The surge of violence, first of all in Serbia, then the threats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the resurgence of Ustasha glorification in Croatia, are manifestations of violence sweeping the region. In Serbia, the government has deployed para-police units that assault citizens simply for protesting. President Vučić has opted to suppress the demonstrations that have been ongoing for ten months. But what are the deeper roots of this violence in the region?
What is on the surface, and is there something deeper? Do young people, participants of the PERSPEKTIVA program, agree that violence is spreading? The program’s archive includes statements from young participants, such as Sofija, Džejla, and Oliver, that show this issue has been on their minds for years.
Violence has become so contagious, and there is so much of it around us, that some have even become deaf and blind to it, so that they don’t even notice it anymore.
https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/bar-crna-gora-perspektiva-mentalno-zdravlje/33281083.html
I think our generation has come to believe that everything can be solved by fighting. Kids today have literally become each other’s enemies.
https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/perspektiva-zenica-protesti/33341584.html
Why the sudden expansion of violence? It’s not that it didn’t exist before—but now, violence is promoted everywhere. There are violent board games, violent video games. Mayhem. Even on TV, the reality shows. It’s become completely normal to see people fighting, breaking bottles over heads. If it’s not entertaining, there is no viewership! How can that be normal? What do you expect then? Children watch that. What lesson can they learn from it? They are children, they absorb it, and it becomes the most normal thing for them. They even brag about it. They film themselves, one another, and turn it into content. They build social status from on account of that.
https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/32914444.html
But where are the causes? What do the participants of PERSPECTIVA think? According to Indira, Petar, and Blend, the primary culprits are political leaders.
Violence benefits those in power and those who stand to gain from such situations.
https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/perspektiva-u-zenici/33349582.html
Conflicts are, in fact, used to divert attention from important problems.
https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/retrospektiva-perspektiva-crna-gora/31399493.html
The biggest problem is the lack of will to actually solve these problems.
https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/32914444.html
Lazar and Emina trace the cause back to the political system itself.
The problem we have is that the political system is designed to be bad. That is, it is designed to put incompetent and unqualified people in the foreground.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsgWX2f7VEE&ab_channel=RadioSlobodnaEvropa
People here are simply used to biting the hand that feeds them, which is our country, and instead licking the boot that tramples them, which is these nationalist parties.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPCUMCQ_O_M
Jelena, Brano, and Petar believe that the deepest cause lies in the manipulation of ethnic identities.
People who cling to national identity as their primary label often do so out of a lack of ability, desire, strength or will to achieve anything else. So, by pasting labels, choosing to be one or the other, they appropriate their personalities. This creates a false sense of self and community, built on unhealthy foundations, and such foundations can’t produce anything good. Due to the creation of prejudices, which are based on a lack of education and a lack of exposure to multiple perspectives, the result is a narrow, one-sided view that prevents dialogue and problem-solving.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP7-gqkqSyM
We struggle with what identity should be. It feels like I’ve been assigned an identity, like I have to feel like a Bosnian, or else I’m betraying my country. But honestly, I feel more like a musician than a Bosnian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1DExJRh30g&ab_channel=RadioSlobodnaEvropa
Even today, the political elites across the Balkans continue to, very covertly, practice a version of the same politics from the 1990s, just in a much more sophisticated way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rialuJOSjnk
Denis and Pavle place the blame on the media.
If you visit any news portal and check the ‘most-read’ section, you’ll find blood, violence, and sex. As long as clickbait culture is set up that way and feeds on this, and political narratives exploit it, it becomes a dangerous combination with enormous potential for abuse.
https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/retrospektiva-perspektive-tuzla/32566702.html
Every public space is contaminated with arrogance, primitivism, inaction, nepotism, and negative selection.
https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/perspektiva-novi-sad-mladi/32431382.html
Political leaders are fully aware that violence doesn’t solve any problems. The authorities in Serbia could stop the violence with one move. In Croatia, even less effort is needed to put an end to Ustasha chants. The question is: do they know what all this is leading to?
