Protests in Serbia, as well as those organized earlier this year in Montenegro, although initially triggered by tragic events, reflect broader public dissatisfaction with governing policies, corruption, and institutional inefficiency, it was highlighted in the PROUDCAST of the Centre for Civic Education (CCE).
Željka Zvicer, Programme Associate at CCE, spoke about youth mobilisation, the causes and effects of the protests, and their future with Hana Rastoder, a director and student activist from Montenegro, and Pavle Cicvarić, a student activist from Serbia.
Cicvarić does not see the protests in Serbia, initiated after the collapse of a canopy in Novi Sad, as isolated incidents, but rather as part of continuous dissatisfaction among Serbian citizens with the authorities over the past five years. “Over the past several years in Serbia, we have had one large protest against the government that fluctuates in intensity and changes its focus, but the point is that there is an uprising in Serbia, a dissatisfaction that merely changes form,” Cicvarić emphasized.
As previous protests faded and lost momentum, one of the key questions is why the current uprising has persisted. Cicvarić links this to the level of repression exercised by the authorities against citizens. “The level of violence by the authorities increases year by year. A few years ago, a major incident would have been the arrest of a student or activist, while now there are so many arrests and so much repression that if you were to compare Serbia today and five years ago-these are not the same Serbias. Perhaps it is true what the saying goes: the more you corner a beast, the more dangerous it becomes,” Cicvarić noted.
Speaking about the protests led by the informal student group Kamo Śutra after the second mass killing in Cetinje, Hana Rastoder said that young people in Montenegro were inspired by their peers in Serbia and by a desire to respond to injustices caused by political actors.
“People took to the streets out of a sense of hurt, but also helplessness in the face of the limitless stupidity and incompetence of our politicians and the shameless ambition they displayed. This is not a problem of the current government alone, but a decades-long pattern in this part of the Balkans,” Rastoder said.
However, the protests faced challenges, including pressure and limited support, which eventually led to their decline. “Supporters of the former government also appeared at the protests. Then pressure began for us to clearly define ourselves – where we stand and whose side we are on, whom we support, who is welcome at the protests and who is not. Suddenly, the question of who we belong to became more important to the public than what we were actually fighting for – taking responsibility,” Rastoder explained.
Cicvarić believes that the absence of formal leadership in student protests can be an advantage, but that stronger coordination among groups would increase effectiveness. “When a movement has no leader, it is protected in the sense that a single person cannot be smeared or compromised. But I think there must be some form of structure or communication between different social groups. In Serbia, we have a broad front that often lacks contact groups within that front frequently do not communicate with one another,” Cicvarić stressed.
He reminded that the groups that make up the uprising include students, civic assemblies, the civil sector, and political parties, and he believes that at some point they will all have to unite. “As a kind of coordinated, broader revolt that will eventually be able to non-violently replace this government. They often take our statements out of context and accuse us of wanting to start revolutions. There is no talk of revolutions here this is about institutions that are not doing their job and a peaceful, institutional transition of power,” Cicvarić said, adding that he could not speak about potential unification into a political party or movement.
Both interlocutors emphasized that the non-violent character of the protests increases their strength, as the authorities do not know how to respond to peaceful demonstrations, and that any eventual success of the protests in Serbia would have a positive impact on the entire region.
Rastoder added that although the student movement in Montenegro did not fully achieve its goals, it contributed to a change in public consciousness. “Something in the collective consciousness has shifted, at least a little. And I believe that is precisely what our politicians fear. A shift in focus from trivial issues to concrete ones that affect citizens. Every type of protest, every demonstration that we can stand together in front of them, is a reason for fear for them,” Rastoder concluded.
The full PROUDCAST is available at the following link: https://youtu.be/Hn2oatDp73E
This PROUDCAST was produced as part of the REGIONAL PLENUM 2025 – Cracks in Democracy: Nationalism and Clericalism in the Western Balkans, organized by CCE, ADD, the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Sarajevo, and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES). The content of the programme is the sole responsibility of the participants.
Maja Marinović, program associate