Regime repression is accelerating and becoming increasingly brutal. People get arrested for no reason, they get fired overnight, the beaters intercept them in the dark. One high school student met his graduation in custody. One dean was arrested.
Why is the regime doing this? And what are his results?
First, Vučić is trying to round up his hard-line progressive – read: radical – voting core. They are looking for a firm hand, they enjoy revenge and, if necessary, let them have a cow, if the neighbors want two. In addition, they were afraid for themselves.
However, while he encourages the most loyal loyalists with such moves, at the same time he rejects the undecided and further provokes his opponents. Because the student rebellion broke the paralysis of fear and apathy. It is no longer silent "just in case". No more wondering - what if I'm next? Why should I complain, and why all this? At least there are enough people who do not agree to it.
Finally, pensioners are still the majority of support for the regime, and the youth, where every month someone new gets the right to vote, is becoming more and more politically aware. With every right, she thinks the worst about this regime. Any additional violence only emphasizes this more strongly.
Back in Šešelj's lap
That's why Vučić has to look for a balance. An announcement arrives that the Working Group for drafting the new Law on Higher Education will be disbanded and that the disputed Regulation on the number of working hours of teaching staff will be withdrawn, followed immediately by the arrest of professors. This is somewhat reminiscent of that story about the Dark City - whatever he does, he will regret it.
Second, violence is both a demonstration of force and an acknowledgment of weakness. The President of Serbia likes to talk about how he fought, shouts at his colleagues with creepy satisfaction - under him, Serbia became a country of hooligans. But the tightening in recent months shows that what used to work - spin, manipulation - is no longer working. Or, at least not like before. That's why the old, proven methods of classic dictatorships remain because these modern methods of insanity and poisoning the public fail.
Finally, when a man is in crisis, he regresses. And where will Vucic return, if not to the arms of his political father Seselj and his methods? Where it all began and where violence is normal and intimidation is a political routine.
Awakened solidarity
Speaking of regression, Vukašin Pavlović writes that the deepest understanding of the state was offered by Aleksandar Passerin D'Antrev (Alexander Passerin d'Entreves) whose conception speaks of three cumulative degrees in the concept of the state.
The first refers to the monopoly of force - the state as power and violence. The second is power, but not arbitrary and arbitrary, but power based on law, impersonal and just. The third level is authority, the foundation of which is the legitimacy of the government. In other words, we are at the first stage, only violence remains.
But just because a beast is wounded doesn't mean it's harmless. On the contrary, that's when it's most dangerous. She is ready for anything, because everything hangs in the balance for her. And therein lies the biggest problem.
However, Vučić does not have an answer to one thing - solidarity. He can have his (alleged) students, his (alleged) elite, his (real) oligarchs and (real) henchmen... But all of them are bound by benefit. He cannot create solidarity, values, compassion among his own. That's why the image of those graduating students in dresses and suits coming in front of the prison is so powerful. It is both sad and poignant, but in a way beautiful because such an empathetic and solidarity-awakened youth is what is coming.
And speaking of the supposed SNS elite, it must be noted how the atmosphere has changed - from those exclamations of "do you know who I am" to a quiet "I'm for you".
