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Volitve kot referendum za ali proti trenutni oblasti
“Še pred dvema letoma večina ljudi v Srbiji ni poznala neposredne demokracije, skupščin in plenumov, medtem ko danes ni nikogar, ki ne bi poznal te oblike ljudske samoorganizacije.”
25. oktobra bodo v Srbiji potekalo parlamentarne volitve, ki imajo v veliki meri obliko referenduma, za ali proti trenutni oblasti. Volitve prihajajo po dveh letih množične mobilizacije študentskega in širšega družbenega gibanja proti tej oblasti.
Ob tej priložnosti delimo tekst sestrske organizacije Klasna Solidarnost iz Srbije. V luči množične mobilizacije ljudstva za udeležbo na volitvah ta ponuja drugačen pogled na trenutno situacijo in predvsem kritično oceno odločitve delov gibanja, da spremembe išče v okvirih dominantnega družbenega reda in parlamentarizma. Klasna Solidarnost je tudi del Internacionale anarhističnih federacij.
Tekst v celoti kot tudi njegov angleški prevod lahko preberete spodaj. ★
O volitvah: Za spremembo sistema in ne zgolj oblasti
Bližajo se najbolj pričakovane parlamentarne volitve zadnjih desetletij, kot nekakšna krona splošne družbene in politične krize, ki je v Srbiji nastala po državnem umoru 16 ljudi zaradi padca nadstreška v Novem Sadu 1. novembra 2024. V obdobju po padcu nadstreška smo videli, kako množično, neinstitucionalno ljudsko samoorganiziranje, najprej na fakultetah prek plenumov, potem pa tudi v lokalnih skupnostih prek zborov, lahko pripelje do oprijemljivega pritiska na državo.
Blokada državnih inštitucij in fakultet, kot metoda boja je bila v sodobni zgodovini Srbije prvič uporabljena leta 2006 med zasedbo Filozofske fakultete v Beogradu, na direktno-demokratičnih, anarhističnih temeljih. Kasnejše blokade fakultet v letih 2011, 2014 in 2015 so metodo boja z direktno akcijo še dodatno razvile, vendar je prava eksplozija anarhističnega modela fizične zasedbe fakultetnih stavb sledila leta 2024, ko je bila v dveh mesecih vzpostavljena zasedba vseh visokošolskih zavodov v Srbiji.
Brez stavkovnih odborov, centraliziranih metod odločanja in študentskih parlamentov so študenti prevzeli nadzor nad fakultetami. Kljub temu je razvoj študentskega gibanja pokazal, da v odsotnosti prisotnosti množične, ideološke anarhistične organizacije na zasedbah prav to metodo boja izrabljajo tisti, ki imajo organizirano prisotnost, strukturo in finance – in to so predvsem zagovorniki liberalne, dominantne ideologije. Njihovo delovanje je na koncu pripeljalo do tega, da se je gibanje namesto boja za sistemske spremembe usmerilo v smer zavzemanja le za spremembo oblasti.
Po pravici povedano, pomembno je poudariti, da je na mnogih fakultetah prihajalo do številnih oblik manipulacije in izkrivljanja neposredne demokracije s strani akterjev, ki jim je bilo mar le za prevzem političnega vpliva nad plenumi. Skozi dolgotrajni notranji boj različnih političnih vej znotraj študentskega gibanja se je gibanje sčasoma odpovedalo lastnim prvotnim zahtevam, med katerimi je bila za nas kot anarhiste najpomembnejša zahteva po zvišanju proračuna za izobraževanje kot socijalna zahteva, ki je neposredno v interesu delavskega razreda.
Vendar se je celo zahteva po odgovornosti tistih, ki so povzročili padec nadstreška, sčasoma izgubila in fokus študentskega gibanja je postala zahteva po razpisu parlamentarnih volitev. Tako smo prišli do paradoksalne situacije, v kateri so bile vse visokošolske ustanove blokirane z antikapitalistično, anarhistično obliko boja skozi direktno akcijo, da bi na koncu plenumi poudarili zahtevo, ki je v nasprotju z vsakim načelom direktne demokracije.
Zahteva po volitvah v praksi služi ponovni legitimizaciji parlamentarne demokracije kot edine veljavne oblike političnega boja.
