Incompetent tutors

Today is exactly 100 days since the beginning FDU blockades in Belgrade. It was actually the beginning of a broad wave of social changes that the students started by defining four basic demands that the government had not fulfilled until this moment. Meanwhile, protests high school students, educators, lawyers, farmers, actors and other artists joined, as well as part of the Kolubara workers. In Belgrade, large gatherings were held at Slavija and Autokomanda. Holding daily blockades to pay respect to those who died in Novi Sad, touring Serbia on foot and on bicycles, the students animated and mobilized citizens across the country in more than 250 places. Under the pressure of students and citizens who suffered many beatings, the student protests led to the resignations of Prime Minister Vučević and the mayor of Novi Sad. Spectacular protests and one-day blockades were held in Novi Sad, Kragujevac and Niš, and a rally was announced in Belgrade on March 15. They managed to politically awaken thousands of young people, who were believed to be politically completely anesthetized and apathetic. A breath of freedom spread through Serbia.

During these 100 days, the students organized themselves in the form of a plenum, avoided the manipulations of the government and the opposition, declared the president incompetent and did not deepen the divisions in society by any action, but on the contrary, they awakened solidarity, tolerance and the spirit of non-violence.

Today, the first regular spring session was held in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, where the ruling majority wanted to adopt a bunch of laws by urgent procedure and without discussion, similar to the session on the adoption of the budget, and finally state the resignation of the Vučević government.

In the state media, in the previous days, Vučić launched the mantra about "the end of the revolution" and "the beginning of the counter-revolution". He announced the intensification of the conflict, new attempts to kill him, the destruction of the state from the outside and the inside, and orchestrated media support. He insulted journalists by calling them imbeciles and then a disgrace to the profession. We have already seen this practice in relation to students, whom he insulted and praised at the same time.

The media preparation of the session, hand on heart, was also done by the opposition, announcing different forms of resistance, but even earlier and incorrectly, pushing the narrative about "the end of student protests", which must turn into something else, suggesting that the energy of the rebellion should be politically articulated through political parties - not to mention the opposition.

The session of the Assembly was actually that, a struggle to capitalize on the energy of the student rebellion. Believe it or not, the government and the opposition presented their actions as "fulfilling student demands"! This very inaccurately implies that students need some kind of "tutor", or even worse, adults and more experienced from the world of the political establishment who will prove that they are the only parents of this naive idealistic youth, who will make us cry and explode with their naive sincerity in wanting to create a better world.

The government, apparently with the help of information about the plans of the opposition, embodied its institutional political violence by holding the session in unacceptable conditions. Not only was there no discussion, but tear gas, pyrotechnics, fire extinguishers, throwing bottles, pushing and shouting appeared in the hall with a huge noise. Any serious government would have interrupted the session, because it could not be held in a situation where it was no longer possible to control who would hit you in the head with something.

Holding a session in these circumstances is not a struggle for Serbia, and even less for the fulfillment of students' demands. Paradoxically, the government presented itself as the protector of students who would be provided with loans for apartments, even though they did not actually ask for them. Marko Atlagić from the Board of Education, who for three months did not see fit to put a discussion on student demands on the agenda, now roared against the opposition so much that his dentures fell out. Vulin and Brnabić wiped themselves with the flag like toilet paper and cried out for student loans through tears. It is actually strange that after the tear gas, torches and the activation of the PP device in the assembly hall, the fire alarm did not go off. That doesn't work either, or someone turned it off to make the circus bigger.

Another part of the deputies, those on the opposition side, also scored an own goal. They now openly want to take the energy of the protest in a completely wrong way. I had the opportunity to see and hear the anger of the students, whose 100 days of persistent, patient and non-violent resistance, which produced the results mentioned at the beginning of this article, are now being trivialized by the opposition in the continuation of their media reality show. I'm thinking how difficult it will be to explain to the citizens now why the opposition did exactly what Vučić has been doing to frighten the citizens of Serbia for more than three months - namely, inciting civil war and economic ruin. This type of extra-institutional political resistance will result in an even more aggressive attitude of the government and its supporters towards students. They will be trampled and beaten like chickens under the pretext that in cooperation with the opposition they are destroying the state and "burning down the Parliament". The session will, of course, be held by force, as will the majority vote, and then we will take a step back and analyze whether the deputy was hit in the head with a bottle by a fool from the government or a fool from the opposition. Vučić has received media ammunition and will no longer apologize to anyone, but will circulate pictures from the smoky Assembly for days, while students will try to invite and gather citizens on March 15 in Belgrade.

In short, you screwed the students and put them in an extremely difficult position - that they have to redefine their position both towards the government and the opposition. Instead of learning from them and helping them make the changes they are looking for truly substantial, we burden them with daily political fights. This session is actually a sign that during Vučić's rule, we also lost a proactive democratic opposition, whose maximum reach at the moment is unfortunately tear gas in the Parliament.