Dveri

Serbian Movement Dveri
Српски покрет Двери
AbbreviationDveri
PresidentIvan Kostić
Vice-Presidents
  • Slobodan Davidović
  • Zoran Pavlović
Founders
Founded27 January 1999 (1999-01-27)
Registered28 June 2015 (2015-06-28)
HeadquartersĐorđa Jovanovića 11/7, Belgrade
NewspaperDveri srpske
Youth wingYouth Council
Women's wingWomen's Power
Ideology
Political positionRight-wing to far-right
ReligionSerbian Orthodox Church
International affiliationWorld Congress of Families
Colours
  •   Red
  •   Blue
  •   White
Slogan"Za život Srbije"
("For the life of Serbia")
Anthem"Himna za život Srbije"
("An anthem for the life of Serbia")
National Assembly
0 / 250
Assembly of Vojvodina
0 / 120
City Assembly of Belgrade
0 / 110
Party flag
Website
dveri.rs

The Serbian Movement Dveri (Serbian: Српски покрет Двери, romanized: Srpski pokret Dveri), commonly just known as Dveri (Serbian: Двери, lit. 'doors'), is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Serbia. Its current president since 2024 is Ivan Kostić, who succeeded Boško Obradović, one of the co-founders of the party.

Formed as a youth-orientated political organisation in 1999, it published an eponymous student magazine that promoted clerical and nationalist content. Through the 2000s, it operated as a non-governmental organisation that campaigned in favour of Christian right views, that included opposition to abortion and opposition to gay rights. Dveri took part in the 2012 elections where it failed to obtain any seats in the National Assembly, although in the 2016 elections it entered the National Assembly in a joint list with the Democratic Party of Serbia, obtaining 13 seats in total, 7 of which belonged to Dveri. Two years later, it took part in the 2018 Belgrade City Assembly election in a coalition with the Enough is Enough but failed to win seats.

It joined the opposition Alliance for Serbia later that year, and became a prominent voice in the alliance, with whom it boycotted the 2020 parliamentary election. It did not take part in its successor alliance, the United Opposition of Serbia, but remained independent during 2021, after which it formed an electoral coalition with Žika Gojković's faction of the Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia for the 2022 general election. It returned to the National Assembly after the 2022 election, winning 6 seats in total. Together with Serbian Party Oathkeepers, Dveri became a founding member of the National Gathering, which failed to cross the threshold in the 2023 elections.

History

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Organization (1999–2011)

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Dveri were founded by Branimir Nešić in 1999 as a Christian right-wing youth organisation consisting mainly of students from the University of Belgrade which regularly arranged public debates devoted to the popularisation of clerical-nationalist philosophy of Nikolaj Velimirović,[1] a bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church who was canonised in 2003 and is considered a major anti-Western thinker.[2]

The organisation promotes a pronounced Serbian nationalist ideology. Based on the assessment of partiality and lack of condemnation of crimes by another ethnicity,[3] Dveri opposed a resolution passed by the Serbian parliament in March 2010 which condemned the Srebrenica massacre committed by the Bosnian Serb Army in eastern Bosnia in 1995,.[4] Dveri also fiercely oppose unilateral proclamation of independence of Kosovo.[5] It is also well known for its opposition to gay rights.[5]

In October 2010 the very first Gay Pride parade was held in Belgrade, in which thousands of anti-gay protesters clashed violently with police units securing the parade participants. One of the far-right groups which organised the anti-gay protest were Dveri, and a member of the organisation was quoted by The Economist as saying that the protest was a form of "defense of the family and the future of the Serbian people".[6]

In August 2011, in the run up to the 2011 Pride Parade in Belgrade, the organisation warned that organising such an event could feed social unrest and provoke riots, and added that if the government allowed the march to go forward that "Belgrade will burn like London burned recently".[7] In fear of more violent clashes, the authorities eventually decided to cancel the event, a decision which was criticised by human rights groups such as Amnesty International, which specifically singled out Dveri and Obraz as the main right-wing nationalist groups responsible for "orchestrating opposition to the Pride".[8]

Citizen's group (2011–2015)

[edit]
DSS-Dveri coalition in December 2015

In March 2012 the movement collected 14,507 signatures to register as an electoral list for the May 2012 Serbian parliamentary election.[9] The Dveri Movement received 4.35% of the popular vote, failing to pass the 5% minimum threshold to enter parliament.

