If this year's Pride were to be compared to those of a decade or more ago, a big improvement would be that no one was beaten, that there were no major attacks on participants or the police, and, ultimately, that Pride took place at all. On the other hand, if you look at the atmosphere on social networks, which over the years have become a significant part of the average person's life and an indicator of social mood and attitudes, the road to tolerance and acceptance is long.
The possibility of quick and easy dissemination of anonymous messages had a decisive influence on the activity of extreme right-wing groups on the Internet ahead of this year's Belgrade Pride, according to the monitoring of Telegram and X social networks conducted by "Vreme" from mid-August to September 7 this year. In one of the previous articles, the activity of numerous extreme right-wing Telegram channels was analyzed, with a passing reference to the social network X. However, X had a specific role in everything.
Unlike Telegram, which, in addition to sharing information, was also used for mobilization and calls to action, X was used almost exclusively for hate speech in the mentioned period.
It worked, most often, like this: One of the LGBTQ+ activists would post anything that was in any way related to the Pride that was going to take place. It could be a message of support, an invitation to citizens to visit one of the planned Pride Week activities, or simple information about the date and place of a particular panel. After the initial announcement, an avalanche was forming. It is enough to see people's reactions to the announcements of the official Belgrade Pride.
CURSING AND VIOLENCE
"Belgrade, Serbia, saints - we are happy with the biggest Belgrade Pride so far!", reads the announcement of Belgrade Pride from September 7, with a photo of a large number of participants of the walk. In a month, the post collected more than 140 thousand views - but also at least 166 replies, 211 citations and 1600 likes.
One of the first comments on the post of smiling Pride participants was written by a certain Aleksandarone: "May sida and monkey goddesses guide you and illuminate the dark roads. Welcome", with a photograph of the cemetery. Somewhat above this comment, an anonymous profile - in the name there is only a cross - says: "Detestable vermin". If you go to the same profile, you can find a large number of photos of the Chetniks and their leader Draža Mihajlović.
A profile with the name Chavotb writes: "Remember and beat", and a certain Davor says: "Fags occupied Belgrade".
The other comments are in the same or similar manner and mostly contain profanity. The milder ones talk about how they hope it will be the last Pride Parade, while the more extreme ones openly call for violence against the marchers.
PRIDE DAY
And on Ix, as well as on Telegram, the day of the Pride Parade among extreme right-wingers was met with defeatism.
"We will lose our spiritual heritage in Kosovo and Metohija, in the rest of Serbia LGBT flags will be hung on churches, they will be arrested for speaking against it, it's one minute to twelve," wrote Jana on September 7, whose account has about 2600 followers, and among the responses to the post there was a large the number of people who share her opinion.
The connection of the LGBTQ+ community with Kosovo and Metohija is noticeable here, although it is not clear what connection there can be between two fundamentally different things - the defense of a part of the territory and the issue of minority rights and basic human rights. In what way would improving the rights of members of the LGBTQ+ population - or, for that matter, any minority - threaten the issue of Kosovo? The only connection between these two things was situational because the holding of Pride Week this year coincided with the additional deterioration of the situation of the Serbian community in Kosovo, which led many extreme right-wingers to concoct a conspiracy theory about how Pride is a diversion of the authorities to "give Kosovo". The second part of the sentence says that "LGBT flags will be hung on churches in the rest of Serbia", which is completely unfounded. So far, no such case has been recorded in Serbia.
In the end, the profile claims that "they will be arrested for speaking against". Again, this is a baseless claim. There is no recorded case of anyone being arrested for a verbal offense committed against an LGBTQ+ person. On the other hand, there were arrests of people who physically assaulted members of this population - which is not so rare in Serbia.
"THE PEOPLE ARE SILENT AND SUFFER"
It is notable, however, that activity related to Pride Week and Pride on X did not increase significantly in the run-up to the event itself, as was the case with Telegram. On that social network, the frequency of messages with discriminatory content towards the LGBTQ+ population constantly increased during the three weeks of monitoring, to reach its peak on the day of the walk itself. On Ix, on the other hand, the activity was sporadic, and it came in waves - as a response to the organizers' announcements.
