Sistem te laže: Grassroots Memory and the Heritage of Protest in Serbia’s Lithium Conflict

The proposed paper explores how civil society in Serbia has mobilized against the
planned lithium extraction in the Jadar Valley, with particular attention to the Rio
Tinto project. Framed by EU green energy ambitions and German industrial demand,
the project has triggered one of the largest environmental protest movements in post
Milošević Serbia due to its failure of securing broad public legitimacy (SLO). Instead,
it catalyzed one of the most sustained environmental protest movements in the region, with civil society groups reframing lithium mining not only as an ecological threat but also as an assault on democratic participation and local sovereignty.
Drawing on qualitative evidence and discourse analysis, the paper examines how local communities, environmental activists, and cultural heritage advocates conceptualize lithium mining as a form of green colonialism, and how protest practices transform from environmental activism into a broader struggle for sovereignty, environmental justice, and the right to shape local futures. Тhis paper specifically engages with how the Serbian civil society has transformed resistance into a form of heritage-making, connecting ecological concerns with cultural narratives of place, history, and identity.
Protest slogans such as “Nećeš kopati” (“You shall not mine”) or “Sistem te laže”
("The system is lying to you") highlight the erosion of trust between communities, the
state, and transnational capital. This trust deficit is further exacerbated by the lack of
transparent consultations, perceived procedural injustices, and the absence of
inclusive decision-making processes. These dynamics reflect broader tensions in post
socialist societies, where extractive megaprojects often collide with historically rooted
skepticism towards political elites and foreign investors.
Such slogans have become part of a collective lexicon that links environmental threats with past struggles against authoritarianism and foreign exploitation. Moreover, this paper will contextualize how digital tools like Google Maps and social media have been used to document endangered landscapes and mobilize public awareness, while simultaneously reinforcing localized notions of environmental and cultural heritage, re-claiming both physical and symbolic space.
The analysis positions Serbia’s lithium resistance not only within environmental and
economic debates but also within cultural memory politics in a post-Yugoslav context.
The proposed contribution aims to enrich discussions on how extractivist conflicts can
lead to the emergence of grassroots heritage movements and how green transitions
risk reproducing imperial hierarchies unless grounded in participatory justice.
Additionally, the paper argues that resistance is not merely a rejection of extraction
but a call for participatory justice and democratic governance in defining sustainable
development. It offers a critical lens on how SLO is constructed, contested, and
ultimately reimagined from below.