See online: Radio "Vive la Sociale"
http://vivelasociale.org/les-emissions-recentes ---- Serbia has beenexperiencing a powerful social mobilization for several months, which is
gradually spreading to other Balkan countries, but the media are
ignoring it. Jean-Arnault Dérens, editor-in-chief of Courrier des
Balkans[1], describes and analyzes its characteristics in this condensed
version of an interview conducted on March 3 for the program "Vive la
sociale"[2]. ---- Can you begin by giving us a brief history of these
mobilizations? ---- Serbia is currently experiencing the strongest
social movement in its recent history, at least since the fall of
Milosevic in October 2000. It began almost anecdotally in response to
the collapse, on November 1, of the outdoor awning of the train station
in Novi Sad, the largest city in Vojvodina, which resulted in the deaths
of fifteen people. This disaster was very quickly perceived by the
population as a symbol of the widespread corruption of power in Serbia,
since this station, located on the high-speed line that will connect
Belgrade to Budapest, had just been rebuilt by the Chinese company
building this line, and there had therefore been malfeasance in the
contract. The inhabitants quickly mobilized to denounce the corruption.
After initial demonstrations in Novi Sad in November, the movement
spread somewhat, in the weeks that followed, to certain universities and
colleges in Belgrade. Then violence committed by anonymous individuals,
probably henchmen of the government, had the effect of radicalizing the
movement, of bringing other students into action, and by the beginning
of December dozens of faculties and colleges were occupied - today there
are about sixty.
This movement was able to build itself from these occupied faculties,
whose action is led by student plenums, with a very strong demand for
direct democracy and equality in speaking out. There is no spokesperson,
no leader; it is truly a movement that starts and is structured from the
bottom up. At the same time, the symbolic action consists of gathering
every day at 11:52 a.m. to observe silence for fifteen minutes, which
sometimes blocks roads and intersections throughout Serbia. And there,
all social categories come together in the big cities. This great
silence that falls for fifteen minutes is very impressive.
Then there were two things. On the one hand, to keep the movement going,
the students multiplied their actions and large gatherings. The most
important was the 24-hour blockade on January 25th of Autokomanda, the
main road intersection entering the capital. Then there were national
meetings outside Belgrade (first in Novi Sad, then in Kragujevac, then
on March 1st in Nish, in the south of the country, and the next one is
on March 15th in Belgrade), the idea being that the movement would cover
the entire country. These gatherings, which gather tens or thousands of
people depending on the location, last a very long time - 46 hours in
Nish for example, with a whole program to fill this long period. In
addition, there are marches, actions where people mostly go on foot from
one city to another, sometimes covering hundreds of kilometers - in Nish
at least five columns converged from different parts of the country, the
one from Belgrade covered 240 km, mostly on foot but also partly by bicycle.
"This has to stop" (Corruption)
So why do it? To occupy the ground, to hold out for the long term, but
also, in a context of media blackout from the media controlled by the
regime, to physically demonstrate the movement's presence in small towns
and villages. And everywhere the population welcomes them, often with
food stalls, improvised kitchens, with banners like "Peasants feed the
students who defend freedom." We often see astonishing scenes, like in
small villages banners reading "Welcome to the liberators," a symbol
recalling the liberation of 1945.
In addition to students, other social categories mobilized, including
secondary school teachers, lawyers who observed a month-long strike that
completely blocked the judicial system, but also farmers - and farmers'
tractors are useful for blocking roads and possibly taking positions
around faculties. When there were acts of violence (there haven't been
any for a month), we saw tractors come to protect student plenums with
red hearts and the inscription "Let's spread love" on them!
There have been several calls for strikes. A general strike was observed
in January, where practically all cafes and all businesses stopped
working. One of the big problems with striking is that Serbia is an
almost entirely deindustrialized country due to the neoliberal policies
of recent decades; therefore, apart from the public sector, there are
not many places where it is really possible to strike. Nevertheless, a
new call for a strike has been issued for March 6. In secondary schools,
teachers are generally very mobilized, in very different ways depending
on the location: since the end of January, some middle and high schools
have been occupied, elsewhere it is more of a rolling strike with
fifteen minutes of class suspension, and in some rural areas, teachers
say they support the strike without allowing themselves to do so,
because it is very difficult for students to get to schools since there
is no longer free school transport. So this movement has the support of
the vast majority of citizens, if only because everyone has a child, a
neighbor, who is a student. Thus, all social categories are very quickly
affected.
