© Marko Djurica/Reuters
Decine di migliaia di persone sono tornate ieri sera dalle 19 per celebrare la vittoria alle elezioni della Studentska Lista in piazza Slavija, nel centro di Belgrado, nella quale il 22 ottobre è stato tenuto il grande comizio elettorale di chiusura e dove la scorsa notte si è festeggiato.
Sul palco un dj ha fatto ballare la folla tra i fuochi d’artificio, mentre un analogo festeggiamento si è svolto anche a Novi Sad, la città universitaria dove è iniziata la protesta studentesca due anni fa.
L'articolo Migliaia di persone in piazza a Belgrado: la festa per la vittoria della lista studentesca proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.
Alexander Stubb and Jonas Gahr Støre held ‘substantive’ talk with Russian president on peace negotiations, but faced sceptical reactions from some European leaders
Meanwhile, Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, has warned that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “testing us and testing Nato’s resolve” as he condemned hybrid threats and “state-sponsored terrorism” from Russia.
Streeting repeated his recent warnings that “we have to be ready for a scenario in which the United Kingdom and the Nato alliance finds itself at war with Russia”. He went on:
Not because we want war – we have no quarrel with the Russian people, and we have no desire for war with Russia; Nato is a defensive alliance – but when Putin gives assurances that he has no intentions to provoke a war with Nato, we are reminded of what he said about Ukraine only days before the invasion.
The more ready we are to face against Russia, to defend every inch of Nato territory, the less likely we are to find ourselves in that scenario.
Poland is one of our greatest and certainly our most reliable friend in Europe, and we value and treasure this friendship very much.
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© Photograph: Heiko Junge/Pool NTB/AP
© Photograph: Heiko Junge/Pool NTB/AP
© Photograph: Heiko Junge/Pool NTB/AP
Alexander Stubb and Jonas Gahr Støre held ‘substantive’ talk with Russian president on peace negotiations, but faced sceptical reactions from some European leaders
Meanwhile, Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, has warned that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “testing us and testing Nato’s resolve” as he condemned hybrid threats and “state-sponsored terrorism” from Russia.
Streeting repeated his recent warnings that “we have to be ready for a scenario in which the United Kingdom and the Nato alliance finds itself at war with Russia”. He went on:
Not because we want war – we have no quarrel with the Russian people, and we have no desire for war with Russia; Nato is a defensive alliance – but when Putin gives assurances that he has no intentions to provoke a war with Nato, we are reminded of what he said about Ukraine only days before the invasion.
The more ready we are to face against Russia, to defend every inch of Nato territory, the less likely we are to find ourselves in that scenario.
Poland is one of our greatest and certainly our most reliable friend in Europe, and we value and treasure this friendship very much.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Heiko Junge/Pool NTB/AP
© Photograph: Heiko Junge/Pool NTB/AP
© Photograph: Heiko Junge/Pool NTB/AP
Benjamin Netanyahu is in the fight of his political life. Voters in Israel are heading to the polls on Tuesday to decide an election that could determine whether Netanyahu will remain the country's prime minister (and affect the outcome of the corruption charges against him). But the Israeli election also arrives at a time when voters around the world seem to be rejecting authoritarianism. A student-run movement stunned the world on Sunday when its candidates routed Serbia's long-serving leader, Aleksandar Vučić. That same day, Brazilians beat back a campaign by Flávio Bolsonaro – the son of Jair Bolsonaro, the disgraced former president – in a historic upset. Carter Sherman speaks to Julian Borger, the Guardian’s senior international correspondent, about how these four elections could reshape the political world order in just 10 days, and why the upcoming US midterm elections are the biggest test for global democracy.
Julian Borger on 10 days that could shake the world
© Photograph: Grid
© Photograph: Grid
© Photograph: Grid
La clamorosa vittoria della gioventù serba ricorda alla politica l’esistenza di un bene comune invisibile ma fondamentale: la trasparenza della Pubblica Amministrazione.
E’ noto che il movimento studentesco abbia preso le mosse da un fatto tragico: il crollo della pensilina esterna alla stazione di Novi Sad nel 2024, dove morirono sedici persone. Un fatto che agli occhi e ai cuori della migliore gioventù serba ha rappresentato la manifestazione più tangibile della corruzione sistemica che affligge la Serbia.
La rivolta, che ha avuto il pregio eccezionale di trasformarsi in progetto politico-elettorale alternativo, ha messo al centro una verità spesso marginalizzata nel discorso politico: la democrazia, per realizzare la promessa costituzionale di essere emancipante, deve essere liberata dalla corruzione in tutte le sue declinazioni. Perché la corruzione della Pubblica Amministrazione uccide.
