In the days following the protest in Serbia on 28th June, numerous people have been arrested, including students from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. Now students and citizens are finding new ways of resisting.
For over a week now, citizens have been participating in daily roadblocks occurring across Serbia. There are more than 250 roadblocks taking place around the country, with over 100 located in Belgrade alone. Students and citizens are demanding the release of all those who they claim were unlawfully arrested following the Vidovdan protest on 28th June. They are also still calling for snap elections and the dissolution of the gathering in Pioneer Park.
On 4th July, the sixth day of civil disobedience, students and citizens blocked the intersection near the Faculty of Dramatic Arts. During that protest, six people were arrested: two students, one assistant, one employee of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, and two citizens. Their lawyer, Miloš Mladenović, told the media that the police used excessive force and that students suffered abrasions.
The students called on citizens to gather in protest in front of the police station, where the arrested students were initially taken, and later in front of the Misdemeanour Court building. Meanwhile, students reported that two more of their colleagues had been arrested on their way to the faculty.
All of them were released during the day. The dean of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Miloš Pavlović, made a public statement regarding the arrests of students and faculty members: “We have always stood against all forms of violence and for democratic, non-violent resolutions to social conflict. It is targeted repression, discipline by force, and an attempt to silence every critical voice. The Faculty of Dramatic Arts is not, and will not be, a place of fear, but a space of free thought, creativity, and responsibility. We stand for the right to resist, to question, to doubt. We stand for the right to be free.”
The Faculty of Dramatic Arts performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Due to the arrests, students of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts cancelled their performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Shakespeare Festival, originally scheduled for 5th July. In their public statement, they explained that current conditions do not allow free artistic expression. They were particularly disturbed by the fact that one of their cast members had also been arrested. “Our decision not to perform was made in solidarity with our detained colleagues, but also from a deep conviction that the role of theatre is to confront social injustice and respond to the repression we are facing.”
This year’s Shakespeare Festival, founded by director Nikita Milivojević, did not receive financial support from the Provincial Secretariat for Culture. In response, and as an act of solidarity with the student protests, the entire festival program was curated around student productions, including performances by students of the Academy of Arts in Banja Luka, the Faculty of Contemporary Arts in Belgrade, and the now-cancelled show by the Faculty of Dramatic Arts. In addition to the student work, the program also featured a professional production co-produced by Kruševac Theater and the City Theater Semberija from Bijeljina.
Another professional theatre festival has changed its selection process this year to prioritize student voices and actively support their work through its programming. The recently concluded 33rd Theater Marathon in Sombor took place under the slogan O, Youth! Oh, Yes, Youth! Ode to Youth! Most of the performances showcased were student productions from various institutions, including the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, the Academy of Arts in Belgrade, and the Academy of Arts at the University of Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As Shakespeare wrote in Measure for Measure: Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt. Students, their supporters at theatre festivals are choosing to take action — to confront their fears, to stand against repression, and to protect the very space where doubt evolves into thought and thought inspires change.
Main image: The closing of the 33rd Theater Marathon in Sombor
Further reading: Serbia’s Sterijino Pozorje festival has its funding denied
Further reading: Montenegrin director Danilo Marunović deported from Serbia
Divna Stojanov is a dramaturg and playwright. She writes mainly for children and young people.
