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Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Crowds flocked to see Teddy Roosevelt on a whistle-stop tour in 1914
Former President Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt did a whistle-stop tour of Schuylkill County towns in October 1914. After arriving in Tamaqua on October 26, he journeyed to Pottsville, where he spoke at the Hippodrome Theater. After that, he made brief stops in Shenandoah, Mahanoy City, Ashland, Mount Carmel and on to a speaking engagement in Williamsport. He was not running for president, but campaigning for John Robert Jones, a Schuylkill County Republican running for a second term in the House of Representatives. Initially serving as vice president, Roosevelt became president after William McKinley was assassinated in September 1901. He was elected president in 1904 and served until 1909. A Republican, he split with the party and ran unsuccessfully for president as the Progressive Party candidate in 1912. As much a folk icon as a politician, Col. Roosevelt was accorded hero status for leading the Rough Riders in the charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898. His foreign policy, often referred to as 'speak softly and carry a big stick,' was popular with the American public. Referred to as Colonel post-presidency, he was given what the Pottsville Republican called a 'royal welcome' when he arrived at the Reading Railroad Station in Pottsville. 'Here comes the Colonel,' the crowd shouted as the train bearing a huge banner arrived just before 1 p.m. He shook hands with people in the crowd and, when he tipped his hat, a huge cheer erupted. With Col. Daniel Nagle, a Civil War veteran, Teddy rode to the Hippodrome in an open car as thousands lined the streets. An immense crowd cheered him as he arrived at the Hippodrome Theater, which was on East Market Street. 'I have come to your state to speak for decency and honesty in public life,' he said. 'I am glad to come here and speak for Mr. Jones, who led the fight for decency and righteousness in the last session of the legislature.' Jones supported the Corrupt Practices Act, which would have made public the names of donors to political campaigns. It was not adopted. Roosevelt also asked for support of Gifford Pinchot, a conservationist who was the Progressive Party candidate for U.S. Senate in 1914. Pinchot, who accompanied Roosevelt on his tour, would later become governor of Pennsylvania. The Pottsville Republican pulled no punches in its opposition to Roosevelt's progressive philosophy. While acknowledging he was in 'a hot bed of admiration,' the Republican said Roosevelt was in a community that was in no way sympathetic to his current political interests. 'If Theodore Roosevelt were himself a candidate for office on the Republican ticket, he could go from the county with an almost unanimous vote,' the Republican reported in an editorial. 'But he is wrong in this particular campaign, and in his heart he must know that he is wrong, unless he has been firmly converted to the cause of Democracy.' A Pottsville reception committee met Roosevelt in Tamaqua. Its members included Dr. Francis Boyer, chairman, Nathan S. Beddall, S. S. Weiss and E. G. Underwood. Upon arriving in Tamaqua, 10-year-old Thelma Reiner presented the former president with a bouquet of American Beauty roses. The girl and her family rode on the special train with Roosevelt to Pottsville. Roosevelt waved to his hat at a Tamaqua crowd that was curb-to-curb on Broad Street. 'It was his hat, a large round-brimmed black hat with several dinges in the crown that challenges your attention when your eyes wander from the good natured face of the former president,' a reporter wrote. 'He gives you the impression of a powerful and wonderful quickness and alertness, seemingly conscious of what is doing on all sides of him,' the reporter continued. 'You are impressed that he is a leader and a fighter, his huge shoulders well thrown back, and his feet planted firmly apart.' Roosevelt was 60 years old when he died in his home on Oyster Bay, New York, on Jan. 6, 1919.
