Joint resistance until the extraordinary elections

A day after the major student rally in Belgrade on June 28, the situation is completely clear — all the cards have finally been laid on the table.

It is evident that a democratic and free Serbia has the strength, will, and determination to compel the regime to respect the Constitution and the law, despite the fact that the energy has not faded even after eight months of struggle on city streets. On the contrary, it is clear that tens of thousands of citizens ready to persevere in the fight can gather at any moment at the call of students and rebellious universities across Serbia.

On the opposite side, Aleksandar Vučić can count on only a few thousand supporters — mostly blackmailed and bought local officials, backed by the gendarmerie, several intervention police units, and a few hundred criminals organized by Dijana Hrkalović. This is all the regime can now oppose to a Serbia that refuses to normalize violence.

At first glance, the current situation may look like a stalemate, but it is not. Fear was lost somewhere in the late-autumn street protests and clashes in Novi Sad. Arrests, detentions, and tabloid persecution did not suppress the rebellion — they only strengthened it and spread it across Serbia. When citizens began spreading the message of resistance by walking, cycling, and running through our country and across Europe, the end of this government drew closer.

The greatest challenge at the beginning of the uprising was the fact that regular elections were still far away, and it was очевидно that all actors needed time to politically mature. It is now clear to everyone that the solution to this crisis — the deepest in the past thirty years — will not be quick or easy. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and we are only now entering its final stages.

The next steps are crucial.

We must preserve the main actors — the students and their professors. They should propose a new strategy of struggle that will ensure the survival of the academic community while maintaining the continuity of resistance. Everyone must understand that redefining methods in the midst of a long struggle — that is, changing strategy — does not represent defeat. On the contrary! It is a sign of responsibility, maturity, and wisdom. The government’s willingness to destroy universities at any cost must not be underestimated, and we must do absolutely everything necessary to prevent that outcome.

It is essential that the entire genuine opposition joins this struggle as soon as possible. The call for the unification of opposition forces must come precisely from students and professors, as they currently possess the greatest social legitimacy. A regime accustomed to ruling for years without oversight or criticism will not be able to function under the combined parliamentary pressure of the opposition and the social pressure of a normal and healthy Serbia.

That is why it is extremely important that no session of local, provincial, or national parliaments passes without resistance. The fight must be returned to all institutions — especially the Assembly of Vojvodina and the National Assembly of Serbia, which the regime has turned into Ćaciland.

If resistance continues with this intensity — or stronger — across Serbia, extraordinary elections will become inevitable due to the weakening and impotence of the regime.

The country we will inherit after the fall of this regime will be devastated by corruption, rampant plunder, кадровска razaranja, and collapsed institutions. Confronting these and many other problems will be an immense challenge for any future government — but that is a topic for better days ahead.