On Sunday and Monday, January 26 and 27, another spectacular protest (pictured) was organized by students - a twenty-four-hour blockade of Autokomanda, a key Belgrade traffic interchange. Everything seemed like a dream. Impeccable organization, messages on banners that we will remember for a long time. These protests are different from all previous anti-regime protests because of their endless creativity, wit, and branching culture of rebellion, which testifies to its great vitality and ability to intensify. And further - the citizens prepared food for the students, the atmosphere was very good, the students played basketball, tennis, farmers, bikers, taxi drivers also joined the protest.
Desanka Maksimović's famous song is called "Serbia is a great secret." In it, "the day does not know what the night is cooking", "nor the night what the dawn brings forth", just like "the bush what the neighboring bush dreams of". And so on. The poem is often quoted, and often mocked, with a reference to the boring, bad, not at all surprising infinity of life in this country. However, the events we attend, the so-called current facts show that the famous Valjevka with a hat was right after all - at least in our time. Not only that no one alive - including the most prominent analysts, regime and anti-regime, well-informed optimists and pessimists, stargazers and healer prophets - just a few months ago could not even in the presence of divine inspiration assume that the whole of Serbia would stand on its feet and that the government, which seemed so overwhelming, would be on its knees, but no one can even predict with certainty what will happen within the next few hours.
For example, writing a text for a weekly newspaper about the current rebellion led by students is a great temptation. From the moment we close the issue (Tuesday evening) until it hits newsstands, everything we write may be, at least to some extent, questioned.
Let's say, if we started writing the text on Monday night, in the morning we could rush the text into the trash can, the popular recycling bin. Who would have guessed that Prime Minister Vučević, who the previous day in the "historic address" of the troika to the "nation" (with his boss Ana Brnabić) seemed so confident, would submit his irrevocable resignation the next day. Both he and his friend-heir Milan Đurić, who, like Vucevic, had the not-so-pleasant duty of playing the mayor of Novi Sad.
Let us remind you, because on Thursday, maybe someone will forget it. The reason for the resignation of the two friends is as follows: certain bilmers, leaving the progressive party premises in Novi Sad, showed - following President Vučić's boldness - exceptional courage and beat the students with bats, injuring one female student very seriously. They beat her with sticks while she was lying on the ground. With their resignations, Vučević and Đurić confirmed that the crime was committed by progressive activists.
Now, we can assume whether this is really the real reason, whether they made the decision independently and the one above just approved, or whether the whistleblower asked them to withdraw. The only thing that is certain is that Vučić would force his own children to resign from childhood if that would preserve his power. Some say that it is a defensive move by Vučić, withdrawn because he saw that the offensive ones only create counter-effects. The more his spin-menagerie and political collaborators try to stop and make sense of the huge civil rebellion, led by students and high school students, it becomes bigger and more powerful and more comprehensive and more meaningful.
We are not going to speculate now about who ordered the bilmes to throw away the clubs and whether the lower party cadres (read, persons who are either already known or will soon be known to the prosecution authorities) made the decision on their own? Has a monster been created that even the top of the party and state cannot control? Nor did a clear hierarchy of power within the party survive at all in all this chaos, which is accompanied by conflicts within the party and the authorities? What would people say, maybe you don't know who jumps who.
WEEKLY REVIEW
Along with the unfortunate event in Novi Sad, the resignations of Vučević and Đurić and the mass protests that the criminal act produced in many cities of Serbia - the past week's political scene was largely marked by three events - the general strike, Autokomanda and Jagodina. We say this for fear of underestimating the many other protests taking place across the country, even in places where there has never been an uprising in recent history. As our interlocutor, political scientist Dragan Popović, says: if the protest in the Novi Sad suburb of Futog brought a lot of people to the street, and we know that Futog is one of the progressive havens, then it is clear that things in Serbia have changed very, very much in just a few months.
The event in Jagodina is the least important, no matter how much effort the authorities put into it and announce it from all their media multi-barrel rocket launchers. According to the Archives of Public Meetings, the progressives and their partners managed to gather only 14000 people in the former Svetozarevo, with all those buses from who knows where. Students reach that number with one post on social networks, realistically. So many demonstrators gathered, and spontaneously, even in some smaller towns in Serbia.
In Jagodina, Vučić formally announced the creation of the "famous" Movement for the People and the State. Let us remind you that this kind of movement, which will unite all subscribers of the regime, including those who have been hiding behind the curtain, has already been proclaimed several times in the past years. It seems that he is now too late to distance himself from his own and other parties in power. The rally in Jagodina showed his political impotence, and the Movement looks like a desperate move.
