Deindustrijalizacija i radnički otpor - Pokret za slobodu

ing present. The workers then appealed to the Higher Economic Courtin Belgrade.In the meantime, on 11 May 2008, local elections were held acrossSerbia. The EQUALITY Movement took 4 seats in Zrenjanin’s localcouncil. On November 24, EQUALITY’s councilors initiated a City ofZrenjanin Inquiry Board on Šinvoz, which would investigate the circumstancessurrounding Šinvoz’s bankruptcy. All the local politicalparties voted for proposal, which is quite a unique case in Serbia, deeplydivided among nationalistic and pro-European parties, which oftencan't find common ground on any issue. More importantly, this was thefirst commission ever established in Serbia by elected representatives,at either the local or the national level, to investigate a privatizationcase.On 2 February 2009, the Higher Economic Court in Belgrade upheldthe verdict reached by the Zrenjanin Economic Court on 1 October2008 allowing Nebojša Ivković to implement his ReorganizationProgram for Šinvoz. This means that the man who intentionally putŠinvoz into bankruptcy, deceived the other shareholders (the workersand pensioners of Šinvoz), and broke his contract with state, is nowbeing given total control over the factory. It’s not enough that he managedto avoid jail, but he is now actually being rewarded by the courtsfor perpetuating this scam.At a meeting held a few days later on 6 February 2009, over 300Šinvoz workers voted to continue the struggle. At the same meeting,intellectuals and activists who are standing in solidarity with theŠinvoz workers formed a Citizens’ Board in Support of Šinvoz Workers.Among those on the Citizens’ Board are known intellectuals from Serbia’ssummer of ’68, including Dr. Zagorka Golubović and Dr. NebojšaPopov, as well as Freedom Fight activist Ivan Zlatić and others.On 21 February 2009, attendees at the Congress on Economic Solidarityin Vienna (Austria) signed a letter of support for these Šinvozworkers. Five days later, EQUALITY Movement councilor and theChairman of the Board, Branislav Markuš, read the letter in front ofZrenjanin’s City Parliament, to encourage the other MPs to support theconclusions of the Inquiry Board.On February 26, Zrenjanin’s city council adopted the conclusionsand recommendations of the Board of Inquiry with respect to Šinvoz.The Board concluded that the fraud committed was obvious, and thatthe Court should use its right under Article 102 and 103 of the Law on333