Serbian paranoid political discourse, whenever foreign (read: Western) influence in Serbia is discussed (which is 24/7), sounds like Lord Melchett of Blackadder lamenting how, “As private parts to the gods are we, they play with us for their sport.”
NIN learned from “sources” that “Leading embassies of Western countries in Serbia are against holding elections. Foreign diplomats believe that elections carry risks and could lead to a situation in which no one recognises the results, which would automatically result in an even greater conflict”.
Oh my goodness, an even greater conflict. Ragnarök of opposing sides writing insulting graffiti on each other’s homes, perhaps. Or perhaps even more gray-haired “students”, joined by Miša Bačulov, a Muay Thai fighter and coach from Novi Sad, who had scuffles with the police.
The whole notion of someone being in contact with “Western diplomats” is a tactic to paint people as traitors working for foreign interests (read: Western interests) and to scapegoat locally made Serbian problems on foreign interference. The rest of the text mainly tries to present the Serbian ruling Progressive Party and the student ticket as the only relevant factors in Serbian politics. You know that sooper-dooper student election ticket that has been 99 percent complete, supported by 99 percent of the people, according to Serbian LinkedIn users and YouTubers. 99 Luftballons of everything in existence.
EVERYTHING must be 99 percent. 100 percent, or 114 percent, like Saddam Hussein’s election victories would be suspicious. And as usual, present the opposition parties as “…as usual, fragmented. No one shares the same position or goals, and in addition, there is no communication among party leaders.”
The mythical student election ticket is a shining example of the Serbian student protesters’ cluelessness – their electoral list will be free of, get this, ruling party figures. This kind of idiocy stems from the Serbian political discourse’s obsession with “untarnished” people that didn’t get “soiled” by “dirty” politics.
“The list will feature fresh faces, individuals without prior political ambitions, untainted by political controversies, schemes, or corruption, he said. Ideology isn’t our main focus. We are looking for people who don’t hold extremist views. What we need is unity despite ideological differences.”, Faculty of Political Sciences student Aleksa Simic said in an interview with N1 television.
Schrödinger’s cats of the Serbian apolitical political lunatic asylum fighting each other over an imaginary ball of string.
“Only unity saves the Serb” (Samo sloga Srbina spasava) is a common patriotic cry here. Presenting the opposition as feuding and fragmented serves the purpose of portraying them as unpatriotic, unwilling to sacrifice their particular interests and values for a Higher Cause. We’re not really big on pluralism here, ya know.
While ignoring the moderate parties and West-blaming everything, the legacy media and netizens who support the student movement are still pushing political figures associated with the Milosevic regime as “outspoken opponents of the Vučić regime”. Nemanja Šarović, Vučić’s former party comrade from the days when they were both members of the far-right Serbian Radical Party and one of the participants at the grotesque public funeral of Slobodan Milošević, is being portrayed as a courageous journalist, while lawyer Ivan Ninić, also a former member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party, is hailed as a victim of satanization by the government-affiliated online smear campaigns.
Serbianism 