The scholar protests in Serbia have continued for seven months, yielding widespread and various results. All state universities are nonetheless blocked and first and secondary faculty academics ceased work from January to April 2025. Attorneys went on strike all through the entire of February, whereas farmers and college professors have additionally voiced their assist. Roads have been blocked and college students have organized marches not solely throughout many elements of the nation but in addition to EU establishments in Brussels and Strasbourg. Notably, nationwide minorities reported feeling equal to Serbian residents for the primary time.
Nevertheless, probably the most vital end result of the scholar protests has been the substantial delegitimization of Aleksandar Vučić’s populist Serbian Progressive Get together (SPP) authorities. After half a yr of struggles, it has develop into clear that the federal government’s legitimacy shouldn’t be solely questionable however non-existent.
But the SPP stays in energy and seems to be rising extra repressive. The federal government has illegally lower the salaries of college professors who assist the scholars. With out proof, it has accused and imprisoned six opposition activists, together with college students. On the largest peaceable protest held in Belgrade on 15 March, the federal government used a non-lethal weapon, the ‘sound cannon’, in opposition to them.
Oppression is thought to extend proportionally with declining legitimacy, however the query of what it means to manipulate with out legitimacy stays unaddressed. The issue that this query raises is the actuality of energy with out legitimacy – the violence below which all establishments of democratic society and political communities as we all know them are at present being dismantled.
College of Belgrade College of Philosophy. Picture: Александр Сигачёв / Wikimedia Commons
That is unimaginable from a civic perspective, since energy with out legitimacy can not really be energy. It will possibly solely be met with legal-metaphorical insults equivalent to ‘felony authorities’, ‘captured state’ or ‘mafia state’, within the hope that these phrases will mobilize resistance to the brand new state of affairs.
Disjunctive synthesis
Along with mass protests, one of many common actions taken by the rebellious college students and residents continues to be the honouring of the deceased with a sixteen-minute silence (representing the 16 victims of the cover collapse) in public locations, accompanied by highway blockades. Symbolically, this motion illustrates one of many protest’s slogans: ‘All the pieces should cease.’ All the pieces should cease till accountability for the deaths is set, or, as the scholars’ preliminary calls for acknowledged, till establishments begin doing their job. This primarily referred to the general public prosecutor’s workplace, from which an impartial investigation into the cover collapse was demanded.
It’s broadly recognized that the general public prosecutor in Serbia can’t be impartial due to the undermining of establishments that has been ongoing for the reason that SPP got here to energy. If we add the truth that the cover collapse occurred on the just lately reconstructed railway station, a part of a broader public and state mission to renovate the railway community, we now have a scenario the place the scholars’ calls for are unattainable to fulfil, for the reason that authorities must arrest itself.
From the start, the paradoxical nature of the scholar calls for was seen as a tactic – a name for individuals working inside establishments to hitch the scholars and residents in protests and to liberate the prosecutor’s workplace as a ‘captured establishment’. However regardless of the massiveness of the protests, the mobilization of staff didn’t occur. College students due to this fact got here ahead with a brand new demand: the calling of snap parliamentary elections. This authorities have to be overthrown if we would like free and impartial establishments.
It’s broadly accepted that the tragedy was not an accident. Whereas ‘corruption kills’ was a outstanding protest slogan, these protests aren’t solely about eradicating corruption from establishments; from the outset, additionally they put ahead an affirmative proposal for establishments. It’s no secret that the Serbian authorities’s felony nature stems from widespread particular person corruption and mass clientelism, which the ruling occasion makes use of to manage public servants. This corruption is a key purpose why college students’ requires a normal strike haven’t been efficient.
Furthermore, the anti-corruption narrative is extra attribute of the political opposition than of the scholars, whose statements are persistently crammed with calls for for justice, solidarity, safety and the rule of legislation. Whereas the opposition typically highlights its function in initiating the preliminary protests and the act of commemorating the lifeless, the sheer scale of the tragedy was the first driver of the protests’ widespread participation.
