Massacro sociale in Serbia (english / italiano)
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Le puntate precedenti - in ordine cronologico inverso - su:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2863
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2699
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2683
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2680
Vedi anche:
La situazione nella Serbia jugoslava, Ottobre 2003
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2964
Serbia: non si intravede la fine della crisi (Ruzica Milosavljevic)
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2941
Protests and political crisis in Serbia
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2931
Serbia: i lavoratori in piazza a Smederevo e Belgrado
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2907
STRIKE AT US-OWNED SERBIAN STEEL PLANT
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2869
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NOTA A MARGINE
Nessun organo di informazione italiano si degna di analizzare,
tantomeno di commentare, le condizioni sociali in Serbia, determinatesi
dopo la presa del potere da parte delle destre filo-occidentali
nell'ottobre 2003. Il caso "Telekom Serbia" viene usato a fini di
strumentalizzazione politica interna, ma delle devastanti
privatizzazioni attuali - di quelle vere, insomma - non si parla.
Questo "embargo" informativo sussiste anche e soprattutto per gli
organi di stampa di "sinistra", che fino all'ottobre 2000 avevano
viceversa dedicato tantissimo spazio ed una attenzione costante -
benche' spesso morbosa, "deviata" e deviante - alle tragedie in atto
nei Balcani ed ai soggetti e movimenti attivi su quei territori -
soprattutto la vezzeggiatissima "opposizione" serba.
Potremmo al limite comprendere, pur senza giustificarlo, il silenzio
sulla grave involuzione politica, che ha comportato addirittura la
completa omissione dalle cronache e dai commenti della cancellazione
della Jugoslavia dalle cartine geografiche (il paese, in seguito ad un
decreto della nuova classe dirigente di destra, voluto da Solana, si
chiama oggi "Unione di Serbia e Montenegro"). Quello che pero' non
possiamo assolutamente ne' capire ne' accettare, da parte di
"Liberazione" ed "Il Manifesto" in primo luogo, e' la totale assenza di
qualsivoglia analisi sugli effetti delle politiche neoliberiste piu'
feroci, attuate in un paese e contro un popolo cosi' concretamente
vicini.
Le svendite, i licenziamenti, la demolizione dello stato sociale,
l'abbandono di centinaia di migliaia di profughi (politicamente
"inopportuni") da parte delle istituzioni sia serbe che internazionali,
i crescenti legami con gli USA e con la NATO, i diktat delle
istituzioni finanziarie internazionali, la chiusura di moltissime
aziende, le iniziative del movimento di solidarieta' verso i lavoratori
jugoslavi da anni attivo in Italia, l'imposizione del regime "di
emergenza" la scorsa primavera, con le torture in carcere e gli arresti
indiscriminati, la persistente violazione dei diritti politici delle
opposizioni antiliberiste... per non parlare del regime di terrore
instaurato in Kosmet - a tutto questo "Il Manifesto" e "Liberazione"
non dedicano nessuno spazio. Questo atteggiamento e'
giornalisticamente becero, politicamente squallido e moralmente
ignobile.
Questo dato di fatto non ci assolve, certo, dalle nostre proprie
responsabilita' in quanto amici della Jugoslavia: siamo noi stessi
incapaci. Incapaci di comunicare con il movimento contro la guerra,
incapaci di costruire iniziative comuni, incapaci di esprimere
coralmente una nostra posizione. Ci perdiamo tra invettive moralistiche
(compresa la presente) ed iniziative solidaristiche, atte a
tranquillizzare le nostre proprie coscienze, senza cambiare nulla.
La crisi nei Balcani tornera' ad esplodere - innanzitutto a causa della
"patata bollente" del Kosovo. La opinione pubblica italiana non sara'
stata informata di niente, i militanti della sinistra antiliberista e
pacifista saranno stati privati degli strumenti per capire ed agire.
Andrea Martocchia
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PRIVATIZZAZIONI A RAFFICA
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http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=25818&style=headlines
Beta, December 4, 2003
Mass privatisation auction today
BELGRADE -- Thursday – A thousand Serbian companies go
under the hammer of the Privatisation Agency’s
auctioneer today, Privatisation Minister Aleksandar
Vlahovic has announced.
Vlahovic told media that over the past two and a half
years, 1.3 billion euros had been raised in state
company sell-offs, with a further 750 million euros
invested as part of sale contracts.
Another 260 million euros has been put into social
welfare programs for workers made redundant by company
restructuring.
Vlahovic added that no major companies will be
scheduled for sale until a new government is formed to
avoid any suspicion of irregularity.
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SERBIA: PRIVATIZZAZIONI, QUOTA 1.000 IMPRESE VENDUTE
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 4 DIC - Ha raggiunto la quota di mille aziende
vendute il programma di privatizzazioni portato avanti dalla Serbia
dopo la caduta del regime dell'ex presidente jugoslavo Slobodan
Milosevic. Oggi e' stata ufficializzata la cessione della compagnia
'Inos metalli' di Belgrado, acquistata per 191 milioni di dinari
(circa 2.850.000 euro) dall'azienda montenegrina 'Interprom'.
All'asta avevano partecipato anche imprese tedesche e greche, e
l'offerta iniziale e' stata moltiplicata di venti volte. Finora la
maggior parte del programma di privatizzazioni ha comunque coinvolto
piccole e medie imprese, con pochissimi investimenti esteri. I giganti
industriali dell'epoca comunista sono infatti troppo obsoleti, con
manodopera in eccesso e con troppi debiti per risvegliare l'interesse
dei grandi investitori. Il programma di privatizzazioni in Serbia
ha avuto un costo sociale elevato, alimentando il numero dei
disoccupati, che tocca ormai il milione di persone, un terzo della
popolazione attiva. Lo stato pero' ha incamerato 1,3 miliardi di euro,
altri 700 milioni sono stati reinvestiti nelle imprese privatizzate e
280 milioni sono stati stanziati per la previdenza sociale.
