Otpor (, , stylized as Otpor!) was a political organization in Serbia (then part of FR Yugoslavia) from 1998 until 2004.
In its initial period from 1998 to 2000, Otpor began as a civic protest group, eventually turning into a movement, which adopted the Narodni pokret (the People's Movement) title, against the policies of the Serbian authorities under the influence of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević. Following Milošević's overthrow in October 2000, Otpor became a political watchdog organization monitoring the activities of the post-Milošević period of the DOS coalition. Finally, during fall 2003, Otpor briefly became a political party which, due to its failure to pass the 5% threshold needed to get any seats in the Serbian parliament, soon merged into the Democratic Party (DS).
Founded and best known as an organization employing nonviolent struggle as a course of action against the Milošević-controlled Serbian authorities, Otpor grew into a civic youth movement whose activity culminated on 5 October 2000 with Milošević's overthrow. In the course of a two-year nonviolent struggle against Milošević, Otpor spread across Serbia, attracting in its heyday more than 70,000 supporters who were credited for their role in the 5 October overthrow. ; "The Rise of Youth Movements in the Post Communist Region", Olena Nikolayenko, Center For Democracy Development, Stanford,19 June 2009
After the overthrow, Otpor launched campaigns to hold the new government accountable, pressing for democratic reforms and fighting corruption, as well as insisting on cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal (ICTY) at the Hague. ; "Resistance studies - University of Goetheborgh" November 2010
Initial activity
Otpor was formed in Belgrade on 10 October 1998 in response to a controversial piece of legislation in Serbia – the university law – introduced earlier that year by the Serbian government under Prime Minister Mirko Marjanović. Also, days before Otpor got announced, the government introduced a decree (uredba) outlining special measures in the wake of the ongoing NATO bombing threat. Citing the decree, on 14 October 1998, the government's Ministry of Information headed by Aleksandar Vučić banned the publishing of Dnevni telegraf, Danas, and Naša borba, three Belgrade dailies which were critical of the government to varying degrees.
The newly formed group named Otpor mostly consisted of the Demokratska omladina (Democratic Party's youth wing) members, activists of the various NGOs that operated in Serbia, and students from the two public universities in Belgrade – University of Belgrade and University of Arts. It quickly grew from a small group into a network of similarly politically minded young people, many of whom were already veterans of anti-Milošević demonstrations such as the 1996-97 protests and the 9 March 1991 protest. With the political opposition in Serbia in disarray, Otpor decided to build a broad political movement rather than a traditional NGO or political party. Frustrated with opposition leaders protecting their narrow personal and party interests, which often degenerated into infighting, the group also decided that "it would have no leaders".; "Rage Against The Machine - Milja Jovanovic, People Building Peace", vol 2 European Centre for Conflict Prevention 2002
Early on, Otpor defined its objectives and methods, including an account of what it saw as the main problems of the country, in the "Declaration of the Future of Serbia." The declaration was signed and supported by all prominent student organizations in Serbia. An advisory body was set up and its members became the main promoters of the declaration.; "OTPOR campaigns New Tactics" November 2010
Initially, Otpor's activities were limited to the University of Belgrade. In an effort to gather new nonpartisan energy, not to mention making it harder for state media to discredit and smear them as just another opposition political group, Otpor avoided publicizing its ties to the Democratic Party (DS) even though the two organizations held similar political goals and shared many of the same members.Dragan Džonić: Otporaši su dobili krila i poleteli ;Hereticus, 20 April 2003 Early on they agreed the organization's symbol to be the clenched fist. Young designer Nenad "Duda" Petrović created the logo.; "Canvas, Otpor, Pora: Serbia's brand is non-violent revolution" 31 March 2011Pesnicu Otpora Vole Svi Svetski Buntovnici May 2010
Four students get arrested for stenciling Otpor logo The authorities' immediate reaction to the appearance of Otpor was extremely heavy-handed, even before the movement held any public gatherings. In the early morning hours of Wednesday, 4 November 1998, four students – 22-year-old Teodora Tabački (enrolled at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Philosophy), Marina Glišić (22, Faculty of Philosophy), Dragana Milinković (22, Faculty of Philology), and Nikola Vasiljević (19, University of Arts' FDU) – were arrested for stencil spraying the clenched fist symbol on the UofB's Faculty of Mathematics building facade. Later that same day, after reportedly being intimidated into signing a pre-typed, joint statement of guilt, the four students were taken before a misdemeanor judge who handed them a sentence of 10 days in prison.Gde su danas lideri Narodnog pokreta Otpor: Dnevnik jedne mladosti ;Vreme, 15 July 2010 In his explanation of the sentence, judge Željko Muniža cited that "with their brazen and reckless behaviour, the four students have endangered the citizens' calm and disturbed the public order." On 5 November, the students' legal representatives – Nikola Barović, Branko Pavlović, and Dušan Stojković – appealed the respective sentences citing "improper use of both the misdemeanor process and the misdemeanor law as well as the scandalous subsequent sanction." One day later, the misdemeanor council rejected the appeal as baseless.
