https://znetwork.org/category/place/europe/serbia/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Mon, 15 Dec 2025 18:38:47 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/category/place/europe/serbia/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/when-young-people-and-farmers-are-guardians-of-soil-health/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/when-young-people-and-farmers-are-guardians-of-soil-health/#respond Mon, 15 Dec 2025 18:38:36 +0000 Surviving repeated threats of being buried alive, the EU’s first ever law on soil health was finally adopted last month. And while environmental groups have called out “severe shortcomings” in the final text of the Soil Monitoring Law, it is a significant step in the right direction on the journey towards healthy soils in Europe. Whether [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/when-young-people-and-farmers-are-guardians-of-soil-health/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dayton-bosnia-and-the-future-that-never-arrived/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dayton-bosnia-and-the-future-that-never-arrived/#respond Thu, 23 Oct 2025 19:04:15 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1290380 Three decades after the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to function as the world’s most elaborate political paradox: a state whose very survival depends on its permanent dysfunction. Conceived in the winter of 1995 as a ceasefire dressed up as a constitution, Dayton created two entities (Republika Srpska and the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/dayton-bosnia-and-the-future-that-never-arrived/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/hijacking-student-protests-milo-lompar-and-the-rewriting-of-serbias-national-narrative/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/hijacking-student-protests-milo-lompar-and-the-rewriting-of-serbias-national-narrative/#respond Mon, 28 Jul 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286672 The Student Blockade Movement in Serbia emerged in the midst of a broader student, secondary school, and civic uprising, which erupted in response to the collapse of the railway station canopy in Novi Sad—a tragedy that claimed the lives of 16 people. This catastrophe was the direct result of a botched reconstruction project carried out [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/hijacking-student-protests-milo-lompar-and-the-rewriting-of-serbias-national-narrative/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/serbias-organized-chaos/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/serbias-organized-chaos/#comments Wed, 28 May 2025 17:34:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1284307 Serbia is a small country which used to be a favorite of Western Allied powers like France and Britain for its heroic resistance to Austrian and German invasion in two world wars.  They liked it so much that in redrawing European boundaries at Versailles in 1918, they enlarged it into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/serbias-organized-chaos/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/philosophy-teaching-without-women-what-are-serbians-not-learning-in-schools/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/philosophy-teaching-without-women-what-are-serbians-not-learning-in-schools/#respond Sun, 18 May 2025 12:23:41 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1283894 The project itself was initiated by women philosophers who never received feminist education during their formal education. It represents a response to centuries of neglect regarding women’s contributions to philosophical thought, as well as the need to offer schools content that reflects contemporary social issues—such as gender equality, marginalisation, and the systemic invisibility of certain [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/philosophy-teaching-without-women-what-are-serbians-not-learning-in-schools/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/true-grit-the-student-blockades-in-serbia/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/true-grit-the-student-blockades-in-serbia/#respond Thu, 10 Apr 2025 15:57:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1282250 “Children are the ornament of the world,” goes one famous Serbian poem by Ljubivoje Ršumović. Today, in Serbia, they are on everyone’s mind. A generation written off by many as disconnected social-media addicts has proven to be quite the opposite, galvanizing society with their singular brand of civil disobedience, at once rebellious and virtuous, digitally [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/true-grit-the-student-blockades-in-serbia/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/inside-europes-biggest-protest-movement-you-havent-heard-of/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/inside-europes-biggest-protest-movement-you-havent-heard-of/#respond Fri, 28 Mar 2025 15:51:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1281695 Serbian student organiser Nina Petrov joins our host Mehran Khalili us to explain how a local tragedy sparked a national uprising. What started with 15 minutes of silence has become the largest protest movement Serbia has seen in decades—forcing resignations at the top and shaking the foundations of power. We talk tactics, momentum, and what [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/inside-europes-biggest-protest-movement-you-havent-heard-of/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/people-self-organise-assemblies-everywhere-across-serbia/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/people-self-organise-assemblies-everywhere-across-serbia/#respond Fri, 21 Mar 2025 16:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1281365 Before the protest in Belgrade, students in blockades unequivocally called on the citizens of Serbia to do the same as them – to self-organise and reclaim the right to political participation. “What plenums are for us, assemblies are for citizens”, the students announced. Since then, they have been sending daily calls – Everyone to the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/people-self-organise-assemblies-everywhere-across-serbia/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/serbia-a-growing-movement-of-local-general-assemblies/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/serbia-a-growing-movement-of-local-general-assemblies/#respond Tue, 11 Mar 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1280862 After the general strike, students in blockade report that the blockades and protests are no longer just student-led but have become “people-wide”. Therefore, in their letter to the people, they called for the holding of people’s assemblies, in accordance with the Law and Constitution of the Republic of Serbia. However, public reactions to this announcement [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/serbia-a-growing-movement-of-local-general-assemblies/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/priests-as-freedom-fighters/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/priests-as-freedom-fighters/#respond Sun, 02 Mar 2025 13:58:58 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1280436 For months, Serbian citizens have been protesting against the repressive regime of Aleksandar Vučić and the entire corrupt, clientelist system developed or escalated under his rule. The protests were initiated by the students of Serbian Universities, but they have since evolved into a nationwide popular movement that refuses to align with any of the established [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/priests-as-freedom-fighters/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-the-greens-became-a-driving-force-of-german-militarism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-the-greens-became-a-driving-force-of-german-militarism/#respond Wed, 12 Feb 2025 18:14:09 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1279635 Stability used to be one of Germany’s greatest virtues. Not any more. A political crisis has triggered an early federal election on 23 February. And Europe’s largest economy has been in recession for two years. German industry has been hit by soaring energy costs following EU sanctions against Russia. Major business groups such as Volkswagen [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-the-greens-became-a-driving-force-of-german-militarism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/beyond-protest-can-serbias-student-movement-spark-a-political-breakthrough/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/beyond-protest-can-serbias-student-movement-spark-a-political-breakthrough/#respond Fri, 07 Feb 2025 16:52:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1279430 It is now three months since the November 1 Novi Sad tragedy, when a concrete canopy collapsed on the recently renovated railway station, resulting in the deaths of 15 people. This disaster, perceived as the result of government corruption and negligence, ignited public outrage, particularly among students. Initial protests took place in Novi Sad, where [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/beyond-protest-can-serbias-student-movement-spark-a-political-breakthrough/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/serbias-mass-protests-against-a-crony-capitalist-government/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/serbias-mass-protests-against-a-crony-capitalist-government/#respond Sun, 02 Feb 2025 16:06:19 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1279202 Soon after the roof canopy of Novi Sad’s central train station collapsed last November 1, killing fifteen people, a TV reporter asked local journalist Igor Mihaljević to respond to the event. With devastating and incisive judgement, he offered the context missing in Western media coverage of the incident and the protests of the last few months. For [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/serbias-mass-protests-against-a-crony-capitalist-government/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/democracy-is-happening-in-serbia/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/democracy-is-happening-in-serbia/#respond Thu, 30 Jan 2025 16:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1279063 Serbia is boiling with anti-government protests. The protests were initiated by Serbian university students, who are organized in an anarcho-syndicalist manner, where decisions are made at student plenums, without a central decision-making body, fixed representatives, or leaders. What immediately triggered the protests was the collapse of the roof at Novi Sad train station, which resulted [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/democracy-is-happening-in-serbia/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/technofeudalism-what-killed-capitalism-w-yanis-varoufakis/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/technofeudalism-what-killed-capitalism-w-yanis-varoufakis/#respond Thu, 30 Jan 2025 16:48:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1279064 The year 2008 signaled to many the weak foundations of modern capitalism in the hands of the greedy, untethered financial sector—the “vampire squid” investment banks as journalist Matt Taibbi called them. Rising from the ashes of the crash, these banks used government money—”socialism for the bankers”—to enrich themselves and Big Business. This money never got [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/technofeudalism-what-killed-capitalism-w-yanis-varoufakis/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/good-and-bad-war-criminals/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/good-and-bad-war-criminals/#respond Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:36:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1277586 Very little is known about Operation Tango, a secret SAS mission to capture suspected war criminals in Bosnia in 1997. It was one of several clandestine special forces missions ordered by Tony Blair’s government in support of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.  This had been set up in 1993 to try suspects for gruesome [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/good-and-bad-war-criminals/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/growing-student-protests-in-serbia-reveal-deep-tensions/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/growing-student-protests-in-serbia-reveal-deep-tensions/#respond Sun, 22 Dec 2024 15:51:29 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1277435 The current wave of student protests across Serbia originated with a tragic incident on November 1, 2024, when a concrete canopy collapsed at a railway station in Novi Sad, resulting in 15 fatalities. This disaster sparked widespread public outrage, with many attributing the collapse to government corruption, negligence, and substandard construction practices. In response, university [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/growing-student-protests-in-serbia-reveal-deep-tensions/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-eu-cynically-pushes-lithium-mining-in-serbia/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-eu-cynically-pushes-lithium-mining-in-serbia/#respond Sat, 23 Nov 2024 16:10:14 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1275813 “We must and will stay the course on the goals set out in the European Green Deal. The climate crisis is accelerating at pace. And there is an equally urgent need to decarbonize and industrialize our economy at the same time.” For European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, the EU’s green agenda is well [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-eu-cynically-pushes-lithium-mining-in-serbia/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/serbia-is-a-showcase-of-authoritarian-neoliberalism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/serbia-is-a-showcase-of-authoritarian-neoliberalism/#respond Mon, 09 Sep 2024 15:48:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1272112 During the 1990s, the government of Slobodan Milošević led Serbia into a third Balkan war. His allies in Bosnia were responsible for a litany of war crimes, including the massacre at Srebrenica. The war left Serbia itself isolated and impoverished, and a protest movement drove Milošević from power in 2000. Two decades later, Serbia has [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/serbia-is-a-showcase-of-authoritarian-neoliberalism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tragedy-and-turmoil-in-serbia/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tragedy-and-turmoil-in-serbia/#respond Sat, 10 Jun 2023 12:29:40 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1247463 The recent spurt of mass shootings has not only driven widespread protests against the Vučić government — but provoked a deeper reflection on “care, solidarity and interdependence” in the post-Yugoslav constellation. The tragedy was incomprehensible: in less than 48 hours, a 13-year-old boy shot and killed eight of his schoolmates and a security guard while [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tragedy-and-turmoil-in-serbia/feed/ 0