Saša Leković: Students make decisions about their actions in plenums, without proclaimed leaders, and avoid sending open political messages or directly demanding a change of government in the country. On the surface, they are only asking logical questions and demanding sensible answers.

Branko Čečen: “The uniqueness of the current protests is such that it will be studied for decades, but the most important characteristics that have been unquestionable from the beginning are: the non-political character of the original demands towards the authorities, the collective leadership of students from Serbian universities (instead of almost destroyed opposition parties), the enormous support they enjoy among citizens devoid of illusions about parties but eager for change, and now the quite evident spread of protests outside cities as well. The demanded respect for the law and functioning of institutions (otherwise completely suspended) is important to the vast majority of citizens of all political beliefs, which ensures mass participation, but also unexpected unity, for which the ’culprit’ is the moral superiority, a kind of ’innocence’ of the students, which citizens no longer recognise in parties. This has brought protests in now more than 400 cities and towns in Serbia. For scale, Serbia has 29 cities and 145 towns with municipal status. This means that even in villages, previously completely intimidated and blackmailed people are daring to protest. All this was simply unimaginable just four months ago.”

In addition to the fact that the protests have united students and their professors and members of various professions in Serbia, people from [the mostly Muslim area of] Sandžak say that in these protests they feel for the first time that they belong to Serbia. Residents of small, conservative places that were the biggest strongholds of the SNS have also rebelled.

“The most important reason for the spread of protests is – the spread of repression, brutal manipulation of people and their destinies, as well as corruption and primitivism. There is no family in Serbia that doesn’t suffer under this regime, which applies even to citizens who support it. This protest spread to small places also because of the students. Their relatives, friends, acquaintances are everywhere, not just in cities. It started in Novi Sad and Belgrade, spread to other cities in Serbia, and then to smaller and smaller places, because humiliated, disenfranchised people saw that they were not alone and that they had a chance to change something. As for Sandžak, that is precisely incredible. Until the protests, in Serbia it was quite justifiably considered that young people were only interested in the shortest route to the state border. The fate of Serbia, and especially politics, were nowhere on their mental map. That was, according to all research, true, but also – a natural reaction to the human quagmire around them. They lived on Instagram, where they can choose their environment. And on Instagram, it’s totally OK to be gay, Jewish, Black or a cat. At the end of the day, in a good number of cases, you don’t even know who you’re communicating with, so when you discover that someone with whom you share beliefs and humanity belongs to a group denounced in your environment, you quickly abandon those stupidities, and even allow yourself to be what you are, not what others expect of you. So now, shoulder to shoulder, are conservatives and liberals, leftists and rightists, royalists and republicans of all colours, football fans of Red Star Belgrade and Partizan, Serbian citizens of various nationalities... the youth have brought together all Serbian opposites and put them in a situation to fight together for the same goals. Politically foggy, of course, but in terms of values – very clear.”

How do you explain the fact that students as initiators and leaders of the protests manage to lead the entire “revolution” so skilfully, avoiding government provocations as well as possible outbursts from their own supporters, despite the anger that has accumulated?

“Let’s not exaggerate. Students don’t have some great capacity for violence, nor inclinations of that kind. It was never likely that they would respond to attacks with cars and clubs with the same measure. Their best response was also the one that is inherent to them – dignified, well-mannered and principled, in this case principally non-violent. It was in their interest and in the interest of their rebellion that there be no violence. That rebellion is also cheeky, of course, but founded in perfectly unquestionable values that no normal person can dispute, in values in whose defence it is quite acceptable to be even impudent. It’s completely acceptable to tell a thug that he’s a thug. Or ’incompetent’, as the case may be. In essence, the success of the student strategy rests on the need of citizens to clearly distinguish themselves from the violent regime, but above all the population’suncompromising support and affection for students, as the first entity that Serbia has trusted [since the movement that overthrew Slobodan Milošević on 2000.] This keeps the protests non-violent.”

Students decide in plenums, refusing to establish elected leadership, and they also avoid sending direct political messages (although their activity is already a political message). It looks like a brilliant tactic, but also quite unexpected.

“Plenum is just a name for a way of making decisions. But it is radically new. Previously, those protests were organised as representative democracy. But it seems that this generation is simply different in the sense that no one is overly interested in being a political leader, certainly primarily because in Vučić’s Serbia that guarantees a path to the jaws of repression, demonisation and, generally, draws one into a disgusting quagmire. So, tactically speaking, it’s no wonder there are no prominent leaders. Students who have stood out with appearances in the media were quickly pulled back into plenums. The absence of political messages, however, has just ended. Students have called on citizens to organise themselves into ’Assemblies’, which exist even in the constitution and law as a form of self-organisation of citizens. Thus, a concept that was just copied from earlier constitutions, never used and which never occurred to anyone as something that could actually be done, got a chance to be tried. In the same announcement, a transitional government was mentioned as one of the possibilities that parties should deal with, not them. In other words, there’s politics. And it was time, even if it’s not too late. Because, that apolitical nature of students, combined with an immature and lost opposition, has raised half of Serbia to its feet, but also led to all this lasting four months and citizens becoming very, very exhausted.”

What if the planned protest in Belgrade on 15^th March doesn’t bring at least an agreement on the path to ending the political crisis in Serbia?

“That is certainly possible, but the student plenums have just announced that this will not be the end of the fight. Of course, they hope that a huge protest without violence will succeed. We are still far from a clear idea about the way to end the crisis, but I wouldn’t panic even if the protests weaken. Whoever is in power, Vučić or some alternative, from now on will have to deal with a generation that has found its voice, stance and sense of responsibility for its country. Behind them come at least equally feisty high-schoolers, and alongside all of them are parents, relatives, friends and all decent people in Serbia.”

Branko Čečen was interviewed by Saša Leković