Apologies for broadening the focus. March 15 is immensely important. On that day, Serbia could really become a different country. And let me be very clear: a different country with a hope of becoming a decent political community.
This does not mean that something big will happen or change on that particular day. This means that on Saturday we could get a final confirmation that there is potential for changes for the better in Serbia and that collective strength is able to cope with the current regime. It has nothing to do with violence, but it is certainly a display of political muscle.
But there is something equally important that could be done before Saturday. And if we do that, it will also be a victory as big as hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of Belgrade. So big that March 15 itself might become at least a little less important. Which would not be bad – to reduce the pressure on the people of Serbia in connection with that day. I am referring, of course, to the teachers and, more specifically, raising money for them.
At this moment, I do not see a stronger political gesture, a stronger show of solidarity (and we need solidarity) or a more effective anti-regime move than raising money for workers in schools across Serbia.
For now, we have at least two official foundations collecting money for teachers: IT Serbia Foundation (http://mrezasolidarnosti.org) and Alek Kavčić Foundation (https://fondacijaalekkavcic.org/doniraj). In addition, you can go to some schools and directly give money for the teachers (for example, the 5th Belgrade General High School). In addition to all that, you can also call a friend who is a teacher and offer to share everything your family has with his/her family, as long as there is a need to correct the state’s brutal behavior towards teachers.
I would like to call all employees in the ministry, starting from their boss Vučić and the minister, “pigs” (in terms of moral taint), but that won’t do us any good. We need to do everything possible for the teachers now, and afterwards we will talk about the “pigs” (pigs in quotation marks because real pigs never harmed anyone). For example, we will talk about the fact that, although 90 percent of the teachers from the schools where class has been suspended didn’t get the first part of their salaries, a few of them did.
The minister and her boss Vučić said that there will be no pay for non-work or suspension, which is against the law, but which at least still seems like some kind of – albeit perverted – principle. But then, some of those who did not work still got their salaries. Instead of according to the law, salaries were paid according to a list. And the lists were made by school principals, who were paid the first part of their salaries in full.
So, in a suspended school, where no one works, with no children in the classrooms, some teachers still got paid, along with the principal. How, if they didn’t work? Simple, the principle says who wanted to work and who didn’t, then makes a list, and salaries are paid based on that list. We have already labeled those principals as Vučić’s voluntary executioners. Now we know how much it costs to turn somebody into an executioner – a miserable teacher’s salary.
It’s not that we didn’t expect it, but again – if you say that one will only get paid if one works, and two teachers do not work, how does one get paid and the other doesn’t? Simple: the mere statement that you want to work counts as work here. Except it’s not about work at all, because the need to say – I’d like to work, but I can’t because there are no children in school and all my colleagues are not working, is not a statement of the desire to work, but actually an oath of loyalty to Vučić. And that oath alone is enough to get a salary. And the principals are in charge of the lists of loyalist “pedagogues”.
When the monkeys of the current regime threaten to privatize everything, they are simply lying. They have already privatized everything and behave as if it is all theirs. Including the schools. You will get paid if you are faithful and obedient, they say. Now let’s imagine those pedagogues who agree to it: how much solidarity do they have for their colleagues and what kind of message are they sending to their students?
In Serbia, do you get paid for your work, or for betrayal and collaboration with the criminal regime – what do they say to that? Yes, it is a rhetorical question with an obvious answer; but the better question is why we allow such people to work in schools?
This regime is buying itself henchmen with our money. There are only two ways to stop it. One is to stop paying taxes, utilities, electricity – everything that goes into the state budget. This is possible but difficult to achieve, just like a general strike, and for similar reasons. Another way is to support the teachers ourselves.
It simply means creating a parallel state. One that cares for the well-being of its citizens and stands in contradiction to the corrupt, criminal state we have today.
Having a state costs money, and now we know exactly how much – that amount is equal to the teachers’ stolen salaries. If we raise money and protect teachers and, at the same time, lay the groundwork for a different, better school system than we currently have, we will do well in more ways than one. Without entering into a direct violent conflict with the current regime, we will create a space of freedom and independence from the criminal state in the very heart of the political community.
We will further encourage everyone else to show disobedience to the corrupt government, and take away the government’s leverage for blackmailing the people of Serbia. And all this for the price of a few teachers’ salaries.
Judging by the first reactions, many collective actors (political parties, faculties…) as well as individuals (from people abroad, to athletes, to parents and other residents of Serbia) have already lined up to donate money. Which means that we are on the threshold of victory even before March 15. And that the adults have finally decided to show that they, too, are able to take their destiny into their own hands, instead of relying on their children to do it for them.
Translated by Marijana Simić
Peščanik.net, 16.03.2025.
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