The fourteen-year regime of Aleksandar Vučić is over. Serbia was liberated, as a result of resistance and widespread political and social mobilization at home and in the diaspora. The student-led movement marks a historic victory. Time will tell whether this mobilization and commitment will translate into lasting political and democratic change.
Vučić’s downfall is not proof that despotic powers can be defeated under normal conditions. When students have to abandon their classrooms to save their country, it does not mean that democracy is functioning properly. On the contrary, it is evidence of how the “stars” must align for a despotic power to be defeated.
The fact that the Student Movement, organized in a disciplined and decentralized manner, without financial resources, without leaders, without external support, without party infrastructure and without political experience, managed to defeat a powerful state machine based on clientelism will be studied at length in university courses or academic papers.
Vučić's power was based on control of political and economic life; patronage of public administration; subjugated media; exclusion and exclusion of political personalities in the party; division and seduction of the opposition; misuse of security and law enforcement institutions; corruption as a governing norm and alliance with organized crime. For a period of time, people got tired and gave up in the face of this model.
Everything began to change on November 1, 2024, when the concrete roof of a newly renovated railway station in Novi Sad collapsed. Sixteen people lost their lives, including children and students. Unlike previous scandals, to which citizens had reacted with indifference, this time the students stood up. Within a few months, they organized protests, open assemblies, where they discussed what to do next. They boycotted the auditoriums, marched hundreds of kilometers, slept in school gyms and talked to all classes and generations of society. From this dynamic, a leaderless political movement was later born, diverse in terms of values, from left to right, and representing different generations, on an electoral list, with the aim of liberating the state and building a democratic state.
Although this movement has faced a seemingly absolute power that controls state mechanisms, with attacks, threats, and arrests, it has maintained its non-violent character, proving that democracy can be practiced outside of traditional political institutions: in classrooms, streets, and squares, bringing together people who once had little reason to cooperate.
The victory of the students in Serbia, following the victory of Peter Magyar in Hungary, marks the end of the first generation of post-communist politicians. At the same time, it is a clear signal of hope for Albania. Despite the different circumstances and geopolitical orientation of our countries, Vučić's schemes and tactics to maintain power have taken root in Albania as well. In many cases, the inspirers are the same lobbyists, oligarchs, pollsters and all sorts of communication technologists.
It is not about the hope that one power can be replaced by another. But about the possibility of a democratic renewal, as a response to the disappointment and anger of a generation that has grown up amidst numerous scandals, countless difficulties and the same leaders. A generation that was born and grew up seeing the same problems, without receiving answers to them.
No one can stop the wind of change that is blowing in our region. A change that comes through solidarity, courage and joint social action. A change that will not be easy, will not come as a gift from abroad, nor the product of a group of people. On the contrary, it will come as a result of joint efforts that require strategy, concentration of forces, ethics, ideas and courage. This change begins with the separation of the state from power, rules of the game and equal political competition, democratic institutions, cutting the ties of organized crime and corruption. The best guarantee for this is civic interaction.
