|
|
|
|
|
|
Resources |
|
|
|
Eastern European Popular Uprisings--It's Yugoslavia's Turn
| Article
# : |
11642 |
|
|
Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
|
| Issue
Date : |
9 / 1986 |
3,015 Words |
| Author
: |
Mihajlo Mihajlov
Mihajlo Mihajlov is a special analyst for Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty covering ideological and intellectual
affairs in Eastern Europe. He is the author of Underground
Notes and other works. |
In 1978 I left Yugoslavia for the West with every intention of returning after a few months. My trip through Western Europe and the United States, which included lectures in dozens of universities and appearances at various congresses and conferences, stretched on for an entire year. In 1979, when I finally decided to return to Belgrade, the newspapers reported that a press conference was held at the Belgrade Circuit Court at which the authorities announced that a new proceeding had been initiated against me and that an order had been issued for my arrest. I was accused under the same article of the Criminal Code that I had been tried on previously: "hostile propaganda."
From the day in 1965 when I was first arrested in my office at the university where I taught Russian literature (after the publication of President Josip Tito's speech that criticized me for my book Moscow Summer) until 1978, when I left for the West, I spent a total of seven years in prison, always for "hostile propaganda," that is, for my articles and books, which, of course, from the day of my first arrest, I could publish only in the West.
To return to Yugoslavia meant to go straight to prison - and perhaps to be cut off for many long years from my work and readers. I decided to postpone my return for a while, hoping for a favorable change. Thus, I have already lived eight years in the West, and although much has changed in Yugoslavia in eight years, today they jail people for "hostile propaganda" even more actively than ever. Still, I have not lost hope that things will change, and, along with many other Yugoslavians who keep close track of events within the country, I am deeply certain that after the model of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Poland in 1980 - 1981,
... (1999 of 18724 Characters)
Read Full Article
|
|