La quota di mille privatizzazioni e' stata festeggiata dal ministro
responsabile del programma, Aleksandar Vlahovic, con un'asta di
beneficenza nella quale sono stati messi all'incanto il martelletto
usato per battere la prima vendita di un'azienda statale, una copia
della prima gazzetta ufficiale che indiceva la gara e il primo invito
pubblico per l'asta: il ricavato, destinato al fondo per l'infanzia,
e' stato di 1,77 milioni di dinari, ovvero 26.400 euro. (ANSA).
OT 04/12/2003 17:17
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/serbiamontenegro/20031204171732776659.html
---
LINK:
1,000th Serbian company goes private
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
12/04/332244.html
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FMI, USA, BEI, AER... TUTTI SODDISFATTI DELLA POLITICA ECONOMICA DEL
REGIME DI BELGRADO
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LINKS:
IMF welcomes Serbia's tax administration reform
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
12/03/332206.html
US Restores Normal Trade Relations with Serbia-Montenegro (by Dusan
Kosanovic)
http://www.balkantimes.com/
default3.asp?lang=english&page=process_print&article_id=21874
US resumes normal trade relations with Serbia-Montenegro
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
12/03/332222.html
EIB and Serbian government continue cooperation
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
12/12/332400.html
EAR to help Serbian infrastructure development agency start operations
with 10.5 million euros
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
12/12/332402.html
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L'AUTUNNO CALDO DELLA SERBIA
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http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
EEconomy.htm#No%20major%20progress%20achieved%20in%20talks%20between%20t
rade%20unions,%20US%20Steel
Tanjug - November 6, 2003
No major progress achieved in talks between trade
unions, US Steel
20:27 SMEDEREVO , Nov 6 (Tanjug) - The general strike
of US Steel Serbia workers is entering its second
month and the management is doing nothing to seriously
review strikers' demands, it was said on Thursday by
the strikers' committee made up of the representative
trade unions of the former Sartid concern.
Although it has not observed any of the obligations
envisaged under the Law on the Strike, collective
agreement and signed protocol, the company management
is behaving as if it is not a side in the dispute and
is neglecting its obligations, the statement said.
---
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25463&order=priority&style=headlines
Beta - November 12, 2003
Union alliance announces nationwide protests
BELGRADE -- Tuesday – The Alliance of Independent
Serbian Unions has announced a series of protests
across Serbia.
Union member Dragan Zarubica said that protest rallies
would be held in Nis, Krusevac, Zrenjanin, Cacak,
Raska and “several other towns”.
The Alliance organised a protest rally in Belgrade
last month, attracting more than 10,000 workers.
Speakers called on the government to step down and
slate early elections.
---
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25460&order=priority&style=headlines
FoNet, November 12, 2003
Borba workers on strike
BELGRADE -- Tuesday – Employees at Belgrade daily
Borba went on general strike today over late pay.
Union leader Obrad Gacic said workers were demanding
the dismissal of manager Zoran Kalicanin and the
president of the board of directors, Zarko Jokanovic.
He claimed that workers had not been paid since
August, and said Kalicanin was responsible.
Around 800 of the 1,500 workers are currently on
strike, said Gacic, adding that he expected the number
to reach 1,000 by the end of the day.
---
http://www.workers.org/ww/2003/yugo1113.php
Thousands battle police in Belgrade
Union workers demand gov't resign
By John Catalinotto
Ten thousand workers struck the Sartid steel complex in Smederevo,
Serbia, on Oct. 14. Two weeks later, on Oct. 29, the largest workers'
demonstration since the overthrow of the government of Slobodan
Milosevic in October 2000 marched on the Serb parliament in Belgrade.
Thou sands of demonstrators demanded an end to privatization of
state-owned companies and the resignation of the government.
These two events, seemingly so far removed from here, impact directly
on the lives of workers in the United States.
To understand this, it helps to know that the U.S. Steel Corporation
had bought Sartid a month before the strike. Access to this
technologically advanced plant and its 10,000 skilled workers cost the
giant U.S. corporation a mere $23 million, although Yugoslavia had
invested $1 billion in it from 1990 to 2000. The steel complex produces
specialized steel that has buyers on the world market.
But the best part of it all--as the owners of U.S. Steel see it--is
that these workers with more than 30 years experience receive the
equivalent of $159 per month. According to an article by Spomenka
Deretic in the Oct. 17 issue of the Serb journal Artel, their pay is 33
Serbian dinars per hour, or about 65 cents. The union is asking for 55
dinars, or about $1.10.
Deretic's article compares the low wages of the workers at Sartid with
the higher wages paid at a U.S. Steel plant in nearby Slovakia--where
workers get $3.74 an hour--and with workers at U.S. Steel here, who are
paid $15 to $25 per hour.
The strike--at least the first phase of it--lasted until Oct. 23, when
negotiations started. What worker in the U.S. would not see this strike
as completely justified?
Workers here might also be outraged that U.S. Steel could go into the
Balkans or into Central Europe to find skilled, talented workers and
force them to accept one-25th of what steel workers get here.
But it is harder to see the connection between those low wages and the
so-called humanitarian war the U.S. and its NATO allies waged against
Yugoslavia over four years ago. Or how that war allowed the
privatization and sell-off of major Yugoslav industries.
Clinton's lie that this was a "humanitarian" war was as big as the Bush
administration's tale that the invasion of Iraq has nothing to do with
oil.
Before the 78-day bombing of Yugo slavia and the overthrow of the
government led by the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) the following
year, the steel plant was off-limits to U.S. capital. Replacing that
government with parties and individuals tied to Western governments and
banking interests has opened up Yugoslav industry to the world, that
is, to the imperialist world, to the same monopolies that control
economic life in the West.
Before this happened, the Yugoslav state protected its workers against
foreign capital. It also, in effect, protected U.S. workers from
competition. At least no big U.S. corporation could just take over and
make decisions to fire workers in Serbia, then a part of Yugoslavia.
The same was true in Slovakia, which before the 1990s was part of
socialist Czechoslovakia.
The U.S. Steel purchase of Sartid is only one of 882 major purchases at
low prices of Yugoslav industries by U.S. and West European capital.