La corruzione non è soltanto mal costume, non è soltanto abuso di potere normalizzato in una società sempre più brutale e feroce che induce a scommettere sulla protezione del “clan” al quale si giura fedeltà, la corruzione infine produce morte, perché al fondo di tutto ciò che non si fa e che invece si sarebbe potuto fare o che si fa male mentre si sarebbe potuto fare meglio ci sono vite spezzate. Quasi sempre peraltro le vite che soccombono sono quelle dei più marginali.
Quale che sia la “faccia” della corruzione, che non sempre prevede la “mazzetta”, perché nella sua forma più subdola e inafferrabile diventa clientelismo, familismo, nepotismo, “giro-giusto”, baronismo, auto promozione spregiudicata di sistemi di relazioni che insieme crescono e insieme cascano, la corruzione uccide.
La possibilità stessa che una democrazia possa attivare politiche adeguate per l’accesso alla casa, alla sanità, al lavoro, alla scuola, alla giustizia, alla sicurezza dipende da una Pubblica Amministrazione trasparente e imparziale.
Chiunque di noi saprebbe fare molteplici esempi di quanta vita è stata sacrificata in Italia a causa della corruzione, quante morti sull’altare “dell’una mano lava l’altra e due mani lavano il viso”. Il contrasto alla corruzione passa certo attraverso precise norme penali, che questo governo ha sabotato a cominciare dall’abolizione del reato di abuso d’ufficio, passa dal rispetto di una Autorità indipendente come l’Anac, che questo governo ha bersagliato di critiche delegittimanti, ma passa soprattutto attraverso una attenzione costante e consapevole che si rifletta nel discorso pubblico dei leader politici che cercano il consenso elettorale.
Non si tratta di burocratizzare ulteriormente i meccanismi di formale prevenzione della corruzione: il rischio infatti è quello di moltiplicare carte col “copia-incolla”, del tutto inutili a modificare la situazione.
Bisognerebbe invece che le forze alternative alle destre meloniane prendessero alcuni impegni concreti come la difesa efficace di chi segnala illeciti nella Pubblica Amministrazione (i cosiddetti whistleblower che invece, e nonostante le norme approvate, vengono spesso isolati e penalizzati), il contrasto alle Slapp (le azioni legati pretestuose contro gli attivisti sociali e i giornalisti), il contrasto alla precarizzazione dei giornalisti (che spesso lavorano in condizioni di grave vulnerabilità), il contrasto alla opaca gestione dei rapporti tra portatori di interessi (lobbisti) e personale politico. Una “agenda per la trasparenza” quanto vale in Italia?
In Serbia ha fatto la differenza, contribuendo a sconfiggere anche l’orrore del nazionalismo più spietato a cui Vucic ha cercato fino all’ultimo di aggrapparsi, beatificando con i funerali di Stato il “macellaio di Srebrenica”.
L'articolo La vittoria della gioventù serba ricorda l’esistenza di un bene fondamentale: la trasparenza della Pa proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.
Binbag-wielding volunteers clear encampment used by thugs to intimidate opponents of deposed government
Student List cleaned up at Serbia’s parliamentary elections. So it was only fitting that the morning after a night of raucous celebrations, the movement’s supporters were gathering, bin bags in hand, at Pioneers Park, opposite the national assembly building in Belgrade.
For the previous 18 months, this small patch of greenery – with its established trees and playground – had been a no-go zone. A pro-government camp known as Ćaciland had taken over the space with convicted criminals living there in white tents, happy to attack journalists, or anyone else who came too close. Police stood by but did nothing to prevent the violence.
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© Photograph: Andrej Ivanov/Getty Images
© Photograph: Andrej Ivanov/Getty Images
© Photograph: Andrej Ivanov/Getty Images
I saw a remarkable experiment take shape in Belgrade. Its lessons should be studied by other European countries struggling with unrest
More than a decade ago, the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told an interviewer in Belgrade that Serbia was “a country where the future happens first”. The phrase circulated widely on Serbian social media in the weeks before Sunday’s election, but in a way that could not have seemed possible 10 years ago. Who would then have imagined that Serbia today could be at the forefront of global democratic change?
The images from Belgrade on Sunday night – people dancing and crying in the streets, while in Novi Sad, the city that sparked the student movement, a flag bearing the image of the convicted war criminal Vojislav Šešelj, which had hung from a building since the 1990s, was torn down – reinforced the feeling that the future had truly arrived.