In September 2012 Dveri leader Vladan Glišić called for a "100-year ban" on pride parades in Belgrade, describing such an event as "promotion of a totalitarian and destructive ideology" and accused the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia of being influenced by a "gay lobby".[10]

In September 2013, in the run-up to another attempted gay pride march in Belgrade, Boško Obradović said that the event amounted to "the imposition of foreign and unsuitable values, laid out before minors - the most vulnerable section of society".[11]

In 2014, the eurosceptic Democratic Party of Serbia of ex-Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica was considering options about the formation of a "Patriotic Bloc" which would stand up to the political elite's dominating pro-EU stance, the coalition being called forth by the Dveri (with the Serbian Radical Party mentioned as a potential third coalition partner) movement. However, DSS initially rejected the proposal, stating that the proposed parties did not fully embrace DSS positions and that they merely want to join to enter the parliament.[12]

Dveri again ran alone in the March 2014 Serbian parliamentary election, winning 3.58% of the vote, failing again to pass the 5% minimum threshold to enter parliament. They were characterised by many as a far-right party at this point of time.[5][13] Dveri nominated journalist Marko Janković as their mayoral candidate in the 2014 Belgrade City Assembly election.[14]

Modern period (2015–present)

[edit]

In November 2014 Dveri and the Democratic Party of Serbia declared that they would contest the next elections as the "Patriotic Bloc" alliance.[15] In January 2015 PULS and the SLS also joined the bloc.[16] Parliamentary elections were held on 24 April 2016, in which the "Patriotic Bloc" won 5.04% of the vote (13 seats, of which Dveri had 7). After this election, for the first time in history, they became a parliamentary party.

Dveri announced on 3 September 2016 that Boško Obradović, the president of Dveri, will be their candidate on the 2017 presidential election. On 10 March, Boško Obradović submitted his signatures for the candidacy to RIK. In the end, he only got 2.16% of the vote on the presidential election.

In 2018, local elections were held in Belgrade and Bor on 4 March. Dveri announced that they will be forming a coalition with Enough is Enough under the name "Dosta je Bilo i Dveri - Da ovi odu, a da se oni ne vrate". In Belgrade, the coalition won 3.89% of the vote, while in Bor they won 8.17% of the vote (3 seats). Local elections were also held in Lučani on 16 December 2018. They participated with the coalition Alliance for Serbia and they won 9.57% of the vote (4 seats). Local elections were also held on the same day in Kladovo, Doljevac, and Kula but Dveri and other parties from Alliance for Serbia boycotted those elections.

In 2018 they were one of the founding members of the catch-all opposition Alliance for Serbia which boycotted the 2020 parliamentary election. In October 2018, a controversy sparked around the member Srđan Nogo who said that "Ana Brnabić and Aleksandar Vučić should be publicly hanged". Other members of Dveri including the president Boško Obradović opposed this and in early 2019 he was expelled from the party. During the entire existence of the Alliance for Serbia, they were the only eurosceptic party (besides Healthy Serbia who left in early 2020). The coalition was dissolved in August 2020 after an agreement to form a wider coalition of opposition parties called United Opposition of Serbia in which Dveri decided to not participate. In late September, Dveri announced their new political program called "Promena sistema - sigurnost za sve" which was showcased to the public until the end of 2020. In this new program, Dveri claimed to have adopted environmentalism and Christian democracy as their ideologies.

Together with the People's Party, Serbian Party Oathkeepers, and New Democratic Party of Serbia, it signed a joint declaration for the "reintegration of Kosovo into the constitutional and legal order of Serbia" in October 2022.[17] In November 2022, Dveri published a text in which it said that "in vitro fertilization with donated reproductive material from Spain and Denmark could affect the change of genome of Serbs", a statement which was condemned by opposition and government parties.[18][19]

After Dveri failed to cross the threshold in the 2023 elections, Obradović resigned as president of Dveri on 23 December.[20] Dveri were led by provisional leadership until 29 September 2024 when Ivan Kostić was elected new president. Slobodan Davidović and Zoran Pavlović were elected vice presidents.[21]

