BDaD 3
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There is little doubt of the result
but no one knows, what will come next
We knew that we will win
and we knew that Milosevic will not accept
and our advantage was we were prepared for second step
that he will not accept our victory
and he will try to manipulate after that
At campaign headquarters after midnight
they wait until the tabulations have been double checked
Then they make the announcement which will make
manipulation of the official results impossible
Our data shows that
a solid victory in the first round of presidential elections
Only one question remains
when or whether the winner will take office
In the next days as Belgrade holds its breathe
Milosevic's electoral commission says
neither candidate polled over 50%
And calls for a run-off election
Now you face the most important task of your life
You have to lead the protests
You have been trained for this
You have the support at universities
It is your protest!
Now everything depends on you!
They have trained and organized for months
Now they face decisive test of their non-violent movement
Ten days they forced the regime to step down
DOS and Kostunica declare a run-off is unnecessary
and call upon the people to prepare for a general strike
Three days before the strike is to begin
coal miners at the Kolubar of mine,just south of Belgrade
give Kostunica an unexpected boost
a committee representing seventeen thousand workers
votes to strike immediately
they say they want their action to inspire the rest of the country
to support the strike
the mine which produces 70% of Serbia's electrical power is idle
The miners have set an example
Now, the rest of the country joins them, a nation-wide action
to bring all normal life to standstill
We knew that Milosevic can resist only
with support from police and army
and we knew if we can affect police and army around him
and bring them to think should they
support Milosevic or not, or the people that he cannot survive.
And it was very important for us to find symbols
of this very wide national resistance and
to show the police and the army that
it is not just opposition against government
but it is people against Milosevic
As police and army encircle the striking miners
ordinary people respond to an urgent call
to support and protect the strikers.
Thousands come,
a signal to the police and army
that Milosevic is finished
In largest cities
taxi join in slow moving,
rolling blockades
Public transport drivers park their buses and street cars
across major intersections
The police try to maintain the order
but every day the strike spreads
Having lost the election and been taught in his attempts to steal it,
Milosevic must now step down
or use violence
We had the nation trained
not to attack the police
not to use the violence
because our message was "there is no war
between police and us"
that we, together, are the victims of the system
and there is no reason to have war between victims and victims
One victims are in blue uniforms
other victims are in blue jeans
but there is no reason for that blood
DAS and its supporters are angry and persistent
but they are also patient
Determined to avoid bloodshed as they slowly escalate their actions
It was crucial that we left enough time
for this people in regime to
understand what is going on
It was not just one day revolution
It was ten days, daily increasing
this pressure in Serbia was a blockade
By the end it was
absolutely clear that majority is against Milosevic
Ten days after the election almost no one in Belgrade
realizes the turning point is at hand
Since before daybreak Serbia has been on the move
converging on the capital from every directions
The operation has been pointly planned
by DAS leaders across the country
Convoy leaders have prepared for police resistance
They even brought bulldozers to break through barricades if necessary
At 9 a.m, one convoy lead by the major of the Čačak
in his jogging suit
finds the road completely blocked by police
Tired of negotiating, the men of the Čačak convoy
remove the blockade themselves
These people who came from Čačak, Ružiće
they were prepared to do anything
they were not just an urban demonstrators
as the most people of Belgrade
you know, just go to the streets and shouts and then go home
No! These people came here to do something
and they will not go back home before that is finished
Special units for anti-terrorist actions were expecting us see in Belgrade
They have been cooperating with us closely
We made radio contact within every ten minutes
I would then give the information to my fellow citizens:
We have the police. They are taking our side any minute now
As the morning goes on it becomes clear that the police will build barricades
but not defendant
Convoys from the south enter Belgrade at about eleven in the morning
They run their ruling point is the federal parliament building (the meeting point is the federal parliament building)
Mayor Ilic stays in contact with convoys still on the road
They plan to link up for a non-violent takeover of the parliament at 3 pm
Through bad channel contacts with commanders
DAS has them assured the security forces will step aside
But no one takes it for granted
We didn't know how police would react
We knew that some part of police
will not react against the people
But we didn't know about all parts of police.
and police were very confused
The impatient Cacak contingent that dances before the other convoys arrive
But they are easily repelled
What the police don't know is that hundreds of thousands of Serbs
are spilled on the road to Belgrade
The farmers and workers that supported OTPOR
and are determined to stop the theft of their votes
Hours after the first convoys arrived in the capital
the news reaches Belgrade citizens
They come into the streets chanting Serbia has a reason.
On this day there is only one place to be
Brothers and sisters
Do not provoke the police
The police will move to the nation's side
Do not create conflicting situations
DOS leaders now monitoring police radio channels
listen as orders are given to remove the crowds
But nothing happens
It didn't really mean to do anything
They simply ignored the orders
and they observed what is going on
and when they realized that there are hundreds of thousands of people
in the streets of Belgrade and there is more and more and more coming
from the all parts of Serbia and
you have a kind of uprising in this country
of course, they knew that any kind of using force
against these people will be
a self-destruction
and they realized would mean they are losers
together with Milosevic they didn't want that to happen
A reporter wrote, the police and army commanders never ordered their troops to fire
Because they knew their own kids were in that crowd
Inside the building they find thousands of presidential ballots
pre-marked for Milosevic
Well, braking few windows and
parliament in flame sits just nothing
In comparison to the former period here,
to what Milosevic did here,
to what other Balkan countries did here,
to what US did here with its bombs
that was like a children's game
two lives were lost in the takeover
two heart attacks suffered by elderly men in the crowd
and a traffic accident
Milosevic has not been seen in two days
But there is no doubt he is finished
The people have taken power
What we needed the whole time was not the thread to use the force
it was the thread to his won hold-on power
and that was best gained through democratic forces
within Serbia
And you know a grand lesson in here is that
Broad based coalition of popular non-violent
protest can sweep away the dictatorship
Much more quickly than all the covert action on Earth
I think we succeeded because we
simply loved, liked more than them
Generally those guys were the preachers of the death
Their hatred, their propaganda
Their language smelled like that
And we won because we loved life more
We decided to love life
and you can be the life.
So this is what OTPOR did
We were a group
of fans of life
and this is why we succeeded