Madness is becoming a common word, so universally accepted that in a way it sounds banal. However, it is becoming an adjective that governs and characterizes Serbian society (although other Balkan, tribal society as well) so dominantly that it aspires to become the future, if only it were a reality that we live in every day. The lack of knowledge, both learned and inculcated, even if only half-mastered by heart, disrupts the development of a young person, who according to all laws (both natural and legislative) should be the central figure of every society, including ours.
It was quite difficult for me to start writing this text, in fact, I would have said so much, I would have burned out in my speech, that the seriousness of the situation simply leads me to silence, but loudly and defiantly. I would say that a drop has overflowed a glass of water, but there is no water, no river, no air, so all those natural elements – there are none. The land has been sold, sacred or not, it has been sold. The food is spoiled, and the people have been deceived, played with, and just like that land (or river), poisoned – with hatred, apathy, and most of all, fear.
Be quiet – don’t, stay home, don’t make a noise – almost as if we were still living in the cruelest Soviet systems, where bugs were placed in the walls, and where we were monitored and conditioned daily. However, the reality is not far from that, on the contrary.
Parties have become the norm, fake diplomas an imperative, and idolatry a lifestyle, in the madness of the uninformed, uneducated, and above all, poor masses, which are so easily controlled. Someone said – get out of Belgrade and see how people live, sounding like some kind of ominous bird, led by the thought that life in Belgrade is not good, I was deeply worried. However, somehow as a person matures, he realizes that all these territorial (and even national) borders are just a minimal factor that should not divide people in their common, fundamental struggle, and thus realizing that Novi Sad and Novi Pazar are the same, just as Sarajevo or tragically Cetinje should be – persevere, in a common struggle, which concerns all of us.
Corruption, lawlessness and the tragic fate of this geographical mass that we call the Balkans, creates generational trauma and a false awareness of some kind of “general” knowledge, arrogant and false, our personal egoism, heavenly peoples, eternal victims, and constant finger-pointing in a society that is essentially uninformed and uneducated, which leads to numerous consequences, and one of the most painful is the departure of young people or as one BiH politician would say, a few years ago, leads to a “brain drain”. It is precisely this rotten system that has created a flame that burns and shines in Belgrade, like a beacon of noble and healthy struggle, of a generation that refuses to be put in a pen and guided by the same, outdated and worn-out yardsticks.
Sadness and anger, frustration, but also joy intertwine in me, aware that this attitude – What can I do, I am alone, is actually false, as is the fact that I am not the only one, and even less that I am alone. There are many of our people, and the will to oppose some artificial, over-inflated system is enormous, indomitable and generational. Because this is truly the struggle of a new, unpoisoned generation, which demands to live in a safer, more humane and more beautiful society, unburdened by some false, unimportant burdens from the past. When the youth of a country, in such large numbers, go out to the streets, when smiles and pride march, you actually understand what kind of society (or societies) we are talking about. Because it is not the youth who created the system, but the current system was supposed to be created for them – a job that was obviously not done properly; and how could it be? In a sea of fake diplomas, party employment, constant dumbing down and various freakish forms of life, available in everyday media, how can we expect anything useful to be created? Aren’t the statements of the so-called officials of this sad and humiliated Serbia about how they handled the tragedies that occurred appalling? Isn’t the silence, turning a blind eye or lack of responsibility of all those who should be held accountable before adequate institutions terrible? I cringe and have a physical reaction to this injustice and immorality, and especially to the fact that there are actually people who approve of all this.
I am glad, however, that the youth has risen up, that the academic community has risen up, and all this makes this society productive. I am proud that this “earthquake” from Belgrade is shaking the entire region and that the reaction has been provoked, which, to be honest, is only befitting – the only true metropolis in the former country. I see my colleagues, professors and colleagues in a sincere and persistent struggle, which is very difficult, some would say quixotic, but by no means in vain. In a situation where an adequate opposition does not exist, where the autocratic government has become so strong, and bought the corrupt part of the opposition, the youth has appeared – which may be hasty, naive, inexperienced and all that carries the burden of those years, but is – sincere, well-intentioned and proud.
That is why I want to dedicate this text to their (our) struggle and to all those stigmatized by various political structures. To Mila, Pavle, Davud, to all those who spend their best years believing in a better future for their country, as patriots, who sincerely love it. And I would especially like to give all my love and support to Sonja, my colleague, as a symbol of all that is innocent and suffering in the fight for a new Serbia! Come back to us soon!
Author: Darko Mandić
