Serbia: Another huge anti-government protest as determined movement searches for way forward

July 8, 2025 Mira Glavardanov Serbia
Road barricade in Belgrade (photo: Mašina)

The situation in Serbia is still critical after another huge anti-government protest on 28 June. Around 300,000 people again gathered in Belgrade from all over the country to show solidarity with the student movement. The movement has now entered its ninth month and there is almost a feeling of a stalemate. Neither side is giving in, but also unable to come out victorious at the moment.

 Vučić’s regime employs increased brutal and repressive powers, but crucially for its survival, still enjoys tacit support from the EU. The student movement has the support from majority of the population, it knows what is at stake and understands it has to go forward. Vučić has bragged many times that he will end the movement, but it remains his wishful thinking. Even though it seems that the movement is running out of ideas it is not running out of determination.

Students have done everything they can, walked through towns and villages across the country, mobilising support. They have blockaded universities, schools, streets. All that is a great irritation and a worry for Vučić but none of it can make his regime fall. Students have from the start called on the wider population to join them in protests and blockades, and that has happened en masse. They have called on workers to join them in strikes but unfortunately this has not yet happened. This is the main reason Vučić is still standing.

On the night of 28 June protest, the students gave a ‘green light’ to the mass of people there to take over the movement and transform it into civil disobedience. Blockades and workplace walk-outs were called for the next few days. Blockades of roads became barricades, using rubbish bins to stop traffic, and sometimes emptying them at the doors of the ruling party offices. Again, crucially, workplace walk-outs didn’t materialise. Union leaders understandably complained about a very short notice, which obviously was the case due to student inexperience. However, unions have had time in the last eight months to organise walk-outs, but apart from education unions (which are affected directly by university blockades), they haven’t.

 This is not just the fault of union leaders; many workers are very scared of losing their jobs, knowing this would be threatened immediately if they walked out. The teachers on strike haven’t received salaries for months; they have been surviving thanks to donations from ordinary people at home and diaspora. Vučić’s reprisals are ruthless as he holds all institutions firmly in his hands.

 Socialists know that any capitalist state’s institutions aren’t genuinely independent, however, there are levels of independence that they can exercise, according to the level of democratic rights achieved by struggle. This level is generally lower in neocolonial countries. In Vučić’s regime, state institutions have no independence whatsoever. In over a decade of his autocratic rule he has managed to put jurisdiction, police, even the education and health systems under his thumb. The judges, tops of the police, school headmasters etc have in time all been replaced with his loyalists.
Police brutality
Police brutality against protesters has been increased on and after 28 June. On that night and the day after, the police were literally chasing and arresting young people in the streets. The number of arrests has dramatically shot up; people are normally held for a few days (sometimes beaten up in prison) and then released. Protesters are begging the police to stop defending the regime, stop beating their own people and join them instead. Even a group of retired and ex-police officers have appealed to former colleagues to do it.

 The student assemblies have recently decided to add a demand for a general election. For a long time they had opposed this idea that was pushed by the official opposition, for the reason they, and most of the population, have little trust in the opposition. Nobody has any trust in the electoral system either, also controlled by Vučić. But the students have now sensed his vulnerability and made this step. The truth is also they have exhausted other avenues.

 With their earlier call for people to organise in their own local assemblies, the students showed a great insight into a possibility for ordinary working people to make their own decisions about the society they live in. For many months now the local assemblies have been a big feature, that offer a view into different ways a society could be run, by working people for the benefit of working people, without giving away that power to capitalist parties and the capitalist parliament, that work for the interest of big capital.

This is why the demand for a general election almost feels like a step back. The capitalist opposition parties offer no way forward for the student movement and others struggling for change. Currently there would be no socialist or workers’ party on the ballot. The local peoples’ assemblies now demand a general election too, and also the re-establishment of neighbourhood community organisations, as a form of local democracy that existed when Serbia was part of Yugoslavia, and later suppressed, until Vučić completely suffocated them.
Students have suggested they would make a slate of opposition or unaligned candidates which they would endorse in elections, rather than stand themselves. But it is a mistake for the organisations of struggle to call for an election only to step aside. The student and peoples’ assemblies should discuss building their own political organisations, developing a political programme that can help mobilise broader sections of the working class into struggle.

Vučić would likely try to rig and ‘win’ an election, which he could use to try to give himself legitimacy. It is notable though that in the past Vučić has been extremely keen on elections, calling them every year, but this time he has rejected the demand. This is the sign that he knows he would struggle to win or rig the election, such is the level of opposition to his regime.

