People have been protesting against the government in Serbia for more than two week now, but there is not much to talk about this in the media, not even in Serbia.

Thousands of young people, students and other citizens of Serbia have been walking on the streets of cities to protest against the government and the recently elected president Aleksandar Vučić. The elections were held on Sunday, the 2nd of April when Vučić has won 55% of the votes. The protesters say the election have been “undemocratic”.

In the night after the elections, a Facebook event called “Protest against the dictatorship” was created. It was not sure how many people would show up, but during the first days, there were hundreds of people, not only in Belgrade but also in the other cities like Novi Sad, Niš, Kraljevo and more. The protests are not led by any political party and they continued to be held every day at 6 pm, with thousands of people joining.

Some of the protestors said “You are not my president”, “We do not want a dictatorship, we want democracy”, “Against the system”, as well as many others criticising the media and the presidential campaign of Aleksandar Vučić.

Nikola Jekić, from AEGEE-Novi Sad, says that he is happy to see so many young people are actively participating in the protests: “They are full of enthusiasm and they want to make things better.  Most importantly – we do not want any kind of violence. Similar public gatherings were also held in the previous years, but this time it became just too massive for the government to ignore us.”.

On Saturday 8th of April, the biggest protest so far was held – with thousands of people on the streets of Belgrade. This time, the protest was supported by the syndicates of the police and the army of Serbia because of, as they say, “unsatisfying condition of the security sector and the conditions in the society”.

Isidora Braljinac, a member of AEGEE-Belgrade, told us about the huge response of people to that protest: “The number of people is reaching several thousand per day, but that one reached more than 60.000, which was reported by very few TV stations and newspaper.”. She also says that the youth of Serbia is not happy because of the fact that their homeland is being destroyed in many ways, which is why they are almost forced to go to other countries to look for a better future: “Government, media and many other institutions are ignoring us more than ever. If they say something, they say that we are hooligans, drug users, alcoholics and that we “probably have too much free time”. It is not about spending free time on the streets, while it is raining, it is about freedom.”.

For years now, one of the problems in Serbia has been the censorship of the media. During the presidential elections, almost every newspaper printed the logo of Aleksandar Vučić on their front page on the last day of the elections.  The problem is culminating since the citizens are protesting because of this. The public service broadcasters  – RTS (Radio-television of Serbia) and RTV (Radio-television of Vojvodina) are not reporting anything about the protests. They are giving partial information or no information at all.

Danilo Đalović from AEGEE-Niš, says that there is the same problem with the media on the local level: A few local media from Niš are reporting about the protests, and the TV-stations only mention it occasionally, but they are all under the control of the ruling party.”. He also adds that he thinks young people in his city find this very important: “They do not want to give up because this is actually a fight for freedom and democracy, a fight for the freedom of opinion, speech and basic human rights. The young people should not have to leave their country to have a better life, they want to change the current state of things and to create a better future for themselves.”.

Some of the requirements of the protestors are: abolition of the dictatorship and resignations of the political elite together with Aleksandar Vučić, resignations of members of REM (Regulatory authority for electronic media), RIK (Republic electoral commission), the head of RTS (Radio-television of Serbia) and the president of National Assembly of Serbia.

Pictures: Point of view by Lilit

Written by Gordana Tosic, AEGEE-Novi Sad

The students protests started in November 2014 as a response to the government’s interference with the university system. The first reply was after the Macedonian Government announced that they will implement a new law regarding higher education. The law, which would be implemented for the generation of 2017, implied that the students should give a national exam, which consisted out of two tests, the first one given in the second year of studies and the second one before the graduation. The students had three chances to pass the exam, if they would fail to do so, they would be expelled. 

The students organised a movement called “Student’s Plenum” on the 17^th of November 2014 which gathered more than 5000 students in the capital of Skopje. The movement raised the people’s and the Government’s interest, although they ignored them at first; however, it soon became a hot topic on social networks, sites uncontrolled by the media.

The Prime Minister of FYROM (Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia), Nikola Gruevski,  claimed that the approved law had as a purpose the control of the quality of the university professors. The idea of implementing this law came from rumors which spoke about students bribing professors in order to obtain the diploma. Gruevski replied: „The students will benefit from the examination because at the end they will obtain a degree that will help them in the future […] we are aiming with this law to force students to pass the exam with the adequate knowledge” (source: Balkans in Europe Policy Blog – article here)

The second protest came in December and gathered more than 10 000 people. FYROM citizens started protesting along, supporting their cause and also fighting against other issues that were wrong in the country. The respons of the FYROM police with tear gas injured a few people, and in the fight between the Albanian military and the Macedonian police a few people got killed. One of the recently reasons for protesting, in 2015, was the covering up of a young policeman’s death in 2011. (source: Wikipedia, article here)

Professors from the University organised as well a „Professor’s Plenum” protesting for the student’s cause.

