| Morlock Elloi on Sun, 10 Mar 2019 19:53:24 +0100 (CET) |
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| <nettime> few not-elephants in the room |
Much less has been written about 4-month ongoing protests in Serbia (the 2nd article below.) It's usually about the ones in Belgrade, and from even more stark and simplistic partisan perspectives from the same suspects, almost the Cold War flavor. In fact, there are sustained protests in several dozens of cities, even in Kosovo serbian enclaves which have military-grade unisonity (the word exists) regarding what citizens are supposed to think and protest about (hatred towards Albanians, that is.) The protesters do not let politicians from anywhere head or talk at protests, so these can be seen pathetically giving interviews with protests in the background, from a safe distance. The leaders are predominantly popular actors and writers.
What is common to these is immunity to professional partisan thugs of all persuasions and surprising resiliency. The most disturbing and telling part is that by rejecting all these hacks, they (the protesters) have placed them (the hacks) in the same category of essentially useless parasites. The hacks understand this well, therefore little coverage. Occupy Wall Street failed to do this, and various hacks leeched and bled the movement to death - from Zizek to the far right.
A new phenomenon, utterly unexplainable by tenured theorists and theories - regardless of how hard they try to fit it in the wrong hole, is facing us. A specter, even? We live in exciting times, and there might be hope for the species.
==== [machine translated fromhttps://www.heise.de/tp/features/Was-ist-los-mit-den-Gelbwesten-4330155.html ]
What's wrong with the yellow vests? March 10, 2019 Christian SchmeiserA review: Visiting the protests in Paris on the storm and urge phase of the Gilets jaunes
The "Gilets jaunes" has been reported regularly for months. The French yellow vests, their forms of protest and their concerns are in no way balanced by the great media (led by the ten richest Frenchmen in France). Instead, they have been overshadowed for months with a barrage of negative news: From the central violence charge of right-wing radicalism to anti-Semitism everything is there. The Ukrainian Maidan uprising five years ago states that it is debatable in a dubious way about a "revolution of dignity" that would never have been granted such a fine "appreciation".
Spontaneous visit to Acte IV of the "gilets jaunes"I personally spontaneously decided twice to take part in protests of the "Gilets jaunes" in Paris: on 8/12/2018 (Acte 4, often written Roman IV) and on 9.2.2019 (Acte 13, or XIII). Some of my live impressions deviate considerably from the well-known "negative press" to the yellow vests. Visiting the yellow vests in Paris (5 images) Picture: Christian Schmeiser
Of course, this brief presentation can only be done from my own individual point of view - and is therefore necessarily subjective and therefore vulnerable. An article on a demonstration in the Gilets Jaunes' "Sturm und Drang" phase at the present time, when the protest movement has passed its zenith, I think makes sense, because it provides a glimpse of the original and thus in striking light observations original dynamics of the yellow vests.
Because I failed to go to the "nuit debout" scene in France in 2016 (see "Nuit Debout" protesters, a new opposition? ), I have been struck by the news of the worst clashes between the brand new ones G ilets jaunes movement and the French police on 1.12.2018 (Acte III) spontaneously decided to go to Paris with an early train on December 8 (Acte IV) and to visit the yellow vests on site.
Coincidentally, after only a few minutes on foot after arriving at the Gare de l'Est, I ended up in a yellow-vested protest train, which presumably started at the Place de la République. What I have seen and experienced as a simple witness, I will describe below.
Obviously, it was a very large participation in the ever-expanding demonstration from all age groups and a broad support from the population, all in the sense of a highly explosive dynamics that I can only grasp in spiteful words. The term "pre-revolutionary mood" describes most of what I was able to experience at Acte 4.
This "mood" was initially due to the permanent sympathy of the Parisian population: friendly shouts from the balconies and from passing cars, encouraging Beckon passing passing people - immediately answered by the protest train participants.
A fire truck protrudes halfway out of the driveway towards the street to make it clear that they are participating in the "general strike". The occasional appearance of smaller police units is answered regularly by the G ilets jaunes with boos, because the serious clashes Acte 3 are only a week back.