Our impression is that the metaphorical nature of demise has galvanized and mobilized individuals. This phenomenon occurred for the second time inside in a brief historic and political interval. Two years earlier than, a bloodbath at a Belgrade elementary faculty resulted in a single scholar killing ten college students and one grownup. The very subsequent day, one other mass homicide occurred in two cities near Belgrade.
Loss of life and accidents could be thought-about actants for social and political occasions. The commemorative side of Serbian protests is their defining attribute. Though initially triggered by violence in opposition to college students, the scholar blockades concurrently served as a solemn tribute to the deceased.
It could be unattainable to analyse this example with out acknowledging the function of demise and struggling, because it additionally reveals a worldwide phenomenon: irresponsible governance and the whole absence of the authorized safety, which has vanished with widespread deregulation and the ‘criminalization’ of political energy. In essence, whereas demise and tragedies certainly prompted an enormous turnout, the organizational impetus for these political occasions stems from the student-led blockades of universities.
Not like the same old and structural apply of the political opposition, the scholars initially didn’t name for a change of regime, however relatively a change of the system. Now, nevertheless, they’re certainly demanding regime change, additionally stipulating that the opposition mustn’t take part within the record they’d assist.
Consequently, each protest motion and political opposition are looking for the identical factor, however are usually not doing so collaboratively. How did such a mutual ‘miss’ come about, given the widespread impression that these protests cast a broad alliance amongst varied social and political actors? One dimension of this drawback is the federal government’s long-standing discrediting of the opposition, resulting in residents’ reluctance to simply accept it for concern of being defamed themselves. It was safer to assert that civic activism had nothing to do with politics – a stance that, even earlier than these protests, was a prerequisite for enormous protests.
Nevertheless, this has led to the issue of depoliticization. One can nonetheless hear the assertion, ‘this isn’t politics’, a phrase first utilized by college students’ mother and father in quite a few civil protests. But it surely has additionally led to the issue of ‘omnipoliticization’, claiming ‘every thing is politics’. The latter stance undermines the organizational capability and scope for political negotiation obligatory for forging alliances for presidency change. This was the first purpose for college students to distance themselves from every other group, be it opposition events, civil society organizations or activist teams.
As we speak we now have a extra politically articulated response from college students relating to their distance from opposition events. Particularly, college students are insisting on an electoral record that excludes outstanding opposition politicians. They declare that the opposition has didn’t agree upon and unite behind a single record able to overthrowing the present authorities, in a approach that evokes confidence throughout the nation.
Along with reflecting the worldwide development of political occasion crises, this additionally speaks to the scholars’ subjectivization. The opposition failed in what the scholars think about their best success: their unity. For them, the principal factor is being collectively, making choices transparently by means of discussions on the plenums of their blockades. As an artist and professor famous, the scholars steadfastly adhere to the social contract they established for themselves. This has stunned everybody and shattered stereotypes a few self-referential, self-contained digital era.
Regardless of being the primary era born with digital applied sciences, private relationships are paramount to the scholars. They strongly worth solidarity with various social teams and the absence of hierarchy, which explains the dearth of leaders or inside competitors: they respect everybody’s individuality and authenticity. The analysis concludes that their interplay with older generations will probably be essential sooner or later.
In a way, that is exactly what’s unfolding in Serbia right this moment. By way of their actions and an nearly obstinate persistence of their calls for, they’ve elicited types of solidarity and assist that nobody may have anticipated. At one level, the scholars referred to as upon residents to prepare themselves into assemblies, mirroring the plenum mannequin, thereby guaranteeing everybody’s involvement in decision-making on state and nationwide points. Since that second, assemblies have been accompanied by blockades and protests, which intensify the strain on the present authorities.
Nevertheless, it’s essential to notice that assist and solidarity manifest far more on an emotional (affective) aircraft than on a political organizing and decision-making aircraft. Residents react very emotionally to college students, embracing them and weeping, perceiving them as their kids and liberators, and themselves as mother and father relatively than as energetic residents.
