A wave of protests and blockades has swept through Serbia following a tragedy in Novi Sad, where 15 people lost their lives. The symbol of these protests is a red hand and the message “your hands are bloody,” along with the spilling of red paint meant to symbolize blood. Unlike last year’s protests, sparked by mass shootings at the “Vladislav Ribnikar” Elementary School and in the villages of Malo Orašje and Dubona, this time the protests are led by individuals presenting themselves as leaders of informal student groups. Serbia has already experienced a color revolution once and now faces a similar challenge again.
FROM ROCK THE VOTE TO RESISTANCE
When we think about the phenomenon of color revolutions, October 5th is usually the first association, and Serbia is often said to have been at the forefront of these processes. However, Slovakia was the first post-communist country where some “proto-methods” of color revolutions were applied to motivate young people to vote. Inspired by the American campaign “Rock the Vote,” Marek Kapusta organized “Rock Volieb” – or “Rock the Elections” – in 1998, an initiative that used concerts to bring young, previously mostly apolitical people to the polls. The “Rock Volieb” campaign successfully influenced young people aged 18 to 21, whose turnout in previous elections averaged only 20 percent. Slovak youth significantly contributed to the fall of Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar. That the West, particularly the U.S., was behind Mečiar’s ouster is evidenced by Madeleine Albright’s statement describing Mečiar’s Slovakia as a “black hole in the heart of Europe.” Later, Kapusta would assist Serbian students in creating the first informal student organization, known as “Otpor” (Resistance).
THE PATH OF THE FIST – FROM SLOVAKIA TO ARMENIA
Otpor’s symbol, the clenched fist, is essentially a plagiarism borrowed directly from the Slovak experience – the distinctive black-and-white graphic design of the fist appeared on the cover of a Slovak punk album. The New York Times reported that Otpor operated thanks to a significant influx of funds from the U.S. Alone, the CIA allocated $25 million to overthrow Milošević. In addition to this amount, the UK and Germany provided another $35 million for Milošević’s downfall. After October 5th, Otpor members, led by Srđa Popović, formed a new organization called “CANVAS,” which focused on transferring Serbia’s experience to other countries in their fight against “authoritarian regimes.” It is therefore not surprising that the fist appears at protests worldwide and is “exported” in the same fashion – to Georgia in 2003 during the “Rose Revolution,” used by the “Kmara” (“Enough”) organization, to Ukraine in 2004 during the “Orange Revolution,” used by the “Pora” (“It’s Time”) campaign, and even to Armenia in 2008 under the slogan “Hima” (“Now”), when “revolutionaries,” albeit unsuccessfully, attempted to overthrow the democratically elected government that resisted penetration by foreign financial moguls and organizations, such as Soros, NED, and Rockefeller.

GUILT MUST BE PERSONALIZED
The symbol of the fist was last used during the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, an organization founded in 2013 to fight against racism and excessive police force against the Black population. The organization gained prominence in 2020 after the death of George Floyd, triggering violent protests across the U.S. aimed at destabilizing the Trump administration ahead of the upcoming elections.
However, the experience of transition led citizens to begin ignoring calls for action, and over time, the symbol and name “Otpor” began to evoke exclusively negative associations. This forced the planners of color revolutions to adopt a different approach. According to this plan, the opponent, i.e., the person at the top of the power pyramid, must be dehumanized and subjected to the harshest accusations. Guilt must be personalized so that all the public’s anger can be effectively directed at one point, accompanied by visual stigmatization to make the message memorable.
A BLOODY HAND PAID FOR BY KHODORKOVSKY
The individualization of guilt aims to create divisions within the ruling structure, exerting pressure on state officials to distance themselves from the accused, thereby triggering a “palace coup” or government collapse. The most drastic application of this method was witnessed after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Pro-Ukrainian demonstrators, financed by exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, were the first to use the symbol of bloody hands in a broader context, making it recognizable. They carried and distributed photos of President Vladimir Putin covered in “bloody” handprints, accompanied by chants labeling him a “criminal” with “blood on his hands.”
ALBANIA FOR THE ‘CULTURE’ OF PROTESTS
The symbol of bloody hands was first systematically used in Albania when the “Mjaft!” movement was founded in March 2003, meaning “Enough,” similar to the Georgian “Kmara” (Enough). Mjaft! initially dealt with social issues affecting Albanians, primarily combating blood feuds and the application of customary Kanun law of Lekë Dukagjini, as well as addressing organized crime and human trafficking. In 2004, the organization received a UN award for contributing to “building civil society in Albania.” The movement’s primary goal is to rehabilitate the “culture” of protest and motivate Albanian citizens to resort to other forms of disobedience in critical situations. Mjaft! activists believe that current institutions represent “the main obstacle to the country’s democratic progress, as Albania continues to suffer from widespread corruption, weak media freedoms, political clientelism, and the re-emergence of authoritarian tendencies.” Mjaft!’s role is to act as a catalyst for civil unrest and an organizer of public advocacy campaigns for various groups, such as students, pensioners, the Roma community, people with disabilities, and workers.