Aleksandar Matković is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology in Barcelona and a fellow at the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. He works on environmental history, political economy and the history of Yugoslavia
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© Photograph: Uros Arsic/Reuters
© Photograph: Uros Arsic/Reuters
© Photograph: Uros Arsic/Reuters
Belgrade erupted in celebration on Sunday night as Serbia's Gen Z-led protest movement transformed nearly two years of anti-corruption demonstrations into an electoral victory over the political establishment of former President Aleksandar Vucic, who had held power for 14 years.
Among the crowds was Dijana Hrka, whose 27-year-old
On October 25, an election list formed after two years of student-led protests in Serbia toppled Aleksandar Vučić and the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). The announcement was met with street celebrations that continued throughout the night, recognizing the outcome as a chance to break with 12 years of the former president’s anti-people policies.
Election turnout surged to almost 70% of registered voters. The Student List secured roughly 53% of the vote and the SNS came in second with close to 39%. The two options are set to be the only forces in parliament except for minority representatives.
“These results have shown that a genuinely homegrown – even if heterogeneous – movement can articulate social discontent with SNS rule, provided it makes a decisive break with the baggage of the pro-Western opposition,” the Party of the Radical Left (PRL) wrote in a reaction on Monday.
The Students List ran on a platform titled “Serbia or the Mafia,” consisting of anti-corruption promises and plans to tackle the political establishment’s capture of the media sector. It also included a call for more transparency in public procurement and recruitment in the public sector. The platform promised to limit import monopolies, lower drug prices, and make healthcare more accessible.
Sunday’s results were made possible by months of demonstrations and public assemblies triggered by the canopy collapse in Novi Sad in November 2024. Sixteen people died in the event. In the aftermath, students across the country threw their energy into a campaign demanding accountability for the tragedy.
From the beginning, protesters insisted the Novi Sad disaster was a consequence of the SNS’s way of doing politics, marked by widespread corruption, nepotism, and disregard for the public interest. During his tenure as prime minister and president, Vučić attempted to cast himself as a supporter of multilateralism and a political figure critical of the West, yet his actions exposed this as a more rhetorical than anything else.
These actions included supporting extractive deals with British-Australian mining company Rio Tinto – which the European Union included on its strategic projects list despite risks posed to communities in Jadar and mass mobilizations against the project – as well as the launch of a drone factory in cooperation with Israeli arms producer Elbit Systems. In fact, despite the former SNS leader’s efforts to present him as neutral, Serbia’s involvement in arms trade to Israel has been such to warrant notes of particular concern by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese.
Locally, Vučić’s rule was marked by violent crackdowns on activists and campaigns, from the most recent student campaigns to Palestine solidarity. There was no substantial reaction to these reports from other European countries or the EU.
On the other hand, while very heterogeneous in character, the student movement aligned itself clearly against the Gaza genocide. Some local groups made solidarity with Palestine a central issue in their mobilizations. They also mobilized against projects associated to US interests, including the redevelopment of the former General Staff complex – a Belgrade landmark damaged in the 1999 NATO bombardment of the city – into a luxury hotel by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump. This project was also brokered while the SNS was in power.
The student campaign grew in significance through decentralized plenums and consultations across the country. This approach was not abandoned even during the formation of election lists – leading to a roster of new candidates, previously largely unknown to the public. University staff and other education workers who had supported the mobilization from the early days figured prominently on this list.
The success of the Student List represents an extraordinary achievement, especially considering the movement faced obstructions at every turn. These included police violence and institutional intimidation over the past two years, as well as schedule provisions that jeopardized voting rights in the diaspora.
“The progressive elements within the Student List and the movement now face a difficult task: to resist the forces of the establishment within their own ranks,” the PRL emphasized after the election.
Earlier on, the party and other progressive voices expressed “critical support” for the Student List, recognizing the elements of social justice incorporated in its platform – but also noting aspects belonging to a technocratic vision of governance.
“When it comes to the published program, the measures set out in the ‘Serbia or the Mafia‘ plan are not enough to eradicate the structural injustice that has taken root in Serbia over thirty years of privatization, ‘structural adjustment’ to the Euro-Atlantic regime, and the weakening of public institutions – and their systematic incapacitation from carrying out their mandated functions and protecting the public interest against the arbitrary power of capital,” the PRL stated in September.
Despite such reservations, the hope embedded in the movement surrounding the Student List is clear. The PRL observed: “Beyond the mass politicization of students and the raising of awareness on many key social issues – and despite pressure from ‘opposition’ politicians who would rather keep all these topics quiet […] we consider the following to be progressive developments: the construction of a directly democratic movement that antagonizes both the government and the parliamentary opposition in practice […] open communication and cooperation with trade unions, which gave rise to the first mass protest-based May Day commemoration in many years […] and cooperation with informal labor and professional collectives, which gave rise to a new organization – the Social Front.”
