A new directive from the Leader has arrived - to declare rebellious students and citizens fascists and Nazis. And the Essenes do it with a lot of enthusiasm. However, there are two serious problems. The first is that the rebelling Serbian students and citizens are a phenomenon that is as far from fascism as it can be. The second is that it is the SNS that nurtures many features of fascism to a good extent
They didn't Aleksandar Vučić and his group were never burdened with meaning, shame, truth or any other civilizational norm. In these 13 years, as they ravaged the country, we have heard and seen all (un)imaginable evils, but even on that, their own ground, they have not shown themselves to be creative at all. Namely, one cannot dispute their talent for synthesizing nastiness - they successfully manage to bring up nastiness from mutually distant, even opposing camps - but there is no trace of originality. That is why they are characterized by falsification and imitation.
Even now, they couldn't come up with anything smarter than to do a dozen bilmes - in front of the sheet on which they drew swastika and wrote the wise words of their Leader"Better to be a father than a Nazi."- they jump and shout"Whoever doesn't jump is a Nazi.", all while imitating tens of thousands of real students who have been repeating since March that "he who doesn't jump is a boy". With the fact that it is witty and fun for the students, and stupid and sad for them. But that is not enough. It is necessary to dehumanize the opponents, open up space for them to be beaten, arrested, trampled, broken jaws and, in general, belittled. Being infinitely unimaginative, the Essenes fail to come up with anything smarter than to call citizens Ustashas, fascists, Nazis, Bolsheviks, Falangists, fools, idiots, criminals...
SCARECROW AND THE FALSE DILEMMA
When asked how he comments on the offensive of sticking fascist labels on students, psychologist Oliver Tošković, a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, tells "Vreme": "The rhetoric of the current government in Serbia largely revolves around two 'false' arguments. The first is the so-called 'scarecrow argument', which consists in attributing some 'terrible' characteristic to the opponent, something that sounds very bad to everyone, even though the opponent has nothing to do with that characteristic. For example, you call the opponent a fascist, a Nazi, a terrorist, a thug, a thief..." And then, as Tošković further explains, you portray yourself as someone who is fighting against such an opponent, with the expectation that public opinion will take your side. It is enough to look at the windows of newsagents to find the said characteristics on the front pages of the yellow press, which are attributed to anyone who criticizes the current government. "Another such argument is the 'false dilemma', in which you attribute to the other side that it stands for something, of course bad, which that side does not stand for at all, and then you impose on the public opinion a false choice between two non-existent options", Tošković continues. For example, you write in the tabloids that professors and students are destroying Serbia and then ask the citizens a question - are they for progress or the destruction of Serbia. Everyone would opt for the first, of course, but neither is the first connected with the government, nor is the second connected with students and professors. "The false dilemma is actually the joke from elementary school: 'Do your parents know you're a boy?'. Whatever you answer is wrong. Of course, a scarecrow and a false dilemma can be successfully combined, which you will see in almost every guest appearance by a representative of the current government on their televisions," concludes Tošković.
LEADER'S MIRROR
On the one hand, it really doesn't matter what these people say because their speech is devoid of content. But even though devoid of substance - or because of it - that speech is toxic. As forgers and imitators, the Essenes ascribe to others what they do themselves and attach their own qualities to them. Thugs, for example. If they scream at others that they are thieves, without any fear of making a mistake, you can conclude that they are stealing recklessly. If others - students and their professors - are said to be terrorists, it is quite certain that the Essenes are using terrorist methods against the citizens of this country. A sound cannon, for example. When the Leader foams at the mouth of those who "betrayed Kosovo", it is clear that he is talking about himself. The same is the case with the barrage of insults in which fascism and Nazism are the main words.
These are cheap tricks to distract attention from yourself. So far, let us note, they have been effective. When asked by "Vremena" how he comments on the latest "student rioting", Jovo Bakić, professor of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, a sociologist, reminds us of the Nazi tactics from 1933: "The Nazis once (on February 27, 1933) burned down the Reichstag and accused the Communists of that misdeed, so that they would have a reason to persecute them. The same logic is applied today by the leader and propagandists of the hooligan regime. Because fascism and Nazism are hateful terms, then the regime sews them on to its critics and political enemies, while in fact it cultivates such movements and personalities in its ranks - from Šešelj to Miša Vacić himself; from the Serbian Radical Party to the Serbian Progressive Party. Their perpetrators, most often with criminal records, are the protagonists not only of violence but also of extreme right-wing ideas."
