"Without the return of credibility and trust of the citizens, no party has a chance in the elections," historian Dragan Popović told Vreme. According to economist Sava Tatić, "one should bet everything on the only horse capable of winning the race. And that horse is, of course, a student horse"
If the values they stand for student movement and the pro-European opposition parties almost completely match, and if the regime change is on elections the first goal they share, where does the tension between these two groups come from? On the one hand, the student movement explicitly rejects any public alliance with parties, while, on the other hand, certain parties propose joint action, but without expressed enthusiasm (except for the Democratic Party, which offers unconditional cooperation). In the meantime, an interpretation has crystallized that sees the opposition's restraint as a fear of drowning in the student movement and losing political recognition, while the famous student "fences" are understood as a kind of strategy for maintaining "political purity".
TWO-WAY POLITICAL RATIONALITY
Politics is a rational activity to the extent that in a well-ordered order it can be counted on that certain moves will lead to the expected results. For example, a serious investment in the health or education system will lead to tangible effects in ten years. A significant investment in the energy system, or in agriculture, in five years will lead to a more stable energy situation, and the country (Serbia) will not have to import milk powder (like everything else, anyway). Strategic alliances with other countries are made on the basis of common values. But rationality can also turn in the other direction. The president of all the citizens of this country is a rational person, although - among other things - he is devoid of any compassion, that is all his ramblings, slanders, government meetings that are organized under a clear sky at the Kolubara mine, pulling children out of high snow, broadcasting government meetings where he behaves like a simpleton, then acting, whining, lying, pardoning thugs, criminals and thugs from his own ranks, protecting drug dealers, destroying people who, like Aleksandar Obradović, are opposed to corruption and the devastation of public enterprises, the destruction of the legislative and judicial authorities, the police (of which only the praetorian guard and heavily armored psychopaths remain), the army, culture, the media scene, the dismantling of the education system, everything that he has been arranging for us in the public space for 13 years is calculated and focused on the removal of the institutions of this state - including the state itself - so that his personal rule would not encounter unnecessary obstacles.
In such and such (rational) damage, the institutionalized opposition had no space to act in the public space and play the role of corrector of the government, and even when opportunities arose during the huge civil demonstrations against the government or in the 2024 elections, it was not able to extricate itself from the pre-political ruts the regime had put them in. In other words, the moves of Vučić's political opponents moved within a logic that he understood and was able to oppose. However, the students bypassed that logic.
THE BIRTH OF POLITICAL ANTIPOLITICS
As a result of systemic corruption, the canopy of the Railway Station in Novi Sad fell and killed sixteen people, and students took the stage. Their appeal to the institutions rather than the individual exercising arbitrariness was an anti-political masterpiece (basically, of course, deeply political). Institutions, by definition, are set up so that, except in the act of constitution, they do not directly depend on political will. Institutions remain what they are even when political power changes. They are a guarantee of the continuity of the political community and oppose political arbitrariness. So if you turn to the institutions in a regime that is not based on institutions but on the will of one man, you bypass the brain of the operation, which feeds on resistance to itself.
Left without resistance, Vučić began to turn around idly, and the student movement began to grow. However, the refusal to include European-oriented opposition parties - primarily the Green-Left Front and the Movement of Free Citizens - turned out to be an unexpected decision: no matter how much the goals and actions of those parties were in line with civilizational values, the student movement estimated that the place they occupy in the ruined public space would represent a ballast for the movement. According to historian Dragan Popović, "the political system in Serbia was thoroughly destroyed, primarily by the actions of nationalist-authoritarian forces, both in the 1990s and after 2012. Every authoritarian government deals with multi-party democracy, because it is its natural enemy. Therefore, this implies that parties were systematically destroyed, and politics was portrayed as an immoral and superfluous activity. Which logically led to the largest number of honest and capable people giving up participating in politics. The negative system selection has done its job and now we have a situation in which political parties are very weak and strongly hated by a large number of people."
