THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 6, 1997 TAG: 9702060014
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 40 lines
The biggest story of our time is not the O.J. Simpson case or contentions between Democrats and Republicans. It continues to be the collapse of authoritarian regimes and the spread of democracy and free markets. The tide may finally have reached Serbia.
Repressive governments relaxed their hold with surprising ease in some formerly communist countries - notably in the case of Prague's velvet revolution and in East Germany. The birth pangs were worse in the Soviet Union and in parts of Eastern Europe where tanks in the streets were not uncommon.
In the former Yugoslavia authoritarians have clung to power with ugly consequences. The latest conflict has concerned the refusal of Serbia's Slobodan Milosevic to recognize the results of November elections that his Socialist Party lost in Belgrade and 13 other cities. Nightly protests have filled the streets and challenged the dinosaur dictator.
Now, after the spasmodic and half-hearted application of force in recent days, Milosevic has caved. The elected delegates will apparently be seated after all, creating a government antithetical to Milosevic's wishes. His power will be diminished and there's the chance that democratic evolution will replace either violent revolution or continued repression.
The fact that Milosevic is recognizing the election results after months of protests doesn't mean clear sailing. Simultaneously, Milosevic was trying to deny a private TV station critical of the regime access to a transmitter. Nevertheless, events in similarly repressive regimes suggest that once the demand for greater freedoms gets up a head of steam, it is hard to reverse direction.
The United States has backed the protesters and endorsed the election results. That's as it should be. American colonists started these developments more than 200 years ago when they demanded self-determination, won it and devised a system of government based on the freedoms contained in the Bill of Rights. When others try to emulate that history and adopt our ideals, our support should follow.