Studenti traže odgovornost. Nemaju poverenja u politički sistem (možda imaju poneki razlog za to?). Slučajno ili namerno, na sreću ili na nesreću, ogoljavaju kriminalnu prirodu vlasti u Srbiji. Ako insistiranje na zakonitosti odvede Srbiju u diktaturu, možda to ima više veze sa prirodom vlasti, nego sa pokretom koji nenasilnim metodama traži da se zakon poštuje?
Branko je u prošli utorak pitao oblak studenata zašto se ne pozivaju na Rusoa, Kardelja, Mihaila Markovića - a možda je on mogao da uporedi studentske marševe sa Gandijevim Maršem soli, a ne sa genocidom Crvenih Kmera?
Poredjenje sa CK ocigledno nije ideolosko, vec je analogija bazirana na tajnovitosti vodjstva. Ironicno je da pokret koji insistira na demokratiji ne saopstava nista o tome kako demokratiju preaktikuje u internom radu. Gandijev Mars soli je imao, kao sto se vec u naslovu vidi, vodju kao i polticku strukturu..
Pokret insistira na vladavini prava, na odgovornosti nosilaca vlasti.
Možda demijurga nema? Možda je vođstvo previše brojno i unakrsno povezano da bi bilo relevantno da se predstavlja?
Možda bi isticanjem nekoliko pojedinaca, donekle značajnijih u tekućoj organizaciji, propagandna i kriminalna mašinerija vladajuće mafijaške strukture imala lakši posao da blaćenjem ili ucenama (ili nečim još gorim) oslabi pokret?
Nema sumnje da je pokret sjajan i da je doneo neku novu energiju, nadam se samo da svi razumemo da će to sve morati da se materijalizuje na nekim sledećim izborima, pa neće se Vučić skinuti sa vlasti gandijevskim metodama.
Razumemo, samo što je izgleda neophodno da se tiranija potpuno ogoli da bi kombinacija korupcije, ispiranja mozga preko državnih medija i izbornih krađa zaista i izgubila izbore.
This is exactly what is happening in Kenya. We had a semblance of a democratic election, that quickly morphed into an authoritarian regime propelled by clientelism, rent seeking and corruption at all levels of government. Parliament and the judiciary are compromised.
The youth took to the streets under a “ Gen Z” mantra. Many were killed and abducted.
The opposition has gotten into a handshake deal with the regime in power.
It remains to be seen, where the Gen Z movement, leaderless and faceless, heads next.
Professor, since SNS and Vučić are in power elections have been anything but democratic, especially the post-Covid ones. Serious breaches of democratic standards include full control over all media that have national frequencies (therefore the voice of the opposition cannot be heard, neither during election cycles or at other times), not up-to-date voter lists (leading to the dead and those absent voting), pressure on public sector employees and their families concerning who to vote for, pressure on minority groups (Roma in particular), buying votes (they literally go around villages and towns gifting people basic groceries and giving instructions who to vote for in return), and the icing on the cake being importing voters from Bosina (yes they are Serbian citizens but have no right to vote in municipal elections because the law states that only residents of a city or municipality may vote for those local assembly members - the most extreme case being the President of Republica Srpska, part of Bosnia, voting for Belgrade city assembly representatives).
As for how students decide at their plenary sessions, they have described that in great detail, both through online media texts and video blogs, as well as in television interviews on TV channels that they have access to.
I agree w/ your comment. I am familiar with all the examples of voter pressure & manipulation you cite. I called the elections "broadly free". I never called them fair and your examples show that. Although when it comes to the media, the situation today cannot be compared w/ that under Milosevic when the repression was naked and open. And yet the opposition managed to put up a very good fight and eventually win. And was not toying with the civil war.
Branko is great thinker and I love his teksts. If you want to find out what is happening in Serbia you have to, must to, research yourself and invest time and intellect. Branko's opinion is just one of many. IMHO this is excellent text as it is repeating (if not echoing) main points from the Movement. Only difference is kind of a good old contextual problem. Branko is grounded in 20th century and the Movement is trying to re-invent political action in devastated 21st century (and it is refreshing comparing to the mainstream, a bit grim and repetitive). Kind regards.