They paid $1.4 billion in total to the regime, of which about 50
percent is from U.S. corporations. Less than 25 percent of these funds
went to social benefits for the 110,000 workers, who in the former
Yugoslavia were considered owners of the industries.
In most cases, the company taking over an industry savagely cut the
work force. In some, they just stopped production entire ly, to destroy
competition with their other factories around the world. But Sartid's
highly developed electronically run machines, especially its technology
for finishing the steel, and its work force, made it a going concern.
Workers march on parliament
What also made Sartid remarkable is that the workers fought back. And
they did so as workers in all of Serbia were preparing to battle the
pro-NATO government.
On Oct. 29-31 thousands of workers protested before the parliament in
Bel grade, called out by the Alliance of Inde pendent Serbian Unions.
Meanwhile Par li ament was debating a no-confidence vote in the
government. Many of the workers, including the miners, were from unions
that in October 2000 had supported the parties now in office.
Police stopped buses filled with workers from arriving at the capital.
On Oct. 30, they used teargas to break up the protest.
After three years of a post-Milosevic, pro-capitalist, pro-NATO
government that is even promising to send troops to Iraq and is helping
turn the former Yugo slavia into a colony of the West, the organized
workers in Yugoslavia are showing resistance.
Meanwhile, Milosevic has been battling charges at The Hague,
Netherlands, for alleged war crimes. He has represented himself before
the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY),
which was organized by the same NATO countries that launched a brutal
78-day bombing campaign of that country. Many accounts assert that
Milosevic's determined political defense and sharp cross-examinations
have stymied the ICTY prosecutors. NATO's court has failed to prove its
case.
In synch with the growing resistance inside Serbia, groups of emigrants
from Yugoslavia plus European organizations that defend Milosevic will
march on The Hague Nov. 8, demanding that the former Yugoslav president
be released from prison and given two years to prepare his defense case.
They say that by standing steadfastly against the ICTY, countering all
the lies told about Serb people, and straightening out the facts about
NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia, Milosevic has been doing a
service, not only to Serbia and Yugoslavia, but to the workers of the
world and anyone fighting U.S. imperialism.
Reprinted from the Nov. 13, 2003, issue of Workers World newspaper
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COLLABORAZIONE MILITARE CRESCENTE
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ITALIA-SERBIA: RAMPONI INCONTRA MINISTRO DIFESA TADIC
(ANSA) - ROMA, 19 NOV - Il presidente della commissione Difesa della
Camera Luigi Ramponi ha incontrato oggi a Montecitorio il ministro
della Difesa di Serbia e Montenegro Boris Tadic. Nel corso di un
incontro ''lungo e cordiale'', Ramponi e Tadic hanno manifestato
''reciproco compiacimento'' per l'avvio di concreti rapporti di
collaborazione nel settore della Difesa tra Italia e
Serbia-Montenegro, e sono state create le premesse per un futuro
incontro tra le commissioni Difesa dei due Paesi. Il ministro Tadic
ha inoltre chiesto il sostegno dell'Italia perche' il suo Paese
ottenga lo status di partecipante al partenariato per la pace ed alla
forza internazionale di pace Isaf in Afghanistan; un'aspirazione
condivisa da Ramponi, il quale ha assicurato ''ogni sforzo
possibile'' in questo senso. (ANSA). FLB
19/11/2003 14:13
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/serbiamontenegro/20031119141332760482.html
---
> http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
> 11/27/332122.html
Serbia-Montenegro to build partnership relations with NATO
Belgrade, Nov 27, 2003 - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic
said late on Wednesday following a meeting with NATO Secretary-General
George Robertson that Serbia-Montenegro should build partnership
relations with NATO.
Covic told Robertson that the future professional soldiers of
Serbia-Montenegro should be first sent to flash points around the
country, such as southern Serbia, and only after that they could be
incorporated into UN peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan.
The Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and the NATO Secretary General agreed
that Serbia-Montenegro and NATO should be partners in the upcoming
processes, and Covic added that the talks on the participation of the
country's soldiers in the international peacekeeping missions should be
continued.
Covic and Robertson also talked about the situation in Kosovo-Metohija
and the "standards before status" principle, as well as about the
country's accession to the Partnership for Peace, and continuation of
reforms in the country.
Robertson also met in Belgrade with Serbia-Montenegrin President
Svetozar Marovic, Minister of Foreign Affairs Goran Svilanovic and
Minister of Defence Boris Tadic.
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I PROFUGHI CREPANO DI FAME
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http://news.serbianunity.net/bydate/2003/December_05/6.html
Agence France-Presse, December 5, 2003
Serb refugees: Out of sight, out of mind
PANCEVO -- Dragana Vitosevic, a nine-year-old Serb
girl from Kosovo, has spent almost half her life in a
refugee centre in Pancevo, a grim industrial town near
the Serbian capital Belgrade.
She is just one of around 700,000 Serbs, those who
fled or were driven from their homes during the wars
in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo in the 1990s. Now they
make up about 10 percent of Serbia's population.
It is a burgeoning underclass which Serbia cannot
afford to support, and now even the United Nations is
looking for an "exit strategy" so it can focus on new
crises such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
"The problem is donor fatigue. Donors believe that
after eight years the humanitarian crisis is ending
here and they are turning to other hot spots," Andrej
Mahecic, spokesman for Serbia-Montenegro operations of
the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), told AFP.
He said the "trend of lower (aid) budgets will
continue," noting that the UNHCR had managed to raise
only 12.8 million dollars for its Serbia-Montenegro
operations next year compared to 18.9 million in
2003."This does not mean an end of all UNHCR aid
operations, but rather an exit strategy from the
humanitarian crisis situation," he said.
Paul Emes, the Belgrade delegation chief for the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies, said that by the end of the year aid
distributions from the World Food Programme and the
UNHCR will have "ceased." "There is also no funding
foreseen for soup kitchens from international donors
after the end of April," he said.
The Red Cross of Serbia and Montenegro distributes
international aid to 56,000 refugees and provides food
to 12,500 others in soup kitchens every day, he said.