The number of protesters kept on growing and on the 12 of February 2015 the students occupied the faculties of Philosophy, Philology, Law and Economy of Skopje University, proclaiming them “autonomous students’ territory”. They asked with an official letter to the authorities the resignation of Gruevski, but their petition was rejected. Moreover, the Government manipulated the media making them speak little of the movements, saying that there were only 3000 protesters and that they were politically oriented. 

Andrea Ugrinoska (Advisory Board member of  AEGEE-Skopje) wrote a very emotional and informative article entitled Student’s revolution in Macedonia (article here) on the 12 of February, right from the middle of the occupation, from the middle of her new family.  She spoke with joy and pride about how ”the whole Country started waking up” and the citizens became more united.

On the 18th of March Jirka Lhotka (AEGEE-Praha) wrote for The AEGEEan about the continuing protests in Macedonia. At this time, Nicola Gruevski had revealed  for the journalists of Macedonia that he had agreed to suspend the adaoption of the law for one year. (article here)

Following “the biggest march of the past two and a half decades in Macedonia.“(source Autonomus Balkan Informbureau: article here) we have asked Andrea Ugrinoska a few questions, in order to keep the AEGEEan’s readers posted.

The AEGEEan: Hello, Andrea! How are things going in the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia?

Andrea: Hello ! How are things going? There is a whole camp set in front of the Government, streets are being blocked for 7 days already, and no one is planning to leave until the Government, along with the Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, resigns. However, things are not as easy and as beautiful, as they might seem. The Prime Minister organised a contra-camp, in front of the Parliament, along with it’s blind nationalistic followers, and they are calling themselves the “Democracy keepers”.

You can imagine the satiric level of the whole ridiculous situation. However, the “Camp of freedom”, as we like to call it, knows no nation or ethnic identity. You could see Macedonia, Albanian, Turkish, Serbian and LGBTI flags, all standing next to each other, as well as people from all of the cities in Macedonia. Our demand is very clear and understandable, and we are not planning to leave until we get what we want. However it may look like, this is a clear sign for the Macedonian people, that we are building our democracy.

People started realizing that things are not right and went out to fight for it. The occupation in front of the Government is the most peaceful movement I have ever seen. Whenever I pass or go there I feel like I enter a new dimension of creativity and vision, combined with an everlasting freedom. There is music every night, debates and speeches about how we envision the new Macedonia, and yesterday there was a panel on “The future of Macedonia” where we, from the National Youth Council, were invited to speak and give our point of view regarding youth. That was seriously a big step. The opposition is giving its support, and showing a whole new mature approach to solving these everyday issues.

However, people have lost trust in the political figures, public authorities as well as institutions, to the point you would not see a single person in the “camp of freedom” claiming that they support any party. No, we are here non-partisan, do not label us, regarding of the support of the opposition, and this is as clear as day, and it is something that the opposition, besides its interest of course, tries to respect as much as possible. It’s a story of mutual understanding and cooperation towards bringing this Government along with it’s leader down, and start re-building this country the way we want it. It’s no longer about who belongs where, but it’s about uniting an fulfilling a higher purpose. It truly is amazing.

On the 12 of February, during the University Occupation you wrote in your article: „And this is where I am right now, with happy tears in my eyes”, referring to the unity of the students. How do you feel now, four months later?

I feel the same. The unity of the students is on the same level, and we are one of the key supporters of the initiative of the camp of freedom. Like nothing has changed. Maybe we won a small battle, but we still have a whole “war” to manage, and we do not plan to quit. Solidarity with the citizens of Macedonia will go until the end.

Written by Gabriela Cioată, AEGEE-București

Note: The article was written on the 27th of May 

A tragedy invested the city of Soma, in Turkey, where, on the 13th of May, the local coal mine suffered by an explosion, and a consequent fire, during a shift change in the afternoon. At the moment of the explosion, two kilometers underground, more than 700 miners where at work. The blast and the fire, that lasted for at least two days, killed 301 miners.

Safety in mines in Turkey raised a lot of controversies lately. Already in 2013 miners protested against the dangerous conditions they were forced to work in, but the allegations were always dismissed. The Soma disaster is the deadliest incident in a mine in Turkey, but already in 1992 an explosion in a mine claimed more than 200 lives. The tragedy came along with a lot of revendications and criticism towards the government and their way to deal with the situation. Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was heavily criticised during his visit in Soma when he stated that “such incidents can happen”. The discontent grew further after the premier made some antisemitic jokes and, exacerbating his position, a picture of one of his personal advisers, Yusuf Yerkel, who kicked a protester started circulating on the social networks. The protester was already surrounded by two soldiers who immobilized him on the ground, but Yerkel still kicked him. The government defended his actions, citing self defence as the reason.

