Why is Vučić forced to form a forced and tumultuous government? Why is Serbia from February 2025 no longer the same country from October 2024? How did the head of state come to extortion that none of the moves he has been making for three months are working for him? Where is the opposition in all this, how can it be divided and what should it understand
The President of Serbia has been promoting his unwritten book "How I Defeated the Colored Revolution" for two weeks. It is a postmodernist novel, a combination of fantasy and mystery. Aleksandar Vučić has two roles in that project - the writer is his own reviewer. As the latter says, the book will be studied all over the world - from Alaska to Australia, including the United Arab Emirates.
And now seriously. Vučić is no longer denying the deep political crisis, but with speeches and sporadic rallies, he is hawking the depressed electorate, that is, he is pumping "color revolution" and "Vojvodina separatism." None of that works for him, but it buys him some time.
It is similar with the arrest of Grčić, Papić, Vrbaški and other cadres who were once close to Nebojša Srefanović. It seems that the mentioned "wounded eagles" were packed away while the showdown with their protector was going on - there was no need for evil. Now the material is collected and as needed, only for another purpose. But don't lie down, arrests among progressives and satellites are of little interest to the public. People see who is raised, pucker their lips and say - phew. The people understand well where the heart of darkness is that is killing the country.
DO YOU REMEMBER VUČEVIĆ?
Protests by students and a growing number of citizens show no sign of fatigue, and to make matters worse for Vučić, he must form a new government. Otherwise, the state of Serbia becomes a secondary or elementary school in suspension of work - while the government claims that everything is working, no one knows whether classes are really being held and how long school hours last.
For that and some other reasons, Vučić was forced to evict Miloš Vučević from Nemanjina 11. Who will move in, the people's vest is completely broken. Although it is possible in theory, the President of Serbia is unlikely to entrust the mandate for the composition of the government to one of the party leaders - the personnel list is short, the people are exhausted. That is why we should expect to find suitable experts for the prime minister and other members of the cabinet, except for the ministries of finance and power.
The new government will be weak and weak. He will inherit all the problems of the previous one with less power to solve them. If Vučić estimates that he has strengthened the shaken electorate, the main task of the government will be some sort of consolidation of the regime that ruled until the student revolt. On the other hand, if the president of Serbia continues to remain in the background, perhaps the future cabinet could offer negotiations on the election conditions in order to control the damage as much as possible.
Vučić has already given everything he could without violating his personal authority. That's why he reckons that with his political superpowers - he is no longer the same man, his energy is at his best - he will eventually triumph over the "colored revolution". Namely, he is measuring the date for future elections, since the government formed in the National Assembly was forced out and shows his weakness. The idea is that this declaration of the citizens should be similar to all the previous ones since 2012.
Aware of the people's odium against SNS, Vučić could this time - "but my mother, really" - rebrand the party into the Movement for the People and the State. No fresh blood there - but still better for the campaign. If he could take off an overcoat according to Seselj's cut with the official number of the Hague Tribunal, why not a suit full of bloody palm prints?
Can I make these head of state combinations work? Perhaps, if the good spirit of solidarity and freedom that the students have freed prevails, then the people will be gripped by hell and the misery of disappointment. Namely, the Serbia of February 2025 is no longer the same country of October 2024. It is clear to everyone today that there is an alternative and, more importantly, a force powerful enough to impose it.
LET'S HOLD OUR HEADS
Girls and boys have set a political framework for changes in the country that needs to be operationalized. Although the students have something to say about all this, it is not a question for them but for the opposition.
So, dear reader, you've reached the point where you're scratching your head.
Everyone knows. For more than a decade fragmented, quarreling, without fresh ideas, with the same people who, regardless of the results, do not think of withdrawing and so on in the same direction, the Kanda opposition exists on its own. And that's purely formal. Although somewhat unjustified, students consider it the other side of the regime's coin. Party leaders, losing philosophy, scheming, playing tricks on activists in the parliamentary benches and politicians on the street instead of doing the opposite, erased the opposition as a factor in the winter of dissatisfaction and hope in Serbia. It also seems that, together with the progressives, she was the only one who did not understand what was happening in the country.
