By Andrej Nikolaidis, CdM columnist
Have you ever heard of the term ‘ochlocracy’? Hope you have, because it’s our reality.
Ochlocracy means ‘mob rule’. It means the rule of the mob, the rule of the rabble – contrary to the rule of law, i.e. democracy.
When Zdravko Krivokapic put on that braying voice while uttering “the peeeople”, he meant on and referred to ochlocracy. Democracy had already died and ochlocracy took over: because the enlightenment project had failed. When you strip the people of enlightenment, you get a mob, that is, mob rule. The US is an ochlocracy. Donald Trump is the leader of the mob of this world.
So then – who, or what, is the mob?
If you ask Belgrade’s patriotic, state-building Politika daily, the answer is: “A mob is anyone who loves another country more than their own.” See: https://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/362190/pogledi/olos
First of all, I don’t see it that way. If the Comanche didn’t love the United States that wiped them out and stole their land, or if Kosovo Albanians didn’t love Yugoslavia, where they were treated not as second-class but as citizens of the 22nd class, does that make them “the mob”? Why, in God’s name, should anyone be expected to love a country that throws them into concentration camps, kills them while they stand in line for food, starves their children, and destroys their lives? Simply because the masses believe that patriotism is an unquestionable virtue? Sometimes the only genuine love for one’s homeland is pure hatred for what that homeland has become. Whatever the mob may think, and usually thinks only of evil, whatever their so-called “values” in the name of which they would lynch and kill, I outright reject them. Again and again. And even if that weren’t the case, the absence of patriotism doesn’t make a man part of the mob. More often, it’s a sign of reason that hasn’t been smothered by empty slogans, slogans reducing a person to a slave whose only freedom is to hate and to trample anyone who dares to lift their head and say: I disagree.
Secondly: Does Politika’s definition of “the mob” apply only to Serbia or it’s universal? Because if it’s the latter, then according to Politika, Serbs in Montenegro – those among them who love Serbia more – would actually qualify as the mob. Bosnian Serbs who love Belgrade more than Sarajevo are also the mob. And also those Serbs who hated Croatia and hoped to be annexed by “some other country”. I get the feeling the author may have strayed from the point: it unraveled a bit.
Because the Belgrade media keep insisting otherwise: that Montenegrins who love Montenegro more than Serbia are “the mob” – and, on top of that, that they collaborate with crime gangs, Ustashas, “komitas,” Milo’s unruly forces, traitors. And so on, and so forth.
When you apply the phrase “the public has a right to know” in an ochlocracy, you get people on live TV exposing the naked bodies of their political opponents. When phrases about reconciliation are applied in an ochlocracy, you get statues of mass killers inside churches. And when the phrases “rule of law” and “justice” are applied in an ochlocracy, you get lynching.
Enter Severina. She stands out because she survived mob lynching and sexual violation – the release of her personal video was exactly that. And yet: she survived with her head held high, and never did anything that hinted at asking for forgiveness from a mob that knows no mercy. That’s the point: the mob has a capacity for all sorts of disgusting behaviors – because it itself is disgusting – but not enough power to humiliate you. As long as you don’t feel fear but despise the mob clearly and openly, you preserve your dignity.
On the other hand, there’s Karleusa, who at first went against the mob, then decided to become its poster girl, the state singer of Serbian ochlocracy.
(The opinions and views of our columnists aren’t necessarily the opinions or views of the CdM news team)
