The Point

For ten years I've lived in Serbia, which has lived under a mafia. Last week the mafia fell. You can learn a lot from this movement, but don't. You should only learn one thing; political movements need a sharp point.

You won't learn this from politicians, as the effective ones so often pass laws by sliding them into other laws. They'll see a mandate to lower taxes on tomatoes and slip in a paragraph about housing legislation. Perhaps this behaviour inspires people, because people certainly imitate it. I've joined pride parades here in Serbia, and they certainly adopted this tactic.

One parade began with a simple demand: Serbian men with a criminal record for being gay should have that record removed. That law against being gay no longer exists, but they still have trouble finding work because of the criminal record. And if the actions - inside and outside the parade - had just stuck with that single point, and pushed the point in, they might have drawn blood.
But more demands came. Gay rights, trans rights, and since the Dutch embassy sponsored the march a few Dutch and EU flags entered, then the Palestinian flag, because 'free Palestine'. From the outside, all anyone could hear was 'gay, EU, trans, gay, super-gay, Dutch'. It hit like a bed of nails - soft enough to lie on. So the mafia group lied - 'they are Croatian spies, sent from the EU, to make your children gay'. The gay parade had made the lie half-true.

When the canopy in Novi Sad collapsed, the students organized, and tactics switched.

• They published six demands, all focussed on the collapse which killed people.
• They requested people not carry any flags at the marches except the Serbian flag.

No more EU flags. No flags of Italy, or the trans flag.

The students noted exceptions for regional flags (representing parts of Serbia) and faculty flags. Each faculty in Belgrade's university has its own flag, so the machinists brought theirs and wrote 'machinists against the machine' on it.
No Netherlands or bisexual flags.

Focus.

An exception came for the flags of Gondor and Rohan, since they pointed in the right direction (Serbians have called the regime thugs 'orcs' long before it became an anti-Russian slur). And an exception for the Ferrari flag (long story). No extra political demands could blunt the point. They wanted people to answer for the sixteen dead.

The internet seemed to explode with activity, sweeping aside the refugees-from-touching-grass with a wave of planners and instigators. The old internet crowd did the internet whine about how actions never does anything - they wanted nothing but the spectacle of someone-else doing extreme violence.
But the new movement did not engage; they shouted 'pumpaj' and kept up the hype.

The regime asked 'what about the EU instigators in your rank?', and the students responded 'what about the sixteen dead?'. They regime asked 'what about Kosovo?' and the students asked 'what about the sixteen dead?'.

Among all the activity, gay people continued supporting the movement. Serbian veterans joined the blockade of the national television station, blocking all broadcasts for multiple days. Students of medicine stood prepared for violence, or dehydration. My eyesight has become pretty bad, and I couldn't tell if one of the medics was a trans woman or just top-score emo; the old Serbian warriors probably couldn't tell the difference either. But they stood side by side, pushing that point into the government. The movement probably had as many gay people as the actual gay pride parade, but they never said a thing. Not a single flag or demand. They held the line. And when the next pride parade came, people followed a drag queen who spoke about the student protests, and getting the regime out.

During Easter, Muslim students took over the television blockade so that the majority-Orthodox students could go home. They did not raise any of the myriad issues they could have raised.

Now the regime's fallen. Every day we wake to news of more arrests. My friends are all thoroughly confused. Most have grown up under the rule of that mafia. They're emotionally unprepared for good political news. It's strange and tragic, and a little funny seeing people alienated by their own celebrations. I don't have the words to describe the strange atmosphere in Belgrade, so back to the point.

The 'Student List Party'¹ have won. Despite not officially being in office yet (votes have just finished being counted as I write this) the new party have already begun to push out gay 'conversion therapy' by quietly sliding it into legislation about 'abusive therapy methods'. From what I hear, the local gay community think it's too early for 'gay marriage', so it looks like pre-existing civil union laws will enter Serbia under the guise of 'bringing legislation more in line with the EU'.

All of this will certainly go more smoothly after years of fighting alongside the 'cappuccino brigade'². These experiences haven't eliminated bigotry. A lot of those fighting alongside the students wouldn't be happy to find out they have a gay child. But it's real progress, brought by staying on the point until the point drew blood.