Is there a germ of a political alternative to the Serbian List? Has the opposition finally remembered that it could help the Serbs in Kosovo? And how? How important is that? How does the regime in Belgrade (not) react to the fact that someone finally dared to step into the political ban of the president
Most of the opposition would hardly wait to recognize the independence of Kosovo, and the remaining, equally treacherous, would send others to war and perish. This sentence, in countless variations and in a much nastier way, has been repeated by the authorities in Belgrade and the pro-regime media for more than a decade.
During all that time - through his actions and a series of wrong moves through the SNS subsidiary in Kosovo, the Serbian List - Aleksandar Vučić probably managed to secure a place in some future history textbook as a dark page about authoritarianism, politicking and the disastrous consequences of manipulation in order to maintain power.
During all that time, the opposition was also in no hurry to really declare anything related to Kosovo.
That is why the news that on the last Saturday of September, representatives of the Kosovo Serbs met with representatives of all local parliamentary opposition parties to discuss the strategy of action in the fight for the survival of the Serbian community in Kosovo, was completely silenced in the state-controlled media. With one or two exceptions of unpolished tabloid misinformation.
What did this gathering bring? What was it about? And what next?
THERE IS A DIALOGUE
The round table was attended by representatives of Serbs from Kosovo, gathered by the Serbian National Council, the Serbian People's Movement, the People's Movement of Serbs with Kosovo and Metohija, and individuals who are generally critical of the authorities in Belgrade and Kosovo Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti. From the opposition politicians from Belgrade, the leader of the SSP Dragan Đilas, the leader of the SRCE party Zdravko Ponoš, the leader of the National Movement of Serbia Miroslav Aleksić, the leader of the Ecological Uprising Aleksandar Jovanović Ćuta, the leader of the New Democratic Party Miloš Jovanović, the leader of the Movement of Free Citizens Pavle Grbović, Borko Stefanović from SSP, Miloš Parandilović from New Face of Serbia, Aleksandar Ivanović from NPS, as well as Slobodan Samardžić, Đorđe Vukadinović...
"For the first time since I can remember, and certainly since the SNS has been in power, the entire opposition - both left and right, both national and civil - has gathered together with serious representatives of Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, who are nobody's private Serbs, neither the Vucic family, nor the Kurti family, nor the Đilas family", Đorđe Vukadinović describes the event. He also says that practically everyone, including younger people from newly formed organizations and parties, participated in the round table, when it comes to representatives of Serbs from the North of Kosovo. Except, of course, the representatives of the Serbian List.
It was certainly not a circle of like-minded people - neither the local opposition parties, nor the representatives from Kosovo, think the same. However, the idea is not to find one voice that will speak about everything - in the end, we already have that and it has not brought anything good - but to find common points on which political and social actors can agree and stand for them - each in their own frameworks - they fight with the goal of making everyday life of Serbs in Kosovo more tolerable, and to strengthen themselves in the fight for their rights in Kurti's regime, which violates them wantonly. Simply - to be asked when it comes to their lives...
At the meeting, for internal use, two documents were submitted: "Outlines of the action strategy for the survival of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija: economic and social aspect" and theses for discussion concerning the framework of the strategy for the survival of the Serbs and other non-Albanian population in Kosovo and Metohija. At the top of the page it is written: "There is no solution for Kosovo and Metohija, but a solution through the process".
On the basis of these documents and the proposals that followed at the round table and after it, a proposal for specific measures will be adopted and will be released to the public.
Otherwise, for more than four hours, they talked about stopping the economic decline of the Serbian community, the need to strengthen the University of Pristina (based in Kosovska Mitrovica), the creation of a political alternative to the Serbian List, as well as the formation of a joint team and survey committee that would deal with the money flows that Serbia provides for Kosovo, i.e. in whose pockets it ends up, and where it doesn't arrive, but it should.
For Nova S television, Zdravko Ponoš stated that things will change in the long term when the government in Belgrade changes, but that even then it must be done through the institutions, the opposition must put pressure on the government and use its international and diplomatic contacts in order to the existing situation has changed and improved.
Momčilo Trajković, who initiated the meeting, said in his opening address that the Serbs in Kosovo do not want to be observers but active participants in the processes that concern their lives and, in general, survival, and that the aim of the round table is to promote a new strategy and political factors that they have the strength and power to change the current state.
"Kurti's task is to make the Serbian people disappear from these areas", said Trajković, asking for support from those present in creating a strategy that will make the Serbs an equal partner in the search for a solution, and not decapitated in a political and existential struggle.
