High time 
Ian Traynor has a fascinating insight into the spectacularly odd coalition that has developed a formula for democratic victory in emerging democracies: mix some veteran Belgrade dissidents with officials from both the Democratic and Republican parties, add some US embassy staff, and stir in some spice from George Soros’s Open Society Institute.
| |
In the centre of Belgrade, there is a dingy office staffed by computer-literate youngsters who call themselves the Centre for Non-violent Resistance. If you want to know how to beat a regime that controls the mass media, the judges, the courts, the security apparatus and the voting stations, the young Belgrade activists are for hire. |
| |
They emerged from the anti-Milosevic student movement, Otpor, meaning resistance. The catchy, single-word branding is important. In Georgia last year, the parallel student movement was Khmara. In Belarus, it was Zubr. In Ukraine, it is Pora, meaning high time. Otpor also had a potent, simple slogan that appeared everywhere in Serbia in 2000 – the two words “gotov je”, meaning “he’s finished”, a reference to Milosevic. A logo of a black-and-white clenched fist completed the masterful marketing. |
| |
In Ukraine, the equivalent is a ticking clock, also signalling that the Kuchma regime’s days are numbered.
|