P.S.
For instance, you can find correct (not alternative) facts that foreign flags are not welcomed foremost because of Russia's malicious attempts to take any advantage of spreading destructive influence.
«the Gilets jaunes. They were strongly against any leadership, and went nowhere.»
To go somewhere a movement often needs rich backers to discreetly fund and steer it and to "sponsor" the political police and the secret service so regardless of what the government says they let it be even if they burn buildings with people inside them, and sometimes the backers also fund snipers to provide some martyrs.
It seems that Serbia is doomed in the short term, no matter what happens. But what if student leaders (there must be some coordinating this somewhere) are keeping their cards close to their chest and waiting for Vučić to lose his nerve? In my opinion, he has two options: one is to use force, which he has already begun, and the other is to call elections. In the latter case, students could quickly form some sort of National Front-type organization, in which case they might stand a chance.
Of all the parallels, the Khmer Rouge?!? I am sure that AV will be happy to share this comparison with his loyalists.
I have been following the protests as reported by most of the independent media in Serbia, through social media posts and in direct communication with friends participating in the protests. I believe that the change of consciousness has occurred among the majority of ordinary people in Serbia in the past four months as the students travelled throughout Serbia and gained popularity. Do I understand all of it? No. From what I have seen so far, I support them and I am keeping an open mind. Just because we don't understand something, it does not mean it is secretive or wrong.
Nothing, I repeat nothing can be done without adequate political articulation which is inherently impossible due to the heterogeneous nature of the protests. This means that the very first step towards true resolution will be the first step towards the demise of the movement. Now, it is great that you wrote about this topic, but what I would like to see more of in the media and in the benevolent community of protest supporters is that they ultimately have an understanding of the fundamental premise of responsibility towards the state. If we, as politically mature citizens, hope to make progress (!) through our actions, than we do not settle on merely making noise. Then, we must present our view of the future of Serbia. As Trump has shown, you can make radical moves and break the regime, but in order to do so legitimately, you MUST WIN THE ELECTIONS first. The ultimate purpose of every (democratic constitution is to allow for this. Please, don't tell me that it is not possible, because of any given reason, since the Djukanović regime fell in Montenegro, a country with 550,000 eligible voters, where the regime was going on and on for 30+ years gathering unprecedented power, which allowed for the literal buying of votes, then Vučić regime can also fall. The question is - are they up to the task? I think not.
I could not agree more. The movement is at an impasse precisely b/c they have not realized that they have outgrown a protest stage & become a political force. When you are a political force, you have to have a political objective, articulate it & behave responsibly. The best thing they could do at this stage is to transform themselves into a political movement or party, end the protests, expand political engagement by creating units across the country (which they easily can do), participate in 2027 elections and perhaps have a chance to win. Vucic cannot run for president in 2027 and they could possibly beat him and his party in legislative elections. That would be a peaceful & normal transition. Branko
Alo, koliko puta treba odati postu za 15 nastradalih u Novom Sadu, 100 puta, 1.000 puta, milion puta? Dali to pomaze porodicama preminulih? Jedanput u civilizivanom svetu; sigurno ne pomaze porodicama, vec iskoristava njihovu bol i mrtve!
Svi ti protesti, nelegalne blokade, potrazivanje “pravde” su abstraktni i nebulozni bazirani na necem nevidljivom i bez dokaza, bas kao na primer “rat protiv terorizma” ili “rat na drogu” sve otvoreno za intepretaciju kao koliko je duboka vasiona.
