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

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.

In this study, we tried to identify the main factors – both global and specific to Serbia – that contribute to the fact that members of the extreme right and its followers are accepting anti-migrant policies. We also investigated who the main protagonists of anti-immigrant narratives among the extreme right are, which anti-immigrant narratives and messages they use the most, and which mechanisms and channels they use to spread them. We also investigated how these activities of the extreme right affect the citizens of Serbia, especially those of the Muslim faith. The report also covered the gender dimension of the anti-migrant far right, their attitudes towards women, as well as ways in which extremist groups abuse the gender equality discourse to achieve their anti-migrant and Islamophobic goals. Based on the findings from our investigation, we offered recommendations for the prevention and fight against anti-migrant/such actions of the extreme right.

This research report has been published with the support of the PREVEX project – Preventing Violent Extremism in the Balkans and the MENA. PREVEX has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 870724.