The people and the government

The great powers have shown their determination to bring all war criminals before the Hague Tribunal, and there is no exception or bargain. And war crimes are misdeeds committed by waging war and all the consequences that accompany it, not election fraud, corruption, robbery, violence against the citizens of the Milosevic regime, as acts that are blamed on the rulers of that regime.

Public, and especially secret, indictments disturb everyone who does not have a clear conscience, and Biljana Plavšić's decision to respond to the summons of the Hague court is her awareness that it is no joke. But her conscience and honesty is much greater that she does not hide and does not cover up for her people, who do not want to expose themselves to new sanctions from the Western powers. She does not object that it is a political court - because all courts are political, that is. They judge according to the laws passed by the government of each country - and the new government in Croatia honestly, and even boldly, despite threats of assassinations by HDZ supporters, acts according to the demands of that court in order to avoid sanctions and the suffering of its people.

It remains for us to see how our new government leaders will act in the end, and how much their words and promises will be in line with the words that made us trust them. How legalistic and true nationalists they are. Thinking about it, I remember an old story told in front of the Federal Assembly in the form of two monuments with a man and a horse. I heard that story more than six decades ago in the Serbian Cultural Club in Belgrade from a member who was a friend of the sculptor Roksandić. When he asked what these monuments in front of the entrance to the Assembly represented, the sculptor explained to him in confidence that it was his explanation and presentation of the relationship between the people and the government, with the man representing the people and the horse the government. The figure of the monument, looking from left to right, of a man and a horse represents the ascension of a horse (government) by a man (people), and on the second monument, with his back to the Assembly building, a man (people) has a horse (government) riding on his back.

This ingenious idea expressed by the sculptor's artwork has been realized today by the election of a new government by the great will of the people, but it remains to be seen whether the idea of ​​a second monument will be realized, and whether the new government will shoulder the responsibility of the Western powers who demand that it respect the international obligation to The Hague Tribunal, on the people, and expose them, for the sake of their well-being, to new sanctions and suffering.