Students cannot solve everything for us

We are talking with Law Faculty professor and Green-Left Front activist Svetislav Kostić only six days after the conflict between the government and the opposition in the National Assembly and after we witnessed the incomprehensible efforts of the President of the Assembly, Ana Brnabić, to hold that session at all costs. At the same time, we are conducting the interview just a few hundred meters away from Pionirski Park, where the "Students who want to learn" are located, and at the moment we are talking (Monday morning) we do not know that that evening the Students in Blockade will carry out an action to block all entrances to Radio and Television of Serbia.

What we know is that March 15 is coming and the big rally scheduled for that day in Belgrade, we know that society has expectations from that day, but that they are neither realistic nor justified. We also know that all of the above forms a complete picture of the moment in which society finds itself.

"WEATHER" What did we do last Tuesday in the Serbian Parliament, in fact, saw, what the deputies showed and why part of the public was happy with that scene, and the other was disgusted?

SVETISLAV KOSTIC: I am one of those who was happy about it and I think that these people did what I wanted them to do for me. First of all, we have a situation where this government, having hijacked all institutions in the country, has prepared for the opposition senselessness and humiliation in which there is only room for them to be sacks for senseless beatings by the representatives of the ruling majority. In that atmosphere, nothing is heard by the opposition MPs. Second - we ourselves no longer see the point of any conversation. However, the question arises as to what the alternative is. So, do we want to go on revolutionary assaults, and something I did not see that such readiness was present. When we want to gather in a nice atmosphere and to all love each other and enjoy youth and beauty, we are the first ones there, but with other things, there are not so many.

Or the option for us is for MPs to resist something that has evidently constitutionalized legal violence. And they did the best they could under the circumstances, so they resisted and refused to be humiliated. If the citizens of Serbia do not like what they saw, let the citizens of Serbia get active and put up a greater resistance together. These people did the best they could, thank them for that.

We all know what is legal., it is written in the laws. Where can legitimacy be drawn for such actions of the parliamentary opposition?

That legitimacy comes from something that is the foundation of the Constitution. The entire history of the constitutionality of human rights and the struggle for the principle of legality rests on Njegoš's: "To put your foot on the neck of tyranny, to bring it to a better understanding of rights, that is the most sacred human duty." Thomas Jefferson, one of the authors of the American constitution as one of the oldest in the world, says that there is a human right to resist tyranny. Legitimacy of the members of the opposition derives from the fact that they have a government in front of them that violates the constitution, laws, and denies absolutely all the rights of that opposition - it is also one of the institutions of this society. From this we see that their resistance as such is absolutely legitimate.

And how do you explain the fact that a part of the public likes what is happening in Bogatić, Crabs, Kraljev, Zajecaru, but they have a problem when something similar happens in the Serbian Parliament?

It has at least a few elements. The number one element is snobbery, in which something works for the peasants, but cannot work in the noble house of the National Assembly. Another thing is that we in Serbia often have a penchant for dogmatism. So, we hear something that they have convinced us is smart, even though it probably isn't, and then we repeat it, convinced that if we repeat it enough times, others will recognize that we are also smart. One of those post cards is that the opposition is wrong and that everything it does must be constantly criticized.

Whereby, one can have an understanding for local movements and local activists, but the moment you become part of the institutional process, that moment you have to pass the warm rabbit. I am deeply convinced that it is about something that is planned, because that makes any possibility of successful resistance to this government meaningless. So it's something that the authorities are perfectly fine with. With some critics, it is pure repetition of what they have learned. On the other hand, unfortunately, the very narrow media scene where a different voice can be heard is such that its criteria have been terribly lowered and today it is enough to say: "Ua Vučić!" so that you automatically qualify as an interviewer.

I think the standard would have to be a little higher than that and it's not too much of a requirement to Google what someone has been reportable in the past maybe 12 to 24 months. It doesn't have to go beyond that, and if you were to scratch further, you would only then come to certain shocks, whom we legitimized as an interlocutor. In addition, one of the tasks in the process of maturing the Serbian opposition and its becoming a relevant social factor is the ability to ignore irrelevant voices, some of which are classified in that category of analysts. Let them say what they want.

