BLOG 
Legal Angle
3/4/2024.
Written by Luka Jovanović
attorney-at-law and FSD Program Director
REFLECTING ON THE STUDENT EDICT FROM NIS
Photo courtesy to the daily "Danas"
Even though all our attention has already been diverted to the protest activities announced in the coming days, it is hard not to reflect on the Student Edict that has been decreed in Nis on March 1st, at least briefly.
The main reason for this reflection is the transformation potential inherent in the text itself which could stand as a foundation for a new, different social and political consensus for Serbia and all of its citizens.
Similar texts have, in previous historical and in no less turbulent social circumstances, been an inspiration when new modern constitutions were being adopted through which political factors strived to enshrine the values those texts held as a pledge for the future.
The Student edict from Nis is, in short, the constitution preamble that we never had after October 5th, or which we have, in the best case scenario, forgotten while the building of our country and political community took a back seat to the achievement of altogether different goals.
This is self-evident if we just look over the preamble of Serbia's constitution that has been passed in 2006.
It makes no mention of Liberty, Justice or Solidarity.
It holds no thoughts on what kind of country we wish to live in nor the kind of future we wish to build.
Maybe that is the key reason why Liberty, Justice, Solidarity and Dignity were in such a short supply in "modern" Serbia until students helped us recall them?
It remains to be seen if political actors - who have up to this point been noticeably absent from these protests - will be able to politically articulate this yearning of students and citizens alike which they have expressed through this edict.
Their eventual success (or failure!) won't, however, diminish the significance of March 1st and the Student edict with which we will henceforth identify that day with.
P.S. Unfortunately, the newest developments in Serbia's National Assembly on March 4th confirm, in the most painful way, the fears that the fight through political means for the achievement of the goals declared in the edict is a long way away.
The responsibility for this state of affairs lies with all political actors involved.
The price of their ineptitude will be paid not only by the students, but by all of Serbia's citizens as well.
Please consider your financial support
to the Forum for Security and Democracy.
