name means "Resistance" in the Serbian language) used Serb translations of Gene Sharp's writings on nonviolent action as a theoretical basis for their campaign.
Otpor became one of the defining symbols of anti-Milosevic struggle and his subsequent overthrow. The easily recognizable clenched fist logo had an empowering visual effect, but it was their youthful exuberance and brave stand in face of persecution that won the most hearts and minds. By aiming their activities at the pool of youth abstinents and other disillusioned voters, Otpor contributed to one of the biggest turnouts ever for the September 24, 2000 federal presidential elections.
Getting the traditional, old-school electorate to abandon Milosevic was another one of the areas where the smear-proof Otpor played a key role. It was one thing for Milosevic's propaganda machine to drag opposition leaders through the mud by calling them spies and traitors, but quite another when they tried the same with young Otpor activists. The tactic backfired, and all the brutal beatings and imprisonments during the summer of 2000 only further cemented the decision to vote against the regime in many voters' minds.
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[edit] Post-Milošević
In the immediate months following October 5, Otpor members were the darlings of Serbia and international community. The clenched fist logo became the instant seal of approval, popping up just about anywhere imaginable. From people in the public eye (politicians, music performers, actors...) seeking positive attention by wearing Otpor t-shirts over to Partizan basketball club painting Otpor logo in the center circle for their FIBA Suproleague game - the clenched fist was omnipresent. This wide spread popularity inspired some truly bizarre episodes of opportunism as variety of individuals tied to Milosevic's regime sought to now ingratiate themselves with new DOS authorities by praising Otpor and its activities.
Even MTV took notice, handing them a Free Your Mind award at the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards in Stockholm.
In the midst of all the praise, the movement promised to keep on and monitor corruption. Several new anti-corruption campaigns were started ('Samo vas gledamo', 'Bez anestezije', etc.) but it was clear Otpor experienced problems staying relevant on the transformed political scene of Serbia.
It further didn't help when few prominent activists all but abandoned the movement in pursuit of political and diplomatic careers, substituting black washed-out shirts with designer suits. For example, Srdja Popovic, a man who jokingly referred to himself as Otpor's 'political commissar' was named as DOS MP after December 2000 parliamentary elections, as well as environmental advisor in the Serbian government led by Zoran Djindjic - posts seen by many to be Popovic's revolutionary reward.
Additionally, information started to appear during this time about substantial outside help, both in funds and logistics, that Otpor received leading up to the revolution. A group of junior activists made one trip to Budapest in neighbouring Hungary in June 2000 to attend a lecture by retired US Army Col. Robert Helvey, a colleague of Sharp, who was later portrayed as the creator of Otpor, although the movement had already reached its peak when the lecture took place. Otpor was also recipient of substantial funds from U.S. government affiliated organizations like National Endowment for Democracy (NED), International Republican Institute (IRI), and US Agency for International Development (USAID).
In a November 2000 piece for New York Times Magazine, American journalist Roger Cohen talked to various officials from the above organizations about the extent of American assistance received by Otpor. Paul B. McCarthy from the Washington-based NED said Otpor received the majority of US$3 million spent by NED in Serbia from September 1998 until October 2000. At the same time, McCarthy himself held a series of meetings with Otpor's leaders in Podgorica, as well as Szeged and Budapest.[1]
How much out of the US$25 million, appropriated in the year 2000 by USAID for the purposes of bringing down Milosevic, went to Otpor isn't clear. Donald L. Pressley, the assistant administrator at USAID says several hundred thousand dollars were given to Otpor directly for "demonstration-support material, like T-shirts and stickers".[2] Otpor leaders intimated they also received a lot of covert aid -- a subject on which there was no comment in Washington.
Daniel Calingaert, official with IRI, said Otpor received some of the US$1.8 million his institute spent in Serbia throughout 2000. He also said he met Otpor leaders "7 to 10 times" in Montenegro and Hungary, beginning in October 1999.[3]
All this didn't resonate well with Serbian public. It eroded the widely held view of Otpor as spontaneous, grass-roots people's movement. Suddenly, in public mind, the once unblemished youthful organization had all kinds of asterisks.
Still, the biggest reason for Otpor's lack of success in the post-Milosevic years was their failure to formulate a coherent political program. Railing against Milosevic got them wide praise, but when it came time to channel all that popular support into a clear ideological position - a definite disconnect occurred. In short, it was always clear what Otpor was against, but most of the public had trouble understanding what this movement stood for now that Milosevic was gone.
In late 2003, ahead of the parliamentary elections, Otpor finally transformed into a political party, but the writing had been on the wall for quite some time already. The candidate list of "Otpor—Freedom, Solidarity and Justice" led by Čedomir Čupić did poorly, with only 62,116 votes (1.6% of total vote) in the Serbian parliamentary election, 2003, which left it out of the parliament (census required a minimum of 5%).
It finally merged into the Democratic Party of Boris Tadić in September 2004.
[edit] Lasting legacy
In addition to greatly contributing to Slobodan Milošević's overthrow, Otpor will be remembered for emboldening other similar youth movements around Eastern Europe. This led some observers to label them "revolution exporters".
Otpor members were instrumental in inspiring and providing hands-on training to several other civic youth organizations in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, including Kmara in the Republic of Georgia (itself partly responsible for the downfall of Eduard Shevardnadze), Pora in Ukraine (which was part of the Orange Revolution), Zubr in Belarus (opposing the president Alexander Lukashenko), MJAFT! in Albania, Oborona in Russia (opposing the president Vladimir Putin), KelKel in Kyrgyzstan (active in the revolution that brought down the president Askar Akayev), Bolga in Uzbekistan (opposing Islom Karimov), Pulse of Freedom in Lebanon, and Gong in Croatia.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Otpor website
- Canvas, heir of Otpor in Belgrade
- Otpor: the youths who booted Milosevic
- Bringing Down a Dictator; A Force More Powerful: Otpor and other non-violent resistance experiences
- Who Really Brought Down Milosevic? by Roger Cohen, New York Times Magazine, November 26, 2000
- From Dictatorship to Democracy, by Gene Sharp (Serbian, English)
- Interview with Ivan Marovic Feral Tribune, February 9, 2006
- Michael Barker, Regulating revolutions in Eastern Europe: Polyarchy and the National Endowment for Democracy, 1 November 2006.