"The government of Serbia and Montenegro clearly
understands that these poor, vulnerable and hungry
people are its responsibility, but despite its
commitment lacks the resources to finance these
humanitarian assistance operations fully," Emes said.
"As such, there is a real risk of hunger and
increasing vulnerability. The Federation therefore
calls upon the international community to support the
government to assist its most vulnerable people."
For Dragana, there was no birthday cake or candles
when she turned nine last week in the tiny room which
she shares with her family. Crowded in by stacked beds
and a small refrigerator, there is barely enough space
for the oven where Dragana and her mother, Ankica,
prepared their favorite meal: "Kosovo pie" with cheese
and cabbage. "This is not life, this is a fight for
survival. My smile is not a smile, it is a grimace of
hopelessness," said Ankica, who worked for 25 years in
the textile industry in Kosovo before the family fled
the war there in 1999. They receive no more than 30
euros (36 dollars) per month in foreign aid, and even
that may disappear next year.
"The announced international disengagement is
premature. These people should not be forgotten," said
Vesna Milenkovic, the secretary of Serbia's Red Cross.
More than a decade since the fall of communism in
Serbia, the benefits of capitalism are not trickling
down to ordinary people. Two thirds of the population
live on less than 160 euros a month and more than one
million people are unemployed, out of a population of
10 million.
Industrial production actually fell this year,
according to government figures. Political instability
following the ouster of former Yugoslav president
Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 has stymied foreign
investment.
Analysts say the poverty and hopelessness is good news
for a new breed of nationalist politicians. Opinion
polls last week showed the ultra-nationalist Serbian
Radical Party will emerge as the strongest single
party in the country after general elections on
December 28.
Milan Skoko, a senior Red Cross official based near
Pancevo, said the wealthy nations of Western Europe
should be ashamed of the poverty in their own
backyard. "The situation is catastrophic. If the
international aid runs out of steam, people will begin
dying of hunger. It will bring shame to Europe in the
21st century," he said.
---
http://www.ifrc.org/docs/news/03/03121001/
Surviving day-to-day in Serbia
10 December 2003
by Marie-Françoise Borel in Stara Pazova
"Just give me a normal job, and I will be able to
buy a house and give my children a better future."
There is frustration, resentment and sadness in
Gojko Grubic's voice as he thinks back on the eight
years which have passed since he was forced to flee
with his parents, his wife, Mira, and their two children
from Benkovac, a village now in Croatia.
Mira, 38, was pregnant then with their third child.
They left their house, their land, their garden by
tractor on August 4, 1995, and entered Serbia on
August 12. The baby was born in Pancevo, a town just
northeast of Belgrade, ten days later.
Gojko and his family are among an estimated 700,000
people living in Serbia and Montenegro, who have
been displaced by the successive conflicts in the
region since 1991. More than 95 per cent of them are
housed in private accommodation, just like the Grubic
family.
After spending five years living in a collective
centre in Kragujevac, some 90 km south of Belgrade,
they moved to Stara Pazova, 40 km north of Belgrade,
where Gojko thought he would have a better chance of
finding a job. Nearly 40 per cent of the town's population
of 60,000 are refugees or displaced.
Gojko, 46, is a plumber by trade and his wife used
to work in a factory. Now, he scrambles for odd
plumbing jobs in private homes. Mira cleans houses
and does some laundry.
Precarious
"In a good month," Mira explains, "we are able
to make 300 euros, but we pay 75 euros in rent for the
house, plus electricity and school fees. Today,
there is enough for food, but tomorrow? We are
living day-to-day," she says. If they do not come up
with the money to pay the rent, they will be
expelled from their small house.
Survival is precarious in Serbia where, according to
the government's latest survey, published in April
2003, some 1.6 million people, out of a population
of 7.5 million, live at or just below the poverty
line equivalent to 67 euros a month. Those statistics
do not take into account the refugees and displaced people who
are considered even more vulnerable than the local
population.
The Red Cross of Serbia and Montenegro is doing its
best to provide them with the essentials for sheer
survival, providing monthly food supplies - 12 kg
wheat flour, 1 kg sugar, 1 litre oil, 1 kg beans per
person - to those over 65 years old and to children.
It also serves 42,000 meals a day to the poorest.
Such help is welcome in a country where the economy
and government resources are insufficient to meet
the needs of the poorest. But with most
international aid ending at the end of the winter,
the Red Cross will have to cut back its assistance.
Milan Skoko, Secretary of the Stara Pazova Red Cross
branch explains just how serious the situation is in
this town, which has received 23,000 refugees since
1992, most of them coming from the Krajina region in
1995: "The situation is particularly critical. A
large number of people are too young, too old or too
sick to work. And those who can work cannot find jobs. If
humanitarian aid stops, people will starve in the heart of Europe.
This conclusion is drawn from the facts, not from my
imagination.”
Return impossible
The Grubic family wants to stay in Serbia, as their
house has been burned and return is impossible for
them. They are placing their hope in their children,
and trying to put them through school so they have a
chance for a better future.
The three children are good students; the eldest,
their 19-year-old son, Ljubisa, is working towards a
diploma in technological sciences, while their
daughter, Milena, 17, is studying to be a
pharmacist. They are both in Belgrade since local schools
cannot offer them the same opportunities.
Grandfather Savo Grubic, 75, has just lost his wife.
He says, wistfully: "It’s been difficult for me, but
my life is almost over, and now I worry about my
children's and my grandchildren’s future.”
The situation is just as bad for the refugees as it
is for the local population, says Milan Skoko. “What
will the Red Cross do when we have no more food to
distribute? How will these people survive? They must
not be forgotten.”