U realnisti i stvarnom zivotu, sve te nebuloze ostavimo filozofima, a za bolji zivot “vazna je privreda, glupani” da Srbija ide napred, da ima para za njihovo skolovanje i stipendije, vece plate i penzije, za jacu Srbiju. A ne da s ovim “vasarom” plasite i terate investitore, ugrozavate privredu i normalan zivot. Ovako ne moze dalje, blokadama institucija nelegalnim akcijama, da svrgavate vladu, nego oformite politicku partiju pa se borite iz opozicije, ako imate svetlije i bolje ideje kako voditi Srbiju u prosperitet i mir. To se zove demokratija. U protivnom, zavezite i vratite se da radite ili studirate, a nebuloze ostavite filozofima. Ako ne, ostat ce te bez studija i posla, pa ce te da perete prozore ili avlije, jedan drugima kao posao i pricate o “romanticnim vremenima” na protestima.
Naravno da ne pomaze porodicama, to niko ne spori. Odavanje pošte za stradale je vid poštovanja prema neduznim zrtvama korupcije i trulog sistema.
Blokade i protesti su samo izraz nezadovoljstva prema koruptivnom sistemu, i apsolutno legitiman nacin borbe obicnog coveka da ne bude zrtva neke nove nadstrešnice.
Ako vec zelimo da govorimo o iskoriscavanju porodica mrtvih mozemo pogledati drustvene mreze najvisih drzavnih zvanicnika i sramnog priloga rezimskih medija.
Investitore iz ove zemlje tera nezamisliv stepen korupcije prisutan u svakoj pori drustva. Nijedna jedina investicija ne ostaje duze od onoga za sta je subvencionisana. A subvencionisana je debelo po radniku, dok radnik prima mizeran minimalac koji ne oslikava realnu potrosacku korpu jedne porodice. Mogli bi da govorimo o opozicion delovanju kada bi bilo iole moguce formirati partiju bez da ti neko ne zakuca na vrata sa pretnjama i ucenama, a cak i da je to moguce, suocavamo se sa iskrivljenom medijskom slikom i nepostojanjem bilo kakvog normalnog dijaloga tokom 13 godina vladavine SNS-a. Podsetimo, predsednik nije imao predsednicku debatu sa protivkandidatima ni u jednom jedinom izbornom ciklusu od 2012. godine.
Stoga sve ovo sto ste napisali je apsolutna glupost.
Dear Branco, thank you, I do not have the bandwidth to go into detail on this, unfortunately.
One immediate question that arises - is it a colour revolution? One of the first was in Serbia against milosevic, after all.
For me, all these grass root movements have to answer one question - where do all these people in the square pee, and who is providing the toilets? In every single case of a colour revolution of recent year it is usually a very short chain either to an usaid funded ngo, or a local oligarch in this or other secret services hook.
Mr Milanovic's Overtone window is quite narrow. Maybe he should read David Graeber & David Wengrow's "The Dawn of Everything A New History of Humanity" to realize that this hierarchy that he pines for is a more recent development in humans' history.
Very likely the students have read Simone Weil's essay against political parties and know a thing or two about the Iron Law of Oligarchy and the Iron Law of Bureaucracy.
Maybe the students will try some more direct democracy and look for sortition and a tight control on the executive, for a change....?
Open ended, no practically fulfillable demands, western media reports. What else you want to know what you could find out easily by yourself had you an IQ above 85?
As to Argentina, Greece, Serbia, southern Italy, Lebanon etc. I am reminded of something said by Gordon Brown: “In establishing the rule of law the first 500 years are always the hardest”.
As to some of those places I am reminded of the political research by an american as to politics in italian regions where he found where civic attitudes and state fairness were inversely proportional to length of foreign control: when the rulers are foreign (and do not intermarry) the state is widely despised and cheated as it is perceived as a tool of those foreign rulers and that kind of attitude lasts a long, long time.
As to the current situation in Serbia I wonder who is funding and organizing all those demonstrations and the "invisible college" of the leaders of those demonstrations. In every other case in countries with governments not aligned to the USA/NATO it was some USA/NATO sponsored NGO pursuing destabilization. Perhaps the serbian case is different and the protests are entirely spontaneous and the serbians really want to destabilize their own state.
