The area of the former Yugoslavia still breathes together. There is still some common political, social and cultural space. First of all, this is evident through the support that students receive from all Yugoslav countries, but also by the fact that they have become an inspiration for similar, though not so numerous and large protests in the surrounding area, primarily in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
*banner from the support rally for students in Serbia held in Rijeka
Current protests have shown that young people are unfairly accused of living in impenetrable, impregnated asylums and of showing no interest in the social environment. Their interests, it will be, were just not available to the traditional public and communication channels. For a long time, a part of civil society in Serbia has been fighting to include media and political literacy in the education system. The regime actually, unconsciously and perversely, during these thirteen years of riding, held an imposing enlightening lesson. He showed what politics is in the public interest and what the role of the media should be in a democratic society - through negative examples. This is not how it should be! Here, this is not politics, but criminal philandering, here, this is not the media, but primitive propaganda lying clubs.
The protests here pointed to another fact. The region, as they call it professionally area of former Yugoslavia, still breathing together. There is still some common political, social and cultural space. First of all, this is evident through the support that students receive from all Yugoslav countries, but also by the fact that they have become an inspiration for similar, although not so numerous and large protests in the surrounding area, primarily in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Unfortunately, most of the countries in the region suffer from the same diseases, and there are many reasons for protests, with the fact that Serbia is certainly the worst of all children. If anything, in other countries there is a change of government. And there is no such "objective institution" as in our country.
The Balkans have been the world's vanguard on several occasions, but in a bad way. It's as if the madness of the 1968s spread from these areas - primitivism, nationalism, xenophobia - to the whole world. Some hope that now they will be the vanguard in something good and that young people all over the world will rise up against "this" that is pushing us all in a very bad direction. I guess they are the only ones who can fight to avoid canceling those very values that the students fought for in XNUMX.
MONTENEGRO: OCCASION - TRAGEDY IN CETINJE
Student-citizen movements are the inspiration for the protests that are currently ongoing in Montenegro. And the reason for them are two mass murders: at the beginning of 2025 and in the summer of 2022, twenty-three people were killed in Cetinje. An informal group of students organizes daily protests that involve 23 minutes of noise for the victims. They block city streets, and the locations of the blocks are announced the day before. They have ten demands, among which are the resignation of the Minister of Police and the Deputy Prime Minister for Security and Defense, confiscation and destruction of all illegal and hidden weapons, and stricter penalties for their illegal possession and carrying.
Daliborka Uljarević, executive director of the Center for Civic Education in Podgorica, said in an interview with "Vreme" that in Montenegro, the reactions to the protests here and there are divided. On one side are those who see them as a motivating and necessary struggle of young people for a better society, and on the other are those who observe them exclusively through the prism of party interests.
"Although these protests are based on two terrible tragedies, in Novi Sad and in Cetinje, which are also a consequence of the dysfunctionality of the institutions and systems for which the students are advocating for recovery, at the same time they have become an umbrella that brings together many people dissatisfied with various aspects of the work of the authorities in the two countries. This is more pronounced in Serbia, where we have a fascinating number of people who have been expressing their protest in very creative and emotional ways for the past few months, and it is especially significant that this thread of protest is spreading capillary throughout the country, reaching even small towns. This is how fear is broken and Vučić's media machine no longer produces the effect it had until now, and with the students are also numerous professional associations and the majority academic community, as well as many from the business sphere, which is currently a record level of mobilization in the last two decades in Serbia", says Uljarević.
However, Montenegro does not have a culture of protest like Serbia, and everything that happens in the neighboring country is far smaller in scope, energy and reach: "Unfortunately, the academic community in our country does not have the courage to stand by the students in the way that their colleagues in Serbia did, and apart from individuals from that group who provide support, there is no collective support from the faculties themselves, which also emphasizes the (in)quality of that part of the system", Uljarević believes.
She says that the context in which young people are formed in the region should also be taken into account, which is not well-founded in values and does not encourage new generations to think critically. This has already led to their chronic disinterest in social engagement.
"They show a distaste for politics (in which they should be partially understood, taking into account how much mud there is in politics in the region), and some kind of absence from reality or the position that they are above that reality," states Uljarević. "That's why this expression of their protest is a miracle that as such moves many, both among young people and other structures to which hope is restored. It is also a fact that they communicate very well on social networks, which is the main source of information for their generation. And that has an effect on the overall vibration among young people. They introduce activism and rebellion into fashion, and this must have a further domino effect, independent of the concrete effect of these protests", she says.
BIH: FOCUS ON THE TRAGEDY IN JABLANICA
In addition to providing support to students from Serbia, academics from Bosnia and Herzegovina also organized their own protests in front of the state parliament building. Their focus is on the deadly floods from October 2024 in the area of Jablanica, Fojnica and Konjice, which claimed 29 human lives. They believe that this is not a simple accident due to natural disasters, but the result of systemic negligence and incompetence of those who are obliged to protect the lives of citizens.
Sarajevo media expert Anida Sokol tells "Vreme" that student protests in Serbia are "an inspiration for the entire region". He believes that the way in which the students organized themselves and their persistence are "really amazing".