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GAZPROM, LUKOIL, PHILIP MORRIS ED AMERICAN TOBACCO... TUTTI ADDOSSO
ALLE SPOGLIE DI UN PAESE
=====
Agreement on settling Serbian oil company's debt to Gazprom reached
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
11/11/331868.html
Lukoil acquires Beopetrol fuel chain
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
09/26/
331152.html
Philip Morris and British American Tobacco Enter the Serbian Market (by
Dusan Kosanovic)
http://www.balkantimes.com/
default3.asp?lang=english&page=process_print&article_id=20730
---
Le puntate precedenti - in ordine cronologico inverso - su:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2863
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2699
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2683
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2680
Vedi anche:
La situazione nella Serbia jugoslava, Ottobre 2003
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2964
Serbia: non si intravede la fine della crisi (Ruzica Milosavljevic)
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2941
Protests and political crisis in Serbia
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2931
Serbia: i lavoratori in piazza a Smederevo e Belgrado
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2907
STRIKE AT US-OWNED SERBIAN STEEL PLANT
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2869
---
NOTA A MARGINE
Nessun organo di informazione italiano si degna di analizzare,
tantomeno di commentare, le condizioni sociali in Serbia, determinatesi
dopo la presa del potere da parte delle destre filo-occidentali
nell'ottobre 2003. Il caso "Telekom Serbia" viene usato a fini di
strumentalizzazione politica interna, ma delle devastanti
privatizzazioni attuali - di quelle vere, insomma - non si parla.
Questo "embargo" informativo sussiste anche e soprattutto per gli
organi di stampa di "sinistra", che fino all'ottobre 2000 avevano
viceversa dedicato tantissimo spazio ed una attenzione costante -
benche' spesso morbosa, "deviata" e deviante - alle tragedie in atto
nei Balcani ed ai soggetti e movimenti attivi su quei territori -
soprattutto la vezzeggiatissima "opposizione" serba.
Potremmo al limite comprendere, pur senza giustificarlo, il silenzio
sulla grave involuzione politica, che ha comportato addirittura la
completa omissione dalle cronache e dai commenti della cancellazione
della Jugoslavia dalle cartine geografiche (il paese, in seguito ad un
decreto della nuova classe dirigente di destra, voluto da Solana, si
chiama oggi "Unione di Serbia e Montenegro"). Quello che pero' non
possiamo assolutamente ne' capire ne' accettare, da parte di
"Liberazione" ed "Il Manifesto" in primo luogo, e' la totale assenza di
qualsivoglia analisi sugli effetti delle politiche neoliberiste piu'
feroci, attuate in un paese e contro un popolo cosi' concretamente
vicini.
Le svendite, i licenziamenti, la demolizione dello stato sociale,
l'abbandono di centinaia di migliaia di profughi (politicamente
"inopportuni") da parte delle istituzioni sia serbe che internazionali,
i crescenti legami con gli USA e con la NATO, i diktat delle
istituzioni finanziarie internazionali, la chiusura di moltissime
aziende, le iniziative del movimento di solidarieta' verso i lavoratori
jugoslavi da anni attivo in Italia, l'imposizione del regime "di
emergenza" la scorsa primavera, con le torture in carcere e gli arresti
indiscriminati, la persistente violazione dei diritti politici delle
opposizioni antiliberiste... per non parlare del regime di terrore
instaurato in Kosmet - a tutto questo "Il Manifesto" e "Liberazione"
non dedicano nessuno spazio. Questo atteggiamento e'
giornalisticamente becero, politicamente squallido e moralmente
ignobile.
Questo dato di fatto non ci assolve, certo, dalle nostre proprie
responsabilita' in quanto amici della Jugoslavia: siamo noi stessi
incapaci. Incapaci di comunicare con il movimento contro la guerra,
incapaci di costruire iniziative comuni, incapaci di esprimere
coralmente una nostra posizione. Ci perdiamo tra invettive moralistiche
(compresa la presente) ed iniziative solidaristiche, atte a
tranquillizzare le nostre proprie coscienze, senza cambiare nulla.
La crisi nei Balcani tornera' ad esplodere - innanzitutto a causa della
"patata bollente" del Kosovo. La opinione pubblica italiana non sara'
stata informata di niente, i militanti della sinistra antiliberista e
pacifista saranno stati privati degli strumenti per capire ed agire.
Andrea Martocchia
=====
PRIVATIZZAZIONI A RAFFICA
=====
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=25818&style=headlines
Beta, December 4, 2003
Mass privatisation auction today
BELGRADE -- Thursday – A thousand Serbian companies go
under the hammer of the Privatisation Agency’s
auctioneer today, Privatisation Minister Aleksandar
Vlahovic has announced.
Vlahovic told media that over the past two and a half
years, 1.3 billion euros had been raised in state
company sell-offs, with a further 750 million euros
invested as part of sale contracts.
Another 260 million euros has been put into social
welfare programs for workers made redundant by company
restructuring.
Vlahovic added that no major companies will be
scheduled for sale until a new government is formed to
avoid any suspicion of irregularity.
---
SERBIA: PRIVATIZZAZIONI, QUOTA 1.000 IMPRESE VENDUTE
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 4 DIC - Ha raggiunto la quota di mille aziende
vendute il programma di privatizzazioni portato avanti dalla Serbia
dopo la caduta del regime dell'ex presidente jugoslavo Slobodan
Milosevic. Oggi e' stata ufficializzata la cessione della compagnia
'Inos metalli' di Belgrado, acquistata per 191 milioni di dinari
(circa 2.850.000 euro) dall'azienda montenegrina 'Interprom'.
All'asta avevano partecipato anche imprese tedesche e greche, e
l'offerta iniziale e' stata moltiplicata di venti volte. Finora la
maggior parte del programma di privatizzazioni ha comunque coinvolto
piccole e medie imprese, con pochissimi investimenti esteri. I giganti
industriali dell'epoca comunista sono infatti troppo obsoleti, con
manodopera in eccesso e con troppi debiti per risvegliare l'interesse
dei grandi investitori. Il programma di privatizzazioni in Serbia
ha avuto un costo sociale elevato, alimentando il numero dei
disoccupati, che tocca ormai il milione di persone, un terzo della
popolazione attiva. Lo stato pero' ha incamerato 1,3 miliardi di euro,
altri 700 milioni sono stati reinvestiti nelle imprese privatizzate e
280 milioni sono stati stanziati per la previdenza sociale.
