ČOLOVIĆ, Ivan
Ivan Čolović, born in Belgrade in 1938, graduated and received a master's degree from the Faculty of Philology, and a Ph.D. from the Facultv of Arts, University of Belgrade. He works for the Institute of Ethnography at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He has published numerous books of essays, including Literature in the Graveyard, 1983, Time ofSigns, 1988, and Brothel ofWarriors. Folklore, Politics and War. Some of his books have been translated into German and Italian. He was the founder (in 1992) of the Association of independent intellectuals, "The Belgrade Circle", which organised numerous discussions about the crisis and war in former Yugoslavia. He won the Herder award in 2000.
Ivan Colović je roden 1938. godine u Beogradu, gdje je diplomirao i magistrirao na Filološkom, a doktorirao na Filozofskom fakultetu. Radi u etnografskom institutu Srpske akademije nauka in umjetnosti. Objavio je više knjiga študija i eseja, koje su prevedene na njemački i talijanski jezik. Najpoznatije su Književnost na groblju, 1983, Vreme znakova, 1988 i Bordel ratnika. Folklor, politika i rat, 1993. Bio je osnivač (januar 1992) Udruženja nezavisnih intelektualaca Beogradski krug, koji je organizirao brojne razgovore o krizi i ratu u bivšoj Jugoslaviji. Dobitnik je Herderove nagrade za 2000. godinu.
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Bursting with health
In the last few weeks, the reports and testimonies about the war in Bosnia often mentioned sickness and health. We heard the distressing news about an outbreak of tvphoid and cholera, and the scary prognosis that a possible epidemic might take even more human lives than the killing, cold and famine taken together. We read and listened about the situation in the Sarajevo hospital, vvhere surgeons - in their efforts to save as many lives as possible -were forced to amputate arms and legs in the cases where under normal circumstances the limbs could be saved; about the maternity hospital where, in the last few months, women sought help almost exclusively because of miscarriages. Those reports and testimonies also mention the shattered men-tal health of the people in war-ravaged Bosnia, whose lives under siege, in cellars of the demolished tovras, in camps and forests, were turning into an agonising and uncertain struggle for mere survival. Zeljko Vukovic, corre-spondent of Borba, who until recently shared the fate of the besieged Sarajevo inhabitants, called what was going on down there "desintellectualisation". "Life in a cellar kills any initiat#e, motive, humanness," says Vukovic. "The simulation of life soon starts killing ... Sarajevo is turning into a huge psychi-atric waiting room" (Borba, 26 November 1992).
Alongside with the reports there emerged in the media the descriptions of war circumstances in Bosnia, and portraits of some of its main protagonists, which imply that some people down there not only managed to preserve their physical and mental health, but also improved it, so that today they - as we say - are in roaring health. The first to try to demonstrate it with her story and her appearance (on NTV "Studio B", 8 November, and in Borba on 14 and 15 November) was Sonja Karadžič, a graduate in medicine, born from the marriage of two doctors, now in the position of Head of Office in the Ministry of Information in the so-called Republika Srpska, at Pale near Sarajevo.
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"I come," she said, "young, healthy, smiling and communicative, from a healthy environment, where we make war and work ..."
But Belgrade, as it seemed, was not very impressed by this cheerful and vigorous war-maker, who - as she said - "loves Belgrade" but found it "very disappointing": "Fm deeply disappointed in Belgrade and the emphasised žliberalism' of the capital of my homeland ..." Another name for the emphasised Belgrade liberalism in inverted commas is disease, and Ms Karadžic was soon to teli us its two fundamental causes. The first was that in Belgrade "there are people of ali classes who fled from Sarajevo, while their relatives down there are perpetrating genocide on the Serbs," and the second that Belgraders were thinking about political changes in Serbia. "People are think-ing about it only in Belgrade," said Sonja Karadžic. "In the central parts the young people are much healthier, less burdened."
Simultaneously with Sonja Karadžic, the columnist and painter Dragoš Kalajič - "exclusively from the battlefield" - reported on the health and beauty of the Serbian nation demonstrated by their leaders in Republika Srpska {Duga, 7 November 1992). He took to the battlefield a group of Russian opposition leaders and reporters of the so-called "Russian patriotic media" headed by the retired General Filatov. In his čase as well, Belgrade is excluded from the praise of Serbia and the Serbian nation, because - says Kalajic"s guest Jurij Loščic - "the Serbia I love and admire isn't Belgrade, but the nation heroically fighting alone against everybody."
