The changes begin with this election

"It is necessary to restore the democratic order, legal and political institutions, the spirit of free and critical discussion in which people will participate without fear of consequences. Serbia does not need a new class of privileged political oligarchs who will stand above the law, but equal opportunities for everyone and solidarity, without which one cannot go through times of crisis. Serbia does not need a cult of personality, but free citizens who manage their own relations in their country."

This is stated in the proclamation published on November 7, 2023, and the signatories are a group of fourteen prominent public figures. They emphasized that none of them have the intention to fight for any positions and functions, nor "to engage in games of power and authority". Their goal is to encourage a process "in which all of us, in our full capacity, will engage in the change that this country needs".

But what to call these fourteen persons?

"There was a discussion about whether this group should have a name or not," its initiator, actor and director Dragan Bjelogrlić, told Vreme. "In the end, we came to the conclusion that the group should not have a name; people will probably already call us something. True, I had the idea of ​​calling ourselves The Signed - with the 'P' in parentheses. It was met with sympathy, but we still decided to go without a name."

"WEATHER" Why?

DRAGAN BJELOGRLIĆ: As Academician Vladimir Kostić said, this group gathered spontaneously without forcing and pressure that we have to do it. As much as it doesn't sound realistic - and it sounds romantic and a bit idealistic - we got together not wanting to be pretentious and then concluded that if we call ourselves something, it would still be a sign of a certain pretentiousness.

You are the initiator of that gathering, isn't it?

Well, yes, I did. I want to say that maybe I made the most effort to get together. During the summer, when there were large demonstrations against violence, I received certain offers to get involved politically. And since I decided a long time ago that I didn't want to be involved in politics, I faced myself. Specifically - can I do something that would be socially significant and move the people I know, meet, socialize with and know how they think? We have all performed individually so far, and I wanted to, if nothing else, at least meet, cross thoughts and emotions and articulate it in a joint performance. That is, to address both individuals and society in order to awaken civic awareness and break fear. We talked about all this during our gatherings and in two or three months other people slowly joined us, until we reached a group of fourteen of us. This should be understood very conditionally - now there are fourteen people who managed to get together and start, but the doors of the group are really open to others because I believe that our group should have many more people. And not only supporters, but also active members.

What are your expectations??

If we succeed in awakening people in every city who do not want to engage in politics or be politically active, but are honorable, normal, educated and professional in their work, then we will be able to instill in them faith and hope that they can help society. Because the main thing that we have encountered in the last few years is precisely the loss of faith that we as individuals, who are good at our jobs and who have an influence on this society, can get things started. Well, that is what I expect and what I would most like to see happen. That is why I am very much looking forward to the forums that we will hold around Serbia, the debates, maybe also the round tables where we want to raise topics of essential importance for our society and country.

We have outlined the problems that we will deal with, and in conversations with really expert and educated people in that matter, we will be able to offer solutions - not to offer platforms, that will be dealt with by politicians - but to open a dialogue, since this is a country where there is no dialogue. Instead, we have one man's monologues and media indoctrination to which the broadest layers of society are exposed. With all the risk of appearing naive and idealistic, I believe that we will succeed in finding a formula to activate the healthy part of Serbian society, which seems to have weakened quite a bit.

04-11

We are talking about people who are professionally accomplished. You have an extremely successful career as an actor and director. Did someone ask you? Dragan, what do you need this for??

People ask me that all the time. However, I dispelled that dilemma a long time ago. If age brings something - apart from problems with various organs - it is the awareness of personal transience. Then a person asks himself the question of what he has done in his life, not only in his work. Therefore, living in a time that is upside down, not reacting and not opposing - especially if there are objective possibilities for my voice to be heard - it is not only my obligation and duty, but also a matter of honor. That's why I broke, aware of all the troubles and threats. This group in power has various possibilities to harm me and, by God, they are not sparing in it. But I'm ready for that. I'm ready to live with it, I'm ready to defend myself and I'm ready to face all their attacks head on. After all, I have been living like this for some time, and I will continue to live like this until this society changes.