What motivates such a movement?
I mentioned corruption, but a word must be said about the regime in
power. President Alexander Vucic comes from the nationalist far right;
he was Minister of Information at the end of the Milosevic regime, then
in 2008 he left the far-right Serbian Radical Party, causing a split
with the aim of transforming it into a theoretically pro-European,
conservative, "center-right" party. This new party, called the Serbian
Progressive Party (SNS), managed to take power a few years later. Vucic
became Deputy Prime Minister in 2012, Prime Minister in 2014, and
President of the Republic in 2017. Today, his party, with its small
allies who are its fig leaves, has an absolute majority in the National
Assembly and controls every municipality in the country-not a single
municipality escapes its influence. He has an officially pro-European
position, defends Serbia's integration into the EU, but at the same time
he maintains good relations with Russia and Putin, has close ties with
Victor Orban and a great admiration for Donald Trump - for whom he
called on the Serbian diaspora to vote (a large diaspora and moreover
concentrated in the strategic states of the Rust Belt); so he clearly
positions himself in the reconfiguration of the European and global
extreme right that we are witnessing today. Moreover, he has retained
the same practice and the same culture of power as the Serbian Radical
Party from which he came: monopoly on the media, strict control over the
justice system, but also control of the whole of social life.
Concretely, if you do not have a party card, you will have difficulty
enrolling your children in university, getting the job you aspire to,
and if you start a small business, shop, cafe or other, you will
automatically be entitled to a tax audit. There is also, of course, vote
buying, even fraud. The population submits to this social control out of
necessity, but massively rejects it.
In the face of this, the students' demands are extremely intelligent and
of biblical simplicity: they demand that all documents on the tender and
the construction of the Novi Sad train station be made public. It's
simple, but impossible for the authorities to satisfy, because it would
amount to revealing how the chain of corruption reaches back to the
highest levels of the state, to the president himself. Moreover, the
students have consistently refused to meet the president ("nothing to
discuss, we simply want respect for the law and the Constitution") and
have even chosen not to name him. And they say they oppose not the
"regime," so as not to personalize their struggle, but the "system,"
which refers to something much broader: this form of privatization of
the state, this set of systemic corrupt relationships between
institutions, political parties, economic circles, and criminal circles
that has characterized Serbia since the beginning of the transition in
the early 2000s-and this regardless of the party in power. So what the
students want is a sort of general "reset" of the entire political and
social functioning of the country.
If there is a refusal to have representatives, it is both for practical
reasons (to avoid them being attacked by the regime, or possibly bought
off), but also for very radical demands for direct democracy. Students
are making it known everywhere that they have no leaders-this is quite
contrary to what we are currently hearing in Europe...
What are the reactions from outside?
There is a sense of unease among Serbia's Western partners. This is
evidenced by the European Union's deafening silence on the subject.
While Serbia is a candidate for EU membership, and the fight against
corruption is part of what is normally required of candidate countries,
several European leaders have preferred to express their support for Vucic.
There are several reasons for this. Germany is looking to exploit
Serbia's lithium. France is also interested in lithium, but it has also
just sold twelve Rafale jets to Serbia for a whopping EUR3 billion. It
is unclear how Serbia will pay this bill or what these planes will be
used for, but it has thus bought France's goodwill for a while.
Beyond the German and French cases, there are two main reasons for this
European silence. The first is a false strategic vision. Instead of
telling Serbia (the only EU candidate country not applying sanctions)
that it should align itself with European policies, it is being courted
in an attempt to detach it from Moscow. The EU is thus abandoning its
defense of the rule of law and thereby further discrediting itself. And,
the final reason is the fear of the void: we prefer a bastard we know
and know how to control to the unknown. As a result, the values that
should be at the heart of European identity-the rule of law, equality,
the accountability of elected politicians-are not part of the EU's
discourse. Serbian students may be defending them in the streets... but
they no longer expect anything from the EU.