WIRE WALKING AS THE BEST SCENARIO
It is known that the Serbs in the North of Kosovo have been left for a long time not only in an institutional vacuum, but also in a serious crisis of political leadership. For a long time, part of the Serbian community in Kosovo - the one nobody's - repeats that it is necessary to get out of the position between a rock and a hard place - Kurti and Vučić. On the other hand, the question arises as to how any political organization that would not have any support from official Belgrade could achieve greater influence.
Đorđe Vukadinović believes that under certain conditions this is achievable in theory, but the question is how practically possible it is. He believes that something like this could eventually be done by a column made up of old organizations and individuals who were active in political and social life, but were not compromised by cooperation with the regimes of Belgrade and Pristina and new people - say under the cap of SNV KiM or bodies like that .
And if they managed to win the elections, a delicate dance between Belgrade, Pristina and the international community would follow. But certainly greater autonomy and a stronger fight for the interests of the Serbian community in Kosovo than was the case in the operation of the Serbian List. Namely, she used various methods to create a voting machine for the Serbian Progressive Party from the Serbs there and exerted unimaginable pressure to implement everything agreed in the negotiations between Belgrade - Pristina - the international community, despite the mood of the Serbian community in Kosovo. The "merit" of the Serbian List is also the exit of Serbian representatives from all Kosovo institutions without a plan for what to do next.
Speaking about this meeting, Pavle Grbović said that the event is significant because it carries political weight and the symbolism of pluralism being re-established among the Serbian community in Kosovo. He pointed out that it is the duty of the opposition pariahs in Serbia to encourage that process and to encourage all those who want to participate in it, and who find the strength to oppose the state monopoly over the political life of Serbs in Kosovo, supported by the "terror of the Serbian List".
"There were more than 50 participants and therefore there were messages of different contents with which you agree and with which you do not. But also the message of the authentic representatives of the Serbs that they are looking for the best solution, taking into account the real situation on the ground", explains Grbović further and points out that the views expressed by those people were mature and realistic. "We could not analyze all the future steps, but the framework for the active participation of Serbs in the political life of Kosovo has been set, that in the future the elections are not boycotted and that the Serbs must participate in the institutions, and that the only acceptable solution is the one based on peace. "
KEEP THIEVES AND SILENCE
The government's reaction to the meeting of more than 50 politicians, professors and socially engaged individuals, that is, to their proposals and questions that they raised, was mostly deafening silence.
"It was a shock for the regime", believes Đorđe Vukadinović. "That's why it took them 24 hours to come up with a reaction. They managed to send Sima Spasić, but without a megaphone, so he didn't make any impression. The regime was taken aback by both the idea and the response."
Why?
First of all, because Aleksandar Vučić's long-standing thesis that the opposition is traitorous and wants to get rid of Kosovo has been denied. Quite simply, the entire opposition took part in the meeting - left and right, civil and national. And that's why first there was silence, and then (as if) on command, an identical text in several media.
It was a short, unsigned piece published in "Informer", a slightly longer version in "Večernji novosti", articles in the tabloid "Alo" and on several other portals.
There, in the headlines it is said that "the complete opposition has entered into a coalition with Aljbin Kurti", in the subtitles that they met with several anti-Vučić Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, followed by a sentence or two about the heroic struggle of Aleksandar Vučić.
There was also an addendum in "Informer". Although the two events have nothing to do with each other, this tabloid announced that Pavel Grbović's PSG entered the parliamentary group in the Serbian Parliament with the Sandžak Democratic Action Party (SDA) of Sulejman Ugljanin and the Party for Democratic Action (PDD) led by Šaip Kamberi. Finally, the "evidence" is attached - a recording without sound, in the background of which is shot dance music, and the pictures of the opposition leaders are alternated, as well as the document from the establishment of the parliamentary club. In other words: nothing was said about the meeting.
"The meeting showed that Vučić lost his grip on the Kosovo issue as an exclusive field and a political ban," Vukadinović believes. "And that can't be covered up with that 'hold the thief' and silence." He also believes that the government will not stop at these first reactions.
"I hope that in the coming days of action, Kosovo will become, like lithium mining, one of the focal points of action and gathering of the opposition," adds Vukadinović.
Asked how he became the "main character" in the tabloid "reporting" from the rally, Pavle Grbović says: "The regime's propaganda will not affect our understanding of the needs of this society." The creation of a parliamentary group with representatives of minorities in Serbia should not be a matter for a civil option at all".
He states that although the performances of representatives of the authorities and their media may sound chauvinistic, it is not about that: "There is only one question - whether someone fits into their business model or not." They have no problem keeping the majority in Bujanovac with the Albanian list, they maintain good relations with the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, although his position on Kosovo is known, they cultivate very good business, private and political relations with those Bosniak representatives who fit into their business model. If they don't fit in, everyone becomes an enemy, regardless of whether they are Bosniaks, Serbs, Albanians..."