With the fact that it seems to me that society needs a certain development of a culture of criticism, but constructive criticism. And part of the opposition seems to be unaware that it is their voters who will criticize them and vote for them.. They want to be better because that's who they vote for.

Political parties are not at the election for mis. I am part of a political party in which I fight for some of the ideas that I know are minority in Serbia and I have no problem with that. If I wanted to deal purely with my coming to power, SNS would be my address. But if I want to advocate

for something I believe in, then it is a political party such as the Green-Left Front. We will pay the price for what we believe.

What was done in the Assembly was the absolutely dominant will and feeling of the ZLF membership. After that, our party had an open conversation

with membership at the presidency level where people could come and speak their minds. That criticism is welcome. There is something that we present to them very clearly. We had three choices: we could not go; we could have gone and accepted the humiliation; we could resist. Out of those three options, the one I think is correct was chosen. My political representatives have my support.

Was the Serbian Progressive Party humiliated that day and if so, did anyone see it except people who watched the entire broadcast from beginning to end, but with no commercial breaks and no analysts in the studio?

SNS made a big and serious mistake that day. It is repeated even today. Among other things, this is also here in Pionirski Park where "Students who want to learn" are sitting. It is an inability, now mental, for any form of normal human and decent dialogue. Whether SNS is humiliated or not is not such an important question.

The important question is whether SNS sent a key message

on which he bases his rule. And that is whether the SNS can ensure stable, smooth, peaceful governance of the state. It can't. They are now showing more and more that this country cannot function except in a war camp state with reams of armed police. This is shown by the assemblies, shown by the conflicts in Požega, Bečej, Rača, Kraljevo, Bogatić... I think it is very important that we have a section of people - of which I think there are many in Serbia - who do not care who will be in power somewhere. But they vote for the one who can deliver stability and smooth running of the state. They will at some point wonder where this is going and whether this government can deliver on what has been its core proposition all these years. And I think that this is exactly the point to show SNS: your arrogance, your arrogance has a price and you will have to start paying it.

What are the biggest achievements of students in the blockade so far?

When it comes to blocked students, there are a few things that are extremely important. They are the continuation of something that was recognized by some other social segments in 2023. Therefore, ProGlas was the one who, after more than a decade of complete political madness that we should not deal with the society we live in, nor should we vote and that it is all irrelevant, came out and said: people, but then we are idiots, as Pericles defined people who do not deal with the society in which they live. Let's not be idiots! This student rebellion is a continuation of that. They can distance themselves from ProGlas, but history is inexorable. It is a feeling that we still need to deal with the society we live in and that is very commendable. The students, with their beauty, managed to awaken in a large number of people the feeling that dealing with the society in which we live is ethically good.

The second thing that happens is that, precisely because they are young, beautiful, smart, good and less corrupt than us elders, they have managed to wake up to things that have not been followed that much. For example, at the Eighth March we had speeches by representatives of the LGBT community, as well as women from Gornji Nedeljice who say that they are all sisters. That was unthinkable before.

In Novi Pazar, we have pictures of young men with shajkach and young men with fez hugging each other, and for the first time we have voices from that part of Serbia that for the first time they feel like equal citizens of this country. There are huge strides that we have to build on. This step forward, giving a positive connotation to dealing with the society in which they live, as well as spreading some noble values ​​within this society, is a key step forward that will leave a mark on this society.

Politically, I think that the students managed to bring a large number of people to the streets who cannot go back after this. They are simply lost to the regime forever. What will happen, how it will develop further, is another story.

I think that in our Belgrade elitism and snobbery, we do not sufficiently notice the contribution of students outside of Belgrade. It is not fair to them, because they are fighting this fight equally and should be respected.

We have this last student proposal, which refers to the invitation to citizens to hold assemblies. In a way, they can be interpreted as: Come on, now you.. Who is this message for?? I am, let's say, I did not understand it as a message for Belgrade, nor any city or municipality, but as a message for the smaller communities that they woke up with the marches.

