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 and friends

Platform of Belgrade independent cultural and activist scene

www.drugascena.org

________________________________

Ujedinjeni komšiluk u borbi protiv rasizma
neformalno druženje i konferencija za štampu

Zbog intenzifikacije rasističkih mera gradske vlasti u romskim
naseljima pored Belvila u bloku 67, a kao podršku našim romskim
sugrađanima i sugrađankama, akteri "Druge scene" i prijatelji od
otvaranja Univerzijade, su stalni gosti romskog naselja pored Belvila
u Bloku 67. U saradnji sa getoiziranim stanovnicima naselja, tokom
trajanja Univerzijade organizujemo niz neformalnih druženja,
umetničkih radionica i kulturnih programa. U sredu 8. jula
organizujemo i konferenciju za štampu u 15h.

Posle nenajavljenog rušenja jednog dela pomenutog naselja početkom
aprila, 16. juna 2009. postavljeni su žičana ograda oko romskih
naselja, obezbeđenje i policija sa spoljne strane ograde, a pred
otvaranje Univerzijade su na ogradu postavljeni i baneri Univerzijade
kako bi se sakrila romska naselja iza ograde. Pored toga, postavljena
je i patrola policije koja dežura duž ograde unutar naselja!
Stanovnicima je zabranjeno da izlaze iz naselja, zabranjeno im je da
šetaju ulicama pored Belvila, zabranjeno im je da skupljaju sirovine
iz okolnih kontejnera (što je skoro jedini izvor njihovog prihoda).
Ovim merama, stanovnicima je ograničeno kretanje, a samim tim i
uskraćena mogućnost da rade.

Posle decenija ignorisanja njihovih problema i odbijanja čelnika
Beograda da im pruže najosnovnije uslove za život, otišlo se korak
dalje u diskriminaciji naših sugrađana pod izgovorom ostvarivanja
bezbednosnih uslova za održavanje Univerzijade. Podizanjem ograde oko
naselja i uvođenjem nadzora policije, čiji je pravi cilj da se od
gostiju iz inostranstva i javnosti sakrije "sramota" - beda i
siromaštvo u kom žive Romi, gradske vlasti su pokazale da zapravo ne
žele da se bave poboljšanjem uslova života ljudi, već samo
unapređenjem medijske slike našeg grada.

Nećemo dopustiti da se na ovaj način ponižavaju naši sugrađani i da se
krivotvori realnost, jer se prava slika Srbije dobija tek kada se
jedna pored druge stave slike Belvila i romskih naselja, korupcije na
najvišem nivou i otpuštenih radnika, privatizacije univerziteta i
Univerzijade koja je važnija od ljudskih života i dostojanstva.
Zahtevamo da se ODMAH ukloni ograda oko romskih naselja u Bloku 67 i
da se počne sa pronalaženjem adekvatnih načina za poboljšanje životnih
uslova stanovnika najugroženijih naselja u gradu.

Ne pristajemo da se za "dobrobit grada" deo naših sugrađana zatvara u geto!

Ne želimo Univerzijadu koja gazi ljudsko dostojanstvo!

Ne želimo vlast za koju kapital ima prednost nad životom i za koju
rasizam predstavlja jedan od glavnih postulata upravljanja.

Pozivamo vas da u sredu 8. jula u 15 h dodjete na druženje u naselje.

Druga scena i prijatelji
platforma beogradske nezavisne kulturno-umetničke i aktivističke scene
www.drugascena.org