Knowing all this, the students thanked the opposition for their cooperation - more precisely, they resolutely refused it. It is not far from common sense that otherwise they would gain far less support among the people than the one they enjoy today. Quite simply, Vučić's regime demonized and criminalized the opposition to such an extent that everything listed in the previous paragraph is understandable.
WHAT TO DO
Nevertheless, even if it is not democratic, Serbia is at least a parliamentary country. What can the opposition do in this situation created by the rebellious students? As it is - nothing. In order to change the country, you must first change yourself.
To begin with - to accept politics and self-dealing. I can learn all kinds of good things from students. Let's say - that the agreements and decisions made by the party leaders are transferred to the plenums of the executive committees or at least the presidencies of all parties: there will be less bad blood, partisanship and intrigues, and more discussions, democracy and respect for adopted decisions. Of course, some parties are unable to survive this type of action, but they themselves are to blame.
Then, there is work on building trust among citizens. Similar to students, parties must demonstrate inclusiveness. Mere association means nothing if it is forced as it has been so many times before. Real togetherness this time must include public figures and organizations like ProGlas; they and how they can contribute to establishing and implementing a successful and sustainable policy. Such a gathering is very difficult, it requires a lot of good will and tolerance, but it is feasible and will certainly be supported by citizens.
Furthermore, the parties must give up their eternal leaders. Losers from election cycle to cycle and miserable ratings explain why. In this way, the opposition will show that it has learned and understood something. At the same time, they have to leave their comfort zone and come out to the citizens with new ideas and concrete solutions for concrete problems. Serbia is very tired of empty phrases and whining.
Finally, the student rejection must not prevent the opposition from working on another track. They can, for example, formulate their own demands and form a shadow government; they can demand survey committees in assemblies, and even informally initiate them themselves; I can specify numerous citizens' initiatives... And much more. It is not up to journalists to teach politicians, but they can notice and say.
This is a situation in which the progressive regime is shaken to its foundations. Pumping students must not be left in the lurch. If that happens, heaven have mercy on the opposition. Serbia - will not.
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.
RTS is blocked, universities do not work, and threats, insults and calls to the prosecutor's office and the police to arrest blockers, rioters and terrorists are pouring out from the top of the government. The Serbian state has turned into a farce
Anyone who condemns the regime's targeting of people from the media, the non-governmental sector, the opposition and universities, must not agree to this targeting of RTS editors and journalists either.
The government of Đur Mazut is "counter-revolutionary", focused on retaliation and state and street violence against opponents of the regime
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The status quo is unsustainable in the medium term - the current state growth model is being exhausted, and high corruption and low level of rule of law will continue to stifle the domestic private sector and occasionally lead to a collapse such as the one in EPS or the tragedy in Novi Sad. Therefore, the eventual, transitory economic costs of these protests are negligible in relation to the economic prosperity that would be made possible by the fulfillment of their demands.
The student protest marches map a new Serbia that self-identifies as a Serbia freed from fear (...) Every place the students passed through, anthropologically speaking, participated in the transition process. That transition was from a state of anxiety and anguish to something that those who participated in the students' receptions, according to their own statements, experienced as a newly acquired freedom. It is difficult to find something similar in the recent political history of Serbia
Now this generation, which has not fenced itself off yet, is rising up, walking, carrying icons and crosses and Ferrari flags, singing and Bilećanka i Who says that, who is lying, Serbia is small, and with them the Bosniaks from Pazar hand in hand, and while they are being baptized after 15 minutes of silence, they recite the prayer and pray standing up, as is the only and mandatory thing for the dead. "For the first time, I feel like a citizen of this country," said one of the students from Novi Pazar
Parallel to the all-day mass gathering in Kragujevac, organized by students and activists, which was an eruption of good energy, creativity, youth and hope - in the ancient Roman Sremska Mitrovica on Sretenje, a progressive-Dodik meeting took place which, to put it mildly, was a promenade of sadness, hatred and tectonic lies. The capricious head of state, called the "subject institution", gave a usual speech, similar to thousands of previous public appearances. He added a new "quality" to it: he uttered nothing but untruths, completely dislocated from reality. And threats, undisguised, and insults addressed to citizens who have been protesting all over Serbia for three and a half months, demanding the return of the stolen state
