On the occasion of 100-years anniversary since the birth of Serbian renaissance woman Milena Pavlović Barilli, Serbian Ministry of Culture, in cooperation with Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences (SANU), Milena Pavlović Barilli Foundation and Belgrade Museum of Modern Art, launched a wonderful website gallery, filled with hundreds of her paintings, sketches, studies and illustrations.
Painter, illustrator, poet, photographer, costume and fashion designer, Milena Pavlović Barilli was born in Serbian town Požarevac in 1909, as the only child of the aristocrat Danica Pavlović, a Karadjordjević descendant, and Italian composer Bruno Barilli. She was educated at the Royal Art Academy in Belgrade and later attended the Munich Academy of Arts. In 1939 she went to New York, where she lived until her sudden, premature passing in 1945.
Her poetic paintings, weaved with a whiff of surrealism and melodious modernism have the crispness, clarity, simplicity and contemporary apeal of vector art, while preserving the unique warmth of hand-painted artwork.
The new website gallery displaying Milena’s work also contains a number of famous magazine covers she illustrated in 1920s and 1930s, such as Vogue, Life and Red Book, as well as her illustrations for the haute couture clothing, shoes and perfumes.
An ongoing retrospective exhibition of Milena Pavlović Barilli’s artwork at SANU Gallery, titled “Dream of awakening” (17 July to 24 August), has thus far been seen by more than 61,000 visitors.
Divine justice in action: The eerie resemblance of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to Holy Tsar-Martyr Nicholas Romanov II (…and they thought they killed him)
President Medvedev: Guest of Serbian People, Not of the Ruling Elite
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev entrusted his country’s Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Konuzin with a task to gather the leaders of all Serbian parliamentary parties at the celebration he will attend, the anniversary of WWII liberation of Belgrade.
First man of the Russian Federation is coming to Serbia in October at the invitation of President Boris Tadić. Apart from the official meetings with Tadić and members of the Serbian government, President Medvedev expressed a desire to attend the celebration marking 65-years anniversary since the liberation of Belgrade and the victory against fascism.
According to the Serbian media, Ambassador Konuzin has already started to contact representatives of the Serbian opposition, asking them to attend the gala scheduled for October 20.
President Medvedev had sent a word he is coming to Serbia as a guest of Serbian people, not of the Serbian ruling elite alone.
Memorial to 72 Red Army Heroes Who Gave Their Lives for a Tiny Village in Serbia
The Sacred War, Tribute to the Red Army Heroes
Meanwhile, Serbian municipality Bor and its Veterans Association have announced they will unveil a memorial on October 7 to 72 Red Army soldiers who gave their lives for the liberation of the village Zlot in Timok region in October 1944.
In the fierce chest-to-chest battle against the fascist occupier that lasted several days, 72 Russian heroes fought until the last drop of blood, taking with them some 150 Germans.
Their heroic sacrifice was kept hidden during the time of West’s favorite dictator Tito, his Yugoslavia and the communist era, but legendary Serbian memory can’t be easily wiped out.
Recently discovered diary of the Serbian liberation soldier Bogoljub Jenić which describes the unparalleled heroism of the Russian troops who helped the Serbs push the enemy out for good in the final months of war, has signaled an era when it is once again safe to remember it all, including the unprecedented Russian sacrifices for freedom.
85-year-old Janko Ursuljanović, who also fought against the fascist occupier in Serbia recalls the spine-chilling battle as if it happened yesterday:
– Germans first dynamited the bridge in Brestovo hot springs. They were followed by the Red Army unit from the direction of Zaječar and Rgotin village. Fascists have set up the ambush in Zlot in the shape of a horseshoe, to which 9 Cossacks rushed in. They were all gunned down on the spot. The bloody battle begun, chest-to-chest, and it lasted until 6 October. Local peasants were gathering bodies of the fallen Russian heroes. They would place them on ox carts and take them to the portals of the old church, where they were burying them in the churchyard. In 1963, the remains of the Soviet liberators were moved to Zaječar Memorial.
New memorial to the Red Army heroes who have given their lives while liberating Zlot will be erected next to the statues of the Serbian WWII heroes from Zlot — Petar Granić, Jovan Muskalović, Jovan Dobrić (all three of whom German fascists threw alive into the pit from a nearby mountain Malinik), Petar Jokanović and Petar Radovanović.
During WWII German fascists bombed the village Zlot and burned it twice to the ground. Only in the First World War this tiny Serbian village gave 374 liberation heroes to their country.
Lieutenant Colonel Ilya Skrobnev, Assistant to the Russian Army representative in the Russian Embassy in Belgrade had visited Zlot two weeks ago and bowed to the shadows of the fallen Red Army heroes.
“Guča is the 8th world wonder! I have visited each of the seven wonders of the world, but I have just discovered our planet has the 8th wonder, the biggest of all. Coming from Japan on foot would be worth it. Serbs have brought their joy and pain, their history and future — all that they are and have, to this little town. They are sharing their soul with the world,” Yoshiro Nakai told Belgrade reporter in Guča, adding that he had come alone and found half a million friends in the tiny town in central Serbia, where the world’s biggest trumpet festival is taking place in August every year.
Another lazy summer in Serbia had shot up to the searing heat within minutes on the morning of August 5, as soon as the 49th Guča Festival officially opened. This is the time when Serbia becomes a sensuous belly button of the world, swaying, thumping, pulsating, undulating, throbbing and rocking in the exuberant rhythm and sound of the blazing trumpets.
