‘Normalisation of violence’: What led to Serbia mass shootings?

Two consecutive deadly shootings in the past week have shocked Serbia, with psychologists saying the “normalization of violence” in the Balkan nation has become so dangerous that major changes in all walks of life are needed to prevent further mass shootings.

Serbia has declared a three-day state of mourning until Sunday after a mass shooting at a school – a first for the country. A 13-year-old boy shot and killed eight students – seven girls and a boy – and a security guard at a primary school in the center of the capital Belgrade.

He injured six other students and a teacher before calling the police himself from the school yard, saying: “I am a psychopath and need to calm down,” said Veselin Milic, the chief of the Belgrade police.

Milic said the suspect brought his father’s two guns from a safe at home and knew how to use them while participating in shootings with his father. He also had four Molotov cocktails in his backpack.

The motive of the suspect is still unclear. According to authorities, the student had been planning the attack for a month; he had a list of students he planned to kill and a classroom map showing how he planned to carry out the attack.

“The skit looks like it came out of a video game and horror movie. It has been drawn out in detail,” Milic told the press on Wednesday.

After the shooting, the teachers’ union of Serbia announced a strike and called for an end to the promotion of violence in the country.

“We demand a ban on the promotion and public appearances of all convicted criminals, as well as all reality shows in which the participants behave violently,” their statement read.

“We live in a society where aggression and violence are ubiquitous: verbal, through the media, physical… It has reached its peak, not only in schools, but throughout society. As a society and as a country, we have failed. Serbia needs to stop and ask how far it has come and where and how to go next,” it said.

The union also called for metal detectors to be installed at school entrances, for professional security to be hired and for better organization of the school police.

Just a day after the school shooting, as the country reeled from the tragedy, a 21-year-old man opened fire on pedestrians from his vehicle in a rural area south of Belgrade, killing eight people and injuring 14 .

Serbian public broadcaster RTS reported that the suspect, Uros Blazic, told prosecutors during interrogation after his arrest that he shot people he did not know personally because he wanted to instill fear among the residents.

‘Normalization of violence’

Psychologist Marina Nadejin Simic told Al Jazeera that the school shooting was “a red line” for the country.

“We have crossed every line and we need to take the violence seriously, at the statewide level,” she said.

“Unfortunately, in our society, violence is all around us and tolerated. In a way, it’s a normalization of violence… Those kids have gotten used to living in such an environment and some of them feel pretty bad.”

Compounding the problem is that “many kids spend a lot more time online than they do in the real world,” leading to undeveloped emotional and social skills, Nadejin Simic said.

“As we grow, mature, we have to go through a process of socialization… it is learning how to communicate with others, learning how to fulfill your wishes without hurting others, learning how to behave in situations where you are in conflict with someone. There are several ways to resolve conflicts; violence is not the solution. Unfortunately, our children know too little about this. Preventing violence has completely failed us,” said Nadejin Simic.

Many people blame TV shows, including the popular reality TV show Zadruga, for promoting verbal and physical violence, including gender-based violence.

After the school shooting, Serbian TV channel Happy featured convicted war criminal Vojislav Seselj on the show to share his thoughts on the tragedy. Seselj was convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and is a frequent guest on the show.

In previous years, the broadcast also aired a jovial conversation with former Serbian general and convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic, who called as a guest from The Hague where he is imprisoned and sent his “kissies” to the team as their “grandpa”.

“We have situations where an interview is done on TV, the guest is a man who has been convicted of multiple crimes. It’s not a rumor, everyone knows this,” said Nadejin Simic.

“And he comes and he shares his story, his life goals, etc., and the youth are watching. And then they wonder, ‘Why do I have to sit here and study and do my best while others live their lives? [another way]?’”

“We have not offered youth real values; that is the problem. We have destroyed traditional values, but have not offered new ones [values] and these kids are in a vacuum. These children have no orientation.”

Shortly after the school shooting, Serbian media also reported that young people praised the attack on social media.

“You are the strongest,” one girl wrote on her Instagram story with heart emojis above a photo of the suspect.

“King,” another child wrote about the suspect’s photo on his Instagram story.

Other comments on Instagram included “What’s the kill count ahahha”, “8/0/0 he got a good score” and “8 kills, nice”.

Clinical psychologist Branka Kordic told Al Jazeera that youth grow up in “an unhealthy environment” while society offers them “everything that is wrong”.

“Civil morality does not exist – honor, respect, concern for others. It’s lies, deceit wherever you go and the kids grow up with this,’ she said.

“It is enough for the children to see our parliament. [MPs] spit, yell insults, and kids watch these and horrible reality TV shows. And then we wonder how this could have happened? We should be surprised it hasn’t happened sooner.”

Measures announced

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has since announced a “disarmament of Serbia”. Of a series of new measures announced on Friday, he said all those who legally own guns — hundreds of thousands of people — will undergo a review, with only 30,000 to 40,000 people with guns by the end.

He added that 1,000 police officers will be placed in schools and penalties for illegal weapons will be nearly doubled.

Kordic said of all the measures announced there was no ban on problematic shows.

“Horrible, disgusting reality shows are being shown, like Zadruga…what’s the point of controlling guns if we raise our children under the standards of human dignity?” Kordic said.

“Teachers used to say, ‘We don’t know how to work with aggressive kids.’ Everyone needs help, but help is not coming from anywhere, everything is politicized,” Kordic said.

Kordic suggested that every school should have a space where students can get help and learn how to manage their emotions, whether it’s anger or sadness.

When the young people have problems, they usually go to their peers first to talk, not to adults. She said it would be helpful to create a pilot program where children can have a space where they can meet and “be trained to serve as a first aid and a bridge to professional help”.

Nadejin Simic said the Serbian education system needs to be reformed and the health system needs to pay much more attention to the mental health of young people.

“TV shows and their broadcasts of very problematic people saying all sorts of things, offering war heroes, offering values ​​that are dangerous to society – not unwanted, but dangerous – all of this needs to be worked on,” she said.

“But I think it should be done at the state level. Individual activities will not yield great results.”