Whereas the emotional aircraft is important and has its affirmative results, it additionally presents drawbacks, significantly on the subject of constructing alliances. Past declarative assist and commemorative gatherings, staff in public establishments haven’t organized themselves. The impression is that emotional involvement – a protecting concern for college students as younger individuals, as kids – prevails over energetic participation in a standard wrestle. In different phrases, mother and father are usually not taking extra decisive steps, and it generally seems as if they’re hiding behind their kids.
It’s broadly believed that broader political organizing should contain negotiations with opposition events, and lots of hope that some type of cooperation will probably be achieved. Nevertheless, regardless of supporting college students, the opposition continues to be not taking steps to determine political cooperation with them. Even the scholars’ demand for snap parliamentary elections has not prompted the opposition to be extra decisive and be part of the strain on the federal government by leaving parliament.
In early June 2025, common elections passed off in two smaller Serbian cities. In one in every of them, all the opposition, on the invitation of scholars, united on a single electoral record. This unparalleled unity, backed by scholar assist, led many to anticipate their victory. Nevertheless, the SPP authorities retained energy by a slim margin, by means of below hand ways together with blackmail of public servants, ‘capillary mobilization’ (occasion members should guarantee assist amongst their households), vote shopping for and providing presents to pensioners and the poor, together with irregularities in voter lists. Regardless of this, many throughout the protest motion view the election as a hit and a check for the snap parliamentary elections they’re demanding for.
It’s sure that the scholar blockades and protests have already induced the federal government to lose the assist it beforehand loved. Particularly, processes of emotional and symbolic assist for college students have led to a lack of authorities legitimacy. From the angle of political organizing, it is a novelty. The time period ‘disjunctive synthesis’, which suggests fragmentation and the manufacturing of a large number of variations, with the purpose of reconnecting divided parts into new combos and understandings in novel methods, captures this function of the protest precisely.
These protests characterize a motion of and assist for the youth, symbolizing a generational shift and nationwide renewal. For the primary time in a few years, individuals in Serbia are seeing a future for themselves and their kids inside it. Given the worldwide context of accelerating threats to democracy from intolerant regimes and wars, what is especially fascinating is that this future continues to be envisioned as democratic. Nevertheless, this imaginative and prescient shouldn’t be proof against world shifts, during which that democratic values are actually perceived as nationwide. It is a new type of sovereignty but in addition of isolationism, and one which deviates from the earlier understanding of democratic values as common.
Battle on a symbolic aircraft
Throughout their protests and arduous lengthy marches, overlaying a whole lot of kilometres throughout almost all of Serbia – to such an extent that at one level their cities of origin grew to become unclear – the scholars raised state flags, sang the nationwide anthem, and carried copies of the structure with them.
The scholars embraced nationwide symbols, reclaiming them for themselves and successfully wresting them from the federal government. It was they and never the present regime who organized the true celebration of Statehood Day with a protest in Kragujevac, Serbia’s first capital. On this context, the federal government’s demagoguery – which portrays itself because the defender of Serbian, state and nationwide pursuits – stays ineffective. By taking up these symbols, the scholars are, in a way, appropriating the very state they purpose to avoid wasting from its corrupt authorities.
The scholar protests in Serbia additionally garnered assist from many throughout the republics of the previous Yugoslavia, who believed that these protests may foster a unique Serbia – one that’s non-hegemonic and peaceable. Curiously, none of them refers to Yugoslavia, the emancipatory socialist mission that ended with bloody wars largely led and inspired by Serbia. Due to this fact, it’s nearly unbelievable that right this moment, whereas supporting the scholars, Croats confer with them as ‘our Serbs’, whereas Bosniaks residing in Serbia – who had been among the many best victims within the wars – are, for the primary time, being thought to be equal residents.
A current scene disarmed us all. A blockade of the state tv was organized throughout the Easter holidays. To take care of the blockade whereas permitting college students of the bulk Orthodox religion to have a good time Easter with their households, they had been changed by Bosniak college students from Novi Pazar. And that wasn’t all: on that event, a Serbian navy veteran from the Nineteen Nineties warfare greeted the blockade meeting with the phrases ‘Salam alaikum’, assuring the mother and father of the Bosniak college students that they’d defend them as a result of all the scholars had been ‘their kids’.