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Thousands attend pro-Serbia government rally after months of unrest
Tens of thousands of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's supporters have held a rally in Belgrade following months of unrest across the country. A monitoring organisation said around 55,000 people had gathered in front of the National Assembly. Despite some Vucic followers travelling from neighbouring countries, attendance was significantly lower than last month's huge anti-government protest. There have been regular demonstrations in Serbia since November when the collapse of a railway station canopy in the city of Novi Sad killed 15 people, triggering widespread public anger. A number of Serbians blamed the incident on alleged corruption and corner-cutting by Vucic's Progressive Party. The Serbian leader had promoted the rally on Saturday as the launch of a "Movement for the People and the State", which would "save" Serbia from forces working to "destroy" the country. In a speech at the event, he called on prosecutors to work to restore order and peace. He claimed the student-led protests had been threatening Serbia's peace and stability, accusing attendees of being paid by "foreign intelligence agencies". "Certain foreign powers cannot bear to see a free, independent and sovereign Serbia", he said, without clarifying which "powers" he was referring to. Vucic also criticised national broadcaster RTS, describing it as a "key participant" in an attempted "colour revolution". After the Novi Sad incident last November, some blamed what had happened on more than a decade of governing by the Progressive Party of Vucic - who closely associated himself with the station's prior renovation. It was considered a key part of the government's flagship infrastructure project - the high-speed line from Belgrade to Budapest in Hungary. The demonstrations that followed the disaster saw attendees use the slogan "corruption kills". They claimed that the opaque procurement procedures the government used for infrastructure projects had enriched a few favoured contractors while putting public safety at risk. Despite multiple resignations - and Vucic's insistence that he was going nowhere - protests grew. Last month, hundreds of thousands of people descended on Serbia's capital. An independent monitor estimated 325,000 - if not more - had gathered, making it Serbia's largest protest ever. Government denies using 'sonic cannon' at Serbia protests Fury over Serbia station tragedy prompts first arrests
BBC News
13-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Thousands attend pro-Serbia government rally after months of unrest
Tens of thousands of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's supporters have held a rally in Belgrade following months of unrest across the country.A monitoring organisation said around 55,000 people had gathered in front of the National Assembly. Despite some Vucic followers travelling from neighbouring countries, attendance was significantly lower than last month's huge anti-government have been regular demonstrations in Serbia since November when the collapse of a railway station canopy in the city of Novi Sad killed 15 people, triggering widespread public anger.A number of Serbians blamed the incident on alleged corruption and corner-cutting by Vucic's Progressive Party. The Serbian leader had promoted the rally on Saturday as the launch of a "Movement for the People and the State", which would "save" Serbia from forces working to "destroy" the a speech at the event, he called on prosecutors to work to restore order and peace. He claimed the student-led protests had been threatening Serbia's peace and stability, accusing attendees of being paid by "foreign intelligence agencies"."Certain foreign powers cannot bear to see a free, independent and sovereign Serbia", he said, without clarifying which "powers" he was referring to. Vucic also criticised national broadcaster RTS, describing it as a "key participant" in an attempted "colour revolution". After the Novi Sad incident last November, some blamed what had happened on more than a decade of governing by the Progressive Party of Vucic - who closely associated himself with the station's prior was considered a key part of the government's flagship infrastructure project - the high-speed line from Belgrade to Budapest in demonstrations that followed the disaster saw attendees use the slogan "corruption kills". They claimed that the opaque procurement procedures the government used for infrastructure projects had enriched a few favoured contractors while putting public safety at multiple resignations - and Vucic's insistence that he was going nowhere - protests month, hundreds of thousands of people descended on Serbia's independent monitor estimated 325,000 - if not more - had gathered, making it Serbia's largest protest ever.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Serbia's Student-Led Protests Have Vucic Cornered
