By: Savo Manojlović
Let’s be clear: there are no real elections when the winner is preordained. Especially not when those who surrendered the municipalities are now demanding to be entrusted with power again. Why? So that those who once shouted “No surrender!” can sell out once more. That’s not an idea—it’s betrayal disguised as politics, a method for holding on to power.
The problem isn’t defeat. Defeats can be overcome. The problem is that when we withdrew from institutions, we gave up our right to manage our own lives. And when you stop believing that you can lead your own village, municipality, or city, you cease to be a community. You become a group of frightened individuals waiting for someone else to tell you what to do. And the one giving orders—he’s gone. A commander who abandoned his fallen comrades.
It doesn’t matter whether he betrayed the dead, or whether the one in whose name he fought betrayed him.
A community that has no right to choose cannot defend itself. And that is precisely the goal—to exhaust the Serbs in Kosovo, to make them stop asking questions, to make them accept that others will decide for them.
Everything that’s happened in recent years has been a staged performance designed to convince people they are powerless.
I don’t want to be one of those who come to Kosovo and Metohija just to lecture people through the lens of Belgrade. Everyone’s tired of those who show up for a few hours, pose for pictures, give a speech, and drive away. In the North and in the enclaves, I like to stay longer. I come to listen—so that I can have something to say.
As a law student, I used to bring gifts and aid to children in the North and in the enclaves.
I still have a photo of us students standing in front of the legendary mural that read:
“Because there is no going back from here.”
Today, that mural has been painted over. Just as they’ve painted over everything that was good— from enthusiasm to dignity.
It all began with the Brussels Agreement: first the police, then the judiciary, then energy, then Brezovica, then Gazivode, then the farce of leaving the institutions, then the dinar, and finally the postal system. Step by step, until there was nothing left to give.
I know that people care more about what will happen with healthcare, universities, and education than about elections.
These are the last remaining institutions—the remnants of Serbian influence. After ten years of losses and deception, it’s clear who the problem is.
Those who brought us here are not part of the solution. Kurti may be the arsonist who burned down our institutions, but we also know who poured gasoline on his sparks. His flames alone would have gone out—but smugglers never ran short on fuel.
The SNS list now asking for votes cannot be called “Serbian.” It didn’t defend the Serbs, only the interests of a party and a single man. That’s not the policy of the Republic of Serbia—it’s the policy of selling out the state and betraying the people.
Before every election in Kosovo, we hear the same thing: “We need Oliver.” But we didn’t stand by him when he was here. We Serbs tend to revere great people only after they’re gone—especially when they’re killed.
Some say we shouldn’t turn people into myths. We should. Myths are what help us survive hard times. And what times have been harder than these? When in Kosovo and Metohija have times not been hard? But myths aren’t important because of the people—they matter because of the ideas those people died for.
“You don’t pour new wine into old wineskins.”
Serbs need new ideas—ones that old leaders can’t implement. We need a new, genuine patriotism. Patriots cannot be those who left Kosovo as billionaires while Serbia lost every battle those ‘heroes’ fought in its name but for their own profit. They’re not heroes; they’re merchants of patriotism.
In Kosovo, there are young people who carry on the ideas of Oliver Ivanović. Serbia, too, needs new, young faces—but those faces must not be secretly tied to the old power centers!
I’m talking about what’s conspiratorially called “Kopaonik”—the power base of Milan Radoičić. That very center, together with Albanian extremism, persecuted, imprisoned, and marked Oliver Ivanović as a target—all under the silent gaze of the international community—so that the Brussels Agreement could be implemented. That’s how everything Mitrovica had built was destroyed, including the legendary bridge defenses led by Oliver Ivanović.
That’s why Serbs now need people who embody true patriotism—those who defend it through personal courage and sacrifice.
People who, like Oliver, are leaders of European caliber, who know how to fight but also how to negotiate—in four languages. That’s democracy: one that respects other nations’ interests but doesn’t forget its own.
The idea of sincere patriotism that Oliver Ivanović lived for still exists today—in
the students and young people across Serbia who protest for a better country.
And there are such young people in Kosovo and Metohija too. I know that these new faces can’t bring change to Kosovo until change happens in Serbia as well. But they can begin it.
Serbs no longer need those who live off Kosovo—but those who live for Kosovo.
Serbs need new faces—ones not controlled by the old power centers!
All statements expressed in this text reflect the personal views of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the editorial board.
KoSSev is not the author of this text.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
