20. 11. 2007

LIBERAL RADIO SHOW, CONSERVATIVE ASSOCIATION ROW

BELGRADE, 20 November 2007 (B92) - A promotion of Peščanik, an independent radio show aired on B92, has been cancelled due to security concerns.

The forum was scheduled to take place in the central Serbian town of Aranđelovac, but organizers decided against it fearing incidents, after a local association, called Naši (Ours), accused the program of being "anti-Serb" and threatened protest.

Peščanik is an award-winning radio talk show prepared by Svetlana Lukić and Svetlana Vasović, advocating views and hosting guests often radically critical of Serbia's policies during and after the Milošević regime.

Aranđelovac culture center director, Saša Simonović, told B92 that despite claims that the associations' opinions, posted on their website and aired by a local TV station, did not constitute for calls for violence against the authors, he decided to nix the presentation.

The tape of the TV interview with Naši representatives was not made available to B92, although the television director interpreted it for our reporter Monday as "containing no calls for lynch or protest."

Lukić, on the other hand, says that she encountered threats over the content of her show before, but that this was the first time organizers were forced to cancel.

Meanwhile, the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists (NUNS) protested the fact Peščanik would not be able to hold its promotion in Aranđelovac.

The explanation given by organizers that the canceling came due to security concerns is tragic and comic at the same time, and unacceptable, since it came after pressure from some associations that publicly demonstrated their hostility toward the basic principles and values of democracy, a NUNS statement issued Tuesday says.

"Those who separate citizens to 'ours' and 'theirs' camps, to Serbs and anti-Serbs, have canceled a program that has been recognized for its promotion of democracy and free speech," the statement said, and urged the event to be organized as soon as possible, in order to counter "hatred and political primitivism."