On March 15, an estimated crowd of 300,000 demonstrators took to the streets throughout Serbia's capital city of Belgrade to stage the largest protests in the country's history. The massive Belgrade rally was the latest in a series of student-led marches across the country that have been gaining momentum since November 2024. They serve as a testament to the shifting tide of Serbian politics and the public's frustration with the rampant corruption that is by now synonymous with the regime of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. The protests initially began after a concrete canopy collapsed at the central railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia's second-largest city, killing 14 people immediately, with two more victims subsequently succumbing to injuries sustained in the incident. Despite having taken credit amid much fanfare for the reconstruction of the station in July 2024, the government quickly attempted to wash its hands of responsibility for the tragedy that occurred just four months later. However, the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad argued that the institutions entrusted with maintaining the railway station were responsible for the canopy's corrosion, while further public scrutiny raised suspicions that the added concrete layers during reconstruction contributed to the accident. Furthermore, calculations by outside experts indicate that the reconstruction of the station building should have cost no more than €3 million—a stark contrast with the €16 million spent on the building alone. Worse still, according to former Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesic, €65 million was reportedly dedicated to the entire project. Though a significant turning point, the tragedy was merely the latest demonstration of the corruption and negligence that have been hallmarks of Vucic's ruling Progressive Party, or SNS, over the past decade. Vucic himself has been in power in one role or another since 2012, serving as the country's deputy prime minister, prime minister and now president over that time. His ruling methods have been described as characteristic of a hybrid regime, maintaining the formality of elections and some democratic practices while keeping a firm grip on the media and much of the financial and hard-power instruments of control. To get more in-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs from WPR, sign up for our free Daily Review newsletter. Over the past two years, however, a series of fatal incidents have fed public outrage, including unprecedented mass shootings that claimed 19 lives in the span of two consecutive days in May 2023 and a fire at a nursing home in January 2025 that left 11 senior citizens dead. The list of similar incidents is both extensive and exhaustive, with each generating varying degrees of public backlash. This raises the question of what makes the latest round of protests stand out. In the context of Serbian politics, the primary reason behind their success lies in their politically leaderless and peaceful nature, as well as the ingenuity of the student protesters, who have demonstrated admirable organizational skills. In particular, throughout the demonstrations, which have often included countrywide marches of hundreds of miles between Serbia's major cities, the students have carefully avoided the traps that Vucic and his allies have previously laid for Serbian opposition movements. First and foremost, this has consisted of targeting individual opposition leaders, both existing and emerging, with relentless smear campaigns, a tactic the government has been successfully executing for years. These campaigns have predominantly focused on accusations of corruption or unpatriotic sentiment, both of which hold significant weight in a traditional society like Serbia. While the public has not necessarily taken these campaigns at face value, the sheer amount of negative messaging targeting opposition figures often left them tainted among the electorate. To evade this well-worn tactic, the student organizers of the most recent protests did much of their work behind closed doors, in university-style plenums away from the public eye. Furthermore, they were quick to distance themselves from activists attempting to assume leadership roles in the rallies. In many ways, the students represent the future of the country, both figuratively and literally, in that they bear no identifiable traces of a murky past or shady dealings that could be attributed to them. And they proudly display Serbia's national flag at the protests, signaling that they hold Serbian society's traditional values close to their hearts. That has helped fuel another difference between these protests and previous iterations: the divided allegiance of older citizens, who generally make up the government's traditional base. Increasingly disillusioned with the hubris of local SNS office-holders, Serbia's senior citizens have found themselves torn between the students—whom they have been embracing as they would their own grandchildren, which in many instances is the case—and Vucic, whose narrative in recent months has become increasingly febrile and reactive. Faced with such a stark choice, the preferences of the elderly appear to be shifting away from the president. Finally, opposition parties have supported the students and contributed to the protest movement by disrupting the work of municipal assemblies that have lost legitimacy in the public eye. But a clear division of labor seems to have emerged organically. As mentioned, opposition leaders have not taken a leading public-facing role, nor have they been featured speakers at any of the rallies or traffic blockades that have taken place across Serbia over the past four months. That reflects the fact that the students have clearly won over the Serbian public, achieving more in the past four months than any opposition party has managed in the past 13 years of SNS rule. The demonstrations have now led to widespread acts of civil disobedience beyond the protests themselves, including public service workers openly siding with the students, an increasing number of workers across different sectors going on strike and even public acts of defiance by national television employees. Although the country's security services have not defected, signs of discontent among them have been widely discussed. Protesters increasingly report friendly encounters with police units, including their willingness to share information about the presence and whereabouts of regime-planted provocateurs within the protests. Meanwhile, the