Busker Boy

A little boy is busking his very own version of the folk song Ederlezi, having become an anthem of sorts for Balkan romantics. The crowds passing by seem to enjoy one of the first spring evenings strolling on Novi Sad's Korzo. Next to me there's a bunch of vagrants gathering, sipping their Jelen Pivo and getting ready for some adventure. For the following day, the ruling nationalist Serbian Progressive Party called for a protest against the social democratic leadership of the autonomous Vojvodina province. The city was covered with posters featuring slogans like "We won't give away our Vojvodina" or "Novi Sad - Capital City of Serbia", many of which having been pulled down, though. On the very day of the protest, a friend counted around 200 buses, mainly from places in the rest of Serbia, parked along Novi Sad's Danube bank. Even if the attendance at that manifestation of Serbian nationalist power in the capital of Vojvodina turned out beyond expectations, another friend saw parallels to the events in 1989, when Slobodan Milosevic cancelled the autonomy of Vojvodina and Kosovo. Also back then the rest of Europe didn't give a damn.