Report from Novi Sad: Can students bring down a regime?

Report from Novi Sad: Can students bring down a regime?

Author: Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer November 4, 2025 Duration: 30:55

We’re taking a momentary break from “Who Does It Best?” to take a trip to Serbia with producer Wojciech Oleksiak. Wojciech was on the ground in Novi Sad last weekend to report from the massive demonstration marking the one-year anniversary of the tragic accident at the city’s railway station. 

And if you’re not following this story, you should be. Much of what’s happening in Serbia is a heartening example of how peaceful demonstrations can really move the needle, even in places where the political situation looks bleak. And Serbia’s leadership has been following a playbook that is increasingly common across Europe and the rest of the world. Even if you don’t live under an illiberal democracy…you might want to get familiar with how they take shape.

If you’re interested to hear more on this evolving story, check out our episode from earlier this year called “Is real change coming to Serbia?” 

We’ll be back with the final episode of “Who Does It Best?” on Friday. (Wojciech has had a busy week.) 

This podcast was brought to you in cooperation with Euranet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news. But it’s contributions from listeners that truly make it all possible—we could not continue to make the show without you! If you like what we do, you can chip in to help us cover our production costs at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/europeanspodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (in many different currencies), or you can gift a donation to a superfan. We'd also love it if you could tell two friends about this podcast. We think two feels like a reasonable number.

Reported, produced, mixed, and mastered by Wojciech Oleksiak. Editorial support by Dominic Kraemer and Morgan Childs. Special thanks go to Filip Djordjević and Mila Dragnić.

 


Every week, Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer sit down to untangle the stories shaping the continent, moving beyond the headlines to find the human threads within European news, politics, and culture. Their conversations feel like joining two well-informed friends who are genuinely curious, offering clarity on complex political shifts in Brussels one moment and diving into a compelling film from Berlin or a novel from Lisbon the next. This isn't about dry analysis; it's about understanding the forces that define daily life from Dublin to Sofia. In this The Europeans podcast, you'll hear interviews with policymakers, artists, and everyday people, all contributing to a richer, more nuanced picture of a region in constant motion. The tone is engaging and accessible, designed for anyone who feels that Europe's narrative is too often reduced to stereotypes or institutional jargon. By weaving together current affairs with deeper cultural trends, each episode builds a more complete and surprisingly relatable portrait. If you've ever wanted to feel more connected to the ideas and debates circulating across the Channel and beyond, this is a consistent and thoughtful guide.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The Europeans | European news, politics and culture
Podcast Episodes
The world's funniest superstate? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:11
The European Union is many things: an economic powerhouse, an improbably successful peace project, or a bureaucratic hellscape, depending on who you ask. Most people would probably agree on one thing that it isn’t: funny…
What is life really like for Russians right now? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:37
The predictions began soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine: the collapse of the Russian economy was imminent. Four years later, it still hasn’t happened. And yet, the cracks are appearing: Ukrainian drones…
Do you also have a Monstera in your living room? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:02
Vinyl records, coffee table books, low-maintenance pot plants: from Dublin to Dubrovnik, all good hipsters have the same stuff. The Italian writer Vincenzo Latronico captures this boring international aesthetic beautiful…
Venice has a Russia and Israel problem [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:18
‘Art and politics can totally be separated!’ said no one ever – apart from the organisers of the Venice Biennale, a.k.a. the Olympics of the art world. This week we’re diving into the fallout from the Biennale’s decision…
Can Pedro Sánchez unite the global left? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:04
This week, we’ve got a little something for everyone: gambling! Kraftwerk! Blast from the recent US political past Tim Walz! It was a Good Week yet again for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the darling of the globa…
How did Ukrainians end up sailing in Russia's shadow fleet? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:04
Shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Elon Musk’s company SpaceX swept in to restore internet connectivity to areas that had been affected by Russian attacks. But SpaceX and its interne…
Where are the Zohran Mamdanis of Europe? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:35
A few weeks back, we asked you to weigh in on a question that’s been on our mind a lot lately: Who are the Zohran Mamdanis of Europe, and when, pray tell, are they going to give our beloved, ailing continent a much-neede…
Can a group of strangers solve Europe’s biggest problems? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:26
If you got a knock on your door from someone inviting you to Brussels to hash out some EU policies…you’d think it was a scam, right? Us, too. At least, that was the case until last week, when our producer Wojciech went t…
The end of Orbán? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:00
It has been 16 years since Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party assumed power in Hungary – and it might have begun to feel like things could never change. But with a parliamentary election just around the corner, there’s now a gl…
Europe's anti-Elon [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:34
Back when Elon Musk was challenging Mark Zuckerberg to a cage fight, Eugen Rochko was building an open-source, non-problematic Twitter alternative, completely without fanfare. Last year, the Mastodon founder announced hi…