That seems quite realistic. But consider the trucker protests in Canada, the "yellow vests" in France, etc.: dissatisfaction was and remains real but nothing changed, except that the protesters were persecuted. This is the opinion of commenter on "The Guardian" as to similar protests in the UK:
A commenter on "The Guardian", 2018: “I'm nearly thirty, which means I grew up under Major (just), Blair and Brown then Dave and Nick. In my considered opinion and the opinion of my peers - you couldn't fit a fag paper between them. Frankly my generation grew up not being listened to. We walked out of school in protest at the invasion of Afghanistan - nothing happened. We marched against the invasion of Iraq - nothing happened. We marched against increases in tuition fees - nothing happened. We voted when we came of age - nothing happened. Now, most of us have stopped marching and many have stopped voting because nothing happens - and the generation below us saw this too, as their older brothers and sisters, cousins or even parents became cynical and jaded because we were so consistently and so constantly ignored.”
Whether dissatisfaction has results not eventually often depends a lot on whether those who are dissatisfied have powerful backers.
Often a a "tell" is whether the protesters are upper-middle class dissatisfied that they cannot pursue the "American Dream" of competing for jobs for the local offices of Facebook or JP Morgan ("large segments of the urban bourgeoisie", "students [...] high-school kids"), or they are part of the workers dissatisfied that their real wages and pensions and social insurance have been made "more competitive" by inflation of housing costs and of consumer goods.
Here, hear, for every word. I am twice your age but experienced the same; just to add literally Millions marched against war on Iraq and NOTHING happened!; and look what happened to Jeremy Corbyn a true honest politician supported by Momentum. Got sidelined by own side and “deep state” by a nebulous accusation of “antisemitism” Perhaps the same deep forces are trying to do the same to Vucic through students?
You don’t think Americans dislike both Democrats and Republicans, and the British electorate dislike both Labour and the Conservatives? (Same could be said for many European political parties, also Israel, India and other rivalry are systems.) Rivalry based political systems seem to be fundamentally flawed.
We could usefully learn (critically) from the cooperation based political system in China. However political scientists in the West can bring themselves to learn from non-Western societies.
«learn (critically) from the cooperation based political system in China.»
Strange then that the leading political force of that political system claims to believe that "class conflict" is the root of politics (and history).
Indeed many authors in the past have pointed out that politics is about who loses money and who makes money, and cooperation seems difficult between landlords and tenants, or between investors and workers.
In the current stage of PRC politics the officials and leaders of that leading political force and of the state institutions are in their vast majority landlords and investors and are very aware of their class interests, while still
«Americans dislike both Democrats and Republicans, and the British electorate dislike both Labour and the Conservatives?»
Actually a large minority of usians and british are very grateful to those parties for running a system that has delivered to them huge property and stocks gains entirely or mostly redistributed from the lower classes, boosting their living standards for decades.
«([...] and other rivalry are systems.)»
But in the USA and the UK there is little rivalry among the main parties as they are solidly on the side of investors and landlords.
Julius Nyerere: “The United States is also a one-party state but, with typical American extravagance, they have two of them.”
Gore-Vidal: “There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party [...] and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt — until recently [...] and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, the black, the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference
between the two parties.”
In Serbia the governing party is populist and nationalist, and its enemies are reaganist and globalist and perhaps that difference is the underlying reason for the mass protests.
You are right. I think Hirak is a good comparison., but in my analogy, I had in mind the leaderlessness of the movement. KR's leaders for a long time were totally unknown.
Glas razuma u opštoj histeriji.
Razumno poređenje sa Crvenim Kmerima 🤡
Studenti traže odgovornost. Nemaju poverenja u politički sistem (možda imaju poneki razlog za to?). Slučajno ili namerno, na sreću ili na nesreću, ogoljavaju kriminalnu prirodu vlasti u Srbiji. Ako insistiranje na zakonitosti odvede Srbiju u diktaturu, možda to ima više veze sa prirodom vlasti, nego sa pokretom koji nenasilnim metodama traži da se zakon poštuje?
