While the students have been protesting and blocking the faculties for more than five months, along with the citizens who support them, and the government is leading a campaign against them, the machinery of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, apart from the daily action of opposing the blockades, is as if in the election campaign, headed by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić
Although there are no announced events in Serbia of choice at the republican level, and the next regular presidential elections will be held in 2027, the current president of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić as if he were in the current election campaign.
Dok students are blocking faculties, Serbian Radio and Television, organize protests, they are moving to ultramarathon to Brussels, the president of Serbia and the politicians of the ruling party, as if they were in a regular election campaign.
When are the students? walked to Novi Sad, and later in other parts of the country, the president visited the same areas for a few days after them.
Before the big protest and blockade of three bridges on the first day of February, Vučić organized counter-rally in Jagodina, and then and three-day conference in Belgrade.
The goals of the newly founded movement, which the president has been announcing for years, were then presented, and the president regularly visits media close to the government, where, among other things, he talks about defeating the "colored revolution", informs the public about the negative impact of blockades on the Serbian economy.
In addition to the media, the president also speaks regularly on Instagram.
"Serbia will win"
The president announced earlier that he would write a book about how he defeated the "colored revolution", and in his last post on Instagram he also emphasized that "Serbia will win".
In the video announcement, in which the personnel from different gatherings alternate, with the president's speeches underlined, as well as the addresses of individual participants of those gatherings, among others Miloš Pavlović, whom the president first introduced at the meeting in Jagodina, was a guest in some media, until Pavlović became better known to the public and as the leader of the "Students who want to learn" who are camping in Pionirski Park.
Along with dramatic music and speeches, the video also features shots of the president's visits to places and factories in Serbia, and the video was published as news by some media close to the government.
"We are not numerically large, but our people have always been free and libertarian, they have always wanted to make their own decisions and it will always be like that in the future. And Serbia will win! We will not give up Serbia! Long live Serbia!", said Vučić in a post on Instagram with emoticons of three Serbian flags.
View this post on Instagram
The question that arises is - who will Serbia win, has the president already started a campaign for the next elections and who is he addressing and why?
The importance of social networks for politicians
Social networks have become a strong channel of communication that many politicians have recognized.
When a political party seriously uses any communication system, including social networks, it does not address political opponents, "they are basically not interested in it". explained earlier for "Vreme" Dragan Varagić, digital consultant.
"For political parties, the main target group is their fans, the ardent supporters of the party. The next target group is those who are members of the party. The next target group is sympathizers and those who could become sympathizers. These are the main target groups that the party addresses. They do not address political opponents at all at any level."
As Varagić explained then, what the other political opponents of Aleksandar Vučić, apart from the students, do not understand is that Serbia is not Belgrade.
"That's why the students went around Serbia, so the president followed them to some places to react after he realized that his rating had dropped. They (students) think at the level of all those parts of the country, unlike numerous other politicians," Varagić concluded at the time.
The Irshot organization, based on hundreds of statements and videos from the protests in Belgrade on March 15, claims that acoustic weapons were "very likely" used on peaceful demonstrators.
The "sound cannon" saga continues: Police Minister Ivica Dacic now claims that "unpleasant tones" could not be released from the sound cannon on March 15 because, as he says, that mode is "blocked" in Serbia
After Dragan Šolak and Viktorija Boklag were dismissed from their leading positions, the editors within the United Media company addressed the European public with an appeal in which they express concern for the future of independent journalism in the Balkans. They warn that this change could open the door to political influence in one of the last bastions of free media in the region.
Despite the all-night blockade and strong security measures, the eighth session of the Assembly of Novi Sad began this morning. Early in the morning, the police forcibly removed the gathered protesters, in which one student was injured and another was detained. Councilors discuss the budget rebalancing and over 140 items on the agenda
In many countries, the lack of voluntary blood donors is a serious problem, and artificial blood from the laboratory could provide part of the solution. However, creating a universal substitute for real blood requires complex technological processes. DW singled out five of the most promising approaches to this challenge
The dramatic appeal of United Media employees shows what can happen when the media is controlled by the regime and corporations. It is happening in Serbia now. If the audience does not recognize this, an even blacker media darkness threatens
Aleksandar Vučić now has only the old, proven methods of classic dictatorships left, because these modern methods of insanity and poisoning the public are failing. And that, however, goes against his head
Vučić is not defending the state, but himself from the state. With a drum on his back and a guitar in his hands, this man-orchestra performs two or three of the same songs without hearing, with falsifications and falling out of rhythm. His government and politics are like that. In short - dangerous for the environment
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