After the general strike, students in blockade report that the blockades and protests are no longer just student-led but have become “people-wide”. Therefore, in their letter to the people, they called for the holding of people’s assemblies, in accordance with the Law and Constitution of the Republic of Serbia.

However, public reactions to this announcement are divided. While some eagerly awaited this announcement and have already begun organising citizens’ plenaries, others have characterised this announcement as an evasion of responsibility. What is this about?

What is a People’s Assembly?

In their letter, students first refer to Article 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, which states that no state body, political organisation, group or individual can appropriate sovereignty from citizens. Furthermore, the Law on Local Self-Government in Article 67 provides for the Citizens’ Assembly as one of the legitimate and legal ways of associating citizens, and Article 69 explains that this assembly can propose and vote on the competences of local self-government bodies, decides by a majority vote of those present, and submits its proposals to the assembly and other local self-government bodies (Official Gazette of RS, No. 129/2007, 83/2014 – other law, 101/2016 – other law, 47/2018 and 111/2021 – other law).

After the legal framework, the students also explain the ideological one. The Assembly is for the people what the plenary is for students, they say, based on the principles of direct democracy. What is that? Unlike representative democracy, in which representatives of the people or people’s deputies are elected by voting for lists of candidates, after which these candidates are authorised to represent us in Parliament, direct democracy is based on direct voting by citizens on individual proposals. In other words, instead of electing individuals who will represent us in institutions, we ourselves unite in assemblies and discuss and vote on everything individually, according to our will and without any mediation.

Direct democracy is the ideology by which the plenary functions, which is why students don’t have “representatives” that this regime constantly searches for and calls for informational interviews those who appear as such to them. Just like at a plenary, all citizens who are part of that local community are invited to the assembly, and all interested parties have the full right to attend, propose and decide – directly and without mediation.

Why do students distance themselves from political parties and other organisations, whilst calling for unification in assemblies?

From the very beginning of student blockades, there has been a search for individuals who are representatives of students. In an attempt to illustrate their different system of association, many students have spoken in the media without emphasising their names. However, as I explained in one of my previous texts, it is difficult for other generations to accept this system due to different habits and environments.

It is precisely from this need for authority that criticisms of the student announcement emerged as “evading responsibility”, because in that value system, responsibility is only counted when someone assumes a function with their head and beard. Of course, people in office have taken on responsibility and are responsible in representative democracy, which does not make those who participate in direct democracy less responsible. From another angle, responsibility is even greater in direct democracy because you decide on every issue yourself and no one else does it for you.

This value difference is one of the reasons why, from the very beginning of the blockades, students have distanced themselves from every organisation and every political party in Serbia. Students know very well that these organisations do not function according to the principles of direct democracy, but in the best cases, it is representative democracy. Therefore, the only way of association from which students will not distance themselves and to which they invite the rest of society is the people’s assembly or citizens’ plenary.

Rakovica Municipality Citizens’ Plenary as an Example of Good Practice

During the general strike held on 7 March, the streets of Belgrade were flooded with people, so much so that it was difficult to track which group was going where. One important event as part of the general strike that we must not miss was the first citizens’ plenary in Rakovica municipality. Neighbourhood groups on social networks arranged a walk in two columns, one from Resnik and the other from Petlovo Brdo, which would meet with the rest of the interested public in front of the Rakovica Municipality building and hold a citizens’ plenary.

As citizens have not had experience with plenaries before, they called for help from the most expert – the students. Thus, this plenary was moderated by a student named Marija from Rakovica, who has been active at her faculty since the beginning of the blockades. About 400 people gathered, and at the very beginning, Marija explained the rules of the plenary: how to ask for the floor (with two fingers), how to ask for a reply (one finger), about the course of discussion and about the voting itself.

Four items were on the agenda of this plenary, all of which actually came from the aforementioned neighbourhood groups on social networks, as citizens’ proposals. The first item concerned the continuation of blockade activities in Rakovica, where a nearly unanimous decision was made on further organisation through plenaries.

The second item on the agenda concerned the decision to collectively attend the student protest announced for 15 March in Belgrade. The gathered citizens discussed the most accessible route and shared information from neighbourhood groups from other municipalities, considering potential meeting points. After discussion and several proposals, they proceeded to vote, and the proposed route was adopted, in which walkers will connect with groups from Čukarica municipality and continue to the city centre.

On the agenda was also the decision to launch a fund for educational workers from Rakovica, who unlawfully did not receive their full salary due to joining the strike. This plenary is willing to launch a solidarity fund for them, but they left the decision on how this fund will function and how funds will be collected for the next plenary, when they will come with specifically developed proposals. This was also voted on, with the citizens of the plenary agreeing that there is a need for this fund and agreeing to form a proposal by the next plenary.

The last item on the agenda was the decision to jointly prepare food and refreshments for the student protest announced for 15 March. Neighbourhood women at the plenary proposed that, in agreement with the student organisers, they set up a stand for Rakovica municipality and that each household donate a tray of bread rolls, pies, some other dish of choice, fruit, sweets, and the like. Each according to their abilities. The food and refreshments would be transported in an organised manner to the stand in the city, which would also be a meeting point for walkers who will come by the previously chosen route. This proposal was also adopted, so after that, people approached the improvised stand and left their contacts to form groups for logistics and implementation of everything agreed at this plenary. Upon closing the plenary, the gathered paid tribute to the victims in Novi Sad with fifteen minutes of silence.

It seems that plenary fever has also caught on in other neighbourhood groups on social networks, and that Rakovica municipality was a trendsetter for citizens’ plenaries. Of course, the original and true trendsetters are certainly the students, but it was also important to show that direct democracy can be achieved at the level of the local community. It is worth remembering that the long-abolished local communities had a similar role to these neighbourhood plenaries, but now student enthusiasm has brought this culture back to local groups.

Plenaries will continue to be held in Rakovica municipality, making decisions through direct democracy. As the organisers state, all neighbours are invited to participate, and the date of the second plenary will soon be announced on social networks. Other municipalities will, by all accounts, follow this trend and strive to also organise themselves into plenaries. Plenary fever is spreading faster and faster, and neighbourhood plenaries are the must-have of the season for this spring, until all four student demands are met!

Translated for Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières by Adam Novak. Originally published in Masina.