SNS has increasingly faced difficulties holding even minor rallies or setting up outreach booths in its constituencies, as disgruntled citizens keep showing up to confront them. Interestingly enough, the students' demands have never included the resignation of government officials or Vucic himself, even though public sentiment clearly leans in that direction. Instead, they have consistently called for greater accountability and the release of all documents that would help uncover those responsible for the fatal accident in November. Nevertheless, despite refusing to meet the students' stated demands, Prime Minister Milos Vucevic ultimately resigned due to mounting public pressure in January. After some stalling by the SNS, parliament formally accepted Vucevic's resignation on March 19, disbanding the government and triggering a 30-day deadline for either forming a new one or calling snap elections. That leaves the SNS with mere weeks to come up with a solution to the crisis, but with no real pathways to a favorable outcome. Thus far, the regime's main public response has been to search for a narrative to undermine the protests. The best it could come up with so far was to portray them as a 'threat from abroad,' with Vucic repeatedly calling them a 'color revolution.' This narrative aims to deter conservative audiences from further participation in the popular revolt for fear of acting as pawns of 'globalist' architects of regime change. Yet paradoxically, throughout this time, officials from the European Union have been tacitly voicing their support for Vucic and his party by continuing to issue communiques about ongoing affairs in a business-as-usual fashion. Meanwhile, as is nearly always the case, Russia has been echoing the color revolution rhetoric while refraining from direct involvement in Serbia's domestic affairs, although Moscow's messaging has lately been less supportive of Vucic due to a diplomatic spat over a United Nations resolution. And the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has been signaling it is prepared to continue working with Vucic, including through a visit by Donald Trump Jr. to Belgrade, where he met with Vucic in mid-March, and comments by Trump's special envoy Richard Grenell's on X warning the protesters against the use of violence. Unsurprisingly though, the protests do not appear to be high on the list of Washington's priorities, as no other U.S. official has commented on the situation in Serbia to date. Facing an increasingly precarious situation, Vucic now has limited room for maneuver. He could push for the naming of a new SNS government, which would amount to a mere reshuffling of the party's existing cohort of faceless loyalists and would do nothing to ease growing public discontent. Alternatively, he could agree to a transitional power-sharing government with the opposition that would set the stage for fairer elections in due course, a proposal already put forward by some parties in parliament. Finally, Vucic could opt for a technical government of experts that would likely enjoy public support as an interim solution to the ongoing crisis. However, none of these options offer Vucic a path to comfortably maintaining the status quo, leaving him in many ways cornered, with the ruling party's mechanisms for holding onto power steadily crumbling. Unlikely to allow the formation of any sort of transitional government, as this would effectively spell the end of his control over the media and his ability to influence electoral processes, Vucic could still resort to a much darker fourth option: quelling the protests with brute force. While the students never intended to turn the March 15 protest into a popular revolt seeking regime change, Vucic's effort to secure the perimeter around the presidential offices with fences, tractors, paid pro-government campers and riot police forces has stoked fears that he might be prepared to fight tooth and nail to stay in power at all costs. Worryingly, security forces seem to have already resorted to the use of sonic weapons, which were apparently deployed to disperse the crowd while it was observing a moment of silence during the March 15 protest, resulting in horrifying images of panic. Some experts claim that the available evidence is consistent with the noise and effect typically produced by a Vortex Ring Gun or Vortex Cannon, leading some to speculate about the use of a long-range acoustic device. Yet Serbia's Ministry of Interior has since denied deploying any acoustic weapons against the protesters. However, given that the ministry's public messaging shifted from denying possession of such a device to acknowledging it was in storage and finally to admitting it was used in the field but not as a weapon, the public has been further enraged by what amounts to a familiar pattern of denial and concealment. Considering the timing of its use and the lack of any threat posed by the protesters to law enforcement, public concern over the government's propensity for violence has intensified. Commentators thus continue to speculate that Vucic may indeed opt for measures as severe as martial law if all else fails. Still, even if Vucic and his party end up overcoming the ongoing outburst of discontent throughout the country, there is no scenario in which the public will somehow forget its deep dissatisfaction with Serbia's existing ruling class. As a result, it appears that the regime's days in power are numbered and that a transition to a post-SNS era may soon be on the horizon. What remains to be seen is whether Serbia will get there through a peaceful transition or a more dangerous escalation. Stefan Antić is a Serbian political scientist. The post Serbia's Student-Led Protests Have Vucic Cornered appeared first on World Politics Review.
