OTPOR

I've used this symbol on my website, my car and now on this blog to represent posts of a political nature. It is not merely the drawing of a fist. It is emblem of OTPOR (the serb word for 'resistance'), the student youth movement that helped bring down Slobodan Molisevic. It was remarkable in that this non-violent movement was not seeking power, merely the overthrow of Milosevic. He did loose the presidential election on September 24th, 2000. He refused to step down from power. But popular pressure, with the help of OTPOR, lead to Milosevic stepping down on Oct 5th, 2000. Graffiti played a major role in the movement's mode of action and their mobilization of the rest of the population.

Otpor became famous because of its favourite weapon: caustic slogans spray-painted on the walls of Serbia’s cities. The first, when nobody had heard of them yet, was the clearest and simplest, a kind of birth certificate: "Resistance until Victory". In December 1999, Otpor wished everybody a happy new year of resistance. A few months before the events of October 5, "The year 2000 will be the one" could be read on walls everywhere. They were right. They also invented a new resistance measurement unit called the 'otpormeter'. After the September 24 elections, the famous "Gotov je" (He’s cooked) became the slogan spray-painted most on walls, staircases and in bar restrooms. On October 5, when a bulldozer broke down the door of the state radio and television headquarters, the government’s main propaganda mouthpiece, Otpor printed posters and calendars with the slogan, "A bulldozer-operator is asleep in all of us." Leery of all politicians, even if they belong to the opposition, Otpor’s new slogan is, "We’re keeping an eye on you." From UNESCO