Another interlocutor, lawyer Božo Prelevic, points out an interesting detail of the Jagodina dernek. Namely, Vučić received the biggest and only sincere applause when he said that he knows that the citizens have problems with the arrogant representatives of the SNS at the bar. If nothing else, then Vučić was able to find out how far things have come for him and his party!
GENERAL STRIKE
On the same day, on Friday, at the call of students and with the support of many opponents of the regime, a limited general strike was held in Serbia. Some will say – a dress rehearsal of a general strike. Many believed that the call would have a meager result, and then they were surprised when they walked the streets and saw that many shops were indeed closed. That some chain stores joined the strike. That even small private individuals, regardless of the loss of income and the possibility of being the target of inspection retaliation, decided to knock on the door, all with inscriptions supporting the students and their demands. If we add to that that some trade unionists in state and public enterprises, and now traditionally cultural and educational workers, independent media, farmers, lawyers and others joined the strike - it cannot be said that the matter has failed. On the contrary, it seems that this is just a prelude to a real general strike, which may be joined by some large public companies, as is rumored. Maybe Vučević's resignation will only encourage them.
On the same day, student and student support rallies were held throughout Serbia. According to the Archive of Public Meetings, there were more than 50000 demonstrators on the streets in Belgrade, 22000 in Novi Sad, 10500 in Nis, and between 5500 and 6000 citizens in Kragujevac. And so on. The most important news is that the energy of the rebellion is not waning, on the contrary, it is being renewed and strengthened, which is certainly due to the wise and creative moves of the students and the idiotic actions of the authorities, as well as numerous incidents that accompany the civil rebellion.
Let's remind you that on that day, a female student was injured after her peer hit her with a car. Even if they were not ordered from above, such incidents are the result of the regime's campaign against students. Students were called all derogatory names in the world. Only they weren't alien agents, at least not that we know of.
AUTOCOMMAND BLOCKAGE
Then, on Sunday and Monday, another spectacular protest organized by students was held - a twenty-four-hour blockade of Autokomanda, a key Belgrade traffic interchange. Everything seemed like a dream. Impeccable organization, messages on banners that we will remember for a long time. These protests are different from all previous anti-regime protests due to their endless creativity, wit, and branching culture of rebellion, which testifies to its great vitality and ability to intensify. So on - the citizens prepared food for the students, the atmosphere was very good, the students played basketball, tennis, farmers, bikers, taxi drivers joined the protest... At dawn, the residents of the surrounding buildings brought morning coffee, and the drivers greeted the students and others with sirens. No one can estimate how many people exchanged on the square during 24 hours. The number is certainly impressive.
Božo Prelevic says that probably 200.000 to 300.000 people passed through Autokomanda during 24 hours. He also saw many "unexpected people" at the meeting. There were, he says, many judges and prosecutors who have remained silent until now, high-ranking and very influential representatives of the BIA and the police who are retired. It is clear that the mood has changed among the policemen and even among the journalists of the regime media. There is no more "e" in enthusiasm. He says that the voices of high dignitaries who know that their prayers should not be directed towards the protection of crime and lawlessness are increasingly coming from the church.
"After the meeting at Autokomanda, the matter is clear, no one trusts Vučić anymore. He can no longer play matches with his petty forums and fasons. He can no longer fool people," says Prelevic.
IREVERSIBLE PROCESS
No matter how much he lives in his own world, it must be clear to Vučić that the magnificent meeting at Autokomanda is another in a series and completely irrefutable proof that things cannot even in children's fairy tales return to the point before November 1 and the canopy falls in Novi Sad. Now it is too late for him to analyze and correct the key mistakes made after this date, and it is especially late for him to repent and try to erase all the countless and biblical inactions during the past twelve years, for which he is at the top of the chain of responsibility.
However, on the other hand, it is unclear how things will end, in which direction they will go, what they will be like and whether there will be a valid political articulation of all these events, this imposing energy. First of all, it is unclear because of the irrational behavior of the authorities.
"We are all aware that there is no going back, there is no going back to the old ways, but it is very ungrateful, even impossible to predict how everything will end. The government makes rather irrational moves, which is nothing new, even for autocratic regimes it is common, especially when they find themselves in a crisis. You cannot take some rational parameters and draw a conclusion about what will happen, since everything depends on the will and mood of one person. But it is certainly clear that the huge social crisis that the Vučić regime has been continuously producing for the last 13 years is slowly moving towards its solution", says Popović.
INTERIM SOLUTION
If we had an even normal government, the matter would be clear: the formation of some kind of transitional government that would be time-bound with the task of organizing fair, free and equal elections, what Serbia has been lacking since 2012. Along the way, it could deal with the countless corruption scandals of the authorities, enabling the judiciary to do its job. Even if the government agreed to it, the question arises as to who would be in the transitional government, that is, the question arises as to which subjects will negotiate about it. Students? Who, how, with whom? With Vučić? How, when he is not competent? The opposition may be able to make some kind of contribution, but not too much, since it is also struggling with legitimacy.