La quota di mille privatizzazioni e' stata festeggiata dal ministro
responsabile del programma, Aleksandar Vlahovic, con un'asta di
beneficenza nella quale sono stati messi all'incanto il martelletto
usato per battere la prima vendita di un'azienda statale, una copia
della prima gazzetta ufficiale che indiceva la gara e il primo invito
pubblico per l'asta: il ricavato, destinato al fondo per l'infanzia,
e' stato di 1,77 milioni di dinari, ovvero 26.400 euro. (ANSA).
OT 04/12/2003 17:17
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/serbiamontenegro/20031204171732776659.html
---
LINK:
1,000th Serbian company goes private
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
12/04/332244.html
=====
FMI, USA, BEI, AER... TUTTI SODDISFATTI DELLA POLITICA ECONOMICA DEL
REGIME DI BELGRADO
=====
LINKS:
IMF welcomes Serbia's tax administration reform
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
12/03/332206.html
US Restores Normal Trade Relations with Serbia-Montenegro (by Dusan
Kosanovic)
http://www.balkantimes.com/
default3.asp?lang=english&page=process_print&article_id=21874
US resumes normal trade relations with Serbia-Montenegro
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
12/03/332222.html
EIB and Serbian government continue cooperation
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
12/12/332400.html
EAR to help Serbian infrastructure development agency start operations
with 10.5 million euros
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
12/12/332402.html
=====
L'AUTUNNO CALDO DELLA SERBIA
=====
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
EEconomy.htm#No%20major%20progress%20achieved%20in%20talks%20between%20t
rade%20unions,%20US%20Steel
Tanjug - November 6, 2003
No major progress achieved in talks between trade
unions, US Steel
20:27 SMEDEREVO , Nov 6 (Tanjug) - The general strike
of US Steel Serbia workers is entering its second
month and the management is doing nothing to seriously
review strikers' demands, it was said on Thursday by
the strikers' committee made up of the representative
trade unions of the former Sartid concern.
Although it has not observed any of the obligations
envisaged under the Law on the Strike, collective
agreement and signed protocol, the company management
is behaving as if it is not a side in the dispute and
is neglecting its obligations, the statement said.
---
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25463&order=priority&style=headlines
Beta - November 12, 2003
Union alliance announces nationwide protests
BELGRADE -- Tuesday – The Alliance of Independent
Serbian Unions has announced a series of protests
across Serbia.
Union member Dragan Zarubica said that protest rallies
would be held in Nis, Krusevac, Zrenjanin, Cacak,
Raska and “several other towns”.
The Alliance organised a protest rally in Belgrade
last month, attracting more than 10,000 workers.
Speakers called on the government to step down and
slate early elections.
---
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25460&order=priority&style=headlines
FoNet, November 12, 2003
Borba workers on strike
BELGRADE -- Tuesday – Employees at Belgrade daily
Borba went on general strike today over late pay.
Union leader Obrad Gacic said workers were demanding
the dismissal of manager Zoran Kalicanin and the
president of the board of directors, Zarko Jokanovic.
He claimed that workers had not been paid since
August, and said Kalicanin was responsible.
Around 800 of the 1,500 workers are currently on
strike, said Gacic, adding that he expected the number
to reach 1,000 by the end of the day.
---
http://www.workers.org/ww/2003/yugo1113.php
Thousands battle police in Belgrade
Union workers demand gov't resign
By John Catalinotto
Ten thousand workers struck the Sartid steel complex in Smederevo,
Serbia, on Oct. 14. Two weeks later, on Oct. 29, the largest workers'
demonstration since the overthrow of the government of Slobodan
Milosevic in October 2000 marched on the Serb parliament in Belgrade.
Thou sands of demonstrators demanded an end to privatization of
state-owned companies and the resignation of the government.
These two events, seemingly so far removed from here, impact directly
on the lives of workers in the United States.
To understand this, it helps to know that the U.S. Steel Corporation
had bought Sartid a month before the strike. Access to this
technologically advanced plant and its 10,000 skilled workers cost the
giant U.S. corporation a mere $23 million, although Yugoslavia had
invested $1 billion in it from 1990 to 2000. The steel complex produces
specialized steel that has buyers on the world market.
But the best part of it all--as the owners of U.S. Steel see it--is
that these workers with more than 30 years experience receive the
equivalent of $159 per month. According to an article by Spomenka
Deretic in the Oct. 17 issue of the Serb journal Artel, their pay is 33
Serbian dinars per hour, or about 65 cents. The union is asking for 55
dinars, or about $1.10.
Deretic's article compares the low wages of the workers at Sartid with
the higher wages paid at a U.S. Steel plant in nearby Slovakia--where
workers get $3.74 an hour--and with workers at U.S. Steel here, who are
paid $15 to $25 per hour.
The strike--at least the first phase of it--lasted until Oct. 23, when
negotiations started. What worker in the U.S. would not see this strike
as completely justified?
Workers here might also be outraged that U.S. Steel could go into the
Balkans or into Central Europe to find skilled, talented workers and
force them to accept one-25th of what steel workers get here.
But it is harder to see the connection between those low wages and the
so-called humanitarian war the U.S. and its NATO allies waged against
Yugoslavia over four years ago. Or how that war allowed the
privatization and sell-off of major Yugoslav industries.
Clinton's lie that this was a "humanitarian" war was as big as the Bush
administration's tale that the invasion of Iraq has nothing to do with
oil.
Before the 78-day bombing of Yugo slavia and the overthrow of the
government led by the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) the following
year, the steel plant was off-limits to U.S. capital. Replacing that
government with parties and individuals tied to Western governments and
banking interests has opened up Yugoslav industry to the world, that
is, to the imperialist world, to the same monopolies that control
economic life in the West.
Before this happened, the Yugoslav state protected its workers against
foreign capital. It also, in effect, protected U.S. workers from
competition. At least no big U.S. corporation could just take over and
make decisions to fire workers in Serbia, then a part of Yugoslavia.
The same was true in Slovakia, which before the 1990s was part of
socialist Czechoslovakia.
The U.S. Steel purchase of Sartid is only one of 882 major purchases at
low prices of Yugoslav industries by U.S. and West European capital.
