As waves of youth-led protests swell across Europe, prompted by the cost of living, unaffordable housing and education standards, in Serbia the younger generation is taking on the apparatus of the state itself.
asserted
generation → lead → state
In tight-run parliamentary elections this Sunday, the country’s most consequential political movement in decades, Student List, is challenging former Slobodan Milošević henchman Aleksandar Vučić and his 12-year domination of Serbian politics.
asserted
movement → challenge → politics
Two years on from a singular national tragedy that galvanised public anger at state cover-ups and corruption, gen Z have channelled their energy and fury into a bold experiment in direct democracy, creating a genuinely leaderless, grassroots movement that is firing up disaffected voters across the country.
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that → galvanise → country
I spoke to Julian Borger, our senior international correspondent, who has just returned from Belgrade, about their hopes of emulating the defeat of Vučić’s ally, Viktor Orbán, in neighbouring Hungary and the potential for a democratic domino through central Europe.
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who → speak → Europe
Every Briton is being urged to stock up to nine litres of bottled water and three days’ worth of food in new government guidance designed to ensure that households can survive a weather, cyber or other serious emergency.
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households → urge → weather
Russia has carried out a massive “demonstrative” attack on Ukraine, bombarding Kyiv with ballistic missiles just hours after Vladimir Putin said he had agreed to resume trilateral negotiations.
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UK politics |
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he → carry → negotiations
Emmanuel Macron has said “illegitimate” demonstrations will be banned over the coming days as France seeks to get a grip on civil unrest after some of its worst street violence in years.
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France → say → years
Great Britain is expected to pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe this winter as its reliance on imports to ensure a steady supply is forecast to deepen.
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reliance → expect → supply
It was, one Serbian student told me, “the drop that overflowed the glass”.
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that → tell → glass
On 1 November 2024, the collapse of a concrete canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second largest city, killed 16 people.
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collapse → kill → people
The youngest was a six-year-old girl, Sara Firic, who was sitting on a bench with her grandfather and older sister.
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who → sit → grandfather
The Serbian Times reported they were still holding hands when their bodies were dug out of the rubble.
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bodies → report → rubble
In the aftermath of the disaster, student-led protests developed organically, with demonstrators blocking a nearby crossroads for the same number of minutes as lives lost.
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demonstrators → lead → lives
As details emerged of botched refurbishment work carried out in what critics described as a corrupt deal with a Chinese consortium, the anger mounted.
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anger → emerge → consortium
Ongoing protests were brutally suppressed and Vučić himself branded demonstrators western-backed “terrorists”.
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Vučić → suppress → demonstrators
Two years later, that single tragedy has sparked a mass movement for accountability and inclusive democracy to counter the creeping authoritarianism of Vučić’s Serbian Progressive party (SNS).
“There was a deep well of public discontent, and the students were inspirational in keeping the protest movement going,” says Julian.
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Julian → spark → movement
Vučić expected the protesters to dissipate – instead, the mounting pressure forced the president to resign and call a snap parliamentary election, as he endeavours to consolidate his 12 years in power in a Putin-inspired switch to become prime minister.
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he → expect → switch
In response, the student movement is fielding a list of 250 candidates of its own, mainly locally respected academics but also actors, musicians and farmers, with each candidate approved by citizens’ assembly.
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candidate → field → assembly
Some polling suggests that Student List is edging ahead; others that the SNS is consolidating support.
uncertain
SNS → suggest → support
Julian tells me he left Belgrade with the sense that anything could happen on Sunday.
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anything → tell → Sunday
How did a student network put together an election campaign?
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network → put → campaign
The Serbian student I spoke to is buzzing ahead of Sunday’s vote: “We’re really excited,” he tells me over the phone from the Serbian capital.
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he → speak → capital
“We hope we win.”
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we → hope → ?
He is studying for a masters in dramatic arts at the University of Belgrade, and asks not to be named in accordance with the leader-less structure of his movement.
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He → study → movement
He talks me through the “big collective effort”, including collecting canvas data door to door, and the “A student in every village” programme targeting Vučić’s base of rural voters, all coordinated by democratic citizens’ assembly.
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all → talk → assembly
The thinking is that a higher turnout of disaffected voters will favour Student List.
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turnout → favour → List
Julian encapsulates the Student List movement as “a bold democratic experiment”, and that is how my student describes it: “The essence of our movement is direct democracy.
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essence → encapsulate → movement
This collective effort is about making people feel part of the decision-making, not just spectators.”
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people → make → making
When Julian joined Student List volunteers canvassing in the housing estates of Krnjača, a Belgrade suburb, they were met with overwhelmingly positive reactions – “the response was ‘bring it on’” – though he caveats that opinion in outlying suburbs varies from those of the urban intelligentsia and others in more rural settings.
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opinion → join → settings
“People were saying to the volunteers, ‘Take my contact and tell me anything I can do on election day.’
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I → say → day
The demands of the student movement are focused on governance, Julian tells me, and their slogan, “Serbia or mafia?”, highlights repeated allegations of links between the SNS and organised crime, something the government denies.
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government → focus → SNS
“Student List wants a rules-based order that conforms with the constitution on paper, not the system of classic crony capitalism that Vučić has established, where everything depends on your link to the SNS.”
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everything → want → SNS
How has the Vučić regime fought back?
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regime → fight → ?
Julian says Vučić is plainly taking the Student List threat seriously.
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Vučić → say → threat
He made 129 live television appearances in August, more than four times the previous month’s total.
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He → make → August
But the elections are happening in a context of growing repression: Serbia has regressed in international rankings for press freedom and corruption in recent years.
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Serbia → happen → years
And only last week, the Guardian revealed that Vučić intervened to advance an allegedly illegal scheme to hand over a protected landmark in Belgrade for a Trump tower, another spur for recent protests.
uncertain
Vučić → reveal → protests
A September survey for Serbian pro-democracy group the Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA) found no negative coverage of the ruling majority on the country’s television channels, compared with 37% of the time for the opposition.
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survey → find → opposition
Student List has accused the foreign ministry of rigging the diaspora vote by keeping overseas polling stations open where support for Vučić is strong, while closing them in parts of North America where the opposition could expect to perform well.
uncertain
opposition → accuse → America
The ministry did not respond to Julian’s request to comment.
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ministry → respond → request
…and 45 more, not listed.
The Aporia