After freedom, we want to give our people something radical: a normal, functioning state
Two years ago, I harboured no political ambition whatsoever. I was a student at the faculty of technical sciences in Novi Sad, my home town, pursuing a PhD in human resources and simply living my life. That was until the canopy collapse at the newly renovated train station in Novi Sad in November 2024, which killed 16 people. I took part in street protests and rallies in response to this shocking event, and like many others, realised that it needed to be a turning point.
This was not an unavoidable tragedy. Systemic corruption and a culture of entrenched impunity were obvious factors in the collapse. But instead of ordering a full and impartial investigation and coming clean on official failings, the authorities began pushing back against us for demanding justice. We were vilified and attacked in the streets but law enforcement did nothing. So we took refuge in our lecture halls and schools, barricading ourselves inside faculty buildings, ready for a long haul.
Novak Simin is a member of Serbia’s Student List movement
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© Photograph: Marko Drobnjaković/AP
© Photograph: Marko Drobnjaković/AP
© Photograph: Marko Drobnjaković/AP
For 14 years, Serbia’s government kept the country close to Moscow. Now, the opposition “Student List” has won the country’s snap parliamentary election, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine is ready to deepen its cooperation with Serbia, welcoming the result as “a new page” in a post on X.
The win could end the 14-year rule of President Aleksandar Vučić’s political force and weaken Moscow’s position in the Balkans. Serbia has remained an important Kremlin partner in Europe since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and Belgrade never joined the EU's sanctions against Moscow.
In his post, written in Ukrainian, Zelenskyy said that "changes have taken place in Serbia, the victory of the Student List, and this is clearly a new page in the history of the country and its people."
“We wish Serbia success, real development, and warm relations with the European community,” he wrote.
He said Ukraine was grateful to Serbia “for the respect shown to our people and our state, our independence,” and added: “We are ready to keep increasing our cooperation, and may all the good hopes of the people of Serbia come true.”
Vučić had earlier predicted that a new government could impose restrictions on Moscow by March or April, according to Novosti. The Student List says otherwise: it has no plans to align with the EU or to sanction Russia over the war in Ukraine, according to Reuters.
Its candidates frame Serbia’s reliance on Russian gas, with Gazprom as the largest supplier at around 2.2 billion cubic meters a year at below-market prices, as an acute economic dependency rather than a geopolitical alignment.
The movement’s top candidates have also said a future government would end all arms exports to war zones, including sales to Western intermediaries who pass weapons to Ukraine. Around €800 million worth of Serbian ammunition has reached Ukraine through that route since 2022.
Two years after the Novi Sad tragedy gave birth to a youthful political movement, Sunday’s remarkable election has taken the country into a new era
This weekend it will be two years since the collapse of a shoddily constructed train station canopy in Serbia’s second city, Novi Sad. The tragedy, killing 16 people, was swiftly attributed to state corruption and failures of regulation, sparking student-led protests across the country.
Some of those demonstrators dared to imagine that they could become the catalyst for a democratic revolution.
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© Photograph: Marko Đurica/Reuters
© Photograph: Marko Đurica/Reuters
© Photograph: Marko Đurica/Reuters
Non-hierarchical movement is seeking to ‘rebuild society’ in Balkan country after years of authoritarian rule
Serbia’s triumphant but untested Student List movement is preparing to start talks on forming a government capable of reversing 14 years of increasingly authoritarian nationalist rule, after a seismic weekend election win.
Supporters of the movement, which has no experience of government, took to the streets in the west Balkan country on Monday after the strongman former president, Aleksandar Vučić, was defeated in a historic landslide.
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© Photograph: Armin Durgut/AP
© Photograph: Armin Durgut/AP
© Photograph: Armin Durgut/AP
Dopo una lunga notte che ha avuto le sembianze di un sogno, è arrivato il giorno. E la Studentska lista ora ha sulle proprie spalle la vera sfida: traghettare la Serbia verso una stagione più luminosa, dimostrare ai cittadini che hanno riposto in loro fiducia che condizioni di vita migliori sono davvero possibili. Il movimento nato dalla tragedia di Novi Sad, in cui 16 persone il primo novembre del 2024 persero la vita a causa del crollo della pensilina della stazione cittadina, è legato soprattutto a volti giovanissimi. Furono loro i primi a scendere per le strade per chiedere che si facesse chiarezza, che si mettesse fine a un sistema corrotto i cui gangli permeavano tutti i settori della società, edilizia compresa. Ma come sotto l’effetto di un contagio collettivo, il movimento nei mesi si è allargato, riuscendo ad abbracciare una parte significativa della società serba in modo trasversale e a catalizzare persone di età, esperienze lavorative e provenienze diverse. Tra i 250 candidati presentati lo scorso settembre figurano infatti, oltre agli studenti, docenti universitari, artisti, agricoltori e professionisti negli ambiti più disparati.