Now there are several elements. I think that in a student movement that is heterogeneous and has different elements, there is a justified feeling that a huge responsibility has been transferred to their shoulders. They must understand that simply going out into the public space, and here we come back to the opposition that experiences it every day, leads to a solution being demanded of them. That is the first mistake of that proposal related to choirs. Unfortunately, a large number of people ask you to save him, to solve him and to implement something where he will then come to an end. A huge number of people expect this from students and say: "You are our smart girls", "brilliant", "liberators"... No one should think anything. They will solve everything for us, finish everything, and then we will be intercepted and we will feel as if we were an equal part of that fight because we will knead a roll or give them a pat as they pass.

Organizing according to local self-rights, democratization, decentralization, is very important. I think it is very important that the local communities in Serbia that have been forgotten get their voice. The problem that arises here is that people see the local through one prism and it will very often be seen through the arrogance, arrogance, ignorance, corruption and crime of the local SNS elite who took absolutely everything. However, the problem is that the fish stinks from the head. And this is not about whether the president of the municipality is so-and-so. It is a system that cannot function otherwise. This system is based on what we have now and it changes only at the level of the republic. Now, of course, that movement that would change that would be greatly strengthened by the existence of local forces, local points of resistance. But unfortunately, this is something that will take time.

Where students, I think, make a mistake, is to recognize the plenum potential outside the faculty. Therefore, they must understand that the plenum is made up of people who are more or less the same generation, between whom there is a difference of four to five, six years and who are part of a very similar cultural social milieu, people who have made certain value decisions in their life, how to build it and where to go. And even if we are talking about faculty plenums, who share the same interests and the same passions, the same excitement...

There are not many such environments. Thanks to the great support they received from the teachers and the university in general, the plenums were able to build on the infrastructure the university made available to them.

The problem is that the choirs do not have that infrastructure, it has been hijacked. I think democratization and decentralization are needed, but you will allow me a degree of skepticism and a degree of distrust that this is the key solution. I don't think so. I think it's hard to achieve, but I'm allowed to be wrong. I'm afraid that real life will soon show that it won't be a magic solution for everyone.

photo: lenka pavlović

Towards 15. March, I'm not asking what your expectations are, but what we should be ready for that day?

I don't have any excessive expectations from March 15. It could be a perfect day if on that day there is a possibility that wide segments of the society that revolted, students, opposition parties, professors,

social groups, reach a common agreement about what we have to do next. Such an agreement would be something that is an incredible success and something that would move this society in an unstoppable direction - to replace this government and this system quite quickly.

No matter how many people come, it is important that image of unity, one clear message and one clear task for all of us what we have to do - from organizing resistance at the level of local self-governments, through organizing solidarity networks to creating points of resistance for a clear idea whether it is a transitional government or something else. Well, it is something that would be mature, successful and would lead to a much more painless resolution of the crisis than what we can expect. But I don't think that will happen, because this society is not yet mature enough to give up so quickly its delusions that prevent it from moving forward and that have held it back for quite a long time. And which, after all, made this kind of SNS government possible.

Another possibility is that that day will be the day when we face the fact that we have to come up with something different. Let's be a little disappointed in each other, see that there is no easy and quick solution and then start doing things differently, after a certain period of disappointment or sadness. I am primarily referring to those who expect us to complete the work on March 15. I don't think that's possible. What exactly is it that we want? That is one big question. Is it the fulfillment of student requirements? I am not sure that the majority of those who will come to Belgrade on March 15 would be satisfied with the delivery of 15 or 20 more documents or the arrest of fifteen people who are corrupt.

Even if we were to agree that some transitional government is the solution, it is only the beginning of the painstaking work that will have to lead to the SNS raising its hand for such a time. Because the transitional government is elected that way.

And if we were to go to the total extreme and say revolution, I would have to be irritating again and say that all revolutions had revolutionary assemblies with representatives of the rebellious people. From the French Revolution through the Bolshevik Soviets and beyond. We have none of that. We live in the belief that a magical force will appear that will solve our problems. They won't. She is not there.

We must accept that the process of healing someone who has horribly neglected himself is a long one. And this nation has neglected itself politically. And the step in that is that political change cannot be achieved by other means, through politics. Running away from it is running away from reality. And what I think we will have on March 15 is that a part of our population will face the fact that the path without politics will not provide solutions.