Migrants are leaving, but hatred remains – the anti-migrant extreme right in Serbia
Migrants are leaving, but hatred remains – the anti-migrant extreme right in Serbia

Author(s): Marija Ignjatijević, Predrag Petrović
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Civil Society, International relations/trade, Nationalism Studies, Inter-Ethnic Relations, EU-Approach / EU-Accession / EU-Development
Published by: BCBP Beogradski centar za bezbednosnu politiku
Keywords: extreme right; nationalism; chauvinism
Summary/Abstract: The extreme right has been present in Serbia since the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia disintegrated during the war of the 1990s. Its thematic backbone is based on Serbian nationalism and chauvinism, preserving the patriarchal family and opposing same-sex marriage, anti-globalism and strengthening ties with Russia. Migrants were not the topic of extreme right-wingers even during the “migrant crisis” of 2015 and 2016, when about a million refugees passed through Serbia. This changed three years ago, when the right-wing political parties Dveri and Dosta je bilo [Enough is enough] started to scare citizens by telling them that they would become a minority as a result of the mass settlement of migrants in Serbia. A number of extreme right-wing groups accepted this rhetoric, which soon grew into ‘civil arrests’, interception and intimidation of “illegal” migrants. Apart from the immediate consequences, such as harassment and intimidation of migrants, such activities of the extreme right have long-term, less visible consequences for society in Serbia, such as influencing the spread of views and values that are contrary to the democratic order.

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