At the end of November, when the first students began to gather around several faculties, stopping traffic in places and throwing out the first blockade banners, no one assumed that these sporadic outbursts of rebellion would turn into the biggest protest in modern Serbian history. Not even the government itself.
Therefore, the response of the authorities, that is, the regime, during these six months, was anything but consistent. While the students were consolidating, the authorities were moving from bad to worse. The fire of dissatisfaction spread to the whole of Serbia, to which the regime's bljots contributed significantly. Worn-out propaganda rhetoric about an attack on the state from outside and inside did not bear fruit even among a large part of the own voting body, insults, threats and arrests directed at students even less, and the culmination of the failure of the government's crisis management was reflected in the installation "Ćaciland".
"Vreme" spoke to several students active in the organization of blockades at Belgrade University, as well as professors and members of faculty administrations, about attempts to undermine student blockades from the inside.
MANEUVERING SPACE
These attempts differ from faculty to faculty, first of all in relation to how strong the foothold of SNS is, what among the teaching staff, what among students and their representative organizations.
At faculties of social orientation, where awareness of student (political) organization is expressed, the government has much less room to maneuver to influence the blockades themselves from within. So, for example, at the Faculty of Political Sciences and the Faculty of Philosophy, there were practically no internal obstructions. The exception is those professors and students who were against the blockades at the beginning, but because they believed that the blockades were not an adequate way of fighting. Since the long-term leadership from the European Student Forum (closely connected to SNS) was replaced in the elections for the student parliament, held last year at FPN, the regime has lost a significant lever of influence at this faculty.
Several students of FPN stayed in "Ćaciland", and one of them stood out in particular. However, they have no influence at the Faculty.
On the other hand, at the faculties of natural sciences, where there is generally a lack of interest in student organizing - so one and the same group (almost always close to the government) has been running student functions for years - the situation is (was) quite different. Thus, faculties that have no opposition in the student parliament fare worse.
Also, the ways in which the government tried to influence the blockades from the inside differed according to the stages in which the blockades were in the last six months. When the students first started to gather, attempts to degrade the idea of blockades, spreading disinformation that there is no majority support for it, and agitating not to go to plenums were visible.
It is interesting how the student representatives close to the ruling party from certain faculties - after their initial attempts to undermine the blockades failed - allegedly changed their positions and tried to join the blockades in order to maintain their influence among the students.
LEAKAGE OF INFORMATION AND SUSPICIOUS PERSONS
The latest attempt to sabotage the blockades took place at the plenary session of the Faculty of Transportation on Monday (April 7). Namely, a young man was filming live, at the plenum, and the recording was broadcast directly on Informer TV. The mole was broken into, but one of the students who spoke at the plenum was arrested - allegedly for discussing the potential blockade of the "Nikola Tesla" Airport.
In the published statement, the students stated that the incident helped them discover where the information was leaking from.
It is known and expected that information occasionally leaks from the inside (from the faculty) - the plenum can be attended by all students and it is practically impossible to prevent the presence of colloquially called "inserted" elements.
As "Vreme" learns, when the action "Disinformer" (blockade of the TV Informer building) was being agreed upon - the items on the agenda are announced in advance - a group of students who had not attended plenums before then appeared at the plenum of the Faculty of Medicine and wrote everything down.
At the Faculty of Law, on the other hand, there are a few students who are constantly moving around the faculty building and among the students, and whom the students, as they say to "Vreme", suspect are "set in". They add that they behave strangely, for some people they don't know more than their names, they avoid cameras and cameras, and for some it is not even clear when they entered university.
(ANTI)STUDENT REPRESENTATIVES
At the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, student representatives in parliament and SKONUS play their role in breaking through blockages. Namely, there is no oppositional alternative in student organization at these faculties, but the same organizations have been "in power" for years and delegate their representatives further to the university level.
There are two organizations at the Faculty of Medicine: the Medical Circle and the Medical Committee - both close to the SNS, they just represent two factions within the Ministry of Health. Miloš Pavlović, the leader of "Ćacilenda", was a member of the student parliament on behalf of the Medical Circle.
The source of "Vremena" from this faculty says that the most obstructions of the blockades go precisely "through the parliament and that team". He explains that at the beginning of the blockades, they tried to convince people that the blockades would not succeed, and that, when that did not produce results, they changed their tactics. He adds that they are now doing it "subtly", that they are not trying to turn off the blockades, but that they are "directing them in the direction that least harms the authorities". As he says, they are trying to create a situation in which students will stop believing that the majority is in favor of blockades.
When the story about a potential vote of no confidence in the student parliament was raised, one of the representatives of the Medical Circle allegedly warned the students that they would not represent the plenum in the Academic Council.
At the Faculty of Dentistry, the Parliament is held by the Association of Dental Students of Serbia (USSS), which is also the only student organization. Previously, there were attempts by a few students to create a new organization and offer an alternative, but, as "Vremen" sources from this faculty say, they failed due to open pressure from the USSS.
Before the first plenum at this faculty, the leadership of USSS convinced students not to come to the same. When the blockades started, the current president of the student parliament, Vuk Čolević, became passive and tried to at least seemingly "turn the tables", sources of "Vremena" say, while Mladen Šiljković, formerly the president of the parliament at Stomatološki, and now the vice-president of SKONUS, appeared on TV Prva at the end of December and explained how the blockades are actually led by a small group of students.
SKONUS has been written about before and it is quite well known that this organization (the umbrella student body) is under the direct control of the government, and that it serves to recruit loyal party soldiers from the university. Šiljković was previously linked to
CEROB, the organization through which daily wages were paid for work in the SNS call center on election day.
The source of "Vremena" says that it was made at the Faculty of Dentistry WhatsApp group, where only "verified" students are included, and that the purpose of the group is to organize and coordinate the alleged "silent majority", a term actively pushed by students 2.0.
PRESSURE THROUGH MANAGEMENT
As the faculties joined the blockades, the administrations and deans stood behind them. More or less all deans of Belgrade faculties supported the students. This, of course, does not apply to other members of the administration, as well as other professors.
In early April, at the regular session of the Faculty of Law's Scientific and Teaching Council, Vladan Petrov, a constitutional judge and professor of constitutional law, allegedly tried to push a poll on e-student, the faculty's online platform for students. The aim of the survey was to determine whether the majority of students are in favor of the blockades. Decisions on blockades are made at student plenums, so the proposal did not pass. By the way, Petrov is also one of the professors who visited the 2.0 students in Pioneer Park. Besides Petrov, the ruling party has a strong foothold among the professors at the Faculty of Law. However, only a few of them are active in trying to undermine the blockades.
The Ministry of Education carried out an extraordinary inspection of the work of faculties that are suspended in the previous days. A source of "Vremena" from one of the faculties says that it is rumored that the faculties "will receive a report in which it will be stated that there are no classes" and that they will be given "an order that they must start classes within 8 days". That order in itself is not binding because the faculties have the right to objections, but then the Ministry makes a binding decision based on them. The source of "Vremena" believes that the state has taken a "harder" course of action towards the faculties.
According to the current Law on Higher Education, the minister has the possibility to propose the dismissal of the dean.
On the other hand, at the Faculty of Medicine, pressure is being exerted on the Faculty Council - responsible for approving the budget, among other things - which cannot meet. In this way, pressure on blockades is channeled through the Faculty's administration. Given that the Faculty of Medicine is specific because classes do not take place only in one building, students of this faculty can hardly be fully involved in the blockades without the support of the administration itself. By putting pressure on the administration, the government hopes to sway its support for the blockades.