Loščic, too, believes that Serbs (Belgraders excluded) are endowed with extraordinary vigour, but this vigour - in his interpretation - has almost mystical significance. To Kalajkfs question: "What is so extraordinary and unique in Serbs?" his guest replied: "The light that radiates from their looks and faces, the light of unsubmissive and invincible vitality..."
Three radiant figures, three impersonations of the invincible vitality of Serbian vrarriors in Bosnia are described by Kalajič in his report. The first is General Mladič, in whose look the author discerns the "sparkle of unsubmissive determination of the combative špirit ... the steel glitter acquired through terrible experience and realisations, breaking through the ultimate barriers of fear of death." Kalajič was even more impressed by Radovan Karadžic, whom he described as a "personality composed of the supreme material of Serbian ethnos and ethos", as the national leader whose power radiated "holy terror".
However, Kalajič found the most prominent and beautiful example of physi-cal and mental strength among the Serbs on the Bosnian battlefield in the person of Biljana Plavšič, whom he depicted as the "great figure of living legend of the Serbian struggle". Contemptuously, Kalajič rejects any possible comparison between this new Serbian legend and La Pasionaria, the legend of the Spanish Civil War. "First of ali," Kalajič says, "Dolores Ibarruri was a very ugly woman, a physical and moral monster - while Biljana Plavšič is an impersonation of European beauty and magnitudo animi." Her very look
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miraculously removes fatigue from Kalajic"s body, so that he - on his own example - discovers the "power of Dr Biljana Plavšič to invigorate even the most tired", and this power bestows on her indestructible strength and beauty. "I clearly see," continues Kalajič, "that she's as strong and beautiful as if she'd just got up from a long rest."
Not long ago, in a TV report (TVB, 12 November), yet another painter and writer admired the healthy beauty of Serbian leaders at Pale, namely Momo Kapor. He "found" the type of pure-blooded Serbian hero embodied in Radovan Karadžic and Nikola Koljevic, and juxtaposed it to the type of Muslim from Sarajevo, who - in his opinion - was characterised by stupidity, a smeli of tallow and a criminalh/ distorted face. Kapor's "examples" of this miserable human variety are Alija Izetbegovic and Juka Prazina. Kapor completed his anthropo-logical observations by the conclusion that Sarajevo was an "unnatural crea-tion", and that the city in fact "collapsed upon itself out of evil and hatred".
I'm not quoting these latest instances of glorification of the health and beauty of Bosnian Serbs involved in the war, and particularly of their leaders, in order for us to laugh at ali sorts of stupiditv, affectation and exaggeration, and thus free ourselves from the mixed emotions of disgust and concern, which listening to such stories inspires in one alongside with a desire to laugh.
I believe, in fact, that these and similar stories about health and sickness, which nowadays go hand in hand, deserve our serious consideration. Every one of them, in this way or another, in whole or in part, conveys the same message. It's the message of the unrestrained, arrogant force. This force, through the mouths of reporters and writers mesmerised by it - among whom it managed to find adherents in the past as well - is boasting with its health and its cruelty towards anything standing in its way. Furthermore, it communicates to us that is it the only law, the only faith and the only truth of human life.
This arrogant force is above ali telling us that a truly healthy, invigorating life guided by vital instincts, uncorrupted by the sick European civilisation, that is life in harmony with the mystic power of blood and religious orthodoxy, can most fully be realised in war, at times when people merrily and freely abandon themselves to destructi^h, plunder, torturing and killing other people, thus proving that the murderous passion they're possessed with has no limit or direction. It is whispering to us that health is necessary for war, and that war is even more necessary for health - the physical and mental health of a nation and its leaders. Thanks to the war, these leaders have shining steel looks, invincible sturdiness, freshness of the morning dew or heroic robust-ness. Which one of those war-encouraged, enthusiastic authors of the above-mentioned stories and their semi-godly heroes could sincerely wish that the life-inspiring killing and devastation should stop? I can hear them telling each other: "Let it last!"
