Nis on Fire

Following two-day and even three-day power cuts, residents of Nis suburbs blocked traffic going into the city with barricades of burning tires and garbage containers. The bastion of Serbian socialism responded fiercely through Mile Ilic, chairman of the city's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) board, who said the entire responsibility for the unrest lay with the electricity company management who should naturally be fired because "these power cuts can be considered an attempt to topple the SPS since Nis has not gone over the allocated consumption of electricity once". Ilic claimed that the unrest was used by opposition parties to "unnecessarily give the event a political dimension". Local Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) chief Mile Stamenkovic claims he personally stopped a mob from leaving the barricades to burn down Ilic's building.

Dr Dragan Arsic, chairman of the trade union organization at the Studenica clinical center, told a session of the Kraljevo trade union council presidency that "employees in the Serbian electricity company should be given equal treatment as long as the power cuts are in force. No electricity - no medical treatment".

The situation is such that in the next few days, weeks, months and years (until the Russian gas arrives that was promised two years ago) that we'll hear even more such stories. The state can't win a war against electricity companies, but that doesn't make its position any more difficult. On the contrary, when the authorities impose an equal distribution of one kilowatt per household per week, declare a maximum of one (40W) or at most two (25W) lightbulbs per household and impose obligatory listening to state radio news broadcasts, things will be better. Psychological treatment of cows will begin because the shortage of milk is psychological and we'll close ranks to get warm.