In such a situation, Popović continues, it is understandable that students avoid a closer connection with the parties, because the burden they carry is too great, and he adds: "Of course, the responsibility for this state of the parties lies mostly with the authoritarian government, but there is also the responsibility of the opposition leaders, above all those who have been in politics for a long time. I think that the request that the student list be without recognizable politicians is quite expected and it would be difficult to imagine a different scenario. If the key goal is the overthrow of the autocracy, that must not be lost in terms of vision and tactics, it must be subordinated to it."
STUDENT FLOW
To Vučić's rationality of destruction, therefore, the student movement, through the demand for the work of institutions, opposed the construction, but also a form of political irrationality that could not be resisted by all the force of destruction: marching through Serbia and Europe. When the students (we remember) announced that they were going to walk from Belgrade to Novi Sad, there was hardly anyone who didn't think: for God's sake, kids, don't do boring work, take care of your health, there's nothing to it, irrational is. But as Machiavelli would say, unusual situations call for unusual actions (extraordinary action): the students changed Serbia in a few months of playful hiking. Not only did they awaken a seriously ill hope and free the citizens from fear of the regime, but they did what the opposition failed to do for 12 years - they lowered Vučić to below 40 percent of support, so that, despite all the power of the media's poison bars, he would not move again. And not only that. With their boisterous nature, they set out to buy everything they found on the road. With clear European demands, they brought with them trees and animal carcasses and garbage and crusaders and pops and Chetnik slobbers and thugs and the left and the undecided and confused and what is not at all pleasant to see in the student columns, but that's exactly how they, frighteningly colorful, walked into Novi Pazar and did something that for almost 40 years no one had succeeded because no one cared: they made Sandžaklije for the citizens of the Republic of Serbia.
"The student movement expressed its values officially in the Edict of Niš," says Dragan Popović. "There, freedom comes first, followed by the rule of law, the fight against corruption, free media, equality before the law... All of these are undoubtedly European values. I'm not afraid of the values of the student movement. After all, I don't remember a political option that I voted for that didn't have various types and parties whose values were much more questionable than those of the students."
In other words, not only does a wide ideological palette need to be used to dispossess a regime that has appropriated all values with its falsifying nature (and thus devalued each value), but all the power of right-wing symbols in the student columns seems to be emptied of the toxic content of the Milosevic era. If Milosevic's pounding in the chest of the Serbs meant sworn hostility towards Croats, Bosniaks, Albanians, "bad Serbs" and whoever else, the "Serbism" that permeates the student movement is, let's say, inward-looking, and its content is very fluid. What form that content will take and how it will manifest itself depends on the order that will be established after Vučić.
THE OPPOSITION
In the ranks of the European-oriented opposition parties - the key words are freedom and the rule of law - there is a wavering that cannot be easily understood. Already at the level of common sense (and public opinion research) it is clear that no single party can pass the census, just as common sense clearly dictates that, for basic survival, parties must unite. Politics is, among other things, the art of association. Therefore, in addition to the aforementioned parties, the coalition, or a new party, would be made up of the Freedom and Justice Party, Srce, the People's Movement of Serbia, as well as local organizations such as the Local Front in Kraljevo. But there is every opportunity for those parties to believe that an alliance with other parties would already be a kind of political death, which in these circumstances, when the entire community is in mortal danger, is an unacceptable attitude. In addition, the citizens did not forget the catastrophic split in the opposition scene in 2024 when, instead of big cities, we got nothing. Finally, we have the example of the Hungarian opposition, which, after an eternity, distinguished itself by standing behind one candidate and in such a way that it does not claim for itself a share in the government that will be formed after Orbán's departure.
Economist Sava Tatić observes that in "traditional parameters" such a distorted government, shaken to the core, as is the case with the rule of Aleksandar Vučić, would have to automatically lead to the strengthening of parties that resist the regime, but, despite amazing moves such as Marinika Tepić's hunger strike, or staying in the Assembly despite the savagery of the Essenes, this is not happening.