BRIEF HISTORY (NEWER) DISHONORABLE
A citizen - encouraged by the president's benevolent attitude towards the trampling of rebellious students - on January 16, in Rooseveltova Street, picked up Law Faculty student Sonja Ponjavić with a car and seriously injured her. A little later, on January 24, in Yurija Gagarina Street, a student of the Faculty of Agriculture was seriously injured. She was wearing a yellow policeman's vest. The citizen who ran into her with a car was soon released from custody. On January 27, student Anna's jaw was broken by Essenes beaters with a baseball bat. The president of all citizens said on that occasion that he did not understand what had happened, but later he seemed to understand, so he declared his batterers heroes. On March 18, Željko Latas entered the Pionirski Park in Belgrade and was attacked there in the middle of the day by a group of men who, it seems, do dirty work part-time in the name and for the benefit of the president of all citizens. Miloš Pavlović, already recognized as a favorite student of the regime, also found himself in that company. Latas defended himself with spray. As the videos clearly show, the spray from the bottle did not injure anyone. Nevertheless, the attacked citizen was (logically) taken into custody, and the said Pavlovic faked the injury (the truth was bad) and - with appropriate pomp and accompanied by the Minister of Health - recited in front of the cannibalistic television cameras what, apparently, he received on paper (we know from whom). Law student Lazar Živković was attacked by SNS thugs on June 5 and seriously injured. However, the police did not get too excited, and the president of all citizens of Serbia did not even speak.
And then on June 6, in the middle of the night, the aforementioned Pavlović, the favorite student of the president of all citizens of Serbia, decided to visit his friends in the Student City. The videos show that he was doused with water, and there is also a mention of a can that, I guess, ended up on his face. The detail with the can, however, remains hazy because not only is the can barely visible on the videos, not only is Pavlović and the president (of all citizens) of Serbia not inclined to the truth, but the blow with the can leaves traces that are not visible in Pavlović's case. That same evening, Pavlović found himself in the Emergency Center, in a cart for transporting patients who cannot walk. The minister next to him was in full medical equipment - as if he had just come out of the operating room, which, undoubtedly, adds drama to the whole scene - and the favorite student of the president of all citizens muttered something about Nazism. Probably the text written on the rifle. And then it started.
ALL ARE FASCISTS (EXCEPT US)
As usual, the President of the National Assembly of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, stood out with a series of statements and original contributions to the history of fascism. As "Politika" reported, the attack on students who want to study (as opposed to these evil ones who don't want to) is Nazism for her, and the students in the blockade are fascists. She did not explain the subtle difference between fascism and Nazism. She then stated that Serbia did not accept the fascism and Nazism implemented by the blockaders either in the First or the Second World War, and that it will not do so now either. It must be recognized as a rather original contribution to historiography, since fascism and Nazism appeared after the First World War. Brnabić added that the students in the blockade turned into a "Nazi horde" and that they are a "Nazi phalanx". By the way, the Nazis didn't organize themselves into phalanxes, the fascist regime of Francisco Franco did, but okay now, let's get down to the nitty-gritty. It is important that the president of the highest legislative body in Serbia calls the vast majority of Serbian students Nazis, while she calls the paid team of extras from Pionirski Park children, despite the fact that there are more of her peers than students there. Then he says: "That's fascism, that's what the world saw in 1931 and 1938, and we experienced it in anti-fascist Serbia." Where did she find herself in 1931 and 1938?! And he concludes: "I'm asking everyone to raise their voices even louder against these fascist phalanxes, now it's no longer sung 'who doesn't jump, that's a boy', but 'who jumps, that's a Nazi'".
Beta reports that Brnabić then jumped to Ćaciland, where the severely wounded Pavlović appeared, and assessed that the "worst Nazis" were behind the attack on him. "They wanted to kill our children," she shouted in battle, with "them" being students at the blockade, known for going around killing children. Her attackers, those who barely defended themselves from the jaw of the student from Novi Sad, of course, did not want to kill anyone, but only to break her jaw a little.
Even the president of SNS, Miloš Vučević, did not disappoint expectations. "They tried to lynch him (Pavlović)," Beta relayed his words, "just because he doesn't think like them, just because he doesn't spit on and trample on the flag of his homeland, just because he wants to study." It is inadmissible, of course, that someone poured water on Pavlović, but it can hardly be called a lynching. In addition, only Ana Brnabić and one member of the SNS were seen in the parliament throwing the flag and putting it under their buttocks, so Vučević is passing on what his group is doing to others. A significant contribution was also made by Bratislav Gašić, Minister of Defense. At first, he was horrified by the attack on Pavlović like never before in his life and concluded that he was the target of an "organized, merciless and fascist attack". Of course, the supreme being also spoke. His contribution was immeasurable, especially since during these thirteen years he discovered fascists among those who do not worship him, and it is enough to say that it was he who came up with the witty slogan "better uncles than Nazis".
