When the state turns against its own citizens, resistance becomes duty?

David Dragičević Memorial in the Streets of Banja Luka Photo: Medullaoblongata Projekt (CC) commons.wikimedia.org

The same can be said about Serbia. The first outburst of protests against the president Aleksandar Vučić took place in April and May 2017 after his election as the new president. Similarly, they did not bring any alteration of power. Peoples of the Western Balkans are getting more and more tired and angry, so it was only a matter of time before a situation like the case of misconduct during an investigation in Banja Luka (the seat of the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina) or another unsolved murder in Belgrade turned into a fight against the authority’s incompetence and indifference.

A death that meant nothing?

On March 18th 2018, 21-year-old David Dragičević went out with his friends and never returned home. Declared missing the same day, he was found dead in Crkvena creek six days later. Although the police first said he probably drowned, his parents have continued to insist that their son was murdered and have alleged a police cover-up. On July 4th of that year it was confirmed that an order had been issued to carry out an investigation into unknown persons for murder, but the failure of the police to fully resolve the case has been at the centre of public attention and triggered public protests. David’s father, Davor, also announced a list of demands which included the resignation of police and prosecution officials over their alleged involvement in covering up evidence in his son’s murder, and the arrest of individuals he claimed were involved.

A Facebook group called Justice for David (Pravda za Davida), which now has more than 300,000 members, was created the day the murder was announced; it was also the first day of demonstrations at Krajina Square in Banja Luka, now known as “David’s Square”. Soon, the protests spread beyond the city: in May large protests were organised in Zenica, Tuzla and Sarajevo. In Sarajevo, several hundred people demanded justice for Dragičević and Dženan Memić, who died in February 2017 (while the prosecutor’s office said he was injured in a traffic accident, his family do not accept the explanation, pointing to a number of irregularities.) Massive protests were held in April and then again in July and October – on the eve of Bosnia’s parliamentary election, 40,000 demonstrated. What is important is that they all had the form of unauthorised public gatherings and, as such, were held until December 25th – when they were stopped by the violent intervention of the police of Republika Srpska.

Perceiving the protests as illegal, the police arrested, detained and later released, Davor Dragičević and several opposition politicians – thus triggering even more clashes with the police. Dragičević was arrested for failing to respond to a summons to a court hearing over charges of “endangering security” during a protest in front of the parliament of Republika Srpska. They also filed a report to the prosecutor’s office against persons under the suspicion of posing a security threat since, unofficially, he has gone into hiding. What is more, police removed the improvised shrine set up in the square and announced that they would not tolerate any more gatherings in the location. Despite those developments, people kept demonstrating after New Year’s Eve, but it did not last long after the local authorities ended it. While David’s body was reburied in Wiener Neustadt in Austria, those who still believe in the fight keep lighting candles at the cathedral in the centre of Banja Luka.

Does one make a difference?

In the current political climate, the elites-citizens clash seems to be inevitable and Bosnia is not the only hotspot in the Western Balkans. Since December last year, tens of thousands of protesters have been marching through the streets of Belgrade in Serbia. The “one of five million” protests, which is a reference to Vučić’s quote that he would not talk to those demonstrating even if five million of them came out on the streets, organised by the Protest Against Dictatorship group, were triggered by the murder of a Kosovo Serb politician, Oliver Ivanović, who, having expressed growing opposition to the policies of the Belgrade government, was shot dead in Mitrovica. The public mood was also shaped by the attacks on journalist Milan Jovanović and opposition politician Borko Stefanović.

Consequently, on Saturdays, thousands of protesters have been gathering in Belgrade, marching against, what they call, the political violence of the ruling party and its officials. Expressing cross-border solidarity, protesters also raise their fists in a sign of support for Davor Dragičević. They are pressuring Vučić and the government led by his Serbian Progressive Party to resolve the murder and bring back a free media. Their specific demands include: air time for protest representatives in the mainstream news; a regular presence of opposition politicians on the public broadcaster, RTS; the resignation of the interior minister due to his alleged role in the criminalisation of society and insulting protesters; and a proper supervision of the electoral process. Those calls are supported not only by ordinary citizens, but also several hundred professors, actors, artists and other public figures – not only in Belgrade, but also Novi Sad and Kragujevac. Moreover, other cities joined the capital in hosting protests, including Novi Sad, Zrenjanin and Pančevo. In places like Zaječar and Kruševac, demonstrators emphasised local problems, blaming the ruling Progressive Party.

