"Young people are not aware of how much strength they have as a collective and how much the government is afraid of their reaction to some injustice, and that is the reason why they are trying to keep the voice of young people from being heard. I think that the question 'Where are the young people?' it is not necessary to answer with words, but to answer with actions, to show that they are there", says student and member of the informal organization "Borba" (formerly known as "Students against violence") Pavla Cicvarić. On Monday, December 18, the day after the election, citizens revolted by election engineering and vote theft gathered in front of the old Assembly building where the Republican Election Commission sits. In the front lines were young people, among them students and members of the informal organization "Borba" Emilija Milenković and Pavle Cicvarić, as well as youth activist Nikola Ristić. They asked the opposition - primarily "Serbia Against Violence" - for answers about what to do and how to proceed.
"We never received a concrete answer," Nikola Ristić told "Vreme". "In the following days, the opposition did announce some new protests, some of them went on a hunger strike and the like, but none of that seems to me like a well-developed plan that would have clear phases. The goal is clear, but we don't know how they intend to get there. However, we are not the ones who only criticize because there is no idea, but we come and make suggestions. This is what we embarked on and the first step in our plan, which the opposition also supported, was to go to the blockades on Monday.
(At the time of writing, the blockade was implemented only on Monday.)
"WEATHER" What motivated you??
EMILIJA MILENKOVIĆ: I am fighting for a democratic society. As a student of the Faculty of Political Sciences, I know well what a democratic society and democracy means. When I see how this regime lies in the media when it says that we live in a democratic society, I cannot remain absent for ethical reasons. That's my motivation. I don't want my youth wasted under an authoritarian leader who doesn't know when to leave or doesn't want to step down even though it's hurting us all.
PAVLE CICVARIC: There are many reasons and I actually see those reasons in activism itself. In activism, we talk about different topics - from environmental to psychological help and the fight for the rule of law. Institutions do not work, and as a zero point that is taken for granted, in order for these topics to come to the fore, there needs to be a rule of law.
NIKOLA RISTIC: The motivation is very simple to formulate - I want to leave society better than I found it. I don't want to look in the mirror in 20, 30, 50 years and be ashamed because at the moment when our society was being devastated, I didn't do the most I could to turn it in the other direction. I don't think my conscience would ever be clear, but the only alternative is to leave this country and this society. I am really fighting with all my might not to cross that threshold of decision and to leave here.
I believe that you are also in contact with other young people. What they say after these elections and how they feel?
EMILIJA MILENKOVIĆ: Young people are also disappointed and I know how difficult it was for them because they were mostly controllers and observers at the polling stations and defended the electoral will of the voters. They were disappointed when they saw the results and not only when they saw the results, but when they saw how many incidents and irregularities there were at the polling station. However, I think that on December 18, that disappointment turned into anger where young people saw that it was no longer enough to walk and be on the street because nothing had changed during the walks this summer and they realized that something more radical had to be done. We all saw it, we all recognized it, and that's why we wanted to give a concrete plan.
How necessary it is for youth organizations to unite at this moment?
PAVLE CICVARIC: It actually seems to me that young people are not aware of how much strength they have as a collective and how afraid the government is of their reaction to injustice. This is exactly the reason why they are trying to keep the voice of young people from being heard and so on. I think that the question 'Where are the young people?' it is not necessary to answer with words but with actions, to show that they are there. We have such a wide range of young people that we interact with every day - we encourage each other and try to get out. We are also trying to reach young people who are not fully involved in the political story. As I see it, we are doing well. I received so many messages of support from people who are not even politically active on social networks, but even after these injustices and attacks on us. They said that they will get involved and that they only now understand what we have been talking about for the past couple of months or couple of years.
As your new group name reads, in which direction it will flow "bumblebee" and what is left for young people at this moment?
