Deindustrijalizacija i radnički otpor - Pokret za slobodu

pen. This is because a good portion of the proceeds from privatizationhave gone into the financing of political parties (both among those inthe current government and for those in the oppositions ranks).How has the workers movement responded?The independent, grassroots workers' movement in which we'reparticipating draws on the experience of the workers' struggle in thecity of Zrenjanin from recent years. This is a model that we're trying tospread to other cities in Serbia. Zrenjanin, which was one of the industrialcenters of both Serbia and the former Yugoslavia, suffered a thetotal collapse of local industry. The current unemployment rate therenow stands at 35%. However, in Zrenjanin there were also factorieswhere workers offered strong resistance, like in the 'Jugoremedija'pharmaceutical factory - where they succeeded in removing the newowner who was leading the company into bankruptcy. These workersrecently succeeded in installing their own management, restart productionand save their jobs. Having solved their own existential problems,they continued to struggle in solidarity with their local community,establishing a working-class political party known as 'Ravnopravnost'(Equality) and extending their solidarity to workers from other factoriesin Zrenjanin that were caught-up in similar struggles. The movementhas received the support of the local community, as well as manyorganizers and public figures from outside Zrenjanin, including someengaged intellectuals like Nebojsa Popov (the editor of Republika) andIvan Zlatic, an activist from the Freedom Fight movement, etc.The movement we're building is based on the right to work, or Ishould say more precisely, the right of workers to decide on the fateof the factories in which they're employed and from which they themselves,along with their families and their local communities, live.Another important stronghold of this movement is in the city ofRaca, near Kragujevac. Raca has become the site of one of the mostdetermined and most radical workers' struggles for the preservation oftheir work-places. During the past month we managed to link togetherthe representatives of Strike Commitees from several enterprises andsuggested that, in moments where there's a real possibility and need,that they could coordinate their efforts and struggle for their rights together.On this basis we founded the Coordinating Committee for WorkersProtests in Serbia (CCWPS).344