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Corax (1993-2026)

pre 4 bill Nemanja Rujevic

Good until death

The caricatures of Predrag Koraksić Koraks, even in the age of hyperproduction of media and social networks, remain a verdict on various characters of our days.

Higher education

pre 44 bill B. B.

Milo Lompar: The University of Kosovska Mitrovica remains a key pledge

"The University of Kosovska Mitrovica remains a key pledge that must be negotiated. It is the students' agenda that is extremely important," says Milo Lompar

Economy

pre 1 village B. B.

Freezing European funds can have serious consequences for economic growth

In the conditions of already existing energy shocks and global instability, additional tightening of economic relations with the EU could lead Serbia to a period of slow growth and a new wave of inflation

Armament

pre 2 sata Catherine Scheyer (DW)

Is Star Wars on the horizon and can lasers be used against drones?

The US war with Iran changed the demand for lasers. Although they are being developed in Ukraine to counter Russian drone attacks, the war with Iran marks the first time the US military, its Gulf allies and Israel have had to confront drones in this way.

Cuba

pre 2 sata B. B.

Under American pressure: Cuba in fear of invasion

If the US has used a stick-and-carrot approach with Cuba in recent months — offers of aid or economic coercion — the carrot is no longer on the menu.

Chronicle

pre 3 sata B. B.

VJT launched an investigation into the murder of Aleksandar Nešović

The investigation of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade refers to 10 people suspected of being, in various ways, involved in the murder of Aleksandar Nešović. Among the suspects is Veselin Milić, the former head of the Belgrade police

Serbian Orthodox Church

pre 3 sata B. B.

Metropolitan Justin dismissed from the episcopal throne

27 bishops voted for the replacement of the Metropolitan of Žica at the Holy Bishops' Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church Justin

Secretariat for Culture of Belgrade

pre 16 sati Sonja Ciric

Competition for culture: The most money for folklore and SNS, nothing for publishers and theaters

According to the results of the city competition for co-financing cultural projects, the most money was allocated for folklore projects and the members and supporters of SNS. That's why there was hardly any money left for the SANU exhibition "Sveti Sava" and nothing for publishers and theaters

In memoriam

pre 18 sati S. Ć.

Predrag Koraksić Koraks passed away

Koraks, one of the most consistent critics of political and social situations in the country, one of the cartoonists of "Vremen", died at the age of 93

Eurovision song

pre 19 sati S. Ć.

Eurovision Song Contest: Does the order go in the Finns' hands

The boys from "Lavina", who represent Serbia at the Eurovision Song Contest, perform ninth in the final of the competition, and the Finns, who are considered favorites, are 17, which is their lucky number.

The premiere

pre 20 sati S. Ć.

This is already the fourth opera premiere of the National Theater this season

The repertoire of the National Theater Opera this season has been enriched with four titles, and Drama and Ballet with only one each. Is it just a coincidence?

Labor rights

pre 21 village Una Sabljaković / DW

Work in Serbia between the minimum wage and exploitation: Where does slavery begin?

The minimum wage in Serbia still does not cover basic living expenses, while domestic and foreign workers work in conditions that often include overtime, insecurity and violation of basic rights, it was said at the forum of the "Mašina" portal.

Chronicle

pre 22 sata IN THE

Vučić: The body of the person who disappeared after the shooting in Senjak has not yet been found

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, said that the body of the person who was reported missing after the shooting that took place on May 12 in the restaurant "27" in Senjak has not yet been found.

Interview

pre 23 sata Bojan Bednar

Ballerina Jana Zimonjić: The personal experience of ballet is the key to freedom

An artist has his own personal experience of choreography and role, and that is the key to the freedom that ballet gives me - says Jana Zimonjić, winner of this year's "Terpsichore" award.

Criminalized state

pre 23 sata Andrei Ivanji

Police officer Milić, Boske and Baja: more natural murders in Senjak

What conclusions can be drawn from the meeting between Belgrade police chief Veselin Milić, Saša Vuković Bosket and Aleksandar Nešović Baja, known in the meantime as the "Senjak murder"

Digitization

pre 23 sata S. Ć.

Selaković: Digitization of cultural institutions means fewer queues during the EXPO

Cultural institutions will be connected in a single network of the State Data Center, which, according to the Minister of Culture Nikola Selaković, is very important for the EXPO

Vojislav Seselj with a rusty spoon stuck behind his ear because once at Minimax he wanted to make a "joke" about how the radicals were slaughtering Croats with rusty shoe spoons so that they would die of tetanus. Vojislav Koštunica was a regular customer, and then, for almost fifteen years, Aleksandar Vučić.

Cartoonist in court

Koraks, admittedly, started by drawing "caricatures without an address", first in "Jež", then in "Večernji novosti" and "Borba". In Tito's time, he once said, not even a municipal politician was allowed to be drawn, but the caricature had to be general, Aesopian.