FOR PALESTINIANS – A SYMBOL OF REVENGE
The wide range of activities required Mjaft activists to expand their operational scope, “strengthening the organization itself with experience and knowledge on how to provide direct assistance to various interest groups until they are equipped with the organizational and reactive capabilities to independently undertake civil action.” In this way, Mjaft gradually evolved from a local Albanian initiative into a broader international action, with its reach extending even to the U.S.
However, the symbol of bloody hands was first used informally after an incident in 2000 when two IDF reservists were killed. They were initially arrested and taken to a police station in Ramallah. At the same time, a funeral for Palestinians killed in clashes with the IDF was underway. Upon hearing about the captured IDF soldiers, a mob stormed the police station, beat the Israeli soldiers, and then brutally killed them. The mutilation involved dismemberment and organ removal, leading to a now-famous photograph of one of the killers standing at the police station window, greeting the crowd with bloodied hands. During the Second Intifada, from 2000 to 2005, the symbol of bloody hands became a symbol of revenge for Palestinians.
HANDPRINTS ON CAMPUS
Following the Ramallah incident and the onset of the Gaza War, this symbol was adopted by “pro-Palestinian” groups—typically anarchist, left-liberal, feminist, and “student” organizations—as a representation of Palestinian suffering in Gaza and the “bloody hands” of the Israeli “Zionist” regime. In new circumstances, the semiotic meaning of the “symbol of revenge” gradually shifted to a “symbol of suffering,” accompanied by the dehumanization of the other side. Similar to protests in Novi Sad, Belgrade, and Niš, American pro-Palestinian student groups, such as “Huskies For a Free Palestine,” organized blockades of Boston University, declaring “the university has blood on its hands” and leaving bloody handprints around campus. Similar actions occurred at other universities, a phenomenon Donald Trump frequently highlighted during his election campaign, warning that universities had become breeding grounds for left-liberal extremism, which he attributed to the “woke” ideology propagated by the Democratic administration. As with all previously mentioned organizations, these groups reportedly share the same sources and sponsors of funding—George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
FINANCIER: SOROS FOUNDATION
The techniques and methods of protest—ruthlessness in behavior, aggressiveness, exclusivity, conformity, clashes with law enforcement, and the “bloody hands” performance accompanied by the slogan “Your hands are bloody”—were first chanted by members of the Green-Left Front and their leader Radomir Lazović, student Pavle Cicvarić, Mila Pajić, and representatives of the “informal” group “Stav,” modeled after similar organizations at MIT in Massachusetts. Mila Pajić, a former student of Dinko (Šakić) Gruhonjić, one of the recognizable faces of these protests, is also a recipient of the Aachen Peace Prize, awarded to her in her capacity as an activist for the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR), whose main financier is the Soros Foundation. In addition to Mila Pajić, there is also Emilija Milenković, a member of CRTA, an organization directly funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, USAID, NED, the British Embassy in Belgrade, and several German funds—none of which is hidden by the mentioned organizations, as they openly disclose this on their websites, which is easy to verify. However, the list of leaders and heads of “informal” groups does not end there. Another breeding ground for the “new and young elite” is the “Umbrella Organization of Serbian Youth,” which acts as a kind of “laboratory” for producing new “revolutionaries” in the style of Otpor.
UNDER SRĐA POPOVIĆ’S INSTRUCTIONS
The Umbrella Organization of Serbian Youth, whose member is the aforementioned Emilija Milenković, is an NGO funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation, as well as DW Academy. Lastly, there is Pavle Cicvarić, the leader of the group “Borba” (Struggle), a close associate of Emilija Milenković and Mila Pajić, coordinating the blockade of the University of Belgrade Rectorate and other faculties in Serbia. Cicvarić was arrested over the message “Your hands are bloody,” which foreign-funded and corporate-controlled media attempted to portray as “police violence against students.”
Following the instructions of Srđa Popović, outlined in his book Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World, it is essential to create a media narrative presenting arrested individuals as “innocent,” “young,” and “justice-loving” people persecuted and terrorized by an “evil regime,” or according to new instructions, “one evil man.”
USING THE TERM ‘YOUTH’
Terms such as “youth,” “pupils,” and “students” play a crucial role in these processes, as they emotionally influence and, as Popović says, “galvanize” the population, which is not difficult to achieve under circumstances where protests began following the deaths of 15 people, including children. On the other hand, the media cultivates the image of “young torchbearers of justice and rights” to develop a messianic complex among them, further motivating them. The goal of these media spins is to influence older people, fostering sympathy for young people either as “victims” or as “sanctified prophets,” since older citizens form the core voter base of the ruling party.
In the execution of a color revolution, it will become evident that media outlets specializing in “investigative work” play a key role, aiming to dehumanize the government by attributing various crimes and wrongdoings to it. However, it has been shown that such media, when necessary, can also serve informational, daily political, and propaganda purposes. For example, KRIK regularly covers opposition protests in Belgrade and then, coincidentally, reports that a certain student, Pavle Cicvarić, addressed the crowd. The suspicious nature of the mentioned media can be proven through financial flows.
To be continued…