After several months of blockade in the Student Cultural Center - a carefully (self) organized space of freedom, art, culture and resistance - the government decided to react with a census
U SKC-in the past months, debates, panels, exhibitions, collective readings, workshops were held - programs that gave voice to issues that are systematically suppressed: rights, justice, media, autonomy, university, responsibility.
At a time when cultural institutions are mostly silent, with just replaced management boards by members close to the government, students organized in a horizontal structure, they showed how a meaningful cultural and political dialogue can be conducted even without a budget, without protection and without a system.
That is precisely why they were thrown out of that real and metaphorical space of freedom. And that's exactly why Ana Brnabić came to "enumerate".
That picture - the president of the parliament accompanied by a loyal political analyst, and the current minister of education, visits the empty rooms of the SKC in search of a "naughty projector" - is more than an illustration of the meeting of the repressive apparatus with a single situation. It is a symbol of dealing with all autonomy.
Brnabić and the government as a whole cannot stand a space that breathes on its own. If they can't turn him into the backdrop of their own ideological platform, they will try to portray him as a devastated, abused, irresponsible mess. Media spins about the stolen property, alleged damages and calls for responsibility, are just a masking of the fact that young people, without any privilege, opened up the SKC space for what its purpose is - free thought, critical speech, public interest.
And that is unacceptable for this regime. That is why the visit was not technical, but political. It wasn't about inventory, it was about power.
The government wants to "take back" SKC - not to restore it, because it is not interested in that, but to neutralize the memory of a moment in time when the culture of student resistance took its form. To never again be a place where young people decide for themselves what is important to them, what is painful for them, and what they have in common.
This same ruling group tried to reduce the victory of freedom to the 'missing armchair' on October 5, so after finding it, they triumphantly photographed it and showed it to the public for days. However, it was not that armchair that disturbed them so much as the examination of reality in fear of the inevitability of the day after.
No matter how much the government tries to reduce the months-long student self-organized program to a "missing microphone", a trace remains, a strong memory.
And the question remains: why is it so unacceptable to them that students have managed to produce more social dialogue, reflection and hope than all the regime's platforms combined?
Because that success shows - that culture is possible despite them. And that the rebellious people remember those processes.
The author is an assistant professor at FDU and coordinator of the Departmental Committee for Culture of the Democratic Party
Students of several secondary schools in Novi Sad will boycott classes on Wednesday as a sign of support for Dijana Hrka, Milomir Jaćimović and his son, and their peer, Milan Jaćimović
Employees at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Niš call on the academic public of all higher education institutions to sign the petition to cancel the decision on the establishment of the Faculty of Serbian Studies.
The aim of the "Until Death Do Us Part" campaign of the Autonomous Women's Center is to warn that femicide is not a sudden tragedy, but the last act of long-term violence that the environment could recognize
The Decision of the Government of Serbia on the establishment of the Faculty of Serbian Studies at the University of Nis was published in the Official Gazette four days ago. What does that mean? How many professors support this decision? Finally, why all this?
In a tent in front of Banovina, behind a metal fence with a padlock, Milomir and Milan Jaćimović continue their hunger strike demanding justice for the confiscation of the bus. "They can kill us, but they can't take us away," says Milomir while passers-by play in support
Who among us has ever looked at all 250 names of parliamentary candidates on the list for which they want to vote? Although it is not stated anywhere, it is clear that the student list will be a buffet. If it matters to anyone, they have my vote, even if I don't like 249 names
Aleksandar Vučić is carrying out an unannounced coup d'état. It's for nothing. He has no defense against the demand for justice. Because how can he look into the eyes of a mother who is on hunger strike, calm the people on the streets and silence the schoolchildren who are shouting on the excursion - "Pump!"
Aleksandar Vučić thinks he is traveling to Brussels on Tuesday as the President of the Republic of Serbia, but he is actually leaving as the President of Ćaciland. That's what he reduced himself to, only he's still not aware of it
The archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
See all
