WASHINGTON--On March 31 at 10:00 P.M., PBS will air the documentary "Bringing Down a Dictator," which documents the role of non-violent protest in the fall of former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic.

Image on right: A torn poster of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on a downtown Belgrade wall. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

The U.S. Institute of Peace encouraged and assisted production of this important work, which is narrated by the actor Martin Sheen. Daniel Serwer, director of the Institute's Balkans Initiative, appears throughout and gives expert commentary on how the student-led protest movement OTPOR! (Serbian for "resistance") attacked the Milosevic regime with rallies, sit-ins and other nonviolent tactics.

Through its persistence, OTPOR! undermined police and military loyalty to Milosevic. When he called early elections, Serbia's courageous nongovernmental organizations worked to get out the vote and monitor the polls. Milosevic's refusal to accept the results, which gave his opponent a narrow margin of victory, led hundreds of thousands of Serbian citizens to descend on Belgrade, demonstrate in the streets and seize the parliament. Milosevic was gone before the day--October 5, 2000--was out.

To learn more about "Bringing Down a Dictator," visit www.pbs.org/dictator

To learn more about the U.S. Institute of Peace's Balkans Initiative, visit the Balkans Initiative.