SOCIETY IS IN DESPERATE NEED OF PEACE: Refraining from angry words and violence is what we need more than ever!

Freedom of one person is delimited by the freedom of another. This, in brief, could be a way to formulate what we need the most at the moment – the right of not having the freedom of a part of the citizenry taken away by a different part thereof. Over the past weekend, during protests held in several Serbian cities, we witnessed what happens when passions run high and someone decides to terrorize the majority. This is why now, more than ever, we need restraint. Exercising restraint from angry words or physical clashes.

Terror of the minority

However unpleasant it might be for the government, dissatisfaction over a decision the government makes is an inalienable right of each and every citizen. However, it is one thing to express disagreement with something within the bounds set by a democratically ordered state, and a very different thing when a civic revolt sets its sights on tearing down institutions and trampling on the rights and freedoms of others.

No one in their right mind is against civilian protests or gatherings of people driven by a clear idea of what they want and what they are protesting against. Their freedom to demonstrate their discontent is welcome in any democracy, but it ought only to be embraced up to the point where it starts to threaten the freedom of other citizens. The most recent protests and road and bridge blocks set up across Serbia have shown how easily a healthy democratic mechanism can be misused and twisted into the terror of the minority over the majority.

If those organizing and steering the popular revolt brought Serbia's citizens' freedom of movement to a halt, didn't they also spit on their own freedom and all other freedoms that belong to us as citizens of a democratically ordered state? Why allow the freedom of some to outweigh the freedom of others? As a result of such an inappropriate understanding of things, this past Saturday saw the will of the minority suspend the rights of the majority of the citizens. We all lose in this way.

Red lines

The reason for this is that the minority protesting on Saturday did not manage to convince the majority that they are right, nor did the majority convince the minority that they are mistaken in the way they fight for their ideas. In all likelihood, both have held on to their views. And that's alright. As long as certain red lines – which must always be there in any democratic society – aren't crossed.

Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Porfirije

'We need to take care of each other, not fight one another'

In response to the state of turmoil in society, the SOC Patriarch Porfirije made a statement in which he called for peace. In it, he said that he was sad to learn of "physical clashes erupting among us – members of the same nation – but also the citizens of Serbia, independent of which nation they belong to." We ought to know that riots, no matter how much they aim to bring peace, invariably result in more riots, the Patriarch noted.

"The one thing I can do is ask and call on everyone to take care of each other and not fight one another. Everyone needs everyone else. We cannot do without each other. Everyone should respect everyone else, as God calls upon us to do," the Patriarch urged.

(Kurir Editorial Staff)

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