Serbia: magnificent commemorative gathering for the victims of corruption in Novi Sad

A year has passed since the canopy collapsed in Novi Sad, killing 16 innocent people and maiming a young mother. Despite the time that has passed, justice is still nowhere in sight. The courts are barely reporting on the trials of the suspects of a crime that deeply shook Serbia. 

[Originally published in Serbian at crvenakritika.org]

On the anniversary of the tragedy, 100,000 gathered for a protest and commemoration. As was stated there, it has seemed as if time has stood still since then, because Serbian society cannot return to normal until it sees change.

After a year of protests, the masses are visibly fatigued. But that is still being overcome by a desire for justice. Meanwhile, the fatigue of the regime has led to the complete collapse of its legitimacy, both in the eyes of the masses and in the eyes of its main backer, European capital. The commemoration of the anniversary of the collapse of the overpass in Novi Sad is another victory against the rotten regime of Aleksandar Vučić.

All roads lead to Novi Sad

Although this is not the first protest for which people from all over Serbia have mobilised to march in one city, this one was definitely special, considering that everyone headed for Novi Sad, where the tragedy took place. Due to the slowing of the movement, students being swamped with their university commitments, and the sadness surrounding the event, there were far fewer announcements about it and less visible excitement in the media and on social networks.

The first event that was part of the preparations for the commemoration was the march by students of the State University of Novi Pazar, which was symbolically named ‘16 Days for 16 Victims’. As we have written about before, Novi Pazar has been one of the particularly inspiring centres of this movement. 

Once again, students of different ethnicities and religions launched a media campaign, equipped with goodwill, a festive mood, the flags of their university, Serbia, Sandžak, and Palestine, as well as traditional Muslim and Palestinian attire. They were enthusiastically welcomed in every town on their journey, and they passed through places which had shown particular fighting spirit during the movement.

As the anniversary approached, columns also set off from other towns. From Subotica, Bačka Palanka, Zrenjanin, Vršac, Sremska Mitrovica, and Ruma, convoys came to show solidarity with their compatriots from Vojvodina. From the west of Serbia, convoys of people and tractors came from Čačak, Šabac, and Bogatić, and Valjevo, a particularly combative region and one profoundly affected by the pressures of the regime and the company Rio Tinto [a multinational mining company. Its controversial plans to open a lithium mine triggered a wave of protests in 2024].

The most magnificent column came from the capital. When the column from Belgrade set off, which also gathered people from the rest of Serbia, the author of this article was left in shock. 'Is it possible that a column of several thousand people really plans to march for two days to my town, out of pure love and solidarity?' The answer to that question was yes. 

This column spent the night in Inđija, where, due to the regime's uncooperativeness, thousands of marchers had to sleep under the open sky. But this only increased their determination. To top it all off, we also saw pirate flags with the straw hat from the Japanese manga One Piece. This has become a symbol of the so-called Gen Z revolutions around the world, in which, just as in Serbia, young people have played a key role.

The logistical preparations for welcoming what felt like the rest of the population of Serbia in Novi Sad seemed like the most serious operation to date. Novi Sad's zborovi [mass assemblies], the students on strike, the IT Blokada, and other initiatives made every effort to make the welcome as pleasant as possible for their compatriots. 

Solidarity appeals for funds made it possible to set up numerous refreshment points where marchers and hosts could get food and drink if they became hungry or thirsty, and for universities to be stocked with supplies for those staying overnight. A network of people was established, ready to offer accommodation to those arriving the day before the commemoration, in order to reduce costs and increase the availability of overnight stays due to high demand.

The welcome on 31 October was magnificent. Thousands upon thousands of people lined Freedom Boulevard, by the Freedom Bridge, to greet the columns from all over Serbia with enthusiasm, applause, and chants of ‘pump it’, which has become a viral chant of the movement. The columns were announced over the loudspeaker, greeted with torches and fireworks, and representatives from some of them also gave short speeches of solidarity. The welcome lasted from 18:00, and the people of Novi Sad did not want to go home until midnight, until they had welcomed the very last guest.

