In the last thirteen years, a political system has been established in Serbia in which it is crucial the will of one man. It is carried out through a political organization that has infiltrated the entire state system. State institutions that should be independent, just like the levers of power, are under the control of the ruling party. The students in the blockade are not fighting for a change of government, but for radical change of such a political system. Therefore, compared to the existing situation, their rebellion is actually a non-violent revolution.
In a short period of time, students raised half of Serbia and drastically changed the atmosphere and balance of power in society. Their initial, simple demand that all those who hid the deadly fall of the canopy of the Railway Station in Novi Sad must be held legally accountable was a demand for the establishment of the rule of law - revolutionary, because its fulfillment would overthrow the existing political system.
In that part of society where there are citizens eager for the rule of law, which by the nature of things would disempower Aleksandar Vučić, whose rule is based on lawlessness, they have become the strongest political factor without which changes are not possible at this moment.
The student movement operates outside the political system and beyond political practice, and that is precisely why it has been elusive for ten months for the autocrat, who, out of impotence, is raising the bar of repression more and more. The students in the blockade have tangible results, they have shown how a campaign can be run and that they are able to mobilize a very large number of people in a short period of time.
There is no need for them to fundamentally change anything. They are ready for the extraordinary parliamentary elections they demand, whenever they are called. They are finalizing the electoral list on which there will be people whom they consider suitable to appear before the voters on their behalf.
It is understandable that they stay away from opposition political organizations, because their proximity would have a negative impact on the rating and credibility of the student list.
Responsibility towards citizens
The opposition parties themselves are to blame for that. It is unfathomably irresponsible that during the longest and widest wave of social rebellion in the last quarter of a century, they are unable to unite, or at least agree to shut down the dissonant tones reaching the public.
Unlike the parties in power, the opposition parties would have to show, and prove, that they primarily act in the interests of the citizens, and not in their own interests or those of their leaders. While they themselves preach the "struggle of good and evil", that is, they stand for the survival of democracy and the rule of law, the fact that they are unable to unite in that "decisive" battle makes them untrustworthy and nails them to the margins of political events.
What it can do when it is - even for a short time - united, the civil opposition showed in the extraordinary elections on December 17, 2023: despite all the manipulations, fraudulent activities and the usurpation of the media and state resources, the coalition Serbia against violence won 65 of the 250 parliamentary mandates in the Serbian Parliament, and in Belgrade the SNS with Prilep did not manage to win. Afterwards, the opposition officials messed everything up in a self-destructive argument about boycotting or going to the repeated Belgrade elections.
With the student list and in the whirlwind of social rebellion that changed the balance of power, the political bloc standing against Vučić's machinery could hope to win in the next elections if a relevant number of opposition political organizations manage to unite.
Maneuver space for opposition parties
The students showed the opposition political organizations how to do the job: they walked across the length and breadth of Serbia. Everything they did looked like an election campaign, before anyone mentioned early elections.
The student rebel movement outside the political system prepared the ground for changing the upside-down system. The opposition parties now have two options: either to continue to act within the institutional framework, or for the deputies and councilors to return their mandates, thus increasing the pressure on the government to call elections and fully devote themselves to non-institutional resistance, through citizens' assemblies, for example.
However, if the opposition parties remain divided, the block that strives for change will be weakened.
Opposition political parties are certainly necessary for the realization of political changes, without their participation the danger of Serbia slipping into anarchy is much greater.
From the streets to the political system
When - one day - the elections are announced and the names of the people who should represent the citizens who will vote for them are revealed, the hitherto amorphous student movement will find its way inside the political system - on the home turf of Aleksandar Vučić and his team. As much as the President of Serbia has so far not been able to deal with the students in the blockade, he can hope that he will be able to defeat them in the election process within the system he himself established.
For thirteen long years, Vučić has easily dealt with the Serbian opposition parties, who always try to achieve different results in the same way. Only one logical conclusion can be drawn from that: the opposition parties (besides having to unite clearly and resoundingly) should adapt their actions to the revolutionary student resistance movement, no matter how difficult it is for some to accept that they listen to "the children", instead of the children listening to them.
On the other hand, as much as the opposition could not do anything significant without the student movement, the moment the elections are called the students will need the support of the established opposition parties with party committees all over the country that have learned how to survive under progressive fire.
Radical institutional changes could hardly be implemented without the participation of opposition political organizations in the event of the defeat of the parties in power.