Branko je u prošli utorak pitao oblak studenata zašto se ne pozivaju na Rusoa, Kardelja, Mihaila Markovića - a možda je on mogao da uporedi studentske marševe sa Gandijevim Maršem soli, a ne sa genocidom Crvenih Kmera?
https://x.com/BrankoMilan/status/1899253934201418191
Poredjenje sa CK ocigledno nije ideolosko, vec je analogija bazirana na tajnovitosti vodjstva. Ironicno je da pokret koji insistira na demokratiji ne saopstava nista o tome kako demokratiju preaktikuje u internom radu. Gandijev Mars soli je imao, kao sto se vec u naslovu vidi, vodju kao i polticku strukturu..
Pokret insistira na vladavini prava, na odgovornosti nosilaca vlasti.
Možda demijurga nema? Možda je vođstvo previše brojno i unakrsno povezano da bi bilo relevantno da se predstavlja?
Možda bi isticanjem nekoliko pojedinaca, donekle značajnijih u tekućoj organizaciji, propagandna i kriminalna mašinerija vladajuće mafijaške strukture imala lakši posao da blaćenjem ili ucenama (ili nečim još gorim) oslabi pokret?
Nema sumnje da je pokret sjajan i da je doneo neku novu energiju, nadam se samo da svi razumemo da će to sve morati da se materijalizuje na nekim sledećim izborima, pa neće se Vučić skinuti sa vlasti gandijevskim metodama.
Razumemo, samo što je izgleda neophodno da se tiranija potpuno ogoli da bi kombinacija korupcije, ispiranja mozga preko državnih medija i izbornih krađa zaista i izgubila izbore.
Evo već ga čujem kako obrazlaže uvođenje svoje (otvorene, bez demokratske maske) diktature: "A šta hoćete? Hoćete Pol Pota? Hoćete polja smrti?"
This is exactly what is happening in Kenya. We had a semblance of a democratic election, that quickly morphed into an authoritarian regime propelled by clientelism, rent seeking and corruption at all levels of government. Parliament and the judiciary are compromised.
The youth took to the streets under a “ Gen Z” mantra. Many were killed and abducted.
The opposition has gotten into a handshake deal with the regime in power.
It remains to be seen, where the Gen Z movement, leaderless and faceless, heads next.
Professor, since SNS and Vučić are in power elections have been anything but democratic, especially the post-Covid ones. Serious breaches of democratic standards include full control over all media that have national frequencies (therefore the voice of the opposition cannot be heard, neither during election cycles or at other times), not up-to-date voter lists (leading to the dead and those absent voting), pressure on public sector employees and their families concerning who to vote for, pressure on minority groups (Roma in particular), buying votes (they literally go around villages and towns gifting people basic groceries and giving instructions who to vote for in return), and the icing on the cake being importing voters from Bosina (yes they are Serbian citizens but have no right to vote in municipal elections because the law states that only residents of a city or municipality may vote for those local assembly members - the most extreme case being the President of Republica Srpska, part of Bosnia, voting for Belgrade city assembly representatives).
As for how students decide at their plenary sessions, they have described that in great detail, both through online media texts and video blogs, as well as in television interviews on TV channels that they have access to.
I agree w/ your comment. I am familiar with all the examples of voter pressure & manipulation you cite. I called the elections "broadly free". I never called them fair and your examples show that. Although when it comes to the media, the situation today cannot be compared w/ that under Milosevic when the repression was naked and open. And yet the opposition managed to put up a very good fight and eventually win. And was not toying with the civil war.
Thanks for this commentary Branko.
I've been trying to sort out what is going on - and failing to find any good (or even understandable) sources.
Hello April,
Branko is great thinker and I love his teksts. If you want to find out what is happening in Serbia you have to, must to, research yourself and invest time and intellect. Branko's opinion is just one of many. IMHO this is excellent text as it is repeating (if not echoing) main points from the Movement. Only difference is kind of a good old contextual problem. Branko is grounded in 20th century and the Movement is trying to re-invent political action in devastated 21st century (and it is refreshing comparing to the mainstream, a bit grim and repetitive). Kind regards.
P.S.
