THE EGG, THE WHISTLE, AND THE NET
With 10,000 potential users, the Net's influence in Serbia is out of proportion to the numbers. In part this reflects the demographics of who has access. The core group is students and faculty at the University of Belgrade, which in 1988 had the first Internet host in Yugoslavia. Students in Belgrade have a history of spearheading antigovernment demonstrations. With 60,000 people enrolled at the university, the unintended effect is to concentrate those members of society with the least to lose. The students led street protests in March 1991 in opposition to the looming Balkan war. And in July 1992, after the imposition of UN sanctions, they took to the streets again to try to oust Milosevic. In both cases, few in the outside world paid attention, and Milosevic successfully sent in tanks and riot police to end the protests. Both uprisings, according to students I spoke with, taught a valuable lesson: without media attention they were powerless in the face of physical force. [/] wired 5.04