IN THE MEANTIME...
And while Belgrade is silent for now, the Serbian list, which is getting quieter, announced about the meeting and did so in a familiar manner, mixing the state and the party to the point of losing borders: "Dok Šolak, his partner Đilas and Aljbin Kurti are doing everything to ensure that the Serbs in Kosovo are less, Srpska lista, with the full support of President Aleksandar Vučić, the Government of Serbia and the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, managed to secure hundreds of jobs, as well as the latest package of financial aid for 5.000 unemployed, all preschool, elementary and high school students, which is more than 23.000 people who will have additional support from their state of Serbia".
In the meantime, Aljbin Kurti did not express himself on this occasion, but he also stated in a well-known manner that the criticisms of the international community due to the treatment of the Kosovo government towards the Serbian community were exaggerated, and he characterized the actions of Pristina as necessary steps in order to integrate areas with a Serbian majority into the legal and the financial system of Kosovo, and announced elections in the municipalities in the North only in the fall of 2025.
However, to meet the anniversary - ten years since the Berlin process and the CEFTA meeting - Kurti was forced to lift the ban on goods from Serbia under German pressure - for now only at the Merdare crossing where a special scanner was brought in for detailed control. By the way, that ban was introduced in June 2023, when the Serbian authorities arrested three Kosovo policemen - one says in the vicinity of Raška, and the other in the territory of Northern Kosovo. Although the three were released after less than two weeks, the ban remained in effect.
In the meantime, Kurti continues to claim that all the measures he is implementing are state and security measures. In his yard, he repeats how he brought the Serbs into order, and outside he is demanding the return of the land security zone of five kilometers between Serbia and Kosovo due to alleged threats from the army and artillery.
Kurtija and Kosovo are awaiting elections in February 2025, which means that - as his economic results are bad, and his position in the international community is even worse - he will score points, as before, on his harsh policy towards the Serbian community. Vučić has already shown how he treats Serbs from Kosovo.
What remains? Some nobody's people with little chances and an authentic voice who want a dignified life and some others who would have to support them.
Why is there nothing else between the overcome regime and the changes? What does the regime mean when it says it is defending Serbia? Why is the Student Movement indomitable? Who has the knowledge and real experience, and who leads without a day of work experience outside of politics? And why students win
After almost two years of protests, hundreds of kilometers walked, arrests, persecution and unprecedented social mobilization, Serbia is holding elections that could mark the end of a political era. Sociologist Marija Babović tells "Vreme" that the hope for change has not been so great since October 5, 2000, but she also warns of the danger that, if changes are not made, the country will face an even tougher authoritarian regime.
Their only weapon now is the media they control: like, we don't have an agenda, which is not true; as, we will betray the national interest, which is not true. One of their arguments is that we are afraid to go to the debate with Vučić. They do not understand that it is their punishment. This is a punishment for Aleksandar Vučić, who for 14 years conducted exclusively a monologue. For fourteen years he did not allow anyone any kind of dialogue, and now he would like to be rewarded or pardoned with the opportunity to talk to us. Well, he won't be able to. What he sowed is now reaping
These elections are not elections about Serbia's membership in the European Union, Kosovo and Metohija, gay marriage, tax policy or any other single political issue. Although parties on the fringes of political power try to impose these themes, at the heart of the upcoming political election is a much simpler dilemma: change or preserve the existing order. For more than a year now, surveys have shown that this is the primary dilemma on the ballot
In the RS, 19.800 people registered for the elections in Serbia, who will be able to vote at 28 polling stations. It remains unknown how many of them will cross the Drina on October 25 and vote in Serbia. In any case, I do not believe that the voters from Republika Srpska are the ones who will decide the winner of the elections in Serbia. Realistically, the voters from Republika Srpska can influence a little, but it seems that they are symbolically very important to both Vučić and the opposition.
There is, literally, no difference between the one who claims it is day in the middle of the night, or the one who claims to be a giraffe, from the claims we read on billboards: that Vučić is working to unify Serbs and that Serbia is doing better and better day by day.
The pre-election arrests due to the alleged "overthrow of the state" testify to the regime's panic. The bad news for them is - they can't arrest the whole people who decided to defend themselves from progressive beatings and election theft
The ring that tightens around Ćaciland Student list is getting narrower. Because there are more and more spoiled people who see the false prophet for what he is: a street obscener who is fighting Serbia
The archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
See all