At Diaghilev Square, the protest march does not move on, police units block three different streets. Protestants immediately protect themselves against a possible "gaz lacrymogène" (tear gas) attack with special goggles and gas masks. The protest swells again and now turns towards Boulevard Montmartre.
Striking is not only the participation of many older Frenchmen, of which one can safely assume that they are usually not to be found on demonstration trains, also striking is the high proportion of women, with me so not yet come "energetics" against the Macron on 13 July 2018 to declare issued taxes. Loud "Vive la révolution!" - Calls from young French women are still unfamiliar to me.
Of course, comparisons are limping: But the discrepancy between a West German Easter march and this Gilets jaunes protest march bursting with energy and genuine indignation can be compared to the "distance" between a Mary Roos hit evening and an early Buzzcocks punk concert - it's just light years in between ,
In addition, it should be noted that I do not see any real hooligans and vandalism on this 8th of December, but a very large number of indignant French citizens who, with imaginative and witty forms of protest, point out that they are suffering because of "neoliberal reforms" Macron and his predecessors can no longer handle their everyday lives, because the money simply does not last until the end of the month.
Imaginative protestNew and unexpected to me is that yellow vests disguise themselves as Gauls and thus incorporate the myth of the small Gallic village, which still resists the Roman occupying power, in the political debate. The protest is now on the boulevard Montmartre to a halt, the French police has driven heavy equipment.
Directly in front of the water cannon and the police chain kneel now young yellow vests with behind the head entangled hands. With this "stressful position" they demonstrate against the dubious decision of the French police to let striking students kneel in this way for a longer period in the schoolyard.
Immediately thereafter begins a militarily precisely planned and organized large-scale employment of the French police. In front of the water cannon and the tear gas I flee with many others in a side street. A long chain of police emergency vehicles rushes past me in the direction of Boulevard Montmartre, everything seems to be planned on a master plan. In another side street, heavily armed French policemen track fugitive yellow vests.
Shortly thereafter - surprisingly for me - a group of French policemen reappear in a narrow alley. Their leader beats me to go back to the boulevard - in the direction of a possible cauldron. After a short exchange of words, in which I imagine myself as "tourist allemand", the baton lowers, the "centurion" lets me pass.
Use of the Eurogendfor (this obviously failed to translate)Later I return to Boulevard Montmartre via the Rue du Faubourg Montmartre to see the progress of the police action - together with many passers-by. On their retreat, the Gilets jaunes have apparently formed barricades, which are now being eliminated by the police.
On the boulevard are now endless emergency vehicles, police units - and some matt blue painted armored vehicles, whose national emblem I can not recognize, to see. On December 8, units of the Eurogendfor (European Gendarmerie Force) are to be used , which has been used since 2006 as a military unit - not mentioned by the corporate media - including counterinsurgency.
This is apparently a legal gray area: protests and demonstrations of French citizens who can no longer cope with their everyday life financially after numerous "neoliberal reforms" are interpreted as "uprisings", which then "legitimized" the use of this largely unknown in the public special unit. , Significantly, the alleged use of Eurogendfor on 8 December a little later on Wikipedia "disappeared".
"A nous la démocratie": Democracy is oursOn the way back to the Place de la Republique I discover on the asphalt the grafitti "à nous la démocratie" (translated: "democracy belongs to us"). The yellow vests go in many places for a "Référendum d'Initiative Citoyenne" (RIC) on the street and thus demand a direct democracy - the representative democracy, which shapes the balance of power in the sense of a neoliberal oligarchy, they reject.
There is also nothing to read in the corporate media. Although the Place de la République is cordoned off by a police cordon, I am still allowed to pass by and can still look at this gilets jaunes folk festival in the early evening, which apparently follows the "nuit debout" tradition. Yellow banners with the inscription "vivre oui - survivre non" (live yes - survive no) are next to posters against the impending climate catastrophe.