BETWEEN SOAP SHOW AND VIOLENCE
Fascism, as noted by Umberto Eco, is without substance, and can be filled with different content. Nazism is a type of fascism, Mussolini's regime had its own characteristics, nationalism is a type of fascism, Putin's regime is fascist, and Trump is successfully moving towards it. However, despite all the differences, all fascisms share one common feature: they are all violent. Not all violence is fascism, but all fascism is violent. Philosopher Lazar Atanasković, professor of the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, tells "Vreme": "It is important to ask where and why fascism really arises. In situations of economic crisis, which naturally cause social instability and call established political positions into question, a not-so-noble alliance is formed, whose goal is to forcefully stop political and economic changes (and thus cause a disaster). An alliance between big capital and political cliques ready to hijack and dismantle institutions in order to remove them." and the last constitution to the accumulation of capital." Atanacković points out that Trump's (and Musk's) America and Putin's Russia are just different examples of that alliance, which in no way fundamentally differs from such processes from the twenties and thirties of the last century. "If you wonder where we are, just compare the moves of our government with similar moves of Fidesz in Hungary or the MAGA movement in the US. I think it's quite ironic when people who openly brag about dismantling institutions in favor of 'investments' call their opponents fascists," he concludes.
In the Serbian soup, on the one hand, there are non-violent citizens whom the regime calls fascists, and on the other, a party organized according to the Phalangist principle: a closed violent group with an undisputed leader. Or, as Professor Tošković adds: "The government packs its 'scarecrow arguments' into a pathetic narrative of cheap five-paragraph stories and telenovelas, about a hero who is constantly threatened, everyone attacks and chases him (Nazis, fascists, terrorists, evil professors, violent students...), unfair of course, and in the end he always wins and turns out to be a hero. And he writes a book about it. You can find this combination of vulnerability and invincibility of the hero in almost all soap operas, kitsch novels, various Hollywood productions and, of course, in almost every public appearance of the President of the Republic of Serbia."
Serbia entered into civil disobedience, and that brings with it consequences. In the days behind us, it became impossible to count those detained, arrested and injured. It will be recorded that police cars ran into peaceful citizens at full speed and that one man wanted to harm himself, under the pressure of the authorities
What did the protest on Saturday June 28 show? What messages and lessons can the government draw from it - and does it do so - and what kind of students and citizens who demonstrate? Was the manifestation of nationalism on Vidovdan expected, potentially dangerous, or does it represent something completely different? What is the position of the regime now, and what is the position of its opponents
The counting of votes in the repeated elections, at one polling place, in a town of 10.000 people, was personally monitored by the President of the State, Aleksandar Vučić, because he knew that if Kosjerić falls, more than one municipal government will be swayed. In the end, SNS managed to retain the election victory, with the usual repertoire - intimidation, demonstration of force and media smearing of opponents.
The citizens and students are so well organized that the police look ridiculous. They run from street to street, from neighborhood to neighborhood, like some confused children. If this rebellion produces the expected result, that is, if Novi Sad really becomes the local Gdańsk - it will undoubtedly be written in golden letters in the history of the city. It will be talked about with pride, just as it is proudly pointed out that in 1748 it became a free, autonomous city, by decree of Empress Maria Theresa. He paid for freedom then, it is always paid for
"After these seven months," says psychologist Zoran Pavlović, "repression becomes quite clearly counterproductive. Regimes that use excessive force often inadvertently mobilize citizens, because violence delegitimizes the government, and gives people moral clarity and emotional strength to oppose. Repression, in other words, will not only passivize society (which the regime plans), but will only strengthen the border between 'us' and 'them', will strengthen the identity of resistance and strengthen cohesion within the group that suffers injustice. The number of people taking to the streets is not decreasing, but increasing"
With a gesture of pumping at Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic drew curses and insults from the regime of Aleksandar Vučić. He was put in the same basket with "blockade-terrorists" and "anti-Serbs"
And how will firefighters, police and doctors take care of unsafe tunnels? Well, by keeping an eye on the hill and being ready if the hill falls on the bus, for example
Would you sit down with Aleksandar Vučić at the bar table after he pardoned the progressive men who heroically broke the jaw of a female student with a bat? Apart from the loss of basic moral inhibitions, what else is behind this act
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