Turkish government proclaimed three days of national mourning, but protests for the tragedy have crossed the country, where mining disasters are very frequent.

According to statistics, more than 3.000 mine workers lost their lives since 1941. Thousands of people took to the streets in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, but also in Soma, to denounce the government’s responsibility. But Erdogan responded with an iron hand and the police intervened with brutality against demonstrators, even against lawyers who came to Soma to assist families who lost someone, using tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets. Right after the incident, the investigation started even if the company who owns the mine denied any “negligence”. 25 people were arrested, with several allegations, including involuntary slaughter. Among those arrested on Sunday, there were several high profile managers of the private company, the Soma Komur, including the general manager Dogru Ramazan, the finance director Ulu Ali and the operations manager Akin Celik.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

Protests… they came out of the blue. Tuzla has always been a multiethnic city, where Bosniaks, Croatians and Serbs live, hang out, work and contribute to society together in both good and bad times.

The war has ravaged everything behind, sowing hunger, misery and war profiteers nationwide. And the war profiteers could have hardly waited to exploit the suffering people. Knowing that those people would do everything for a crust of bread to feed their families, they would’ve paid them minimum wage of salary. At the end, despair has reached its peak and workers haven’t received their salaries at all. Thousands of families have been left without their basic income, with an empty stomach, and without a coin in their pockets. Also, the children of those workers have been left without books and basic school supplies, without money to pay their college. Even the education has become a privilege of „the rich“. Those people have been living from dawn until dusk, for twenty years, barely making ends meet, while telling their children: „Dad would buy it son, but we don’t have enough money“. You can find those people at every corner of Bosnia and Herzegovina, not just in Tuzla. Rage, anger, despair, dissatisfaction and envy have been emerging in those children.

The situation culminated on that fatal date of February 6th 2014. The crowd occupied the building of Tuzla Canton government shouting „Thieves, thieves!“. Even before that people gathered in front of that building, being hungry, thirsty and frozen, holding banners in their hands. But, it looked like the building was deaf to those people, while the prime minister and many other ministers were sneering, watching them through the window, reclining in a comfortable chair in their warm offices.

If you ask us, the real protests began a day before, on February 5th 2014. We still remember the panic in the streets, which then gripped all. People were talking about fire on the street, boys in blood, blocked traffic and police being everywhere. That morning we had a chance to see the same group of people protesting in front of that „deaf building“ as every Wednesday. We couldn’t even imagine that on the same afternoon everything would turn into a general chaos, streets filled with people and youth, who joined the dissatisfied workers, ready to rumble the police, who appeared out of nowhere. From far away you could also see an old granny sitting on a pedestrian crossing. She died a day after, when cops took her away from that place by force. She sacrificed the last day of her life for a better tomorrow, for a hope that even the youth in this country can expect better days. No man could look at these events indifferently. So the next day, Tuzla became a warfare between cops and soldiers armed with batons and tear gas and dissatisfied crowds of workers, pensioner, thousands of unemployed people and students.

The crowd started throwing stones at the building, setting  car tires on fire and throwing Molotov cocktails shouting „Thieves, get out!“. The army cruelly bated and dispersed those people with tear gas – those same people, thanks to whom they have salaries. That day the prime minister Čaušević ordered to police and army not to slacken – „to hit the scum from all sides“. And they listened to him. On the same day, they started chasing students, searching student’s dorms, invading colleges and the nearby shopping mall „Omega“, not hesitating to detain them, using batons and tear gases. The main roads at the entrance of the city, northern and southern highway, were completely blocked. Some citizens were asking themselves if all that chaos was actually necessary, if people exaggerated a little bit, why is there so much violence and why this couldn’t be just a peaceful protest. The answer is simple:  because there was no effect. The warfare occurred on the streets, conflicts between police and many students became aggressive and windows at a few colleges were broken, while the youth was trying to escape from the soulless police. In the evening, the situation calmed down a little bit, but street wars between police and youth continued.

News about events in Tuzla circulated the country, as well as the whole region, and it was said on journal that classes in schools won’t be held the next day, neither the activities on colleges, for the student’s security, as many of them were hurt, while getting back home that day. And then fake news appeared on the Internet, saying that protesters were just plain thieves, who robbed a few shops, apartments and a shopping mall that night. They wanted to make the public think that only that kind of people take part in protests. And who wanted to create such an opinion, we’ll let you to think about that. Besides that they couldn’t prevent the next day’s event which was agreed on by thousands people from all over the B&H on social networks and in secret calls.