At the introduction of the fourteen of you and the reading of your proclamation, a certain number of opposition politicians were also present in the hall. What do you expect from them??

I can't think about it. Nevertheless, I expect all opposition politicians, regardless of their ideological positions, to understand this proclamation and to support it. Why? Because we do not say anything in our proclamation that the vast majority of people do not say, feel or think. Secondly, there are problems as to why that majority Serbia is not active in the sense of changing that. The reason for our gathering is precisely an attempt to dispel her fear, to give her strength and to instill the belief that it is possible for us, when they think so, to change everything together for the better.

Last week, civil society organizations launched a campaign "How much longer". What is more than enough for you??

I don't know how to precisely compile that list. Would I put crime and the general criminalization of society first? Or what is a huge burden for me as someone who deals with art, which is humiliating and dumbing down citizens. If we exclude RTS, which is decent for our conditions - I'm not talking politically at all, but aesthetically and content-wise - the other televisions with national coverage are a big problem.

It is curious that Telekom, which produces almost 20 television series, cannot air most of them on Pink and Happy. Simply, those two televisions do not have an audience that would watch them. This is how we arrive at the absurdity of cultivating an audience that cannot watch a single domestic TV series even though it is produced by the same country. Because everything in those media is nothing but hypnotizing the masses and indoctrinating them with a totalitarian and populist narrative. I think it is humiliating and I am not exaggerating if I say that we are in the last place in Europe in everything that our media presents. This is what hurts me personally, as a person who deals with this business. After all, the media is the image of a society. When I go somewhere abroad, I like to watch a couple of TV stations to see what the people are watching, what they are laughing at, happy about and what they are doing. I am almost sure that when a foreigner comes here and watches our TV channels with a national frequency, he gets a very bad picture of our society.

Except for that systematic dumbing down, we are also aware that it is getting harder to live.

I was just going to put that as the third category even though living standards could be at the top of the list of what we want to change. If 500.000 people, according to the relevant data, live on the edge of poverty and do not have the possibility to cover their needs existentially, I am afraid that this is a bad concept for Serbia. Unfortunately, poor people who struggle for existence are the easiest to manipulate. And since the people who run this country put a lot of effort into research, I am afraid that it is a serious premeditation to preserve that body of poverty and that the government is designing its populism and manipulation precisely on those people on the brink of existence. I am sure that this country has the economic potential to get out of poverty. However, it seems to me that this is not the intention of this government. She needs unhappy and poor people in order to manipulate them and achieve her nefarious political goals.

The election will be on the 17th. December. What do you expect?

It is difficult for me to answer, especially because of the difficult political atmosphere and media darkness. However, I am an optimist by nature and I think that this must be the election after which things will start to change. I'm not sure exactly how far-reaching these changes will be, but I'm sure the changes start with this election. At what level those changes will happen - I don't know. I could say what I wanted, but it wouldn't be serious. In any case, I believe that with these elections the erosion of this well-organized interest-political group in power begins. It will then only accelerate and in some decent time we will reach an indication of a normal society.

Which for you is the minimum that can be considered a success?

For me, the minimum level of success is a change of government in Belgrade. The government itself knows that the mood in Belgrade is against them. The only question is whether political tricksters will try to dilute it somehow. If they succeed, it will be a disaster.

The democratic and pro-European opposition is going to the elections on one list Serbia against violence. How do you rate this association??

I see it as an encouraging and good move. I would also like the right-wing opposition to unite in one column, because then the situation would be much clearer. I hope - hence my optimism and that's why I say that the change of government in Belgrade is the minimum success of the opposition - that ideological differences at the level of the city can be put on the back burner. The current government would not accidentally fight for victory in the local community if it did not know that it can only maintain this type of government in a strictly controlled system. By pulling out several important levers, that system is heading towards its collapse. I hope that it will happen in these elections because it is a real situation on the ground. All the rest are political tricksters, i.e. - various, very skillful moves by the ruling structure, which uses various political games to turn that reality into a different election result.

