AWAITING ALL-SERB CONVENTION

The hubbub in the media about the announced Convention in Kosovo which was planned to establish "national consensus" concerning Kosovo, but had certain much more ambitious national projects as well, changed wavelength completely since the current authorities and its party showed disapproval of such ideas. Do the initiators of the rally and of the adoption of the announced Memorandum have the strength to continue their game contrary to the decision of the master?

At the time preparations and the Conference on the Serb Convention in Kosovo planned for April 8, was in full swing, the leader of the Movement of Serb Resistance (PSO), Momcilo Trajkovic, to a question of a journalist of the political journal in Albanian "KOHA" what if the authorities banned the gathering, answered that they were organizing "no big gathering... this is a democratic state", underlining that the objective was "... to reach realistic solutions through a Serb-Serb dialogue, which we will then be able to offer to the current authorities to solve them, if they wish to solve them, and if not, we, as the national democratic force, will be in a better position to win more political points in our struggle. I believe that the Serbs would be happier if Milosevic solved the problem of Kosovo. After all the Serbs have no time to overthrow the government and then bring a new one which they would have to bring to its senses again in order to solve this problem. They will either lose or gain", Trajkovic says. In fact, last week the leaders of the Movement of Serb Resistance loudly announced the all-Serb gathering which was planned to be held in the Patriarchate in Pec, and the adopted Memorandum was to be proclaimed in Monastery Gracanica. But, only a week later, the date of the All-Serb Convention was suddenly postponed. Now, not only technical issues are contested, such as the date or the place of the Convention, but even the very nature of the gathering, which from a grand all-national convention with ambitious aspirations, establishment of "Serb national consensus concerning Kosovo", turned into a meeting with somewhat reduced demands, or as a leader of the Movement, Momcilo Trajkovic explains - "We want to organize a Conference, a dialogue on Kosovo of a hundred wise Serbs"!

"BANS" and " TACTICAL MANOEUVERING"

New positions concerning the organization of the Serb Convention - as certain sources close to the organizers of the Convention claim - appeared after the latest Conference in Belgrade held on March 24, when, among other, a problem of a completely different nature occurred. Apart from the fact that the official authorities and the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) did not state a positive stance concerning the gathering, according to some sources, Mirko Marjanovic, the Prime Minister of Serbia was not willing to receive the organizers of the gathering. However, despite such problems, Trajkovic is resolute that the authorities and the party in power cannot stop them in their intention. "... The SPS can give advices about activities only within its own party. After all" - Trajkovic continues

• "... we will not organize a rally, nor shall we overthrow the government. And whether the gathering will be held on the date planned will be known after the conference in Belgrade planned for the end of March. Should we decide to postpone the date, it will not be much later than the planned one" - he explained, adding a remark that it is in fact better for them not to set the precise date, "in order to keep up the tension and for the sake of tactical manoeuvering".

The other interlocutor, also one of the leaders of the Movement, Dusan Ristic, who is considered to be its "spiritual mentor", is even more precise. He says that the gathering will most probably be postponed, and concerning the negative stance of the authorities and ban of the gathering, Ristic says that they "know of no ban until they are publicly said so"! As if this old politician from Kosovo wishes that the authorities publicize or hand such a ban to them, since with such a trump-card in their pocket, apart from attaining a good national image, it is possible to make even better calculations. This means that the game will be played until lights are turned off, and it remains to be seen what will happen then! Organization of such a gathering which is loudly announced in the media for a long time and with great ambitions has in fact brought out to the surface a series of topical problems which concern not only the Serb stance on Kosovo, but the relations among political forces in Serbia.

The intention of the Convention was to promote "all-national consensus concerning Kosovo" and make a new "national program" which, among other, insists that Serbia clearly be defined in the Constitutional as a state of the Serb nation! Trajkovic says that "such a state would extend on both sides of the Drina river", criticizing at the same time the present Serb regime for not having such a program which can be made only by sound national democratic forces! "There are two and a half options in Serbia nowadays, Trajkovic says, "one of them being the current one which is actually not a solution at all, the second being the national democratic option (which means the real one), and the third being the civic option, which is in fact just a semi-option"...

