YOUR TIME IS PASSING AND OURS IS YET TO COME

The strength of a country is founded on several pillars: institutions, civic awareness (which also includes disobedience), economic and other social factors. However, when many parameters fail, and when general ignorance and confusion prevail, the existing cracks in society often become deeper, threatening to swallow the country’s population into an irreversible abyss (metaphorically speaking).

Please forgive a young journalist for using this unconventional terminological approach, but my intention is for this text to remain incomprehensible to various bot-like structures and, as such, become accessible only to those bright examples of courage and perseverance—some new, strong, and motivated generations who will not allow a country, in this case Serbia, to sink into that irreversible socio-political abyss.

We have already spoken of the consequences—Ribnikar, Dubona, shelters, and countless other scandals that make life in a fundamentally beautiful country (and the entire region in general) very dangerous, with a tendency for the development of events to reach an unbearable level. The current decaying “eco” system of political organizations, a corrupt, rude, arrogant, and often uneducated ruling class, along with a pathetic, incapable, and at best laughable opposition, seriously threatens (or has threatened) to kill any desire to engage in daily political life.

The constant insults to intelligence, flag-waving, intimidation, and brainwashing of an uninformed, mostly poor section of society has created an ugly image of a weary Serbia, which in essence, does not need and should not be like this. It is precisely this awareness, some rebelliousness, persistence, and a truly sincere desire (which is rare) that has awakened an eternal fire in the youth—a desire for rebellion, which characterizes youth and is supposed to symbolize the passage of time.

Every system, historically speaking, comes to an end, some outlines become visible, and despite the great struggle of the ruling structures to maintain themselves and their interests in positions of power, it is undeniable that over time, their influence weakens, until they end up in political history (or the waste bin). When the future of a country (which young people certainly are) wakes up and activates, it is enough to let time do its work and naturally replace outdated narratives.

And the narratives in Serbia (and the Balkans in general) are outdated—wars, crises, sanctions, inflation—enough. It is really time to say enough. We are fed up with recycling the same sentences, people, and attitudes throughout our lives. I will not allow anyone to scare us with things for which our generations are not responsible, nor could we have influenced. I do not want to watch cheap lies, pathetic bribes for the sake of others’ interests, and the false struggle of equally corrupt “protectors” of some values. I firmly believe we have the right to a better, more developed Serbia, one that is not shackled by some artificially created burdens invented to make it easier to rule over people.

Desire and awareness, anger and hope, have connected students, professors, deans, and a large part of the academic community. Even high school students, literally children, have shown their disobedience and, as such, positioned themselves on a new, beautiful, and brave side of Serbia. Cheap demagoguery cannot and will not defeat the sincere desire of all those who believe in a better tomorrow. We do not speak the same language, and you do not know us as well as you think. Because your time is passing, and ours is yet to come, and no matter how hard anyone fights, I repeat, the force of time cannot be stopped.

What matters is the desire, that look in the eyes of a child when it is confronted, the parents who watch, the neighbors and friends who were beaten by some pathetic people in masks, who in healthy systems would be deprived of their freedom. As the late Zoran Đinđić would say: there is weed everywhere, but in Serbia, the weed is watered. I believe that this “weed” in our society must not survive, it is finally time to cut it down and, in doing so, make room for a new, more beautiful flower, a new and modern Serbia.

The struggle of our youth, believe me, is heard far and wide. The author of this text is currently literally at the end of the world and observes what his peers (both older and younger) are doing. We talk about it here and try to tell the truth, shaking up Sarajevo, Zagreb, Skopje, or any other place that needs awakening. To the brave people of Belgrade, Novi Sad, Subotica, and all the youth of this country, I just want to say: I apologize for not being with you this time.

Author: Darko Mandić

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