What I also notice here is a lightness in dealing, are forms of human interaction, which were so far not familiar to me demonstrations. Apparently, the Gilets Jaunes largely renounce "leaders", in their place is a collective "we" that can be experienced directly on the Place de la République.
I join in the crowded square of a rather funny brass band, playing South American revolutionary songs and having to make an alley again and again so they can circle on the huge Place de la République. Somehow the whole scenario reminds me of an early Jacques Tati movie.
My evening impressions of wit, urbanity, liveliness, and subversion combined with an unexpected floating lightness are pretty well captured in this Gilets jaunes clip . Due to my immediate escape from the Boulevard Montmartre, I did not notice any police violence against the Gilets jaunes . Albrecht Müller has commented on the Nachdenkseiten.
Detailed information about the many police brutal (seriously) injured people is posted on the Internet. Particularly controversial are the plastic steel bullets from the Swiss-made LBD 40 , the use of which has led in several cases to the loss of an eye (see police violence against protests of the yellow vests: "In-line mutilations" ).
The cases of Fiorina Lignier and Jérôme Rodriguez , both of whom lost an eye through police bullets, became known. The yellow vests regularly demonstrate against the use of the LBD 40. Needless to say , the police violence against the Gilets jaunes in the mainstream media is a subordinate, clearly neglected topic.
A village populated by indomitable GaulsMy second visit to the "gilets jaunes" on the 9.2.2019 (Acte XIII) should be outlined here only in terms of new impressions. At first I also met Gauls again, but also Marianne as a national icon. Here is a note: The narrative of the small, populated by indomitable Gauls village against the King of Versailles is immediately appealing, awakens with outsiders quite sympathy for the yellow vests - and nowhere in the "corporate media" present.
It should be remembered at this point that Asterix and his friends in the context of the clashes between the France de Gaulle and the hegemonic claims of the then young US Empire in the late 1950s have emerged - makes the emergence of "indomitable Gauls" in the yellow vests So it makes sense (how about yellow vests in the next Asterix issue ?).
Agents provocateursAt the big demonstration march on February 9th (Acte 13) from the Place de l'Étoile I can observe for the first time a small group of young black-masked men who deliberately cause destruction. To me, this group does not seem like a club of chaotic rioters, but - on the contrary - like a well-ordered paramilitary structure that deliberately hits shop windows and shatters ATMs. The large number of peaceful demonstrators buys these "agents provocateurs" in their "busy activity", but does not intervene.
Significantly, the black mummed "produce" exactly the images that constantly appear in the "yellow west violence discourse" of the corporate media. Is there a covert "strategy of tension" here to discredit the yellow vests? special forces
The emergence of special forces finally causes me to leave the demonstration in the late afternoon. These special units can be recognized by their red armbands, missing national insignia, the lack of armored uniforms and simple motorcycle helmets. They are notorious in their support of the French police for excessive use of force .
How they reacted to renewed provocation of the black-muffed agents provocateurs on 9 February (Acte XIII), can be on this video (from 3:45:00) "admire".
ClarificationFinally, following my eyewitness accounts, I would like to point out that much more needs to be clarified regarding the context of contemporary history, which includes the yellow-vests protests that have been going on since November. For example, Michael Chossudovsky (Center for Research on Globalization) rejects the well-known position in the conventional media, according to which the protest of the yellow vests of an ecologically inspired excise tax of the Macron government was ignited.
According to him, Macron adopted on 13 July 2018 a whole package of taxes (which incidentally also includes the mineral oil tax), all of which are directly linked to the current European upgrade course. Is Chossudovsky right? That may decide the reader.
A second example: in Rubicon magazine , author Aaron Rosenbaum speculates that the Aachen Treaty of January 22, 2019, signed by Macron and Merkel, will serve the massive militarization of a "Franco-German superstate" and, moreover, enable in the future "the German army defeats protests of French citizens". What is to be held?
Although the yellow-vein scene is currently declining, the underlying serious conflicts are in no way resolved. The "nuit debout" scene in 2016 was followed by the Gilets jaunes at the end of 2018. Can we expect the "Gilets jaunes reloaded" in the near future?
