S5E14. Meet the voices of Serbian students
Three months into the protests against Vučić's regime, their demands for the rule of law and democracy remain unmet. Yet, they refuse to back down and can count on widespread public support
Dear reader,
welcome back to BarBalkans, the newsletter with blurred boundaries.
In Serbia, a new political generation has risen. In defiance of the corruption within President Aleksandar Vučić’s regime, tens of thousands of students have been relentlessly protesting for months.
Rule of law, democracy, equality before the law, transparency, and criminal accountability—these are the principles Serbian students have been fighting for since the tragic collapse of Novi Sad’s railway station canopy on 1 November 2024.
Now, it is time to listen to their voices, demands, aspirations, and disappointments. Because this is the only thing that matters.
In Belgrade, BarBalkans sat down for an in-depth conversation with three student representatives from the Faculty of IT and Engineering at the University of Belgrade: Lenka Vučković, 19, Electrical Engineering student; Milica Ivković, 22, Electronics student; and Anja Despotović, 25, Biomedical Engineering student.
Let them explain why students have gained widespread public support—and why their fight is only just beginning.
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An unexpected necessity in life
After almost three months of protests, what are your demands to the authorities?
Lenka: “We are definitely sticking to our initial demands. We think that our strength lies in the fact that they are universal and anybody can get the heart of them. We are talking about basic rights, that everybody can and should stand by.
However, after three months, we are still here because our demands have not been met yet. We are not stepping back, this is our firm stance, but we will deploy every mean that can let us to add more pressure and continue this fight.”
Are you scared of a new wave of violence by the regime?
Milica: “We hope that nobody will use violence against us, because this is what we are fighting against, and this is not the way are demanding our requests to be met.”
Anja: “We don’t expect our requests to be met quickly, the ultimate goal behind our demands is criminal accountability. This is why we need external support, formal and informal basis to ensure the normal functioning of institutions. Until then, we will continue doing what we do the best: mobilising society, spreading solidarity and social movement. We will need both external support, and support from Serbian society.”
Lenka: “With the diaspora, we have already had amazing support from outside the country. Most people that have left did not want to and still love this country, as we all do. This fight would not be possible if we did not love Serbia. Serbian people around the world have led protests in the main cities of Europe and the U.S. It is really heartwarming to see that people that have left mainly for the implication of the system of power have trust in us.”
Milica: “I can say that friends that study outside Serbia are all planning to come back one day. They are protesting to support us all over the world also for this reason.”
What outcome do you expect from this wave of protests? Are elections an option?
Anja: “Elections at this stage are not an option, because it is clear that the electoral system is completely rigged, and elections are stolen through different methods of fraud. Also the Republic Electoral Commission is not impartial and controlled by the government.
For now, we don’t have the capacity or the means to deal with it, while the opposition parties should focus on addressing this issue, to ensure that the conditions for free and fair elections will be met. Only after that we can talk about new elections. I think that for this we also need the support from the EU, it would significant for our cause.”
Lenka: “This is not our field, we are students. None of us wanted to think so much about politics, but it has become a necessity in our life. It is important to stress that the students movement has managed to spark the protests and move the country right now, but we cannot be the only part of the solution. We need help from our people and anybody who is willing to change the situation.”
Milica: “What we are witnessing in our universities is the purest form of democracy, a sort of ‘think globally, act locally’. We don’t trust opposition parties now, we will see what they will do.”
Read also: S4E15. The feminist fight of Serbian Gen Z
The “extreme” disappointment
Your demands for transparency and respect for the rule of law broadly align with the EU accession criteria for Serbia. Are you disappointed by the lack of clear support from Brussels?
Milica: “All we are fighting for is basically human rights, and personally I don’t see any reason why anybody should not support us.”
Anja: “We are extremely disappointed by the lack of support that comes from Brussels, from EU officials and the Member States. The interest of European media has been minimum from the beginning. We feel that we have left somehow alone in this fight for justice, as it is not considered important and significant from the EU.
We are unsure why this is the case, given that Serbia is a candidate country for EU membership and geographically Serbia is in Europe. Moreover, the goals we aim to achieve through our demands are European values.”
Lenka: “We see that they place their interests above their core values, especially what this concerns our soil, our quality of life, our democracy, and our people.”
Do you see this future within the European Union or outside of it?
Lenka: “This is a question to be addressed not by students, but by institutions that listen to people’s voices and wishes. We don’t have a stance on international affairs, this is something that has to be decided by voting.”
Milica: “First, we have to deal with the situation in our own country and then look to other international questions.”
Anja: “Our values are close to the European ones, for us Europe is the logical place to be, but we can’t decide about it as students. At the same time, we are grateful for the support from the European Parliament, we need more of that. This a step in the right direction.”
Read also: S4E9. This is a tipping point
Pit stop. Sittin’ at the BarBalkans
We have reached the end of this piece of the road.
In Novi Sad, BarBalkans has finally found its home: la barba bar. This was one of the original draft ideas for the name of this newsletter, when the project first began in 2020!
Inside, behind the counter, Pedja greets us with a warm smile and extends an invitation to visit our shared home soon:
“I will be waiting for you here at ‘la barba bar’ for a rakija, all together!”
Let’s continue BarBalkans journey. We will meet again in two weeks, for the 15th stop of this season.
A big hug and have a good journey!
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