The EU more recently made some shy noises about the “undemocratic methods” of Vučić but this is only in order to save some credibility. This is deceiving no one in Serbia, especially after the EU, at the beginning of June, included the proposed lithium mine in Serbia on their list of “projects of critical interest”. The opposition to the mine, in the most fertile and water rich area of Serbia, is massive. The EU knows this but cares little. It sees Vučić as its vehicle to supress the opposition to the mine, and Vučić is more than ready to oblige, so they keep their eyes shut. The imperialist powers only oppose dictators that don’t act in their interests.

How long and how far can the student movement, the new civil disobedience and daily protests and blockades in many towns go, without the involvement of the working class, as the only force that has the power to solve this situation? It is certainly the case that protests are making Vučić very nervous, that they have seriously cracked his regime and made the lithium mine delayed indefinitely. But that’s not enough. Instead of the road blockades, should the attention be turned to places of strategic interest for the regime? The most important question is, will the organised workers eventually join in? They did 25 years ago to finally topple Slobodan Milošević.
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Situacija u Srbiji je i dalje kritična nakon još jednog ogromnog antirežimskog protesta 28. juna. Oko 300.000 ljudi ponovo se okupilo u Beogradu iz cele zemlje kako bi pokazali solidarnost sa studentskim pokretom. Pokret je sada ušao u svoj deveti mesec i gotovo se sada čini kao zamrznuti konflikt. Nijedna strana ne popušta, ali nije ni trenutno u stanju da izađe kao pobednik.


Vučićev režim koristi povećane brutalne i represivne mere, ali što je ključno za njegov opstanak, i dalje uživa prećutnu podršku Evropske Unije. Studentski pokret ima podršku većine stanovništva, razume važnost poduhvata i nužnost da istraje do kraja. Vučić se mnogo puta hvalio da će okončati pokret, ali to ostaje njegova pusta želja. Iako se čini da pokretu ponestaju ideje, ne ponestaje mu odlučnosti.

Studenti su učinili sve što su mogli, marširali su gradovima i selima širom zemlje, mobilišući podršku. Blokirali su univerzitete, škole, ulice. Sve to stvara veliku iritaciju i brigu za Vučića, ali ništa od toga ne može dovesti do pada njegovog režima. Studenti su od početka pozivali šire stanovništvo da im se pridruži u protestima i blokadama, i to se dešavalo masovno. Pozivali su radnike da im se pridruže u štrajkovima, ali nažalost to se još nije dogodilo. To je glavni razlog zašto je Vučić još uvek na vlasti.


U noći protesta 28. juna, studenti su dali „zeleno svetlo“ okupljenoj masi ljudi da preuzmu pokret i transformišu ga u građansku neposlušnost. Blokade i štrajkovi na radnim mestima bili su najavljeni narednih nekoliko dana. Blokade puteva postale su barikade, koristeći kante za smeće za zaustavljanje saobraćaja, a u nekim slučajevima su ih i praznili ispred kancelarija vladajuće stranke. Ali opet štrajkovi na radnim mestima nisu usledili. Sindikalne vođe su se razumljivo žalile na veoma kratak rok koji im je dat, što je očigledno bila posledica neiskustva studenata. Međutim, sindikati su imali vremena u poslednjih osam meseci da organizuju štrajkove, ali osim sindikata prosvete (koji su direktno pogođeni blokadama univerziteta i škola), oni to do sada nisu uspeli.


Ovo nije samo krivica sindikalnih vođa; mnogi radnici se veoma plaše gubitka posla, znajući da bi se to desilo čim bi obustavili rad. Nastavnici u štrajku nisu primili plate mesecima; preživljavaju zahvaljujući donacijama običnih ljudi u zemlji i dijaspori. Vučićeve odmazde su nemilosrdne, jer čvrsto drži sve institucije u svojim rukama.


Socijalisti znaju da institucije u bilo kojoj kapitalističkoj državi nisu istinski nezavisne, međutim, postoje nivoi nezavisnosti koje institucije mogu da ostvare, u skladu sa nivoom demokratskih prava za koje se radni narod izborio. Ovaj nivo je generalno niži u neokolonijalnim zemljama. U Vučićevom režimu, državne institucije nemaju nikakvu nezavisnost. Za više od decenije svoje autokratske vladavine uspeo je da stavi pod svoju kontrolu sudstvo, policiju, čak i obrazovni i zdravstveni sistem. Sudije, čelnici policije, direktori škola itd. su vremenom svi zamenjeni njegovim lojalistima.


