France Burns, Serbia Votes
Riots Are Easy. Ballots Are Harder.
Ever since I saw Adam Curtis’s 2025 documentary series Shifty, I can’t stop thinking about a sub-plot in it: that intellectuals and creative thinkers withdrew into art instead of trying to change the real-world political system.
In my circle, this was absolutely true. At the beginning of the 21st century, we found doing politics, and even debating politics, boring. We much preferred discussing music and movies, and we were deeply convinced that understanding them was what mattered. In real life, from nine to five, we were chasing breadcrumbs left by the post-WWII generation.
The breadcrumbs are gone now. In Europe, austerity measures and corrupt politics have left my whole generation pessimistic about our future.
The revolts in France over recent weeks show that the new generation will not sit on its hands and accept that this grim reality is theirs. This raw, unstructured process shows that a generation can quickly become radicalized, but European youth are still unsure how to become politicized.
They might take a lesson from the Serbian students.
I am in Belgrade right now, where I will have the chance to take part in historic elections this weekend. These elections are the result of relentless student pressure on a corrupt, crime-ridden government. The spin dictatorship that has ruled Serbia for a decade and a half was surprised by the students’ uprising and didn’t know how to tackle it. The students confused the system even more by deciding to run their own electoral list. The ruling government started glitching because a new generation wants to reassess collective action as a means of change. The students aren’t handing their momentum to an opposition party; they are on the ballot themselves.
The corrupt Serbian government will not let go easily. They will intimidate, steal, and in the end resort to violence. We already know the script; the actors in this government charade have been playing the same roles since the nineties. All the dirty tricks are known; only this time, the student movement has energized a large part of the country, which openly speaks out against the government and is ready to fight for democracy and the rule of law.
The conversations being held in Belgrade now, in family homes, restaurants, and cafés, are somber but full of hope. We are waiting for a perfect ending.
With that, my millennial brain goes to the only perfect ending I know — The Sopranos — and to the song that closes it: “Don’t Stop Believin’.” It’s the soundtrack for this week.
Further reading
- The 2024–present anti-corruption protests — overview, from the Novi Sad canopy collapse to today
- Crime group chief claims contacts with the president — on KRIK's Belivuk investigation
- Beyond football: the power of Balkan hooligans — Belgrade Centre for Security Policy