"SKINHEADS" KILLED A ROMANY BOY

Fascization and Violence in Belgrade

It is assessed that there are about 200 well-organized "skinheads" in Belgrade, and another 300 of active "sympathizers" or "weekend skinheads", while in Serbia there are about two thousand of them. Although their "pro-Nazi" para-ideology permeated by adoration of Adolf Hitler (who, by the way, along with the Jews and the Gypsies, neatly exterminated the Serbs) is extremely bizarre in the Serbian environment, their fascination with violence and full freedom of public expression of ethnic, racial and political intolerance, are undoubtedly of domestic origin.

AIM Belgrade, 20 October, 1997

A thirteen-year old boy was on his way to the near-by store to buy a bottle of Coca-Cola. In front of the store, he was intercepted by two young men with their heads shaven, in "spitfire" jackets, army combat trousers and shoes to match this "militarist" look - "Martin's" army boots. They were, therefore, typical "skinheads", a marginal counter-cultural group of extreme rightists, with racistic standpoints, violent towards anybody who happens to be in their way, but especially towards members of other ethnic and religious groups and people with a different colour of their skin. One of the young men demanded money from young Jovanovic, and then, not waiting for the answer, they threw him down on the pavement and frantically beat him and kicked him with their army boots in the head. This was not enough for one of them, so he tore off a part of a drain-pipe and with it literally clubbed the helpless boy who before long died on the pavement.

The described situation resembles a description of a brutal action from a pulp "socially-engaged" or "negaive-utopistic" film, but it is in fact blood-soaked, brutal reality. All this happened on Saturday, 18 October 1997 about 21.35 hours in front of the store in number 33, Beogradska street, downtown the capital of FR Yugoslavia. The victim's name is Dusan Jovanovic, and he has attracted this exceptional "attention" of his murderers for a single reason, because he is a - Romany. The store is next door to the home of the Jovanovics; his father had sent the boy to buy Coca-Cola and twenty minutes later saw him lying on the pavement. Perpetrators of this crime, witnessed by several on-lookers, ran away down Beogradska street. The police arrested five young men who correspond to the description, but at the moment this text is being written there has been no official confirmation that the real perpetrators have been caught, nor has an official investigation been initiated against a known perpetrator.

Belgrade daily press - regardless of political commitment, professional level and genre division ("serious/yellow") - devoted great attention to this tragic incident, but unfortunately, this will not bring little Dusan Jovanovic back to life. Problems of Belgraders - especially those who "visually differ" - with comparatively few, but very aggressive "skinheads" are not news at all, but it seems that so far nobody has taken seriously the threat they represent. A few months ago, sadist street violence of "skinheads" against city public servicemen who wash the streets in the evening or empty garbage containers escalated, but the reaction of the public was limited to the statement of a single non-parliamentary political party and two or three newspaper articles which practically stirred no reaction, because it seems that everybody believed there had been much more important topics than youngsters who discharge their energy surplus and aggression on garbage collectors. That is the reason why "credit" for the death of innocent Dusan Jovanovic is deserved primarily by the inertia of the public and most of all of the frighetening indolence of the authorities who seem to be ready to "act" only when violently - in fact, in the same manner as the "skinheads" - beating up peaceful protestors, women, pensioners, journalists on the job and university professors, but they are nowhere to be found when it is necessary to deal with pro-Nazi thugs.

According to testimonies of their parents, Jovanovics were a poor but a decent Romany family. Parents of this boy were workers of the city municipal services, and his mother, after work, cleaned houses of better-off Belgraders, often taking Dusan along to help her. Dusan was a good pupil, like his sister, and he has never caused any trouble. This is not the first time that Romanies have problems with "skinheads" in Serbia - there have been more or less serious cases in Kraljevo, Belgrade and elsewhere - and one of the relatives of the murdered boy started an initiative that all Belgrade Romanies withdraw their children from school as a sign of protest.

Parents and relatives, but also some other Romanies who have spoken to the media in the past few days, with understandable revolt announce merciless revenge on "skinheads" using the same means as the attackers. If this actually happens, extremely dangerous escalation of violence can be expected, the "credit" for which will again be given to the society which has become completely indifferent to all forms of violence since the beginning of the war. It is a fact that in the past few years in Belgrade, a series of spectacular murders have been committed - including liquidation of the assistant minister of police of Serbia! - without a single one being explained, shows in itself that Serbia is passing through its "years of dangerous living". The grotesque Serb "skinheads", who are still in the elementary school of hitlerism, are just like a cherry on top: we needed them like a hole in the head...

It is assessed that in Belgrade there are about 200 well-organized "skinheads", and about 300 active "sympathizers", or "weekend skinheads", while in Serbia there are about two thousand of them. Analysts of sub-cultural groups and street gangs stress that local "skinheads" are divided into a few factions: there are the ultra-rightists of the Serb Orthodox orientation who do not take narcotics and do not drink alcoholic beverages, there are "national-socialists" who both visually and "ideologically" resemble their "colleagues" from western-European countries the most, and who gather leftovers for their nonsensical ideas from imported (neo)Nazi propagandist garbage, obscure anti-Semitic brochures and similar "literature", then members of "Oi!", faction which acquired its name from a trend in punk music (it should be stressed that "skinheads", although they look similar, here like anywhere else in the world, have nothing to do with "true" punkers whose anarchist and hedonist orientation is miles away from the morbid "ideology of "skinheads") who are mostly recruited from the ranks of the working strata and who condemned racist vandalism, and there is the subgroup of "skinheads" formed by members of the fan club called the "United Force" which gathers at football games of the club called "Rad" (Labour).

The initial reactions of the political public in Belgrade are all, of course, in the tone of bitter condemnation: the Helsinki Committee of Human Rights stresses that "it is high time we offer resistance to further fascization of the society", Yugoslav Left emphasizes that "all organizations which advocate hatred and intolerance among people deserve strictest punishment and prevention of their activities", and the Democratic Party, along with condemnation of this crime and traditional inefficiency of the authorities, does not miss the opportunity to remind that "skinheads" allegedly "publicly declare themselves as supporters of Vojislav Seselj". The Radicals have not yet issued a statement on the occasion, but there is no doubt that they will disassociate themselves from the affair, because the last thing they need is this type of "advertising", regardless of whether the statement of the Democratic Party is true or not.

The case of the brutal and absurd murder of an innocent boy will with no doubt remain a "step-child" - nobody will admit to be the author of the "ideology" of the young murderers. Although their "pro-Nazi" para-ideology, interwoven by adoration for Adolf Hitler (who was, by the way, along with the Jews and Gypsies, neatly exterminating the Serbs) in the Serb environment is extremely bizarre, their fascination with violence and full freedom of public expression of ethnic, racial or political intolerance, is undoubtedly of domestic origin. These green criminals have learnt that from living in this country, and not from neo-nazist brochures.

Teofil Pancic (AIM)