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United Neoghbourhood against Racism
Wednesday July the 8th at 3 pm!
Blok 67, next to the Bellville athletes' village
UNITED neighborhood against racism
We invite you to get to know your neighborhood!
Join us on Wednesday July the 8th at 3 pm!
Dear guests and visitors of the Universiade!
Dear athletes!
Three months before the opening of the Universiade, Belgrade's City Secretariat for Inspections decided to destroy the Roma slum settlement located right next to the athlete's village "Belleville". On April the 3rd 2009 all of a sudden a couple of bulldozers showed up
at the settlement and demolished 40 houses. As the demolition was carried out without any prior notice to the residents, the people did not even have time to save their belongings from being buried under the ruins. A few of them were practically rescued from their houses in the very moment when the bulldozers were demolishing them.
As a consequence of this, a series of public protests opposing the humiliating policy was organized, and it made a public pressure on the City Secretariat's decision-makers to an extent that they did not dare to terminate what they started: the total erasure of the settlement. The new strategy is to erase the settlement's visibility and to ban its residents from the streets. On June 16th 2009, a metal fence was built around the settlement. The fence is guarded by police and security staff on both sides, inside and outside the settlement. The residents are randomly forbidden to leave the settlement, which does
not only limit their freedom of movement but also prevents them from carrying out their regular daily work on the streets of Belgrade, their only source of income.
We will not accept the humiliation of our fellow citizens, nor the attempt to forge reality. The true image of Serbia is composed of images such as fancy "Belleville" area and Roma slum settlements being located right next to each other. It is composed of corruption on
highest level and the cutback of laborer's rights and mass dismissals. It is composed of the privatization of the Universities and the sad fact that high-publicity events such as the Universiade are more important than human lives and dignity. No fence will be able to change or hide that - no matter how big it may be.
As an explicit statement of opposing the intensified racist measures implemented by Belgrade authorities, and to support our fellow citizens, the members and friends of "Druga scena" decided to be the permanent guests in the Roma settlement for the duration of the Universiade. During this period a number of informal meetings, art workshops and cultural exchange programs are organized in cooperation with the ghettoized residents of the settlement. Together we demand that the fence around the Roma settlement in Block 67 is removed IMMEDIATELY. We demand that the City of Belgrade finally assumes its responsibility to improve the unacceptable living conditions of tens of thousands Belgrade citizens who are forced to live in one of the approximately 150 slum settlements all over the city.
No to ghettoization of our neighborhood "for the benefit of the city"!
No to Universiade or any public event if it is at the expense of human dignity!
No to the authorities that value capital over human life and use racist strategies to manage their policies!
Druga Scena [Other Scene] and friends
Platform of Belgrade independent cultural and activist scene
