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Protests as prototypes in Serbia

Some of Europe’s largest ongoing demonstrations – against a corrupt autocracy in Serbia – have evolved from anger to being a model of a new society.

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Reuters
Serbian university students in Belgrade rest as they take part in a two-day march to the site of a fatal railway station roof collapse in Novi Sad, Jan. 30.
  • By the Monitor's Editorial Board

By some estimates, the ongoing street protests in Serbia that began two months ago are now the largest in Europe in more than half a century. This week, they even forced out the prime minister and the mayor of the second-largest city. President Aleksandar Vučić, who is close to Russia, appears on the ropes.

Yet the size of the demonstrations does not really capture their significance. Rather, the way they are run – as a model for a new society – shows why the protests have inspired so many to join in.  Others, such as farmers, shopkeepers, and therapists, provide assistance. Eventually they might overturn a heavy-handed autocratic government and reverse Serbia’s reputation as a trouble spot for Europe.

The student-led uprising was sparked Nov. 1, 2024, after the collapse of a railway station’s outdoor roof canopy that killed 15 people. Only 2 years old, the shoddy construction was widely blamed on endemic government corruption. While public anger has grown, so has the goal of operating the protests along democratic values, like a prototype mini-state.

The protests are peaceful and organized largely without leaders. Decisions are made through long sessions on university campuses in the spirit of equality and freedom of thought. Protesters stay apolitical by not working with opposition parties, which are seen as part of a corrupt system. After each protest, people clean up debris.

“This is a fight that is sincere, starts from the heart and it is impossible to stop it that way,” one activist, Ivan Bjelic, told the Danas newspaper.

Fear and anger are being supplanted by a vision of an open and hopeful community. “We’re changing this situation in our country for young people so that they can grow up in this country and work in this country, not having to move to Europe,” Jovan Stikić, a University of Belgrade student, told The Guardian. Out-migration and low birth rates have caused Serbia to have one of the world’s fastest-shrinking populations.

“The students have done their homework: there are no divisive statements, no nationalistic symbols or flags, and they’re not allowing opposition members to hijack their struggle for political gain,” wrote Gresa Hasa, an Austria-based analyst, in a blog for the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group. “This is the generation of TikTok and Instagram, interconnected on a global scale, following their international peers and their struggles in democratic countries, demanding the same equality, justice, freedom, and dignity of life.”

Protests ignited by anger have quickly united around shared ideals. Or as one sign by a protesting art student stated, “The system needs a redesign.”

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