'WE'RE A SOCIETY WITH BALANCE PROBLEMS' Basara ahead of Red Card premiere: 'Here you can't tell victory from defeat'

TV show Red Card is set to premiere today at 8pm on Kurir Television, authored by Svetislav Basara, writer and Kurir columnist. He pledges to have open conversations on contentious issues with people who have impacted political and cultural events in the past three decades, as well as with intellectuals, looking at the more distant past for causes of the social faltering

Ahead of the Red Card premiere, Basara spoke with Kurir about the show, politics and some of its actors, culture, and history, in his own recognizable style.

What can viewers expect from a show that you will do on Kurir Television?

"They can expect what is often expected from TV shows, but rarely seen in Serbia. In other words, an open conversation about contentious issues, with men and women who have impacted on political and cultural events of the past three decades in one way or another. In addition, conversations with intellectuals which will seek out the causes of the social faltering in the more distant past. Our problems aren't new. And it's a big problem that for quite some time there's only been a confusing 'today'."

What topics will you cover?

The range of topics will be very broad. Serbia has an abundance of topics and problems. A serious treatment of topics is lacking, and there's even less problem solving."

Who is slated to make an appearance first?

"The first couple of shows will feature Vuk Drašković, Nenad Prokić, Zoran Panović, Čeda Jovanović, Vasa Pavković, and Marjan Čakarević."

Who would you like to talk to?

"Everyone I would like to talk to – including those with whom I'd rather not – will be invited to the show. We'll see who will come."

One year on, do you still get asked why you left Danas for Kurir?

"I don't. It's no longer a topic. That was a 'smokescreen' from the get-go, a fairly innocent form of general fakery and affectation, keeping the dividing line between two social fictions on life support and putting the cart before the horse as a matter of tradition. You see, in the better part of the world, it's the authors that bring a good reputation to the newspapers they write for, whereas here this or that newspaper earns its authors and 'authors' a good (or bad) reputation. It'd be a good thing if it was only the newspapers. But everything is on its head here."

What is your general response to criticism? The opposition circles, the Other Serbia circles, the Twitterers – all of them pull no punches on you.

"I pull no punches on them either, so why should they be pulling any punches on me? As for Twitter, that social networking service is so moronic that I don't even consider it. The Twitterati – every last one of them – are the grandchildren of those low-tech idiots who many years ago used to write 'Here I fucked so-and-so on such and such day' on the walls of bar toilets. There is nothing new under the sun. It's just that the audibility and visibility of stupidity are increasing over time."

What do you think is the most important socio-political issue today?

"The one that isn't raised at all – how to (re)construct the social coordinate system that just isn't there. What we have here is a three-ring circus. Not even those who perform in those rings know that. You don't know left from right. Up from down. Victory from defeat. Rise from fall. We're a society with balance problems."

So what do you say to those who claim that Kosovo is the mother of all issues?

"Reducing all issues to just one is regressive reductionism. Put plainly – a shortcut to disaster and involution."

In your columns, you often bring up former president and PM Vojislav Koštunica, whose time in office you describe as dark, destructive, and right-wing, as a time when fake patriotism reigned supreme, and as a period that pushed Serbia backwards. Could he have had so much power?

"Before I answer this question, I need to point out that intellectually I am a righty, which means that I don't believe in superficiality and a shallow optimism of the left, which seems to have been misplaced somehow anyway. The person that you've brought up isn't a righty, but a sneaky, narrow-minded, and autistic chauvinist who only has his vitals and his national identity. He hasn't developed anything else. Some of it was thrown together for him by others. I think that Koštunica's wretched doctrine and practice – luckily, running out of steam now – is incomparably more subversive that the Radical-Progressive ones. As we can see, the latter are demonstrating their willingness to learn, and they want to work, rather than be unloading on Belgrade dimwits. Needless to say, it's still quite precarious, there's still a lot of crudeness around, but discipline and the ability to organize are the first steps on the path to civilization."

You have pulled no punches on another former president – Boris Tadić?

"I haven't indeed. Tadić must also accept his share of the responsibility. And he does, up to a point. Perhaps more than anyone else. He'll be invited to Red Card as well. We'll see what else he has to say. If he shows up."

What do you hold against the current head of state, Aleksandar Vučić?

