World Movement for Democracy in
Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia
Spotlight on NGO Work in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia
Interview with Slobodan Homen, Member of the Executive Board of Otpor (Resistance) People Movement, and a participant in the World Movement for Democracy
Q: Please tell us when and how your organization was established, and what its mission is?
Otpor was established in autumn 1998 by a small group of students with the specific aim to overthrow Milosevic's repressive regime and to provide a new and different image of Serbian society. Further, our mission was to unite opposition parties in Serbia and to mobilize the public to go out and vote against the socialist regime. Our main goals were a peaceful change of regime, and the creation of better, safer, and stable political environment in the country.
Q: Otpor has been quite successful building itself from a group of students protesting the passage of an unfair education law to a nationwide civic movement with 80,000 members; it has reached out to first-time voters and increased voter turn-out; mounted a disobedience campaign when Slobodan Milosevic refused to recognize the victory of the opposition; and it has worked to ensure the new government's accountability and commitment to reform. What were some of the challenges that your organization faced in initiating these activities, and how did you address them?
We have faced many great challenges during our fight against the socialist regime, but without doubt the biggest one was the high level of repression of any potential political enemy of the ruling coalition. A number of our activists were arrested, detained, and beaten up by police officers; our actions were constantly interrupted; we were surrounded by constant threats and all kind of pressures.
We have also had problems with spreading information due to the fact that almost all media were under control of the Socialist Party and its coalition partners. Further, the whole society seemed to be in a state of fear and total apathy. To overcome all these problems, we patiently built a network throughout the country. We had activists everywhere in Serbia. We perceived how Milosevic succeeded to win all battles against his opponents and we knew his tactic. Thus, we decided to create an informal organization and a flexible structure without a single leader who would be head of the movement. We decided to motivate the population to fight against Milosevic by setting an example how to behave and by stating that every single person is crucial for the final victory. Also, we have insisted that a change has to be peaceful, and that we offered an alternative and new vision of Serbia, which was, in our opinion, crucial for citizens to overcome their fear and depression.
Q: How have you been able to maintain such a strong and effective network of offices throughout Serbia?
Once we set our goals we started to build our network because we knew that only if we had offices everywhere would it be possible to achieve our main goal. We had previous experiences from student movements, and we knew how to organize our work. Also, there was a significant number of young people willing to join our movement. We all had the same cause, and that united us.
It is well known that every movement needs an "enemy" in order to mobilize a large group of people. Otpor recognized that and proceeded to bring together people from every part of the social strata - leftists, rightists, monarchists, anarchists, everyone who was interested in changing the ruling regime. After the fall of Milosevic, our main mobilizing tool was an image of different country, the image of Serbia as part of the European Union family.
Q: In what ways does Otpor's work form linkages between youth involvement in political reforms and the development of democracy in the country?
One of the main goals of our organization is to educate and motivate the young population to be active in the political life of the country. A number of activities have been dedicated to this cause. We have organized campaigns for first-time voters and stressed the importance of elections for the future of every single young person; we have also organized campaigns for promotion of participation of the young population in monitoring the work of the most important institutions in society. Several activists have been monitoring the work of the Parliament and parliamentary bodies; further, we have organized trainings for raising awareness among young people in order to persuade them to take responsibility for the future of the country.
Q: Why is it important for organizations like yours to play the role of "watchdog" over the reform process in Serbia?
NGOs throughout the world play the role of "watchdogs" over the main institutions and democratic processes; thus, Serbian NGOs do not come as an exception. Otpor always stressed the necessity to monitor not only institutions but also the path of reforms in our country. We strongly believe that this is needed due to the fact that the country has suffered a lot of destruction and that the political climate is still quite unstable and fragile. Having in mind that fact and our potential for motivating and mobilizing people to engage actively in every day political life, we have felt that it is our obligation not only to monitor main reform processes, but also to suggest possible solutions. In that sense, and with the help of other organizations and experts, we have drafted several of the most important laws that have been forwarded to the parliament.
Thank you very much. Your work in Serbia is highly instructive for activists in other regions and we appreciate you sharing your experience with us.
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