Republic
Republika
Participant and Witness of Change Magazine Republika was born in March 1989, founded by intellectuals, members of the Union for Yugoslav Democratic Initiative (UYDI). Their goal: democratic transformation of society and the state. Based on common sense and previous experience in the struggle for democracy, the founders saw as their key goal the establishment, in law and practice, of the basic principles of human rights; this would be done through elections for the constitutional assembly, that would adopt a new, democratic constitution; hence, all problems and issues would be solved in parliaments (of the federation and member states), and not on battlefields. That is how we understood the concepts of freedom and democracy; that is what the magazine stands for: civil self-liberation. When political changes led to wars, crime and plundering - the state regressing to "natural state" - we spoke up against the elements of fear, hate and violence. We were witnesses of the development, dominance and the terrible consequences of these wars on human lives, society and the state. We took part in the resistance to those events (remaining the only consistent critical voice during the NATO bombing in 1999). We cooperated with all those who were against the wars and struggled for democratic changes: independent media and journalists, opposition parties, trade unions, emerging anti-war groups, non-governmental organizations and social movements. All these participants, together with the efforts of the international community, finally brought down the anti-democratic regime. Elections and demonstrations in the year 2000 opened the way to democracy. In new circumstances, our magazine remains not just an observer but a participant in the long process of democratic changes.
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