They paid $1.4 billion in total to the regime, of which about 50
percent is from U.S. corporations. Less than 25 percent of these funds
went to social benefits for the 110,000 workers, who in the former
Yugoslavia were considered owners of the industries.
In most cases, the company taking over an industry savagely cut the
work force. In some, they just stopped production entire ly, to destroy
competition with their other factories around the world. But Sartid's
highly developed electronically run machines, especially its technology
for finishing the steel, and its work force, made it a going concern.
Workers march on parliament
What also made Sartid remarkable is that the workers fought back. And
they did so as workers in all of Serbia were preparing to battle the
pro-NATO government.
On Oct. 29-31 thousands of workers protested before the parliament in
Bel grade, called out by the Alliance of Inde pendent Serbian Unions.
Meanwhile Par li ament was debating a no-confidence vote in the
government. Many of the workers, including the miners, were from unions
that in October 2000 had supported the parties now in office.
Police stopped buses filled with workers from arriving at the capital.
On Oct. 30, they used teargas to break up the protest.
After three years of a post-Milosevic, pro-capitalist, pro-NATO
government that is even promising to send troops to Iraq and is helping
turn the former Yugo slavia into a colony of the West, the organized
workers in Yugoslavia are showing resistance.
Meanwhile, Milosevic has been battling charges at The Hague,
Netherlands, for alleged war crimes. He has represented himself before
the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY),
which was organized by the same NATO countries that launched a brutal
78-day bombing campaign of that country. Many accounts assert that
Milosevic's determined political defense and sharp cross-examinations
have stymied the ICTY prosecutors. NATO's court has failed to prove its
case.
In synch with the growing resistance inside Serbia, groups of emigrants
from Yugoslavia plus European organizations that defend Milosevic will
march on The Hague Nov. 8, demanding that the former Yugoslav president
be released from prison and given two years to prepare his defense case.
They say that by standing steadfastly against the ICTY, countering all
the lies told about Serb people, and straightening out the facts about
NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia, Milosevic has been doing a
service, not only to Serbia and Yugoslavia, but to the workers of the
world and anyone fighting U.S. imperialism.
Reprinted from the Nov. 13, 2003, issue of Workers World newspaper
=====
COLLABORAZIONE MILITARE CRESCENTE
=====
ITALIA-SERBIA: RAMPONI INCONTRA MINISTRO DIFESA TADIC
(ANSA) - ROMA, 19 NOV - Il presidente della commissione Difesa della
Camera Luigi Ramponi ha incontrato oggi a Montecitorio il ministro
della Difesa di Serbia e Montenegro Boris Tadic. Nel corso di un
incontro ''lungo e cordiale'', Ramponi e Tadic hanno manifestato
''reciproco compiacimento'' per l'avvio di concreti rapporti di
collaborazione nel settore della Difesa tra Italia e
Serbia-Montenegro, e sono state create le premesse per un futuro
incontro tra le commissioni Difesa dei due Paesi. Il ministro Tadic
ha inoltre chiesto il sostegno dell'Italia perche' il suo Paese
ottenga lo status di partecipante al partenariato per la pace ed alla
forza internazionale di pace Isaf in Afghanistan; un'aspirazione
condivisa da Ramponi, il quale ha assicurato ''ogni sforzo
possibile'' in questo senso. (ANSA). FLB
19/11/2003 14:13
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/serbiamontenegro/20031119141332760482.html
---
> http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
> 11/27/332122.html
Serbia-Montenegro to build partnership relations with NATO
Belgrade, Nov 27, 2003 - Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic
said late on Wednesday following a meeting with NATO Secretary-General
George Robertson that Serbia-Montenegro should build partnership
relations with NATO.
Covic told Robertson that the future professional soldiers of
Serbia-Montenegro should be first sent to flash points around the
country, such as southern Serbia, and only after that they could be
incorporated into UN peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan.
The Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and the NATO Secretary General agreed
that Serbia-Montenegro and NATO should be partners in the upcoming
processes, and Covic added that the talks on the participation of the
country's soldiers in the international peacekeeping missions should be
continued.
Covic and Robertson also talked about the situation in Kosovo-Metohija
and the "standards before status" principle, as well as about the
country's accession to the Partnership for Peace, and continuation of
reforms in the country.
Robertson also met in Belgrade with Serbia-Montenegrin President
Svetozar Marovic, Minister of Foreign Affairs Goran Svilanovic and
Minister of Defence Boris Tadic.
=====
I PROFUGHI CREPANO DI FAME
=====
http://news.serbianunity.net/bydate/2003/December_05/6.html
Agence France-Presse, December 5, 2003
Serb refugees: Out of sight, out of mind
PANCEVO -- Dragana Vitosevic, a nine-year-old Serb
girl from Kosovo, has spent almost half her life in a
refugee centre in Pancevo, a grim industrial town near
the Serbian capital Belgrade.
She is just one of around 700,000 Serbs, those who
fled or were driven from their homes during the wars
in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo in the 1990s. Now they
make up about 10 percent of Serbia's population.
It is a burgeoning underclass which Serbia cannot
afford to support, and now even the United Nations is
looking for an "exit strategy" so it can focus on new
crises such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
"The problem is donor fatigue. Donors believe that
after eight years the humanitarian crisis is ending
here and they are turning to other hot spots," Andrej
Mahecic, spokesman for Serbia-Montenegro operations of
the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), told AFP.
He said the "trend of lower (aid) budgets will
continue," noting that the UNHCR had managed to raise
only 12.8 million dollars for its Serbia-Montenegro
operations next year compared to 18.9 million in
2003."This does not mean an end of all UNHCR aid
operations, but rather an exit strategy from the
humanitarian crisis situation," he said.
Paul Emes, the Belgrade delegation chief for the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies, said that by the end of the year aid
distributions from the World Food Programme and the
UNHCR will have "ceased." "There is also no funding
foreseen for soup kitchens from international donors
after the end of April," he said.
The Red Cross of Serbia and Montenegro distributes
international aid to 56,000 refugees and provides food
to 12,500 others in soup kitchens every day, he said.