The case generated some public reaction with the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Electrical Engineering professor and Otpor member Srbijanka Turajlić calling the sentences "inappropriate" and further scolding the University of Belgrade rector Jagoš Purić as well as University of Arts rector Radmila Bakočević for "not publicly reacting to their own students being rounded-up on the street and hauled off to jail".
Dnevni telegraf gets fined for publishing an Otpor ad The organization gained further prominence when the Dnevni telegraf (daily tabloid owned and edited by Slavko Ćuruvija) 7 November issue appeared on newsstands with Otpor's ad featuring the clenched fist symbol on the front page. The paper had previously been banned for "spreading defeatism by running subversive headlines", a punishment meted out under the controversial new government decree. And though the ban was lifted within a week as the decree was put out of effect only to be replaced by the new information law, Dnevni telegraf'''s publishing hiatus continued past the ban being lifted and the 7 November issue was its return to the newsstands. Seeing the Otpor ad on the front page, the authorities quickly reacted again, taking Ćuruvija and his collaborators to court within days via a trumped up private citizen's complaint and handing them another draconian fine under the information law, this time prompting the newspaper's relocation to Podgorica.
Veran Matić wears Otpor t-shirt during MTV Europe Awards live broadcast Several days later, on Thursday, 12 November, another instance of Otpor's public exposure occurred – this time at the 1998 MTV Europe Music Awards ceremony in Assago near Milan where Radio B92 was the recipient of the Free Your Mind award. Accepting the award presented by Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills of R.E.M. during live broadcast, B92 head Veran Matić came out on stage in an Otpor T-shirt with inscription "Живи Отпор!" (Live the Resistance) above the clenched fist logo. In his acceptance speech, delivered in Serbian, Matić explicitly mentioned the four students that were arrested and sentenced the previous week.
The awards ceremony was carried live in Serbia on TV Košava, a station owned at the time by Milošević's daughter Marija. However, when it came time for the Free Your Mind award to be handed out in the live broadcast, only the initial intro by R.E.M. and part of the accompanying pre-taped video piece about Radio B92 was shown before abruptly cutting to an extended block of commercials.
Otpor's first significant gathering took place on Saturday, 14 November at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Electrical Engineering – over a thousand students marched across town to the Faculty of Philology where a number of students were under lockdown inside the building as the authorities wanted to prevent them from joining the protest. Otpor leader Srđa Popović (also a member of the Democratic Party) was arrested that day and then released on intervention from Amnesty International after being detained for 8 hours. By late November, Otpor ideas reached Novi Sad, Serbia's second city, with the first graffiti appearing on buildings in the city.
During the NATO air-strikes against FR Yugoslavia in 1999 regarding the Kosovo War, Otpor ceased its activities. In the aftermath of NATO bombing, the organization began a political campaign aimed directly against the Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević. This resulted in nationwide police repression against Otpor activists, during which nearly 2,000 were arrested, some beaten.
Organization grows into a movement
Otpor next managed to bring opposition parties together and mobilize the population of Serbia against Milošević. It stressed the importance of mobilizing the population to vote, but also promoted "individual resistance" (i.e. nonviolent methods of civic disobedience in order to counter possible electoral fraud). This strategy was slowly embraced by the opposition parties in the months to come.
The strategy was based on two assumptions: That the opposition had to be united around one presidential candidate in order to get more votes than Milošević; and That Milošević would never accept defeat in the elections (and he would falsify ballots and even use force to defend his power).;Gozaar, 19 June 2009
By fall 1999 and early 2000, the Serbian opposition political parties, most notably the Democratic Party and the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), realized the potency of Otpor's methods and the resonance of its message with the youth. Thus began the battle for control of Otpor between DS and SPO. Since both parties already had a significant number of their youth wing members within Otpor, this trend continued on a large scale with both DS and SPO (and other opposition parties as well) instructing their local chapters throughout Serbia to recruit party youth members en masse into Otpor.Selektivna anestezija ;Blic News, 19 October 2001 As a result, Otpor's membership swelled into tens of thousands.
Otpor's unified message and diverse membership proved much more attractive to young activists than the deeply divided opposition parties of the time. Although they had found common ground in Otpor, the separate opposition parties were still reluctant to cooperate among themselves. Otpor's major challenge was to bring these divided groups together in preparation for the 2000 election campaign. Instead of using old methods of "bringing everyone to the table and then…trying to come up with a common strategy and goal", the original core group of Otpor founders had gathered to first find a single goal that everyone could agree upon: removing Milošević. ;The Year Life Won in Serbia: The Otpor Movement Against Milosevic , 17 June 2011