And so the revolution has begun. Many people are calling it the „Bosnian spring“. It started in Tuzla, a city of pride we would rather say, than a city of shame, but of course not everybody thinks the same. Some people think that this is just an act of vandalism of voracious youth, hooligans and idlers, who wanted others to feel their misery and poverty; while some are completely supporting them, considering that nothing would be done with civilized protests, nobody from our government would agree to negotiate and the silence would be kept, as well as passivity of citizens. However, it was a matter of time until the day would come when the youth will wake up from their tucked reality, when the thousands of unemployed people with a degree in their hands will go on the streets, about thousands of pensioners with a retirement so low that it is a shame for a country in Europe, and about thousands of unpaid workers. Revolution from Tuzla is now spreading in other cities, now that they have realized that everything is possible and all it takes is just joined forces.

Yesterday marked the bloodiest day so far since the protests started in Ukraine. In one single day in Kyiv alone, more than 100 people have been killed and more than 500 people have been hospitalized according to the Maidan medical service coordinator.

People were found on the streets with single gunshot wounds in the neck, head or heart. So they aren’t being shot by police officers with the reason to disperse the crowd. These are no fascist radicals who are out to murder police officers. They are just people who try to protest against Yanukovych’s regime and protect their fellow countrymen from harm, and for this they are being murdered in cold blood. For those still having a hard time to believe all this, watch this video of an innocent grandmother being shot out of nowhere (take care! this video has very graphic contents) in the city of Khmelnytskyi. For good reason, many Ukrainians feel their state has been captured by a corrupt elite, which uses the most extreme forms of violence against its own people and which cannot be dislodged by the usual democratic means.

To understand the current divide in Ukraine, one has to understand the history and geography of the country and what is going on elsewhere. The western part of the country used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and was Polish territory between the two World Wars. While the eastern part and Crimea used to belong to the Russian Tsar. This, of course, left its mark on the different regions both culturally and economically. The west, north and center of Ukraine are primarily Ukrainian-speaking, while in the east and in Crimea, Russian is the dominant language. It’s in that part of the country where Yanukovych has his political base as well as where most of the rich oligarchs pulling strings behind the scenes, are from.

Of course, the real situation is far more complex than being described here. Almost all ethnic Ukrainians speak fluent Russian as well, and not everyone is so nationalistic that they hate everything Russian. In the east, recent events have surely eroded Yanukovych’s power base a bit and many people support him only because they don’t know what is happening right now in Kyiv (there is little or no information shared on the television/ radio) and because of the economic dependency on Russia. However, what is happening in Ukraine is about many other things than just a battle between closer ties with the European Union or with Russia. It’s about violence, corruption, lack of democracy and most of all accountability.

But all of this is still important as background information, if one is to look at the events happening outside of Kyiv. Even if the main Ukrainian TV station is still playing soap operas, the events in Kyiv are actually quite well covered in the European media. But there is a lot happening elsewhere as well, which isn’t getting the media coverage it deserves. Take the beautiful baroque city of Lviv in the western part of the country – the heartland of Ukrainian nationalism. There as well, hundreds of people took to the streets to protest. The offices of Yanukovych administration in Lviv were seized, as well as the prosecutors’ office. People forced the surrender of the police of the Interior ministry making officers come out with their hands up. Train traffic from Lviv to Kyiv was halted by the government because it is afraid that more people will be joining the protest there, while the people of Lviv themselves blocked a border crossing with Poland. Also in other western cities like Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil and Uzhorod, the people were able to capture local government offices.

The situation in Lviv might easily be as chaotic as in Kyiv, described Maryana Semenyak. “At this moment we don’t have any police at all in Lviv, so for the second day in a row it is the people who are patrolling the streets and protecting each other and making sure nobody robs banks or shops. There are always stupid people who want to make use of the situation. I’ve also seen with my own eyes titushki (street hooligans sponsored by the government) being out there to provoke people, destroying everything and trying to rob stores, only to pretend later that we are the terrorists and are to be blamed for this. I saw one yesterday who managed to convince people to destroy one huge shop, but thankfully normal people managed to stop them. All the boys that I know are around the city patrolling to make it safe.”

In Lviv there is a Maidan (large square ed.) as well, where protesters gather and where a lot is happening. “A few hours ago a guy was suddenly shooting with a gun, but no one got hurt as many people were around and were quickly able to stop him.” While the regional assembly in Lviv issued a statement condemning the Yanukovych regime for its violence on demonstrators in Kiev and declaring it took executive power locally for itself, people in the streets are actively building up barricades in front of the captured buildings and around the Maidan, making sure people stay safe from government violence and waiting for events to come. For anyone who watched the events in Kyiv unfold this must be an all too familiar sight, and one that an be seen all over western and central Ukraine now.

