Aleksandar Vučić's three-day national assembly, with all the logistics, was a debacle. Instead of three, it actually lasted a day and a half. It could be said that the machinery failed. The organizers obviously let down the great expectations of the president of the state that all of Serbia would come to Belgrade. Or, simply, there were not enough people interested in that political spectacle. Not for money, not under blackmail. Those who ardently defend the SNS version of life are noticeably fewer.
All in all, the rally titled We Don't Give Up on Serbia was a sad demonstration of how only tatters remained from the once serious support for the great leader. Aleksandar Vučić had the opportunity to look that truth in the eye – the models and backdrops on which the illusion of power and unity is based. The incendiary cocktail of provincial entertainment, nationalism and a fairground atmosphere did not produce any results. And the scenes of people scattering decorations, plastic chairs and Coca-Cola packages and leaving the plateau in front of the Serbian Parliament en masse, turning their backs on the most important speaker in search of a hidden exit from the metal-fenced space, may have been the true final act of this government.
So even Vučić himself, although overdosed on his own self-importance, seemed defeated that evening. Baja Mali Knindža stole the show from him. With iconography and patriotic pathos from the 1990s and a musical background that warmed hearts and feet and made the space in front of the stage surreal, as if frames from Kusturica's films had come to life.
Of all the caricatures, plagiarism, copying and simulating the authorities, that they too are striking against themselves, reporting to the prosecutor's office, organizing walkers, cyclists, lists of support, and now they too have demands, this was perhaps the worst and most unnecessary. First of all, because this circus, which was organized at state expense, completely missed the topic for which it was convened, and so this unfortunate new movement fell out of focus. And then also because the so-called national assembly took place on the day when the students walked to Novi Pazar, and the cyclists to Munich and Ulm.
These were two images of Serbia, sharply contrasted, as if they came from two times and two centuries. Beliefs versus simulation. Passion versus party duty. Emotions versus interests. Solidarity versus coercion. Some rallied at the expense of the state, others organized themselves. And while students and citizens from all over Serbia were arriving in Novi Pazar and tearing down the walls of nationalism, division, and exclusivity, the government opted to restore support through Baja Mali Knindža and the symbolism of the war-torn nineties. And it sought an opportunity in the polarization of society, while academics ridiculed the ruling political rhetoric that was bursting with conspiracies, mercenaries, and betrayal.
And now, how to overcome this difference that he cannot live with and cannot or does not want to understand, has been Aleksandar Vučić's nightmare for five months. And it is clear to everyone that something is fundamentally wrong in the country of Serbia. In addition, instead of a mass rebellion, the students have managed to awaken an extremely personalized and authentic rebellion of individuals, which is a true introduction to a civil and free society in which there is no place for authoritarian and populist models of government. The President of Serbia knows this. And that is why he is restless and very angry. And that is why he is trying to bring back fear through five angry demands because he is the best ally of repressive regimes. He probably counts on maintaining power through naked violence.
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