Policijska brutalnost prema demonstrantima povećana je 28. juna i nakon protesta. Te noći i dan kasnije, policija je bukvalno jurila i hapsila mlade ljude na ulicama. Broj hapšenja je dramatično porastao; ljudi se obično drže nekoliko dana (ponekad budu pretučeni u zatvoru), a zatim su pušteni. Demonstranti mole policiju da prestane da brani režim, da prestane da tuče sopstveni narod i da im se pridruži. Čak je i grupa penzionisanih i bivših policajaca apelovala na bivše kolege da to urade.


Studentski plenumi su nedavno odlučili da dodaju zahtev za opšte izbore. Dugo su se protivili ovoj ideji koju je promovisala zvanična opozicija, iz razloga što oni, kao i većina stanovništva, imaju malo poverenja u opoziciju. Niko nema poverenja ni u izborni sistem, koji takođe kontroliše Vučić. Ali studenti su sada osetili njegovu ranjivost i napravili ovaj korak. Istina je takođe i da su iscrpeli druge mogućnosti.


Svojim ranijim pozivom stanovništvu da se organizuje u zborove, studenti su pokazali odličan uvid u mogućnost da obični radni ljudi sami donose odluke o društvu u kojem žive. Već mesecima zborovi se okupljaju u mnogim gradovima, u isto vreme nudeći uvid na drugačije načine na koje bi društvo moglo biti vođeno, od strane običnih radnih ljudi, u korist radnih ljudi, umesto da se ta moć preda kapitalističkim strankama i kapitalističkom parlamentu, koji svi rade u interesu velikog kapitala.


Zato zahtev za opštim izborima skoro deluje kao korak unazad. Kapitalističke opozicione stranke ne nude rešenja za studentski pokret i druge snage koje se bore za promene. Trenutno na glasačkom listiću ne bi bilo socijalističke ili radničke opcije. Zborovi sada takođe zahtevaju opšte izbore, ali i ponovno uspostavljanje mesnih zajednica, kao oblika lokalne samouprave koje se postojale u bivšoj Jugoslaviji, dok su kasnije bile potisnute, sve dok ih Vučić nije potpuno ugušio.


Studenti su predložili sastavljanje liste opozicionih ili ne-partijskih kandidata koje bi podržali na izborima, umesto sastavljanja svoje liste. To je šteta, jer pogrešno je da glavne borbene snage pozovu na izbore, a onda se sami povuku. Studentski plenumi i zborovi bi trebali da razmotre izgradnju sopstvenih političkih organizacija, kao i razvoj političkog programa koji bi mogao da doprinese u mobilizaciji širih delova radničke klase u borbu.


Vučić bi opet pokušao da ukrade izbore, a takvu „pobedu“ bi mogao da iskoristi da sebi da novi legitimitet. Međutim, primetno je da Vučić, koji je u prošlosti uvek bio izuzetno voljan za izbore, raspisujući ih svake godine, ovog puta je odbio zahtev. To je znak da i on zna da bi ovog puta imao mnogo muke da pobedi ili čak ukrade izbore, s obzirom na nivo protivljenja njegovom režimu.


EU je nedavno stidljivo izustila osude „nedemokratskih metoda“ Vučića, ali to je samo pokušaj očuvanja svog kredibiliteta. Ovo nikoga u Srbiji neće prevariti, posebno nakon što je EU, početkom juna, uvrstila plan za rudnik litijuma u Srbiji na svoju listu „projekata od strateškog interesa“. Otpor rudniku u Srbiji, u najplodnijem i vodom najbogatijem delu zemlje, je ogroman. EU to zna, ali je nije briga. Vučića vidi kao svoje sredstvo za suzbijanje otpora rudniku, a Vučić je više nego spreman da se povinuje, pa tako drže oči čvrsto zatvorene. Imperijalističke sile se suprotstavljaju samo diktatorima koji ne deluju u njihovom interesu.


Koliko dugo i koliko daleko može da ide studentski pokret, nova građanska neposlušnost i svakodnevni protesti i blokade u mnogim gradovima, bez učešća radničke klase, kao jedine sile koja ima moć da reši ovu situaciju? Svakako je slučaj da protesti čine Vučića veoma nervoznim, da su ozbiljno narušili njegov režim i doveli do toga da rudnik litijuma bude odložen na neodređeno vreme. Ali to nije dovoljno. Umesto blokada puteva, da li bi pažnja trebalo da se usmeri na mesta od strateškog interesa za režim? Najvažnije pitanje je, hoće li se organizovani radnici na kraju pridružiti? Pridružili su se pre 25 godina, što je konačno dovelo do rušenja Slobodana Miloševića.