These - seemingly - amusing and stupid tales about the healthy warriors contain a determined, threatening declaration of enmity towards the freedom,
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thinking, peace, wellbeing, and the people's communities, the values which were proclaimed to be sickness and shit; they contain a declaration of war on the places where these sick, unnatural and dirty phenomena are most wide-spread - on the big and old cities. Their destruction and the crushing of their inhabitants, both underway, are presented as if they'd been a long yearned for - and for nature and healthy life inevitable - sanitary-hygienic operation. This operation almost succeeded in Dubrovnik, was happily terminated in Vukovar, and had good prospects for total success in Sarajevo and many other towns of the so-called ex-Yugoslavia.
And Belgrade? A few days ago the head of a patriotic party, whose name I can't remember, appeared on TV; I can stili picture his healthy appearance: a fat neck under the closely cut hair, a trimmed black moustache, and - to make the picture complete - a greyish shirt with a tie. He said: "Belgrade is an anti-Serb container."
Does this mean that ali this "health" will eventually back-fire on Belgrade? Instead of giving an ansvver - in fact I don't have an answer - let me quote a sentence by David Ruse, the only motto appearing in the book by Hana Arendt, Totalitarian System. "Normal people," says Ruse, "don't know that aH is possible." This - at first glance inconspicuous, but in fact terrible - sentence now seems to me the most concise and accurate description of our situation, the situation of the people who - in a kind of charmed stupor and without any guarantee that they will ever be better off - wait to see what the increasingly angry and healthy warriors are capable of doing.
Translated by Lili Potpara
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Pucanje od zdrav Ija
Poslednjih nedelja se u izveštajima i svedočenjima u ratu u Bosni cesto govorilo o bolesti i zdravlju. Culi smo i za-brinjavajuce vesti o pojavi tifusa i kolere i poražavajuču prognozu da bi zaraza mogla da odnese čak više ljudskih života od ratnog ubijanja, hladnoce i gladi zajedno. Citali smo i slušali o prilikama u sarajevskoj bolnici, gde su hirurzi prinudeni, da bi spasili što više života, da pribegavaju amputacijama nogu i raku i tamo gde bi ih inače u normalnim uslovima mogli spasiti, o tamošnjem porodilištu gde poslednjih meseci žene dolaze skoro isključivo radi pobačaja. U tim izveštajima i svedočenjima upozorava se i na uzdrmano mentalno zdrafrlje ljudi u Bosni zahvacenoj ratom, čiji se život pod opsadom, u podramima razrušenih gradova, u logorima i zbegovima, pretvara u grčevitu i neizvesnu borbu za goli opstanak. Željko Vukovič, dopisnik Borbe, koji je donedavno delio sudbino opsednutih Sarajlija, nazvao je to što se tamo dogada »raspamecivanjem«. »Život u podrumu ubija svaki moral, motiv, ljudskost«, kaže Vukovič. »Simuliranje života vrlo brzo počnije da ubija ...Sarajevo postaje velika psihijatriska čekaonica« (Borba, 26. novembar 1992). Uporedo s tim pojavili su se u našim medijama opisi ratnih prilika u Bosni i portreti nekih od njihovih glavnih učesnika, iz kojih proizlazi da tamo ima ljudi koji su ne
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samo sačuvali fizičko i mentalno zdravlje nego su ga čak toliko učvrstili da danas, štono se kaže, pucaju od zdravlja. Prva nas je u to, svojom pričom i svojim izgledom (na NTV 'Studio B', 8. novembar, i u Borbi od 14 - 15. novembra), pokušala da uveri Sonja Karadžič, apsolvent medicine, rode-na u braku dva lekara, sada na dužnosti šefa Kabineta Ministarstva za informacije tzv. Republike Srpske, na Pa-lama više Sarajeva.
