It was back in 2019 that American actor Harrison Ford gave his famous climate change speech at the UN, in which he praised young climate activists. The Hollywood star spoke of a “new force of nature at hand”; of young people who “we’ve failed, who are angry, organised, and capable of making a diff erence. They are a moral army. And the most important thing that we can do for them is to get the hell out of their way.” Essentially, he described the transformative power of Generation Z, aka the Zoomers. Compared with older generations, they look like a moral army!
Only six months ago, many in Serbia believed that young people were very passive, disinterested in politics and determined to leave the country at the fi rst opportunity. The first signs that Serbia’s Zoomers are similar to their western peers appeared in 2024, when they joined two widespread civic protests en masse.
Students of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade were attacked during their protest on 22nd November 2024. Revolted, they blocked the building of their faculty three days later. By the end of 2024, around 85 state faculties nationwide were under blockades. After the students organised their Belgrade rally on 22nd December 2024, with around 100,000 people participating, it became obvious that the Student and Civic Protest had emerged. By the beginning of February, more than 300 towns and cities across Serbia had witnessed at least one protest.
The Zoomer students surprised everyone with their determination, energy and commitment, infecting many others with their qualities. Philine Bickhardt, a lecturer of Russian Literature at the University of Zurich, provided her own analysis of the Student Protest for weekly news magazine Radar. In her opinion, the Student Protest operates beyond the West-East divide; the students have no leadership cult and implement direct and radical democracy. Her conclusion is that “this is not a revolution of long hairs and joints, but of order, moderation and perseverance”. The Student Protest has so far received recognition and support from many celebrities across the region and around the world, including Madonna, Novak Đoković, Marina Abramović, Severina and Slavoj Žižek.
A survey conducted in January 2025 by the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade showed that 85% of the students of Serbia’s fi ve state universities supported student blockades and their four demands, but a mere 2.5% of them have participated in any activity of any political party or political organisation. The main question that the Student Protest has posed to various researchers is how realistic its main goal of reviving institutions and democratising Serbia actually is. While more liberal analysts seem very enthusiastic, conservative observers doubt that the huge wave of student enthusiasm could have a signifi cant and lasting impact unless it is politically channelled and institutionalised.
Perhaps the best conclusion from this debate was offered by Andreas Ernst in Neue Zürcher Zeitung. In his article, published on 11th February, he dubs the Student Protest “the School of democracy”. He sent a message to the sceptics who, in his opinion, miss something important about a generation that was considered passive, with ambitions only to emigrate to the West. “Although this movement has not yet changed the system, those in action have: they have lost their fear, are learning to sharpen their opinions in debates and, thanks to organisation, are able to achieve concrete goals.” Finally, Ernst concludes, the Protest “turns its participants into citizens”. Will Gen X and the Baby Boomers “get the hell out of the way” of Zoomers and Millennials in Serbia, as Harrison Ford suggested in global terms? That remains to be seen. It is already clear, however, that the Baby Boomers and Gen X failed to achieve their dream of a European Serbia after coming to power in Serbia in 2000. The Millennials and Zoomers now have their own new dreams to pursue, and they are likely to be more successful than their parents.
