International political project (2008 - 2013)

This was my first major international political project. I grew a student organisation from 10 to 3,000 members, collaborated with governments, media, churches, businesses, and social institutions, made numerous media appearances, held meetings and working discussions with top politicians, and exerted a transformative influence on how the Republic of Serbia engages with Serbian students abroad. The project spanned from 2008 to 2013, during my tenure as president of the Organisation of Serbian Students Abroad. I wrote a short book about my time in office and gifted it to the organisation. Here, I offer readers of my philosophical texts a brief synopsis of my motivations for taking on this role and investing five years of my life in it.

As a young student of politics and international relations at the London School of Economics, I felt a need to become patriotically and politically active while trying to understand the world and my place in it. This stemmed from my experiences since moving to Germany at age 13. Whenever I travelled or met new people, they would quickly ask where I was from. Peers, elders, and much older individuals all wanted this information to form an opinion about me. I found this intriguing, as I was far less interested in people’s origins when forming my own opinions about them. I cared more about whether they were athletic, what their favourite food was, what they liked to read, or what their life goals were.

What I found particularly challenging was that when I said I was from Serbia, the response was often negative. This surprised me, as I held a generally positive view of Serbia. Over time, I began to understand that people rarely look beyond their own perspectives, and Serbia, for political reasons, often fell out of favour in other countries, leading to negative media coverage. The little that people knew about Serbia was thus often negative. Many reduced me to being “a Serb” upon meeting me, associating their thoughts with negative things they had heard about Serbia. I quickly learned to steer conversations elsewhere, especially when speaking with people who had the power to judge me or my achievements.

Nevertheless, this caused me considerable frustration. These repeated experiences of being stereotyped based on my origins—combined with my empathy for how women, people of colour, and others often face snap judgments—shaped my perspective. Coupled with my desire to understand why wars happen, why people become victims of bombings, why they flee, and how such situations could be prevented globally, I resolved to learn more and gain a deeper understanding. I had personally experienced the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999, hiding in a basement with my family, like millions of other citizens, before fleeing to safety. Just days after arriving in Germany, I saw on television a bomb strike just 50 metres from our family home in Belgrade, reducing several buildings to rubble. These were traumatic experiences that solidified my determination to study politics and international relations.

As a young student beginning to understand how politics works, I quickly felt the urge to change the largely negative image of Serbia by providing a fuller picture, as Serbia and its people have much that is positive and beautiful to offer. In 2007, I discovered that the Organisation of Serbian Students Abroad had been founded in 1997. I thought this was the perfect place for me to take action, as I could identify as a Serbian student abroad—or rather, I had to, since others rarely saw me simply as a person, often labelling me as “a Serb” instead. (Today, I often say that, having absorbed German, American, British, and other cultures, and being a German citizen, I am ultimately a stateless global citizen, as there is no world state.) Unfortunately, the organisation had only about 10 active members, but this didn’t deter me. I joined and, within roughly six months, was elected president.

My idea was simple: gather as many Serbian students abroad as possible to form a patriotic community that could improve Serbia’s image in global academia. This resonated with others. We created a website, established local branches at various universities (London, Oxford, Sorbonne, Bocconi, Heidelberg, Princeton, Harvard, Vienna, Thessaloniki, etc.), and organised student parties open to all university students, as well as lectures and trips. To top it off, we held biannual assemblies in Serbia, the so-called Winter and Summer Assemblies. Membership grew, and by 2010, the organisation had around 800 members. The press took notice and published articles about us. Former members who founded the organisation in 1997 held high political positions in Serbia, and we felt increasingly emboldened to approach these and other representatives of the Serbian state to discuss potential joint projects. I negotiated with the then-Minister for the Diaspora of the Republic of Serbia—no easy task—and ultimately launched a project called “Get to Know the Serbian State,” aimed at partially reversing the often-lamented brain drain.

This became my second major international political project. Forty-six organisation members were selected to undertake four-week internships across all 23 ministries of the Republic of Serbia (two per ministry). They produced one-page SWOT analyses of the ministries’ work, which I compiled and presented to the Serbian Prime Minister with media coverage. Many more projects followed, and through my laissez-faire leadership style, membership continued to grow, as did the number of projects, until they became too numerous to track. I believed everyone should contribute to create tangible change.

The organisation took on a life of its own. I strove for democratic structures but, as a young student, made many mistakes and soon encouraged others to make mistakes too, as students can afford to learn from them. There were conflicts and upheavals, which led me to reflect deeply and pursue studies in philosophy, neuroscience, and psychology. These experiences, combined with my desire to understand why wars occur, prompted me to pursue a master’s degree in philosophy after my bachelor’s in politics and international relations. I hadn’t yet found clear answers about why wars happen—everything I learned pointed to human nature as the primary cause (even the failure of systemic solutions like socialism was attributed to human nature). I hoped that deeper studies of human nature would provide more answers. The power struggles and conflicts within the Organisation of Serbian Students Abroad also fueled my interest in these fields, as I sought to understand why such things happen.

As the organisation developed its own momentum and I maintained my laissez-faire leadership style while coordinating various projects, membership continued to grow. By 2012, when I stepped down as president at the end of my master’s in philosophy, the organisation had around 3,000 members. Each new student generation since my departure has gone through its own phase of work, successes, conflicts, and transformations. The organisation continues to thrive, now boasting over 5,000 members, 24 local branches, and ongoing work, which brings me great joy. More information can be found at: www.ossi.rs.