A series of protests in Serbia after the tragedy in Novi Sad got its recognizable symbol - a bloody fist. While the government tries to diminish the importance of this symbol, the opposition uses it as a means of pressure in the fight for justice and responsibility
At the MP's press conference parliamentary opposition in the Parliament of Serbia on Wednesday, November 27, a journalist from the tabloid "Informer" asked the President of Freedom and Justice Dragan Đilas if the symbol of an open bloody fist, which is often pointed out by representatives of the opposition, and which resembles a clenched fist "Resistance" from the nineties, "a continuation of the colored revolution, or is he commenting on it in another way, that the hand appears throughout the story, this time bloody"?
Djilas refused to answer someone working for the "regime pamphleteer" and said: "If there is a journalist there, we are here to answer."
The symbol of the clenched fist of "Resistance" with the slogan "It's finished!" marked the civil rebellion that eventually led to the removal of Slobodan Milošević.
Does the symbol of bloody hands have such symbolic power that it could shake the seemingly all-powerful Aleksandar Vučić?
Lukač: The hand is an extremely strong symbol in the political culture of Serbia
"Danasa" journalist Jasmina Lukač assessed in her column that "the hand is an extremely strong symbol in the political culture of Serbia, of any color and in any position."
She reminded that the "bloody fist" as a flag was developed by the opposition in the Parliament, as well as that it is a protest flag demanding that the regime account to society after the tragic fall of the canopy in Novi Sad.
"Black, but clenched into a fist, was the symbol of the Otpor youth organization in the October 5 fraud when Milosevic was overthrown," Lukacs stated and asked: "Will the Vučić regime now manage to solve the crisis of its rule, by deliberately raising the fear of arson of the civil war in Serbia, asking to give up the 'bloody hand' rebellion and revolutionary changes"?
She assessed that "the regime will not succeed, even if it brings someone from the vocal opposition into the government, with or without new elections in the spring."
"It won't, because there is also a great world war going on, which raises the threshold of sensitivity of all people to unrest, blood and death," concluded Jasmina Lukač in her column.
Milenkovic: The symbol of the bloody hand is very clear
Nadežda Milenković, creative director of many commercial and socially involved campaigns, tells "Vreme" that after the Informer journalist's question to Đilas, we can talk about the thesis put forward by the government and that it is possible that it will come true.
"Of course, they say it threateningly, and that symbol is very clear, especially visually." Just as the name of this movement did not have to be highlighted under the fist 'Resistance', we all knew what it was about, so it does not have to be written next to this fist: 'Your hands are bloody'. In that sense, it is a good symbol," Melenković assesses.
He says that the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, once inadvertently gave a wonderful slogan to all of us, which is "Life is a struggle and a struggle is life." And he used that before, just like the current president of the Serbian Parliament, he used the slogan "We want work, not war."
"I'm not sure he understood what he wanted to say by that, I think he was just trying out what would be better for the focus group, but he gave a good slogan to all the people who feel rebellious, sad or insensitive, that struggle is life," says the Vremena interlocutor. ".
A sinking ship
Speaking about the protests and the messages sent by the government and the opposition, he says that he has the impression that the citizens of Serbia are on a sinking ship and now we are waiting for lifeboats that are not very good.
"We don't really like the sailors manning those lifeboats, but there's clearly no luxury yacht in sight to come to our rescue." And now the question is whether we are going to wait for a luxury yacht or whether we are going to accept the boats that are offered to us. I think that the government's position was demonstrated by plastering Belgrade and Novi Sad with posters saying 'You alone should not defend us'. And so we came to a situation where the opposition is telling the authorities: 'Your hands are bloody', and the authorities are telling the opposition that they are thieves. And in the eyes of the law, that is a very big difference. When you steal, it's a much smaller punishment, and when you kill, it's much bigger, so the government doesn't have an answer for the opposition, instead they draw out for the umpteenth time: 'I'll punish the thieves' or that Đilas 'stole 619 million,'” states Milenkovic.
He points out that it says a lot about the cross-section of our current political situation.
Jovović: Government scares graffiti: "Your hands are bloody"
Radivoje Jovović, a provincial deputy from the Movement of Free Citizens, spoke about the power of the bloody hand symbol for N1.
"Authority representatives feel quite threatened by the series of protests and forms of civil disobedience that were launched after the death of 15 people at the Railway Station in Novi Sad. They are afraid of graffiti, your hands are bloody," Jovović said.
The point, he says, is in civil disobedience, that is, actions of different types that will put pressure on the regime - blockades, barricades, strikes, work stoppages, non-violent actions whose point is to "cause pressure on the regime" that exists nervously.
When asked how powerful the symbol of the bloody hand is, Jovović says that it really has the power of commemoration and the justified anger of citizens.
"I see a large number of young people who have realized that they have been burned to the core, they have woken up." People began to understand that we are all under the same roof, that it is not only Novi Sad. Nothing has changed since Ribnikar. All that anger is what culminated in an outbreak throughout Serbia," Jovović believes.
And so, while the government says that such revolutionary symbols as the bloody hand "will not pass in Serbia", the opposition organizes daily blockades of streets and institutions, along with the now recognizable symbol that utility company workers try to wash off the walls and asphalt of Belgrade after every gathering. and Novi Sad.
The bloody hand symbolizes growing anger and a call for justice, but the removal of Vučić requires much more than symbolism. The key challenge for the opposition is to build trust, mobilize citizens and offer a realistic alternative. The following months will show whether the opposition has the capacity for such a thing.
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