BRINGING DOWN A DICTATOR (TV)
Summary
A documentary charting the overthrow of the Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 through the nonviolent strategies of student revolutionaries. Martin Sheen narrates the story beginning in the spring of 2000 when students declared a nonviolent war against "the Butcher of the Balkans." First, Sheen briefly summarizes the recent history of Milosevic's regime, including his attempts at ethnic cleansing that brought seventy-eight days of NATO bombing to Serbia in early 1999. Dr. Daniel Serwer, director of the Balkans Initiative at the U.S. Institute of Peace, explains how the bombing raids, at least temporarily, served to solidify Milosevic's hold on power. Protests did emerge, the program explains, in the form of a student group called Otpor, which means "resistance" in Serbian. Armed only with the symbol of the clenched fist and its witty slogans, the group set out, according to Otpor leader Srdja Popovic, to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Serbians.
Teofil Pancic, political analyst for Vreme Magazine in Belgrade, talks about Otpor's initial positioning of itself against Milosevic and its resistance to aligning itself with any opposition party. James O'Brien, Special Balkans Envoy from the U.S. State Department, admits that Otpor did receive outside help from groups interested in building democracy in Serbia, but states that the group's initial innovative demonstrations were entirely of their own making. Retired Army officer Col. Robert Helvey discusses how he tutored the activists in the nonviolent strategies detailed in Gene Sharp's writings; Popovic discusses how the readings reinforced the strategies they had honed through intuition and experience.
The program next details how the group's efforts were cultivated in the provinces in a non-hierarchical fashion. Fear of the group's increasing power prompted the Ministry of Information to declare Otpor a "terrorist" group and to crack down on independent media sources in May of 2000. Although initially wary of Otpor, the program explains, opposition parties eventually agreed to form a coalition and support one candidate, Vojislav Kostunica, when Milosevic called for early elections. Diane Cromer, a political consultant from the National Democratic Institute, discusses how the opposition was encouraged to meet voters one on one and how local press coverage in the provinces compensated for lack of coverage in Belgrade; Kostunica himself talks about the campaign's attempt to give a positive message; the program also covers the campaign's populist thrust including its humorous commercials and the popular, albeit negative, slogan emblazoned on bumper stickers: "Gotov Je" -- "He's finished."
Serwer and opposition political leader Zoran Dindic discuss how election day poll watching was organized, anticipating Milosevic would not accept the opposition's victory. Next, the program covers the general strike that followed the elections, including the first strike action by the coal miner union, the blockades organized by taxi drivers and public transport drivers, the march on Belgrade from the provinces, and the largely peaceful takeover of the Parliament building on October 5. With Milosevic conceding the election on October 6 and Kostunica being sworn in on October 7, the program concludes by summarizing subsequent events: Dindic became prime minister, Popovic was elected to the Serbian Parliament, and Milosevic was extradited to the Hague in June of 2001 to be tried for crimes against humanity. Sheen closes the program by arguing that nonviolent strategies can both bring down dictators and thwart the plans of terrorists. This program is closed-captioned.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Marc Haas Foundation, 2002/2003.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: March 31, 2002 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:56:46
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:76439
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Political activists; Student movements; Yugoslavia - Serbian elections
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV, 2002
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Peter Ackerman … Executive Producer
- Miriam A. Zimmerman … Managing Producer
- Steve York … Producer, Director, Writer
- Joseph Wiedenmayer … Production (Misc.), Editor
- Peter Pearce … Production (Misc.), Camera
- Molly Blank … Production (Misc.), Production Coordinator, Researcher
- Dalton Delan … Production (Misc.), Executive-in-Charge, For WETA
- Karin Vilimonovic … Researcher
- Tatjana Velickovic … Researcher
- Andrew Noren … Researcher
- John Keltonic … Music by, Conductor
- Martin Sheen … Narrator
- Diane Cromer
- Zoran Dindic
- Robert Helvey
- Vojislav Kostunica
- Slobodan Milosevic
- James O'Brien
- Teofil Pancic
- Srdja Popovic
- Daniel Serwer
- Gene Sharp