According to numerous Guča visitors, the editors of the British web site ThisIsTheLife.com were right to declare Guča world’s best music festival. “Forget Glastonbury, Reading, Burning Man and Coachella: the wildest music festival on earth is a cacophonic and crazy brass band festival that takes place every summer in the tiny Serbian town of Guča in the western region of Dragačevo,” they said.
– Guča became a must on my list of places to visit each year, – Julienne from France said.
– The atmosphere here is incredible! Nowhere have I seen so many relaxed, happy people gathered in one place.
Among more than half a million guests world’s trumpet capital gathers every year, most coming from abroad are French, but one would be hard-pressed to find a nationality that doesn’t have an august representative in Guča during the festival week.
I Dig This!
For one week in August each year, Serbia becomes a pulsating belly-button of the world. Guča Trumpet Festival 2009
A group of twenty Aussies Belgrade reporter talked to said Guča is just around the corner. The long journey was instantly forgotten as soon as they stepped on the trembling ground of Serbian town, catching the rhythm on the fly and starting to dance traditional Serbian “Moravac”.
– Guča isn’t far when it’s this good! I’d travel seven days and nights just to see what is it that upholds these people, where do they get that positive energy and how much they enjoy life,” said John, who brought his four-member family to Guča.
Germany, Portugal, Italy, France, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, Britain… dance together in Guča — people of all nations, from all corners of the world, who don’t even speak the same language, but they understand each other perfectly when trumpets pierce the skies and fire up the thick August air.
– I am a punker, I have a feather on my head, so everyone’s asking how and why I came to a trumpet festival, – said George from Britain.
– I can’t explain it, but I admit I dig this rhythm… in a punk sorta way.
Dejan Petrović brass band, Guča 2009
Luke and Dominique from Switzerland have discovered the specialties from Dragačevo region — cheese, corn bread, roasted cabbage and kaymak — are no less delicious than the passionate trumpets, so they sample the beers and local food specialties between the street jams dancing.
– It’s so relaxed here, – Dominque said.
– We heard about the festival from a friend, searched it a bit on the internet and decided to come. This is the first time we are here and we are glad we came, we’ve got more than we hoped for. Guča is sooo cool!
Camilla and Matis are Swedish journalists. They said the great atmosphere and hospitality is what they expected, but Serbian brandy and barbecue specialties took them by surprise.
– In Sweden nobody eats meat for breakfast, this is an entirely new experience for us — we never had better breakfasts, – said Matis, while Camilla claims Serbian brandy is a nectar one can’t find anywhere else.
When a Serb gets to Hoist Serbian Flag in Dubrovnik…
Guča Festival also gathers tens of thousands of visitors from former Yugoslav republics, of which, traditionally, Slovenians are the most numerous visitors. This year, Slovenian brass band was among the bands staging midnight concerts at the big stage in Guča.
On the third day of festival, a group of Croats hoisted a Croat flag at the camp where they were staying. They refused to remove it after the other guests complained and were asked to move to another camp. The incident ended peacefully, without harsh exchanges.
– When I get to raise Serbian flag in Dubrovnik and live to talk about it, I won’t mind the Croat “chessboard” shoved up my nose here in Serbia, – Radenko from Banja Luka said, adding that Croats are perfectly safe in Guča, as long as they can refrain from provoking and poking their fingers in other people’s eyes.
Marchin’ In the Right Way
Sgt. Duke Stuble’s band is the very first foreign military band to play at the Serbian Trumpet Festival, Guča 2009
The second day of festival brought a surprising refreshment, when the rich, mellow sounds of jazz, blues and funk unexpectedly poured through the streets of a small town, gushing forth from the brass instruments of the U.S. Navy band visiting Guča from their Army base in Napoli, Italy.
– Hello, Guča!, – First Class Sgt. Duke Stuble greeted the crowd.
Suddenly Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Chuck Berry and Dizzy Gillespie were luring the crowds quickly gathered in front of the wide-smiling guys in white uniforms. They were joined by one of the Serbian orchestras, to play “When the Saints Go Marching in” together, a form of musical welcome to which the Americans responded with a famous Serbian melody “Silk Thread” (originally, a composition for violin). The courteous exchanges were quickly followed by the full-blown trumpet virtuosity match, to the joy of the thrilled public.
Sergent Stuble’s band is the very first foreign military band to play in Guča.
– It’s great here, people are very positive and happy, everyone’s having a good time, – Stuble said.
– I have never felt so much positive energy in one place. We’ve been here just a little while, but we also got carried away by the atmosphere here.
Stuble said he first heard him play nine years ago and that’s when he fell in love with trumpet and wished to come to Guča with his band.
Dragan Ignjić band, Guča 2009
The opportunity to fulfill his dream presented itself this year, when the official of American Embassy in Serbia Jennifer Brash invited the US Navy band to come to play in Guča.
– Guča is musicians’ paradise. We have learned a lot thanks to the music played here. Honestly, we didn’t know certain instruments could be used that way, until we heard the Serb musicians, – Stuble said.
Guča Forever
The American Navy band played again that same evening at the concert, alongside Boban Marković, the official King of Trumpet — a title he earned first in Guča, and then confirmed throughout the world — who holds a free concert in Guča every year, never failing to galvanize the crowds.
– If I keep paying back my debt to Guča all my life, I still won’t be able to pay it off, – he said.
– The festivals, the masters and the trumpeters will change, but Guča will remain the same forever — the best place on earth to play and be yourself.
According to the Belgrade media reports, Guča visitors from abroad were most interested in souvenirs with Chetnik symbols, regalia and iconography, including t-shirts with the image of General Draža Mihajlović and traditional Serbian caps made of fur (šubara) or cotton felt (šajkača) with Chetnik emblems.
