The coronavirus crises has showed that the world is in hands of crazy people, and that’s what worries me the most. As a matter of fact, we live on a planet ready to disappear, and the coronavirus proved it, the editor-in-chief of Danas daily, Mr Dragoljub Draža Petrović, assessed in an interview for CdM.
Key moments of the interview with Mr Petrović
CdM: How do you see events caused by the coronavirus pandemic?
Petrović: People around the entire world got a slap from either God or the nature, depending on your belief. Dolphins have been spotted alongside Venice’s canals, but you can’t see it as you are quarantined. But if you go to Venice, if we all go to Venice, you won’t see them anymore – they will run away from us. What an absurd situation!
CdM: Has Serbia, in your opinion, responded timely to the pandemic? Which country has acted the best?
Petrović: The pandemic in Serbia started under the slogan ‘You better die from laughing than from being infected with the coronavirus’, as President Vučić included professor Nestorović in his team. To be frank, professor Nestorović is a great pediatric pulmonologist, but he was the first to start stores at official press conferences that this virus was ridiculous, the most ridiculous in history, that only Facebook could recognize it, and no one should wear face masks.
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In late February, our leading epidemiologist, Mr Predrag Kon, was telling that we were going to face only one form of the disease which resembles flu, and that’s all. He literally told that we were going to be lightly hit by the virus with few fatalities, but that certainly can’t affect the life in Serbia.
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I think that Serbia will rather need a crisis staff of psychiatrists after this all passes.
CdM: It’s obvious that President Vučić used this situation to promote himself as ‘a rescuer’ of Serbia. How do you comment on his actions in the midst of the coronavirus crisis?
Petrović: …
He wishes to present himself as an unusual power that appears to solve problems, so we were facing certain situations – the virus was described as ridiculous in one moment and in another – we were under the lockdown and 12-hour curfew.
The president should run a country, not a campaign, he/she should make strategic decisions rather than distributing ventilators from town to town with a bunch of bodyguards and journalists.
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CdM: Are you afraid of the situation the world is facing nowadays?
Petrović: This situation has showed that the world is in hands of crazy people, and that’s what worries me the most. You could hear that a leader of the greatest Western force, Mr Trump, had proposed the citizens to drink bleach and disinfection products. It’s disturbing to know that you live on a planet run by dangerous people…
CdM: How will the coronavirus crisis affect financing of the media in Serbia and the region? What do you think?
Petrović: I’m optimistic when it comes to the media, as readability of those ones that people trust, and are not part of the regime, surged during the pandemic. Of course, we are to face the economic crisis, decreased number of ads, but to be honest, Danas daily didn’t have them many anyway due to government’s pressures on companies and public enterprises.
CdM: Conspiracy theories and fake news are spread on a daily basis around the entire world since the start of the outbreak. A vast majority of the public believes in them. What do you think about it and is there a way to stop them?
Petrović: The best fake news was the one claiming that the virus may have leaked from a lab event though it’s not normal that some of the most powerful world’s countries, and all of them have been hit by the virus, haven’t invented a virus vaccine. When you develop a biological weapon, you immediately produce an antidote.
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CdM: There was a curfew launched in Serbia during Easter. Do you think it was a good thing to do?
Petrović: The Bible says that Jesus once said something like this: “The church is where I am,” more specifically – “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them,” but meanwhile, someone thought that the church is much more important than God.
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CdM: The Serbian Orthodox Church was against the curfew. Representatives of the SPC in Montenegro even claimed that Easter service could have been done while abiding by the lockdown measures. They also claimed the lockdown measures violated people’s right to religion. What do you think about this?
Petrović: If you see it like that, then President Vučić violated religious freedom in Serbia. The problem with our people is that they love overemphasizing their religious aspirations, that ceremonial visits to churches even though religion is a private matter. You won’t meet a true worshiper baptizing in a tram while passing beyond a church, only the new, modern worshipers, growing up in communist families, whose grandpas loved Tito.
CdM: Can you compare the life in Serbia during the regime of Slobodan Milošević, Boris Tadić and President Vučić? When was the worst time for Serbia?
Petrović: That can’t be even compared. Milošević was a war president, Boris Tadić a transitional one, while Vučić is the president of everything – from a chess federation to the society of epidemiologists, depending on what he makes gains. Vučić is the most narcissistic of the three, though it was difficult to beat Tadić in that regard.
Vučić seems to be the worst one, as he appeared as a result of negative selection. And he’s a proof that Serbs can swallow everything and choose anyone to lead them.