This is where we come to the big problem of our political scene, the unpopularity of political parties as such. There are also new political actors who would like to capitalize on the protests, but for the time being they are unable to do so. Our interlocutor, lawyer Božo Prelevic, says that the negotiations on the transitional government should be led by a political force supported by students. That is, the government would have to be actually an expert.
But is it realistic, is it possible for a new political force to be created on a turbulent sea? And Prelevic wonders that. According to him, Vučić would prefer to agree to a transitional government made up of ruling parties and opposition parties, but that the opposition would make a serious mistake if it agreed to such a thing. Vučić would never agree to an expert government, at least not at this moment, because, as he says, it would open up the media and comb through voter lists, which would surely mean the end of his rule. In any case, he says, it is necessary to continue the intelligent pressure with undiminished ferocity and to make decisions based on the development of the situation.
NEW ELECTIONS
One possible option is new elections. Some analysts believe that the resignation of Miloš Vučević was submitted (and) because of that, so not to form a new government, but to call new elections under the pretext that it is impossible to form a new government.
"Vučić will offer various things. New elections are the safest for him. And anyone from the opposition who advocates new elections, under these election conditions, with disordered lists and such media - is not the opposition, be sure of that. I think the students are the ones who should give legitimacy to a completely new political force to get involved in the political solution of the current situation, first of all to their professors and people they trust", says Prelevic.
Popović also claims that new elections would not be possible without a broad social agreement that would include a significant improvement in electoral conditions. "No one from the opposition should agree to the elections in this situation. Even the students who, fortunately for all of us, have taken care of our society will not allow them to do that," says Popović.
Popović says that the opposition has the smallest role in the big rebellion. "This is actually a rebellion of the society against the captured state that was occupied by the society gathered around Aleksandar Vučić. The most diverse social groups stood up, each in their own way, recognizing that this is the moment when it is necessary to say - enough. Enormous energy, massiveness, creativity - all this raises the hope that it is possible to make something out of this society and instills great optimism, regardless of how everything ended in the short term", says Popović.
CONFLICT WITHIN POWER STRUCTURES
And by who all supports the students, and by who appears at the protests, and by the latest incident in Novi Sad, and by the logic of things, it is clear that there are conflicts within the power structures, specifically within the SNS.
"Nothing else can be expected. The SNS is not a classic party, their members are not united by any ideology or belief", says Popović. "Relying a little on Serbian nationalism, that's the closest to ideology they can get, but even that is quite shallow. It is a gathering of fans of Aleksandar Vučić. And they worship him only because he made something possible for them, from employment to stolen billions. In such a situation, the only thing that binds them is fear, a common interest in avoiding criminal responsibility and the desire to preserve illegally acquired property. Of course, in such a group there is turbulence, a gradual disintegration, we just have to wait and see how intense it will be and how long it will last." When it comes to conflicts within the party, Prelevic says that it is already clear how things will look in the near future. "Those who illegally earned serious money and bought houses in Spain, Italy, Greece and America will flee first. They have no intention of defending Vučić at the cost of prison. Then there are people who got rich without committing crimes, who got lucrative jobs and the like. Neither will they wait with Vučić for the situation to unfold, because they will want to protect their money and their family. The most dangerous are the representatives of criminal groups who have become enormously rich thanks to SNS. "They could be the praetorian guard who will protect Vučić at all costs," says Prelevic.
Prelevic says that many claim that students don't have much time, but that this is nonsense. "Vučić has no time, he disintegrates like an effervescent tablet in a glass of water." He collapsed all the institutions, the state, society, the opposition and the parliament, and now he would like to make some negotiations on the ruins of the system. In fact, he took everything from the citizens of Serbia - except the streets. And now there is no answer to the street, nor will it be," says Prelevic.
Marko Tošin, who, according to eyewitnesses, was with the batterers was not among those arrested and suspected of beating students in Novi Sad in the early morning hours of January 28.
By the way, he also participated in the attack on the leader of the Local Front, Peđa Voštinić, when he was hit by a car while he was riding a bicycle. At that time, Tošin was in the car that was going behind the "Skoda" that hit Voštinić. He is allegedly unavailable to the judicial authorities who are looking for him on two warrants: one from the High Court, the other from the Basic Court in Novi Sad.
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
The archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
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A voice hums from the megaphone politely reminding the gathered to pick up after themselves and not leave trash. The cleaning operation will start soon and will last for the last three hours of the blockade. Some of the banners are slowly being packed, while those hung on the overpass above the highway remain as a reminder. And then, the students will split up. Someone goes home to rest, and someone goes to university. Blockades continue