Political positions

[edit]
This article is part of a series on
Far-right politics in Serbia
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Dveri was initially orientated towards Christian fundamentalism,[22] clerical-fascism,[23] and ultranationalism.[24][25][26] Its ideology was also described as fascist,[27][28] and antisemitic.[29] During its foundation, Dveri published books and magazines with clerical and nationalist content.[30] It has also campaigned against abortion.[31] Since its foundation, Dveri has been supportive of Christian right views and monarchism.[29][31][32][33] Scholars have also described its ideological stances as xenophobic, due to their Christian right stances.[22][34] It has also been known as a staunch opponent of gay rights.[35][36]

Dveri has been described as a right-wing,[37] far-right,[38][35][39][40][41] and radical-right party.[42] It also has been described as nationalist,[43][44][45] and conservative.[46][47] Dveri has been also classified as a right-wing populist party,[48][49][50] due to its opposition to illegal immigration,[36][51][52] and euroscepticism.[53][54] It is also supportive of economic nationalism,[55][56] protectionism,[57] and eco-nationalism.[58][59][60]

Dveri cooperates with the French party Reconquête[61] and the Romanian Alliance for the Union of Romanians[62] while it previously cooperated with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and United Russia.[63][64] In December 2023, SSZ and Dveri organised a gathering featuring far-right parties AfD, Hungarian Our Homeland Movement, and Bulgarian Revival.[65]

Presidents of Dveri

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# President Born–Died Term start Term end
1 Boško Obradović 1976– 28 June 2015 23 December 2023
– Provisional leadership – 23 December 2023 29 September 2024
2 Ivan Kostić 1976– 29 September 2024 Incumbent

Electoral performance

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Parliamentary elections

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National Assembly of Serbia
Year Leader Popular vote % of popular vote # # of seats Seat change Coalition Status
2012 Vladan Glišić 169,590 4.54% Increase 8th
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 Steady 0 – Extra-parliamentary
2014 Boško Obradović 128,458 3.69% Increase 6th
0 / 250
 Steady 0 – Extra-parliamentary
2016 190,530 5.19% Steady 6th
7 / 250
 Increase 7 Dveri–DSS Opposition
2020 Election boycott
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 Decrease 7 SzS Extra-parliamentary
2022 144,762 3.92% Increase 6th
6 / 250
 Increase 6 Dveri–POKS Opposition
2023 105,165 2.83% Steady 6th
0 / 250
 Decrease 6 NO Extra-parliamentary

Presidential elections

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President of Serbia
Year Candidate 1st round popular vote % of popular vote 2nd round popular vote % of popular vote
2012 Vladan Glišić 8th 108,303 2.90% — — —
2017 Boško Obradović 6th 83,523 2.32% — — —
2022 4th 165,181 4.46% — — —