Guča Festival organizers are promising to celebrate the next year’s 50th birthday (13-22 August 2010) in a grand style, worthy of a title of the wildest music festival on earth.
Čavić smashes Phelps’ record at Rome 2009 Swimming Championship
Who wins the race — any race? The one who gets first to the finish line, right? But that wasn’t so at 2008 Beijing Olympic Games where Serbia’s Milorad Čavić arrived to the finish line before Michael Phelps, and was given silver instead of a gold medal. Now that Omega, the official timekeeper, admitted Čavić beat Phelps at Beijing Olympics 100-meter butterfly on 14 August 2008, it’s high time to give Čavić back the gold medal that was stolen from him a year ago.
Čavić’s gold and silver medal in Rome and his latest successes were gloriously amplified by Serbia’s Nadja Higl, an adorable 22-year-old pint size redhead who stunned everyone by sinking top contenders for 200m breaststroke prize, winning gold in a contest against defending world champions — American, Canadian and European contenders.
So much for the tiny “landlocked” state, which came up sixth in the overall ranks of world 2009 water sports championship, ahead of Canada, Spain, France, Netherlands, Austria, Brazil, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary and most others.
Milorad Čavić, world’s top Dolphin
Golden Nadja — each freckle made of gold
Nadja Higl sank defending world champions in Rome
World water polo champions speak Serbian, Rome 2009
Serbian water polo team takes the world title in Rome
Give Čavić his Gold Back!
Omega’s underwater cameras clearly show Čavić (L) arrived first to the finish line at Beijing Olympics. Now Omega, the official timekeeper, has confirmed the Serb touched the pad before Phelps (R).
Bringing gold and silver medal from the latest world championship to his country, after loads of gold he was piling up at Serbian customs in the years before, cemented Čavić’s status of the world’s fastest Dolphin, thus far challenged only by the best American swimmer, Michael Phelps.
After last year’s shameful stain on the Olympic Games, when Milorad Čavić beat Phelps at 100m butterfly in Beijing, but was given silver nevertheless, being that Omega-sponsored FINA decided Phelps (also sponsored by Omega since 2004, by the way, in addition to his numerous other major corporate sponsors, such as Visa, Speedo, Hilton and AT&T) ought to be given the entire eight gold medals, claiming the American had touched the pad first although underwater cameras showed Čavić arriving to the finish line before him, there was more controversy in the wake of Čavić-Phelps 2009 face-off.
But the real news is that Omega changed its official story a year later, finally admitting what we all knew ever since: it was Čavić who won 100m fly in Beijing, not Phelps.
Official Omega underwater images show Čavić reaching the touch pad before Phelps extended his arms. Beijing Olympic Games 2008
On 1 August 2009 Christophe Berthaud, Omega Timing General manager said that “it is for sure — the video also shows it — that Čavić touched the pad before Phelps”, a statement that unambiguously sets things straight for good.
But then comes the gobbledygook, a bunch of gibberish to muddy the clear-cut case: …”but he was sliding, while Phelps was rushing onto pad and, in fact, pushed the pad — to stop the clock before Čavić”…. What?! What’s that supposed to mean?! Čavić arrived to the finish line first, there’s no question about that, but Phelps, who arrived second… ahem… he — pushed the pad?! And so, even though Čavić finished the race first, in fact, in reality, as a matter of fact, rather and indeedy-doody, whadayaknow — Phelps is the winner! Therefore, if the third guy had a hammer with him and had smashed the pad with it, he would be declared a winner, is that right? So, whoever hits the pad with most strength is the actual winner in 100m fly, and not the one who finishes the race first.
Nah, that won’t do! He who comes first wins. That’s all one has to do to win any race: reach the finish line FIRST. Čavić did just that, ergo Čavić won, ergo GIVE HIM BACK HIS GOLD MEDAL.
Danijela Tesla, great inventor’s youngest descendant, was only 5-years-old when she was forced to flee Croatia, along with all the Serbs from Krajina
Shameless Croats
Her name is Danijela Tesla, she is 18-years-old and lives in Smederevo, Serbian town near Belgrade. She is the youngest descendant of the “man who invented 20th century”, Serbian-born American immigrant Nikola Tesla.
Ever since the world’s greatest inventor — also regarded as “the greatest genius” that ever lived — closed his eyes in New York hotel on 7 January 1943, Tesla’s name and revolutionary inventions have been the subject of vicious contention between the governments, state officials and institutions, nations and corporations.
Recently, Walt Disney studio which wants to create a Tesla character for one sequence of their new animated film, had to ask Belgrade Nikola Tesla Museum — the only legal copyright owner of Tesla’s name and work — for permission. On the other hand, Croat designer Dragica Mihajlovic believes it is her God-given right to claim personal ownership of “all of Tesla’s intellectual-property rights”, an issue Tesla Museum intends to clear up.
Son of Serbian Orthodox priest Fr. Milutin Tesla and Đuka Mandić (herself a daughter of Serbian Orthodox priest, Fr. Nikola Mandić), Tesla was born on 10 July 1856 in Serbian Krajina (also known as Military Frontier — Vojna Krajina) in Austro-Hungary, today’s Croatia, which was populated with Serbian soldiers and their families by the Hapsburg Monarchy in 16th century, along the border with Ottoman Empire, as the last line of Western defense against the Turks.
Tesla, who was proud of his Serbian nationality and Orthodox heritage, said his “most exiting thought” in the struggle to achieve his ideals “on behalf of the whole of humanity,” was the fact “that it is a deed of a Serb”.
