Production of Social Critique
The police arrested non-violent protesters, among them leftist activists, on the sixth day of protests. Joint Action Roof Over Your Head organized a protest outside Central Prison in Belgrade demanding...
Police brutality marks the first two days of protests in Belgrade, while the third protest goes on without incidents.
For two days in a row Serbian citizens have been protesting against their government and the new anti-pandemic measures the president had announced. Both on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon the protests started peacefully, only to turn into a havoc of protester-police clashes and police brutality as the night fell. The alt-right is trying claim the lead and steer the riots according to their agenda. Meanwhile, some left wing organizations see the demonstrations as a spontaneous expression of people’s justifiable dissatisfaction with the government and long accumulated anger.
Protests in Serbia erupted on July 7 after president Aleksandar Vučić announced that the government will reintroduce heavily restrictive measures due to the bad epidemiological situation in the country. During his announcement the president put blame on the citizens for the acute health crisis. The protests continued last night in several cities in Serbia. Similarly to the first night, there were riots and brutal police violence.
The green-left coalition won 7 seats at the Croatian 151-seat parliament, surprising everybody. The turnout was less than 50%, the lowest ever in Croatia’s parliamentary election. The conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won the biggest chunk of the electorate, while the Social Democratic Party (SDP) suffered a heavy blow to its position. Several right-wing parties won seats, too.
According to Luka Mesec, coordinator of the Slovenian party Levica (the Left) and Slovenian MP, the coronavirus pandemic exposed many of the capitalist system’s shortcomings, creating opportunities for left-wing politics. The pandemic has clearly shown that it is the workers, and not the managers, who ensure the functioning of our economies, emphasizes Mesec.
Mašina was awarded a special plaque by the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) “for an innovative approach to investigative journalism and coverage of the topic of workers’ rights in Serbia”, as it was said at the ceremony. The plaque was also awarded to the editorial board of Južne vesti, while the awards for investigative journalism were given to colleagues: Adam Santovac, Aleksandar Đorđević, Jelena Veljković and Vuk Cvijić.
Arnaldo Otegi is the general coordinator of the Basque EH Bildu, which unites different sectors and parties of the left. The fourth guest of the series of talks “Meeting the Left” spoke about the revolutionary program minimum, the need for a different Europe and the need to cooperate more on the left.
Serbian citizens donated a total of 1.5 billion Serbian dinars (close to 13 million euros) to the Democratic Party (DS), the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) between 2012 and 2018, according to a research of the parties’ financial statements, conducted by the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS).
In an interview within the “Meeting the Left” series Heinz Bierbaum, President of the European Left Party (EL), talked about the crisis of the socio-economic system and a strategic document newly adopted by his party.
The second guest in transform!’s series “Meeting the Left” was Katja Kipping, Co-Chairperson of the party Die LINKE. The conversation largely focussed on European politics.
Catarina Martins, Coordinator for the Left Bloc (Bloco de Esquerda) from Portugal, advocates forming of a European recovery fond weighing 1.5 billion €. The fund should be financed directly by the European Central Bank, stated Martins in an interview which was a part of the “Meeting the left” series.
About 50 members of the “Levijatan” and “I live for Serbia” far right movements gathered yesterday in front of a migrant centre in Obrenovac near Belgrade, into which their comrade-in-arms, Filip Radovanović, forced his way by car last week. Filipović was arrested on the occasion.
„Calezedonia group“ in Serbia is continuing production of its regular assortment even though the government is increasing its restrictive measures to combat coronavirus.
Many organizations and arts associations belonging to the cultural sector have recently appealed to the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, the Belgrade City Secretariat of Culture and other relevant institutions, as well as to the expert community, requesting urgent adoption of concrete measures of support for artists, cultural workers and the self-employed sector in culture. They face economic hardship caused by the state of emergency in Serbia, which was declared due to the corona virus pandemic.
More than 100 people gathered at a protest organized by right-wing organizations on Sunday, including participants of so-called “national patrols” that intercepted migrants in downtown Belgrade.
Postmen protested today in front of the main post office in Novi Sad. Post of Serbia workers don’t give up on their demand for better material position and fight against the increasing pressure exerted by management and the authorities.
Post of Serbia workers rejected the government’s salary increase proposal yesterday. A large number of employees of this profitable company currently earn wages closer to the minimum wage than the average earnings in the republic.
A large number of Post of Serbia workers continue the work stoppage they started two days ago. The reason for dissatisfaction are low salaries and the management’s wage increase proposal, which many workers deem unfair. After the main postal center in Zemun was blocked on Monday night, a series of stoppages in postal units in many cities across Serbia followed. Delivery workers and drivers are most likely to suspend work, while counter clerks joined at different locations.
The main postal center in Zemun is again blocked after workers suspended work last night. Postal workers arriving from several cities organized a protest the previous evening in front of the Zemun GPC to express dissatisfaction with the management and authorities who did not respect the pay increase arrangements.
Several historic buildings were demolished in an area listed as cultural heritage, in Braće Radić street in the city of Subotica. The Intermunicipal Institute for Protection of cultural monuments in Subotica had previously issued a permit to remove the buildings to a firm called DG Company.