Criticism of the Serb authorities for the lack of a program was uttered by Zoran Djindjic too, who is one of those who accept and assist the organization of the Convention in Kosovo, together with Kostunica, Seselj, and others who belong to the part of the opposition which is critical towards the authorities concerning the issue of the Serbs across the Drina! And since the Convention was planned to be held in Patriarchate of Pec and the Monastery Gracanica, this necessarily implies the role and the relation of the Church to this gathering, which has also changed the very moment approval and support of the Belgrade political leadership was not obtained.

KOSOVO - THE POINT FOR TAKING NEW STANDS

Criticism of the authorities in Serbia concerning Kosovo is in fact just one of the issues in a broader context of criticism the analysts agree about, believing that "Kosovo is a point where Serb political forces clash and are determined by. The previous developments in Kosovo Polje were also organized and assisted by this same regime in Serbia, with the same organizers who are now in the Movement of Serb Resistance, but the people from Kosovo Polje in the form of the PSO now have no strength to repeat something similar" - some analyses say. On the other hand, they say that the authorities in Kosovo just mounted the "horse already saddled" by those who are rebels now, claiming all the glory for themselves.

There is only one thing which is quite clear in the whole issue, and it is the fact that the current authorities and their leader Slobodan Milosevic have risen to power in Kosovo itself, so should anything happen in Kosovo it will certainly reflect directly on the rating of the regime, especially concerning criticism of Kosovo Serbs who are dissatisfied with "these very authorities" which "liberated them from being tyrannized by the Albanians and united them". In other words, if an organization such as the PSO and its initiatives have not the support of these very authorities, they will certainly have to face them! Another analysis which comes from the Albanian circles says that "the regime is involved in this initiative which is aimed not only at homogenization of the Serbs once again concerning Kosovo by drawing their attention away from internal problems, but on the other hand at creating a situation which would make it clear to the international factor that the issue of Kosovo is not only the problem of the Albanians, but of the Serbs in Kosovo as well. This is necessary in order to lower the price in political trading with Kosovo, at the time the Kosovo package is about to be opened", these circles state.

What seems to be especially painful for the people gathered in the PSO is operation of the "parallel system of the Albanias" in Kosovo, the "demographic picture" dominated by the Albanians, and especially the situation in which the Albanian majority, should it participate in the elections, would take over the local authorities which, as one of the leaders of the Movement said was "a matter of life and death". That is the reason why the authorities in Serbia are trying to find a legal remedy by introducing resolute measures which would change the relations and "improve the demographic picture", in order to fight "outvoting" with more success. ... And as concerning the measures of the Serb government towards Kosovo and the Albanians, they are well known even outside its borders for their brutality, and have their origin in the period when autonomy of Kosovo was abolished and they are implemented through everyday repression and various discriminatory laws. Therefore, the question remains - what could members of the PSO do that the current regime in Kosovo still has not done, or what could be done that would be more radical than it is? In other words, what is the Serb interest in Kosovo and what the critics of the Serb regime as it is think it should be? These are the complex issues which remain on the political agenda and which are awaiting serious answers, where the PSO with its role of a trigger may remain just an episode. If such a movement which is so critical towards the authorities, but also ready to offer them "new realistic solutions" if the authorities wish to accept them, as one of its leaders says, would not this be a true opportunity for those who represent "national democratic forces" to try their actual strength in competition with the authorities which are not cooperative! Finally, the image of new and independent "national democratic forces" and the PSO would be much improved by the very obstacle set by the regime which does not wish to take the offered hand. This is a true challenge for the initiators of the all-Serb Convention in Kosovo - to accomplish what they intended to. Provided they will be strong enough, but provided also - that the regime permits them to do it!

YLBER HYSA AIM PRISHTINA