Student protests in Serbia: Activism, Art & University Blockades

Following the collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad in November 202, students across Serbia began organizing protests, blockades, and occupations. What started as acts of mourning and protest quickly developed into a nationwide movement: university buildings were blocked, classes suspended, and students organized themselves through open plenums, non-hierarchical structures, and practices of direct democracy. Alongside political demands, students created their own social, cultural, and educational programs, mobilizing tens of thousands of people and resulting in the largest protests in the region in decades.

Ana Stojković (b. 1993, Serbia) is a visual artist and doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, where she also works as a research assistant. She was actively involved in the planning and realization of the visual arts program of the Liberated Student Cultural Center (SCC) in Belgrade during the 2024/25 anti-regime protests. The SCC—historically a central cultural hub—was occupied by students in February 2025 to reclaim it from decades of neglect and creeping privatization. For nearly six months, the liberated space hosted assemblies, exhibitions, and public events, before students were violently removed in July in the presence of police forces and pro-government media.

Miona Đenisijević (b. 2003, Serbia) is a fourth-year BA student in Management and Production of Theatre, Radio, and Culture at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDA) in Belgrade. Since November 2024, she has been deeply involved in the student blockades, contributing first to strategic coordination and later to media and propaganda efforts, including work related to the blockade of Radio Television Serbia (RTS).
Fazila Hacković is a second-year psychology student at the State University of Novi Pazar (DUNP), the only university in the multi-ethnic region of Sandžak that has remained in a continuous blockade since January 26. She has been involved in the student movement since its inception and for nearly a year, she has been living and staying at the faculty, participating in all aspects of self-organization and collective action.
The discussion will be moderated by Gabriel Wartinger, philosopher (PhDs, University College London and the European Graduate School), whose work focuses on post-phenomenological thought, political emergence, relational ontology, and non-authoritarian political forms.

Together, the speakers will reflect on how the blockades began, how they evolved, and where they stand now. They will share practical knowledge about self-organization, cultural resistance, and activist practices, offering Austrian colleagues and a broader public a nuanced and situated perspective on contemporary student movements and their transformative potential.

The event is open to the public.