»Dolazim« izjavila je Karadžičeva »mlada, zdrava, na-smijana, komunikativna iz jedne zdrave sredine, gde se ratuje i radi...«
Ali Beograd izgleda nije bio naročito impresioniran ovom veselom i krepkom ratnicom, što je nju koja, kako kaže, »voli Beograd«, »jako razočaralo«: »Ja sam jako razočarana Beogradom i naglašenim 'slobodarstvom' prestonice moje matice ...« Drugo ime ovog beogradskog naglašenog slobo-darstva pod znacima navoda je bolest, a Karadžičeva če nam odmah otkriti i dva osnovna uzročnika te bolesti. Prvi je u tome što u Beogradu ima »ljudi svih fela koji su izbegli iz Sarajeva a njihovi bližnji dole vrše genocid nad Srbima«, a drugi što Beogradani razmišljaju o političkim promenama u Srbiji. »O tome se razmišlja samo u Beogradu«, kaže Sonja Karadžič. »U unutrašnjosti je omladina daleko zdra-vija, neopterečenija«.
U isto vreme kad i Sonja Karadžič, kazivanja o zdravlju i lepoti srpskog naroda na primeru njegovih voda u »Republici Srpskoj«, doneo je »ekskluzivno sa ratišta« i ( u Dugi od 7. novembra 1992) objavio publicista i slikar Dragoš Kalajič. Tamo je vodio grupu šefova ruske opozicije i izveštača tako-zvanih »ruskih patriotskih medija«, sa penzionisanim generalom Filatovom na čelu. I ovde se iz pohvala koje se izriču Srbiji i srpskom narodu isključuje Beograd, jer, kako kaže Kalajičev gost Jurij Loščic, »Srbija koju volim i kojoj se drvim nije Beograd več ovaj narod ovde što se herojski bori sam protiv svih.«
I po Loščicevom sudu, Srbi ( ne računajuči Beogradane) obdareni su izuzetnom vitalnošču, ali ta vitalnost u njegovoj interpretaciji dobija mistično značenje. Na Kalajičevo pitanje:
»A što je to tako izuzetno i jedinstveno u Srbima?« njegov sagovornik uzvrača ovim rečima: »Svetlost što prosijava iz pogleda i lica, svetlost nepokorive i nepobedive životnosti...«
Tri svetla lika, tri oličenja nepobedive životnosti srpskih ratnika u Bosni opisuje Kalajič u svojoj reportaži. Prvi od
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njih je general Mladic, u čijem pogledu pisac vidi »sjaj nepokolebljive odlučnosti borbenog duha... celični sjaj stečen kroz neka strašna iskustva i saznanja, probojima poslednjih barijera straha od smrti«. Još jači utisak na Kalajica ostavlja susret sa Radovanom Karadžičem, kojeg opisuje kao »ličnost sazdanu od najboljeg gorštačkog materijala srpskog etnosa i ethosa«, kao narodnog vodu čija moč zrači »svetim užasom«.
Ipak, najupečatljiviji i najlepši primer fizičke i duševne krepkosti medu Srbima na bosanskom ratištu našao je Ka-lajič u liku Biljane Plavšič, koju je predstavio kao »veliku figuru žive legende srpske borbe«. Kalajič s prezirom od-bacuje mogučnost poredenja ove nove srpske legende sa La Pasionariom, legendom španskog gradanskog rata. »Pre svega«, objašnjava on, »Dolores Ibaruri je veoma ružna žena, fizička i moralna nakaza - dok je Biljana Plavšič oličenje evropske lepote i magnitudo animi.« Sam njen pogled na čudesan način odstranjuje umor iz Kalajičevog tela, tako da on na sopstvenom primeru otkriva »moč dr. Biljane Plavšič da okrepi i najumornije«, a ta moč i njoj samoj daje neuništivu krepkost i lepotu. »Opažam, glasno«, nastavlja Kalajič, »da je ona krepka i lepa kao da je upravo ustala iz dugog pocinka«.
Nedavno se, u jednoj televizijskoj reportaži (TVB, 12. novembar), zdravoj lepoti srpskih voda na Palama divio još jedan slikar i pisac - Momo Kapor. Tuje našao tip čistokrvnog srpskog gorštaka, oličen u Radovanu Karadžiču i Nikoli Koljeviču, i suprostavio ga tipu muslimanskog čoveka iz Sarajeva, kome su, po njegovom nalazu, svojstveni tupost, vonj i loj i zlikovački izobličeno lice. Kaporovi primeri tog bednog ljudskog varijeteta su Alija Izetbegovič i Juka Pra-zina. Svoja antropološka zapažanja upotpunio je on ocenom da je SarajevoT»ilo »neprirodna tvorevina« i da se taj grad zapravo »urušio sam od sebe, od zlobe i mržnje«.