It is not surprising that Croats, who generally feel no shame over misappropriating the great inventor’s name and ethnic roots, see no contradiction in claiming Nikola Tesla as their own on the one hand and, on the other, committing monstrous genocides twice in 20th century against Tesla’s kith and kin — the Serbian population in Krajina.
The world can only thank divine providence Nikola Tesla was in United States and not in Serbian Krajina during WWII, at the time Croatia was a fascist state ruled by demented Ustasha butchers, when all of Krajina — including village Smiljan, Tesla’s birthplace — was drowned in Serbian blood, and 750,000 Serbs in Croatia were mutilated and slaughtered in Jasenovac, a complex of grisly Croat death camps.
Tesla’s Descendants were Subjected to Another Croat Pogrom of Serbs
Tesla’s descendants are a living proof of Croat hypocrisy and shamelessness, among them Danijela, who was only 5-years-old when Croat army under Franjo Tudjman launched another pogrom on Krajina Serbs, codenamed operation “Storm” (Oluja), in 1995. Without a father who passed away two years before, Danijela was forced to flee her village Raduč, where all the Teslas come from, with her mother Milka and more than 250,000 other Krajina Serbs. Their family house was dynamited and torched by the raging Croat army, but Danijela Tesla managed to reach Serbia.
“My father Dane is Nikola Tesla’s grand-grandchild — Nikola Tesla’s first cousin is the grand-grandfather of my father,” Danijela explains quietly, and only if asked.
She carries her name and heritage silently and unassumingly, along with the war scars, refugee status and life-long struggle for survival. Her mother works in Italy as a construction worker, to support herself and pay for her daughter’s education.
“She works at men’s jobs, painting, laying ceramic tiles, cementing… She was never doing that before, but she had to learn…,” Danijela said.
Although a talented artist, Danijela has decided to study economy since, as she puts it, “the life has taught me I can’t live off the love for art”.
She says she looks like her father, but the physical resemblance to her glorious ancestor is uncanny — the same gentle facial contours, same dreamy, introspective gaze, and refined, slender figure.
“My dad wrote two books. Tesla about Tesla was published in 1968, and Josip Broz Tito was among those who attended the promotion in Smiljan [in Serbian Krajina]. His second book, From Raduč to New York, was written in 1980,” Danijela said.
“I was in the seventh grade when I wrote an essay about Nikola Tesla where, in addition to all the data, I also included the family tree. It shows that my father Dane was Nikola’s grand-grandchild or, rather, that Nikola’s first cousin was my father’s grand-grandfather. My friends never realized my last name was connected to Nikola Tesla, and I never boasted about my heritage. I would only tell about it if someone asked,” Danijela told Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti.
Although the youngest, Danijela is not the last of Teslas. Her father had three brothers, all of them Tesla’s descendants from Raduč in Serbian Krajina and all presently living in Serbia — two in Belgrade and one in Leskovac.
After the Yugoslav civil war has ended, Milka Tesla submitted a request to Croat authorities for rebuilding of their destroyed family house in Raduč. When Milka and Danijela went to Zagreb to collect the necessary documents, Tesla’s kin were subjected to hostility and maltreatment, and police interrogation “like we were some criminals”. Even the Helsinki Board for Human Rights was forced to intervene in their defense — another nasty episode that speaks volumes about the Croat rights to Tesla’s name and legacy.
“Migration of the Serbs”, a masterpiece immortalizing the nation’s plight which propelled Pavle Jovanović to the rank of a national bard
150 Years of Excellence
Serbia has dedicated year 2009 to Pavle “Paja” Jovanović (1859-1957), nation’s greatest academic realist painter alongside Uroš Predić. On the occasion of 150 years since his birth, an exhibition of Pavle Jovanović’s paintings, drawings and sketches is being held from June 16 to July 16, in the town of Vršac (84 km northeast of Belgrade), the great master’s birthplace.
Born on 4 June 1859, Pavle Jovanović was a son of professional photographer Stevan Jovanović, a gifted artist in his own right.
His extravagant talent became apparent in the early childhood, when attending liturgical services with his parents before the iconostasis painted by Pavle Đurković and Arsa Teodorović left a permanent imprint on Jovanović’s aesthetic sensibility, sparking passion for monumental epic compositions that will follow prodigal painter throughout his life and on his many journeys.
“An inexplicable desire to paint and make live images awakened in me before I have learned to read and write. This desire grew with me, until I finally realized I must start painting. This was the beginning of my artistic career, and the Church was my first teacher,” Pavle Jovanović wrote in his memoirs.
As an established, famed artist, highly praised by the critics abroad and at home, where he was commissioned to paint portraits of the members of Serbian royal family (including King Aleksandar and Queen Marija Karadjordjević), Pavle Jovanović enshrined his gratitude to Serbian Orthodox Church by painting, free of charge, entire iconostasis for two churches in northern Serbia — Church of Translation of the relics of St. Nicholas in the town of Dolovo, and Saborna Church in Novi Sad, as well as frescoes on the walls of Orthodox Cathedral in Sremski Karlovci (Saborna Crkva).
A Superb Story Teller
He was only 14-years-old when his town church asked him to make sketches for church icons, the task remarkably gifted boy cherished and accomplished with great pleasure, drawing great admiration and praise for his work.
“Vršac Triptych” by Pavle Jovanović, showing scenes of everyday life in northern Serbia drew a lot of praise from art critics and public alike at 1896 Millennium Exhibition in Budapest
He enrolled in Vienna Academy of Fine Arts when he was 16, in the class of professor Christian Grippenkerl, and graduated 4 years later, in 1880.
