The Virtue of Compromise

Post parliamentary election Serbian kitchen

While we are awaiting new Serbian government, that is, while we are waiting for SPS (Milosevic's Socialist Party) Ivica Dacic to return from Moscow (as stated in media yesterday) with the set of instructions about who SPS should invite in its bed (Seselj's)SRS/DSS(of Kostunica) or (Tadic's)DS/G17 (of Dinkic) Plus/LSV (of Nenad Canak ), I’d like to address the issue of so called “big picture” or “compromise”, as some people call it. That is, some these turbulent days in Serbia argue that DS cohabiting and/or compromising over the past years with DSS/SRS/SPS and potentially now with SPS was and is a matter of necessity and even reform virtue.

I strongly disagree.

Firstly, I am fine with compromise as long as individual freedoms and other libertarian values as well as the basic pillars of security and decent life are not placed at stake. Well, I agree, often in life compromise is wise thing to do, sometimes even necessary, settlement of differences by arbitration or by consent reached by mutual concessions is a logical and conflict resolution tool everybody is using on daily basis. Moreover, compromise is sometimes something intermediate between or blending qualities of two different things. I mean, when the blending is sought for. And this is precisely where my discontent kicks in.

There was enough damage, I would argue, done by so far DS policies of cohabitation and compromise. The clear result of these DS policies was erosion of potential for creating larger liberal and pro reform pole in Serbia. Drowned in personal anger and leadership vanity DS made an effort to localize the only healthy view on the Serbia reality preached by LDP and make it look estranged with its values without actually making a natural step of alignment. In addition, this change of DS stances, happened since Tadic took the party, for the sake of enlarging its support made those changed stances changed for good. So, the explanation how DS is merely verbally patriotizing Kosovo and how DS is only rhetorically being bigger nationalists then the SRS themselves is nothing but an empty talk of those die hard DS supporters.

The truth about what DS became I believe is simple, and all should face it, DS is not anymore the same party what it used to be. Its pro reform leadership potential irreplaceably vanished and the new nationalists dangerous rhetorics became genuine as such immensely dangerous (like when DS pacted with SRS about creation of the stupendous new 2006 Constitution). DS with these rhetorics changed itself so much and attracted so many nationalist and anti reform votes with so little internal democracy exercised that they started becoming ballast and not asset to further reform efforts of society in Serbia.

I know many former always-vote-DS voters who clearly said: We'll never vote for this kind of DS ever again, no matter what. Having SRS in power and losing the Belgrade's wheal of money may be exactly what DS need in order to go back to its pro reform path searching for partners where these are.

Die hard DS supporters should not despair. (Unless they are one of many DS supporters interrupted saucing at one of the budgetary ends.) These are natural processes. Happened all over the CEE/SEE. What happened to DSS after 2000 in terms of growth and change of characters now it happened to DS. Should one add to this a picture of corrupted and technocratized DS freed of a real ideology of transition or reform, than the DS deterioration as the reform agent comes afore stronger than ever. As said, many argue that this is the natural process of the growth of any party but the trick is exactly to balance the two, populism and progressiveness, while shielding from the unrealistic demands of the former and keeping the accent at the later.

By pushing the DS into having so authoritarian leadership (to the point of having the paternal say in the party and bringing the difference between the country and party presidency to the point of not recognition) of essentially populist party Tadic failed to do so and instead created Tadicevism that is good for nothing apart being nutshell for the DS cleptocratic elites.

The peak of a charade of creating a partnership between bestial SPS and Tadicevism was a somewhat desperate finding of a common ground about what SPS calls social justice. While SPS sounds ridiculous for declaratively supporting values they read about in their Soviet handbooks while still wearing the bloody shirts of 1990’s, DS looks equally ridiculous for trying to match SPS while not getting their heads from the bottoms of the Serbian tycoons. Crazy!

While the LDP, to the likings of DS and SRS alike are safely locked at the margin of Serbian political spectrum it is obviously that they are talking the politics far ahead from Serbian public ability to take in, and social capacity to upheld and practice. On the other hand evergreen G17 Plus is appearing again as the ideological savior of the pro refom block’s honesty by basically deciding that if SPS goes with SRS and make ruling coalition in Belgarde than G17 Plus will opt not to work with SPS on the national level. Fair enough and filling the void in lack of principles of Serbian reformers in most prudent way in the given moment, I'll give them that. It is funny however that this comes from a party that has as much ideology in its workings as Serbia true reformers.