Iva Kontic

I Whistle, You Whistle, We Whistle results from several months of following Belgrade’s everyday chronicle of protests during the last quarter of 2012.

Belgrade has a strong tradition of protest. In the 1990s, protesting was one of the main forms of opposition to the government and its dictatorship, with more than half of the city’s population marching through the streets of the capital on a daily basis. Protests in Serbia proved to be an effective means of triggering social and political change, contributing to the 2000 revolution and the subsequent process of democratisation.

Today, reflecting global economic and social shifts and facing a series of problems arising from the transition to capitalism and its “new” system of rules and values, Serbian society is once again engaged in protests of many different kinds. From organised trade-union demonstrations triggered by the economic crisis in Serbia and across Europe, to student demonstrations demanding free education and improved educational policies; from labour strikes aimed at improving working conditions to small-scale and individual protests concerning social rights and issues of a strictly local nature—the protest has become such an everyday phenomenon that the streets of Belgrade can witness up to three different gatherings in a single day.

Yet the spirit of “standing up against” and “collective action in the pursuit of change” has increasingly been replaced by general fatigue and mistrust in the effectiveness of protest and its potential to make a difference. The high frequency of protests, combined with the relatively small number of participants, has made indifference, resignation, and mild irritation increasingly common responses. Comments such as “Ah, what are they protesting against now?” have become typical.

Similarly, in the media, protests are no longer “big news” and usually appear only as brief reports within the daily chronicle of events.

I Whistle, You Whistle, We Whistle is an attempt to examine and analyse this contemporary “state of mind” in relation to the idealistic vision of protest as a form of social alliance against *the System*, and as a collective expression of dissatisfaction and a desire for change—starting from the specific geo-historical context of Belgrade and Serbia.