Jovanović earned a reputation of a formidable artist already during his studies, when his majestic canvases narrating the story of his creed and nation, its folklore, history and heroic epos aroused interest in the richness of culture unknown in the West, even as it flourished right next by. In 1882 he was awarded the prize of Vienna Academy for the best student painting (“Wounded Montenegrin”) and was given czar scholarship from the personal fund of Emperor Ferdinand Joseph.
The following year, in 1883, upon the recommendation of one of his art professors, Leopold Carl Miller, Jovanović was offered a contract with London art gallery named “French”. According to his memoirs, 23-year-old prodigy was immediately given more than he could ever imagine, a personal bank account, a large private studio with garden, servants and all he may need to keep painting, for as long as he was submitting his finished artwork to Gallery French, which was particularly interested in “oriental motifs”.
His Orient-themed compositions, such as “The Harem”, “Cockfighting” and a number of paintings and sketches — now mostly in private collections — from his travels to Caucasus, Morocco, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Italy and Spain, which he undertook from London, are from this period. The lyrical “Decorating of the Bride” showing wedding customs and national costumes of southern Serbs (Vranje), and masculine “Fencing Lesson” — a glimpse into the life of Herzegovina Serbs, also belong to this cycle.
From Mundane to Sacramental
Jovanović became a member of the Serbian Royal Academy when he was only 29-years-old, in 1888. After his Oriental period in London, he went back to his favorite cycle of themes, narrating Serbian history. His most famous painting, “Migration of the Serbs” (top) depicting massive exodus of the Serbian nation under the Peć Patriarch Arsenije III Čarnojević, fleeing from their southern province of Kosovo and Metohija in front of the savage Tatars and Turks in 1690 (in history also called the Great Migration), was commissioned by the Patriarch of Serbian Orthodox Church Georgije (Branković) and Sremski Karlovci Church Synod in 1895.
Pavle Paja Jovanović, at 92-years of age
It was this iconic masterpiece, a monument to Golgotha of the nation bearing the Cross, that has elevated already accomplished artist to the position of a national bard, making his work one of the very few pieces regarded worthy of standing side by side with religious iconography.
According to professor Miodrag Jovanović who opened Vršac exhibition, Pavle Jovanović intended to send “Migration of the Serbs” for his country’s entry at the Millennium Exhibition in Budapest in 1896, but Patriarch Georgije wanted the sheep painted out, to give politically more attractive presentation of the nation, as a counterbalance to the composition depicting Hungarian arrival to the Pannonia region, where they were presented as a nation of knights and noblemen alone.
Jovanović wouldn’t remove the unsightly sheep, so his dazzling Vršac Triptych (above right), showing everyday scenes from northern Serbia was sent to Budapest instead, where it was given a central position and profusely praised by the numerous art critics ever since.
After 1905 he devoted himself to painting portraits in the style of academic realism, showing exquisite delicacy and an impressive range of characters, from the bohemian Painter Simington and luscious Lady with a Hat, to pink and proper Mrs. Hudson, intense Mihajlo Pupin and mysterious Muni, artist’s wife.
In 1940 Pavle Jovanović was given the title of the honorary citizen of Vršac, and in 1949 Yugoslav state rewarded him with the Order of Merit for People of the first category. His life between Vienna and Belgrade became quiet and lonely after his wife’s early passing. He passed away at 99 years of age, on 30 November 1957, leaving a will according to which the urn with his ashes was to be moved to Belgrade, his favorite city which was given most of his works and personal belongings, and where the Legacy of Paja Jovanović was established in 1970. In 1977, the permanent commemorative exhibition of Pavle Paja Jovanović was opened in Vršac.
Serbian Orthodox Hieromonk Amvrosije, the sole guardian and hegumen (Serb. iguman, abbot) of the recently restored 12th century monastery Kovilje, has tamed two wolves, a fox, an eagle, a snake, raven, rabbit and an owl. His parishioners say their devoted young priest is a God’s miracle.
At one time, there were many monks in Kovilje Monastery, situated at the foot of a spectacular Javor Mountain in central Serbia. The 12th century Serbian Orthodox monastery with two cave churches, Church of St. Archangel Gabriel and St. Nicholas Church, even housed a school in the old times. Today, there is only one monk praying and serving here, in the ancient ascetic monastery exuding ethereal peace, shrouded in nature’s opulence.
Ever since Serbian television broadcast a documentary about the devout young hieromonk, the story about Hegumen Amvrosije (Alimpijević) and his “pact with wolves” had crossed Serbian borders, and tens of thousands of people have seen YouTube videos of him with the female wolf Fr. Amvrosije calls Alpha.
“I am neither a saint, nor a miracle-worker,” Fr. Amvrosije told Politika reporter.
“The whole story was misunderstood: it is not me taming the animals, it is they who have accepted me. Through my friendship with them, I am getting the answers to some of my questions. There are some things I can’t explain, things that can’t be put to words”, he said.
Wounded by God’s Love
Very few visitors come to Kovilje Monastery. The hallowed silence surrounding the old shrine spreading into the rock cave is interrupted only by the sound of birds, water rushing through creeks and church bells. Fr. Amvrosije said he enjoys the solitude after serving in Studenica Monastery for three-and-a-half years.
“In Studenica I was a guide to 20 busloads of visitors a day. In the evening, when I would return to my cell and close my eyes, the faces kept flying by… That is not for me, I have found peace here,” Fr. Amvrosije said.
Highly educated, gracious 29-year-old hegumen chose a life calling atypical for his generation.