"The government of Serbia and Montenegro clearly
understands that these poor, vulnerable and hungry
people are its responsibility, but despite its
commitment lacks the resources to finance these
humanitarian assistance operations fully," Emes said.
"As such, there is a real risk of hunger and
increasing vulnerability. The Federation therefore
calls upon the international community to support the
government to assist its most vulnerable people."
For Dragana, there was no birthday cake or candles
when she turned nine last week in the tiny room which
she shares with her family. Crowded in by stacked beds
and a small refrigerator, there is barely enough space
for the oven where Dragana and her mother, Ankica,
prepared their favorite meal: "Kosovo pie" with cheese
and cabbage. "This is not life, this is a fight for
survival. My smile is not a smile, it is a grimace of
hopelessness," said Ankica, who worked for 25 years in
the textile industry in Kosovo before the family fled
the war there in 1999. They receive no more than 30
euros (36 dollars) per month in foreign aid, and even
that may disappear next year.
"The announced international disengagement is
premature. These people should not be forgotten," said
Vesna Milenkovic, the secretary of Serbia's Red Cross.
More than a decade since the fall of communism in
Serbia, the benefits of capitalism are not trickling
down to ordinary people. Two thirds of the population
live on less than 160 euros a month and more than one
million people are unemployed, out of a population of
10 million.
Industrial production actually fell this year,
according to government figures. Political instability
following the ouster of former Yugoslav president
Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 has stymied foreign
investment.
Analysts say the poverty and hopelessness is good news
for a new breed of nationalist politicians. Opinion
polls last week showed the ultra-nationalist Serbian
Radical Party will emerge as the strongest single
party in the country after general elections on
December 28.
Milan Skoko, a senior Red Cross official based near
Pancevo, said the wealthy nations of Western Europe
should be ashamed of the poverty in their own
backyard. "The situation is catastrophic. If the
international aid runs out of steam, people will begin
dying of hunger. It will bring shame to Europe in the
21st century," he said.
---
http://www.ifrc.org/docs/news/03/03121001/
Surviving day-to-day in Serbia
10 December 2003
by Marie-Françoise Borel in Stara Pazova
"Just give me a normal job, and I will be able to
buy a house and give my children a better future."
There is frustration, resentment and sadness in
Gojko Grubic's voice as he thinks back on the eight
years which have passed since he was forced to flee
with his parents, his wife, Mira, and their two children
from Benkovac, a village now in Croatia.
Mira, 38, was pregnant then with their third child.
They left their house, their land, their garden by
tractor on August 4, 1995, and entered Serbia on
August 12. The baby was born in Pancevo, a town just
northeast of Belgrade, ten days later.
Gojko and his family are among an estimated 700,000
people living in Serbia and Montenegro, who have
been displaced by the successive conflicts in the
region since 1991. More than 95 per cent of them are
housed in private accommodation, just like the Grubic
family.
After spending five years living in a collective
centre in Kragujevac, some 90 km south of Belgrade,
they moved to Stara Pazova, 40 km north of Belgrade,
where Gojko thought he would have a better chance of
finding a job. Nearly 40 per cent of the town's population
of 60,000 are refugees or displaced.
Gojko, 46, is a plumber by trade and his wife used
to work in a factory. Now, he scrambles for odd
plumbing jobs in private homes. Mira cleans houses
and does some laundry.
Precarious
"In a good month," Mira explains, "we are able
to make 300 euros, but we pay 75 euros in rent for the
house, plus electricity and school fees. Today,
there is enough for food, but tomorrow? We are
living day-to-day," she says. If they do not come up
with the money to pay the rent, they will be
expelled from their small house.
Survival is precarious in Serbia where, according to
the government's latest survey, published in April
2003, some 1.6 million people, out of a population
of 7.5 million, live at or just below the poverty
line equivalent to 67 euros a month. Those statistics
do not take into account the refugees and displaced people who
are considered even more vulnerable than the local
population.
The Red Cross of Serbia and Montenegro is doing its
best to provide them with the essentials for sheer
survival, providing monthly food supplies - 12 kg
wheat flour, 1 kg sugar, 1 litre oil, 1 kg beans per
person - to those over 65 years old and to children.
It also serves 42,000 meals a day to the poorest.
Such help is welcome in a country where the economy
and government resources are insufficient to meet
the needs of the poorest. But with most
international aid ending at the end of the winter,
the Red Cross will have to cut back its assistance.
Milan Skoko, Secretary of the Stara Pazova Red Cross
branch explains just how serious the situation is in
this town, which has received 23,000 refugees since
1992, most of them coming from the Krajina region in
1995: "The situation is particularly critical. A
large number of people are too young, too old or too
sick to work. And those who can work cannot find jobs. If
humanitarian aid stops, people will starve in the heart of Europe.
This conclusion is drawn from the facts, not from my
imagination.”
Return impossible
The Grubic family wants to stay in Serbia, as their
house has been burned and return is impossible for
them. They are placing their hope in their children,
and trying to put them through school so they have a
chance for a better future.
The three children are good students; the eldest,
their 19-year-old son, Ljubisa, is working towards a
diploma in technological sciences, while their
daughter, Milena, 17, is studying to be a
pharmacist. They are both in Belgrade since local schools
cannot offer them the same opportunities.
Grandfather Savo Grubic, 75, has just lost his wife.
He says, wistfully: "It’s been difficult for me, but
my life is almost over, and now I worry about my
children's and my grandchildren’s future.”
The situation is just as bad for the refugees as it
is for the local population, says Milan Skoko. “What
will the Red Cross do when we have no more food to
distribute? How will these people survive? They must
not be forgotten.”
=====
GAZPROM, LUKOIL, PHILIP MORRIS ED AMERICAN TOBACCO... TUTTI ADDOSSO
ALLE SPOGLIE DI UN PAESE
=====
Agreement on settling Serbian oil company's debt to Gazprom reached
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
11/11/331868.html
Lukoil acquires Beopetrol fuel chain
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
09/26/
331152.html
Philip Morris and British American Tobacco Enter the Serbian Market (by
Dusan Kosanovic)
http://www.balkantimes.com/
default3.asp?lang=english&page=process_print&article_id=20730