Building barricades in front of the Ministry of Interior.

It’s a whole different situation in Crimea, the peninsula stretching into the Black Sea in the south of Ukraine. This is the only region in Ukraine where ethnic Russians have a majority, comprising approximately 60 percent of its population of 2 million. Just 60 years ago the peninsula was transferred to Ukraine by the Russian President Khrushchev (reportedly while he was drunk).

Most of the titushki and berkut (Ukrainian special police) and other police forces in Kyiv are come from regions like Crimea and believe they are actually fighting against some kind of fascist rebellion which is out to threaten their Russian culture. When news got out through pro-Yanukovych TV channels that “far-right nationalist groups in Western Ukraine are arming themselves and creating havoc”, the reply of people here was to arm themselves and organize patrols to defend themselves from a supposed danger to come.

You can therefore also be sure that news about the Lviv regional assembly’s declaration to take the executive power in their own hands, will stir up a lot of emotions here. A majority of people here feel that their history, culture, ethnicity and most importantly their language rights are being threatened by the increasing strength of the anti-government movement.

During the last week, a Russian presidential adviser and leading Kremlin idealist: Surkov made a trip to Crimea to meet local political leaders, suddenly roads all over Crimea had thousands of billboards simply saying: “Stop Maidan”. This mysterious but lavishly funded organisation also managed to hire dozens of people as titushki and sent them to Kyiv and other cities. With a population here at odds with Maidan and with big Russian interests in the peninsula at stake (mostly concerning its naval base in Sevastopol) it no longer requires much imagination to see Ukraine tear up along ethic, linguistic, cultural and historical fault lines.

Even though today an agreement between the opposition and Yanukovych is being signed under auspices of European negotiators and early elections are being called, there is still a lot of mutual distrust, special interests and provocateurs trying to stir up emotions. The democratic gains of the 2004 Orange Revolution quickly evaporated when the victors failed to reach out to the Russophone southeast, énd made the same mistakes as their predecessors: a complete lack of transparency in governance.

Yanukovych failed himself as he also repeated the mistake of supporting the interests of a few oligarchs. He went against the direct wishes of the majority of the people and then ruthlessly destroyed all dissent in a dictatorial manner. It is clear that whatever will happen, he has discredited himself and cannot have a future role in Ukrainian politics.

One can only hope that after early elections, whoever comes out as winner will have the brains and power tp create a national reconciliation and calm down regional fears. There is no reason why people in Crimea couldn’t support Euromaidan. Moving closer to the EU means that Ukraine has to protect minorities and regional languages, which for them paradoxically may actually be what they want most. It will also mean better welfare standards on top of obvious benefits like the rule of law, a proper democracy and political freedom.

Also the European Union (EU) should learn from the past. Only a truly meant effort to win over the whole of Ukraine and seriously counter the destabilizing Russian influences will succeed. This includes financially protecting the country from Russian blackmail with gas and import tariffs, and protecting aging industries in the east of the country that are not ready yet to compete in the EU’s open market.

If Yanukovych is finally forced out of power and cooler heads in Ukraine and the EU persevere, after the rocky start it had as an independent nation since the break-up of the Soviet Union, Ukraine could get on the right track again. Otherwise, the events of the last weeks might only be a warning for more violence and destruction to come. The brave people of Ukraine who are risking their lives on the streets these days, deserve a nation with an accountable government which respects their civil rights and which will never repeat the horrific violence that was used against its own people the last few days.

Written by Koen Berghuis, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca. Pictures by Maryana Semenyak, AEGEE-Lviv.

This week a photo featuring a crying girl and a policeman during the protests in Sofia has gone viral on social media. Until that picture was shown, not many people had been aware of the protests. As today is already the 156th day of the protests, it is high time to show the world what is going on in Bulgaria. The AEGEEan asked Atanas Nachkov from AEGEE-Sofia about it.

Can you tell me the facts behind the protests that are going on in Bulgaria right now?  When did it all start?

Atanas: In May we got a new government after a temporary one, because the previous one had resigned in February after relatively big protests from mostly poor people, who were unable to pay their electricity bills for January. So, as a result of the earlier elections, they remained the biggest party in the Parliament, but couldn’t form a government due to the lack of majority. After that, all the trouble started.