"The impact of student protests from Serbia on the region is visible through the protests that are organized in BiH, although with a delay and to a much smaller extent. In Banja Luka, students organized support rallies, and students in Sarajevo held a protest due to their dissatisfaction with the events and the reaction of the authorities after the floods in October 2024. It is unacceptable that there is still no accountability and transparency for the events in Donja Jablanica, when an illegal quarry fell on houses during the floods", says Sokol.
She reminds that the citizens of Zenica held protests where they demanded measures to curb inflation, fiscal reforms, audit of public companies and transparency in spending public money.
"We see concrete demands that citizens make to the authorities. The inspiration for the blockades of shopping centers, which also happen in Bosnia and Herzegovina, came from Croatia, which shows the impact of such actions on the region. The reaction of the public in Bosnia and Herzegovina is delayed, but it is important that it be initiated. Because of what happened in Donja Jablanica, the protests should have been held long ago and massively to demand transparency and responsibility for the illegal quarry, but also the authorities' responsibility for the untimely reaction and lack of flood warnings. Also, we see that the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina do not report on the protests in Serbia to the extent that they should, considering their importance. Also, it is noticeable that certain media outlets avoid reporting on protests, following a certain political agenda", she says, emphasizing that she hopes that students and citizens in BiH will persist in their demands, that they will not give up, "just as students and citizens in Serbia do not give up".
CROATIA: CROATIAN NATIONALISTS LIKE VUCIĆ MORE THAN STUDENTS
Students in Serbia receive support from Skopje, Ljubljana, but also from almost all major cities in Croatia, from colleagues, but also, so to speak, from libertarian-minded citizens. Vučić's regime uses this to disavow the student protests, proving that they were initiated by the state-arch-enemy, that they were, in fact, "Ustasha". This propaganda kit does not work for them, it creates a counter-effect.
"The attitude of the mainstream media in Croatia towards the student protests in Serbia is generally positive, and I believe that the protests are viewed in the same light by a large part of the population that follows and is interested in the news from the neighborhood. So we had the opportunity to see several support gatherings for Serbian students, in Zagreb, Split and Rijeka, and those support gatherings are mostly young people unencumbered by the legacy of the nineties, people who love Belgrade and Serbia, often have friends there, they don't see anything strange or strange in going to Belgrade, Novi Sad and the like", says journalist and author of the podcast "Envy" Ladislav Tomičić.
However, he says that there is a good part of citizens who are indifferent to the events in Serbia.
"They are not interested in anything from Belgrade, just as they are not interested in anything from Ljubljana, Vienna or Budapest. Finally, we also have that part of the population that is inclined to right-wing and far-right political options. They would also like to give the impression that they are not interested in news from Serbia, Croatian right-wingers are happy with that, but they cannot fight against themselves, since their political opinion implies constant vigilance and a fight against a hated enemy, and they reckon that they cannot and will not find a better enemy for Serbs and Serbia. They do not differentiate between Aleksandar Vučić and students, for them both Vučić and his opponents are Chetniks, with the fact that Vučić is closer to them, because they understand him better and he suits them better", says Tomičić.
According to him, there is very little chance that the protests from Serbia will be the driving force for similar events in Croatia.
"The protest in Serbia had a direct impact in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. People took to the streets encouraged by the news from Serbia. However, it is a negligible echo. The main stages of this 'party' are in Serbia. We follow what is happening and nod our heads to the rhythm that comes from afar, hoping that the sun will finally shine over Serbia as it should", says Tomičić.
Less than two days of blockade - that's how long it took to see how weak and powerless the public media service is, both from the outside and from the inside. At the moment of writing this text, it is the eighth day of the blockade, and the sixth that RTS is not broadcasting its program. They also seem to be facing a strike inside the house. And the essence of blocking RTS is not in what it publishes, but in what it keeps silent
In the months after the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad, the flames of rebellion spread throughout Serbia. The first protests started in Novi Sad right after the tragedy. The authorities responded with arrests, police cordons and intimidation, but instead of calming down the protesters, new protests followed.
The rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić, has been the target of top state officials and regime tabloids for months, who label him as an insidious instigator of student protests, an opportunist, "the face of evil" and "the leader of the criminal octopus." How and why a rector became "state enemy number one"
"I'm standing in the cordon, and my daughter is shouting at me 'aw, aw, killers'. What should I do? If they ordered me - I would throw down my baton and bulletproof vest and stand on the side of my child," a police officer from the south of Serbia, who works as needed in the Belgrade Police Brigade, told "Vreme"
The recent formation of the Đura Macuta government is part of the regime's revenge and cynicism. This can be seen most in the "black troika" of new ministers appointed to deal with the parts of society that are the leaders and symbols of the big rebellion that lasted for several months, the cause of which was the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad, which claimed 16 human lives. Education, universities, unsolicited media and parts of the judiciary that refuse to listen to orders, either publicly, with announcements, or hiding behind legal procedures, should be dismantled. Those who will have no problem doing everything they are told, even reinforcing the orders with their own inventions, are chosen for this.
Who mentions the extraordinary elections when the rating of the party in power is falling, and according to all surveys, Vučić is not the most important political factor in the country, but the students?
The brutal beating of students and citizens in Novi Sad shows that the regime is not only ready to take revenge - it is actually carrying it out
If in reality the principle of balance is violated - the way the incompetent regime violated the relationship between the concrete elements at the Novi Sad Railway Station - reality will behave like a canopy: it will fail to obey
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