The Return of a Policy of Hybrid Ethnic Cleansing

The regime of Aleksandar Vučić has returned to the dark Radical womb from which it emerged — to the 1990s, a time when citizens of Serbia and Vojvodina were persecuted, intimidated, and driven out because of their names, surnames, origins, or dissenting views.

The treatment of Dinko Gruhonjić's family is a consistent continuation of that policy of hybrid ethnic cleansing, in which those who are targeted are to be made to feel that life has become unbearable, while the solidarity of the community is to be broken through fear.

Recently, the family of Balša Božović also experienced, for the time being verbally, Radical violence following a well-known nationalist pattern, in which the Radical mindset tolerates members of other nations only if they accept the role of silent statistical figures.

Particularly alarming is the spread of the concept of masked thugs and the engagement of individuals from criminal circles for political confrontations. This model says everything about the nature of Aleksandar Vučić's regime. It is a concept fascinated by violence, crime, and the bully's way of governing a state. A government that intimidates its political opponents with hooded men and criminals demonstrates that it has abandoned even the appearance of democracy and returned to its foundations: the logic of the street, force, and fear.

Radicalism is not a political position. Radicalism is a state of mind. It does not respond to appeals or reason.

Therefore, we address the citizens of Serbia:

Fascism is not only when gangs in black hoods attack those who are different. Fascism also emerges when society turns its head away, pretends not to see, and through its silence encourages the perpetrators.

We in Solidarity see. Do not count on our silence.

Solidarity is a home in which respect for the human rights of every individual is the only criterion for belonging.

We stand with the Gruhonjić family and with everyone whom the regime has targeted because of their name, origin, political views, or words spoken in public.

We know that the time will soon come when those who resort to violence will be handed over to institutions freed from political influence, and when everyone will be judged according to the law and their actions. Unlike them, we guarantee every individual — including them — the right to a fair trial.