Info on CANVAS (Otpor)

Info on CANVAS (Otpor)

Background:

Otpor (means “resistance” in Serbian) was founded in October of 1998 at the University of Belgrade. At first it was a student protest group (mainly concerned with Milosevic’s repressive media and university laws), but quickly expanded into a national underground resistance movement during the 2000 Presidential elections. Many of its members were arrested in 2000 in the run-up to the elections, Milosevic branded them terrorists. This all backfired as most of Otpor members were young students from the university.

Otpor first tried to brand itself as an anti-corruption NGO, while some of its members went into politics (such as Srdja Popovic, who won a seat in the Parliament in 2000 and was an environmental advisor to the Djindjic government). They finally reconstituted themselves as a political party in 2003, but failed miserably to attract any votes.

CANVAS ( is a spin-off of Otpor and was founded by Srdja Popovic and Ivan Marovic in late 2003 after Srdja Popovic left the Djindjic government (who was assassinated in March 2003). They have been involved with numerous pro-democracy movements around the world (most effectively in Ukraine and Georgia, but they were also in Belarus, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Iran, Lebanon, Azerbaijanand Tibet). They use Gene Sharp’s non-violence theory and give it their own spin (to check out their manual on non-violence, go here:

They are supported by the Albert Einstein Institution (founded by Gene Sharp), Democracy Research Guide, InternationalCenter on Nonviolent Conflict Resources, International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. They may have also received CIA funding and training during the 1999/2000 anti-Milosevic struggle. The piece we did on them last fall is attached at the end of the document.

Potential Benefits from Stratfor-CANVAS Cooperation

What they want from us: Canvas appreciates the media attention. The article we did on them in October 2007 definitely pleased them (so much so that it was prominently displayed on their own website for a while). They may be looking for more of this.

What we can get from them: They would be a great source of contacts. They have met with most of the active student anti-regime organizations that matter. They could furnish us with contacts and introductions that we could tap whenever we need timely information. As a source themselves, CANVAS probably does not have the ability to provide us with on the spot information (except maybe on Serbia). They can offer their opinion and analysis, but they are much more valuable as a source of contacts. We can also get a better picture of who in the US funds these types of groups.

The key players:

SRDJA POPOVIC

Srdja is a native of Belgrade, son of a prominent TV reported and a popular news anchor on state television. His main responsibilities in Otpor (which he was a founding member of) were human resources and training. He studied Gene Sharp’s works at the university, so he translated his texts and put them into practice. His main field of study was biology.He is considered the brainchild of the anti-Milosevic non-violent revolution in Serbia. He mostly worked behind the scenes of Otpor, writing speeches and manuals (most of the texts on CANVAS’s website are his writing). After he became an MP in 2000 with the Djindjic government he became an environmental advisor. Was also the founder of an environmental NGO called the “Green Fist”.

SINISA SIKMAN

One of the main trainers of Canvas, also an ex-Otpor member. He was directly involved in the training of the Georgian and Ukrainian anti-government student groups. Has also been quoted numerous times by Western media in relation to Canvas/Otpor international activities. Has once stated that Otpor did receive CIA funding.

SLOBODAN DJINOVIC

Also an ex-Otpor member, he was very active in the run-up to the Georgian revolution. He is also the founder and President of Mediaworks, a Belgrade based IT company that immediately following the defeat of Slobodan Milosevic received very profitable frequency permits from the government. According to some Belgrade sources he was the main link to a lot of the US funding, especially with the International Republican Institute.

Venezuela: The Marigold Revolution?

October 5, 2007 | 2121 GMT

Summary

Another color revolution may be forming — in Latin America.

Analysis

Our story begins in 1999, when a small group of Serbian college students took a look at the government of then-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and decided that enough was enough. They began regular protests against Milosevic’s authoritarian rule and began to act as a nexus, coordinating their efforts with other dissident groups and minor political parties. In early 2000 they named their student activist group Otpor.

Within months, Otpor’s invigorating and slick campaign tactics helped energize and unite various political factions and bind them together into a confederated anti-Milosevic movement. And in October of that year, Milosevic’s government fell.

After its greatest hour, Otpor did not dissolve. It evolved. It remained active in demanding political accountability at home in Belgrade, but also stretched out internationally, seeking training and allies. As the organization’s founders graduated from university the group became more nuanced and gradually grew to command a broader and deeper skill set.

Otpor strengthened its connections with Western governments and nongovernmental organizations, which provided the group with funding and limited amounts of intelligence about potential weaknesses in regimes they were already targeting. The tactics used in the crucible in Belgrade were “marketed” in documentaries and training manuals. Otpor became more than “just” a student group and transformed itself into the Center for Applied Non-Violent Action and Strategies (CANVAS). Among the group’s strongest allies are Freedom House and the Albert Einstein Institute and, through them, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of State.

In 2003 CANVAS worked with the opposition in the former Soviet state of Georgia and helped foment the Rose Revolution. In 2004 similar efforts merged with a broader international effort to spur Ukraine’s Orange Revolution and Kyrgyzstan’s Tulip Revolution. Not all of CANVAS’s attempts proved successful. Efforts in Belarus, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, for example, bore no fruit. But the group’s ability to mobilize and unite disparate factions and strike at the core of authoritarian systems are among the best on the planet.

In 2005, CANVAS turned its attention to Venezuela, and on Oct. 5 — the seventh anniversary of Milosevic’s fall — five student leaders from Venezuela arrived in Belgrade for training.

Demographically, Venezuela is very young, and thus in political terms student groups are potentially powerful. Additionally, the student movement is probably the most cohesive single faction within the Venezuelan opposition to President Hugo Chavez — which is itself perhaps the most ineffective and fractured opposition in Latin America. Venezuelan students only recently became active in anti-Chavez activities, and formed the backbone of opposition to decision to not renew the broadcasting license of RCTV, the country’s only meaningful private television station.

Success is by no means guaranteed, and student movements are only at the beginning of what could be a years-long effort to trigger a revolution in Venezuela, but the trainers themselves are the people who cut their teeth on the “Butcher of the Balkans.” They’ve got mad skills. When you see students at five Venezuelan universities hold simultaneous demonstrations, you will know that the training is over and the real work has begun.