New European
19-03-2025
- Politics
- New European
Vučić under pressure as Serbia erupts in protest
Belgrade's main gathering place, Republic Square, was already full to bursting point by one o'clock. The main part of the rally was not due to start until four hours later. Some people took refuge from the throng on the plinth of Prince Mihailo's statue. Long lines of young people stretched back towards Students' Square, as they paraded behind the banners of their faculties: philosophy, languages, the University of Arts. Some carried papier-mâché figures, grotesque representations of local and international political figures, as if this were some sort of carnival rather than a massive protest against corruption, corner-cutting and cronyism. Other groups joined in, with their own flags and banners. The red, yellow and black colours of the Ferrari Formula 1 racing team were particularly prominent, a reference to the protests of the 1990s, when Slobodan Milošević claimed that anti-government demonstrations were sponsored by foreign governments. Waving the logo of an expensive Italian sports car marque was the protesters' way of saying 'yeah, right – and here's our foreign sponsor'. Madonna also made an appearance, but only on a flag. She has made new Serbian fans by voicing her support for the student protests which are now into their fifth month and show no signs of diminishing. If you could muscle your way through Republic Square to the wide pavements of the Terazije shopping district, you would find the street vendors doing a roaring trade. Their top-selling items were whistles and vuvuzelas, promptly and noisily deployed by their purchasers. Merchandise bearing the word 'pumpaj' was also flying off the carts. The unofficial slogan of the protest movement translates as 'pump it up', which refers to increasing pressure on president Aleksandar Vučić and his governing Progressive Party. The discontent was triggered by last November's disaster at the railway station in the country's second city, Novi Sad. A concrete canopy collapsed at the recently renovated terminus, killing 15 people, leading to widespread outrage. That is understandable, given that the station was a key part of the government's flagship infrastructure project, the high-speed Belgrade to Budapest railway line. And president Vučić had ensured that he was very visibly associated with the work. I was at the opening ceremony of the station in 2022, attended by both Vučić and Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orbán. On the extremely speedy return journey to Belgrade, Vučić plied me with Serbian wines and proudly insisted that the project would help to bring modernisation and prosperity to the country. So when the canopy collapsed, just four months after the station had been reopened a second time, the outpouring of anger was enormous. If this could happen to the government's signature project, what did that say about everything else the Progressive Party was doing in Serbia? The slogan 'we are all under the canopy' soon appeared on banners at protests around the country, alongside 'corruption kills' and 'blood on your hands'. The '15th for 15' gathering in Belgrade was the largest protest Serbia had ever seen. Even the government estimated the crowd size at over 100,000. An independent monitor calculated that it was three times larger. All of this has left Vučić rattled. The student protesters have proved a far more resilient foe than his political opponents. They are demanding nothing less than full accountability and transparency: 'a country that works,' as law student Jana Vesić put it to me. Standing nearby, her professor Miodrag Jovanović allowed himself a satisfied smile. 'They are asking for everything I've been lecturing about,' he told me. 'The rule of law, respect for the constitution, and the responsibility and accountability of public officials'. As for the president, at a press conference on the eve of the big protest he told me that he believed the students are 'well intentioned' but that they are being manipulated by opposition parties. 'I don't give in to blackmail,' he said. 'I won't allow the street to pave a horrible future for this country'. Vučić's tone ahead of the protest left everyone concerned that there might be trouble, especially after a camp of counterprotesters set up tents in front of his office. In the end, there were only a few isolated scuffles and a mere 22 arrests, with the president announcing he was 'proud that we kept the peace'. But the big issues remain unresolved. The students say they will keep going until they are satisfied the authorities have been completely honest about the causes of the Novi Sad disaster. Mr Vučić says he believes they will never be satisfied. Something – or someone – has got to give. Guy De Launey is an award-winning Balkans correspondent
