Serbia is a typical example of showing that these types of powers cannot be defeated by normal means, that the method to combat them is not to chase after elections, like a bull after a red rag, but to destroy, weaken, delegitimize and subjugate them, through methods that are mostly considered illegal or violent by the ruling class.
By Andi Bushati
The heavy blow that Aleksandar Vučić’s state party received in Sunday’s elections in Serbia has reopened a debate that has been raging here for a long time, whether it is possible to get rid of an autocratic regime through elections. The diverse list of Serbian students, made up of professors, athletes, farmers and doctors, is thought to have won 135-140 deputies in a parliament with 250 seats, thus creating the illusion that the scores with a clique of usurpers can be settled through the ballot box.
The 13-year-old Serbian progressive government had all the tools at its disposal to prevent the rotation. They controlled the country’s economic life and had far more money at their disposal than their competitors, who followed the tactic of meeting voters door to door. They had strong connections with criminal groups, which they used to fight with masks and clubs against protesters who had been marching tirelessly for two years in the streets of Belgrade, Novi Sad and smaller cities. They dominated a media apparatus of TV and newspapers, public and private, that carried out the autocrat’s propaganda from morning to night. They had put under the hooves of polling companies, most of which, until the last few days, had predicted a race with a photo finish and not the clear result that we see before our eyes today.
Then the question arises: How was Vučić’s downfall possible? Is a new, credible opposition, a popular mobilization enough to win elections that are not free, fair and equal, as they always are under an autocratic regime? Of course not! Serbia is a typical example of how this type of power cannot be defeated in normal ways, that the method of fighting it is not to run after the elections, like a bull after a red rag, but to weaken, delegitimize and subjugate it, through methods that are mostly considered illegal or violent by the ruling class.
In fact, to understand the miracle of this October 25, it is not enough to see only the result that is coming out of the boxes, but the entire two-year trajectory of an epic clash. Since November 2024, when a train station shelter in Novi Stadt collapsed and caused 16 victims, our neighboring country has not found peace. Students, later supported by citizens, blocked the country’s main roads, showed themselves ready to clash with the police, stormed universities, and burned down the headquarters of the ruling party. They resisted numerous policemen, rubber batons, tear gas, water cannons, and stun guns. They clashed with masked paramilitaries and responded to their violence with violence. They mocked Vučić’s labels, which are as similar as two drops of water to those of Edi Rama today. Even the Serbian autocrat accused his opponents of being Nazis, then of serving foreign interests, then of wanting to hold back the country’s progress, mocking them for being few and unorganized. The answer they presented to society was clear: either choose the future of Serbia, or choose the mafia.
This intense struggle, sometimes peaceful and sometimes violent, sometimes massive and sometimes less so, began to erode the power of the Serbian autocrat. Vučić became untrustworthy after he decided to identify himself with the nation and sell it as the only progress for its future. He became ridiculous when he painted those genuine students as “terrorists”, “fascists”, “traitors”. He lost confidence as a factor of stability when he could not defeat them, neither with police violence, nor with the batons of the paramilitaries who came out to the city to beat the young people. His cult of invincibility collapsed when the demonstrators dared to burn down the headquarters of the PSP and when they occupied the universities, joining forces with the teachers.
So, if you follow the trajectory of this Serbian revolution step by step, it is not simply the story of an autocrat who is overthrown through elections, but the effort of a daily battle, often harsh and violent, often intelligent and peaceful, to erode, reduce, shrink and weaken his power. The current October 25 was reached only after this two-year process that took both to finally tear up Vučić’s propaganda postcard and to kill fear by overthrowing the myth of the man who is supported by the strong.
In this sense, the Serbian miracle can serve as a user manual for anyone who has embraced, here in our country, first the flamingo revolution, and then its inevitable radical turn. All those who want its success do not have to be seduced by the deceptive sirens of those who preach that students should create parties, that flamingos should choose representatives to dialogue with the government, since in a democracy everything is decided only through elections. The example that comes to us from Belgrade is that, yes, elections will be reached one day, but that first of all we must continue on the path started in Tirana.
That of shaking the regime day after day, that of provocation to reveal its most criminal and insane side to everyone, that of clashing, to weaken it as much as possible, before it reaches the ballot boxes. Our autocrat, who has been paying the same spin doctors as his Slavic brother for years, has so far pursued the same wrong responses as Vučić. He has equated himself with the state, embraced conspiracy theories of a foreign hand, denigrated the protesters and used the most violent means at his disposal to crush the demonstrators. But this has produced only one effect, the final collapse of the facade as a democrat and, on the other hand, the killing of fear by his violence. Therefore, we are today, more or less like Serbia of about a year or two ago, and if we know how to follow the same path more resolutely, then our regime can collapse on its own, without having any parties competing in the elections, but simply from a list of professors, doctors, or craftsmen simply elected by student representatives, whose merit was that they so much flattered Vučić’s clique that they turned the elections into almost a formality. (Lapsi.al)