04-08

Speaking of tricksters, to what extent Serbia is capable of change after 12 years of systematic dumbing down?

The sequence of our moves is therefore to first address professional and educated people who understand the situation. I would like the most to be able to directly address the most vulnerable, those whom this government puts its hand in its pocket and seems to care about. Unfortunately, that is not possible for now. It is very difficult to break through to those people in this media darkness. But that's why we came together - with good will, energy and the desire to reach as far as possible. I don't know how much we will succeed. I don't even know how much can be achieved in this short time. But I believe that this summer began a fight that will last a long time and that this is only the first step in that fight. This group did not come together to disband on December 18, but to act until at least to a certain extent they had achieved some systemic changes.

I want to say that the media image can best be solved by people who know the media and who deal with it, but they are mostly not in REM or in the councils; the problem of education can best be solved by people from education, teachers, teachers, and so on, professors from universities, but they are never called, but some politicians or those who are appointed by politicians to implement a certain policy. That's why we have to reach out to people in every area who know it, so that at least to some extent they also ask. That would be the path to systemic change. I know how it is in the culture. People who know the problem are never appointed to commissions and boards, but henchmen and poltroons - they are only there to raise their hands and vote on something that is currently in the interest of the ruling structure. If we could break that, that flawed system of negative selection, we would already have taken a seven-mile step toward the society we aspire to.

Speaking of culture, many say that even those who know something are intimidated or bribed. How to deal with it?

It is one matrix that is present everywhere - both in culture and in the economy, economy, education, justice... This is what I called - a menagerie. The regime brutally and most openly says - either tell how much you cost or, to excuse the expression, you're screwed. They don't hide it, and it's devastating to me when people agree to sell themselves. And I'm sure that people are reluctant to do that and they just need to be encouraged to say - no. Because if enough people were emboldened to say no, they cannot organize to punish them by the hundreds.

You are now in two campaigns in one, you promote the awakening of civic awareness and changes in society, and yet you also have Keepers of the formula. I have a feeling that the film was received beyond your expectations...

The message at the end of the film, which we can call Christian and human, merged in my head with what the fourteen of us started. It's just a chain reaction because the movie Keepers of the formula restores faith in people, as we do with what we are trying to do.

Are you surprised by the audience's visit??

I am. Before this film I made a film Thomas, which set a viewership record. Then I consciously entered a completely different genre. I immediately told the collaborators, even the people I called to be my partners in this business - don't expect a big audience here, this is a film that will try to communicate with the world, will have its own festival career and will try to conquer another dimension. And practice has somehow shown so far that both do not go together. Keepers of the formula for now, although it may be too early to tell, they threaten to disrupt that matrix and gain more serious viewership. I would consider that my greatest achievement.

You made a film in two languages ​​and with foreign actors. How much more difficult was it for you than in previous projects??

This movie was harder for me than the previous ones on many levels - what you said is just one segment. The hardest thing for me was that Keepers of the formula they have several layers of story, all of which should have been poured into one funnel in the end. Another difficult task was to make a story that is not pleasant to watch - people who are fighting for their lives, in the hospital, undergoing various medical treatments - in such a way that the audience experiences it emotionally and to bring out the best in the audience with the message of the film. From what is happening now in cinema halls, I can see that we have succeeded in this.

The end of the film gives hope. Be this group of fourteen, of which you are the initiator?

I would like this group of ours to start a chain reaction of life and faith in people. Well, it happened that those two things went in parallel. With the same emotion, love, enthusiasm and faith with which I did the film, I am doing this too.

Therefore, do you believe in that positive chain reaction?

Not only do I believe, but I can say that on this day I am convinced that it will happen.