Ove najnovije primere veličanja krepkog zdravlja i lepote bosanskih Srba zaokupljenih ratom, a posebno njihovih voda, ne iznosim ovde tek zato da bi se nasmejali tu prisut-nim svakojakim stupidnostima, prenemaganjima i preteri-vanjima i tako se oslobodili one mešavine osečanja odvratnosti i zabrinutosti koju slušanje ovakih priča u nama stvara zajedno sa željom da im se nasmejemo.
U stvari, mislim da ove i njima slične priče o zdravlju i bolesti, koje danas jedna drugu stižu, zaslužuju da se nad njima ozbiljno zamislimo. Jer u svakoj od njih je, na ovaj ili
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onaj način, delimično ili u celini, formulisana jedna ista poruka. To je poruka razularene, bahate sile. Ona nam se, kroz usta njome opčinjenih novinara i pisaca, medu kojima je i u prošlosti umela da nade svoje žrece, hvališe svojim zdravljeni i svojom okrutnošču prema svemu što joj stoji na putu. Uz to nam poručuje daje ona opet jedini zakon, jedina vera i jedina istina ljudskog života.
Ova bahata sila hoče naročito da nam kaže da se zdravi, okrepljujuči život voden vitalnim instinktima, neiskvaren bolesnom evropskom civilizacijom, to jest život u harmoniji sa mističnim silama krvi i pravoverja, najpotpunije ostva-ruje u ratu, u vremenima kad se čovek s radošču i slobodno prepušta razaranju, pljački i mučenju i ubijanju drugih ljudi, pokazujuči da ubilačka strast koja ga tad ispunjava nema granica i premca. Šapuče nam i to da je zdravlje potrebno za rat, ali da je još više rat potreban zdravlju, fizičkom i mentalnom zdravlju naroda i njihovih voda. Zah-valjuči ratu, oni imaju sjajne, celične poglede, nepobedivu krepkost, svežinu jutarnje rose ili gorštačku žilavost. Ko bi ratom obodrenih i oduševljenih kazivača ovde pomenutih priča i njihovih polubožanskih junaka mogao iskreno požele-ti da to životodano ubijanje i razaranje prestane? Cujem ih kako jedni drugima govore:«Samo da potraje!«
U ovim na izgled šaljivim i glupim pričama o ratničkom zdravlju sadržana je odlučna, preteča objava neprijateljstva slobodi, misli, miru, blagostanju, ljudskom zajedništvu, vrednostima koje su proglašene za bolest i dubre, odnosno objava rata mestima u kojima su takve bolesne, neprirodne i prijave pojave najrasprostranjenije, velikim i starim gra-dovima. Njihovo razaranje i satiranje njihovog stanovišta, uveliko u toku, predstavljeno je kao odavno priželjkivana, prirodi i zdravom životu neophodna sanitetsko - higijenska operacija. Ta operacija je zamalo uspela u Dubrovniku, srečno je okončana u Vukovaru, a ima dobre izglede na potpuni uspeh i u Sarajevu i mnogim drugim gradovima takozvane bivše Jugoslavije.
A Beograd? Pre nekoliko dana na televiziji je govorio šef jedne redoljubive partije, čijeg se imena ne sečam, ali pred očima imam njegovu zdravljeni nabijenu pojavu: debeli vrat ispod kratko podšišane kose, štucovani črni brčiči i, da bi slika bila potpuna, sivkasta košulja sa kravatom. Rekao je:«Beograd je antisrpski kontejner.«
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Da li to znači da zaista postoji pucanje od zdravlja na Beograd? Umesto odgovora na to pitanje, jer ja zapravo odgovor i ne znam, navešču ovde jednu rečenicu Davida Rusea, jedini moto u knjiži Hane Arend Totalitarni sistem. »Normalni ljudi«, kaže Ruse, »ne znaju da je sve mogučno.« Ta naoko obična, a u stvari strašna, rečenica danas mi se čini kao najsažetiji i najtačniji opis naše situacije, situacije ljudi koji u nekoj vrsti glupe opčinjenosti i bez ikakvog jemstva da se mogu nadati nečem dobrom čekaju da vide sta ce još uraditi sve ljudi i sve zdraviji ratnici.
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