In Tito's country

Just went two days ago to an exhibition in Belgrade called "We all are Tito". The best "Communist experience" I have ever had. The building itself is a masterwork of Communist architecture, now completely creepy and abandoned. We approach the main entrance and see a couple of persons wasting their time in front of an old TV. As we pay and enter, we meet just 4 tourists, but around 10 people working: some guards, cleaners, ticket sellers... the typical burocracy of the communist society. And of course they give us the impression that they have been working there for more than 20 years.

The exhibition is completely scary for me: a collection of 200,000 presents which Tito got for his birthdays (25th of May, officially, but the real one was May 7th). People ran all around the country with a torch, as if it were the Olympic Games, and deliver him a final torch. He got 40, as many years he was in power. People were making such a big effort to give him nice presents, always related to their own work or profession.

People had to write him letters while being in th school, and they all got into the "Tito pioneers", sort of a scouts club (see "Good bye, Lenin"). And if families were large, Tito would even be the godfather of one of the youngest kids.

Such a big presence of a President in everyday's life of citizens is really scary.