"The fact that, after he organized his party in an exemplary fashion, and consolidated the economy and the fiscal system (although, hand on heart, I don't know what that is), he's now dragging his feet over emancipating and bringing refinement to the Progressive Party. It's as if he's afraid that, if he silences the crude voices and practices, the Progressives will lose their 'identity'. They won't. That's ineradicable in Serbia, but still formless. The Progressive Party would only stand to gain – and it's gaining anyway – if it were to uphold the standards of the European conservative parties. I'll invite Vučić to Red Card too, so that, if he shows up, we can talk about it as well."

Do you still think that people on Dragan Đilas's team are a danger to Serbia?

"Up to a point, inasmuch as they have taken up the entire opposition space. On the other hand – no, because if the people had an interest in liberal-democratic policies, neither Vučić nor Đilas could prevent the emergence of a strong opposition party."

You often insist on the political background to the murder of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, which we have not been able to uncover for nearly 20 years since the assassination. However, you claim that Đinđić's sacrifice was not in vain and that us surviving in vain is closer to the truth, as well as that he "did leave us too soon but not in vain."

"With Đinđić's murder, lawlessness brimmed over. Reality can withstand chaos, but only to a point, beyond which it puts an end to it. And that's where social entropy begins. If the so-called political background isn't dealt with, i.e. if we don't establish who said, 'Fire!', not who pulled the trigger – and I doubt we will – then what lies ahead is a bad infinity of bare subsistence and getting nowhere."

Can you see anyone today who is a champion of Đinđić's ideas?

"If he could, Đinđić would reply, 'Those aren't my ideas.' And they really aren't. Đinđić's project consisted of applying the best political experiences of the Western civilization, to which we do belong despite the considerable efforts to partner up with Kazakhstan and China. In other words – liberating human beings from the spectre of collectivity and the transition of the Serbian peoples – and I reckon there's no fewer than ten of those – into the Serbian nation. Sounds similar, but it isn't similar at all."

The presidential and parliamentary elections are getting nearer. What advice would you give to the current administration and the opposition?

"Not a day goes by without me handing out free advice to both the government and the opposition. Needless to say, it's as much use as a chocolate teapot. There's no reason to be that useless in an interview as well."

You have tried your hand at politics, and today you support the Civic Democratic Forum (GDF). Would you join any of the big parties?

"Yes, straightaway, if the big party in question had a party platform like the GDF."

Does the fact that we seem to have learnt very little from history scare you? Do you get the impression that we are going around in a circle made up of the same old issues, never resolving any and moving on?

"Hegel says – and he ought to be trusted – that no one has ever learnt anything from history. The problem with us is that our history lacks 'depth' or flow – the events contained in it don't become more distant, fade, or pass by; rather, they accumulate and become pressurized. Eventually a clog develops and presents an obstacle to the future."

Do you find it funny that more and more people are hiding behind some kind of patriotism, doing many things in the name of patriotism?

"No, I've always found it insipid."

Is it a good thing that no one dreams of the "Greater Serbia" now?

"I'm not so sure that no one has dreams of it. The fact that – all unavoidable wars notwithstanding – if such a Serbia hadn't been dreamed of, there'd be about 18 million Serbs rather than the current number, doesn't lead many of the dreamers to conclude that, should it keep going down the same road, both Serbia and its population may shrink even further."

What makes you use real-life figures like Ivo Andrić, Desanka Maksimović, Tin Ujević, an Milovan Đilas in your novels?

"Novels in general, not just my novels, are full of 'real-life' characters that are fictionalized upon entry into the novel."

You have described Desanka Maksimović once as a "barely mediocre poet," and Andrić as "an opportunist who manipulated people unscrupulously." Isn't that an exaggeration?

"De­san­ka Ma­k­si­mo­vić really was a barely mediocre poet. Andrić is a giant, but that doesn't mean he wasn't an opportunist or that he didn't manipulate people. It is an exaggeration, but exaggeration is part and parcel of my poetics."

Have you been escaping from literature into politics, i.e. writing columns on current affairs, or is it the other way around?

"I'm not trying to escape from anything. I do two jobs at the same time."

Have you read the novel "Children" by this year's NIN Award winner Milena Marković?

"I have. I read it last summer, long before it won the NIN Award. A powerful book. Breaks the mould of this culture of lying and affectation. A must-read."

Bo­ban Karović