Intellectuals and Artists Group Self-Defense To Become Citizens Association

Dusan Ptericic (BETA/Milos Miskov)

Cartoonist Dusan Petricic, a member of informal group of intellectuals and artists called Self-Defense, has said that the group will form an association of citizens, but with no ambition of becoming a political party.

According to Petricic, Self-Defense will be guided with the idea of joining forces with other like-minded groups in Belgrade and other parts of Serbia, where needed.

“From its relatively open form, a group of like-minded people who used to have scheduled meetings, the group is now taking a step forward to become an organization, through which the group could take much more concrete and more active engagement,” Petricic has told Belgrade daily Danas, adding that the group will be formally registered.

Members of Self-Defense are fierce opponents of the authorities in Serbia, advocating boycotting of the next elections, scheduled for next year. According to Petricic, “over the past eight years, the Serbian society has been living on a fully distorted and topsy-turvy rhetoric, where lies and deceptions represent the basic generator ad standards.”