Safe in Cyberspace, Serbian Protests Flourish on the Net

One click of the mouse and you can read an open letter of protest to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

A few more touches on the computer keyboard and you can hear the latest news in English from Belgrade’s Radio B-92. Or scan pictures of tens of thousands of demonstrators filling the streets and offering flowers to police. Or join the cause.

This is revolution through cyberspace, the newest tool in the arsenal used by students and politicians who are demanding radical change in the entrenched authoritarian regime that has governed Serbia for nearly a decade.

Paul Revere had his lanterns; rebels the world over and through the centuries had graffiti and posters. So it was probably inevitable that in the ‘90s, technology would lift political struggle to new heights. Their radio stations and newspapers closed or restricted by the regime, opponents of Serbia’s strongman leader have taken to the global computer network known as the Internet.

Students from the University of Belgrade opened a Web site on the Internet a few days after Milosevic annulled opposition victories in Nov. 17 municipal elections and as demonstrators marched through the streets in what has become a daily ritual.

Use of the Net allows the demonstrators to extend their 3-week-old protest beyond the borders of Serbia--and beyond the grasp of government censors.

“The idea was to get around the information blockade,” said Predrag Cvetkovic, 21, a computer major and one of the minds behind the “Protest of ‘96” home page.

In the first few days of the students’ new site, more than 10,000 hits were registered. Every day, the students put out press releases, petitions, photographs and other information that bounce the world over.

And then there’s the e-mail. Hundreds of messages of praise and encouragement have come pouring in on the computer link.

“You have a lot of support from me in your defense of democracy,” wrote Vlade Divac, a native of Yugoslavia who was a star center with the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team and now plays for the Charlotte hornets.

Ordinary Yugoslavs were unable to access computer networks until last year because of U.N. economic sanctions imposed to punish Milosevic for his role in promoting the war in neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina. Cyberspace began to open up late last year as the sanctions were gradually lifted.

Ever since, Radio B-92, the largest of a handful of independent radio stations in Yugoslavia, has had a Web site. Once the protests began, and as the regime intensified its threats against the station, B-92 added to its site a “B-92 Action” page with daily, urgent reports.

Then, in a stunning blow to the opposition movement, Milosevic ordered the radio station closed. But instead of remaining silent, B-92 began putting out audio files that users can download to hear, in English or Serbian, the day’s news.

Under international pressure, Milosevic was forced to relent, and B-92 is broadcasting again. But its computer hookup is more popular than ever.

Drazen Pantic, a math professor at the University of Belgrade and the Internet coordinator at B-92, said his daily e-mail intake has jumped from about 50 messages a day to 500. B-92 has placed the physical location of its Web operations in another country, the Netherlands, out of fear that Serbian authorities might try to shut them down. Similarly, the students have linked to a number of “mirror sites” for protection against possible interference.

Pantic said the goal is simple: to spread information and news as far as possible, as a “tool against repression.”

“This is the first time in the year [since B-92 first went online] that we have really seen the power of the Internet,” Pantic said. “Oh, it was always nice to download things and send e-mail. But this was the first time we saw that we could get our information out and get help. This has shown us that the Net can be a tool--or a weapon.”

The students and other proponents of revolution-by-computer realize they are, in a sense, preaching to the choir. Anyone who can afford a computer or is savvy enough to be online is probably already aware of what is happening in Serbia and is likely to be supportive of the opposition movement.

The key to the success of Milosevic and Balkan strongmen like him has always been to play on people’s ignorance and isolation. In rural areas where Milosevic’s support remains strong, no independent media are available, much less computers.

But in several cities that were once strongholds of Milosevic’s Socialist Party, like Nis in southern Serbia, local telephone numbers now enable computer hackers to sign on to providers and gain access to networks.

Moreover, it is the international solidarity that the students and Radio B-92 are counting on for their survival. The students, especially, are mindful of how easily Milosevic crushed the last major street protest against his regime, in 1991, and they are hoping that the Internet link and the publicity it brings will prevent history from repeating itself.

“When this [the protests] started, we were very big news,” said Mihailo Tasic, 26, a psychology graduate student. “Time will come when we are not big news anymore. But as long as this goes on, we will be on the Net.”

There is a bit of the underground involved too. Pantic and other hackers believe that the government still does not quite understand the Internet, although the ruling party recently opened its own Web site. It still seems to be the one flow of information the regime cannot stifle.

In one of the more mischievous uses of the Net, users can learn the e-mail address of Politika, the mouthpiece newspaper of the regime, and of the Yugoslav United Left, the Marxist political party of Milosevic’s powerful wife, Mirjana Markovic. With a few clicks of the mouse, a user can send an electronic picture of an egg--the symbol of this protest movement--to Politika editors or to Markovic.

Especially among the huge Yugoslav expatriate community, the Web sites appear to have an enormous following.

Dusan Knezevic, a doctor from Belgrade who, like many in his generation, left Yugoslavia, signs on daily in his new home in New York to check the news and participate.

“It means there is a possibility of being involved in the events in Serbia and of supporting the opposition even though I am thousands of miles away,” Knezevic, 31, said by telephone. “I can throw eggs at the regime and, even though I left, on the Internet I can demonstrate. I wish I could be there, but this is the next best thing.”

“Protest of ‘96” Web site address is https://galeb.etf.bg.ac.yu/ ~protest96/