June 2024 demonstration against Rio Tinto, which plans to exploit a
lithium deposit in Serbia
There are no demands on other levels, particularly economic ones?
Alongside the student movement, citizens are mobilizing in many other
struggles. For several years, there have been massive protests against
Rio Tinto's lithium mining in western Serbia, led primarily by the
region's farmers. There are also other environmental protests,
particularly in defense of water.
We must understand the situation in the Balkans: the neoliberal
transition that Serbia has experienced since the fall of Milosevic in
the 2000s has led to a large deindustrialization of the country, and
today we are witnessing a pseudo-reindustrialization with the arrival of
labor-intensive workshops serving large international groups, which
benefit from public aid sometimes exceeding the wage bill, but where the
working conditions are so bad that they do not even keep people there.
So the Balkan population is emigrating massively, to Germany, which has
a huge need for labor in all sectors, but also to Austria, the
Scandinavian countries, Canada... So in reality, the Balkans are first
and foremost suppliers of labor, whether the labor works locally or abroad.
And at the same time, they are exploited as a reserve of natural
resources: lithium, copper, but also water, because the Balkans are a
water tower. In recent years, several micro-dams have been built for
electricity production, with European funding and in the name of the
green transition, but in reality, it was a matter of recycling dirty
money, with almost no energy production. However, these projects have
encountered very strong citizen resistance everywhere, in Serbia,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia... people saying: they took
away our dignity by closing down businesses and now they want to take
the air we breathe, the water we drink. It's an existential struggle for
the last common resources.
These environmental mobilizations are therefore very strong, and they
converge with the student mobilizations, even if the latter stick to a
very simple demand out of concern to represent all the people mobilized.
And then, in the strikes that are becoming widespread, there are also
categorical demands. I would say that the formulation of a common
discourse for all these demands has not yet been completed, but that
they are all present, that they coexist.
What about the agricultural sector?
It used to be very important, but today it's undergoing massive
deregulation. As part of the (theoretical and highly illusory) process
of rapprochement with the EU, the Serbian market was completely opened
to imports, particularly to EU agri-food products, without the reverse
being true. As a result, you can find German butter or Dutch vegetables
in supermarkets that are cheaper than what is produced locally. This is
completely unfair competition, and in reality, distorted.
Does inflation play a role in this massive mobilization?
There has always been significant inflation, which is tending to
decrease somewhat, as is the case everywhere in Europe. Several Balkan
countries have been experiencing an interesting supermarket boycott
movement for several weeks. Starting in Croatia, it has spread to
Slovenia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and finally Serbia. Here too,
we are witnessing the expression of a multifaceted malaise, without
there being any common ground for all these demands yet. But these
angers are inevitably converging.
Are these movements also driven by students?
Yes and no. In the case of consumers protesting against inflation, no.
But we have seen some astonishing things. In Croatia, for example, there
were huge student marches in support of their Serbian colleagues, with,
as a strong symbol, banners written in Cyrillic characters [3].
Student demonstration against Vucic
Which proves that social movements are capable of going beyond nationalism.
Absolutely. The demonstration is taking place in the streets. In
Slovenia too (an EU member since 2004), after the mayor of Ljubljana
gave shocking support to the Serbian regime, there were huge
demonstrations in Ljubljana and Maribor, with banners in Cyrillic
proclaiming "One world, one struggle." These are very profound things.
But there are also reasons for anger and mobilizations specific to
certain countries. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, somewhat similar movements
are developing, born in the wake of the catastrophic floods and
landslides last November, which exposed the incompetence of political
leaders. In Montenegro, the trigger was the mass shooting on January 1
in Cetinje, a news story revealing very deep social disarray but also
the deterioration of public services, as no police were present in the
city at the time. It's indeed a kind of anger that is spreading
throughout the Balkans, with a common thread: a demand for justice and
for politicians to take responsibility. We'll see how far these
movements can converge and develop.
How can we explain that it is the Balkans that are currently revolting
while things are completely calm elsewhere in Europe?
