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A BRIEF HISTORY OF BELGRADE
by Jason R.
 It has been a year now since I made my way to Belgrade, capital of Serbia and the former Republic of Yugoslavia. I dug in on the brink of winter, not realizing of course that the move from Florida to a Serbian winter would be something akin to moving from Venus to Mars, and began observing the locals. I suppose we should start with:
There have been settlements in this area, at the conflux of the rivers Sava and Danube, for millenia. The first concretely recorded settlement was the Celtic city of Singidunum, thusly the Serbian love of beer (the only remaining evidence of the Celtic occupation is the Irish pub at the center of town). They hung about drinking and playing bagpipes until the end of the first century, when they were routed by the Romans (a natural eventuality in those days). The Romans stayed till around 441 when the Huns showed up (another eventuality), gave them a grand Mongolian barbeque, destroyed the city, and sent them on their way. From then follows the quick interspersion of Sarmatians, Eastern Goths, Gepids, Avars, and the Byzantine empire. Naturally, the city is plundered and razed in each subsequent change of hands.
Finally, the Slavs conquer the city in 630 and bring some degree of stability (the name Jugoslavia translates as "land of the southern Slavs"). The name "Belgrade" is first recorded in 878.
For the next 1000 years or so, the city is bludgeoned, burned, trampled, crushed, called very nasty names, and passed between the empires of the Austrians, Franks, Bulgarians, Turks, Hungarians, Byzantines, and Slavs. The city is rebuilt and refashioned and ruined many times over, giving it a sort of "Frankencity" look that abides even today. I think Belgrade is one of the only cities to be bombed by both the Axis AND Allied forces during WWII (it's true, the Serbs did help us fight the Nazis though).
"Belgrade was under some form of attack some 54 times since 1 AD or every 37 years on average. This means that, statistically, every citizen of Belgrade has seen two attacks on the city in his/her life." - from Wikipedia
Naturally, we've all heard of the recent turmoil in these parts, though delving too deeply into that would eclipse this entire piece. Let it suffice to say that the last 14 years has seen the massive civil war that divided Yugoslavia, the rise and fall of Milosevic, a NATO bombing, the assassination of president Zoran Djindjic, and a great number of other muckings about.
Belle Gradient Circles
The face of Belgrade now is surprisingly optimistic. The youth culture here is more interested in moving on with life than mulling over what's happened. The election of democrat Boris Tadic brought forth more young voters then ever previously recorded, which is quite natural considering the hard line radical right wing cat who WOULD have come into office. Most of the young people have a progressive view of the direction they believe Serbia should take, and are generally good natured and well educated.
In some parts of town, you can hardly distinguish Belgrade from any other modern European city. For example, the pedestrian street Knez Mihailova. A bustle of people milling about in kafanas, cafes, expensive boutiques and art galleries... surrounded by beautifully facaded brightly colored buildings. The fountains that provided water for everyone back in the days before plumbing have been made into monuments from which people still drink today. Street performers of every ilk and age are passed at regular intervals, and all manner of Serbian culinary delicacies vended. It's lovely, really... at any given point in a day if you find yourself overtaken by restlessness or boredom, you can always make your way downtown for a stroll.
The cafe scene is really something. The cafes are really what give that sort of European feel to everything, and everyone has preferred locations for espresso and ambiance. Some of the places are totally hidden from view, nestled behind a set of storefronts and then up 2 flights of stairs. It looks like you're headed to someone's apartment at first, until you come to an iron door with a sliding peephole or an intercom that looks like it might be manned by an ominous thug requiring a password. 4 out of 5 times the hallway looks like it hasn't been cleaned since Milosevic was elected (probably hasn't), but when you step into the place you figure it was put together by group of enterprising design students backed by Donald Trump. Of course occasionally you stumble into a slice of loudly colored kitch (can you say "Umm...I think Jackson Pollock threw up in here").
At the clubs, house music in general is still king... Brazilian, jazz and acid house, drum 'n bass, breakbeat... you name it. Some of the larger events recently include the perfromances of Laurent Garnier, Roger Sanchez, and Ken Ishii. The Jungle Brothers are here in a couple of nights. But there are clubs and club nights for just about anyone. There are a couple Goth nights (Florida's very own Cruxshadows were here recently), an EBM only night, punk and hardcore, doom and death metal...and the lot. Serbia has it's very own flourishing hip hop scene as well, though it sounds a bit abrasive comparatively if you're not familiar with Serbain language. There are also things popular throughout southeast Europe that went the way of the dodo years ago in the west. Disco, 70's folk metal, whitebread American oldies...etc. You've got to appreciate the diversity of it all, though if you club hop too much you're liable to go into overload.
One of the central pillars of club life in Belgrade is club Akademia. The club is actually a part of the Art Academy of Belgrade, and they use the bar to partially fund the school. The art and club scenes here are inexorably linked, and kids attending class during the day often pop downstairs at night for a beer. There is no official drinking age at the clubs here (but the bartenders use their judgment based on scientific factors like the mood they're in and whether you're tall enough to put money on the bar), and thusly there is no carding at the door or any other such fiddle faddle. Most clubs charge either no cover or a negligible one. Even thought there is no enforced legal drinking age, underage drinking doesn't seem to be a particular problem. In fact, I would say that there seems to be less underage drinking here than in the states.
Smoking is permitted practically everywhere. Even in some of the hospitals (which I have not had the pleasure of visiting). I've heard that you should not be surprised to be attended by a doctor who is smoking a cigarette while he examines you. "Mmmmhmm... you hev cough, comrade... "
By and large, kids here don't have the fear of police that you find in the American kids. At least, not since the end of Milosevic's reign. They're more or less ambivalent about cops unless they're doing something wrong, and most of the cops are just in the groove of doing their jobs. There is a great deal of soccer hooliganery amongst a certain age group, and these kids are constantly spray-painting the walls with advice concerning which soccer team you should fear if you don't want your balls broken.
As far as the view of America by the younger generation... well, they realize that the decisions made by our government (e.i. NATO bombing of Belgrade) don't necessarily reflect the feelings of the most of the American public (how ironic is that?). Naturally there is a deep seated distrust of organizations like the CIA and NATO, same as with us. There are, of course, stereotypical jokes about the uneducated part of American citizenry and the prevalence of poisonous and mass produced unnatural food which makes you fat and sterile... nothing different than the stuff we joke with ourselves about though. All in good fun.
Anyhow, Serbia is coming along swimmingly despite all of the recent adversity in these parts. With any good fortune and the passage of a few rather considerable obstacles on a political level (we'll get into that some other time), Serbia will become a part of the EU. This will mean a bolstered economy and availability of visas for travel (as it stands right now, only the rich can travel).
More to come... end of transmission one.
Peace from the east, ciao.
Jason R.
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