Resistance! Отпор! | |
|---|---|
 Logo of Otpor | |
| Leader | Collective leadership |
| Founded | 10 October 1998 |
| Dissolved | September 2004 |
| Merged into | Democratic Party |
| Headquarters | Belgrade |
| Ideology | Democracy Anti-authoritarianism Anti-corruption Anti-Milošević |
| National affiliation | Democratic Opposition of Serbia |
| National Assembly (2003) | 0 / 250
|
Otpor (Serbian Cyrillic: Отпор!, English: Resistance!, stylized as Otpor!) was a political organization in Serbia (then part of FR Yugoslavia) from 1998 until 2004.
In its initial period from 1998 to 2000, Otpor began as a civic protest group, eventually turning into a movement, which adopted the Narodni pokret (the People's Movement) title, against the policies of the Serbian authorities under the influence of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević.[1] Following Milošević's overthrow in October 2000, Otpor became a political watchdog organization monitoring the activities of the post-Milošević period of the DOS coalition. Finally, during fall 2003, Otpor briefly became a political party which, due to its failure to pass the 5% threshold needed to get any seats in the Serbian parliament, soon merged with another party.
Founded and best known as an organization employing nonviolent struggle as a course of action against the Milošević-controlled Serbian authorities, Otpor grew into a civic youth movement whose activity culminated on 5 October 2000 with Milošević's overthrow. In the course of a two-year nonviolent struggle against Milošević, Otpor spread across Serbia, attracting in its heyday more than 70,000 supporters who were credited for their role in the 5 October overthrow.[2]
After the overthrow, Otpor launched campaigns to hold the new government accountable, pressing for democratic reforms and fighting corruption, as well as insisting on cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal (ICTY) at the Hague.[3]
Soon after the 2003 elections, Otpor merged into the Democratic Party (DS).
- ^ Lakey, George; Marovic, Ivan (22 May 2024). "Overcoming Despair and Apathy to Win Democracy". The Commons Social Change Library. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
- ^ [1] Archived 5 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine; "The Rise of Youth Movements in the Post Communist Region", Olena Nikolayenko, Center For Democracy Development, Stanford,19 June 2009
- ^ [2] Archived 2 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine; "Resistance studies - University of Goetheborgh" November 2010