As I was scrolling through the New York Times app recently, a paid post appeared on my phone screen. The title in bright green letters placed over Belgrade’s city skyline at dusk announced: “Ready, Set, Play: Belgrade Gears Up to Show the World Its Creative Spirit.”
What a coincidence, I thought, and how cynical! That morning, I had been looking in vain on the same app for any updates from my country that has now been in turmoil for a year.
The day before, on November 1, Novi Sad saw the largest protest gathering in its history as more than a hundred thousand people congregated in the city, sixty miles north of Belgrade, to commemorate the anniversary of a disaster. Student-led protests have been going on over the past twelve months throughout Serbia, reaching its high point on March 15, when over 250,000 people protested on the streets of Belgrade.
When part of the newly renovated railway station’s roof collapsed a year previously, it killed sixteen passersby, including two children. The action on November 1 was not merely a commemoration of those who lost their lives: the mourners were also protesting the inaction of the Serbian authorities over the tragedy.
On August 1, the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime charged a group of individuals who were connected with the reconstruction of the railway station in Novi Sad, including the former government ministers Goran Vesić and Tomislav Momirović. They are accused of embezzling more than $115 million from the funds dedicated to this infrastructure project. This confirmed a widely held belief that the fatal collapse was caused by an elaborate government corruption scheme, with mounting evidence pointing toward the very top levels of government.
Student-led protests have been going on over the past twelve months throughout Serbia.
The paid post in the New York Times paints a rosy picture of the Serbian capital. Yet if someone took this picture in earnest and went to Belgrade themselves, they…
Auteur: Branislav Jakovljević
