When, in the early summer of 2016, Aleksandar Vučić, the prime minister at the time, promised regular meetings with citizens in order to hear what problems they were facing, he arranged the first meeting in Belgrade at the crack of dawn, where he was met by 5.000 people who were waiting for the chance to solved their problem, it was clear what potential this communication technique has, borrowed from the governor of South Tyrol, who received citizens on Sundays for 25 years. Although originally its meaning was to supplement the institutions that should be encouraged to work faster and better, in our conditions it has become a sign of their complete degradation and suspension. Because there is no other institution here except Aleksandar Vučić. And precisely by his will. In fact, the point was to know immediately who is the replacement for all institutions. But the potential of multi-hour meetings with citizens was not exhausted there.
They quickly turned out to be a very successful method of crisis management. So when it was shown that direct broadcasts and media spectacularization could turn those events into political reality shows par excellence, it was clear that Vučić would use them as long as they worked. And that they will be enriched with new content suitable for additional spins. At the time of his enormous popularity, in 2016, he moved Vlada to Niš for a few days. And while the citizens of Nis, Pirot, Aleksinac and other places expressed their existential pains, it was clear that the parallel messages it sends are much more significant. Vučić sleeps in the barracks on a soldier's bed. Vučić eats from tin plates, Vučić is modest, Vučić is one of us... The rest of the government "escaped" to the hotel. He showed that meetings with citizens can be the key to turning a sensitive political and state issue into an extremely prosaic one in Kosovo, where he listened to the citizens' troubles late into the night. And they did not concern the position of the Serbs at all, but people were simply looking for a job, an apartment, a road, a doctor, a tractor, cattle... And all that was promised to them and fulfilled. And they went home happy, in fact deceived.
After huge protests across Serbia and in Belgrade due to lithium mines that showed great political potential, Vučić, as a skilled government technologist and strategist, waited for the eruptive energy of the rebellion to be released, for the tension to calm down a bit, and started to take the initiative, that is, how " his" analysts formulate, "now he directs events". And this time he also needs a conversation with the people of Podrinje. Left-handed or right-handed pancakes, it doesn't matter, a ride on the lake, dinner with fishermen, serving food to the soldiers, a small clean toilet for the president and a wooden closet with stored shirts, coaching young basketball players, interactive whiteboards, a tour of dairies, distilleries, orchards and rural households, which makes interrupts the program and raises the media tension by combining live images and studio commentary - all this is a prelude, a mise-en-scène for a key event - a conversation with the people in Ljubovia about the lithium mine, attended by ministers and high-ranking representatives of the Rio Tinto company. It was another replay of a replay. A simulation with cleverly divided roles. With a small intrusion of dissonant tones into a solid scenario of organized spontaneity and many promised paths. And as quiet music in the background, the words of the holy elder Elpidius from Rhodes, which were even read in the diary: "...if you overthrow Vučić, a favorite of Lucifer will come to power and will humiliate you, pray for your president".
What does Vučić's hyperactivity say? That paradise still can't be appeased? Or can it?
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