The education system, i.e. the political elites who run this country and create the education system, should adapt it to the needs of young people. The education system cannot be archaic, conservative, but it should be such that it breeds leaders, active citizens, and not make obedient subjects, Vladimir Pavlovic, program director of the Belgrade Open School (BOS), said in the podcast “Half an Hour of Demostat”.

According to our interlocutor, media literacy of young people is “very important because of the state of democracy” in Serbia, as well as because of the media situation.

- Young people are almost no longer informed through traditional media, they do not watch television, do not read newspapers, and because of such access to information, because of access to education through social networks, it is very important to teach young people to distinguish information from disinformation, to recognize violence on social networks, to recognize all these negative things related to the violation of their personal rights, the trends related to the violation of the rights of certain vulnerable groups, and that is why we need media literacy - to help young people to find their way in this world that is "madly" progressing when it comes to information, where our formation of attitudes, especially among young people, depends on their ability to discern what is true from what is incorrect and not good, that through the development of these “sensors” they, in fact, develop their critical opinion, because traditional media have a very small role in this, explains Pavlovic in response to the question whether he supports the Demostat initiative on introducing media literacy into the education system in Serbia.

Speaking about the position of young people, the topic BOS is dealing with through the Project “Youth and Media for Democratic Development”, Pavlovic says that rare research based on which we can follow trends about their attitudes shows that young people have a need for political engagement, “which is good”.

-Young people want to be more involved, young people want to ask more about the future of their local community, about the future of this country. They are not apolitical. The recent protests and forms of civil disobedience show this. On the other hand, the surveys reveal the facts that we must also take into account - young people do not trust politicians, a large number of them think that politicians are not responsible and that they do not work in their interest. Many people do not want to vote because they have no one to vote for. What does that tell us? There is demand, therefore, young people want to be politically engaged, and there is no supply - and in this gap there is a huge space for manipulating young people, which can take its appearance in increasing anti-democratic attitudes, in cultivating some anti-European values, throwing the seeds of authoritarianism into a fairly fertile soil, which young people really represent, he specifies.

Asked how to prevent young people from succumbing to negative media and other influences, including a high degree of authoritarianism, the interlocutor of Demostat says: “We need media literacy, that educational institutions develop active citizens, not subjects, that before educational institutions, families raise young people who are able to critically, objectively, with an attitude, talk about certain things, not to be enslaved by formal authorities, that the only authorities are tied to knowledge and values, about which we otherwise have no basic consensus.... Young people state that they have a problem with the existing system of values, and when asked “what values do not suit you, what values do you stand for”, they cannot articulate this, which are the values of democracy, civic activism, the rule of law, protection, promotion, promotion of human rights. These are the standards they feel intuitively”.

Commenting on the current media situation in Serbia, Pavlovi?, among other things, states that the media are “under constant pressure, their independence is challenged every day, they work under very unfavorable circumstances, here, first of all, I mean local media that are facing the problems of financial sustainability, editorial policy, going illegal, self-censorship, conditioned by the pressures”.

- So, we have an environment that is not conducive to media pluralism and, therefore, for what is the key role of the media - to be, on the one hand, our window, that is, a window into the world of real problems and ways of solving them, and, on the other hand, to educate us, to teach us civic participation, how to solve problems together... If the media  outlets do not do this, but is instrumentalized, used to “distort” reality, send the wrong messages, then they become a dangerous tool that helps the collapse of democracy, and, unfortunately, this is the current situation we have in Serbia.

Asked about the activities of the Council for Development and Cooperation with Civil Society, of which he is a member, Vladimir Pavlovic says that the Council, launched within the Ministry of Human and Minority rights, is a “governmental advisory body” and has the task of “monitoring, analysing and making its proposals for creating an enabling environment for the action of civil society organisations, for the advancement of civil society as a legitimate partner to the authorities for solving problems, for safeguarding the public interest, for civil society to argue and openly speak about problems in this community, to criticise the Government, and not to be treated as an enemy of the state, and as someone who deals not with problems but with politics”.

- Such labelling is very dangerous... We in civil society do not deal with politics but with public policies and we want to solve the problems, and it is desirable in democracies. The Council consists of representatives of civil society organisations and public authorities. I hope that the next Government will listen to us carefully and take into account our recommendations, including these concerning civic participation in solving the problem.

