https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/27/a-leaderless-revolution-has-swept-serbia-the-world-should-be-watching
My involvement began while lecturing in Belgrade at the university’s blockaded faculties in 2024 and 2025. During these extraordinary blockades, something happened that was not widely discussed in the western media: the emergence of a collective sharing of intelligence and a process of shaping opinion that would become key to Sunday’s outcome.
For almost two years, students debated almost every aspect of Serbia’s economy and society – from lithium mining and resource exploitation to the economic power of local oligarchs, as well as issues such as healthcare and education. Sometimes discussions lasted six hours. All of this happened before the students developed any joint programme or formed an organisation capable of outmatching the traditional liberal parties. In a sense, knowledge came first, and organisation followed.
Sunday’s election victory for what became the Student List, therefore, emerged from a novel political culture: a leaderless movement based on collective self-governance and political education, unseen in the Serbian political arena since the collapse of Yugoslavia.
Given Serbia’s recent history, how was this remarkable democratic experiment even possible? One answer lies in the movement’s ability to rally a wide range of people who, despite different political convictions, wanted to counter the perceived corruption of Aleksandar Vučić, the authoritarian president.
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