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ Byford, Jovan (2008). Denial and Repression of Antisemitism. Budapest, Hungary: Central European University Press. p. 17. ISBN 9789639776159.
  2. ^ Buchenau, Klaus (2005). "From Hot War to Cold Integration? Serbian Orthodox Voices on Globalization and the European Union". Eastern Orthodoxy in a Global Age. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. p. 64. ISBN 9780759105362.
  3. ^ "Dveri: U Srebrenici se nije desio genocid". 29 June 2016.
  4. ^ "Right wing movement to take part in elections". B92. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  5. ^ a b c Barlovac, Bojana (26 August 2011). "Serb Far-Right Group Prepares Poll Debut". Balkan Insight. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  6. ^ "Hate in Belgrade". The Economist. 10 October 2010. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  7. ^ "Belgrade gay pride parade planned for October 2". AFP. 26 August 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2014.[dead link‍]
  8. ^ "Banning of Belgrade Pride is a dark day for human rights in Serbia". Amnesty International. 30 September 2011. Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2022.
  9. ^ "RIK proglasio izbornu listu Dveri" (in Serbian). B92. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  10. ^ "Socialists described as having "strong gay lobby"". B92. 27 September 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  11. ^ Vasovic, Aleksandar (26 September 2013). "Serbian gay rights activists say to march despite threats". Reuters. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  12. ^ [1] Radio Televizija Srbije (RTS): Коштуница: ДСС самостално на изборе (in Serbian Cyrillic). 2 February 2014.
  13. ^ "Right wing movement to take part in elections". B92. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  14. ^ "Novinar Marko Janković kandidat Dveri za gradonačelnika". Blic (in Serbian). 2 May 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  15. ^ DSS i Dveri formirali patriotski blok RTS, 18 November 2014
  16. ^ Uz DSS i Dveri sada i PULS i SLS Blic, 30 January 2015
  17. ^ "Pokret za odbranu KiM i pet partija usvojili Deklaraciju za reintegraciju KiM". Tanjug (in Serbian). 4 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  18. ^ "Dveri: Vantelesna oplodnja sa doniranim materijalom može uticati na promenu genoma budućih naraštaja". Danas (in Serbian). 27 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  19. ^ Kovačević, Emina (28 November 2022). "Dveri zabrinute za čist srpski genom, osuda stiže od vlasti i dela opozicije". N1 (in Serbian). Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  20. ^ "Boško Obradović podneo ostavku na mesto predsednika Dveri" [Boško Obradović resigns as president of Dveri]. Euronews (in Serbian). 23 December 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  21. ^ "Иван Костић је изабран за председника Српског покрета Двери | Српски покрет Двери". dveri.rs (in Serbian). 29 September 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  22. ^ a b Spaces and borders : current research on religion in Central and Eastern Europe. András Máté-Tóth, Cosima Rughiniş. Berlin: De Gruyter. 2011. p. 259. ISBN 978-3-11-022814-4. OCLC 757261200.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  23. ^ Tomić, Đorđe (11 January 2014). "Serbia's Radical Right and Homophobia". Unique. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  24. ^ Armakolas, Ioannis; Maksimović, Maja (May 2013). The Beginning of the End for the Kosovo Problem? The Agreement on Normalisation of Relations between Belgrade and Pristina and its Aftermath. Greece: ELIAMEP. p. 2.
  25. ^ Bechev, Dimitar (2017). Rival Power. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-23184-7. OCLC 999661055.
  26. ^ "Hundreds Of Gay Rights Activists March In Belgrade". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 28 September 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  27. ^ Kelly, Luke (June 2019). Overview of research on far right extremism in the Western Balkans. Manchester: University of Manchester. p. 6.
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  29. ^ a b Kovačević, Dragana (2008). Anti-Semitism in Serbia and its (re)invention after 1999. Budapest: Department of Nationalism Studies.
  30. ^ Tomić, Đorđe (2013). "On the 'right' side? The Radical Right in the Post-Yugoslav Area and the Serbian Case". Fascism. 2 (1): 110. doi:10.1163/22116257-00201012. ISSN 2211-6249.
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  32. ^ The Struggle for Secularism in Europe and North America. London: Women Living Under Muslim Laws. 2011.
  33. ^ "Boško Obradović nedeljom: Mi smo za obnovu Kraljevine Srbije | Kolumne". Direktno (in Serbian). Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  34. ^ Campaign Watch 2012. Washington D.C.: United States Department of State. April 2012. p. 2.
  35. ^ a b Stakic, Isidora (14 March 2015). "Securitization of LGBTIQ Minority in Serbian Far-right Discourses: A Post-structuralist Perspective". Intersections. 1 (1). doi:10.17356/ieejsp.v1i1.17. ISSN 2416-089X.
  36. ^ a b Sebastian Goll, Martin Mlinaric, and Johannes Gold (2016). Minorities under attack : othering and right-wing extremism in Southeast European Societies. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-19505-8. OCLC 944382380.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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  38. ^ Hooliganism Spills from Political onto Sports Terrains. Belgrade: Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia. December 2009. p. 4.
