Resistance today is not a political whim, but a matter of humanity, is one of the key messages of the show Civic Corner, produced by the Centre for Civic Education (CCE) on TVE. Issues of civic resistance in contemporary authoritarian societies, student protests in Serbia, citizens’ protests in Montenegro, and deep political and social crises in Bosnia and Herzegovina were discussed by Paula Petričević, philosopher, publicist and activist from Kotor; Ana Mirković, psychologist and Executive Director of the Institute for Digital Communications from Belgrade; and Vildana Selimbegović, Editor-in-Chief of Oslobođenje from Sarajevo, in a conversation with Zvezdana Kovač, Strategy and Outreach Director at the CCE.
Commenting on the protests in Serbia, Ana Mirković emphasised that it had been assumed that exhaustion and delay would discourage young people and citizens of Serbia who are now bringing different values and a different language into the public sphere. “This is something that provides extraordinary hope at a time when there is actually little room for hope. The more we know about the current moment, the more discouraged we become; yet, at the same time, when something completely unexpected happens in an environment that seemed to have given up on itself, you realise that a serious change has occurred”, said Mirković.
„I think that resistance is truly a matter of mental health today, of mental hygiene, and that that refusing to accept what is happening to us is also a test of humanity, a test of personality “, stressed Mirković, reflecting on protests through the lens of mental health and the psychological patterns of authoritarianism.
She particularly singled out the moment when students told the President of Serbia “you are not competent”. “That is crucial. At that moment they completely decultivated his cult of personality,” she explained. „We have a man who is extremely intolerant, full of aggression and rage. It is an unbearable, pathological hatred towards anyone who does not support that toxic regime,” she added, describing the personality of the President of Serbia.
Mirković also pointed out that the new student movement differs from previous ones and that it is a generation that does not like leaders. She noted that during the student marches she did not notice a single conflict situation. „Not a single inappropriate tone of voice. And so much care, so much tenderness, so much love and empathy,“ she described the atmosphere surrounding the marches.
Speaking about the Kamo śutra movement, Paula Petričević emphasised that it is very difficult for those protests to be successful if they are not supported by a sufficient number of persistent people. “Spinning started, targeting started,” she said, adding that she has the impression that political life in Montenegro, aside from what happens behind closed doors, is reduced to blatant PR. „They were labelled as supporters of the ousted regime, the DPS, political opportunists, ‘spoiled kids’, and so on. Serious strength and endurance are needed to withstand and survive that kind of dragging through the media mud,“ stated Petričević, emphasising that there are those who continue that struggle. „These are those who are not sufficiently visible in the Montenegrin public life – families of the victims, the citizens of Cetinje,“ she explained.
Petričević criticised the institutional approach to protests. „Instead of considering what people are telling you with their bodies, you threaten to criminalise their form of resistance. You tell a woman who lost both her son and grandson – you are deliberately obstructing the tourist season in Montenegro. That is truly disgusting“, said Petričević. She added that society has long been accustomed to hatred and revisionism. „These are all elements of a climate that starts with relativisation, moves through revisionism, and ends to the rewriting of history, always going one step further,“ she warned.
Petričević particularly underscored the role of education. „I also work in a school as a philosophy teacher. Education is a very important element for us – but education that will stop being authoritarian and will enable people to leave these institutions as critical thinkers,“ she assessed.
Speaking about the essence of authoritarian governance in the region, Vildana Selimbegović emphasised that behind the “grand patriotic stories” there are very often personal interests and material gain. „All the big stories of all the great patriots and the great love for the state have always been money“, said Selimbegović. “When we draw the line, we see that our authoritarian leaders fight for their brothers, for their mates, those closest ones, for their family. How else do politicians with average salaries manage to travel through Budapest, Belgrade, Bar, Kotor, Neum, Makarska?” she asked, asserting that change does not come from political elites but from citizens. „Of course, there is no change without political will – but it is the will of the citizens, the will of these students, the will of these young people“, she emphasised.
Speaking about the situation in B&H, she warned that threats reminiscent of the war period have re-emerged in recent years. „These are the secessionist demands of Milorad Dodik, his threats to the European path of Bosnia and Herzegovina, everything that has been happening to us, which has literally brought the country to the brink of expelling foreign diplomats“, she said, recalling also the case of the expulsion of the German minister from Republika Srpska. „You know, unlike Serbia which has one Vučić, we had three of them. With us, Dodik was specific and he really demonstrated and proved in that race, and also received judicial confirmation, that he is the worst“, stated Selimbegović.
Commenting on attempts to organise civic protests in B&H, she assessed that they encountered obstacles due to the complex political system. „Our civic plenums did not endure for long, among other things, because of that complicated Bosnian arrangement, not to say the way in which nationalists fight“, she concluded.
The full programme is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xeqI6mJga8
The programme was produced within the framework of the REGIONAL PLENUM 2025 – Cracks in Democracy: Nationalism and Clericalism in the Western Balkans, organised by CCE, the Regional Academy for Democratic Development (ADD), the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Sarajevo, and the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). The content of the programme reflects exclusively the views of the participants.
Maja Marinović, Programme Associate