Namesto da bi množico plenumov in nato ljudskih zborovanj v mestih in soseskah uporabili za delo na sistemskih spremembah kapitalističnega reda, ki je ustvaril politično mafijo SNS (opomba uredništva – politična partija, ki je trenutno na oblasti), pa tudi vse prejšnje, od SPS v devedesetih letih do DOS in drugih strank, ki so zaporedno ropale delavski razred, se je gibanje osredotočilo na poskus spremembe oblasti, ne pa sistema.
To je seveda legitimen izid političnega boja v družbi, kjer ni množičnega, razvitega, antikapitalističnega gibanja, ki bi milijonom ljudi jasno ponudilo strukturno rešitev za spremembo sistema, iz neoliberalnega kapitalizma, v egalitarno družbo, ki temelji na zadovoljevanju potreb delovnega ljudstva, ne pa vladajočih elit.
Mi ne obsojamo potrebe velikega dela naših someščanov, da bi izboljšali družbeno realnost v Srbiji s poskusom spremembe oblasti skozi parlamentarno pot. Seveda si tudi mi želimo konca politične mafije na oblasti, ki nas že 14 let ropa, ponižuje in izkorišča na najhujše možne načine. Količina političnih škandalov, korupcijskih afer in napadov na življenjski standard delavskega razreda v času vladavine SNS je v naši sodobni zgodovini brez primere.
Zaradi vseh teh zločinov lahko zelo zlahka sklepamo, da je bistvo protiljudskega značaja sedanjega režima v tem, kdo so osebe, ki ga vodijo. V tem je nedvomno nekaj resnice, saj vsi vidimo in slišimo škandalozne izjave vladnih uradnikov, pa tudi neposredne posledice njihovih dejanj.
Za padec nadstreška v Novem Sadu je neposredno kriva oblast SNS in za ohranitev te vlade ni nobenih opravičil, še posebej ne tistih, ki prihajajo od kampistov, ki vlado SNS poveličujejo kot nekakšen bastion antiimperializma, medtem ko imamo v praksi NATO oblast, ki dosledno izvaja skoraj vse diktate Zahoda.
Če pa ne razumemo, od kod izvira takšen režim, ampak ga želimo le zamenjati z drugo skupino na oblasti, se lahko zelo enostavno zgodi, da bomo čez nekaj let spet imeli množično nezadovoljstvo z novo vlado, ki ne bi mogla biti drugačna od sedanje. Spomnimo se, da je tako prišla na oblast SNS. Ljudje so govorili “samo odstranimo rumene tatove, te pa bomo kasneje zlahka zamenjali, če ne bodo v redu”, nato pa smo končali pod oblastjo SNS, ki traja skoraj 15 let.
Kot anarhisti menimo, da nobena vlada, pa naj bo kapitalistična ali socialistična, kot so tiste v državah nekdanjega realsocializma, ne more v bistvu delovati v interesu delavskega razreda, ker so roke vsake oblasti zvezane s samo strukturo političnega sistema države v kateri vlada.
To pomeni, da nova oblast zdaj ne more kar tako priti v Srbijo in na primer prekiniti vsega sodelovanja z NATO, ustaviti procesa integracije v EU, zapreti nedavno odprte tovarne smrtonosnih brezpilotnih letalnikov izraelskega Elbit Systems v Beogradu, po vrsti nacionalizirati vse industrijske panoge in podobno. Če bi nova vlada poskusila kaj takega, bi se kmalu soočila z ostrimi sankcijami imperialističnega NATO bloka in zelo verjetno z vojaškim posredovanjem z vseh strani, saj Srbijo obkrožajo države članice NATO.
To je materialna realnost, v kateri živimo kot periferna ali polperiferna družba v neoliberalnem kapitalizmu, kjer mednarodni odnosi geopolitične soodvisnosti držav oblikujejo, kaj ena vlada v državi lahko in česa ne more storiti. V Srbiji mora biti vsaka kapitalistična vlada podrejena diktatu imperialističnega bloka, če želi preživeti, in v tem pogledu ni možnosti za nobeno novo vlado, da bi uvedla sistemske spremembe v smeri ustvarjanja bolj egalitarne družbe, v kateri lahko delavski razred živi življenje, vredno ljudi.