There is no simple and definitive answer to this. In the moment of
explosion of social movements, there is always an element of chance. The
Novi Sad disaster is the straw that broke the camel's back of
accumulated anger. But there is in this movement an existential
dimension of people cornered, who have no other option but to revolt. A
slogan very present in all the rallies is "Revolution or exile": either
we win the case, or we will all leave. And this is not an empty phrase,
because if this movement were to fail, we would really have to expect an
entire generation to leave Serbia to start a new life elsewhere. Then,
what makes this movement possible, why does it find such a rapid echo in
society? Perhaps because in the Balkans, society is a little less
atomized, more united than in other European countries. But there is
also, it must be recognized, a great intelligence among students.
Traveling the country on foot to break the media silence and make
yourself heard in every village and town across the country also has the
effect of breaking the unreality of social media. It's not the same
thing to "like" a student protest post as it is to prepare food for the
students who arrive at your house in the evening, to house them, to care
for them. It gives a new reality to things.
Are the huge demonstrations in Greece commemorating the Tempe train
disaster a mere coincidence?
There, it's an echo. Of course, the Tempe accident is also a matter of
corruption and cuts to public services. But the large demonstrations of
two years ago, when it occurred, had died down, and now, seeing what's
happening in Serbia has given the Greeks new life. So there's a kind of
emulation that surely played a role. In Belgrade, people went to
demonstrate in front of the Greek embassy. So, yes, there's a kind of
echo, of solidarity that's playing out from one country to another in
the region.
And the Serbian diaspora?
The Serbian diaspora is very mobilized. It has demonstrated all over
Europe, in the United States, in Canada, in Tunis... [4]
What reaction can we expect from the government?
Vucic initially played the repression card, then stopped when he saw it
was counterproductive. Then he blew a fuse with the prime minister's
resignation (but in fact all power is concentrated in the president's
hands), and that changed nothing. With the possibility of early
elections ruled out, we now expect a change of government with the same
parliamentary majority, which won't change anything either. None of the
regime's initiatives are working; the only card left is to run out of
steam. If that were to finally happen, repression could return. But for
now, we're not there yet.
Can he count on the loyalty of the police?
To a certain extent, yes. But it's very clear that many police officers
feel solidarity with this movement, because they all have a relative or
a young neighbor who is a student. Then there are the regime's henchmen,
the special police units, the secret services. There are some rather
complex battles being fought, because I don't believe Vuvic has complete
control of the deep state. That's a bit of an unknown factor in the
equation of what's happening today.
And the unions?
The problem is that they're not very strong. In the labor-intensive
workshops that replaced the large, almost completely defunct companies,
no union has managed to establish itself. In companies bought by the
Chinese, like the Smederevo steelworks, it's almost impossible to create
an independent union. Alongside the official union, which still
survives, there are more combative unions, but they are very poorly
established in the private sector. They are in the public sector.
Teachers are already on strike, and health care could mobilize. There
have also been a few small movements, a few hours of strike action at
Belgrade airport. Cultural workers are also very mobilized, but they're
not the ones who can block a country...
But hasn't the weakness of the unions favored the consolidation of the
movement, due to the fact that they lack the means to control it?
It's true that the unions in Serbia wouldn't be able to negotiate the
end of a movement. But this movement is primarily driven by the
students, who have these bastions in the occupied faculties, which they
control. It's also these material anchors that allow the movement to
hold. Violent repression would occur, for example, if the police tried
to enter a faculty, which is not an option, except in the context of an
extremely hardened regime.
Long live the social - March 3, 2025
Notes
[1] Dérens has also just published The Balkans in a hundred questions -
Carrefour under influence, published by Taillandier.
[2] On Fréquence Paris Plurielle (106.3 MHz or rfpp.net). The program
can be listened to again at vivelasociale.org/les-emissions-recentes .
[3] In Serbia as in Croatia, the same language is actually spoken,
Serbo-Croatian, with variations. But it is written in Cyrillic
characters in Serbia, Latin in Croatia.
[4] In Paris, there are weekly demonstrations in front of the Serbian
embassy. For precise information, consult the Courrier des Balkans website .
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4410
_________________________________________
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