Deindustrijalizacija i radnički otpor - Pokret za slobodu

taking over the management. The protest gained strong public support,especially after the newspapers published the fact that Ravanicais not only the last factory in Ćuprija up for privatization, but also theonly one that still works, and works very well. Ćuprija used to haveseveral well known factories, and literally all of them were closed downor went bankrupt in the privatization process. The government fearedthis would initiate further debate about the success of the privatizationprocess in Serbia, so they retreated from Ravanica and confirmed theold management as the official one. At this point Ravanica is the lastremaining socially owed company in Serbia that remains in operation.As far as the state owed companies, the government is planning tosell the pharmaceutical factory Galenika, Telekom Company, JAT Airwaysand Elektrodistribucija. They decided to sell Telekom this year,which caused very strong public protest. Both big unions of Telekomare against privatization, and they are supported by lots of intellectuals,some media (Republika and Balkan online magazine) and a formerTelecommunications Minister. We can expect big fight over the issuethis summer.AG: Freedom Fight collective, or Pokret za Slobodu in Yugoslav,is a member of the Coordination Committee of WorkersProtest in Serbia. What is the news from below? One ofthe goals of Freedom Fight, of Pokret, is to help create a horizontal,prefigurative, self-managed structure that wouldallow for a genuine workers self-activity - solidarity unionism.What is the reality of rank and file workers resistance,and what is the relationship with the old, vertical unionstructures?FF: Last year’s wave of protests was caused by the results of theprivatization process. Privatization failed to provide promised economicdevelopment, and after this problem was further emphasized bythe global economic crisis, people began holding strikes and protests.Lots of privatization contracts were canceled (Zastava elektro, Vršačkivinogradi, Ikarbus...), and several of these workers groups formed theCoordination Committee of Workers Protests. Pokret za slobodu is alsoa member of the Coordinating Committee. Forming of this Committeewas not only a reaction to the government’s policies, but also onthe policies of the big unions. It was previously the union’s job to connectthe workers groups that are protesting, but they instead choose totake the government’s side. During the protest of the Zastava elektro355