The new government, led by Plamen Oresharski and consisting of some ministers who are not linked to a political party, was supported by the Socialist party (BSP), a movement for freedom and rights (DPS), and a xenophobic party called “Ataka” (attack). On June 14th, the leader of the socialist party proposed to the Parliament a media tycoon to be the chairperson of the State security agency (DANS). He is 33 and has never been active at all: his mother is the actual businessperson. That same day an open call for a protest was initiated on Facebook.

What happened then?

The protest was scheduled at 18:30, after working time. Basically, the candidature was withdrawn the day after that first rally, but the protests continued for every day at the same time. Most of the people who started to gather were young and middle-working-class people, chanting for transparency, accountability, responsibility and other democratic values, behind the word ‘ostavka’, which means ‘resignation’. The protests looked more like street performances, but the whole nation was following what was going on. The amount of people went from 500 to 30,000 only in Sofia, depending on the weekday, which is kind of a lot for here.

A lot of new democratic initiatives emerged, e.g. electronic discussion for bills. However, the government did not respond and some deputies brought out some arrogant words to the protesters. But, as I said before, even though these were huge protests for Bulgaria, the Parliament’s support still is less than 10%. By the way, a lot of stories like the one with the crying girl and policeman were true, like the one from people giving flowers to policewomen and water and food to all guards. The French and the German ambassadors made a common statement, where they declared that they supported the protestors. The Belgian and the Dutch made it only orally and on interviews. The British also responded against the appointment.

For how long did the protests go on?

In Summer it declined and eventually only a few people went to protest. But now, when the school year started a bunch of young students decided to occupy the biggest auditorium in the University of Sofia. A lot of other students supported them almost immediately, as well as some well-known lecturers. After one week, the one before the Agora, they occupied the whole university and this rushed a wave of occupations of other rooms in other universities. They formed an alliance altogether and have the support of the university of Sofia’s authority and some of the student councils. They have made their own parliament and make decisions how to continue with the protests. They demand more moral, less corrupted and transparent government as well as the ostavka of the current one. They protest during work hours till night time almost each day.

On Tuesday there was a protest, but there were a lot of policemen, I’ve never seen so many. But if it wasn’t for them, the deputies would never be able to go out from the Parliament safely. Some students got hurt, either because they were rioting too harshly or because the police was already too arrogant. On Wednesday there were protests against the violence from the police.

What are the reasons behind the protests? What are the Bulgarians fighting for?

Bulgaria is the poorest EU member, a semi-consolidated democracy, has a corrupted media and partially banking system, but most importantly – very insolent politicians. The last election results showed that the people’s trust in the political system is below zero. The economy is comparatively growing slowly, but the fiscal discipline is too harsh. We cover 4/5 of the Maastricht criteria, but we don’t expect to get in the Eurozone in the next 10 years.

You may compare us with Turkey’s GeziPark riots (striving for democratic values), but economy also plays a big role in our protests and we don’t have problems with secularism. Except that in the fact that here’s a strong frustration with their and Egypt’s protests, because the world news agencies, showed mostly them and wrote just a few posts about us during the summer. We felt neglected, because the lack of blood (something that we were proud of) and the vivid performances were skipped. Unfortunately, on Tuesday some people got harmed.

There is a strong need for further implementation of democratic principles in the political system, but people start to realise about it just now and that’s why they are fighting for them, with very vague labels. Ostavka means only resignation, but here and now it also means that there is something really wrong with us, it can’t go on like that and it’s high time we find a solution. After the fall of the communism, it is obvious that we still haven’t found the proper way to set a prosperous state and we’re making circles in the same place, which we call “transition”. We are still learning what is active citizenship and open-mindedness.

What is your opinion about the protests? Do you believe in a change? Are you doing anything yourself?

I support them. I’m active on Facebook and sometimes I go to the protests, but at the same time I have to study for the state exams. If you check closely the Agora Zaragoza pictures of the Chair Team, you’ll see #ostavka on my laptop.

Roger Waters playing “Another Brick in the Wall” in Sofia and displaying “ostavka” on the screen

I don’t think that our politicians will change their minds, we need a whole new generation to come on stage. Even if they resign, it’s likely that the same parties will be back on the floor and this will continue. I think this will last for long time. The police are actually really scared because they are in favour of the protestors, but they don’t want to lose their jobs.

I was thinking to write to the mailing list “AEGEE-L”, but later I thought that lighting a candle is not very attractive. Moreover, the EU institutions did not react as we presumed they would.

Find more background information and a chronology of the protests here, and Atanas’ favourite opinion article about the protests here.

Pictures on the courtesy of Atanas Nachkov

Written by Marije Arentze, AEGEE-Leiden

On the 25th of August there was a large classical concert called ‘the Constellation of Russia’ conducted in Amsterdam. The concert was meant to show the beauty and diversity of Russia’s culture. However, there was at the same time a large gathering of protesters, rallying against the current developments in Russia on the matter of LGBT rights. This is a report from Anne Bakhuizen, President of AEGEE-Amsterdam, explaining her views on what was happening in her city.