“A monk is a man wounded by God’s love. I went to monastery when I was 20-years-old and I would do the same again”, he told reporters while serving them coffee and Serbian brandy, Slivovitz.
An Acre of Sky
RTS documentary about Father Amvrosije, Part 1 (in Serbian)
A mobile phone is his only connection to the world. He says he must have one because of his parishioners, scattered through a 45-kilometer radius. Fr. Amvrosije serves the Holy Liturgies, officiates at marriage sacraments, Slava celebrations and funerals, he baptizes and performs the last rites on the outskirts of Javor Mountain, which belongs to Serbian Orthodox Žiča Diocese.
In addition to theology, Kovilje hegumen also graduated at the music college and plays piano and guitar. He sees his family members three times a year. His 9 years younger brother Aleksandar plays football in Hungary. When he visited Fr. Amvrosije in Kovilje Monastery, he said:
“What is this? An acre of sky?”
“Yes, an acre of sky and mountain with Church at its heart”, Fr. Amvrosije responded.
A 4-wheel-drive and a motorcycle are parked next to monastic quarters.
“I received the 4-wheel-drive and a bike as a gift a month ago, thanks to the RTS documentary theology professor Miloš Vesin from Libertyville in United States had seen. Professor, his students and parishioners have collected money to provide me with transportation in these roadless mountains,” Fr. Amvrosije said.
Before the generous gift from American Serbs, Fr. Amvrosije was visiting his parishioners on foot, often crossing dozens of miles in harshest weather, suitable only for wolves which are befriending the young priest.
The Essence of Love
When Politka reporter asked if it was possible to see his famous female wolf Alpha, Kovilje hegumen whistled few times and a beautiful timber wolf sneaked up behind them, but kept its distance in the presence of outsiders.
“She will not approach anyone and no one can touch her except me, which is only natural, because I brought her up,” Fr. Amvrosije explained, as the wolf cautiously circled around the suspicious intruders.
“She was only 15-days-old when they brought her to me, she had just opened her eyes. I was feeding her every four hours, first with milk, then with ground meat. I gave her the name Alpha, because they told me she was the biggest in the litter and probably destined to be an alpha female.”
RTS documentary about Father Amvrosije, Part 2 (in Serbian)
Reminded of an old saying that “the wolf changes hair but never its nature”, Fr. Amvrosije responds:
“Love changes its hair, but never its essence.”
Alpha is now 10-months-old and it is still considered a cub, since wolves become mature and fully grown when they reach 2 years of age. She has her box in the monastery, where she sleeps at night (so she wouldn’t start raiding the local stables and chicken coups), but during the day she is free to roam the woods.
“I had another wolf before, she was also a female, but I didn’t bring up that one, she was wild. We were all going on walks together, but after a while she wouldn’t go to her box, I had to carry her in. She is now in Čačak animal reserve,” Fr. Amvrosije said.
Apart from wolves, Kovilje monk was also befriended by a fox, which only comes by at night.
“The fox comes over only at night, she is more cautious than the wolf. I took her from some hunters in Niš, she was the size of a cup. I also had an eagle, he was entirely tame, he wouldn’t fly away. He was killed by the drunken hunters… I was always afraid they’d kill the wolf first…”, Fr. Amvrosije said.
He had also tamed a snake, a raven, a rabbit, an owl and a parrot. In a documentary about Kovilje Monastery, hegumen Amvrosije said that most of these birds and animals were brought to him by his parishioners, who would find them ill, wounded or deserted. Fr. Amvrosije would nurse them, raise them and take care of them, until they were strong enough to go back to their own. But they kept returning and some, like Alpha, never leave the sight of the kindhearted monk.
“There is a pitfall there,” he explains. “Animals always give us back more than they receive, it is easy to love them, they play fair. It is much harder to love men, much more difficult, relations with people are very complex. So one can start shying away from people, getting secluded and isolated. Being with people, relating to people takes a lot of courage and love, it is a spiritual feat [podvig]. But we must strive to love people and live in harmony with them.”
Kovilje hieromonk will soon be separated from his wolf, when Alpha gets transported to the natural reserve in Bulgaria, to live with other wolves. Asked if he will be sad without his friend, Fr. Amvrosije said:
“One has to give freedom to those he loves, that is the true love. Us humans have a hard time coming to terms with it, but we are slowly learning.”
Iranian Coup d’État: Shade of Green and the Same Clenched Fist
We know Washington is orchestrating and funding coup d’état presently taking place in Iran, among else because it was reported back in 2006 that United States decided to use covert means to remove Ahmadinejad from power, from within — it is much cheaper, safer and entirely pain-free for the Empire, in comparison to an open warfare.
We also know pro-US activists in Iran have been receiving “aid from the West” since 2004, when the so-called “Iran Human Rights Documentation Center” based at Yale University, received $1 million from “a smaller American government aid program intended for Iran’s opposition inside the country”.
In 2006 Bush administration demanded $75 million from the US Congress “to encourage opposition to Iran’s ruling mullahs”.
Washington also ran and sponsored secret workshops since April 2005 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where paid Iranian “activists” were being trotted for instructions on how to topple Ahmadinejad.
One of the trainers Washington brought over to Dubai to teach young Iranians how to destroy their country and hand it over to the Empire on a silver platter, is no other than the US State Department’s traveling revolution salesman, Otpor activist Ivan Marovic.
“The content of the workshop consisted of explaining the principles of mobilizing the population in the situation where fear is high and there are tensions in the society, meaning they are facing a political crisis.
