The Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Belgrade opposes the privatization of the Pharmacy “Belgrade”. The trade union believes that this pharmacy institution, whose founder is the city of Belgrade, must remain a part of the public health system and a guarantee of adequate supply of medicines to the citizens.
The memorial complex “Boško Buha”, located on Jabuka mountain near the town of Prijepolje, has been exempted from the bankruptcy estate of “Putnik”, a company which will be put on sale at the end of February.
Boško Buha Memorial Complex at Jabuka near Prijepolje has been announced to be sold off in late January. However, a part of the public opposes the allienation of this important symbol of freedom fight and former social progress, stating that together with it we sell away the “noble ideas of pacifism, antifascism, and struggle for justice and equality”.
The same people who robbed the state were involved in the making of the law. Participants of the panel discussion “The truth about the 24 cases”, organized by the Centre for investigative journalism (CINS) concluded that the Law on Privatisation allowed corruption during the transition period in Serbia, which lead to systemic deterioration of economy and society.
Professional city bus drivers are leaving Serbia with a one-way ticket increasingly often. The prolongation of working hours, low salaries and irrational business policies of the City public transport company Belgrade do not only motivate the drivers to emigrate, but also serve as arguments for further privatization of the company.
Private-public partnerships in public services sector represent just another instrument for private businesses to get their hands on public funds. BusPlus is a typical example of such business model in Serbia whose downsides have been obvious for years now.
Rory Archer is a historian who researches social history of the Balkans in the 20th century and currently works at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at the University College London. Archer explores the ways in which “ordinary” Yugoslavs interpreted economic, political and cultural tensions in late socialism and reacted to them. Since 2014 he has worked with Goran Musić on a research project titled Between Class and Nation: Working class communities in the eighties in Serbia and Montenegro. In 2015 he completed his PhD in Graz with a dissertation on the (in)affordability of housing among the working class in Belgrade, and in 2016 co-authored the book Social Inequalities and Disaffection in Yugoslavian Socialism.
The social need for renewable energy has become a true frenzy for profit-making among the private investors. Building a mini hydroelectric power plant in a nature reserve can have devastating effects on the ecosystem. We visited Stara Planina, an area where rivers could soon start flowing through the pipes.
Changes and additions to the Law on Public Utilities implemented early this year are leading to increased prices and decreased quality of services. Additionally, both local and international examples show that what follows is layoffs of workers in this sector, as well as harder access for the poorest to important services such as water supply … Read more
