kuda.

Historical facts – devastation of youth centers in Novi Sad and Vojvodina in post-socialistic times

During the 1970s and early 1980s, Novi Sad had a relatively balanced ratio between official cultural institutions or other spaces and the needs of the public. At that time Novi Sad had approximately 175.000 inhabitants and population growth was much slower. The city had seven active cinemas, Youth Tribune, several youth clubs, Student's Cultural Center, American library, several galleries, etc. After internal political turmoil between 1972/74, and in 1977, most of those initiatives were shut down. It was exactly that period that in the best way depicts the basic incomprehension of the role of alternative and critical culture in the conception of the development of Novi Sad as an urban environment because from then on, the cultural life of the youth and alternative culture would function without a plan and development strategy.

The second half of the 1980s was marked by distinct groups whose self-initiative and self-organization influenced forming some program spaces, which directly reflected the wish and the need to change and expand the cultural production offer and enable the creation of the new content, having in mind the growth of the city's population, as well as the rapid growth of the Novi Sad University (back then the city had around 190.000 inhabitants and close to 25.000 students). Some new initiatives rose, as a direct reaction towards the official culture and information institutions policy, which even then showed animosity to the alternative culture and slowly begun to reduce the activity of the city institutions in regard to the citizen's needs. For example, in Slovenia, in the urban centers of Croatia, and in Belgrade, alternative culture and art of that time became actively involved in the work of the socio-political organization, taking an active role in democratic processes and liberalization of social life. The result of this easily rejected alternative culture and youth potential on all levels of social life can be illustrated through the fact that today the city does not have a decent gallery, adequate concert space or club, magazine, radio station that would deal with an insightful critique of culture and society.

During the 1990s, the need for culture was in that context totally marginalized by exercising political projection of reality, focused above all on the existential aspect, so the only way out for the citizens was either participation in political life through work in political parties or complete abstinence of any social life. War developed a high level of nationalist hate speech and this directly affected the city as the most prominent example of multiculturalism and coexistence between different nations and nationalities in one space. That period was marked by the military drafts and usage of media in the creation of public opinion that the war is inevitable and necessary, but that decision was not developed through dialogue, and public opinion was being shaped. Ever since, we witnessed a great drain of youth from Novi Sad, because they simply could not find a motive to stay here, the city did not offer possibilities and choices for free development and broadening horizons. Their only possibility was to follow the designed political crisis, apart from the exceptions that tried to fight it. Lots of people left Novi Sad simply because the milieu they were born in dramatically changed, they perceived Novi Sad as something wide, spacious, free, and that turned into xenophobia, hatred, fear, control, poverty, etc.

kuda.production