Sormaz: Vucic wants a weak EU, Russia will always be an insidious liar

Author’s text by Dragan Sormaz for The Geopost

Serbian students have already held 4 big rallys in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš and Kragujevac! In the meantime, they have come up with another activity that has proved to be perhaps even more important than the protests themselves – marches! They travelled from all over Serbia to the assembly centres on foot, by bicycle, by marathons… in this way they covered the whole of Serbia, entering almost every town and village! They woke up Serbia, the people welcomed them, fed them, cared for them! They awakened solidarity, spread love and dispelled fear!

All the reports and analyses said that on 15 March or in Belgrade a huge number of people gathered, probably more than on 5 October 2000. Vucic and his entourage are in a panic! They are constantly on the controlled media, where every day they invent events, accuse foreign (Western) services of working against Serbia, insult students and all those who oppose the regime, saying they are foreign mercenaries, lie…. A student protest is planned on the platform in front of the National Assembly! Suddenly, in the Pioneer Park, located between the Parliament and the Presidency, some tents are set up and some ‘students who want to learn’ appear?!!! Within a few days, the number of tents increases and they are filled with people of different profiles: paid members of the SNS or the Serbian List from Kosovo, criminals, thugs, even publicly known ‘ladies’… A metal fence is erected around the park, then barbed wire around the fence, a trench is dug (as if it were the front line of the First World War) and finally the whole area is surrounded by tractors!!!! Vucic announces an attack on these ‘students’ and intimidates the public, saying that a great violence is being prepared! Two days before the elections, it becomes clear to everyone that Vucic has erected a human wall between himself and the people and that he is ready to light a big fire to save his corrupt power! In the end, 24 hours before the protest, the regime completely stops rail transport in the country, makes bus transport difficult, threatens arrests…!

The evening before the protest, we can see beautiful images: marching students arrive in the centre of Belgrade, where they are welcomed by their Belgrade colleagues, but also by tens of thousands of citizens! The images we see show the youth of Serbia, people who stand for love, tolerance, justice … sounds familiar! These are the values on which democratic Europe is based, but all this is the very opposite of Vucic’s values! It becomes clear to everyone that the next day Serbia will be closer to Belgrade!

That’s the way it was! I will modestly note that at the scheduled time, more than half a million citizens gathered in the centre of Belgrade, with some Western media reporting that there were more than a million protesters! Everything went according to plan and according to the students’ schedule! Nobody even attempted any act of violence, not even against Pioneer Park, which was full of hooligans ready for a showdown that morning! Vucic fled to Surcin, supposedly to see the EXPO construction site, but in reality to be as close to the airport as possible in case he had to flee! The students work according to the planned programme: they seek the fulfilment of their demands, they sing, they spread a joyful atmosphere and the scheduled, regular, fifteen-minute silence begins in memory of the 15 victims of the demolition of the canopy in Novi Sad! That is when the real Aleksandar Vučić appears! I have no doubt that at that very moment, a sonic weapon (LRAD), which is banned for use, but was nevertheless procured in 2022, was used. Panic ensues and the female students throw off their police vests as they flee the area! He wanted to provoke a fight between the protesters and his thugs, and accuse the students of violence! IT DIDN’T WORK! The students IMMEDIATELY announce that the meeting is over and that they are going to their faculties! Vucic did not count on this! People obeyed and slowly dispersed! Thus, the students have once again MORALLY WON over Vučić, because they have shown that it is more important for them to preserve the safety of those who have called them to protest than to fully realise the imagined scenario of the protest! On the other hand, Vucic has lost his ‘lamb skin’ in front of the world and the people! All that is left is outright repression and dictatorship!

What next? The students will surely continue their protests and they will have huge popular support! Can they continue without spreading their demands and political articulation? The first two demands will NEVER be met by Vucic because to meet them would mean his imprisonment, and the institutions that are supposed to meet them are run by people loyal to him and under his control! The opposition has so far had the opportunity to articulate political demands, but has failed! It is high time we looked at the geopolitical situation and what is happening in our environment. Yesterday, in addition to Belgrade, there were pro-European protests in Romania, Georgia, Hungary… The Americans will be less and less concerned about Europe, whatever the administration, Russia will always be a treacherous liar, an instigator of violence and everything it does will be in its own interests! The region and Serbia are left only with the EU, which is now at a turning point, but which has promising trends that speak in favour of its growing unity and thus its growing power! Vucic does not like that! He wants a weak EU from which he can extract a euro, but the values of a democratic Europe are alien to him and he does not want them! Already today, he is deliberately announcing the possibility of elections in order to sow discord among the opposition! ANYTHING HE PROPOSES MUST BE REJECTED OUT OF HAND!

To repeat what I have been saying for three years: the Serbian opposition (old and new), civil society, academia, prominent individuals… We MUST ALL together turn to the EU and ask for their help to achieve a transitional government that meets the demands of the students and prepares Serbia for free and democratic elections! The EU is the only one that can ‘make him an offer he cannot refuse’!