Severely overmatched, DOS's only plausible strategy is to bring people to the streets in large numbers even before Milosevic has a chance to declare his victory. The opposition will hold rallies in major cities on the night after the election where results will be announced as they arrive. They hope that the presence of millions of people on the streets of Serbian cities will put Milosevic on the defensive, forcing him to accept the opposition victory rather than risking a confrontation which might lead to divisions and defections within his own party.

How will the people of Serbia react? Will they flock to the streets to defend their votes or will they allow Milosevic to cheat them once more? This remains the biggest variable in the Yugoslav political equation. After the opposition failed in several attempts to mount massive protests in the past year, many in Yugoslavia are pessimistic. Some analysts, on the other hand, point out that the Milosevic power structure is much less homogeneous than usually assumed. They assert that the people will not sit calmly in the face of clear electoral fraud and notice that the Serbian pro-democracy movement has found new resilience in the past year, as demonstrated by the "Otpor" movement.

From a handful of radicals at a university, "Otpor" has grown into an organization with 40,000 activists in less than a year, despite constant threats, arrests and violence. By fighting violence with non-violence and the politics of fear and repression with humor, they have found support among the older population. You can hear their slogan everywhere: in the streets, in schools, on soccer fields.

And, to the dismay of the Milosevic regime, they just won't go away. A day after a state-owned building had been repainted because "Otpor" used it as a graffiti bulletin board, the people of Belgrade found a new inspiring message on it: "Paint jobs won't help. He's finished." The rest of us Serbs have no right not to take their word for it.

Srdjan L. Tanjga '01 is an applied math concentrator in Lowell House. He is a native of Belgrade, Yugoslavia and has been an active member of "Otpor," the pro-democracy movement in Belgrade, for the past five years.