Speaking up for Democracy: Noise against Dictatorship Protest in Serbia

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world in spring 2020 and restrictions of movement were introduced, citizens in many countries organized balcony performances to connect and express mutual support. Serbia was one of them. Yet in Serbia, balcony performances that started as an expressions of solidarity with medical staff, turned into appeals for democracy. Since 2012 when Serbian progressive party took the power, significant democratic backslide was noted and Serbia has in recent years been classified either as competitive authoritarianism or hybrid regime. The government of Serbia used the pandemic for an increase of authoritarian grip, additional centralization of power and violation of human rights and freedoms. Anti-COVID-19 measures included strict and long restrictions of movement, including a total lockdown during the four days of the Easter holiday. As other channels of expressing dissatisfaction closed, citizens had to find new and creative ways to express their resistance. Every night at 20:05 for almost a month citizens banged pots and pans, blew whistles and played loud music to raise their voice against dictatorship. This paper explores the meanings of noise in these protests, diverse claims of (self)representation, their effects and symbolic connections with previous “cacerolazo” protests such as the protests against the authoritarian Milošević regime in the 1990s. The analysis is based on the discourse analysis of media narratives about the protest and interviews with civil society representatives participating and/or organizing the protest.