Studying liberty and responsibility
Ongoing massive students’ protests across Serbia are the most articulated political demand regarding the snoozed Serbian EU agenda in a long time. They are precisely pointing to the crucial defects in the accession process – the rule of law, meaning institutions undermined by the power of President Vučić and his party. It would be of great importance if the EU and member states would publicly and clearly recognize that fact, even if the Serbian officials would surely use it to put more “foreign mercenaries” labels on students, strengthening the “hostile West” narrative.
Even during Milosevic’s era, the students’ protests have never included this number of faculties of all public universities. This decentralized rebellion was accelerated by the violence of SNS (ruling party) provocateurs against the students of Belgrade Faculty of Drama Arts, who were paying respect to the victims of the Novi Sad tragedy.
The Serbian public was surprised by Gen Z’s political maturity, since it was perceived as a cliché of total indolence toward social reality. Students demand institutions. Not a single request is addressed to President Vučić, as students see through his long-standing disrespect of the Constitution and separation of power. They do not want to negotiate with him, which disrupts Serbia’s political logic.
President Vučić himself seems to be puzzled by such an attitude. Within various attempts to discredit students, there is a manipulative narrative that all their demands are fulfilled. So, it “has to be the politics they’re involved in”. For many years, Serbian citizens were being passivized by a mantra that everything political is dirty and allowed only politicians to deal with. “Implementation should not depend on anyone’s will, but on the legal and institutional system of the Republic of Serbia”, students respond.
On the contrary, with his endless press conferences, the President once again posed as a superior authority, demonstrating his possession of information that should be handled only by the government, legislative or judicial branches, and stepping into their decision-making.
Students’ demands – making all documents regarding the reconstruction of the Novi Sad railway station public, discharging all the citizens detained and apprehended at the protests, launching criminal procedures against attackers on students and their professors and increasing the state budget for education instead of corruptive projects – have only been partially addressed.
Pro-government media are constantly inciting hatred against students and normalizing violence against them. Students have been physically and verbally attacked multiple times since the first attacks that triggered blockades. Sources from the faculties have suspicions that security services are attempting to collect information on “rebels” for retribution.
The entire University of Belgrade (31 faculties) is under the blockades—with the endorsement of the University itself. The University of Novi Sad has also completely joined the blockades, as have almost all faculties in Kragujevac and Niš.
However, the President says 20-30 people are protesting and molesting the entire country. The truth is too obvious not to be seen. If the rumors that say that Vučić will try to get out of the crises by calling the new parliamentary elections prove to be true, it will only confirm the fact that the elections, soaked in impunity for corruption and criminalization of the institutions, political clientelism, pressures on citizens, and strictly controlled media are turned into the main tool for preventing the change.