PAVLE CICVARIC: We are left with a street because the institutions are not working and many of them will not listen to what the young people have to say. As for "The Struggle" and the name, i.e. "Students Against Violence", "The Struggle" is more comprehensive because at this moment we are fighting for every stolen vote. Literally everyone - from right to left. So that's our plan. As for what we will do next, we saw that, unfortunately, the opposition did not have a ready plan on how to react in this situation. It should not be a point of conflict between supporters of the opposition or between activists, but it should only be known that it was a problem and that there are young people, activists, students who will want to make a proposal on what can be done. That's the slogan that dawned on social networks - "We have a plan". That is the idea, that plan is reflected in two blockades that have been announced if the request is not fulfilled. One happened on Monday and the idea is to go gradually towards radicalization. First it was six o'clock, and we will see what happens next and we will inform the public in a timely manner.
A person appeared at the protest with your personal information and photos from personal documents. Did you later get an explanation of who it is and why it has that information?
NIKOLA RISTIC: We have not received anything official. The opposition presented some assumptions and doubts that I would not dare to take as official, accurate and reliable. The only thing I can say is that we still do not officially know who this person is or where he got his information from. Hopefully someone who was there to look after our safety and not the other way around.
Has the government announced anything about the blockades??
NIKOLA RISTIC: We have not received any comment, they are more concerned with some kind of intimidation and media smearing of each of us who are actors in it, especially the leaders of the opposition. Much more they go to discredit and to the story "here is who is trying to overthrow the constitutional order, here is who is trying to overthrow the state, here is where it was orchestrated". What we are clearly being told is that we are bothering them. But the regime should know that we will continue to bother them regardless of the outcome of this street game. This crew of people who are with us on the streets will bother them until the day they accept what is being asked of them. We will be bothering for a long time.
EMILIJA MILENKOVIĆ: Not only are they trying to discredit us as activists, but we also had a whole extraordinary speech by outgoing Prime Minister Ana Brnabić about CRTI where they directly tried to discredit them. And not only domestic observers, but also international observers and the international community. It is very harmful and unacceptable to say such words from such a state position.
What questions do you have in front of you now?, without having an answer to them?
EMILIJA MILENKOVIĆ: I have one question. If the Prime Minister says that everything is fine and if the President says that everything is fine and that the elections went fantastically, why not open the electoral roll?
NIKOLA RISTIC: My question, apart from what Emma said, and we definitely all think that and it is a key question for the government, is a social question: how long can this people endure? It doesn't matter, let there be 500.000 of us tomorrow or whenever at the blockades or at any future protest or rebellion, what is happening is suffering 6,5 million people and I really can't believe that we are so "killed in the concept" as a people and I just wonder how much longer we will have to suffer. And what does the slogan "How much longer" say?!
PAVLE CICVARIC: One question I ask myself is how to motivate myself to continue with this? No matter how persistent people are on the one hand, I think that a lot of people face the question of "how to endure, how to give myself the motivation to continue, to fight even more". Fortunately, so far I have always found the answer to that question. The government always gave me extra motivation to fight this, extra energy. So I believe that the government will give additional reasons and motives to fight against this.
What next and where to the future?
NIKOLA RISTIC: What I would like most to come out of these protests and this rebellion of the youth, whether it is successful or not, is a platform that will become a sustainable rebellion of the people. Regardless of the government and the opposition tomorrow, it will be a true civic youth force that everyone will have to listen to.
EMILIJA MILENKOVIĆ: I agree with Nikola. I would say that what happened now is a precedent. CRTA has never come out this harshly with its assessments, it has never been this direct and this is a precedent that, if we allow it to pass now, we can say goodbye to democracy. So if something doesn't change now, if we don't fight for democratic values now, I'm afraid that many young people will move from this country. I don't want that to happen.
PAVLE CICVARIC: I see the future of all this. I believe that the time will come when the people will not have to go out into the street. Now people often ask questions about the left and the right and the European Union and other issues. For me, the first thing on the list right now is to create a society that nurtures human rights, a culture of dialogue and the rule of law. If we have that as a basis, we will easily agree on the future direction of Serbia.
EMILIJA MILENKOVIĆ: I would invite young people and all citizens to join the actions that we are organizing in the coming period, all blockades and protests.
