“In the Labyrinth”: So, Where Are We Now?

The year behind us brought significant changes to several countries of the former Yugoslavia, while the general sense of crisis deepened. In Serbia, students awakened enormous hope, energized society, and raised key questions—but political change did not occur. Should we expect it in 2026? And if so, in what form?

In Croatia, Thompson’s concert lifted the rug under which far-right and Ustaša-leaning ideas and actors had been accumulating for decades. Over the summer, they burst into the public sphere, banning left-wing and anti-nationalist festivals, blocking film screenings, physically attacking events connected to Serbian culture, but also targeting prominent Croatian intellectuals. Will this trend continue? And with what consequences? In Bosnia and Herzegovina, it seemed that court rulings might shake the separatist regime of Milorad Dodik, yet the lifting of U.S. sanctions appeared to return everything to square one. Or did it? Montenegro has slipped into a revisionist spiral by erecting a monument to collaborator and war criminal Pavle Đurišić, stirring deep ideological and identity-based divisions within society. Meanwhile, no progress has been made in relations between Serbia and Kosovo. Tensions continue to build. Until when?

Finally, the role of the European Union in the region remains unclear. Will it pressure its own member state, Croatia, over the now Europe-wide-recognized rehabilitation and normalization of ideas and symbols associated with the NDH? Has the EU heard the voices from the streets of Serbia and genuinely shifted its approach to the regime of Aleksandar Vučić? Is it pushing him toward early elections, or does prolonged stagnation suit Brussels just fine? And ultimately, how do all these questions look from a global perspective—given Donald Trump’s “peace” initiatives in Palestine and Ukraine, and the intensifying rivalries among the great powers?

All of this will be discussed at M90 – the Museum of the Nineties, as part of the panel “In the Labyrinth,” on December 10 at 7 p.m., featuring historian Radina Vučetić, actor Goran Bogdan, writer Vladimir Arsenijević, and historian Dubravka Stojanović.

Due to the limited number of seats, all those interested in the panel discussion can pick up their free ticket at the Museum’s ticket office (Kneza Miloša 3) any day between 10 AM and 8 PM.