In Yugoslavia, the People Speak

Slobodan Milosevic has more trouble on his bloodied hands. Not NATO bombers, or Kosovo guerrillas. This time it’s the Serbs, his own people. For the sake of Yugoslavia and those few territories that remain under its flag, he should abandon his sordid ambitions and resign.

That won’t happen, at least not immediately, but he has only to read the reports of his police to understand that his brutal control has begun to unravel.

Tuesday, in the city of Cacak, a manufacturing center heavily damaged by NATO bombing, thousands of Serbs filled the central square and chanted “resign, resign, resign.” Demonstrations like this had not been seen since the winter of 1996-97, when opposition party members poured night after night onto the streets of Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital, in a vain attempt to bring down Milosevic and his ruling Socialist Party. Tuesday, in Cacak, opposition party leaders again assailed the president. Police, sensibly, stood by. The focus of protest was the province of Kosovo, which speakers made clear has been lost to Serbia by Milosevic’s bumbling.

The question is whether Milosevic and his military and police forces can control the opposition and dampen the anger that these leaders have fueled. Wednesday, the president reached out to a few opposition parties in an attempt let off some steam.

NATO officials say the Yugoslavs will have to resolve their own political crisis, that the role of the alliance was to stop the fighting and protect the refugees. But, obviously, NATO cannot withdraw its forces yet. The diplomats, the United Nations and the Yugoslavs themselves have just begun to seek a solution.

Delivering Milosevic to the U.N. tribunal at the Hague to answer for his abuses would be an ideal outcome but it’s highly doubtful. The Bosnian Serb leaders indicted as war criminals in that tragic conflict are still, openly, at large.

The best hope for Yugoslavia remains in the hands of the men and women who stood thousands strong in the central square at Cacak Tuesday. They were a mix--politicians, religious leaders, families whose property has been damaged by the state and whose sons were drafted to fight in Kosovo. No single leader has been able to harness their support, but their blood is up and the bullies who surround Milosevic have plenty to fear. As one speaker said at Cacak: “The people shouldn’t be afraid of those in power. The time has come for the regime to be afraid of the people.”