"Kids, what are you sharing?" Something to do with the protests?" he threw to the students on street one a citizen of Aleksandrovec from his yard. "Feel free to give it to me." one letter, I'm with you. And if someone touches you, call me to defend you."
Later in the evening on January 8, a dozen students gathered in the yard of the "Aca Aleksić" Elementary School in Aleksandrovac to hand out letters to their fellow citizens. The streets of Aleksandrovac were almost empty. Passers-by gave them a few strange looks because they didn't know what it was about, but they didn't miss a neighbor's greeting and a message of support.
Letters to 1330 fellow citizens
Photo: Vreme/Milica Srejić
Divided into several groups, the students distributed 1330 letters in Raklja, Rasadnik, Prevoj, Kožetin, the center of Župa and other settlements and streets of Aleksandrovac. They explained why they are blocking the faculties and why they are writing to fellow citizens.
"This idea was agreed upon while we were on blockades at our faculties. It was said that it would be a nice gesture of the students towards their fellow citizens when they come to their cities for the holidays," Matija Stanković, a student at the Faculty of Mathematics in Belgrade, told Vreme.
"We wrote a letter to our fellow citizens, explaining to them what we are currently facing, what our problems are, so that they would hear us, their grandchildren, relatives, sons."
Media darkness
Anja Azdejković, a student at the Faculty of Biology, tells "Vreme" that their efforts are enormous, but that they have a clear obstacle, which is media darkness in Serbia.
Photo: Vreme/Milica Srejić
"Our action is put on the sidelines because we don't exist on national frequencies." We gathered on our own initiative to reach out to the people we live with, who are closest to us, in order to inform them about what is happening in our lives and to prevent misinformation and wrong and bad images about students being spread in the public." , explains Azdejković.
The problem in smaller communities is that people in traditional media don't have access to all the information. That is why Stanković points out that it is important to inform their elderly fellow citizens in any way possible.
Because during the holidays, it was not uncommon for grandparents to argue with their grandchildren about the current situation with faculty blockades. Their main argument was - "but, they said that on television". Students from the parish discussed this in the evening when they left their homes.
Letter to the parishioners
The student's letter to fellow citizens begins with: "Dear parents, grandparents, friends, professors, citizens of the parish."
"We are writing to you from the classrooms and corridors of our faculties, places where books and acquiring knowledge are part of everyday life, but where we are currently fighting for something much bigger - for justice, truth, dignity and the future of all of us," the letter reads.
Photo: Vreme/Milica Srejić
When asked "Why are we writing to you", the students wrote: "We invite you to be with us - to understand why we are doing this and to help us make our voice reach even further."
The entire letter was published by psychologist Ana Mirković on her "X" account:
"It is really important for students that people support them. This is just a way to show that the fact that we went to the houses of the blockade did not stop. On the contrary. Although we want to see our family, we also remain persistent in our problem. This is just a form of extension of that action where the blockade 'returns to their homes', where students spread their wishes, demands and convey and inform their fellow citizens about what they want to implement", says Azdejković.
She adds that students try to avoid centralization because Serbia is much more than Belgrade, and hence the idea to reach out to the people with whom they share the city and grew up.
Waking up from winter sleep
Last week, a protest was held in Aleksandrovac where, according to the Archive of Public Meetings, between 450 and 500 citizens gathered, which would be between 110.000 and 120.000 people in Belgrade.
Photo: Nenad ProtićProtest in Aleksandrovec
Photo: Nenad Protić
The Biology student explains that such actions at the bar are of fundamental importance. "You can see that hope was restored to those people by the fact that we gathered there, that they saw how beautiful our energy is, how ambitious we are, involved in all this, how persistent we are and how sincerely we want change, that we are not mercenaries, that we have a strong good convictions and I think it's simply easiest to awaken that desire in people to help when you talk to them live."
Stankovic says that the students are very satisfied with how the protest went. "In general, after that meeting, we all have the feeling that people have freed themselves a little, that they have already started talking about these topics, that they are interested in what we have to say, that somehow, at least for Aleksandrovac, I can say that he woke up from some of sleep and that certain monotony that reigned here."
When the letter sharing action ended, Stanković concluded: "Our dear colleagues from Užice said that the students have returned home." We returned home, made love to our relatives, celebrated the holidays and told them what we were doing and now we are returning to Belgrade to continue our struggle through our faculties".
