The Parties Of Our Hatred

By Saša Janković

Dear Ilir,

I hope you are well – though in times like these, who can truly say they are?

You are right about hatred. It is as irresistible as light is to moths. Together with fear, it is the strongest and most destructive tool for controlling people and reducing them from free, thinking beings to subjects. Today’s ruling parties resemble one another precisely in the hatred and fear by which they rule. With hatred they redirect the anger caused by their corruption and arrogance onto a “standing enemy” (here that is Albanians, Croats, foreigners – usually those from the West – and the political opposition). With fear they deter change: “after us there will be no one, there will be chaos.” Or: Kosovo, Albania, Croatia and Slovenia, the local head of all ruling parties just announced on his TV channels, have just signed a military pact against Serbia… But we are not afraid of you – all that remains for you is to hate us…

“The Party of Our Hatred — POH” (SNM in the original language) would be the most honest name for almost any ruling party around here (add a national label and you get SSM — Party of Serbian Hatred, SAM — Albanian, SHM — Croatian, etc.). Hate speech is formally banned, but for those in power, laws do not apply.

I’m following what’s happening in Kosovo, of course. You write that you don’t have a parliament. Essentially, we don’t either, even though ours has been constituted. At the root of that originally English word, I see “constitution.” The English, however, don’t have a constitution at all. We have two: a formal one, and the real one. The real one has only two articles:

1. Laws do not apply to those in power.
2. So what.

That one is more practical than the formal, oversized and outdated one. It’s easy to understand, you don’t need a law degree – especially not from a state university – because here the government threatens to abolish state education and claims that only private schools should exist. There’s a solution for both your “un-constituted” and our “constituted” parliaments – dissolve them, give each ruling party an appropriate share of ownership of the state, then let them make laws, judge, buy and sell their shares of power at business lunches. Elections aren’t needed either as they’ve been reduced to a formality – only branches of the Party of Our Hatred sometimes change at the top. And alongside them always go PPO – the Party of Professional Opposition, WHM – We Hate More, PRP – Party of Reserve for Power, PCT – Party of Cheap Turncoats, OUP – One-Use Party, DWU – They Didn’t Want Us (the ruling party, and we attract the attention now to change their mind)… And, of course, the two geo-political ones: WKB – The West Knows the Best, and PRG – Party of Russian Guberniya. Wouldn’t it be nice if political parties were titled frankly, their names truly reflecting what they stand for…

This letter is ugly. It’s my anger disguised as bad humor. Sorry. Satire aside, the truth is grim. We have been returned to a pre-political state. Hatred and fear are not political categories – they are animalistic ones.

So how can anything change? In the images of retribution against officials in Nepal there may be an Old-Testament, pre-Christian, brutal justice for the earlier state executions of young protesters. But are we, in the 21st century after Christ, really condemned to change governments that way? Perhaps the rulers do not deserve better, but if we believe we are better, we must know better. Real improvement can only be achieved by a political project; pitchforks and hoes are not enough, even if a power-blinded regime makes them seem necessary. That project must also have a pre-political foundation, but not one based in hatred and fear. Maybe it can still be found in the primal feeling of gratification for doing something for the common good? And then immediately the superstructure – the real politics: which exact path to take toward the greatest welfare for all citizens and the community?

Do we still have the strength to chart it and build it?

Sincerely,

Saša