“We discussed how to overcome that crisis without destruction of property and loss of human life. These are nonviolent strategies of civic mobilization. This is a standard workshop based on the examples from Otpor, our fight against Slobodan Milosevic,” Marovic said.
Serbian Otpor logo
Now in Iran
Recycling Revolutions, Cutting on Design and Printing Costs
Yet, the U.S. president claims he knows nothing about this.
Obama says he “saw on television” that Iranian protesters, fashioning their “peaceful demonstrations” after Serbian Otpor — trained and financed by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), International Republican Institute (IRI), US Agency for International Development (USAID), Freedom House and other Washington-based institutions specializing in toppling the governments which refuse to be subjugated by the United States — intend to remove Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from power.
Obama says he’s “deeply troubled”. So are we.
Kmara, Georgia
Pora!, Ukraine
KelKel, Kyrgyzstan
Oborona, Russia
Following the Same Script
Just like Otpor and so many color revolutions and “popular movements” after October 2000 (which used elections as a trigger), Iranian demonstrators are following a foolproof script — starting massive riots over the claim elections were rigged and they have been cheated (“Where is my vote?”)
Eagerly backed by the ready chorus of zealous Western news agencies, with 24/7 media coverage repeating the same scenes over and over, drumming it up in every corner of the world (unlike the popular movements entirely unpopular in the West, such as months-long massive street protests attempting to topple Washington-installed Gyurcsany of Hungary or Georgia’s Saakashvili, which received almost no coverage by the Western MSM), Iranian demonstrators are instructed to keep insisting “their” president is not the one who won the elections (Ahmadinejad), but the man Washington wants to install (Mousavi, a US puppet predictably hailed by the Western mainstream media as a “pro-reform” candidate). Like Otpor in Serbia in 2000, they demand recount of the votes or, even better, brand new elections. In either case, an “independent”, Washington-funded body will be tasked with declaring preferred candidate a winner.
Although advertising their state coup as a “nonviolent movement”, Iranian protesters, like Otpor, Kmara, Pora and others before them, are attacking and provoking security forces, throwing stones at them, ganging up on lone policemen, getting up in their faces, swearing at them and mocking them while on duty, in order to provoke violent reactions in front of cameras and to destroy an aura of respect and authority security forces commonly have among the ordinary people, who haven’t been paid by the Washington to demolish every institution of their state under the present government.
And, like many times before, the state — unwilling to use force against the masses — is losing again.
Now, if United States was a democracy and if its media was free, we could hope Obama will eventually be informed about this too by his state television. But as it is, the US president is destined to remain more ignorant about the world he lives in than we are.
Heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at a two-day summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia
The Beginning of an End of US Hegemony
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) two-day summit, followed by a meeting of the BRIC heads of state (Brazil, Russia, India and China) in Yekaterinburg, Russia, according to some American experts, signals the end of the US world dominance.
The leaders of Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries backed on Tuesday Russia’s proposal on using national currencies in mutual settlements and introducing a common currency for the group.
The common currency would be similar to the European currency unit, in use in the EC until the introduction of the euro in 1999.
The SCO, which comprises Russia, China and four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – held a summit in the Russian Urals city of Yekaterinburg on Tuesday.
The summit’s participants said that the current structure of the world currency system, dominated by the U.S. dollar as the major global reserve currency, was far from ideal and that the appearance of new reserve currencies was inevitable.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told the summit that the Shanghai group member states should increase the share of national currencies in mutual settlements to reduce dependence on the dollar and improve the health of the global financial system.
“The current set of reserve currencies and the main reserve currency – the U.S. dollar – have failed to function as they should,” Medvedev told the summit, adding that the Russian ruble could hopefully become a reserve currency in the foreseeable future.
Russia’s Prime Minister Putin won cheers from the residents in Pikalyovo, in the region surrounding St Petersburg, for getting their unpaid wages and restarting their factories.
Premier Putin arrived in the town of Pikalyovo on Thursday, after crowds of the hungry unpaid workers took to the streets and blocked a motorway protesting over unpaid wages and the loss of jobs. Three major enterprises of the town, run by three billionaires, were shut down, and nearly all of the townsfolk — 22,000 people — found themselves unemployed overnight, and left without the basic means for living.
After the local oligarchs and the region’s governor gave him a tour of dilapidated cement, alumina and chemical factories, covered in rust and splotched with ponds of filthy water and industrial waste, Putin asked why the facilities look like “a junk heap”.
He gathered the owners, local governor and worker representatives to a meeting, to discuss the problem.
“It is not so much the economic crisis as the dispute between the three owners”, one of the owners admitted, revealing the billionaires’ bickering over who should pay for what.
When the three major enterprises of the town were shut down, in addition to losing their jobs, the locals had their heat turned off and their homes cut off from hot water supplies: the town’s boiler-house was shut down too.
After hearing out all the parties, Putin forced the oligarchs to pay the workers salary debts in entirety — 41.2 million rubles (approx. 1.3 million USD, or around 1M euros) — within one day.
“The wage debt worth 41,240,000 rubles must be paid off today,” Putin said.
“People must not fall victims to businesses’ ambitions and greed”, he added.
The factories belong to three tycoons, with Oleg Deripaska’s BaselCement, affiliated with his Basic Element company, being the largest.
“Now give me my pen back”
Enough to Impress the Rothschilds, but Not Enough to Feed his Workers
Deripaska used to be ranked Russia’s richest man and although he mourns losing the chunk of his immense wealth during the recent recession, he apparently still has plenty left over to schmooze with Rothschilds on his 73-meters long sailing palace in Montenegro, former Yugoslav republic half of which he already owns (and pining for more), but not enough to pay the salaries of his factory workers who ensured his rolling in opulence and obscene luxury doesn’t get disrupted.