AMSTERDAM — On the 25^th of August, I took part with more than 2,000 LGBT rights supporters in a demonstration under the title “To Russia With Love”, on the largest square in Amsterdam, where we protested against the anti-gay laws in Russia.

The protesters on the square were carrying signs, singing songs and chanting slogans to condemn the Russian government’s homosexuality policies. Demonstrators especially criticized Russian president Vladimir Putin, with performers leading the crowd in cheering “Putin Out!”.  My main reason to participate in the protest was the law adopted by Russia’s parliament in June, making “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors” illegal. Mayor of Amsterdam, Eberhard van der Laan, told the crowd he hoped the protest would send the message to Moscow that “love is not propaganda”. In an interview afterwards he said the city “is proud of its homosexual community and that they should have the support of the government”. Amsterdam has a long history of tolerance of gay rights, with performing the first gay marriages in 2001 as a highlight.

The mayor said he did not know whether the message would reach Moscow, but the protest was “a matter of principle”. I agree with him that it is a matter of principle to protest against the anti-gay laws in Russia. I think it is really important that not only gays and lesbians, but also heterosexuals participate in the protest against homophobic policies not only in Russia, but all over Europe. This is something that concerns everyone. I believe that every human being has to have the freedom to be themselves and to love who they want to love.

In the Netherlands and especially in Amsterdam there is –as the mayor said before- a really tolerant climate for gay people. When I came out of the closet I received only positive reactions from my friends and family.  For a lot of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Europe, however, this is not reality at all. They are forced  to live a secret life in fear or in a fake heterosexual relationship. I feel sad and angry when I hear their stories, but feeling sad or angry is not enough: we have to do something about it. That is why I think it is extremely important that the situation of LGBT people in Europe is a topic of discussion in meetings of AEGEE-locals all throughout Europe.

AEGEE-Amsterdam, for example, organised a thematic Summer University around the Gaypride this summer. Participants from all over Europe took part in the activity and naturally they came across cultural differences. Nevertheless, it was very educating and interesting for everyone to share their stories and experiences. There were participants who could be openly gay for the first time in their lives, and there were participants who confessed they did not know anything about homosexuality before they came to Amsterdam.

My experiences during our Summer University made me realise even more how extremely important it is that we talk about the situation of LGBTs. I believe that protesting for the equality of LGBT people in Europe can be compared to the former protest for the equality of women and the equality of black people. This is a demonstration for human rights and I truly believe that every person can make a difference and can be the start of something. I really hope that the whole of Europe will one day be a free and accepting place for all its citizens.  I think that we, as members of AEGEE , can and therefore must help to achieve this goal.

Anne Bakhuizen, President of AEGEE-Amsterdam

Mass protest, public action, objecting and lots of other words recently became for us quite usual and commonly used. In fact, in last 20 years they (serious guys in parliaments, governments, councils etc.) managed “to climb” so high from youth, that our voice can only be heard when it is counted in thousands of people, or when youth does something outstanding against all principles. Young people are tired to stay silent, they want their voice to be heard and they start using all possible methods for this. Thus we start to hear about more and more public actions.

However, every time seeing public action it seems so far away and totally not connected to you, that you barely pay attention. What would you say knowing that in one of the last protests shown in media took part same AEGEE member as you?

The Council of Europe Ministerial Conference on Youth on 24th September, 2012 in St. Petersburg

Behind every mass action there are people who do it. How they manage to organise it? What did they think while protesting? Were they afraid or maybe proud? And one of the most important questions – how did they feel afterwards and which feedback they received?

Luis Alvarado Martinez, the President of AEGEE-Europe, told us about one of the latest silent protests during the opening of the Council of Europe Ministerial Conference on Youth on 24^th September, 2012 in Saint-Petersburg, which caused lots of fuss in the AEGEE network and beyond: “The idea came up because of many violations which Russia carried out towards human rights, freedom of speech and rights of young people”.

The reason of fuss was the “Pussy Riot style” hats the protesters wore while silently standing up at the conference. “We never referred to the Pussy Riot band as such, but used the hats as a symbol for freedom of speech, youth rights and human rights which are being violated by some governments in our continent. If we don’t send clear messages to these governments, things will not change by themselves” points out Luis.

Some blamed protesters for such methods of protest, more supported, but needless to say that whatever the reaction was – the method to attract attention to the issue was chosen brilliant. People started to talk. Luis recalls: “Yes, that day we pissed off a lot of people. But we also made a lot of people proud, they think now that AEGEE can really be different”.

