A Generation Says “Enough” as a Corrupt System Shrugs at Decline, Death, and Empty Promises
BELGRADE — What started as student protests has exploded into a nationwide reality check for a regime that’s spent years painting decay as “stability.” Across Serbia, thousands of students and everyday citizens are flooding streets, campuses, and city squares demanding accountability — not slogans, not speeches, but actual consequences for corruption that has turned public life into a bad joke with deadly punchlines.
The spark was a tragic infrastructure collapse that killed innocent people — the kind of disaster that doesn’t just happen by accident, but by years of corner-cutting, shady contracts, and officials looking the other way. But the anger runs much deeper. This isn’t about one bridge, one building, or one scandal. It’s about a system where incompetence is protected and corruption is practically government policy.
Since Aleksandar Vučić and his SNS party took power, Serbia hasn’t just stagnated — it’s been quietly emptied. The population has dropped by nearly 10%. Not because of some natural cycle, but because young people are fleeing corruption, low wages, hopeless politics, and a future that feels permanently rigged. Entire towns are shrinking while politicians talk about progress from luxury offices. When your best export becomes your own citizens, something is deeply broken.
Instead of listening, the regime has chosen denial, pressure, and intimidation. Professors are targeted, students are smeared, protests are dismissed as troublemaking. Officials talk about “order” while ignoring why people are angry in the first place. It’s the classic authoritarian playbook: blame everyone except the people who’ve been running the country into the ground.
What makes these protests different is the unity. Students aren’t alone. Farmers, workers, pensioners, and families have joined in, tired of watching public money vanish, safety ignored, and futures stolen. This is no longer a campus issue — it’s a national revolt against a political machine that treats Serbia like a personal business project.
The hard truth is simple: corruption hasn’t just damaged Serbia’s economy — it has pushed its people out of their own country and put lives at risk. While leaders cling to power and polish speeches, a generation is demanding something radical in modern politics: honesty, responsibility, and a future worth staying for.
And this time, they don’t look like they’re going home quietly.
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