Today It’s Them, Tomorrow It Could Be Anyone

Written by Aleksandra Bosnić Đurić

The hunger and thirst strike of Novi Sad sociology professor Marija Vasić while in detention, the heart-wrenching public appeals from her mother, son, and husband, and her covert transfer to the Central Prison Hospital in Belgrade, after repeatedly collapsing and becoming too weak to stand or speak, stand as some of the most harrowing symbols of Serbia’s last autocratic regime. They draw a clear line between those who, even after thirteen years under a rehearsed authoritarian rule, have preserved their humanity, solidarity, empathy, and spirit of resistance, and those who, in the meantime, have become little more than shadows, reflecting the bleakness of a political repression they either support or silently accept.

On Thursday, May 15, Marija’s family endured an ordeal. Sadly, in today’s Serbia, there are far too many “marked” families who have suffered, whether through the loss of loved ones, the constant fear for their safety, the denial of rightful opportunities, or through social destruction, public defamation in regime-controlled tabloid media, and the heavy burden of quiet marginalization and stigma.

After six months of student-led and citizen-led protests across Serbia, public apathy is beginning to erode. What indifference remains is mostly found among those whose interests are, in one way or another, tied to the regime, a vast and far-reaching network. The message voiced by citizens, students, and opposition members in Novi Sad, calling for the release of political detainees, or at the very least, for their right to defend themselves while free, was straightforward: Today it's them; tomorrow it could be anyone. This slogan perhaps most clearly captures the irrational intensification of state repression, which seems to grow in direct proportion to the waning indifference among the public. 

Until just a few months ago, it might have been accurate to describe Serbia’s ruling regime as one that governs through illusion and force. But in recent days, even that description seems inadequate. Fewer and fewer people continue to believe in the illusions, even many of those who still outwardly support their creators. The regime is increasingly relying on raw repression as its only means of shaping citizens’ thoughts, speech, and behavior.

This is further affirmed by the Report on the State and Endangerment of Human Security, Human Rights, and Freedoms in the Republic of Serbia, published just days ago by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights. Covering the period from January 15 to March 31, 2025, the report notes that, since November 1, 2024, following the collapse of a platform roof at the Novi Sad train station, the divide between the government and the public has deepened significantly.

The report states: “There has been a marked rise in public expressions of distrust toward government policies and actions (the growing number of participants is underscored by the fact that March alone saw 1,697 public protests across 378 towns and villages in Serbia). At the same time, state and parastate violence against citizens has intensified. The government regularly invokes emergency measures (such as deploying special police units, the Gendarmerie, and BIA resources), even though no state of emergency has been declared following Serbian law (Law on Emergency Situations, Law on State of Emergency), the Constitution of Serbia, or relevant international conventions. The actions of the government, especially those of the President, and of media under state control are central factors driving the escalation of political and social tensions, increasing security risks, and contributing to the broader erosion of human security, rights, and freedoms in Serbia”.

The Report assesses that, in its efforts to strengthen authoritarian rule, the government has created conditions that restrict access to decision-making processes and public space for opposition members, critics of the regime, and a broad spectrum of citizens. As a result, many have been pushed into “taking to the streets” through protests, strikes, blockades, and other forms of civic resistance and into building alternative organizations and institutions. However, this kind of activism empowers citizens, which narrows the space for government control. As the Report notes, the result is that more and more people are “mobilizing in opposition to the authorities”. According to the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, a “new social actor has emerged on the public stage, one with real mobilizing energy and success in fostering solidarity among wide circles of citizens”.

On May 14, 2025, Raša Nedeljkov, Program Director of CRTA, spoke before the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament about the state of the rule of law and human rights in Serbia. His remarks closely echoed the findings of the Helsinki Committee’s Report: “As civic resistance continues, repression intensifies. Serbia is in the midst of a deep political and social crisis. (...) If you ask what Europe can do for us, what we urgently need are concrete, targeted measures to release political prisoners and put an end to politically motivated persecution. In the short term, we need support to stop the crackdown on critical voices and to strengthen European efforts toward meaningful electoral reform in Serbia”. According to CRTA, the repression in Serbia has “reached a level that can no longer go unnoticed, hidden behind diplomatic niceties or overshadowed by major human rights violations elsewhere in the world”.

The suspension of human rights and politically motivated repression under Serbia’s latest autocratic regime has entered a phase that resembles a spiraling escalation. This is a clear sign of panic within the regime, as the old, tested mechanisms for managing and controlling the political landscape in Serbia no longer work. The image of an all-powerful authority who “knows everything” and “controls everything” has been irreversibly shattered. The loss of the authoritarian leader’s once “fascinating aura” inevitably creates a void that the regime tries to fill with even more repression. This is carried out through arbitrary interpretations of legal norms and equally arbitrary use of the state’s coercive apparatus, aiming to instill in citizens a sense of legal vacuum, where anything can happen, where no one is institutionally protected or safe, and where anyone can become prey to political predators.

And yet, as we are seeing, these methods are backfiring, transforming the targets of authoritarian repression into active political agents. The scale of this transformation is so significant that the message from one protest banner, “Today it's them; tomorrow it could be anyone”, can now be read in another light – as a warning about the regime’s future.