When an honest conversation shakes the wasp

Saturday, one of the hottest since the beginning of the year. It's market day in Pirot, and hence the river of people passing through the Trga republike street carrying baskets full of fresh vegetables, fruit, cheese, brandy... Not a single young person in sight. Everything was supposed to be normal that day - nothing new in Pirot. And then a little after 10 o'clock in the morning, a small group students from Niš gathered at the Guševica fountain. The eyes of the citizens of Piro, who were at the market at that moment, could easily fall on the stand placed in front of the fountain, on which was written "Talk to the student" in large letters.

AUTHENTIC DIALOGUE

A large number of people look curiously at the students in green vests with lots of studded badges. It must not be clear to most of them what it is about. A total of six young people came from Niš. The starting point of the gathering was the Faculty of Electronics, and around 9 in the morning they left for Pirot. Three more students were waiting for them there, and everything was almost ready for another in a series of "Talk to a Student" actions.

Vuk, a student of the Faculty of Electronics and one of the main initiators of that action, explains to "Vreme" how they got their inspiration primarily from the related student initiative "Student in Every Village", with which they had the opportunity to collaborate. Although these are two very similar actions, students from Belgrade University visit cities, municipalities and villages, mostly covering the northern part of Serbia, while students from Niš, as Vuk says, visit southeast Serbia. Pirot is already their 29th location (more precisely, they were there on Saturday, June 14, and by the time this text goes to press, the 30th anniversary event will have passed - in Kuršumlijska Banja).

The action is designed so that students visit villages around Niš, municipalities and nearby towns and talk to the locals for a few hours, regardless of whether they enjoy their support or not. One of the key goals is to explain to those who do not support them what they as students are actually doing, what they are fighting for and how not everything they hear on certain (read: pro-regime) media is true. The action also serves for students to hear the locals, listen to them and understand what problems are bothering them in their place.

"The idea is simple - we want to talk to people," says Vuk for "Vreme". "We are here to show that we are not terrorists. We are here to listen and to show that, unlike some people, we respect when someone's opinion differs from ours."

photo: ana adamović

"WELCOME TO THE PLACE OF THE SILENT"

Although the Pirot professors and teachers welcomed them hospitably - they saved them a place where they later set up a stand and during those few hours brought them refreshments and snacks, and are like mediators in the conversation with the locals - the students do not stop only at that stand. They decide that this time they will walk along the street near the Tijabar market and park and that - instead of the citizens coming up alone - the students will still come up to them.

"Good afternoon, would you like to talk to a student?" is a sentence that is repeated dozens of times that day. Reactions are different. Starting with "I don't know anything, ask the younger ones", through "but I'm already old", to "get out of the way, you're blocking my stand". There are also older men with caps that say "Pirot must not stop" and those angry people who are interested in who "pays" the students and how much. At one point, while Vuk is trying to talk to a local, more people gather around them. They argue with each other. You can hear, almost simultaneously - "go ahead, children, fight for the future of this country", as well as "get rid of what you are doing in time". However, the students, despite the accusations and prejudices that the government and certain media have persistently created and watered down since last December, stand calmly, listen to their interlocutors and look them in the eyes. They listen to cursing and insults, but do not reciprocate in kind. They simply say thank you for the conversation and move on.

In order to know how to react to the aforementioned insults and accusations, as well as how to talk to those who do not support them and how to approach them, students - before going out on their first field - must go through the training of the Scouting Working Group at the Faculty of Electronics in Niš. They are trained there by those students who have already been to several actions, and can share their experience and advice.

At one point, a man approaches student Jana from the Faculty of Arts and hands her an envelope with a letter. The envelope reads "Letter from Ćaciland in the Southeast"; the letter begins with the words: "Students, welcome to the place of silenced people". Later, the "Vremena" reporter found out that it was a poet from Pirot, very vocal in his support for students, as well as a member of the Pirot choir, and a moderator at the time when Pirot proclaimed Vučić personam non grata. And he bears a large part of the credit for the fact that the students included Pirot in their action for the first time. "This is the first visit of students of this kind to the Pirot district. What I can notice from this morning is that the students have taken the wasp with both hands and are shaking it," he says.

A few meters away, Vuk is talking to an eighty-year-old woman selling cheese. Her pension is 30000 dinars, and she is forced, as Vuko says, to retire at the age of 80. burns on the hot asphalt at the Pirot market.

"Get some rest and be with your grandchildren."

"I've been working all my life and I agree, I need a break," answers the elderly woman while wiping her sweat.

And these are just some of the problems that the residents of Pirot complained about to Nis students. From low salaries, the state of the economy, the non-functioning of institutions, the departure of young people abroad, to the most common one - fear, primarily of the regime.

RECONCILIATION OF GENERATIONS

Although there was no shortage of negative and unpleasant comments, students say that none of it surprised them. As they point out, they are prepared for that. On the other hand, they were surprised by the amount of support they received in Pirot - the first town with a democratic mayor. That atmosphere was significantly influenced by the professors and teachers who welcomed them and who helped them to come to Pirot and return to Nis, people who extended their hand and gave encouraging words. That it is hard and tiring, yes. "Conversation with people can not only be physically difficult, but it is also mentally exhausting, because we give ourselves emotionally and mentally. But when people welcome us like this, talk to us, offer us support, hug us, it gives us the energy to continue and not stop until we visit every village," Vuk told "Vreme".

Student Jana is of the opinion that the people who do not support them are much louder, because, as she explains, they have their own motives for entering the story with the students, especially if they do not agree with them. Those people shout from a distance and throw things, while those who stand by the students themselves approach and show with words and deeds that they are fighting for a better and fairer society.

It is possible that the location itself - the market near the Guševica fountain - gathered more of the loud and rude ones, considering that when we head to the Pirot quay with the students Jan and Aleksandra, none of the conversations with the locals resemble the ones described at the beginning. These are now calm conversations in the shade, between the rows of trees by the Nišava river and on the main Square in the center, where the students have moved their stand. There are people who agree with the students' ideas and values, who do not like the crowds in the city and the blocking of intersections, but who, despite this, patiently and calmly talk about it with the students, without tension and noise, showing their willingness to listen to someone until the end.

"Talk to the student" is more like an action of generational reconciliation. The students managed to show that at least someone cares about their problems through the culture of dialogue and discussions with the elderly, restraint and patience. They approached people and asked them how they were living, showing that in this society there is no more room for avoiding unpleasant topics.

And before 14:XNUMX p.m., when they should dismantle the stand and pack for the return trip, the students decide to make another round. The two approach a street musician with a guitar in hand.

"Is there some protest again or?" the man immediately spoke, even before the students addressed him. Probably because he noticed they were wearing green vests.

"No, no. We are students from Nis, we came to Pirot to talk to the citizens, to see how it is in your place," says the student, and thus begins one of the last conversations with the citizens of the day. Like all the previous ones, this one was also imbued with intimacy and nakedness in front of the problems that afflict them. Before parting ways, the students thank their interlocutor, and he, smiling, replies: "All the best and keep pumping." Then he runs his fingers over the strings and continues to play.