Students in Blockade Hit Twenty Locations Through Sunday
The schedule on blokade.org covers three days and twenty locations, from door to door canvassing in Kaludjerica to stands on Knez Mihailova and in Takovo. Students in Blockade want election observers.
Students in Blockade are on the ground for three days starting today, following a schedule posted on blokade.org that runs through Sunday, August 9. The list holds twenty locations: seven for door to door canvassing and thirteen for street stands, from Predejane and Grdelica in the south, through Belgrade, Novi Sad and Paracin, to Loznica, Raska and Stara Pazova.
“We carry the same message everywhere: no one is too small, and no one too far away, for us not to hear them,” they said in the announcement.
When we wrote about students bringing door to door canvassing to Belgrade, the action had one focal point and one address. This schedule has none. Belgrade neighborhoods are covered most densely, but the same list includes Klupci near Loznica, Takovo near Gornji Milanovac and Bela Palanka, places where campaign work amounted for years to a poster and an appearance on local radio.
Where the Door to Door Canvassing Happens
- Klupci near Loznica, August 7 and 8, both days from 10 a.m.
- Kaludjerica, all three days, August 7, 8 and 9, each day from 5 to 8 p.m.
- Vracar, August 8 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Ripanj, August 9 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Detelinara in Novi Sad, August 8 and 9, both days in two shifts, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 5 to 8 p.m.
- Stara Pazova, August 7 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. and August 8 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Raska, August 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Two entries on that list stand out from the rest. Kaludjerica is the only neighborhood that appears all three days in a row, and always in the same evening slot, when people are coming home from work. Ripanj is booked for ten straight hours in a single day, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., the longest single time slot in the whole schedule.
Street Stands, From a Motel in Predejane to Kalenic Market
On Friday, August 7, stands run from 7 to 9 p.m. in front of the Predejane motel, on the plaza by the cinema in Velika Plana, and in front of the post office in Loznica.
Saturday, August 8, carries the most entries. On Banjica, on the plaza by the market, a stand runs from 8 a.m. to noon; in Zemun, on Prvomajska street near the Bosanska stop, from 8 to 11 a.m.; in Rusanj park from 9 to 11 a.m. In the afternoon it moves to Borca, to the corner of Ivan Milutinovic and Valjevski odred streets, from 6 to 9 p.m., to Knez Mihailova near the former “Ruski car” in the same slot, to central Bela Palanka from 6 to 8 p.m., and by the fountains in central Paracin from 6 to 9 p.m.
For Sunday, August 9, three stands are scheduled: at Kalenic market in Vracar from 9 a.m. to noon, in central Grdelica from 7 to 9 p.m., and in Takovo near Gornji Milanovac from 2 to 8 p.m.
The schedule follows market and evening hours, not office hours. Morning slots go with markets, Banjica, Zemun and Kalenic; evening slots go with promenades and small town centers.
Who Can Sign Up?
Students in Blockade from Belgrade’s Stari Grad municipality, who set up on Saturday near the former “Ruski car,” called on citizens to sign up as election observers, and also to help with the campaign, with logistics, in the field or from home.
“There are no small roles, everyone takes part as much and whenever they can. Join us!” they said in an Instagram post.
“Spread the word: badges, fans, T-shirts, flyers about the program’s principles, pick whichever way you want to spread the word about winning,” the same post reads.
The call for election observers is what sets this action apart from ordinary leafleting. An observer isn’t a sympathizer but someone who has to sit in one place for an entire election day, name and surname listed on the polling board’s decision. A list like that isn’t built on enthusiasm, but on a contact.
Why Field Work and Phone Calls Go Together
The ground campaign runs alongside the phone campaign “Student Zove” (Student Calls), which plans to reach all 400,000 people who left their contact information on December 28. About 15,000 citizens are already at some stage of training for that job.
The two channels don’t do the same job. Phone calls work through a list that already exists; field work exists to grow that list, which is why students are going out to Klupci and Takovo, not just to places where turnout at rallies is already high. Anyone who wasn’t in Belgrade on December 28 never left a phone number, so a call can’t reach them.
The next check is simple, and it has a date. On Sunday, August 9, the last stand packs up at 9 p.m. in central Grdelica. By then it will be clear whether Kaludjerica, Ripanj and Detelinara remained exceptions, or became the first round of a model that repeats every week until elections are called.