  39. ^ Jureković, Predrag (2016). Violent extremism in the western Balkans. Filip Ejdus, Landesverteidigungsakademie. Vienna: National Defence Academy. p. 115. ISBN 978-3-902944-99-3. OCLC 1066091374.
  40. ^ Eror, Aleks (5 June 2022). "The Far-Right Parties Keeping The Serbian President In Check Over Ukraine". Radio Free Europe. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  41. ^ "Belgrade holds Pride march as far-right groups clash with police". Al Jazeera. 17 September 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  42. ^ Jovanović, Srđan Mladenov (19 December 2018). "The Dveri Movement Through a Discursive Lens. Serbia's Contemporary Right-Wing Nationalism". Südosteuropa. 66 (4): 481–502. doi:10.1515/soeu-2018-0038. ISSN 2364-933X. S2CID 158394022.
  43. ^ Ekerstedt, Malin (2014). Patriotism and Patriarchy – The impact of nationalism on gender equality. Sweden: Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation. p. 13.
  44. ^ "New political alliance in Serbia: Patriotic Block to seek restoration of monarchy". N1 (in Serbian). 2 December 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  45. ^ "EU's Mogherini booed in Serbian parliament ahead of Balkan summit". Reuters. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  46. ^ "Pride parade, anti-globalist rally run parallel in Belgrade". www.euractiv.com. 20 September 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  47. ^ "Serbia and the 'refugee crisis': from good Samaritan to guard of 'Fortress Europe'". Counterfire. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  48. ^ Passarelli, Gianluca (2019), "The Presidentialisation of Political Parties in the Western Balkans", in Passarelli, Gianluca (ed.), Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 1–22, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-97352-4_1, ISBN 978-3-319-97351-7, S2CID 158687714, retrieved 19 March 2022 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  49. ^ Stojic, Marko (2018). Party responses to the EU in the western Balkans : transformation, opposition or defiance?. Cham, Switzerland. p. 138. ISBN 978-3-319-59563-4. OCLC 1003200383.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  50. ^ Crosby, Alan (18 March 2019). "Belgrade Bedfellows: Divergent Aims, Styles Laid Bare As Serbia's Anti-Vucic Protests Intensify". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  51. ^ Lažetić, Marina (1 November 2021). "Migration, Extremism, & Dangerous Blame Games: Developments & Dynamics in Serbia". doi:10.37805/wb2021.1. S2CID 240463749. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  52. ^ Günay, Cengiz (February 2016). "Understanding Transit Asylum Migration: Evidence from Serbia". International Migration. 54 (4): 31–43. doi:10.1111/imig.12237.
  53. ^ Korzeniewska-Wiszniewska, Mirella (2019). "Dynamics of the Serbian EU accession process – key issues and the challenges of state democratisation in an era of populism". Rocznik Instytutu Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej (in Polish). 17 (4): 68. doi:10.36874/RIESW.2019.4.3. ISSN 1732-1395. S2CID 216381936.
  54. ^ The right-wing critique of Europe : nationalist, souverainist and right-wing populist attitudes to the EU. Joanna Sondel-Cedarmas, Francesco Berti. Abingdon, Oxon. 2022. ISBN 978-1-003-22612-3. OCLC 1266207734.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  55. ^ "Factbox: Parties running in Serbia's general election". Reuters. 23 April 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  56. ^ "Dveri leader sees Family March as start of opposition national front". N1 (in Serbian). 5 May 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  57. ^ Cvejić, Slobodan; Spasojević, Dušan; Stanojević, Dragan; Todosijević, Bojan (November 2020). "Electoral Compass 2020, analysis of the political landscape in Serbia" (PDF). library.fes.de. Heinrich Böll Foundation.
  58. ^ "Dveri predale pismo o zaštiti životne sredine". danas.rs (in Serbian). Danas. 16 November 2020.
  59. ^ "Boško Obradović: Danas nema patriotizma bez zelenog patriotizma". glassumadije.rs (in Serbian). Glas Šumadije. 14 December 2020.
  60. ^ "Dveri predstavile paket od 12 mera za podršku domaćoj privredi". rs.n1info.com (in Serbian). N1. 21 December 2020.
  61. ^ "Посланик Европског парламента Николас Беј у посети посланичком клубу Двери у Народној скупштини | Српски покрет Двери" (in Serbian). 27 October 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  62. ^ "FIRST BUCHAREST SOVEREIGNIST FORUM". Alliance of the Union of Romanians. 19 February 2022.
  63. ^ Matković, Aleksandar (7 June 2021). "How Germany's Far Right Is Building Up Anti-Immigrant Parties in the Balkans". Jacobin. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  64. ^ Krajnja desnica u Srbiji 2000–2020: Politika, aktivnosti, grupe (PDF) (in Serbian). Collectivism and Equality. 2021. p. 41.
  65. ^ "Nacionalno okupljanje i evropske suvernističke stranke za formiranje saveza zbog migrantske krize" [National Gathering and European sovereignist parties to form an alliance due to the migrant crisis]. Novinska agencija Beta (in Serbian). 9 December 2023. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
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