Minority Voices and Interethnic Solidarity in Serbia’s Student Protests: Rethinking Identity and Participation
The collapse of the canopy at the Novi Sad train station, resulting in 16 deaths, triggered large-scale student and civic protests in Serbia, unprecedented in both scale and duration. The paper examines the participation of national minorities in the protests, noting that, unlike some previous instances, citizens belonging to national minorities have also joined. They expressed their national identities through minority languages on banners, traditional attire, flags, etc., while simultaneously embracing civic identity and supporting broader demands for the rule of law and the fight against corruption. The mobilization has been bottom-up, leaving formal minority actors (political parties and national councils) largely reactive rather than proactive. Notably, they mirrored the broader polarization in Serbian society, with some siding with the government and others voicing criticism or openly supporting the protests. Overall, the protests revealed a potential shift toward a more inclusive understanding of citizenship, demonstrated by interethnic solidarity and muted responses to ethnic provocations. Yet hate speech remains a persistent feature of political discourse, and much work is still needed to strengthen integration in Serbian society.
Ljubica Djordjević
Ljubica Djordjević is a Senior Researcher and Head of the ‘Justice and Governance’ cluster at the ECMI. Her research focuses on European and national legal frameworks, with particular attention to the impact of European minority protection standards on national minority protection regimes.
Katinka Beretka
Katinka Beretka is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law and Business Studies Dr Lazar Vrkatić in Novi Sad and a Guest Lecturer at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences in Szeged (Hungary). Her research focuses on national minority rights, with special regard to the use of languages and political participation.
Jelena Mihajlov
Jelena Mihajlov is a consultant and independent researcher. With an interdisciplinary academic background in culture and political science, her research focuses on the political and cultural dynamics of minority communities, with special regard to identity and interethnic relations in post-conflict societies.
Ljubica Djordjević
Ljubica Djordjević is a Senior Researcher and Head of the ‘Justice and Governance’ cluster at the ECMI. Her research focuses on European and national legal frameworks, with particular attention to the impact of European minority protection standards on national minority protection regimes.