When it became concrete, he did not want to leave "Novosti" himself, but forced them to go to court. They kicked him out in 1993.

But then he worked extensively for the weekly "Vreme", since its foundation in 1990. The stormy nineties will bring him engagements in foreign newspapers.

"During Milosevic's time, everyone was silent. No one raised their voice. There was only one caricature in Time ended up in court," he once told Deutsche Welle. "At Pale, they were trying to adopt an agreed peace plan during the war in Bosnia. I was all gathered, and everyone from Milosevic and Dobrica Cosic through Karadžić and all the way to Šešelj, he drew them jumping on each other like rotten mares in a shepherd's game."

"After several hearings, where they accused us that the cartoon was pornographic, and we argued that it was not, the lawsuit was withdrawn. I thought that Milošević was behind the lawsuit. It was only much later in Skadarlija that one of Dobrica Ćosić's advisers admitted to me over a drink that Dobrica had initiated the lawsuit."

Family records

Predrag Koraksić and his work remained marked by family history. He was born in Čačak in 1933. The father, a royal officer who became a partisan, was killed by the Chetniks in 1941. And that from the second time because he survived the first shooting.

The family took refuge in Zemun, with the mother's family. They were Croats. Korax was given the name Franjo Božić and, by some miracle, neither the Chetniks, nor the Ustasha, nor the Germans discovered them throughout the war.

Whoever survives something like that may not find it difficult to keep his spine straight in the face of various regimes, even when he receives numerous awards for it. When consistency is counted among the top virtues.

The writer Vladimir Pistalo wrote in "Vremen" in 2001 that Corax is a "hero". "All the infamous 'heroes' of our political scene rushed to adapt their faces to Corax's caricatures and ended up looking exactly as he drew them. Even Milosevic donned the prison suit that Corax had been offering him for years."

On the breakup with "Vremen"

He parted company with "Vremen" in 2005. He described that the misunderstanding occurred because he constantly caricatured Vojislav Koštunica. "The editor-in-chief had an objection to that. I asked him if he wanted me to stop drawing the Kostunica cartoons and when he confirmed it, I said 'Here's your hand, hello'. I left Time. "

Dragoljub Žarković is the editor-in-chief for many decades described that the argument took place in the pub. "I believe that Korax's genius is wasted in illustrating daily, sometimes ephemeral events. It is also true that I said that, no matter how much effort someone puts in, 'Molisevic cannot be made from Kostunica', because they are not the same as people, nor is the regime the same."

"He and I had an argument and I apologize to him. I regret my nervous and hasty reaction, when in the heat of the discussion, when I asked him if I wanted him to stop drawing for 'Vreme', I said: 'I will,'" wrote Žarković and concluded: "The doors and pages of 'Vremen' are always open to Koraksić."

Almost like an assassination.

Since then, Koraks' name has been associated primarily with the daily newspaper "Danas", although he also drew elsewhere, in "Peščanik" and "Slobodna Europa". He had about forty exhibitions, received great awards, including the French Legion of Honor.

In the era of Vučić's rule, Koraks' precise line faced the advanced age of social networks, attention economy and excess opinions. In this time of hyperproduction, the question is whether there will ever be a caricaturist in this area whose reach would come close to that of Koraks.

His caricatures did not sink, on the contrary, the nervous reactions of the rulers often gave them more relevance.

"Here, the caricature is treated as an assassination of people in power," Koraks told "Danas" about it.

Actually, it's even worse than that - Corax could see and hear everything, but not how some of the regime's Trabants say because he died, and that should not be given space here.

Because Koraks remained an optimist when it comes to social conditions in Serbia. In general, he thought that adversity is easier to overcome with humor. At the age of 17, he read the book "Be Good Until Death" by the Hungarian writer Zygmund Moritz. He once said about it:

Predrag Koraksić Koraks he drew by hand and complained, already in the old days, that new technologies took up too much of his time because caricature should be adjusted on the computer. Before, it was just draw and it's done.

But, the hand more or less, actually Corax drew with his right eye all his life. His vision on the left had been impaired since the age of four, when he contracted smallpox.

From the time he started working until the end, he worked hard and consistently with that right eye of his.

Stojan Cerovic, one of the founders of "Vremen" and a friend of Koraks, wrote in the preface to one of Koraks's books that his caricatures are verdicts after which there is no appeal.

"And I really think my caricatures are judgments," Corax agreed. "That is how they will be recorded. They will not be remembered by photographs or films but by caricatures. That is their fate."

Who are they? Everyone who meant something on the political scene of Serbia meant more than their objective reach. Slobodan Milosevic, first of all, whom Corax persistently drew without eyes, as if he was Domanović's leader.