"Students have a control package in our coalition. They direct us, and their word has moral weight. When it gets stuck, they are the ones who speak - let's get serious, we have come too far to stumble over foolishness. This is how, day by day, the first pre-election campaign in Serbia, jointly run by students, local opposition parties and citizens, works," Nenad Gladić, spokesman for the "United for Kosjerić" election list, told "Vreme".
All eyes, as well as numerous political hopes, are focused this spring on the local elections in a small urban settlement near Zlatibor. Kosjerić will be a demonstrative exercise for all those who, months ago, hoped to see a list supported by students in the elections. Nenad Gladić, presenter and gastronome, better known as Lepi Brka, had no idea that he would participate in the creation of such a list.
"WEATHER" Whose idea is the joint list (and students, customers, citizens)?
NENAD GLADIC: Students are the initiators. We received the news about the elections in Kosjerić overnight, on a Sunday afternoon. Within three days, the students called for unification, to go to the elections, but all together and without party symbols. That really happened. In ten days, we went into action, into a campaign, and we went out into the field.
The students said nicely - people, let's try to change the administration. Because the municipality is not governed, it is managed. If you become a municipality authority, you just inherit a lot of problems. And I think it is clear to the people who agreed to be on the "United for Kosjerić" list - they will actually get a hot potato, not some great power.
Although former Prime Minister Miloš Vučević cynically stated that Kosjerić is a famous university town, the students who gathered us are actually young people from Kosjerić, and the students of the faculty are in a blockade across Serbia. Before these elections, they also organized numerous protests in Kosjerić, gathering people every week. They really became our driving force. There are not many of them, about 10 to 15. We are a small place - for example, in Kosjerić, a total of 60 students enroll in the first grade. Of course, not all students got involved, but a solid student body was formed that copes well in this situation. There is not much left until June 8, but they are very calm, they are carefully preparing actions, they are engaged and they are quite focused on drawing people's attention to what is really important for Kosjerić, as well as why it is crucial to vote.
How difficult it was for local politicians to remove their party symbols? Did they do it willingly or unwillingly??
At the bar, everything is different, ideology is not decisive. People's lives will not change if, say, monarchists come to power in their village tomorrow. That village needs a road, water, and a school. We are still dealing with issues that the civilized world dealt with 50 or 100 years ago. The one who solves communal, ecological, simple problems is the best local politician.
In the coalition in Kosjerić, there are different people with different ideologies. Some are right-leaning, some left-leaning, but that doesn't matter at the moment. We need to apply the same principle now as if, for example, the house were on fire. It doesn't matter what color the buckets are, it's important to fill them with water and use them to put out the fire.
So, the politicians immediately agreed to go to the elections without party names? And the switchboards told them it was okay?
One local board agreed to participate in the elections against the decision of its own headquarters.
What does that tell us??
The damage is not great because the headquarters told them not to go to the elections, they participate but without a party symbol, so everyone does as they think they should. I believe that the headquarters of the opposition parties, which supported participation in the elections regardless of the fact that their names will not be there, know very well that they will gain significant political capital through these elections. For some, perhaps, he will benefit them.
I myself told the holders of the list - I can't wait for you to win, so that I can criticize you.
Does this mean that you will not be in power in Kosjerić??
I don't want any function. Honestly, I wouldn't be in their shoes. I believe they will face huge problems if they take over the municipality.
You will become the new corrective mechanism?
We all should be. The fact that I helped someone and voted for him does not mean that I love him, but I simply believe that he can solve my problems. I need a manager, I don't need a leader.
After all, it is known who you support.. Not long after you cooked for the students, the police have entered your country garden looking for narcotics. You said that they don't give birth to you. Does this event have an epilogue??
It was quite a bizarre situation. Last winter, when they came, nothing had given birth in my garden, especially not narcotics. People were polite, but everything seemed surreal. In the order for this "performance" it was written that they came on the basis of operational knowledge that is classified as secret, that we do drugs in the house, but also that we had visitors who do drugs. I believe that they noticed before that I cooked several times, but food for students, as well as that I was active in the fight against the construction of mines. But, the lawyer checked later, there is no process against me. I believe this was intimidation.
Afterwards, I made myself a t-shirt with the inscription - drug lord. I wear it when I go to the center of Kosjerić, to the store. People are fed up laughing.
What is the atmosphere like in the election campaign?
The opposition is fair and optimistic. But, on the other hand, we noticed that machines started to work on country roads. In fact, the government offers paving in exchange for a vote. They do all this without any board or notice about the financier, supervision, anything. We do not know how it will be completed, whether it will be 2,5 centimeters of new asphalt or the entire road, nor which road it is. But we are already used to it before every election, it is a standard way to blind the eyes of the local population. The only thing that is incredible is that in 2025 we are being offered a way to be happy.
Now the only question is what can be done. Is it possible to break through the blockade of the alleged television stations, which work under the regime, and the campaign which is conducted by bribery, even the most banal. They offer livestock to some people, fodder to others. Everything is the same as in the nineties. In fact, when we think about it a little more, I have the feeling that we have reset ourselves and returned to the beginnings of multipartyism. That is why it is necessary for us to try everything again.
Are you expecting any new maneuvers??
We expect the entire offer of their activities. I do not believe that they will come up with something new, but their behavior in the campaign so far is quite enough. Arsenal is not small.
Do you think that Kosjerić is a demonstration exercise for parliamentary elections in Serbia?? If the united opposition with students wins in Kosjerić, what will it mean for all of Serbia?
It's one long game and another. We had to bite first, we will see what and how much superiority Kosjerić will bring. The republican level is, of course, not the same as the local level, but from my previous work with students from Kosjerić, it seems to me that they have no great ambition to have everything under their control. That is not even possible, and the students themselves did not want to be on the list. If the opposition list wins, students can continue to be a corrective factor. With the fact that I believe that we will not even need him to this extent. Because people now feel the fear of apathy very well, the students have actually cured us of it. Healed in this way, we can ourselves be the corrective factor of any government, we don't need constant reminders.
Where do you come from in Kosjerić and in politics??
This is my first local election ever. I used to live with my family in New Belgrade, and it was clear to me how politics unfolded there. We didn't know the people, nor the neighbors. Here, the problems are known, and the actors are also known. Perhaps 20.000 people live in one block in New Belgrade, and the entire municipality is the second largest city in Serbia. You see, Kosjerić does not even have 10.000 inhabitants. It's more intimate. In these few years, as long as I have been a family in Kosjerić, we have gotten to know the people and the circumstances in which they live. Much faster, simpler than in the city. The people received us very nicely. I was also very pleasantly surprised by how seriously the situation here has changed since the student protests began. The younger world immediately understood its role. However, when they asked me to help in the elections themselves, I have to admit that I was not eager because I don't like political engagement. Again, I worked in television for 13 years and I knew I could contribute. I didn't want to be on the list, I don't know the people or the place well enough, and I wanted to help. I started on my own. I went to live in the countryside because I wanted to leave the problems of the city behind. My idea was to enjoy peace, quiet, nature. But don't lie down, you can't escape from those problems. My child goes to school here, we get treatment at the health center, we get home by a very bad road, and garbage is dumped in wild landfills. Again I found myself overwhelmed by similar questions as in the city - is everything right at school, is there a pediatrician at the health center... Then it became clear to me that I can't pretend to be silly about the political situation. Because you can't find a microcosm anywhere else. That's what we realized the most in the last six months. Sooner or later, it collapses, no matter how safe you think you are in it. So I figured I better try to work things out, as much as I can where I can.
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