Prologue

THE CHARM OF FIXED MATCHES
The Devil’s Joke

We are drawn into a fixed match the end of which no one knows. Not even those who think that all teams work for them, all referees, enchanted audience. The most malicious conspirators, starting with the archetypal one, hide by releasing hollow and mindless ”conspiracy theories”. The most insidious traitors sing every day about tradition and vows, vision and prosperity. The hardened infidels, having gone deep into the wilderness, imagined that this season they would ”organize a new church”, in their ownership. People with disturbed hormonal structure explain to us what we need to have for brave decisions. New janissaries do not leave the parties of the old colonial elite. The alleged saviors appear as clowns, cartoon heroes.
Nјegoš wrote that the world is ”a funny theater”. But it hasn’t been the same world for a long time. This one, obviously, was dangerously overplayed. Both the epidemic and the colored revolution have returned home, and are carousing. The ancient parasite, the small but well-distributed group, wants to re-establish its order in the host organism. The ominous shadows drag along the center stage like evil forebodings.
Wise chroniclers say that it has almost always been like this in times of great turning points. And that there is really nothing new under the sky, as Andrić points out:
”Confused for a long time by what is happening around me, in the second half of my life I came to the conclusion: it is futile and wrong to look for meaning in insignificant but seemingly important events happening around us, but we should look for it in those layers that centuries create around several major legends of the humankind.”
This is how we should act today, in this commotion. Stay collected and cultivate our garden with dedication. This edition, which has just opened in front of you, has sprouted in that garden.