Resurrection of Ghosts of the Past

Student protests in Serbia have begun to resemble those in the 1990s, with messages like “Kosovo is Serbia” and “we don't give Kosovo”. Nationalists and former war terrorists are strengthening the discour against Kosovo. Protests are turning into platforms of them bringing Balkans near disaster

What started as a student protest, a legitimate form of expression of discontent in any democratic society, has been turned into the arena to revive nationalist ideology in Serbia. Instead of social requirements or improvements in the educational system, the old words - nation, blood, land - have again emerged on the stage. An immediate slide from civic rights to uninhibited nationalism, which is disturbingly recalling the dark years of BAR80 skirts and the early 90s.

“There has been a right radicalization, a reactivating of all nationalist ideologies, a return to the old programme of the entire entire union as if we were back in 1989”, writes a Serbian author, noting a political and cultural twist that would have to frighten not only the region, but Serbian citizens themselves who have experienced the horror that brings such a discurs.

This is not just a metaphor. The year 1989 is a symbol of a historic moment when Slobodan Milosevic, in Gazimestan, devised a nationalist programme that later turned into a nightmare for the entire Balkans. On behalf of the Serbian union, thousands of people were killed, millions of their homes were expelled, and the entire region destabilized. If recent student protests are becoming ground for these ideologies, then Serbia is faced with a return that has nothing more to do with historical nostalgia, but with current political ambitions.

Publicist Tomislav Markovik recently wrote that, it would be better for nationalists to show the students who are now protesting seven months, something about the reason why Kosovo “ik from Serbia, something about the crackdown on Albanians, about mass massacres and deportations, about refrigerators with corpses and mass graves.

Serbian nationalism of the years '{0}'90s was fueled by fear, myth and manipulation of history. Today, he is being resurrected in a form that tries to combine modern technology with archaic naratiats. Radical right in Serbia has found the way to introduce these ideas into the minds of new generations, who do not remember the war but are eager for identity and direction in a society mired in economic and political uncertainty.

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Concern about this nationalist revival should be not only internal but also regional. When the ideas of uniting all Serbs in a single state return to Serbia, it directly implies interference in the sovereignty of other states, including Kosovo, Bosnia and Montenegro. The Serbian “> world idea” is not different from the concept of “Greater Serbia” that caused untold destruction. In essence, it is the same: building a collective identity based on exclusion and territorial enlargement.

That is why the protests, which should have been a new democratic spirit, are turning into a platform for the same forces that brought the Balkans to the brink of disaster. Using student clothing and victim rhetoric, young nationalists are trying to mask dangerous messages as legitimate political demands. But a society that has gone through war crimes and genocide cannot deal with these phenomena with indifference.

In this context, it is not too much to ask for a serious reaction from Serbian society itself from academics, from the media, from citizens who do not want to be hostages of the past. Otherwise, their silence may be interpreted as approval. And for everyone else, who lives in a region that's still “silenced”, it's vital not to submit to the illusion that everything has stabilised.

The Balkans are fragile and history has taught us that a spark is enough to fuel fire. The revival of the 1989 ideology in 2025 is not just a radical one, but it is an alarm. It must intervene now, to prevent what might happen later. Otherwise, the future may reminisce about what happens when history is not taught but repeats itself.