President Vučić and the Philosopher's Stone

"Soon the day will dawn when we will be lapping up the slop of freedom," and I inadvertently recalled the famous revolutionary, visionary saying of the colorful servant Bole from the even more famous film "Black Gruja and the Philosopher's Stone" while watching the large Sunday protests against the regime of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. As much as it may sound callous and provocative, the entire current political situation in Serbia resembles the adventures from "Black Gruja" in many ways, only that no one in a dramatically divided Serbia has the time or the will to recognize the comic aspects of Serbia's present in these popular films amidst serious political tensions. 

Sunday's protest, and especially the Saturday intrusion of demonstrators into the Radio Television of Serbia building, showed everyone in Serbia who wants to notice that the "1 in 5 million" protests have entered a new, very sensitive phase. The authorities, or more precisely – the regime, can no longer simply ignore the protests and push away all those who unconditionally disagree with the leader, outside of life, outside of reality, pretend they don't exist. It has become clear to Vučić and the narrow circle around him that the levers of the regime are facing entirely new challenges, and the authorities are unsure if they have the ability to respond to them. 

If his mind is as politically brilliant as the wide circle within his structures presents it, Vučić should understand that the shift in the manner of protesting (however accidental the RTS intrusion may have been) is a direct consequence of his treatment of the protests. The complete disregard for protest marches, the media blockade carried out by regime media when it comes to reporting on protest gatherings, and the constant messages that they will not talk to demonstrators and the opposition leading them, have simply led people in the streets to realize that there is no other way but to resort to more radical methods in the fight against the regime. However, his appearance at a press conference exactly at noon on Sunday went in precisely the opposite direction – arrogant humiliation of citizens in the streets, criminalization of all who are not loyal followers of the Serbian Progressive Party, and labeling opposition leaders as individuals in the service of Kosovo or Croatia, were the only messages from that press conference, scheduled during the dramatic events the night before in the Radio Television of Serbia building. This essentially means that the Serbian president, through his address, has radically intensified his governing model – the policy of a divided country!  

Why did everything escalate into a kind of takeover of state television? The protests have been going on for a full three months, and during that time, not a single politician, intellectual, public figure of any profile who would express the views of the demonstrators, or say anything that was not in absolute accordance with the official line of Vučić's regime, has appeared on Radio Television of Serbia. All that the public service has offered citizens since the beginning of the protests is about thirty seconds to a minute of airtime, and that in the latter part of the evening news. Even during Sunday's protests, Radio Television of Serbia showed not only absolute unprofessionalism but also a complete lack of sense and feel for reality. There were no recordings or messages from the demonstrations in front of the Presidency building anywhere on national television – what was happening at that moment was explained to the public by President Vučić himself, presenting to the citizens of Serbia how many demonstrators there were and who these people were – tycoons, criminals, pedophiles, servants of Tači and Haradinaj, Croats and various political centers, states hostile or unfavorable to Serbia, and international circles. For Vučić at this moment, it is clearly most important to discredit the three opposition leaders – Boško Obradović, Dragan Đilas, and Vuk Jeremić. Aleksandar Vučić's tone, however, clearly showed one thing – the regime is in fear and a kind of confusion about how to respond. 

At the same time, it is entirely appropriate to ask – who is the regime actually afraid of. The opposition, which allegedly leads the citizen protests, is very diverse and, apart from overthrowing Vučić, has no other serious common political ground or goal. They act without any political platform, without vision, and without strategy, which certainly discourages the more aware part of Serbian society that does not support Vučić's rule from unequivocally joining the demonstrations and participating in this rebellion against the regime, or rather against a model of governance in which one man holds all the levers. The political differences among them are huge, from the pro-fascist Dveri of Boško Obradović to the leftist groups within other parties of that informal bloc. It is impossible to even imagine them as a serious political group that can act together on any rational political platform. Their only common point is the overthrow of the regime. 

No one anymore, not even the very top of Vučić's ruling pyramid, can know for sure what will happen, let alone control the situation. It truly seems that Vučić firmly holds the levers of power at this moment, from the army, police, and gendarmerie to the media. However, it should be remembered that Slobodan Milošević, even on that October morning in 2000 when he was overthrown, was convinced that he was firmly in control of the levers of power – and he fell before nightfall. Perhaps it is an awkward comparison, but both Milošević and Vučić had real wolves against them – Slobo Vuk Drašković, and Vučić Vuk Jeremić – and both faced mass protests for the same reason – defeat in Kosovo.