en
SUPPORT PROGRAM PROGRAM PODRŠKE
REG LAB TWINNING EXCHANGE MENTORSHIP SUMMER SCHOOL
REG LAB TWINNING RAZMJENA MENTORSTVO LJETNA ŠKOLA

A few days ago, January 21, 2025, in Belgrade, at a hotel, several individuals – citizens of Croatia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Romania, and Albania, who work in the civil sector and independent culture – were detained. They were in Belgrade to participate in the Erste Academy program. They were held at the police station and interrogated for several hours. Afterward, they were forced to sign a document stating that they had 24 hours to leave Serbia and were banned from entering the country for one year, under the accusation that their presence in the Republic of Serbia posed a threat to national security.

This concerning repressive measure comes at a time when mass student protests and faculty blockades are happening in Serbia. In addition to the youth and students that are facing various forms of repression on a daily basis, including physical violence, independent cultural and civil society organizations in the country are also under pressure, as they aim to support the demands for justice, safety, and freedom. At the same time, the regime is actively conducting a campaign against the concept of “foreign mercenaries” (a concept they continuously construct and promote), who are allegedly orchestrating unrest and revolutions. For weeks now, there has been a systematic witch hunt targeting different groups of foreign nationals visiting Serbia, including journalists, students, writers, and free citizens, whose personal details and names are being exposed in tabloids. This is an attempt to downplay and discredit the actions of Serbian citizens who have risen up against the years of terror imposed by the corrupt and criminal regime of the SNS.

We recognize this escalation of repression as an attempt by the authorities to intimidate all participants in democratic initiatives, stifle regional and wider cooperation, and sow unrest and fear among neighbors, colleagues, friends, and citizens who have been visiting their peers, friends, and families in Serbia with joy for years.

Kooperativa – Regional Platform for Culture, as a network of 40 organizations, cultural centers, and independent media from 8 countries in Southeast Europe (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Serbia), strongly condemns the treatment of our colleagues from the region.

We are determined to stand firm on the values and goals of our network, which are primarily solidarity, friendship, and long-term, fruitful, and free collaboration among organizations in the cultural sector and beyond in the region. Despite the increasingly difficult social and political climate that the independent sector in the region is facing, the active collaboration of colleagues in the field of independent culture has produced extraordinary results and initiated numerous positive changes at various levels in society, which Kooperativa is especially proud of. We will continue to create strong frameworks for lasting collaboration among organizations, workers in culture, artists, researchers, and activists.

We firmly stand with the students in Serbia, civil society organizations, professional associations, artists, activists, the academic community, and all citizens of Serbia who are steadfastly and courageously fighting for democracy and justice. We call on all independent cultural and civil society organizations in the region and abroad to support the demands and actions of our colleagues in Serbia in their fight for security and freedom.

We offer our unconditional support to our colleagues from Romania, Slovenia, Albania, North Macedonia, and Croatia. We will inform all relevant cultural cooperation networks about their experiences and strongly advocate for the preservation of cooperation and the unhindered mobility of cultural workers. We also appeal to the state institutions of the countries in the region, as well as to the institutions of the European Union, to strongly condemn this undemocratic attack on the civil sector.

It is time for us to stand together against authoritarian practices that threaten the values we promote – cooperation, solidarity, and freedom of expression. We will not allow these values to be punished, nor our colleagues to be humiliated and mistreated!

A few days ago, January 21, 2025, in Belgrade, at a hotel, several individuals – citizens of Croatia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Romania, and Albania, who work in the civil sector and independent culture – were detained. They were in Belgrade to participate in the Erste Academy program. They were held at the police station and interrogated for several hours. Afterward, they were forced to sign a document stating that they had 24 hours to leave Serbia and were banned from entering the country for one year, under the accusation that their presence in the Republic of Serbia posed a threat to national security.

This concerning repressive measure comes at a time when mass student protests and faculty blockades are happening in Serbia. In addition to the youth and students that are facing various forms of repression on a daily basis, including physical violence, independent cultural and civil society organizations in the country are also under pressure, as they aim to support the demands for justice, safety, and freedom. At the same time, the regime is actively conducting a campaign against the concept of “foreign mercenaries” (a concept they continuously construct and promote), who are allegedly orchestrating unrest and revolutions. For weeks now, there has been a systematic witch hunt targeting different groups of foreign nationals visiting Serbia, including journalists, students, writers, and free citizens, whose personal details and names are being exposed in tabloids. This is an attempt to downplay and discredit the actions of Serbian citizens who have risen up against the years of terror imposed by the corrupt and criminal regime of the SNS.

We recognize this escalation of repression as an attempt by the authorities to intimidate all participants in democratic initiatives, stifle regional and wider cooperation, and sow unrest and fear among neighbors, colleagues, friends, and citizens who have been visiting their peers, friends, and families in Serbia with joy for years.

Kooperativa – Regional Platform for Culture, as a network of 40 organizations, cultural centers, and independent media from 8 countries in Southeast Europe (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Serbia), strongly condemns the treatment of our colleagues from the region.

We are determined to stand firm on the values and goals of our network, which are primarily solidarity, friendship, and long-term, fruitful, and free collaboration among organizations in the cultural sector and beyond in the region. Despite the increasingly difficult social and political climate that the independent sector in the region is facing, the active collaboration of colleagues in the field of independent culture has produced extraordinary results and initiated numerous positive changes at various levels in society, which Kooperativa is especially proud of. We will continue to create strong frameworks for lasting collaboration among organizations, workers in culture, artists, researchers, and activists.

We firmly stand with the students in Serbia, civil society organizations, professional associations, artists, activists, the academic community, and all citizens of Serbia who are steadfastly and courageously fighting for democracy and justice. We call on all independent cultural and civil society organizations in the region and abroad to support the demands and actions of our colleagues in Serbia in their fight for security and freedom.

We offer our unconditional support to our colleagues from Romania, Slovenia, Albania, North Macedonia, and Croatia. We will inform all relevant cultural cooperation networks about their experiences and strongly advocate for the preservation of cooperation and the unhindered mobility of cultural workers. We also appeal to the state institutions of the countries in the region, as well as to the institutions of the European Union, to strongly condemn this undemocratic attack on the civil sector.

It is time for us to stand together against authoritarian practices that threaten the values we promote – cooperation, solidarity, and freedom of expression. We will not allow these values to be punished, nor our colleagues to be humiliated and mistreated!