V Srbiji mora biti vsaka kapitalistična vlada podrejena diktatu imperialističnega bloka, če želi preživeti, in v tem pogledu ni možnosti za nobeno novo vlado, da bi uvedla sistemske spremembe v smeri ustvarjanja bolj egalitarne družbe, v kateri lahko delavski razred živi življenje, vredno ljudi.
Kakšna je torej resnična alternativa, če verjamemo, da volitve ne morejo pripeljati do sprememb, ki presegajo kozmetične?
Menimo, da v obeh primerih, če režim SNS ostane na oblasti, pa tudi če pade, dosežki množičnega neposrednega demokratičnega gibanja študentskih plenumov in ljudskih zborovanj predstavljajo osnovo za razvoj in izgradnjo radikalnega, antikapitalističnega gibanja delavskega razreda.
Še pred dvema letoma večina ljudi v Srbiji ni poznala neposredne demokracije, skupščin in plenumov, medtem ko danes ni nikogar, ki ne bi poznal te oblike ljudske samoorganizacije. Desettisoči ljudi so svojo prvo neposredno politizacijo doživeli skozi plenume in zborovanja, v praksi pa so občutili, kako je videti, ko se njihov glas resnično sliši in ko neposredno sodelujejo pri odločanju o vprašanjih, ki jih zadevajo.
Prav te strukture, čeprav je gibanje šlo v smeri boja za volitve, lahko živijo še naprej tudi po volitvah in, kot se je pokazalo v praksi, ostajajo kot oblika samoorganiziranih struktur, ki so sposobne v praksi delovati kot organi pritiska na to ali katero koli naslednjo oblast.
Ne glede na izid volitev se bo del ljudi, ki so se v prejšnjih dveh letih borili proti politični mafiji na oblasti, še bolj radikaliziral, bodisi ko bodo videli, da oblasti ni mogoče zrušiti z volitvami, bodisi ko bodo videli, da se nova vlada v praksi ne razlikuje veliko od prejšnje.
V tej radikalizaciji se skriva priložnost za novo fazo razvoja in rasti anarhističnega gibanja v naši družbi.
Za gradnjo gibanja, ki bo udarilo v same temelje kapitalističnega sistema, v katerem živimo, in, ki bo v nasprotju z golo menjavo oblasti stremelo k revolucionarni družbeni preobrazbi v interesu delavskega razreda in ne kapitalistične elite.
About the elections: For a change of system and not just government
The most anticipated parliamentary elections of recent decades are coming, as a kind of crown of the general social and political crisis that happened in Serbia after the state murder of 16 people during the fall of concrete canopy in Novi Sad railway station on November 1, 2024. In the period after the fall of the canopy, we saw how mass, non-institutional popular self-organizing, first of all at faculties through plenums, and then also in local communities through assemblies, can lead to tangible pressure on the state.
The method of struggle through blockades of state institutions and faculties was used for the first time in the modern history of Serbia in 2006 during the occupation of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, based on direct democratic, anarchist foundations. Faculty blockades in 2011, 2014 and 2015 further developed the method of struggle through direct action, however, the real explosion of the anarchist model of physical occupation of faculty buildings followed in 2024, when a blockade of all higher education institutions in Serbia was established within two months.
Without strike committees, centralized decision-making methods and student parliaments, students took control of the faculties. Nevertheless, the development of the student movement showed that in the absence of the presence of a mass, ideological anarchist organization at the blockades, the very method of struggle is used by those who have an organized presence, structure and finances – and these are primarily exponents of the liberal, dominant ideology. Their action ultimately led to the fact that instead of fighting for systemic changes, the movement went in the direction of advocating only for a change of government.
For the sake of truth telling, it is important to emphasize that at many faculties there were numerous forms of manipulation and distortion of direct democracy by actors who only cared about taking political influence over plenums. Through the long-term internal struggle of various political currents within the student movement, the movement eventually gave up on its original demands, among which the most important for us as anarchists was the demand to increase the budget for education as a social demand directly in the interest of the working class.
However, even the demand for the responsibility of those who caused the fall of the canopy was eventually lost and the focus of the student movement became the demand for new parliamentary elections. This is how we came to a paradoxical situation in which all higher education institutions were blocked by an anti-capitalist, anarchist form of struggle through direct action, while at the end, the plenums emphasized a demand that is contrary to every principle of direct democracy.
