These are some of the photographs from Andreas's and my tripto Yugoslavia in October. The primary purpose was to meet myfamily after our wedding, since no one from Yugoslavia couldattend, but we soon found outselves midst a proper Octoberrevolution. We arrived a few days after the presidetialelections were won by Kostunica, and Milosevic had tried tomanipulate the counts to get a second voting round.
We arrived on a Saturday, and the situation was gettingincreasingly tense during the week of our stay, untilThursday, when the demonstrators in Belgrade set theparliament and the main TV building on fire. The whole"denagerous-part" of the revolution happened very fast andonly in Belgrade; but the feeling of radical change was verystrong in the whole country. Throughout the whole week,there were road blocks for several hours each day,electricity was shut down fro about half the time, mostschools and working places were on strike and everyone Ispoke to was slightly bewildered, happy, and worried. No onecould guess how the army would choose to react.
On the photos a little of this is visible - my provinceVojvodina looks as peaceful, and the people as serene, asever. But people in Yugoslavia are well practised in livingin extraordinary situations from the past 12 years, andthese calm looks are deceptive. Except, perhaps, when itcomes to the landscape of my dear Vojvodina.
The photos are divided between two pages, for easierdownload: here is part one, and here my home page
Silvija Seres, November 2000
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