Frequently asked questions

A group of initiators came together in January 2025 around the idea of creating a virtual plenum in the diaspora. We felt that we lacked a body to coordinate the energy and ideas of our people abroad in supporting the student and civic protests, but also for longer-term, coordinated action by the diaspora for a better life at home and better cooperation between the diaspora and the homeland. Since then we have been working in many fields — from advocacy in the countries where we live and support for fair elections to culture and academic cooperation — and we report on our work regularly: you can follow our letters, statements, media appearances and actions on this website and on our social networks.

The current events in the country and the spontaneous self-organisation of citizens prompted us in the diaspora, too, to join forces, overcome apathy and stand behind the banner of freedom that our students hold so high.

We see the Assembly as an informal but well-organised gathering of a large number of people for active discussion and coordination of activities, so that we can contribute to building a democratic Serbia based on law and justice. We do not want to be actively involved in Serbia's political life. Our help should be understood as the help of a friend, a brother or a relative from afar. We are not interested in power and authority.

Our intention is not to interfere, but to contribute to the well-being of our beautiful homeland and to support the efforts of our fellow citizens in building the country we all deserve. Our diaspora is rich in experience and connections abroad and sees things from a different perspective, which can be useful in Serbia's renewal. Many of us studied in Serbia, have unbreakable ties with the homeland and plan to return to Serbia; we founded the Serbian Assembly in the Diaspora purely out of love for Serbia.

We do not claim to be the only or the chosen voice of the diaspora. We are the Serbian Assembly in the Diaspora, made up of patriots who share our vision.

Because we have come together, gathered, for a higher purpose, like the students at home but also more generally, in the spirit of our old folk tradition of gathering and debating.

No. We are an informal organisation, a group of people dedicated to the same idea. As such, we cannot be registered, because our “registration” is the whole world, on all the meridians where our people live. We have no building, no offices, none of what people typically associate with the word. Our infrastructure is the internet and the virtual plenums where we gather and discuss.

The Serbian Assembly in the Diaspora is not affiliated with any political or other organisation. Its initiators are a group of independent patriots living in the diaspora, gathered around the vision of the Serbian Assembly in the Diaspora.

Operating costs are covered by the initiators and the signatories.

1. We have built a network of people from the diaspora all over the world: within the first two weeks, several hundred people had filled in the membership form, and the network keeps growing.
2. We write open letters to policymakers in the countries where we live and to the international community; in the first months alone, letters were sent to politicians and political organisations in 15 countries.
3. We help break the media blockade in the West: our members give interviews and write articles about what is happening in Serbia (an overview is in News).
4. We stand for fair and well-organised elections and for the right to vote of citizens abroad to be genuinely exercisable: we raise awareness of the importance of voting, carried out the survey “Your vote across the border” (May 2025, almost a thousand respondents from 36 countries), published the Guide to voting abroad, sent a request to the Republic Electoral Commission for more accessible voting (2026) and created a form that helps prepare an application to vote abroad.
5. Ahead of the parliamentary elections in October 2026, we organised and held training for polling station monitors in the diaspora.
6. Together with ProGlas and partner organisations, in 2026 we launched the campaign “Bez tebe nema ni nas” (Without you, there is no us) — a series of conversations with the diaspora in European cities, starting with Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart.
7. We launched the video series “Iskre” (Sparks; first episode: “Naše glumice i glumci” — Our actresses and actors, November 2025).

One of our roles is to add our voice to the general social pressure, i.e. the “pumping”, and given our position in the diaspora, we believe we can achieve this by putting pressure on the international media as well as on local bodies and institutions. Such initiatives are already well under way in the US, the United Kingdom and across the European Union.

Because politics is a field of action that is open to change. Without pressure and activism nothing can change. In the world we live in there are many political actors, and even if they are not always part of the majority that decides, they have their own voice and influence policymakers.

Neither the international community nor national parliaments are homogeneous. Among them are those who do not support the undemocratic and authoritarian system in Serbia. Our aim is to encourage them, acting within their own political systems or in international bodies, to influence a change in their countries' course towards the ruling regime in Serbia.

We also believe that general pressure can help if it is targeted, coordinated and concentrated – open letters are addressed to local political representatives of different ideologies, but also to relevant bodies, the media, public figures and the like.

In the way we are organised and in the principle by which we come together.

We are a grassroots, spontaneously organised group of people whose work is driven by the enthusiasm of each of us. Everyone works and contributes as much as they can. There is no hierarchy and no “perks”. Everything is voluntary and from the heart.

The principle by which we gather is our greatest strength – unity in diversity. We are a living example that a great deal can be achieved even though we differ greatly from one another. We see ourselves as an example that the democratic opposition, and society as a whole, must follow.

We fully support the students' demands, as have all our signatories so far, and our activities are aimed, among other things, at raising the international visibility of events in Serbia and at exerting pressure.

We are in contact with students and professors, but we also pursue the broad vision of the Serbian Assembly in the Diaspora: a multi-generational engagement on issues concerning the homeland and cooperation between the homeland and the diaspora.

The Serbian Assembly in the Diaspora has existed since January 2025 and brings together people from the diaspora all over the world, who meet and make decisions in virtual plenums. We work through thematic working groups — from advocacy, law and communications to elections in the diaspora, academic cooperation and culture. We all work as volunteers, each as much as they can. New members are always welcome — join us through the form on the Become a member page.

Participation is open and free to everyone committed to our vision.

Fill in the application on the Become a member page and get involved in one of our thematic working groups. Follow our work — sign up for our news and follow us on social networks. Send the Guide to voting abroad to your friends, relatives and other contacts.