For instance, you can find correct (not alternative) facts that foreign flags are not welcomed foremost because of Russia's malicious attempts to take any advantage of spreading destructive influence.
This is exactly what happened in France with the Gilets jaunes. They were strongly against any leadership, and went nowhere.
«the Gilets jaunes. They were strongly against any leadership, and went nowhere.»
To go somewhere a movement often needs rich backers to discreetly fund and steer it and to "sponsor" the political police and the secret service so regardless of what the government says they let it be even if they burn buildings with people inside them, and sometimes the backers also fund snipers to provide some martyrs.
"Winners do whatever it takes".
It seems that Serbia is doomed in the short term, no matter what happens. But what if student leaders (there must be some coordinating this somewhere) are keeping their cards close to their chest and waiting for Vučić to lose his nerve? In my opinion, he has two options: one is to use force, which he has already begun, and the other is to call elections. In the latter case, students could quickly form some sort of National Front-type organization, in which case they might stand a chance.
Of all the parallels, the Khmer Rouge?!? I am sure that AV will be happy to share this comparison with his loyalists.
I have been following the protests as reported by most of the independent media in Serbia, through social media posts and in direct communication with friends participating in the protests. I believe that the change of consciousness has occurred among the majority of ordinary people in Serbia in the past four months as the students travelled throughout Serbia and gained popularity. Do I understand all of it? No. From what I have seen so far, I support them and I am keeping an open mind. Just because we don't understand something, it does not mean it is secretive or wrong.
Nothing, I repeat nothing can be done without adequate political articulation which is inherently impossible due to the heterogeneous nature of the protests. This means that the very first step towards true resolution will be the first step towards the demise of the movement. Now, it is great that you wrote about this topic, but what I would like to see more of in the media and in the benevolent community of protest supporters is that they ultimately have an understanding of the fundamental premise of responsibility towards the state. If we, as politically mature citizens, hope to make progress (!) through our actions, than we do not settle on merely making noise. Then, we must present our view of the future of Serbia. As Trump has shown, you can make radical moves and break the regime, but in order to do so legitimately, you MUST WIN THE ELECTIONS first. The ultimate purpose of every (democratic constitution is to allow for this. Please, don't tell me that it is not possible, because of any given reason, since the Djukanović regime fell in Montenegro, a country with 550,000 eligible voters, where the regime was going on and on for 30+ years gathering unprecedented power, which allowed for the literal buying of votes, then Vučić regime can also fall. The question is - are they up to the task? I think not.
I could not agree more. The movement is at an impasse precisely b/c they have not realized that they have outgrown a protest stage & become a political force. When you are a political force, you have to have a political objective, articulate it & behave responsibly. The best thing they could do at this stage is to transform themselves into a political movement or party, end the protests, expand political engagement by creating units across the country (which they easily can do), participate in 2027 elections and perhaps have a chance to win. Vucic cannot run for president in 2027 and they could possibly beat him and his party in legislative elections. That would be a peaceful & normal transition. Branko
Alo, koliko puta treba odati postu za 15 nastradalih u Novom Sadu, 100 puta, 1.000 puta, milion puta? Dali to pomaze porodicama preminulih? Jedanput u civilizivanom svetu; sigurno ne pomaze porodicama, vec iskoristava njihovu bol i mrtve!
Svi ti protesti, nelegalne blokade, potrazivanje “pravde” su abstraktni i nebulozni bazirani na necem nevidljivom i bez dokaza, bas kao na primer “rat protiv terorizma” ili “rat na drogu” sve otvoreno za intepretaciju kao koliko je duboka vasiona.
