Disinterested, overly focused on themselves, lulled in their own little universes - that's how older fellow citizens, shaking their heads, described the youth of Serbia until a few months ago.
Half a year later, "disinterested" youth are still stubbornly at the forefront of the biggest rebellion against the Serbian Progressive Party that Serbia has seen in a decade and a half of neo-radical rule. The generation of young people, born roughly between 1995 and 2010, better known as Generation Z, managed to shake the whole of Serbia and wake it up from a long-term slumber.
However, youth rebellion is nothing new - students in Serbia protested back in 1968, and then continuously during the nineties of the last century. Moreover, the very word "rebellion" is most often associated with youth and the energy, strength and imagination that it brings with it.
So how is this new youth different? And can the generation that does not know about life before the Internet and mobile phones be the one that will go further than all its predecessors and, once and for all, put the unstable Serbian democracy firmly on its feet?
Internet and empathy
Technology has made a decisive difference in the characteristics of the generation that has been marching through Serbia for months. Young people from Generation Z mostly grew up with computers, phones, the Internet and social networks, which is why a significant part of their communication takes place "online" to this day.
Due to their supposed dependence on technology, the elderly have been criticizing Generation Z for years that they "do not take their noses off their phones" and that they do not socialize enough. However, it seems that this is not entirely true - according to a survey conducted for the "New Britain Project", two thirds of respondents believe that social networks do more harm than good and would like their use to be limited in some way for generations to come. Examples of this can be seen in everyday life - a large number of young people try to reduce their "screen time", i.e. the time spent in front of the screen, and instead turn to real life experiences.
Thus, young people are aware of the limitations of online networking and try to reduce them as much as they can. But the social aspects of technology and social networks are not only negative - the new era of the Internet has made connecting with people much faster and easier, and communication more efficient. The world has become a global village, which is why the average member of Generation Z can much more easily sympathize with the suffering of, for example, the man in Gaza.
"I think that technology has really facilitated cooperation among them from an early age. It has helped them find people similar to themselves, facilitated their sense of community and provided platforms for joint activities. This is how they socialize, this is how they find partners, this is how they engage in activism, this is how they learn. In the teaching environment, we clearly see that students prefer teamwork to working alone," said Sarah Ogilvy, co-author of the book, in an interview with "The Guardian". Gen Z, Explained: The Art of Living in a Digital Age.
She added that members of Generation Z are "very sensitive and considerate of other people."
"They really care about them, and this can manifest itself in ways that older generations might find surprising. In 2019, the student union at Oxford decided that instead of applause after a speech, they would use a hand gesture called jazz hands, because it is more considerate of neurodivergent people, who may be bothered by the noise and vibrations of applause. I remember a conversation in which an older person said that she found it funny, but then a younger student said: 'I don't have a problem with waving my hands instead of applauding. If it helps someone, why not?'"
Who still believes in democracy today?
Another trait that strongly defines Generation Z is distrust of institutions, despite a strong belief in democratic principles.
"We didn't come across directly negative attitudes (toward older generations, ed. nov.), but they certainly see themselves as a generation that inherited a lot of problems from the previous ones, especially environmental challenges, and this manifests itself as skepticism towards institutions," adds Oglivi.
"Democracies are slow and inefficient. In the old political systems, you had to advance from the local level through party membership, and only maybe at the age of 30 you get a chance to be heard. This generation is not used to that. They have a sense of urgency because the world is on fire and everything is going wrong," says Linda Woodhead, another author of the mentioned book.
The world is on fire and there is no time to wait
The world is on fire and everything is going wrong - perhaps this is how the sudden and radical reaction of students and young people in Serbia to the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad can be described. After their peacefully protesting colleagues were attacked at the end of November, the students of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade simply closed themselves in the faculty and announced that the blockade of the institution will last until the institutions are operational.
One spark started a chain reaction. Faculties began to fall like dominoes, and soon the whole of Serbia was engulfed in a national revolt. A completely different picture from the one that could be seen the previous winter and summer, when the opposition - in one way or another - was beaten in the elections for the umpteenth time. Less than a year before the whole of Serbia stood up, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Finance Minister Siniša Mali were grinning and enjoying their victory in the elections from their car, telling dissenters: "four years, long years, years of pain, years of sadness...".
The triumphant smile quickly turned into a spasm. Vučić himself has repeatedly said that since November 2024, he no longer smiles - but not because of the tragedy that befell Novi Sad, but because of the "attack" on the party premises of his party in that city.
All this because of a generation that until recently was perceived as completely uninterested.
Distrust as strength
The main asset of this generation is precisely the fact that it managed to turn its distrust of traditional institutions into strength. Young people do not want to fix the system from the inside, but to eradicate the rot that has been accumulating in the state structure for decades.
Because Generation Z in Serbia is not directly traumatized by the wars of the 1990s or the disappointments of the transition from the 2000s, it is not loyal to any old political option. This is why he shows a high sensitivity to injustice and lies, from whichever side they come from.
In addition, the months-long student protests showed that young people have zero tolerance for authoritarianism and corruption, something that previous generations tacitly accepted and silently encouraged for decades.
Challenging authority
The legacy of communism, not only in Serbia but also in other countries of the former Yugoslavia, is, among other things, unconditional trust in authorities. This is especially present among the older generations, who traditionally mostly stay with the government - just because it is the government.
On the other hand, Generation Z is not impressed by the titles of leaders, politicians, professors, doctors, judges, policemen - neither those in power, nor those in the opposition... This can be seen in the speed and efficiency with which students respond to the moves of the government and their ability to tell the de facto most powerful political figure in the country that - he is not in charge.
Perhaps this is the key feature of this "spoiled" generation, one that has never known wars and never suffered from severe poverty: the ability to say "no" without fear.