As a mental outlook, I would like to conclude the reflections of an Internet blogger on the yellow vests, published by the weekly newspaper "der Freitag": "The Uprising [of the Gilets jaunes ] is the helpless reaction of the subjugated to the doomed neo-liberalism is an increasing complexity of chaos that continues to lead to destruction, and thus to the coming change of the system that no one can foresee, politically, there is nothing left and we should all be happy if we could do it without a mistake War on which one already works hard to get through the downfall. "
==== https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-01-17/thousands-serbia-continue-march-nationwide-anti-government-protestsThousands in Serbia continue to march in nationwide, anti-government protests
January 17, 2019 By Nick AshdownThousands took to the streets of Belgrade and other Serbian cities on Jan. 13 for the sixth straight Saturday in a collective uprising against the government, low quality of life and lack of media freedom.
The protests kicked off on Dec. 8 after separate attacks on a prominent political opposition leader and a journalist.
On Nov. 23, in the central city of Kruševac, a group of men with steel bars attacked Borko Stefanovic, president of the Serbian Left political party, and three other party members. Nearly a month later, on Dec. 11, in an apparently unrelated political attack, assailants threw Molotov cocktails and shot at the house of 70-year-old investigative journalist Milan Jovanovic, who narrowly escaped.
Protests continued Wednesday with a silent vigil marking the assasination of Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic, who was killed on Jan. 16 last year.
While initially protesting the recent attacks, demonstrations across the country soon gained broader popular support. They have since grown into a wider display of opposition against President Aleksandar Vucic and his ruling Serbian Progressive Party, which dominates the Balkan country’s political landscape. In the 1990s, Vucic served as minister of information under President Slobodan Miloševic, who was later tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for war crimes.
Vucic has since refashioned himself from an ultra-nationalist to a pro-Western populist conservative. He maintains friendly ties with the West and claims joining the European Union as his signature policy, but his increasingly authoritarian tendencies and close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was treated to a red-carpet welcome and mass rally as he visits Belgrade this week, have stirred anger and frustration among citizens.
“This is a civil movement, a civil uprising.”
Vanya Tsarin, 72, retired civil servant, Belgrade
On Saturday evening, thousands of people, young and old, many
accompanied by young children or pet dogs, flooded the streets of
central Belgrade. The atmosphere was jubilant and social. Protesters
blew whistles or horns, chanted slogans, sang songs or quietly chatted.
“We thought about the violence in our country, violence in the media, discrimination,” said 24-year-old political science student Jelena Anasonovic, one of the protest organizers. “That was the main reason to go to the streets.”
The organizers consist of a loose group of students and activists who began calling the protests “One of Five Million” (#1od5miliona) after Vucic said he wouldn’t meet their demands, even if the number of protestors reached five million.
Trade union members carry a sign reading "They are telling us that it's better, but in the post it’s never been worse” at anti-government demonstrations in Belgrade, Serbia, Jan. 12,
Logistical support to the protest organizers has been powered by Alliance for Serbia, an umbrella organization for 30 political opposition parties and other organizations. Alliance for Serbia was co-founded by Stefanovic, and includes both moderate and far-right nationalist parties.
Anasonovic; said the organizers are calling for press freedom and more media coverage of the protests and opposition politicians, an end to political violence, a proper investigation into the assassination of Ivanovic, and more transparency over ongoing negotiations with Kosovo.
A deal to normalize Serbian relations with Kosovo is a prerequisite for both countries to join the EU. This has been a bitter sticking point since the dissolution of Yugoslavia and bloody regional wars. Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, declared independence in 2008, but international recognition of its sovereignty is mixed. Neither Serbia nor Russia acknowledges Kosovo's independence. An EU-mediated deal could involve a land swap and remains highly controversial.
“People don’t have jobs. They live really poorly. We don’t have free media,” she said, explaining some of the reasons for the country’s endemic brain drain. “My sister left the country. A lot of people left the country. People are really struggling in everyday life.”
