Today is March 15th.

The specter of March 15th is circulating in Serbia. There is no other topic, because everything concerns only that date. Taxi drivers are the best megaphones. They are a cross-section of society. You can see both sides, or projections. Desires and aspirations. Some went to bring students for free from Novi Sad or Kragujevac, and others curse that "someone" is blocking their way and preventing them from making a profit. That's the picture, everyone sees what they want to see. Lately, the latter have been quieter, although they were the loudest for a long time.

As March 15th approaches, there is a sense of tension in the air. Almost tangible. Because no one knows what will happen. Someone may have a plan, but no one knows the end of that day, in which direction everything will unfold. Will everything be peaceful, or will the masses be rioting, or will there be provocateurs and provocateurs of provocateurs who will fall for provocations. The media is poorly trusted and everyone is waiting for video clips, because the networks dominate again. You only trust your own eyes, evidence, people on the spot. Sometimes days unfold by themselves. There is no prediction.

Blockades, boycotts, students and fake students. Veterans and fake veterans. Tractors. Berets. Banners. That's Belgrade today. Everyone is talking, everyone is suspecting, all of Belgrade is tense, in transport, on the streets, everywhere, absolutely everywhere. The same look on the face of a policeman, a lady at a kiosk and a man on the street. People speak openly, as if something is bubbling up from every person that they have kept quiet about, that they have been swallowing for a long time, even if they pretend to mind their own business.

But the European Union has expressed the greatest silence. They have more urgent matters to attend to. They, the self-proclaimed messengers of free thought, see everything, and Belgrade is in their blind spot. They see nothing. Why? They are afraid that the student energy and rebellion will spill over, perhaps to Zagreb, Ljubljana, and God forbid to Vienna, Prague or Paris. That their students will not see the indigenous blockade of the faculty, the unity, the song and how the national flag is proudly carried over the shoulders, how the anthem is sung at the top of their voices. That the direction from 1968 will be reversed. That is what they are afraid of.

But it's easy to beat nettles with someone else's, it's easy to be a Serb in Berane and a liberal in Cetinje. This time, Montenegro looks at Belgrade as if it were New Zealand. It looks, feigns shortsightedness, doesn't believe, looks but doesn't see. The DPS movement is glad that the people are protesting, but they are bothered by the waving of so many tricolors and the singing of God of Justice. Others see anti-state elements in these students. Neither one nor the other is right.

Only the sincere student who holds the flag of his country high and walks straight is right, the one whose heart is pure, who may not know exactly what he wants but knows that he wants something. Those who want it will get it, those who don't want it will want nothing.

These students who walk with a pure heart, in ten years they will have something to talk about, they will have capital, they will have pride and enthusiasm. Everyone should envy them, and rightly so. Others will take the cream, others will take the credit, but personal experience and inspiration, no one can and will take that away from an individual. What is important is the accumulated energy, the dream of complete freedom, even if it is not realized.

Someone will make a film about this generation, someone will weave a book from this energy that will resonate and continue to inspire others. There is much to make a story out of, because inspiration is important. It used to be called an epiphany or a revelation from God. This is what happens when a person begins to believe, at least in something.

Now people believe in students. They can't figure out politicians. Everyone else has fooled them. Everything people thought was gone has reappeared with the students. Solidarity, empathy, song, flag, smile and pride.

They have at least sent a signal that this March 2025, people think more freely in the Balkans than in Europe!

P.S.

Johnny Stulic rightly asked the receptionist of the Hotel Evropa in Sarajevo whether the Balkans are Europe or Europe is the Balkans...