However, there are also exceptions in the form of certain profiles with thousands of followers who have created narratives on their own initiative. An example is Mario Bojić, who has about 16 followers on IX, and also has his own podcast. In question is a well-known conspiracy theorist who presents himself as a fighter against censorship, and who often sends misinformation through his communication channels - among other things, on the topic of vaccines, as well as on the topic of climate change. On August 23, at a time when one of the main topics in Serbia was the fear of the spread of monkeypox, he shared a clip from his podcast on IX, writing: "This is serious! The state should urgently introduce a ban on the gathering of risky LGBTQ groups due to the possibility of a massive spread of monkey pox (Mpox) in our country. Also limit the movement time of those persons and introduce monkey passes. This is no time for jokes, please." Ironically, he adds that he "learned from his mistakes during the corona". He has spoken on several other occasions about postponing or banning the Pride Parade because of the monkeypox epidemic.
Vesna Veizović, the editor of the Vaseljenska portal, which was already discussed, was also very active on the X social network. "Are there any fags left in Russia or did they all have to come to Serbia?", she wrote on the day of the walk.
"The EU represents a pathology. One of the manifestations of this pathology is the parade of freaks. The Republic of Serbia is a colony of the EU and is forced to support this atrocity under the pretext of freedom of speech. The Serbian people and all peoples living in Serbia are strongly against parading gays, lesbians and the like. The people are silent and suffer," reads a tweet (September 7) by Goran Davidović, the leader of the banned "National Machine", which has about 16 followers on IX.
NO COORDINATION
It is important to note, however, that there is no single center from which all the hate speech directed at the LGBTQ+ community on Xx originates, but that the nature of the posts is completely uncontrolled. Simply, messages are coming from different sides, from many accounts expressing their own views. There is no agreement between them except for the interests and beliefs they share, which in all the cases observed by "Vreme" are strongly right-wing.
This, in turn, points to one of the problems of Serbian society - the atmosphere in which sexual minorities live is openly hostile, and expressions of hatred and calls for violence against the LGBTQ+ population on social networks are common and very widespread, that is, it is not only characteristic of the period immediately before Belgrade Pride in 2024.
PROGRESS VISIBLE, BUT TOO SLOW
Homosexuality was decriminalized in Serbia in 1994. Thus began the long and arduous journey of this part of the community, which to this day seeks rights equal to those enjoyed by heterosexuals. Over the years, one of the methods of struggle became the Pride Parade, which itself evolved from 2001, when it was held under the slogan "There is room for all of us", until 2024, when the Pride slogan was "People are proud". . The first pride was remembered for the violence against the participants of the event, while at the last one, held in September of this year, no major incidents were recorded. However, progress in the rights of the LGBTQ+ population has not progressed much, and the Pride Parade in Serbia still has the character of a protest.
In 2023 alone, 85 incidents motivated by hatred towards LGBTQ+ persons were recorded in Serbia, according to the data of the non-governmental organization "Da se zna".
Any progress? If this year's Pride were to be compared to those of a decade or more ago, a big improvement would be that no one was beaten, that there were no major attacks on participants or the police, and, ultimately, that the Pride was held at all. On the other hand, if you look at the atmosphere on social networks, which over the years have become a significant part of the average person's life and an indicator of social mood and attitudes, the road to tolerance and acceptance is long.
First of all, one of the key differences between Iks and Telegram is the subjects to whom the information is distributed. Telegram, although it has its advantages in instant messaging, also contains one disadvantage - a limited audience.
Namely, although most right-wing groups on Telegram are open, in order to regularly follow the activity of a group and receive notifications on your device, you need to be a member of it. The logic of things dictates that groups will be joined by people who are interested in what is written in them, and who are probably like-minded administrators. This is supported by the fact that there are usually very few disagreements in the groups, and the administrator's messages are generally accompanied by a large number of positive reactions. Therefore, Telegram is good for spreading information among people of similar ideological beliefs, but it is not an ideal platform for sending messages to a general audience.
That, on the other hand, is a big advantage of X. Posts on this social network are, unless the profile is locked, public and intended for all other users. It encourages the mixing of people of different ideological views and stimulates discussion among them. X enables direct communication between dissenters, which was very often used in the period before the Pride Parade.
The visual at the top of the text is the result of research conducted by "Vreme" during the monitoring period. The map shows dozens of X profiles that spread hate speech and misinformation towards the LGBTQ+ community before, during and after Pride. The shape of the visual and the dense distribution of lines with which the profiles are interwoven indicates the existence of a connection between them. Interaction is achieved through mutual following, sharing, mentioning and recommending. Greater density of lines indicates greater interaction of one account with others.
The audience of these X profiles have similar interests and follow multiple accounts simultaneously. In this way, a community is created that constantly consumes narratives directed towards the LGBTQ+ community in several places.
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