But for Vukovic;, like many of the protestors, anger at Vucic doesn’t necessarily mean support for any opposition politician.
“I’ve always voted against, rather than for someone," she said. "That’s very frustrating. At this point in time, I don’t think there’s a political party ready to take this country forward.”
Vanya Tsarin, a 72-year-old retired civil servant, also doesn’t support any particular political party and stresses the non-partisan nature of the protests.
“This is a civil movement, a civil uprising,” she said.Tsarin joined the protests to show her discontent with the lack of media freedom — Serbia’s press freedom ranking on democracy watchdog Freedom House has plummeted under Vucic — and poor economic conditions. She said her pension, the equivalent of $422, isn't enough to cover her cost of living.
“[The government] is exploiting people … they’re supporting foreign investors instead of locals, and we’re a very poor country. We need a lot of local investment, local factories,” Tsarin explains.
Nikola Burazer, program director at the Belgrade think tank Center for Contemporary Politics, said political change is unlikely as long as opposition to Vucic doesn’t translate into support for a clear alternative.
“You have this big paradox — people are unhappy, they go to the streets, they yell, they’re against this and that, but they’re simply unwilling to give their trust to anyone in the elections, and this means their entire effort is futile,” said Burazer.
Jasmin Mujanovic, political scientist and author of “Hunger & Fury: The Crisis of Democracy in the Balkans,” said many people are frustrated with opposition parties in Serbia.
“The political opposition is fragmented, it’s fractured, it’s incredibly provincial in its perspectives. Many of them are about as corrupt — perhaps in some cases even more corrupt — than [the government],” he said. “Something that we might refer to as a genuinely progressive, reformist or liberal democratic opposition has not yet emerged.”
These demonstrations are the third wave of large anti-government protests in the last three years. In 2016, thousands protested against the controversial Belgrade Waterfront housing development plan, and in 2017, thousands more took to the streets after Vucic won the presidential elections, which were marred by SNS party domination of the media and claims of voter intimidation.
There have also been recent anti-government protests, some ongoing, elsewhere in the region, such as in Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Burazer said the current protests in Serbia are more diverse than those of recent years and rank among the largest of the last two decades with crowds of many thousands. In addition to political moderates, they include politicians and supporters from the far right and far left, as well as pro-Russian, pro-European Union and pro- and anti-LGBT demonstrators.
Still, Vucic is the country’s most popular politician with approval ratings of about 54 percent and continues to appeal to the West with EU aspirations. Yet, he also maintains a close relationship with the Russian president — Putin is the most popular foreign politician in Serbia and competes with the EU and US for influence in the Balkans. Critics accuse Western leaders of turning their backs to Vucic’s authoritarian tendencies because he’s seen as pro-Western.
“There is quite a strong atmosphere of fear in Serbian society. Vucic manages to win the elections not only because he’s really popular, but also because there’s a well-organized machine of incentives but also intimidation of voters." Nikola Burazer, Center for Contemporary Politics
Protests have also spread to smaller cities throughout Serbia. Mujanovic said this is significant, “[The SNS’s] political electoral base is rural, so the fact that we’ve started seeing some kind of response from the people in those communities is hugely important because realistically, those are the communities that are being most adversely affected by corruption, clientelism, cronyism, brain drain.”
Burazer said the protesters’ main grievances are corruption and a low standard of living.
“Growth is very low and you can say it’s not really evenly distributed,” he said. “Employment depends too much on political connections. There’s a very high level of corruption which hasn’t really decreased over the years — we can even say it increased, despite the anti-corruption narrative from the government.”
Vucic is a deeply polarizing figure, dominating most of the media and accused of corruption and authoritarian tendencies by his opponents.
“There is quite a strong atmosphere of fear in Serbian society. Vucic manages to win the elections not only because he’s really popular, but also because there’s a well-organized machine of incentives but also intimidation of voters,” Burazer said.
It’s this atmosphere that Anasonovic and the other protesters are trying to change.
“I really think we need to change our political approach and understand that if we want to change something, we need to do it by ourselves,” she said.
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