In 1997, I moved to Belgrade, Serbia to assist democratic efforts in establishing rule of law as they transitioned from Communism. Just months before I arrived, tens of thousands of Serbian citizens demonstrated in Belgrade and other cities to protest autocratic President Slobodan Milosevic's takeover of the opposition's local election victories. These intrepid citizens gathered every day for three months in the depths of winter until Milosevic finally backed down.
That wasn't the end of his authoritarian rule, but within three years and more demonstrations he was toppled and sent to The Hague Tribunal to stand trial for war crimes committed during the wars in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Kosovo. He died in detention before the trial was completed.
Serbs enjoyed a short time of a pro-democracy government before the new president, Zoran Djindjic, was assassinated by state security forces and organized crime. For the last 13 years, Serbia has been governed by the increasingly autocratic Aleksandar Vucic. Increasingly autocratic and increasingly corrupt.
On November 1, 2024, the Novi Sad train station's new cement canopy collapsed and killed 15 people due to corruption and poor construction. Bribery and nepotism are common among Serbia's ruling class. At first, Vucic denied there had been any reconstruction. Citizens were not that stupid. They didn't buy it. Though demonstrations had been held throughout Vucic's tenure, this was too much. Students took to the streets, supported by 61% of Serbia's citizens, many who joined the protests, now ongoing for over 100 days. It led to the resignations of the prime minister and the mayor of Novi Sad. The latest demonstrations were the largest in Serbia's history with well-over 100,000 people.
There are lessons here for those of us in the United States now facing our own autocrat who is implementing a coup.
- The protests are student-led and embody direct democracy. They are nonpolitical. While civic and nongovernmental organizations are participating, they do not lead or tell the students what to do. Students gather in their faculties, discuss possible actions and implement what they agree on. This is direct democracy. And the youth are nothing if not creative. They don't just march.
- In Ivanjica, when high school students and their teachers organized a protest and stayed away from class, the principal brought lunch for anyone who remained in school. Those students fed the lunches to stray dogs.
- Recently, students aided by bikers and farmers, called a 24 hour blockage of the Autokomanda intersection in downtown Belgrade. Students played volleyball and board games and made barbeque. Early the next morning they cleaned it all up.
- Serbs love and respect their youth. When Milosevic was president, our Serbian friends in Belgrade looked to the youth for change. Today, they've again followed their lead.
- When Belgrade youth walked over 62 miles to Novi Sad to join an action blocking its three bridges, 673 taxi drivers drove them home for free. When the authorities refused to let them sleep in a government-owned structure, citizens opened their homes. To remain connected, the students chose to sleep in the open together.
- Nearly 500 police have supported the student demands.
- The Bar Association of Serbia announced a 30 day lawyers' strike.
- Lawyers called on the police and the Serbian armed forces to join the strikes.
- Actors went on strike for seven days.
- The Serbian Medical Association supports the student demands.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of groups and citizens who are actively supporting the youth. Protests have occurred throughout Serbia in 240 cities.
Students refuse to negotiate with Vucic because: 1) he does not have power to hold accountable those responsible for the roof collapse; prosecutors do, 2) they want institutional, not political change. Though some would be happy if Vucic resigned, they don't trust opposition politicians either.
Now I'm back in the United States, though I feel like I'm in Serbia under Milosevic's "soft -dictatorship." I recall what I said after a well-received speech congratulating Serbian judges and lawyers for their efforts to achieve judicial independence in the face of government persecution: "Thank you for your appreciation for the work we've done together. I do it for my country, too, because some day I may need you to help the U.S. maintain judicial independence and rule of law." I had no idea how prescient that was.
PS: Serbian citizens are not the only ones standing up for democracy and rule of law. In Slovakia, between 42,000 and 45,000 citizens took to the streets to protest their Prime Minister Robert Fico's visit to Moscow, his ending military aid to Ukraine, promise to block NATO and EU accession for Ukraine, and general pro-Russia shift.