The gathering for the commemoration on 1 November saw sixteen columns that set off from different parts of Novi Sad converge on the train station. It was significantly different from other gatherings, as there were no flags, whistles, or vuvuzelas, due to the sadness surrounding the event. The programme ran from 10:00 to 19:00, the highlight of which was 16 minutes of silence that began at 11:52, the very same time that the canopy collapsed. Over 100,000 people paid silent tribute to the victims of corruption.

Several speeches were also delivered from the stage, which echoed along Freedom Boulevard. One of them was from a young neighbour of the deceased Nemanja Komar from Stepanićeva, which was a particularly moving expression of the pain felt by the youth at the loss of their friends. 

Dijana Hrka, the mother of the deceased Stefan Hrka, also addressed the crowd. She has been with the protesters for months and expressed her special affection for the students and secondary school pupils, who, as she stated, keep her alive. She announced a hunger strike as a form of further protest after a year of injustice for her son, as well as for other victims of corruption. 

At the end of the first part of the programme, a short film was broadcast, providing a retrospective of everything the movement had been through, what it had achieved, and the various outrageous moves the regime had made over the past year. The day was concluded with a gathering on the Belgrade Quay (in Novi Sad), where 16 lanterns were released for the 16 victims, and tens of thousands of phones were lit up and held aloft, accompanied by another 16 minutes of silence.

Vučić on his knees

The last three months represent a series of mounting defeats for the regime. The erosion of the regime’s pillars of support has been evident in embarrassments like the filing of an indictment by the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime against high-ranking SNS [Serbian Progressive Party, Vučić’s party] officials in connection with corruption over the reconstruction of the railway station in Novi Sad, an attack in August by regime thugs on demonstrators who boldly fought back, and the growing mistrust of Vučić by imperialist countries.

The European Union has remained silent for months regarding the protests and the collapse of the canopy. But class anger is growing across the world. Governments in Nepal and Madagascar have fallen to revolutions, and Europe is being shaken by events like the Italian general strike for Palestine and the French general strike against austerity, just to name a few. The last thing the European rulers want is a revolution on their continent, which could inspire other countries as well. 

Serbia is, above all, a sphere of interest of the European Union, no matter how much liberals whine that Vučić is a puppet for Putin or Xi Jinping. Until recently, he played his part as a loyal stooge of the European Union well. But after this latest crisis, he has proven completely incapable of bringing about political stability.

The European Parliament recently overwhelmingly adopted a resolution by the European Parliament condemning the regime’s repression of the movement, just after Ursula von der Leyen had been on a tour of the ‘Western Balkans’. Von der Leyen’s public comments were quite reserved. But this is the first time the EU has put any significant pressure on Vučić.

Before now, Vučić has been reckless. He once insinuated that the movement was a colour revolution funded by someone in the EU. At one point, he drunkenly attacked the German Greens as ‘scum’ for joining a protest in Novi Sad. But now the instability has gone on for too long, and his destabilising actions risk having an effect on the EU itself. 

They are reigning him in, which significantly adds to the pressure on Vučić. Indeed, the hold the EU has over Vučić was symbolised by the fact that during Ursula von der Leyen’s tour, Vučić told the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ana Brnabić, in front of the media, to do whatever Europe asks. 

Although von der Leyen was actually quite reserved in her public remarks when she was in Serbia, it was obvious that European leaders are using Vučić's political weakness to further consolidate Serbia as a sphere of interest. This is a concession he is now finally prepared to make. This was further confirmed by the European Parliament's resolution on Serbia, which condemned the regime's actions towards the movement, among other things.

One should have no illusion that this condemnation stems from the goodwill of so-called ‘European values’ of ‘freedom’, ‘democracy’, and ‘equality’. The European Union bombed Serbia, imposed austerity measures on it, has encouraged NATO aggression across the world through its existence, supported Israel’s genocide in Palestine, and has been complicit in ensuring the continuation of the slaughter in Ukraine. 

