"Frustrated by political parties and disillusioned with democratic institutions, more and more young people in Western Europe are turning to populist and far-right movements. But not everywhere. Young people in one country unexpectedly decided to stand up."
With these words begins the 73-minute documentary film by the Spanish award-winning journalist and documentarian Raul Gallego Abelian about student protests in Serbia.
Starting from November 2024, soon after canopy collapse, he stayed in Serbia and documented the events, talked with students, citizens, was at the protest on March 15, at the meeting in Niš, traveled from Spain to the blockade of Radio and Television of Serbia, visited Jadar and made a film about the protests in Serbia and to students who started them.
He has been following protests, revolutions, uprisings and wars for more than 20 years, and he is always interested when people try to fight for their rights and the ways in which they do it, says Abeljan in an interview with Vreme.
He decided to shoot the film because little was known about the events in Serbia at that time in Europe.
"No one in Europe paid attention to the events in Serbia, and the student movement was a torch in the dark, while the youth in Europe, oversaturated with politics, are interested in populism, and even the extreme right. To see in all this the youth protesting for democracy, human rights in Europe and that no one paid attention to it was utter madness," says Abeljan.
That is why, encouraged additionally by the experiences of his colleagues from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, he decided to report on events in Serbia.
"The biggest surprise to me was that people from Bosnia said that they were excited and full of hope to see what the students in Serbia are doing and how they are inspiring the entire Balkans."
Film Wake up, Serbia! Pump: The Student Uprising | Point of No Return (Wake Up, Serbia! Pump: Student Uprising | Point of No Return) follows the events from November last year onwards, and premiered on YouTube and Spanish television just over a month ago.
It will have its television premiere in Serbia on Saturday (October 25) on N1 television.
The viewers were shocked that they did not know what was happening in Serbia
Viewers in Spain and around the world who saw the film are still shocked that they didn't know what was happening in Serbia, says Abeljan.
"Most people are shocked, especially by the very emotional images of marchers entering villages and towns. And for me, those are some of the most emotional scenes I've ever shot."
And during his career, he shot dozens of films, stayed in wartime Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Japan and various places around the world and received numerous awards for his work.
How to gain students' trust?
It is Abelian. walked with students, stayed at faculties, visited various places in Serbia.
Working on the film was hard, and the biggest challenge was gaining the trust of the students, gaining access to some universities, and then finding people willing to speak, because, as Abeljan says, there was generally, and still is, fear of possible consequences, threats. Hence the reticence of many to speak publicly against the government, about corruption, about the violation of human rights, police violence.
"I was very lucky to work with very good Serbian producers, and I met really wonderful people who wanted to help make this film happen. Without the Serbian team, it would not have been possible to make this film."
His film features students, but also experts, activists, citizens, Diana Hrka, whose son was killed in the collapse of the canopy, the inhabitants of Jadra...
Photo: Raul Gallego AbellanFilming took months
Difficult changes
Witnessing the events in Serbia as an objective observer, journalist and documentarian who came to witness the events, he says that Serbia is another example of how difficult it is to fight for change through protests in the Western Hemisphere in the 21st century.
"People protesting in Serbia face not only their own government and endemic corruption, but also the economic interests of corporations and countries that, despite ideological opposition, all support the current regime. These include the United States, Russia, China, Germany and France, among others. lithium – one of the most desirable resources today. This protest is therefore not just a national struggle. It reveals a global issue: how democracy, human rights, international law and geopolitics often operate under double standards.”
Abeljan himself wonders how to make a change.
"Peaceful protest? It can last forever and it's demoralizing. Violence? It will increase repression and make people pay a very high price in injuries, possible deaths, detentions and usually few are willing to sacrifice themselves for the movement and the government through violence and to end the movement." General strike? Not everyone is ready to strike and risk being fired and not getting paid. Create a new political alternative and participate in a very corrupt system? So many movements around the world are trying to figure out what is best and possible at a time when governments have more tools and surveillance systems to control the population.”
The protests in Serbia are difficult to compare with other demonstrations around the world
It is difficult to compare the protests in Serbia with other demonstrations, according to the award-winning documentarian who worked for the Spanish during his career TVE, TV3, The Associated Press Television News, Channel 4 News UK.
"It reminds me a bit of the student movement in Hong Kong in 2014 - also peaceful, despite the obvious differences. Not like the protests in Hong Kong in 2019, which were also led by students and young people, but where a large part of the population accepted and supported those who decided to face by police violence. In recent months, we've seen Gen Z protests in Nepal, Indonesia, Peru, Madagascar and elsewhere. In most of these cases, students embraced violence – often as a reaction to state and police repression. Last year, Gen Z students also took to the streets in Bangladesh and Kenya.”
Photo: Raul Gallego AbellanWhile filming an episode of the documentary Point of No Return on the West Coast
Requirements are, he says, strikingly similar everywhere, but the context in Serbia seems very different.
"Most of the Gen Z protests are taking place in the Global South, where young people seem more willing – or perhaps less aware of the consequences – to respond to violence with violence."
After the premiere of the film on social networks, it received a lot of positive comments from Serbia as well.
"Usually when I do stories, there are people who are involved, some say 'thanks for doing the story', or 'you made me cry', etc. With this documentary, for the first time, I feel almost the majority of the country is thanking me. I've never received so many messages thanking me for telling their story, and also for making them cry a few times in my film."
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