Definitely, one thing is shifting relating to nationalism, a pressure perpetuated by all present post-Yugoslav regimes. It seems that the residents of those international locations really feel much less and fewer threatened, even when college students in Serbia, throughout their marches, carry not solely state flags but in addition Orthodox icons, crosses and different symbols below which Serbia fought wars within the Nineteen Nineties.
However, residents who had been energetic in anti-war and peace-building insurance policies, nonetheless specific concern. This symbolism, they concern, means that the guideline of ‘fact, accountability and reconciliation’ might by no means really take root. Certainly, the scholars really feel that confronting the wartime previous is just too nice burden for them, contemplating they weren’t even born throughout the Nineteen Nineties. Evidently, their major concern is the current. Thus, after they assert their respect for the structure, additionally they affirm their respect for its preamble, which claims that Kosovo is an inalienable a part of Serbia.
These are all questions and issues for which options should be sought – with extra confidence than the trauma-laden previous was in a position to muster. The warfare in Kosovo, the mass casualties and dedicated crimes, and particularly the Albanian wrestle for self-determination and independence are profound political problems with the current future. It’s to be hoped that the scholars will go for insurance policies that won’t divide them till they obtain their purpose. This stance is supported by the conservative-nationalist opposition public opinion, which asserts that Vučić betrayed Kosovo and capitulated to its independence – a sentiment these younger individuals should now take care of.
It was shocking that, amidst an environment of profound distrust towards the worldwide order, college students organized a bicycle tour to Strasbourg, adopted by a marathon to Brussels, to current their perspective on the scenario in Serbia to EU establishments. The prevailing pondering amongst Serbian residents is that the EU is uninterested of their struggles in opposition to the regime, in addition to within the corruption within the nation. This sense of disappointment is additional strengthened by the current insistence of main EU member states’ settlement with the present regime over the exploitation of uncommon uncooked supplies in Serbia, primarily lithium. This situation had, in earlier years, already triggered quite a few citizen protests.
Political articulation
The disaster of illustration, characterised by widespread distrust in political events, manifested in Serbia as demand for a systemic change. Nevertheless, it typically develop into a polemical stance and an argument that sowed discord amongst supporters of the opposition. On condition that opposition to the regime extends past merely party-organized residents, and that civil society organizations are extra than simply GONGO and PANGO, it’s crucial to rethink the notion of political articulation.
Neither the criminalization of the federal government nor the political articulation solely by events provides an ample answer to the disaster and the prevailing scenario, which continues to be largely dictated by these holding a monopoly on violence and employment. The scholars’ determination to demand snap parliamentary elections, coupled with their intention to kind their very own electoral record, is burdened by a type of tutorial intellectualism. It appears it can not adequately reply to the calls for of ‘political veridiction’ – that’s, discerning the political fact of our present scenario.
On this sense, the intention to kind ‘their very own record’ seems to be extra a symptom than a aware political determination or type of political articulation, as a result of they appear unaware of the political operate and function of college autonomy. This itself is a political determination, basically outlined by politics. Belief on this autonomy has, as soon as once more, rallied the neighborhood on a scale (each symbolic and ethical) that the regime can now not dream of reaching.
A political articulation that embraces political intellectuality, during which the college doesn’t essentially take part in occasion formation, would provide a approach out of the lure they fell into – a lure created by the disaster of illustration and mistrust within the consultant ‘system’ of politics. An consciousness of the underlying drawback ought to exchange the unconscious manifestation of signs that merely grazed the floor of the problem. It ought to spotlight the will for change and the imaginative and prescient of a brand new political neighborhood – one that’s ‘really’ primarily based on democracy and the rule of legislation.
This ‘truthfulness’ or authenticity represents not merely a brand new try, however a renewed effort to kind a political neighborhood. It’s a type of political articulation that’s already underway; it merely requires a bit extra braveness to withstand entrenched habits of thought, that are most simply imposed when the topic is well mannered and obedient.
