__NOTOC__ Dizelaši (; singular dizelaš, ) was an urban street

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood (Maturity (psychological), maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as bei ...

sub-culture popular in the 1990s in

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. It has been described as a mainstream fashion and social subculture, that of a

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

, similar to the British ''

chav "Chav" (), also "charver", "scally" and "roadman" in parts of England, is a British term, usually used in a pejorative way. The term is used to describe an anti-social lower-class youth dressed in sportswear. * * * * Julie Burchill descri ...

'', French and Russian ''

gopnik A gopnik is a member of a Juvenile delinquency, delinquent subculture in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and in other Post-Soviet states, former Soviet republics—a young man (or a woman, a gopnitsa) of urban working-class background. The collectiv ...

''. The French movie '' La Haine'' (1995) is often mentioned in relation to these subcultures. It was characterized by

turbo-folk Turbo-folk is a subgenre of contemporary South Slavs, South Slavic pop music that initially developed in Serbia during the 1990s as a fusion of techno and folk music, folk. The term was an invention of the Montenegro, Montenegrin singer Rambo ...

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

and

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

music (such as Đogani), mass-appeal designer clothes (such as Diesel), embroidered sweatshirts and

sportswear Sportswear or activewear is athletic clothing, including footwear, worn for sports activity or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Typical spor ...

(such as Nike Air Max and

Reebok Pump Reebok Pump is a line of sneakers, athletic shoes that was first released on November 24, 1989, by Reebok. It was the first shoe to have an internal inflation mechanism that regulated a unique fitting cushion in the lower and upper tongue to pr ...

shoes and

Kappa Kappa (; uppercase Κ, lowercase κ or cursive ; , ''káppa'') is the tenth letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless velar plosive sound in Ancient and Modern Greek. In the system of Greek numerals, has a value of 20. It was d ...

sweatsuits) and large link

chains A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A ...

. Track jackets were tucked into the bottom pants which in turn were tucked into socks, as to conceal goods; it is said that legendary gangster Knele (1971–1992) popularised it, having used it as a tactic ensuring his gun would slide into his socks rather on the pavement when running from the police. It emerged in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

in the late 1980s and became popular by 1992, in a period of embargo on

FR Yugoslavia The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

following the outbreak of the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

. The youths were stereotyped as gangsters (also called ''mangupi''), involved in illegal activities such as fuel smuggling. The ''dizelaši'' were widely seen as a sign of social decay. One Belgrade journalist wrote about the ''dizelaši'': "The guys who belong to this, let's say "movement", wear streetwear from the clothing Diesel and Nike, usually track pants and-very important-they always tuck their shirt into their pants. They are bald and they look like bodybuilders. And it is very popular to run around packing heat arry a gun..The women fulfill the other half of the heterosexual code: sexiness, short skirts, bare midriff". The 1980s and early 1990s had been a period of economic decline in Yugoslavia, and the young people who became involved in the ''dizelaši'' movement tended to be working class people who were unable to find jobs. The inability to find legal employment led to a prevalent mood of cynicism and pessimism amongst many young people who embraced the ''dizelaši'' style with the emphasis on machismo and violence being especially appealing to angry, cynical working class young men. The Russian counterpart is the

Gopnik A gopnik is a member of a Juvenile delinquency, delinquent subculture in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and in other Post-Soviet states, former Soviet republics—a young man (or a woman, a gopnitsa) of urban working-class background. The collectiv ...

sub-culture, with which it is grouped together into "Post-Soviet fashion" that has become popular in recent years. In contrast to the ''dizelaši'', the opposing sub-culture was called ''padavičari'', including

hippies A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

, rockers, headbangers, metalheads and

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

rs. A typical dizelaš was seen as: The resurge of the fashion has been dubbed ''Neodizelaši''. The 1995 documentary about Belgrade gangsters, '' Crime that Changed Serbia'', is an icon of the culture. Modern-day subculture closely related to old ''dizelaši'' is called '' gaseri'' (Serbo-Croatian) / '' gaserji'' (Slovene).

In movies

* ''Dva sata kvalitetnog TV programa'', 1994 film * '' Crime that Changed Serbia'', 1995 documentary about Belgrade criminals * '' The Wounds'', 1998 film about a violent teen duo in Belgrade * ''

Skinning Skinning is the act of skin removal. The process is done by humans to animals, mainly as a means to prepare the meat beneath for cooking and consumption, or to harvest the skin for making fur clothing or tanning it to make leather. The sk ...

'', 2010 film * '' Welcome to Dizeldorf'', meaning Welcome to Düsseldorf, Mashan Lekitch - Mašan Lekić 1994 documentary about Belgrade nineties culture

References

Sources

* * * * * *Papović J., Pejović A. (2016) Revival without Nostalgia: The ‘Dizel’ Movement, Serbian 1990s Cultural Trauma and Globalised Youth Cultures. In: Schwartz M., Winkel H. (eds) Eastern European Youth Cultures in a Global Context. Palgrave Macmillan, London

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dizelasi 1990s in Belgrade Social class subcultures Serbian youth culture Culture of Serbia Criminal subcultures Counterculture of the 1990s Working class in Europe Socioeconomic stereotypes

In movies

See also

References

Sources

External links