Foto: Mihailo Krstić
Novi Sad, photo: Mihailo Krstić

Oh, what a glorious day we had yesterday. Vučić’s regime on the run – that’s what we saw. Of course, an impatient reader may say: it’s not enough. Yes, it’s not much. But, for the first time, we saw the regime arresting its own. Even if it was just for show, the image is there. And everyone saw it. It is irrelevant what Vučić says. Look at the pictures. He cried bitterly last night and complained about the pressure he was under to order these arrests. Because he wouldn’t otherwise. Weakness, Vučić’s demonstration of impotence – that’s what we saw yesterday.

For the first time, we saw this regime arresting its own minister, because they were forced to do so; we also saw the government withdrawing the amendment to the law on higher education due to massive public pressure; and then we also saw Vučić’s tears. And of course, all possible caveats are in place when looking at these actions. They should not be trusted one bit. They could change their minds overnight, just like they already did with regards to lithium. But that doesn’t change the fact that, yesterday, we saw the regime retreat in fear.

Now we need to think carefully about what it was that scared them, remember it and apply it again when the need arises. And it will. New battles await us. In my opinion, the most important one will be against lithium mining. But this current one is not over either. We demanded that some of them be arrested, and finally they were arrested. But we also demand that others be released from custody. We all know that they arrested children at protests to demonstrate force and scare the protesters. And then they also arrested politicians, among them Goran Ješić.

Ješić said it well – I’m going to jail so that the children are not alone in there. When he didn’t manage to free the boy on the street, the least he can do is keep him company in prison. Since the protesters were obviously not scared, since the parliamentary opposition also demonstrated courage and willingness to make sacrifices, the regime finally got scared. We need to use that fear now and force them to release the children from detention, and with them Ješić, Miša Bačulov and all other protesters who were arrested without cause.

The university was the only one that got away cheaply. As soon as they threatened to strike, the changes to the law were withdrawn. So they remain indebted to other protesters. And here’s how they could repay them: go on the strike they threatened anyway, but this time with the demand that the children be released from custody. While the university ponders, let’s recap what we’ve had so far.

The regime has opened too many fronts against the people of Serbia. The people of Serbia responded by putting up a fight. They won’t allow the bridge on the Sava to be demolished. They won’t let the lives lost under the canopy be forgotten. They won’t allow the amendment of the law on higher education to pass. And on and on and on. Just like before, the regime tried to cover up the old affairs by opening new ones. The people of Serbia, however, did not allow them to get away with it. And then the regime showed that it is weak and that, if faced with too many battles, it will lose.

It remains to be seen if we can learn something from this. But we should remember yesterday. This regime is weak and when they feel that their problems are too many to solve with brute force, they withdraw. There are too many battles, determined people on the street, the opposition ready to take a beating and fight back. That’s the image from yesterday. But not only that. Yesterday, students of three Belgrade University faculties gathered to mourn the fifteenth victim of the demolition of the canopy in Novi Sad.

That child was a student at the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade. Her fellow students started collecting money for her and her parents while the doctors in Novi Sad were still fighting for her life. They finished collecting money yesterday. Only now, it has become money for the funeral. That is another thing we saw yesterday: children collecting money so that parents can bury their child. No one, absolutely no one, should grow up in such a country. No society should raise and educate its children like that.

Today, when we stand for fifteen minutes for the fifteen victims from the Novi Sad railway station, let that also be a part of the image from yesterday.

Translated by Marijana Simić

Peščanik.net, 25.11.2024.


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Dejan Ilić

Dejan Ilić (1965, Zemun) bio je urednik izdavačke kuće FABRIKA KNJIGA i časopisa REČ. Diplomirao je na Filološkom fakultetu u Beogradu, magistrirao na Programu za studije roda i kulture na Centralnoevropskom univerzitetu u Budimpešti i doktorirao na istom univerzitetu na Odseku za rodne studije. Objavio je zbirke eseja „Osam i po ogleda iz razumevanja“ (2008), „Tranziciona pravda i tumačenje književnosti: srpski primer“ (2011), „Škola za 'petparačke' priče: predlozi za drugačiji kurikulum“ (2016), „Dva lica patriotizma“ (2016), „Fantastična škola. Novi prilozi za drugačiji kurikulum: SF, horror, fantastika“ (2020) i „Srbija u kontinuitetu“ (2020).

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Author: Dejan Ilić

Dejan Ilić (1965, Zemun) bio je urednik izdavačke kuće FABRIKA KNJIGA i časopisa REČ. Diplomirao je na Filološkom fakultetu u Beogradu, magistrirao na Programu za studije roda i kulture na Centralnoevropskom univerzitetu u Budimpešti i doktorirao na istom univerzitetu na Odseku za rodne studije. Objavio je zbirke eseja „Osam i po ogleda iz razumevanja“ (2008), „Tranziciona pravda i tumačenje književnosti: srpski primer“ (2011), „Škola za 'petparačke' priče: predlozi za drugačiji kurikulum“ (2016), „Dva lica patriotizma“ (2016), „Fantastična škola. Novi prilozi za drugačiji kurikulum: SF, horror, fantastika“ (2020) i „Srbija u kontinuitetu“ (2020).