U realnisti i stvarnom zivotu, sve te nebuloze ostavimo filozofima, a za bolji zivot “vazna je privreda, glupani” da Srbija ide napred, da ima para za njihovo skolovanje i stipendije, vece plate i penzije, za jacu Srbiju. A ne da s ovim “vasarom” plasite i terate investitore, ugrozavate privredu i normalan zivot. Ovako ne moze dalje, blokadama institucija nelegalnim akcijama, da svrgavate vladu, nego oformite politicku partiju pa se borite iz opozicije, ako imate svetlije i bolje ideje kako voditi Srbiju u prosperitet i mir. To se zove demokratija. U protivnom, zavezite i vratite se da radite ili studirate, a nebuloze ostavite filozofima. Ako ne, ostat ce te bez studija i posla, pa ce te da perete prozore ili avlije, jedan drugima kao posao i pricate o “romanticnim vremenima” na protestima.
Naravno da ne pomaze porodicama, to niko ne spori. Odavanje pošte za stradale je vid poštovanja prema neduznim zrtvama korupcije i trulog sistema.
Blokade i protesti su samo izraz nezadovoljstva prema koruptivnom sistemu, i apsolutno legitiman nacin borbe obicnog coveka da ne bude zrtva neke nove nadstrešnice.
Ako vec zelimo da govorimo o iskoriscavanju porodica mrtvih mozemo pogledati drustvene mreze najvisih drzavnih zvanicnika i sramnog priloga rezimskih medija.
Investitore iz ove zemlje tera nezamisliv stepen korupcije prisutan u svakoj pori drustva. Nijedna jedina investicija ne ostaje duze od onoga za sta je subvencionisana. A subvencionisana je debelo po radniku, dok radnik prima mizeran minimalac koji ne oslikava realnu potrosacku korpu jedne porodice. Mogli bi da govorimo o opozicion delovanju kada bi bilo iole moguce formirati partiju bez da ti neko ne zakuca na vrata sa pretnjama i ucenama, a cak i da je to moguce, suocavamo se sa iskrivljenom medijskom slikom i nepostojanjem bilo kakvog normalnog dijaloga tokom 13 godina vladavine SNS-a. Podsetimo, predsednik nije imao predsednicku debatu sa protivkandidatima ni u jednom jedinom izbornom ciklusu od 2012. godine.
Stoga sve ovo sto ste napisali je apsolutna glupost.
Dear Branco, thank you, I do not have the bandwidth to go into detail on this, unfortunately.
One immediate question that arises - is it a colour revolution? One of the first was in Serbia against milosevic, after all.
For me, all these grass root movements have to answer one question - where do all these people in the square pee, and who is providing the toilets? In every single case of a colour revolution of recent year it is usually a very short chain either to an usaid funded ngo, or a local oligarch in this or other secret services hook.
I can attest that I personally observed, from my back terrace, several protestors peeing in the yard of my apartment building near Pioneer Park.
Mr Milanovic's Overtone window is quite narrow. Maybe he should read David Graeber & David Wengrow's "The Dawn of Everything A New History of Humanity" to realize that this hierarchy that he pines for is a more recent development in humans' history.
Very likely the students have read Simone Weil's essay against political parties and know a thing or two about the Iron Law of Oligarchy and the Iron Law of Bureaucracy.
Maybe the students will try some more direct democracy and look for sortition and a tight control on the executive, for a change....?
Looks and feels like a colour revolution.
Why?
Open ended, no practically fulfillable demands, western media reports. What else you want to know what you could find out easily by yourself had you an IQ above 85?
It doesn't sound like an answer to my question. Are you in Serbia? And why do you assume my IQ?
As to Argentina, Greece, Serbia, southern Italy, Lebanon etc. I am reminded of something said by Gordon Brown: “In establishing the rule of law the first 500 years are always the hardest”.
As to some of those places I am reminded of the political research by an american as to politics in italian regions where he found where civic attitudes and state fairness were inversely proportional to length of foreign control: when the rulers are foreign (and do not intermarry) the state is widely despised and cheated as it is perceived as a tool of those foreign rulers and that kind of attitude lasts a long, long time.
As to the current situation in Serbia I wonder who is funding and organizing all those demonstrations and the "invisible college" of the leaders of those demonstrations. In every other case in countries with governments not aligned to the USA/NATO it was some USA/NATO sponsored NGO pursuing destabilization. Perhaps the serbian case is different and the protests are entirely spontaneous and the serbians really want to destabilize their own state.
