Students of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade - Photo D. Nenadić
Students of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade - Photo D. Nenadić
Two different countries and two different realities were seen on the streets of Serbia last weekend. On one side, tens of thousands of students and citizens marching from city to city calling for the rule of law; on the other, the faithful of President Vučić, transported by bus and train at the expense of taxpayers
On Saturday, February 15, Serbia celebrated Sretenje (the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple), a date chosen as the Republic Day because it commemorates two important events: the outbreak of the first Serbian uprising in 1804 in Orašac and the adoption of the first Serbian Constitution in 1835 in Kragujevac. Two important historical events and two faces of Serbia two hundred years later.
In Kragujevac, a demonstration organised by students called “Let’s meet for Sretenje” was held. At the same time, in Sremska Mitrovica, Vojvodina, the ruling party organised a rally with the slogan “Let’s meet for Sretenje”, thus responding to the demonstration in Kragujevac that brought together students from all Serbian universities.
The similarities end there. The images from Kragujevac and Sremska Mitrovica speak of two universes in which the citizens of Serbia have been living for a decade now.
The meeting in Kragujevac brought together the country’s four most important university centres. Students from Novi Sad and Belgrade walked for four days, covering about 140 kilometres. At the same time, students from Niš walked almost 150 kilometres.
In Čačak, students from Užice, Novi Pazar and Kraljevo also joined the march, covering just under 100 kilometres in three days. Student cyclists, marathon runners and ultramarathon runners also set out from Belgrade and Novi Sad.
In addition to being heroic in itself, this journey turned out to be anything but meaningless. The students awakened Serbia, or, in the words of a Lazarevac resident, “revitalised society".
Their goals are clear: to decentralise the protests, to network between students and cities, to challenge the media darkness through direct communication with citizens, passing through isolated cities and villages, talking to people and freeing them from fear.
According to the testimony of a student from Belgrade, who also walked to Novi Sad and whose name we do not reveal because “the plenum did not approve”, the students were welcomed everywhere as liberators. The local population set up food, drinks, accommodation and everything the students needed on the walk. In each city the students also received medical assistance so they could continue.
Almost no student gave up on the march. Overwhelmed by exhaustion, but encouraged by the support of the citizens and aware of the importance of their project, they continued the journey, arriving in Kragujevac with their heads held high. The students are so organised that one day they could easily lead the country.
Skeptics say it is impossible, saying that the students are young, inexperienced, and that after the protests, someone older should politically articulate this rebellion. I was able to see the students' documents and was speechless.
Each faculty has adopted its own rules, the umbrella association that unites all the faculties has approved a code of conduct, each action is elaborated in detail, while the goals, methods and tools are clearly defined. Of course, the professors contribute, but the students play a key role in organising the protests.
To be clear, it is a heterogeneous group. Some of the students are left-wing, some are right-wing, some are believers, some are atheists, there are both pro-Europeans and Eurosceptics. However, they all have the same goal: to restore the rule of law in Serbia, triggering changes that can pave the way for fair and democratic elections.
It seems that the students have put all their differences aside. Many were moved to see students from Novi Pazar among the marchers to Kragujevac. Novi Pazar is mostly inhabited by Bosniaks and the faculties of this city (under heavy pressure) were among the last to join the protest.
"Welcome youth. Your time is now" - Photo D. Nenadić
"Welcome youth. Your time is now" - Photo D. Nenadić
The march, which consisted of students from Čačak, Kraljevo and Užice (cities with a Serb majority), was led by young Bosniaks, waving the flag of their city and demanding a just and orderly society. They marched in a procession punctuated by numerous Orthodox icons and other symbols of “other” religions.
Students from Kragujevac responded by organising meals for their Muslim colleagues in restaurants with halal certification. The march that started from Novi Sad also included students of Hungarian and Romanian nationality.
In the province of Vojvodina, protests were also organised in cities inhabited mainly by members of national minorities. Among the many positive aspects that characterise the current student protests, this one is particularly close to my heart: we can live with each other, not next to each other, we can share belonging to the same state while maintaining and respecting all our differences.
Kragujevac looked like a beehive last weekend. It is not possible to say for sure how many people passed through the city in two days, especially on the second day, during the fifteen-hour blockade of the city centre.
According to President Vučić, the demonstration in Kragujevac was attended by sixteen thousand people. Other estimates speak of much higher numbers, from fifty thousand to over one hundred thousand citizens.
The fifteen-hour blockade went as planned. The students read a statement saying that in Kragujevac everyone had come together around the same idea, that of “profound social changes based on the fundamental values that we all share”.
They emphasised that “liberation will not come with the stamping of feet in military boots and with war equipment on our shoulders. It will come with the stamping of feet of those who have a thinking head on their shoulders. It seems that the winter dream is over and the awakening promises well”.
The demonstration ended at 00.07 on Sunday, February 16, and the students announced a new large gathering in Niš on March 1.
In Sremska Mitrovica, a completely different spectacle was witnessed. Just over twenty thousand people (according to the Archive of Public Demonstrations) arrived in the city on buses from all over Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to hear yet another historic speech by Vučić and learn more about the announced Vojvodina Declaration.
Considering that the student protests are centred on an event that took place in Vojvodina, the regime’s spokesmen are trying to convince the citizens that someone (we don’t know who) wants to organise the secession of Vojvodina from Serbia (it has not been explained how) and that therefore a declaration should be adopted to make it clear that Vojvodina is “an inseparable part of the national political, constitutional and cultural identity of modern Serbia” (a statement already contained in the Constitution) and that just as “there is no Serbia without Vojvodina, so Vojvodina cannot exist outside of Serbia”.
The declaration was approved by acclamation from the square. Consultations with representatives of the Union of Hungarians from Vojvodina (SVM) and other national minority parties are now planned, and then the document should be adopted by the Belgrade parliament. However, it is not clear who in the last three months (or before) mentioned the secession of Vojvodina.
Vučić once again stated that Serbia is under attack from within and from abroad, specifying that there will be no transitional government, that a new government will be formed soon (watch out, it’s coming) and that more than half of the ministers will be replaced (as if such a change could be significant). The president also sent a message to the students: “Cry victory, all your demands have been fulfilled, I trust you more than those who pushed you to protest”.
This time too, the supporters of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and those forced to attend its rallies arrived on buses and trains, all of which are paid for by the citizens of the Republic of Serbia. There were the so-called “loyalists”, those who believe every word the president says, but also many citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In addition to those who reluctantly and under pressure attended the rally in Sremska Mitrovica, many of those present did not even know what the meeting was about and why they had travelled for several hours, but they knew they had to say in front of the cameras that they “love and trust Vučić”.
The people gathered in Sremska Mitrovica left behind a mountain of garbage that the local population immediately removed. On Monday, February 17, the citizens of Sremska Mitrovica organised a large demonstration, which was also attended by residents of neighbouring municipalities, to “decontaminate the city”. After the fifteen-hour demonstration, not a single piece of garbage was left in Kragujevac. Students and citizens had cleaned everything up.
Two Serbias, two realities.