"Simply put," says Tatić, "the opposition parties have not shown themselves to be capable of competing with the regime. Secondly, there is a large amount of skepticism regarding political action, which the regime itself is consciously fueling by building on the formula from Marxism classes about 'false bourgeois democracy', until the popular 'they are all the same'. The regime is therefore systematically depoliticizing the public space in order to fill it with itself. On the other hand, even if we abstract spread of the idea of the universality of Serbs, common sense dictates that great evil must be opposed by the greatest possible force."
Popović adds: "I think the opposition is in fear, although there is no reason for it. Parts of the opposition that do not have the ballast of the past, such as the PSG and the ZLF, got off to a good start, they made a clear programmatic alliance, they went around Serbia and talked to people, participated in local elections together with students in different ways. I believe that this is the right way. There is a place for such parties and movements and they could help the student movement on the ground, while building their own infrastructure and credibility for the future. Without regaining credibility and trust of the citizens, no party has a chance in the elections. I believe that this is the time for the parties to show that they understand the moment and that they are ready to help. There is enough room for action, we just need to recognize the current situation as an opportunity instead of a risk."
LONG-TERM PROCESS
Sava Tatić believes that the recipe for success is in the broadest "popular front", based on the logic of the popular fronts from the Second World War. "You should put everything on the only horse capable of winning the race. And that horse is, of course, the student's. The political sacrifice is not as great as it seems. These elections should be treated as referendums. With this regime, politics is meaningless, normal political activity and parliamentarism are futile tasks. The goal is one, and the nature of the nemani that needs to be defeated requires a united front. There is simply no room for any positioning and calculation for the day after. After all, Zoran Đinđić swallowed a frog and supported his political dissident Vojislav Koštunica, which made the then DOS a truly popular front. This reminder was addressed both to the student movement and, especially, to the opposition parties."
On the other hand, the student movement is ready to run for the long haul. After the initial anti-politics, with which they dismantled the regime to the smallest detail, the students made a demand for elections, which is again a virtuoso move: values were not put in the foreground - because they were explained in the first few months of the struggle - but a neutral but clear political demand: elections. All grumblings about how it could have been done before, how it could have been done differently, how opportunities were missed (especially on March 15, 2025) are mere arbitrariness for which no one has yet provided a relevant argument, not to mention how Vučić himself rattled the tense nerves with spins about the missed opportunities of the movement since he realized that thoughtless claims are excellent for creating divisions and falling into political apathy (namely, it is easy to be apathetic and depressed-wise). In addition, readiness for a long struggle is a special quality of the student movement.
Popović is explicit: "I am, perhaps a little unusually, very happy that this struggle is lasting longer than most people would like. I believe in processes, I do not believe in instant solutions or revolutions. The process means maturing through learning and experience. Over the course of more than a year, we received entire generations who became politicized, but also gained immeasurable experience in civic activism, political marketing, logistics, planning, networking, and many other skills necessary in all the jobs that a person is involved in." can deal with. We should not forget the network of social contacts that has been established and which will be of great value to all those people in the future. That is why it is important that this process continues, that we face various pitfalls and overcome them. I am very satisfied with the results."
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
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It should not surprise us if it turns out that the student movement and the whole of 2025 is just one phase in the overthrow of the autocratic regime. For months, there has been a lot of talk about unconditional support for students, whether they are sufficiently articulate, politically mature enough, "like this" or "like that" enough... But that is not the key to the success of this process. The key to success is the unconditional cancellation of support for Aleksandar Vučić
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It is almost a commonplace that totalitarian rulers, who are propagandistically presented as great heroes, are actually quite scary individuals. In turn, they constantly talk about their strength, determination and courage and personal heroism, while surrounding themselves with dozens of layers of super-loyalists.