The European Union is a union of capitalists, which continually carries out attacks against its own working class, and even more so against the working classes of the countries outside the EU, that are within its spheres of interest. 

In many ways, they do not even respect their so-called European values in their own countries. Police brutality is commonplace, solidarity protests with Palestine are banned, dissenting candidates are barred from running, and so on. All along, they knew who Vučić was and the methods he uses; only now they see an opportunity to further tame him.

However, the weakening of European imperialism's trust in Vučić is a product, above all, of the pressure from the mass movement across Serbia. By forcing the EU to take a more cautious stand in relation to Vucic, the movement has struck at the main foundation of his rule, which is his clique’s profiteering from foreign investment from the European Union. This blow has led to further divisions within the regime, as Vučić can no longer bribe those he previously bought off. 

The day before the commemoration, Vučić made (another) emergency address. This time, he struck a conciliatory tone and even apologised to the students / Image: Wikimedia Commons

Even before the canopy collapsed, Vladimir Đukanović, often dubbed Vučić's spokesperson in the media, complained of sabotage within the party. A year later, he has repeated the same complaint, showing that the unity of the SNS that was temporarily created due to the political crisis is once again declining, but now at a much more critical moment.

The day before the commemoration, Vučić made (another) emergency address. This time, he struck a conciliatory tone, in which he even apologised to the students and demonstrators for speaking ill of them. As it is clear to everyone that the movement will not easily forget everything he and his clique have done to them, this message was aimed primarily at his own remaining supporters and Europe.

Vučić also organised rallies against the students' blockades, to try and pave the way for representatives of the regime to return to Novi Sad for the anniversary. This, however, did not happen, which represents a great victory for the movement. The butchers of Novi Sad are not welcome here.

Just a day after the commemoration, tensions continued. Dijana Hrka began a hunger strike, but she was forbidden from doing so in front of the National Assembly because the Ćaciland [A pro-regime ‘protest camp’ set up by the SNS, named Ćaciland by the student protesters after a piece of pro-government graffiti saying “students, go to school” which, ironically, was misspelt] is located there. Citizens soon gathered to support her, but in response to the gathering, the thugs of the regime thugs also arrived, and a clash ensued. They were joined by police reinforcements.

The main demand of the students and demonstrators remains the calling of elections, which Vučić, following his apology, announced he would hold earlier than planned. Now the regime is behaving as if it were in an election campaign. 

But we must not lose sight of what the elections would actually serve to do at this moment, namely, to cut across the revolutionary mood that exists in Serbia and to return politics from the hands of the masses to the hands of politicians and the establishment. The fall of Vučić would be a great victory for the movement, but only then would it become fully apparent just how rotten the entire capitalist system is, and that the problem is not just Vučić's clique.

Serbian society has undergone a complete transformation in the past year. If, before the canopy collapsed, you had told someone that within a year, over a million people would take to the streets to protest against the regime, they would not have believed you. Nor would they believe you had you told them that students would occupy their universities, organise themselves into plenums, and offer leadership to the movement of those million people. 

You would not be believed if you said that people would organise themselves into assemblies, as action committees to organise broader sections of society. Or that teachers would have the most militant and inspiring strike yet, that several rallies of over 100,000 people would be held, that bikers and veterans would organise into self-defence units, and that this movement would shine with love and solidarity. Just over one year ago, many would have said you were dreaming. 

But this is the new Serbia, born of the masses, with the students at their head. This movement has shown what we communists have always said: once the masses are in motion, nothing can stop them.

A global economic crisis lies ahead, a direct product of the capitalist mode of production. As long as capitalism remains, we will face crises, wars, corruption, and more tragic events. However, the masses around the world, and especially the youth, are not remaining silent. In Serbia, this movement has given rise to a new generation of fighters, many of whom will look to continue the struggle and organise against this rotten system. 

If capitalism gives us no peace, then there should be no peace for the ruling class either. Defeating Vučić is the first stage of this process. But at the same time, we must preserve the wonderful energy of this movement as a lesson in what is possible, not to stop there, but to prepare for the even greater battles that await us in the future.