Far-right politics in Serbia
The far-right often glorifies convicted war criminals like Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić, while some groups also called for the rehabilitation of collaborationists Nedić and Ljotić.
The far-right has orchestrated violent protests and attacks against ethnic minorities, the LGBT community, activists, and non-governmental organisations whom they label as "foreign mercenaries".
[2] Far-right individuals also often glorify convicted war criminals such as Vojislav Šešelj, Radovan Karadžić, and Ratko Mladić,[2] while some groups are also supportive of collaborationists Milan Nedić and Dimitrije Ljotić, and call for their rehabilitation.
[7][8] Bakić also noted that far-right groups also promote a culture of "youth violence", since they regularly organise clashes with the police, or against minorities such as the Romani, LGBT population, and leftists.
He also stated that far-right groups form a perception of enemies, which commonly tend to be the West, traditional political parties, or minorities, while they regard Russia as a friend or a "brother".
[11] Initially, the far-right focused on other ethnic groups in former Yugoslavia due to the Yugoslav Wars, although they turned towards "internal enemies" after the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević.
[25][26] Anti-communism is also a key element of far-right groups; they tend to downplay the success of Yugoslav Partisans during World War II by promoting historical revisionism, and attempt to discredit the progress that was achieved during the existence of SFR Yugoslavia.
[3][10] Far-right groups had also openly taken part in Victory Day commemorations due to their pro-Russian views; their participation is in stark contrast to the anti-communist sentiment that is present in Serbia and other post-socialist countries.
[27] Most far-right groups espouse militarism, religious fanaticism, and chauvinism, and they support the return of Kosovo's sovereignty under Serbia, as well as preserving traditional and patriarchal values, and opposing abortion.
[37] Notably, Serbia Strong, a song that lauded the actions of Serb military personnel such as war criminal Radovan Karadžić, and boasted about ethnic cleansing against Croats and Bosniaks, later became an internet meme where it was alternatively titled "Remove Kebab", and attracted further attention when it was played by Brenton Tarrant before instigating the Christchurch mosque shootings.
[58] Local media in Serbia also tend to promote "Russian-friendly" news stories or anti-Western narratives; websites were found to be spreading the idea of ethnic purification or neo-Nazism.
[59] Jim Dowson, a British far-right activist, and his Knights Templar International organisation had supplied bullet-proof vests and radios to Serbian groups in Kosovo.
[81] Members of the National Defence (Serbian Cyrillic: Народна одбрана, romanized: Narodna odbrana), a militaristic association, usually sided with Chetniks in conflicts.
[109] Milošević garnered support to remove Ivan Stambolić, who opposed the memorandum, at the 8th Session of the SKS Central Committee and later organised a campaign of street protests, named the anti-bureaucratic revolution.
[112] The Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), a major opposition party during the 1990s, had also promoted extremist nationalism, although it abandoned the ideology following the beginning of the Bosnian War.
[115][116] The White Eagles, a paramilitary unit operated by SRS and its leader Vojislav Šešelj, committed war crimes in Croatia, and Bosnia and Hezegovina.
[21] According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, far-right groups criticised the United States during the Kosovo War, including foreign individuals such as white nationalist Louis Beam, while neo-Nazis had done it because "they saw Muslims as a threat to Europe".
According to Jovo Bakić, this rise occurred due to the promised social development and European Union accession which were not feasible, including the wave of privatisation that left vast numbers of people unemployed.
[112][126] Aleksandar Gavrilović, an editor for Istinomer, stated that following the formation of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in 2008, the far-right saw its support drop to bare minimums.
[134] Obraz was banned a year later due to "violation of human and minority rights and causing national and religious hatred", although it continued to operate under a similar name.
[138] According to Izabela Kisić, the executive director of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, the newly elected government has since practically tolerated the far-right.
[180] I Live for Serbia (Serbian Cyrillic: Живим за Србију, romanized: Živim za Srbiju) is a far-right organisation that spreads anti-vax and nationalist views.
[29][185] I Live for Serbia wants to repeal the law that made vaccination mandatory and declares its support for making all non-governmental organisations illegal.
[180] Nacionalni stroj was antisemitic,[79] and stated that only white people would be entitled to full citizenship, while homosexuality, pornography, abortion, and other religious groups should be outlawed.
[79][178] Obraz supports the dismantling of liberal democracy, which it called a "judeo-masonic tool of oppression", and argues that a corporative state must be established instead, and it promotes theocracy.
Three years later, Stojković organised a protest to stop the projection of a documentary movie that showed positive relations between Serbs and Albanians during the Yugoslav Wars.
[295] Šešelj was convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2003, and later that year, after campaigning on an anti-corruption platform, it placed first in the 2003 parliamentary election, but it did not join the government.
[188][240] The party was formed out of fifteen movements that had similar ideological beliefs,[129] while it also received support from Jim Dowson, a British far-right activist, and local political leaders.
[330] Before forming the Sixty-Four Counties Youth Movement, Toroczkai was associated with the far-right Hungarian Justice and Life Party (MIÉP), and later served as vice-president of the ultranationalist Jobbik.
[332][333] By 2023, Toroczkai had shifted from his anti-Serbian stance, forming an alliance between Our Homeland Movement and the Serbian Party Oathkeepers and Dveri, and urging unity between nationalists in the two countries.