As in Bosnia, the demonstrations in Belgrade escalated into violence. On March 16th, protesters stormed the building of the Serbian national broadcaster, RTS, and were violently thrown out by police. While some of the protesters were injured in the process, clashes broke out between protesters and police on the street outside – the authorities used tear gas to disperse the crowd. The following day, while Vučić was holding a press conference inside the Serbian presidency building, protesters gathered outside and again clashed with the police. Several were arrested, some were kept in custody, while others were handed misdemeanour charges. However, after a public outcry caused by the arrest of an 18-year-old student, Vučić offered a pardon to all those facing charges and appealed to the court to drop the charges. Yet, while the demonstrations are losing their velocity, their participants have not stopped.

The political vacuum of a captured state

It has been staggering to see how similar the reactions of the authorities were in both countries; they were more than eager to pretend there was nothing unusual going on and blamed the protesters for destabilising the situation. Milorad Dodik, leader of the ruling SNSD party in Republika Srpska and the Serb member of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency, labelled the protests as political and claimed their aim was to topple the government and accused the opposition of politicising the demonstrations. Yet, in contrast to Banja Luka and Dodik, Vučić claimed he was ready to listen to the protesters and change what is not right. While the people of Bosnia are used to the discourse of victimhood, Vučić’s empty promises designed to calm down the situation clearly show how secure and untouchable this former hard-line nationalist and born again pro-European reformer feels. Despite the presence of international organisations and the ongoing EU accession process, threats and promises serve the same goal – to remove people from the streets and leave power in the same hands. Interestingly enough, in parallel to the unrest, he is running his own campaign called “The Future of Serbia”, which promotes his “achievements” in his years in power.

The truth is that in the Republika Srpska – a unit of Bosnia and Herzegovina ruled by Dodik and his cronies in a quasi-authoritarian way – the opposition does not have much to say. In Serbia, a role model for the Dodik, the situation is similar, but the opposition tries to react to Vučić’s “one man rule”. On February 6th opposition parties from different backgrounds, but who are members of the “Alliance of Serbia”, presented their plan. The so-called “Agreement with the People” expresses their commitment to protect press freedom and to ensure free and fair elections. They promised not to participate in any elections or in the work of the current parliament until the proposed criteria are met. They agreed on the need to form a joint election list and to work on forming a transitional “expert” government with a one-year mandate.

Despite all of this, the opposition in Serbia has not used the opportunity to create a strong and unanimous message – instead the stage has been taken over by an extreme-right party, Dveri, and its leader, Boško Obradović, who is consequently replacing civic dialog with one built around the narrative of “Kosovo betrayal”. During the march on April 13th, opposition leaders for the first time took the leadership of the rally instead of the organisers. Despite the fact they marched carrying a banner with the slogan “All as one”, for many people that means the protests have turned into a political tool of pushing Vučić’s administration out instead of changing the system towards the direction of freedom and democracy.

A long race

In countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, democracy and the rule of law are victims of the delusive notion of political stability. Massive protests and riots do not belong to this picture. What is more, all those problems are symptoms of the same sickness – state capture. Private interests visibly influence the state’s decision-making processes to their own advantage while the population remains deeply sceptical of a political class ruling in the interest of the elite, not the people. In February 2014 Bosnia and Herzegovina, struck by political battles and deadlocks between the elites, saw demonstrations that arose out of long-simmering anger at mismanagement, slow economic growth, unemployment and corruption which united people of different nationalities and led to the resignations of four regional prime ministers in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, by April 2014 the protests faded away. The same happened with the 2017 anti-Vučić demonstrations in Serbia.

It is already well-known that Pravda za Davida, the group set up on Facebook, is not going to change anything. The momentum has passed. In Serbia, the scale and manoeuvres of the organisers are similar to the demonstrations of 1996-97 and 2000 (which brought down Milošević’s regime), but the activity of right-wing politicians questions the civic character of the current protests. The fact that both countries have been captured by the elite and function in a climate of political violence, their monopolising power means that citizens are forced to be passive and subjected to populist and nationalist propaganda. They have been threatened and arrested – and some have been charged. What is now at stake is not only the rule of law, but also the public’s right to resist. If they are going to win back their own states, they need to get ready for a marathon – as it is going to be long race.

Aleksandra Zdeb is a researcher and photographer. Her work concentrates on the post-Yugoslav area, conflict management, democratisation and minorities.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, protests, Serbia