Was it scaring for those young people to protest in this way? Oh yes, it was. “You know that you are exposing yourself and your own security. But it is then when you remember that you have been elected by people to defend certain core values and rights. If you want your organisation to change for better and get more involved in the political happenings in Europe, you must act as an example. Of course, together with the feeling of fear comes the enormous boost of adrenaline and satisfaction. That day we did influence politicians” recalls Luis.

“Listen to what young people have to say!” in Strasbourg

The next youth protest didn’t force us to wait long. Opening of the World Forum for Democracy of the Council of Europe on the 5th October in Strasbourg where AEGEE representative as well participated in the protest of Youth Delegates calling for youth rights – young people standing during the opening and keeping hands of each other with tapes sticking the mouth, which clearly says “Listen to what young people have to say!”

Amandine Scocard from AEGEE-Paris, acting as Youth Delegate, speaking on the World Forum for Democracy of the Council of Europe, had to face certain problems before youth voice could finally be heard at the Forum.

Amandine Scocard making the speech at the World Forum for Democracy of the Council of Europe

It was communicated to young people that they would have three minutes for speech from youth, which was of course frustrating for them as all the politicians there had hours to give their speeches. Nevertheless, youth representatives decided to use at least those three minutes to make people to hear them. How surprising was to know the night before opening of the Forum, that youth speech was canceled due to some “misunderstanding”. “Maybe another time…” they said to young people.

The next day trying to clarify the issue the youth got to know that initially they were not allowed to speak officially at the forum and that maybe they could ask additionally to allow them to have a two minutes speech. Amandine recalls: “The Forum started 20 minutes late. Already 10 speeches could be done during that time..”

Therefore youth delegates had decided that after the second speaker, during the opening session, they would put tape on the mouth, stand up and hold hands. “One of us, Joanna, bravely stood up the first one and then we stood up with her”. They didn’t say anything or make any noise, standing there to denounce the silencing of youth voice with tape on the mouth.

There was another group of youth delegates working on distributing flyers, which was decided to make on the night they got to know about cancellation of youth speech. “Missing democracy, when found, please bring it back to youth” was written at the flyer.

“We were not forcing people to take them, just distributing, but immediately a security guy started to take them all back, even from the people who accepted them. Then he started chasing one of us telling her to sit down and took all papers so she couldn’t distribute them anymore” recalls Amandine.

At the same time in the plenary hall after the opening speech and key speakers, youth was finally given the right to speak: “In the end the speech was made, but not during the time when we wanted to do it. When we finally did it, most of the media and lots of people had already left”.

“I felt pissed off, thinking about all those important people who didn’t care at all what we had to say. I felt pissed off because the security was getting close to us. But at the same time I felt glad and proud to be there, standing to denounce that young people all over the world needed to be heard and that youth didn’t want to compromise anymore on their freedom of speech” says Amandine.

The reaction of people

Most of the young people having the wish to protest against some issues are more afraid of the reaction and misunderstanding, than the protest itself. However, the reaction is something that really motivates the protesters.

“I think the message was partially misunderstood as a single protest against the minister of France or the organisation of the MFD” supposes Amandine, as the young protesters stood up during the speech of Bernard Cazeneuve, the French Minister of European and Foreign Affairs. “We got approached during the Forum by a few people who wanted to know more about this protest to understand it better. Most of them understood our point, but a few still had the idea that it was a protest against the organisation, for example, showing the huge intergenerational gap that exists nowadays between young people and our deciders” she says. However, according to Amandine the positive feedback anyway prevaluated: “In the end a lot of people congratulated us and I think it was really motivating for some of them. The picture of the protest became the Facebook cover of many of us”.

The reaction on protest in Saint-Petersbrug was also quite positive by Luis’ memories. Most of the ministers congratulated young protesters in many different ways – they were approached personally by many of them in the corridors, secret messages thanking activists for putting important statements back on the table written on business cards, emails, Facebook messages etc.

“It is in these moments, when politicians really feel thankful to have young activists who will dare to do what they cannot do (because they represent national governments and their economical and diplomatic interests). This made us realise the power which youth organisations and youth activists really have!” says Luis.

Still hesitating if it’s worth protesting and if your voice could be heard? I think these words from Luis Alvarado Martinez, the President of our organisation, will ruin last pieces of hesitation in your mind: “We can really influence and shape Europe step by step, and this is something which all the money in the world cannot pay. We must dare to change because together we can!”

Written by Olga Iatsyna, AEGEE-Dnipropetrovsk

Photos: Facebook archives of Luis Alvarado Martinez & Amandine Scocard