Tuttavia, almeno per il momento, uno dei principali capisaldi che la Studentska lista ci ha tenuto a rimarcare è l’assenza di un leader o di un portavoce. L’intenzione dichiarata è quella di basarsi su un’organizzazione orizzontale, anche se durante la campagna elettorale il movimento è stato guidato soprattutto da Ilija Srdanović, un professore della Facoltà di Medicina dell’Università di Novi Sad. Il cardiologo, al momento, è visto come il candidato più probabile a occupare la posizione di primo ministro, anche se non è chiaro chi assumerà la guida dei ministeri chiave, inclusi quelli degli Affari Interni, delle Finanze e della Giustizia.
In questo passaggio anti-verticistico è custodito il vero taglio con il passato, poiché negli ultimi 14 anni la Serbia è stata abituata a qualcosa di diverso, a un singolo uomo, Aleksandar Vučić, che aveva finito per trattare il suo partito (SNS, Partito Progressista Serbo) e la politica di governo come un affare personale. Opponendosi a una formula verticistica del potere, le decisioni del movimento sono prese attraverso i plenum, assemblee studentesche in cui le proposte vengono discusse e poi sottoposte al voto. Anche la selezione dei candidati è avvenuta attraverso questo processo, con l’obiettivo di garantire una rappresentanza condivisa, seguendo un modello orizzontale che punta a ridurre il peso dei singoli. L’obiettivo è quello di fare pulizia e nell’opera di rinnovamento di cui gli studenti vogliono essere gli artefici hanno una traiettoria segnata da undici punti, quelli che compongono il loro programma ufficiale.
“Con interventi decisi, vogliamo fermare il saccheggio delle risorse pubbliche e restituire alle casse dello Stato il denaro sottratto, destinandolo direttamente all’istruzione e allo sviluppo economico. L’obiettivo è creare le condizioni affinché i giovani possano restare in Serbia e costruire qui il proprio futuro e quello delle loro famiglie – si legge nel documento – Abbiamo bisogno di istituzioni capaci di funzionare senza direttive delle segreterie di partito, di una magistratura in cui la legge sia uguale per tutti, indipendentemente da chi si trovi davanti ai giudici. Di finanze pubbliche sottoposte al controllo dei cittadini, di un sistema di istruzione e di una sanità che lo Stato non consideri un peso. Di media liberi dalle pressioni politiche. E di amministrazioni locali in cui i cittadini partecipino davvero alle decisioni che determinano la loro vita”.
Tra i punti più concreti del programma ci sono libri di testo gratuiti per tutti gli studenti delle scuole primarie e secondarie, ma anche gite e attività scolastiche più economiche. Sul fronte sociale, la lista propone soluzioni abitative a condizioni agevolate per alcune categorie, mentre in ambito occupazionale, vuole ridurre da 24 a 12 mesi la durata dei contratti a tempo determinato. Per quanto riguarda la questione sanitaria, invece, emerge la priorità per un accesso più equo a medicinali e farmacie nelle aree rurali e meno sviluppate.
Tuttavia, mentre a una prima occhiata risultano molto chiare le riforme interne, appaiono più sfumate le posizioni su alcuni temi cruciali riguardanti la politica internazionale della Serbia, come il percorso di integrazione nell’Unione europea e il complesso rapporto con il Kosovo. In alcune interviste ai media del Paese, Radomir Sajčić, una delle figure che fa parte della Studentska lista, nel merito ha cercato la risposta nella Costituzione serba che considera il Kosovo parte integrante del Paese. Una posizione in controtendenza rispetto ai principi di giustizia e libertà di cui il movimento si vuole fare portavoce. Resta quindi da capire come i vincitori del 25 ottobre navigheranno tra i tanti scogli politici accumulati negli anni dalla politica serba e se sapranno davvero differenziarsi dal regime che sono stati in grado di sconfiggere nelle cabine elettorali.
L'articolo Chi sono gli Studenti serbi che hanno sconfitto Vučić: organizzazione orizzontale, nessun leader e decisioni assembleari. Adesso la prova di governo proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.
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