The central figure of bee colonies is the queen bee. Her job is to lay eggs, direct the colony’s behavior, and maintain the colony’s population.
If a colony’s conditions worsen, workers can revolt by refusing to feed, isolate, or even kill their queen. After the execution, a new queen bee will replace the old one, to ensure productivity and the larger good of the hive. If she doesn’t act in the colony’s best interest, the bees revolt again.
The overthrow of the power is natural, that’s why it’s referred to as natural order. While bees resort to violence, humanity created democracies to overturn these violent and extreme measures. Through people’s voices there can be change…at least in theory.
Student-led revolutions are not new to Europe, especially in the Czech Republic. The Velvet Revolution, or the Gentle Revolution, showed the world a nonviolent movement to end the over 40-year-long communist rule. Even today, the influence and ideas of those early non-violent revolutions remain evident, particularly in Serbia for the last five months.
On 1 November, 2024, in Serbia’s second largest city, Novi Sad, to the North of Belgrade, the ceiling of a recently renovated railway station collapsed, killing 15 people. This tragedy was the final nail in the coffin for citizens. After 12 years of living under the corrupt bureaucratic dictatorship rule of Aleksandar Vučić, in a country plagued by nepotism, cronyism, bribery, theft, and propaganda, Serbian students decided to demand a change. Now, they are demanding accountability, consequences, but more simply, they are demanding a true and uncorrupt democratic system.
Serbian students decided to block universities: occupying lecture halls, locking entrances, and refusing to leave until the demands are met. The first blockade began on 26 November at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade (FDU), demanding prosecution of civilians allegedly linked to the ruling party, who attacked them during a street vigil held four days earlier. The students relocated to the faculty building, and classes were put on hold. Other universities soon followed, and not long after, high schools as well. By the end of December, 85 universities and 73 high schools joined. Students established donation centers, dorms, and kitchens. Anybody without a student ID, or a current student present to account for them, are denied entry.
“Everything needs to stop so we can move forward.” reads one of the protest signs seen on many university buildings around Serbia.
Serbia’s ruling party is fuming, as more people join the students in the streets. What’s different about these protests, the ones that are waking up the people and refusing to be shoved back down, is a shout for democracy at the core of the movement.
The students’ decentralized organization makes the movement difficult for the government to suppress. The highest decision-making body are the student plenums where meetings are held at the universities to organize protests, strikes, and other developments. Every student has the right to speak and vote. It’s an excellent example of direct democracy, resembling that of Ancient Athens. Students have created departments like media, communication, strategy, and outreach to ensure efficient organization.
The smartest decision students implemented was declaring their movement decentralized. The protests are not in alignment with any political party, preventing the possibility of a potential leader being the victim of tabloid attacks, a target of bribery, blackmail, or led by their own self-interest.
Repeatedly, the students’ representatives have appeared on the news to openly rebuke any statement about their alliance with any insider, outsider, or political parties. The help or resources they receive are from the hearts of the Serbian people.
President Aleksandar Vučić’s response was to portray students as violent and corrupt. He aims to spread a false narrative against the protesters; like they are being funded by foreign influences to orchestrate his downfall and incite a color revolution.
“I am going to write a textbook on how to fight the color revolution, and I believe that it will be one of the best-selling books in the world.” is a statement Aleksandar Vučić recently made on the national television network Pink, one of the many TV networks aligned with his ruling party.
The President’s unsubstantiated accusations, statements, and promises are nothing new to the Serbian people. Students today have a complete disregard for anything the President has to say under the slogan:
“He has no jurisdiction.”
Students do not ask anything from the president, nor do they address him. They simply demand that institutions do their job according to the law, especially the general public prosecution.
Students have released 4 clear demands which need to be met for them to terminate the blockades and for classes to resume:
The first is for the complete documentation related to the reconstruction of the Novi Sad Railway Station to be released publicly and that those responsible for the tragedy be identified.
The second is identifying and punishing all of those who attacked protesters since the beginning of the blockades. Students initially demanded the arrest and prosecution of all individuals involved in the physical attack on students and professors on November 22, in front of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts building in New Belgrade. As attacks continued during other protests, including incidents on January 16 and 24, when a girl was struck by a car attempting to drive through the protesters on each of those days, students’ demands are growing to include those who were to blame for acts of violence against students and civilians during each new protest.
The third is dropping charges against protesters, as well as the ending of criminal processes that had already been started.
The fourth is an increased budget for all state universities.
The demands of the students are formally not political, but fundamentally they call for accountability for the tragedy caused by corruption; which will lead to a systematic change. It has been 4 months of protesting, and the demands are still not met.
With each passing day tensions are rising, protests are growing, and despite going into the fifth month of blockades, students are not backing down. Instead of losing hope their determination grows bigger each day through the immutable demands of the people.
Community, compassion, and a clear goal are the driving forces behind each protest and every action taken in this fight. Because the student movement surpasses any ideology or political alignment, the protests have survived the winter without losing momentum. Now with Spring, the season of new beginnings, renewal, hope and revolutions, students continue their fight.
On Thursday, 3 April student cyclists started their journey of about 1,300 kilometers from Novi Sad, Serbia to Strasbourg, France to address the representatives of the Council of Europe and other European institutions, which play a key role in supporting human rights and democracy.
If Europe won’t come to Serbia, Serbian students will cycle to the institutions of Europe, because silence is no longer an option.
