In the current social situation, is it possible to be “restrained” on any issue, is the fear of losing one’s job responsible for the “restraint”, whether it was rational or irrational, what happened in the Tower, and is the change of regime certain, are just some of the questions that tonight’s Impressions of the Week guests tried to answer.
The guests of author and presenter Olja Bećković tonight were: Vladimir Mihić, professor of psychology at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad; Vladica Kljajić, student of general linguistics at the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade and councilor of the “Mladi Kula” initiative; Dr. Milutin Kostić, specialist in psychiatry and assistant professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, and prof. Dr. Oliver Tošković, professor of psychology at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade.
When asked if he knew he would lose his job if he did not remain silent, prof. Dr. Mihić said that he had in mind that something like that could happen.
“The first time I became aware that I could lose my job was when Jelena Kleut lost her job because the two of us were louder at the university. We tried to prevent it, with Jelena we didn’t succeed because it all took us by surprise, we probably resented the same person,” said Prof. Dr. Mihić, reports Nova.rs.
To clarify what he meant when he said that they resented one person, that is, that one person was the instigator of all those events, prof. Dr. Mihić said that this is the dean of the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education, Patrick Drid.
“For some reason, he first took Jelena, then decided to kick me out of the faculty for very personal reasons. However, he couldn’t do it himself, he had the support of other deans in the Senate who abstained, so I wasn’t formally rejected, but I wasn’t voted for the position either,” said Prof. Dr. Mihić.
Is this a sign that fear has not changed sides, prof. Dr. Mihić said that he is sure that fear has changed sides, but that the management structures at the University of Novi Sad are clearly a relic of the earlier days when everyone was hiding.
Dr. Kostić added that someone who was not afraid would not have done this to Professor Mihić.
“If they hadn’t been scared, this wouldn’t have happened like this. We’re reaching situations where you can’t be neutral. It’s amazing how many people, say at my faculty, prefer to remain neutral because in their careers they haven’t learned to face such phenomena and take sides. Such people are afraid of any inconvenience because they don’t have the capacity to deal with any conflicts,” said Dr. Kostić.
When asked if this fear is rational, since the fear of losing one’s job is one of the highest on the ladder, Dr. Kostić said that the fear of losing one’s job is rational for those who are in the front ranks, and not for those who automatically retreat in front of those who have any power or who are hierarchically above. It is a kind of obedient guild that cannot imagine a conflict with a superior.
When asked to comment on the statement that students are the ones who are talked about as those who can act as they want because they have nothing to lose, they have no jobs, loans and other obligations, student Vladica Kljajić explained that “students do not risk the present but the future”.
“This is where our strength lies. We stood up and said that we do not agree to everything that is happening. We certainly initiated this and said that we are ready to put everything on the line, not only for our sake, but also for those who fought before us, and for those who are coming. It is clear that our victory is certain, their end is here. We do not want to leave here in order to have any kind of decent life,” Kljajić said, noting that the government no longer nothing at all.
“We are the ones who do not shy away from all those threats and persecutions, and we believe that they will not be allowed to do the worst and carry out their threats.”
Prof. Dr. Tošković said that he is sure that there are a large number of people who support the regime, but who still have a rock on their chest every time they have to do something according to the will of the regime, such as voting in the University Senate.
“These kinds of regimes that rule spins and the media, when they reach the end, they become dangerous. All these abstainers must know that we are also fighting for them,” added Tošković.
“The key word is solidarity, which may not be strong enough to stop my persecution, but it is strong enough to send the message ‘even if it happens, it is not the end of the world’. We will not get involved in their mud, when the consequences cannot be prevented, then we can at least take care of those people,” added the professor. Dr. Mihić.
When asked if the students calmly went over the dismissal of the professors, both at the faculties and at Jova’s high school, the student from Kula said that this was not true.
“I couldn’t possibly say that the students got over it because our fight started precisely because of the past getting over everything.”
About the situation in Kula
When asked what happened in Towers during the election of the president of the municipality, when allegedly one vote of the student list supported the candidate of the regime, the student said that we have to keep in mind who we are dealing with.
“All the materials are still being examined, we don’t have an exact answer as to what exactly happened. So far, we believe that there was some kind of fraud on the part of the ruling coalition, we’ll see if a piece of paper was planted during the session itself or if it happened earlier,” said student Kljajić.
“There will always be defection, as well as blackmail, and at the end of the day, a large percentage of people easily enter the attitude that everything is in vain and that nothing will change,” said Dr. Kostić.
“I am convinced that what happened in Kula is revenge, to pay back for what one of their councilors did not vote for their proposal at the first session. They are an autoimmune disease, they turn us against each other, institutions turn to work against themselves. The university council humiliated its own institution,” said Prof. Dr. Tošković.
When asked if something has changed in the last year and a half in the model of how students win.
“Both we and they are fighting for freedom. We for the freedom of society, they for their own. Our fight for freedom also applies to all their sympathizers and members, no matter how contradictory it sounds. Victory will not be easy, but it is inevitable because you cannot win a war against your youth,” added Prof. Dr. Tošković.
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