The demand for elections serves in practice to re-legitimize parliamentary democracy as the only valid form of political struggle.
Instead of using the mass of plenums and then people’s assemblies in cities and neighborhoods to work on systemic changes of the capitalist order that created the SNS political mafia, but also all the previous ones, from the SPS in the 90’s, to the DOS and other parties that successively robbed the working class, the movement focused on trying to change the government, not the system.
This is of course a legitimate outcome of the political struggle in a society where there is no mass, developed, anti-capitalist movement that would clearly offer millions of people a structural solution for changing the system, from neoliberal capitalism, to an egalitarian society based on meeting the needs of the working people, not the ruling elites.
We do not condemn the need of a large part of our fellow townsmen to improve the social reality in Serbia through an attempt to change the government through parliamentary means. Of course, we also want to see an end to the political mafia in power, which has been robbing, slandering and exploiting us in the worst possible ways for 14 years. The amount of political scandals, corruption affairs and attacks on the living standards of the working class during the SNS rule is unprecedented in our contemporary history.
Because of all these malefactions, one can very easily jump to the conclusion that the essence of the antipopular character of the current regime lies in who are the persons who lead it. There is undoubtedly some truth there, because we all see and hear the scandalous statements of government officials, as well as the direct consequences of their actions.
The SNS government is directly to blame for the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad, and there are no justifications for preserving this government, especially not those coming from campists who glorify the SNS government as some kind of bastion of anti-imperialism, while in practice we have a NATO dominion that consistently implements almost all the commands of the West.
However, if we don’t understand where such a regime comes from, but we only want to replace it with another group in power, it can very easily happen that in a few years we will again have mass dissatisfaction with the new government, which will not be different from the current one. Let’s remember that this is how SNS came to power. People said “let’s just remove the yellow thieves and we’ll easily change these ones later if they are not good”, and then we ended up under the rule of SNS, which lasted for almost 15 years.
We as anarchists believe that no government, whether it is capitalist or socialist, like those in the countries of the former real-socialism, can essentially act in the interest of the working class because the hands of every government are tied by the very structure of the political system in which it governs the state.
This means that a new government cannot now come to Serbia and, for example, terminate all cooperation with NATO, stop the EU integration process, close the recently opened killer drone factory of the israeli elbit systems in Belgrade, nationalize all industrial branches and so on. If a new government tried something like that, it would soon be faced with harsh sanctions from the imperialist NATO bloc, and very likely with military intervention from all sides, since Serbia is surrounded by NATO member states.
This is the material reality in which we live as a peripheral or semi-peripheral society in neoliberal capitalism, where international relations of geopolitical interdependence of states shape what the government in a country can and cannot do. In Serbia, every capitalist government must be subordinated to the dictates of the imperialist bloc if it wants to survive, and in this respect there is no room for any new government to introduce systemic changes in the direction of creating a more egalitarian society in which the working class can live a life worthy of people.
So what is the real alternative if we believe that elections cannot lead to changes that go beyond cosmetic ones?
We believe that in both cases, if the SNS regime remains in power, but also if it falls, the achievements of the mass direct democratic movement of student plenums and people’s assemblies represent the basis for the development and construction of a radical, anti-capitalist movement of the working class.
Just two years ago, most people in Serbia did not know about direct democracy, assemblies and plenums, while today there is no one who does not know about this form of popular self-organizing. Tens of thousands of people experienced their first direct politicization through plenums and assemblies, feeling in practice how it looks when their voice is really heard and when they directly participate in decision-making on issues that concern them.
These very structures, even though the movement went in the direction of fighting for elections, can continue to live after the elections and, as it had been shown in practice, remain a form of self-organized structures capable of acting in practice as structures of pressure on this or any upcoming government.
Whatever the results of the elections, part of the people who fought against the political mafia in power during the previous two years will further radicalize, either when they see that it is not possible to overthrow the power through elections, or when they see that the new government in practice is not much different from the previous one.
In this radicalization lies the chance for a new phase of development and growth of the anarchist movement in our society.
For building a movement that will strike at the very foundations of the capitalist system in which we live and that, as opposed to a mere change of government, will aim for a revolutionary social transformation in the interests of the working class and not the capitalist elite.