Regarding the frequent announcements from the European Union that Serbia is threatened with sanctions due to the recent tragic events in Kosovo, the interlocutor of Demostat points out that some MEPs were vocal in the fact that Serbia should be imposed sanctions, “however, what is important is to know who is addressing the EU in what capacity and with what goal”.

“The role of members of the European Parliament is to come out “on this open stage” and to inform the citizens who voted for them about some topics and to win their support. It is a completely different story with who has the real capacity and authority to make decisions such as imposing sanctions on Serbia or some other country, then we should look at the European Commission and the Council of the EU. If we look at the statements of the representatives of the highest political bodies of the EU, you will see that they are much more restrained in their statements, that it is not about sanctions, but about the need to clarify the situation, to determine all the facts, and that, based on these facts, an objective picture of what really happened in Kosovo is formed. After that, the EU can use some of its "tools" in its capacity, to apply some of the measures available to it towards third countries, i.e. natural or legal persons. In this case, the EU Council may apply some restrictive measures. And in order to impose these measures, including sanctions on Serbia, a unanimous decision must be made. The Council of the EU includes representatives of all EU member states, and, I would like to remind you, five EU states have not recognised the independence of Kosovo, and there is a very important "Orban factor". So it is difficult to make a decision that would lead to such drastic measures as imposing sanctions, he explains.

Pavlovic notes that when considering the topic of possible sanctioning of Serbia, the European Commission should also be considered, “which is the face of the EU when it comes to accession negotiations”.

-We are in a contractual relationship with the EU, primarily based on our obligations under the stabilisation and association agreement. The European Commission has a set of tools with which it could sanction candidate countries such as Serbia. What would be the most dramatic measure is the immediate suspension of the negotiation process (on EU membership), as well as the repercussions in terms of the availability of EU funds, but this is all on a long stick, because all this requires facts, in order to make some reasoned decision, emphasizes the program director of BOS.

Asked what kind of Report the European Commission he expects on Serbia, since, according to the announcements, this document should be disclosed on November 8th, Pavlovi? notes that several things have happened that will change the tone of the Report “compared to what it was originally supposed to look like”.

-As early as February, March, various forms of consultations are underway that serve the European Commission to gather enough objective information to compile the Report. But these events in Kosovo, then the announcement of elections in Serbia at the end of this year, will significantly affect the Report. The recent events have set back the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina quite a bit, and, I think, it has significantly undermined Serbias position as a responsible partner. Also, we have an announcement of early elections in Serbia, so the European Commission will probably again insist on the basic postulates related to the elections - equality of all participants, access to the media, transparency of information related to the electoral process. If we have elections that are in two, two and a half months, the question is how much time we have to set up a system that will treat all participants equally. Also, the European Commission will almost certainly insist on the work of the National Assembly as a transparent, responsible, efficient institution and will again point out the treatment that civil society organizations have by the public authorities, i.e. that the practice mentioned in the previous Report, which refers to slandering and discrediting civil society representatives in the Parliament, continues and intensifies. At the same time, I expect the European Commission to continue to underline the importance of human rights defenders in this country who deal with sensitive topics, says Demostats interlocutor.

Cooperation with civil society at the local level

Responding to the question about the cooperation of the Belgrade Open School, which is celebrating its thirty-year anniversary these days, with civil society organisations "locally" throughout Serbia, Vladimir Pavlovic points out that BOS "has been an organisation focused on the local community through its mission and goals since the beginning. “At the moment BOS actively supports over 80 civil society organisations from the local area, we have the privilege to be something called “EU Resource Center” for the development of civil society in Serbia in the next four years”. We will use this mandate to cooperate with civil society organisations throughout Serbia through various activities, expanding their capacities to improve the process of European integration - i.e., managerial, mentoring, educational role... What constantly amazes me and gives hope that change in this society is possible is the fact that these are people who want to change something for the better, although they are often targeted in their community, so their job is not easy at all. What we as BOS are trying to do is to empower civil society organisations, to be more determined, better, in their activities, and to be a kind of mediator - to reach public authorities, to seriously consider them as partners, because without the cooperation of civil society organisations and public authorities there is no progress”,  he concluded.