Nobody knows. Dissatisfaction is real, but what foreign powers might do behind the veil is unknown. At least to me.
«Dissatisfaction is real»
That seems quite realistic. But consider the trucker protests in Canada, the "yellow vests" in France, etc.: dissatisfaction was and remains real but nothing changed, except that the protesters were persecuted. This is the opinion of commenter on "The Guardian" as to similar protests in the UK:
A commenter on "The Guardian", 2018: “I'm nearly thirty, which means I grew up under Major (just), Blair and Brown then Dave and Nick. In my considered opinion and the opinion of my peers - you couldn't fit a fag paper between them. Frankly my generation grew up not being listened to. We walked out of school in protest at the invasion of Afghanistan - nothing happened. We marched against the invasion of Iraq - nothing happened. We marched against increases in tuition fees - nothing happened. We voted when we came of age - nothing happened. Now, most of us have stopped marching and many have stopped voting because nothing happens - and the generation below us saw this too, as their older brothers and sisters, cousins or even parents became cynical and jaded because we were so consistently and so constantly ignored.”
Whether dissatisfaction has results not eventually often depends a lot on whether those who are dissatisfied have powerful backers.
Often a a "tell" is whether the protesters are upper-middle class dissatisfied that they cannot pursue the "American Dream" of competing for jobs for the local offices of Facebook or JP Morgan ("large segments of the urban bourgeoisie", "students [...] high-school kids"), or they are part of the workers dissatisfied that their real wages and pensions and social insurance have been made "more competitive" by inflation of housing costs and of consumer goods.
Here, hear, for every word. I am twice your age but experienced the same; just to add literally Millions marched against war on Iraq and NOTHING happened!; and look what happened to Jeremy Corbyn a true honest politician supported by Momentum. Got sidelined by own side and “deep state” by a nebulous accusation of “antisemitism” Perhaps the same deep forces are trying to do the same to Vucic through students?
Dissatisfaction with what?
Something tangible, real, provable please!
With score Zvezda v Partizan not acceptable!
Branko does not live in Serbia and does not understand the situation here very well.
You don’t think Americans dislike both Democrats and Republicans, and the British electorate dislike both Labour and the Conservatives? (Same could be said for many European political parties, also Israel, India and other rivalry are systems.) Rivalry based political systems seem to be fundamentally flawed.
We could usefully learn (critically) from the cooperation based political system in China. However political scientists in the West can bring themselves to learn from non-Western societies.
«learn (critically) from the cooperation based political system in China.»
Strange then that the leading political force of that political system claims to believe that "class conflict" is the root of politics (and history).
Indeed many authors in the past have pointed out that politics is about who loses money and who makes money, and cooperation seems difficult between landlords and tenants, or between investors and workers.
In the current stage of PRC politics the officials and leaders of that leading political force and of the state institutions are in their vast majority landlords and investors and are very aware of their class interests, while still
«Americans dislike both Democrats and Republicans, and the British electorate dislike both Labour and the Conservatives?»
Actually a large minority of usians and british are very grateful to those parties for running a system that has delivered to them huge property and stocks gains entirely or mostly redistributed from the lower classes, boosting their living standards for decades.
«([...] and other rivalry are systems.)»
But in the USA and the UK there is little rivalry among the main parties as they are solidly on the side of investors and landlords.
Julius Nyerere: “The United States is also a one-party state but, with typical American extravagance, they have two of them.”
Gore-Vidal: “There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party [...] and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt — until recently [...] and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, the black, the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference
between the two parties.”
In Serbia the governing party is populist and nationalist, and its enemies are reaganist and globalist and perhaps that difference is the underlying reason for the mass protests.
Your comparison with the Red Khmers is.... surprising.
One mouvement could be mentioned: the recent Algerian Hirak, which failed to change anything because it remained unable to articulate political goals.
You are right. I think Hirak is a good comparison., but in my analogy, I had in mind the leaderlessness of the movement. KR's leaders for a long time were totally unknown.