Pushing the Protests into the Background

The Government of Serbia (BetaPhoto/Milan Obradovic)

The latest moves by the authorities spearheaded by Aleksandar Vucic, which include an increasingly intense campaign against independent media outlets and journalists, pro-Western NGOs and environmental activists, have over the past few weeks made conditions for civic activity in Serbia drastically worse. Those moves have at least two objectives – to push into the background protests against plans for lithium mining and to intimidate opponents of the project and consequently discourage them from engaging in further activism. One gets the impression that the regime is successful in the endeavor for the time being, but it’s still too early to draw final conclusions.