A year of permanent protest

Serbia enters the year 2025 as it entered last year: with part of the citizens on the street i rebellious students, but with the difference that a change is happening now that may not be visible right away. This year's two big initiatives are the work of citizens. It's about protests because "Jadar" project and these latest students' and schoolgirls' in which the youth say that they are the future and that they want Serbia to be a country of free people, not of submissive people.

On the day when one year has passed since the elections in which the regime confirmed its strength even in Belgrade, news is coming about how one by one high schools and high schools are joining student blockades; they have already completely stopped classes at three of the four largest universities in Serbia.

Since the elections called for December 17, 2023, to get out of the crisis caused by the mass murder in an elementary school in Belgrade and the massacre in the villages near Mladenovac, it was expected that Serbia would somehow calm down and political conflicts would decrease. But, a year later, the country is far from any political and social stability: the crisis that occurred after the elections in December 2023 shows that the citizens of Serbia no longer want to accept the dictates of the regime.

As never before in this century, universities stopped, which was an extremely important and difficult job for those who decided to embark on such an action. Namely, the Novi Sad tragedy at the beginning of November 2024 caused a series of seemingly unrelated events that led to a general Suden rebellion. When you see that high school graduates are joining this rebellion, it is clear why the regime is so nervous despite the seemingly complete control it has at all levels of government - from the local community to the republic - established in last year's elections and confirmed in the June 2024 elections.

That paradox affects how this protest will develop and end, in which the responsibility is directed to Government of Serbia. Although the regime has a majority in the assembly, it seems that due to the demands of the citizens, it is gaining legitimacy day by day. In this context, the Serbian opposition is looking for its place and voice; in the last year she had great moments but also moments of clinical death. Now he is trying to recover and see if he can create alternatives to the regime that has been in power since 2012.

POST-ELECTION PROTESTS

A year ago, the citizens could see on the videos how the elections were being organized, but despite this, the power remained in the hands of one man. The opposition, then united in one column "Serbia against violence", achieved its best result since 2012, but it was not enough to move the regime an inch. Although confused and divided, the opposition parties tried to raise the people after the elections. But the desperation caused by the defeat despite the evidence of theft was greater than the idea of ​​doing something about canceling the elections, especially in Belgrade.

Everyone believed that the victory in Belgrade was certain, and when it did not happen, the whole society fell into depression. Nor Marinika Tepić's hunger strike and other members of the SSP, ni protests in the city center, neither a large rally under the banner of the Proclamation at that moment he did not bring anything. Then the students tried to do something, but their actions around Belgrade at intersections and in front of the Government remained without any visible effect.

The opposition then tried to stay together and lead an institutional fight to annul the local elections. In this context, she managed to get the European Union Parliament to pass a resolution on stolen elections in Serbia, whose government came under some pressure from EU members.

At the beginning of March, the entire opposition - both "Serbia Against Violence" and the right-wing led by the New DSS - signed an agreement with Proglas on joint participation in the repeated elections in Belgrade after changes to the election conditions. Today, few people remember ODIHR's recommendations that will mark the entire winter and early spring.

The regime, somewhat shaken and aware that many citizens are not for it - especially in the big cities - did everything to create discord in the opposition, which was struggling to act united. At the beginning of April, there was a breakdown: the regime hastily, in the midst of discussions on election conditions, announced elections for June 2 - local elections and repeated elections in Belgrade - which led to the collapse of the "Serbia against violence" coalition. This was Ana Brnabić's first big victory, her first blitzkrieg in the parliament, and she will repeat the second a month ago when she finished the session on the budget and about sixty other laws in five minutes.

At that moment, the opposition was killed. She used April and May for mutual accounts, explaining who was right and who betrayed the agreement of March 9. In such an atmosphere and without real changes to the electoral conditions, part of the opposition led by the Green-Left Front, under the name "I choose the fight" he went to the polls. However, the regime did not allow her to win power even in certain Belgrade municipalities where she was clearly without majority support. Also, another part of the opposition led by the Freedom and Justice Party boycotted the elections in the capital and some other areas.

LITHIUM SUMMER

When it seemed that the regime "finished everything" in June after the local and repeated elections in Belgrade and when it calmed down even the dissatisfaction of Nišli who did not give them majority support, but the SNS remained in the government with the help of one, publicly bought councilor of the Russian Party, happened is the first rebellion of the year.

In the middle of the summer, when, as a rule, nothing happens and when it seemed that the political despair was so great that the gate was open for the regime to rule without any hindrance for the following years, the "Second Serbian Anti-Lithium Uprising" took place. The first one was in the winter of 2021/22, and it ended, as it turns out, with the fake ending of the "Jadar" project.

Relaxed after preserving power, the regime immediately launched an aggressive campaign in the middle of the summer of 2023 after the Constitutional Court's decision to annul the Government's decision to abandon the "Jadar" project. This set-up, obviously planned earlier, and for the fulfillment of which the Constitutional Court was used, enraged people all over Serbia. That is why almost all of July and half of August were marked by large local protests, especially in western Serbia.

Word spread that the local members of the ruling party were not in favor of the project and that they were participating in the protests. The great heat did not stop people - tens of thousands of people gathered in the squares, led by local environmental organizations. There were no parties, nor opposition leaders. The riot started on its own and reached its peak on August 10 at the protest in Belgrade, where tens of thousands of citizens gathered, which seemed like a miracle and is probably the biggest summer rally in Belgrade's recent history - like the one of the Alliance for Changes coalition at the Epiphany in 1999. .

But, just like the Epiphany rally at that time, this one did not bring any change either - moreover, the protests subsided after it. However, the message "You won't dig" remained engraved in the hearts of many in Serbia and became the most powerful slogan years later, perhaps even on the level of Otpor's - "It's Done".

SPRING IN DECEMBER

During the fall, it seemed that there was "no hope" and that no one could stop the regime from intending to owe the state an additional twenty billion euros over the next few years for construction in the municipality of Surčin under the label of the Expo exhibition. It also seemed that the opposition was making plans for some future elections, and that it was unable to focus on more than one topic. Then it seemed to them that it was lithium, that is, a notorious name Rio Tinto.

On the other hand, the government did what it usually does: all its forces were harnessed to preserve Vučić's rating, and Miloš Vučević's government did not show that it was wondering about anything important. Vučić's attempt to turn Vučević into Ana Brnabić – his most successful party product – did not yield results. Vučević is somehow "coiled" and does not leave the impression of a person who at all understands what he is doing in the position of Prime Minister.

The tragedy of November 1 at the station in Novi Sad exposed the entire system and showed the true image of this regime. A new rebellion was inevitable. Protests due to state negligence and system failures that started in May 2023 were repeated in the fall. If last year the regime could say: "It's not up to us", that was the act of two patients - now it was not possible to hide and say: "We are not responsible". However, the government tried to do just that. Although she had covered up everything she could from the moment the canopy collapsed, the blood spilled in front of the station could not be washed away by the authorities. It will become part of the new slogan "Your hands are bloody" that has been echoing in Serbia for more than a month.

A year later, there is no story about the theft of votes - it was replaced by a story about the theft of truth and justice. The student rebellion gave new momentum to the rebellion against the regime that suspended the rule of law in Serbia, installed corruption as a governance model, and now everyone is seeing the results.

The rebellious youth, at the political level, gave air to the numb opposition that could not get out of the phase of a deep political coma since the spring. Will that be enough to see political change? It is difficult to expect that right away, but it is possible to assume that this is a message that the future does not count on those who are now at the head of Serbia. But who is he counting on? The opposition should now understand the moment and create a political alternative to the regime. The children have already defeated him.