How many Americans know anything about Serbia? My guess? Very few.
I’m one of those very few. In 2016 I took a Danube River trip with an affable group of fellow travelers. Halfway through our trip, we made a stop in Bratislava, the charming capital of Slovakia. [FYI: After Czechoslovakia broke up in 1993, about half of the former Czechoslovakia became the country of Slovakia. The other half became the Czech Republic.]
Our tour left Bratislava and went on to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. [FYI: Serbia is one of several smaller countries that formerly made up Yugoslavia. Even though Yugoslavia broke up in 1992, Serbia didn’t opt for independence until 2006.]
Belgrade turned out to be a surprisingly beautiful and sophisticated city. As our tour guide led us through the Belgrade Fortress and other tourist sights, I spied an interesting sculpture—that of Nikola Tesla.
Tesla, the scientist and inventor whose work with electricity rivaled that of his American competitors, Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, is a celebrated figure in Serbia. In 1884, he left Europe for America, where he led a complicated life, ending alone in a NYC hotel room with a history of unpaid bills. Sadly, his formerly-respected name has become anathema to some Americans, thanks to current political developments that Tesla himself had absolutely nothing to do with.
Why talk about Serbia today? Because its current political situation has become headline news, news seriously worth our attention.
According to the AP, over 100,000 people—maybe as many as 325,000–joined a mass rally in Belgrade last weekend to culminate months-long protests against Serbia’s current President Aleksandar Vucic and his nationalist right-wing-inspired government. “Large crowds of flag-waving protesters clogged the downtown area…despite occasional rain, with people hardly able to move,” many of them unable to get close to the actual protest venue.
University students have been leading peaceful protests in Serbia for the past four months. The protests began when the canopy of a railway station collapsed, killing 15 people. Many blamed the allegedly corrupt builders, allied with the government, as responsible for the canopy’s shoddy construction.
The protests have continued because of fierce opposition to the autocratic government, not merely among students but also among the rest of the Serbian population. According to a survey reported in The New York Times, only one-third of Serbians approve of President Vucic’s leadership. As the Financial Times quoted one protest leader, “it is time for this regime to end.”
On Wednesday, March 19, the protests had a demonstrable impact, forcing Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, an ally of President Vucic, to resign, giving the President 30 days to choose a new Prime Minister.
Without elaborating further on Serbian politics, I’ll close with this: It’s heartening to see young people rise up to protest what they view as corrupt and destructive behavior by their government’s leaders. Here in the U.S., I’m heartened to see that both young and older citizens have begun to stand up against the current leadership of our own government. Recent town halls held in a number of congressional districts have highlighted the outspoken protest by those who’ve shown up.
I hope we don’t have to wait for the 2026 midterm elections to change things. Some special elections, like the Supreme Court fight in Wisconsin, loom in the next few weeks.
Let’s fight for the survival of our democracy. Let’s lend our support to current leaders who have earned it. Let’s support new leaders who will continue the fight for democracy. I’m doing what I can to support them, and I hope that you will, too.
susanjustwrites
Susan Just Writes 