Rejuvenating Activism: A New Wave of Civic Engagement at the University of Belgrade
A New Generation of Courageous Leaders
In Serbia, “civil society” has long carried a stigma. Decades of political campaigns have vilified civil society organizations and activists, branding them as foreign agents and creating a climate of suspicion. This hostile narrative has left many young people feeling disillusioned and hesitant to engage with civic initiatives.
In response, PartnersGlobal’s Civil Society Resilience Activity collaborated with the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Belgrade to confront this issue head-on. Together, we launched the New Generation of Civic Activism university course, aimed at engaging new actors, “rejuvenating” the civil society sector, and fostering young leaders. Held at the University of Belgrade from late April to early May 2024, the program sought to inspire a new wave of civic engagement in Serbia.
“As someone with no prior knowledge of activism, this program revealed a lot of new things to me. I would say that the biggest impression on me was the educational aspect of this program, because it is quite different from the traditional schooling. It was interactive, but what I liked most was that we listened to people who are engaged in activism, as opposed to listening to some dry theory without practical examples and experiences,” said one of the participants.
An international student studying in Belgrade echoed this sentiment. “Since I was a child, I have wanted to contribute to society and do something to make this world a better place. I think activism is one part of the solution. We don’t hear much about civic activism in [my country] China, and I’m glad that I had this opportunity to participate in a program that deals with it,” they emphasized.
The program featured interactive sessions with experts, university professors, leaders of civil society organizations, and grassroots activists. This wide range of attitudes, experiences and knowledge provoked students’ interest and stimulated creativity and motivation for them to do something in their communities. In particular, the panel with activists and representatives of informal groups broke the prejudice that civil society is an elitist domain.
“Nenad, one of the speakers from the Niš Urbana Guerrilla, stands out because he showed us how civic actions can be creative and gave us new energy to fight for things that are important to us. I believe that his goal was to inspire us and give us his experience so that we could become more active, and I believe that he succeeded in that,” reflected a student from Belgrade.
In addition to new knowledge and skills, the program’s goal is to encourage young people to become more actively involved in civic initiatives or start their own actions.
“I plan to connect with the other students so that together we can design actions at the university for the problems we see. Also, I want to dedicate myself more to designing specific actions and policy proposals that can change something in the community,” said one of the participants of the program. A participant who comes from a smaller town in Serbia agreed with her and added that he would first like to influence his hometown, because he believes that changes are needed. “I would like to become active, to educate and mobilize people to solve some problems, such as environmental ones, which have been present for years,” he pointed out.
Based on these students’ impressions, we are hopeful that they will become more active in their communities and become supporters of the critical role that activism plays in Serbian society.