Deripaska, whose fortune was evaluated at $28 billion last year, was visibly nervous during the meeting with Putin.
When the contract about the delivery of raw materials needed for factories to resume work was signed by the other parties and returned to Putin, he asked if Deripaska had signed it too.
Deripaska nodded.
“Mr. Deripaska, I don’t see your signature here. Come here and sign it now,” Putin said, setting a pen onto the table.
After a minute-long sweating over the contract, Deripaska signed the document, turned around and left holding the pen in his hand.
“Now give me my pen back,” Putin told him.
“You have made thousands of people hostage to your ambitions, your lack of professionalism and, possibly, your trivial greed. This is absolutely unacceptable,” Putin told Deripaska and two other oligarchs who own cement and alumina factories in Pikalyovo.
“Where is your social responsibility? Where is it? We keep talking about it non-stop. No one in the administration will ever convince me that the regional administration has done all they could to help the people. When I told you that I was going to come here, what did you tell me? You said that I shouldn’t come, you said you would show me a different enterprise. Why was everyone running around like cockroaches here before my arrival?” the prime minister said, in an apparently calm voice, but looking dangerously pale and focused.
“One more thing,” Putin said.
“If you cannot come to an agreement with each other to solve the problem, we shall do it without you. That’s all. Thank you,” Putin said before leaving.
Immediately, all of the problems in Pikalyovo were solved. The factories were reopened, the workers got their jobs and wages back, with the money reportedly already being transferred to their bank accounts.
DeConstruct E-Zine 
Otpor Now in Iran, Courtesy of Uncle Sam
In Commentary, Earlier, Weekend on June 17, 2009 at 4:06 pmIranian “Otpor” activist
Iranian Coup d’État: Shade of Green and the Same Clenched Fist
We know Washington is orchestrating and funding coup d’état presently taking place in Iran, among else because it was reported back in 2006 that United States decided to use covert means to remove Ahmadinejad from power, from within — it is much cheaper, safer and entirely pain-free for the Empire, in comparison to an open warfare.
We also know pro-US activists in Iran have been receiving “aid from the West” since 2004, when the so-called “Iran Human Rights Documentation Center” based at Yale University, received $1 million from “a smaller American government aid program intended for Iran’s opposition inside the country”.
In 2006 Bush administration demanded $75 million from the US Congress “to encourage opposition to Iran’s ruling mullahs”.
Washington also ran and sponsored secret workshops since April 2005 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where paid Iranian “activists” were being trotted for instructions on how to topple Ahmadinejad.
One of the trainers Washington brought over to Dubai to teach young Iranians how to destroy their country and hand it over to the Empire on a silver platter, is no other than the US State Department’s traveling revolution salesman, Otpor activist Ivan Marovic.
“The content of the workshop consisted of explaining the principles of mobilizing the population in the situation where fear is high and there are tensions in the society, meaning they are facing a political crisis.
“We discussed how to overcome that crisis without destruction of property and loss of human life. These are nonviolent strategies of civic mobilization. This is a standard workshop based on the examples from Otpor, our fight against Slobodan Milosevic,” Marovic said.
Serbian Otpor logo
Now in Iran
Recycling Revolutions, Cutting on Design and Printing Costs
Yet, the U.S. president claims he knows nothing about this.
Obama says he “saw on television” that Iranian protesters, fashioning their “peaceful demonstrations” after Serbian Otpor — trained and financed by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), International Republican Institute (IRI), US Agency for International Development (USAID), Freedom House and other Washington-based institutions specializing in toppling the governments which refuse to be subjugated by the United States — intend to remove Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from power.
Obama says he’s “deeply troubled”. So are we.
Kmara, Georgia
Pora!, Ukraine
KelKel, Kyrgyzstan
Oborona, Russia
Following the Same Script
Just like Otpor and so many color revolutions and “popular movements” after October 2000 (which used elections as a trigger), Iranian demonstrators are following a foolproof script — starting massive riots over the claim elections were rigged and they have been cheated (“Where is my vote?”)
Eagerly backed by the ready chorus of zealous Western news agencies, with 24/7 media coverage repeating the same scenes over and over, drumming it up in every corner of the world (unlike the popular movements entirely unpopular in the West, such as months-long massive street protests attempting to topple Washington-installed Gyurcsany of Hungary or Georgia’s Saakashvili, which received almost no coverage by the Western MSM), Iranian demonstrators are instructed to keep insisting “their” president is not the one who won the elections (Ahmadinejad), but the man Washington wants to install (Mousavi, a US puppet predictably hailed by the Western mainstream media as a “pro-reform” candidate). Like Otpor in Serbia in 2000, they demand recount of the votes or, even better, brand new elections. In either case, an “independent”, Washington-funded body will be tasked with declaring preferred candidate a winner.
Although advertising their state coup as a “nonviolent movement”, Iranian protesters, like Otpor, Kmara, Pora and others before them, are attacking and provoking security forces, throwing stones at them, ganging up on lone policemen, getting up in their faces, swearing at them and mocking them while on duty, in order to provoke violent reactions in front of cameras and to destroy an aura of respect and authority security forces commonly have among the ordinary people, who haven’t been paid by the Washington to demolish every institution of their state under the present government.
And, like many times before, the state — unwilling to use force against the masses — is losing again.
Now, if United States was a democracy and if its media was free, we could hope Obama will eventually be informed about this too by his state television. But as it is, the US president is destined to remain more ignorant about the world he lives in than we are.