Levijatan first came to notoriety when it began posting confessional videos on social media in which distressed individuals apologized on camera for being cruel to animals, promising to never repeat such behavior again.
ALEKS EROR: In a gruesome social-media video, a dog fight is taking place in what appears to be an open-air basketball court. Two pit-bull-like dogs are set against each other by a group of young men, who surround the battling animals in a circle. One dog quickly overpowers the other, digging its teeth into the upper lip of its opponent’s snout, prompting squeals of agony.
The scene then cuts to smartphone footage that follows another group of young men walking through a dimly lit street in dark clothing, their identities obscured by caps and the shadows of the night. They knock on the door of a rural house, where one of the alleged perpetrators from the video answers… The man tells him menacingly: “… Now, listen kid, I’m going to tell you what to say and you’re going to repeat it…. ‘I’m really sorry, I apologize for organizing dog fights. I’ll never own a dog again and this will never happen again.'” Bojan, obediently, repeats his line”…
The video was recorded and posted online by a group that calls itself Levijatan (Leviathan) and became popular in 2017…“Levijatan isn’t just a movement, it’s an idea that you live by 24 hours a day,” says Pavle Bihali, the 40-year-old founder and figurehead of the group… Levijatan could best be described as a cross between Britain’s fascist National Front and the People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), a U.S.-based animal rights group that is known for its provocative media campaigns.
Levijatan first came to notoriety when it began posting confessional videos on social media in which distressed individuals apologized on camera for being cruel to animals. They would be told to state their first and last names, their age and place of residence, before promising to never repeat such behavior again. Levijatan would sometimes confiscate their pets and take them to a veterinarian to get medical treatment before rehoming them. The group’s social media feeds are full of graphic videos of wounded animals that it says it has “saved” and nursed back to health.
“We typically do this to individuals who we know are unlikely to be prosecuted,” says Bihali. “Put simply, we take it upon ourselves to mark them out because the law doesn’t want to or is unable to…. We blur their face [if it’s a minor] but we record their name and surname so people know that they ripped off a kitty’s ear or broke its leg and this is an entirely legitimate tool that should also be applied to pedophiles, rapists, and sadists. It’s benign, totally benign”…
Levijatan’s dedicated following has been crucial to its success. According to members of the group, when Levijatan receives a tip-off, the group asks for video evidence, which it then posts on social media with an appeal for more information. After a new incident, some “10, 15, 20 people” usually reach out to the group, which then attempts to corroborate the information to see if the allegations stack up. Once they’re satisfied, Levijatan members then pay the alleged perpetrators a visit and either give them a stern warning or collect further evidence that they then hand over to police. Many others have accused the group of going much further, using violence to intimidate and punish, claims that Bihail firmly denies…
Bihali says that his movement exists to correct the injustices created by state dysfunction and a deeply flawed legal system. He doesn’t just see animals as “vulnerable,” but also women and children, anyone the group deems as having been insufficiently protected by the state. “Levijatan as an idea and phenomenon is essential,” he says. “Particularly in countries that…strive to be normal societies. In order to be a normal society, we must warn the authorities and the state about things that are wrong.” Bihali quotes the late Serbian criminologist Zlatko Nikolic when explaining Levijatan’s core mission. “A reaction within so-called civil society that manifests when the state fails to respond to the expectations of taxpayers and citizens and the issues that trouble them,” says Bihali. “Very simple. That’s Levijatan”…
Animal welfare is a very emotive issue in Serbia. Countless strays roam the streets of towns and cities across the country, with an estimated 20,000 stray dogs in Belgrade alone. Social-media feeds are full of lost pets and animals that need new homes. Stories of abuse and neglect are sadly common. An ineffectual justice system affords insufficient protection for human beings, let alone animals, which means that abusers frequently go unpunished. While for Levijatan’s critics, they’re lawless thugs who have appointed themselves judge, jury, and executioner, for their supporters, they’re performing a genuine public service and compensating for the dysfunction of the state…
Undoubtedly, Levijatan has saved many animals. One dog that the group rescued was found with an ax wound to its head and a number of videos on Levijatan’s social-media feeds document how it was nursed back to health. Bihali says that the group has saved several hundred animals, although others say those numbers are inflated. Under Bihali’s leadership, Levijatan has built a large and devoted following. The group has some 355,000 fans on Facebook and Instagram and some Serbian celebrities have expressed their support publicly. Levijatan has even grown into something approaching a subculture, with supporters wearing the group’s merchandise and some even getting the distinctive brass-knuckle-paw logo tattooed onto their bodies.
With their large and loyal fan base, Levijatan has flirted with politics. In 2020, the group became a registered political party and Bihali stood as a candidate in that year’s parliamentary elections, which were boycotted by most opposition parties in protest against what they said were unfair electoral conditions. Of the 21 parties that stood in those elections, Levijatan finished in 16th place after taking 0.7 percent of the overall vote… Levijatan makes frequent appeals to the public for donations, which Bihali insists are exclusively spent on the group’s operations and the cost of caring for abused animals. Bihali says the amount of donations fluctuates, but they typically receive between 600 euros ($687) and 1,500 euros ($1,718) a month — 2,000 in the best-case scenario…
“Predators, rapists, pedophiles…they go where they know they won’t find any sort of resistance,” says Bihali. “We’re the resistance. And that’s why I’m sure that a Levijatan is needed in every country in transition, because we protect this sort of peace for those who can’t always rely on the police or the state.” While Levijatan claims to oppose the dysfunction and lawlessness of the state, it is really just a symptom of it — and its actions further perpetuate those systemic morbidities. In Hobbesian terms, Levijatan is perhaps more indicative of the chaotic “state of nature” rather than the political and civil society that is supposed to follow. SOURCE…
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