A recent series of protests, culminating with the gathering at Belgrade’s Slavija Square on Sunday, December 22, made international headlines. The news outlets tend to portray them as rallies against the populist government of our Supreme Commander, caused by the Novi Sad railway station accident that killed 15 people. Articles cite accusations about President Vucic’s undemocratic tendencies, widespread discontent with his rule, his broken promises about the ascension to European Union membership, and widespread corruption.

So most, if not all, of those people protesting against him and his right-wing coalition – students, university teachers, farmers, and those showing support for them – must be pro-democracy, pro-EU, and fighting for a political system based on the rule of law, and respect for human and civil rights, where criminals are prosecuted and sent to prison, right? Right?

Don’t get your hopes up. Polls conducted by Serbian civil society and a few press outlets that still aren’t under government control regularly show that Serbian people are as statist, populist, and subservient as they’ve been during the period of Milosevic’s Yogurt Revolution in 1988-1989. which brought about the Yugoslav tragedy by promising to get rid of corrupt officials and protect the interests of Serbs, as they had in 2012. when Vucic’s far-right platform was elected after a campaign of anti-corruption, nationalist, and anti-Western slogans.

For example, a Western Balkans Security Barometer survey, titled There is No Democracy in Serbia, nor is it Desirable, tells us that 31 percent of respondents think that there is no democracy in Serbia, with another 50 percent feeling that democracy in Serbia exists with bigger or smaller problems.

The authors note that:

“…The question however arises as to whether the citizens of Serbia even care about democracy. Namely, according to the findings of this survey, a large number of citizens have nothing against autocracy and even favor that form of government. Almost a quarter of the respondents are of the opinion that democracy is desirable, but that in the current conditions, we do need a ‘strong hand’, while one-fifth of them believe that all regimes are the same. Young people, residents of Central and Western Serbia, and citizens with incomplete primary education are also among those who believe that all
regimes are the same…as one of the focus group participants put it, a political leader should have Vučić’s skills, but he should work in the interest of his people and not in the interest of others’. So, what Serbia actually needs is a ‘new Vučić’.“

National Youth Council of Serbia, in its 2024 Alternative report on the position and needs of young people in the Republic of Serbia, finds that 57 percent of young people (aged 15 to 30 years old) in Serbia feel that we need a strong leader.

31.7 percent believe that Serbia should reassert its rule over the breakaway province of Kosovo by military force.

36 percent have a negative attitude towards the EU, while 44 percent are neutral, and 39 percent think that Serbia shouldn’t join it, while 22 percent responded that they are neutral.

Being neutral and bragging about how politics doesn’t interest you is a common trait in autocratic societies. It makes you look unsullied by supposedly dirty politics.

But actions speak louder than words. A common tactic of the current Serbian government in breaking up protests that it didn’t sanction is to hire hooligans to beat up the protesters or try to run them over with cars, which is done more easily owing to the fact that the recent wave of protests includes mandatory moments of “dignified” silence in memory of the Novi Sad accident while standing still for 15 minutes. Sometimes, higher-ranking members of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party do the beating themselves. You’d think that a miffed mass of mostly younger people would make short work of such violent idiots, and pitchforks would soon come for our Dear Leader. You guessed wrong. They stand still, with “dignity”, because most people here are taught that you need to suffer through life.

But anti-corruption protesters do get muscular if someone brings an EU flag to the protests.

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Protesters and their supporters, both online and in real life, insist that protests have nothing to do with politics and are asking the opposition parties to stay out of it, so they don’t “ruin it”.

What we have here in Serbia is one of those “you asked for it, you got it” situations. Elect strongman leaders, and they’ll show you how much stronger they are than a rabble asking for a non-political, neutral solution to a dysfunctional political system, with which the majority is dissatisfied, to begin with, all the while virtue signaling that you are a true Serbian patriot that hates the satanic EU and just wants the corruption to be fought against, the same way Russell Crowe fights cancer in South Park – by beating up the cancer patient.