Nis Against Misery

The Nis express bus is heading towards the city. It is clean, comfortable and has two TV sets. The passengers are watching one of those action-packed movies that sell like hot cakes. The driver turns on some turbo folk music every once in a while, with the volume at full blast. The journey takes three hours, it costs only 44 dinars.

The Nis bus stop is like a bee hive. Outside the bus stop begins a combination of a flea market and a green one. I took my tape recorder out and went to the first person I thought would be willing to talk. And indeed, my instinct was right. "My name is Zoran Velickovic, I am from Gornja Vrezina. I've been working in the Nis electronics industry for 25 years. I sell brooms here. I've been laid off, I only get about 100 dinars a month, and my son is in the army.Things are miserable and it's unlikely that they will any better. The company has hit rock bottom, it won't recover even in 10 years time. It has been looted completely. An elderly woman, buying groceries, won't say her name. "My husband and I only have one pension to survive on, we wear old clothes and buy groceries only. I just bought a sponge for the dishes and soap. We hope things will get better. The new authorities promise they will, we will see".

Bingo lottery tickets are sold on every corner, mostly from dirty cloths laid on the ground. The seller, a laid off worker, won't say who he works for. He has an opinion about lottery. "It's the only way for the poor to make some money", he says. He sells between 200 and 300 tickets daily. The buyers range from kids to pensioners. Two of his buyers won 5,000 dinars each. Big money, he says.

GOING BACK TO THE COUNTRYSIDE: Nis is a city of contrasts. Ghetto quarters, boring apartment blocks and shining shopping centres and high-rise office blocks made of marble and brass intermingle in this perplexing southern Serbian town. A public enterprise, Prvi maj of Pirot, is based under the Ambassador hotel in one of the shopping centres comprising a chain of boutiques. The manager, Branko Bogdanovic, says there is a 60 percent discount for payments in cash. Even with such benefits buyers are few and far between, the nickel and dime they get is barely enough to cover rent and electricity. The new city mayor, Zoran Zivkovic, says the city cannot function normally because its two economic giants, the electronics industry and MIN, have grinded to a halt. "Their recovery depends on foreign investments,and that depends on the political situation in the entire country, not us. However, there are a few things we can do. People with an ugly nickname "half-casts" work in these factories. They live in nearby settlements. With favorable agricultural credits, they could make some money from fruit processing, since they all have land. In the previous years, estates with sour cherries could make as much as 30,000 German marks a year from processing that fruit only. Between a low factory wage and a high profit from fruit processing, most people would choose the latter. We will put forward a proposal that small municipalities, with a population of about 20,000 each, namely Merosina, Doljevac and Gadzin han, should become an integral part of Nis. I will suggest to the presidents of these municipalities, the county chairman and the local welfare minister that the city of Nis should comprise five municipalities: Nis, Niska Banja, Merosina, Doljevac and Gadzin Han.

That would solve the problem of redundant workers, who would no longer be social welfare cases but citizens of Nis and private entrepreneurs, just like the inhabitants of Obrenovac are Belgrade citizens. This might seem revolutionary to some because socialists are in power in some of these municipalities, but no one in Nis would dispute their authority", Zivkovic says.

MONEY AND DEMAGOGY: Three weeks ago, the electronics industry became a holding company. Vojislav Mitic, chairman of the Nis Rotary club, became the new manager.

Mitic was a member of the Socialist party until 1992. He was expelled from the party by hard-liners for his liberal views. He too sees the solution in employing redundant workers in private business. He maintains that the electronics industry, whose total area is equal to that of San Marino or the Vatican, could join world trends and become profitable if the number of employees is cut down from 15,000 to 7,000. "Nis has a duty free zone in which redundant workers could open small production lines or workshops with some investment and credits. Firing people is dangerous. For the beginning, I will see that laid off workers get their minimum wages at least, but the final objective of my team is to create a program capable of meeting requirements set by the modern world. It is important to restore confidence, we must not delay this process indefinitely. I am certain that not all hope is lost. The electronics industry is a significant resource, some programmes are still sound and applicable. I think that a lot of world companies transferring technology towards eastern and central Europe find us interesting for loan business because we have a cheap labor force. We will not wait for the state to initiate the privatization process. We will come forward with our own ideas, even amendments to certain laws. It is important to get rid of social politics in factories and re integrate with the world. We will start doing business with Philips and Siemens again, but we will also open up to American and Asian companies. It is true that foreigners are hesitant to invest because of the political situation in the country, but that can't last much longer," Mitic says.

The new opposition authorities in Nis have a hot potato in their hands. They succeeded empty cash registers and a 40 million-dinar-debt to the city banks from the former authorities. A part of the financial documentation has disappeared without trace, and it has been revealed that the previous authorities have allocated a million dinars for the SPS election campaign from the city budget. Pregnancy welfare money hasn't been paid since last April. The new mayor has compensated three months from the city budget, although the republican authorities should have done so. Radical leader Vojislav Seselj latched on to this to accuse Zivkovic of demagogy and political opportunism in a live television debate. Zivkovic, on the other hand, feels there is nothing wrong with becoming popular by solving some basic problems, which is the essence and purpose of politics at the local level.

A CONFUSED PREMIER: This is how the Nis mayor described his meeting with Serbian president Mirko Marjanovic: "We were received by the premier and vice-premier Ratko Markovic. Markovic was silent throughout the meeting, which lasted for an hour. I think they were both confused. They thought we were going to stage a rally and make political demands. Marjanovic was relieved when we told him we wanted the republican authorities to fulfill their obligations to the citizens of Nis and refund the money we allocated for pregnancy and childhood welfare. He promised it would be done and said the government would treat all cities equally, regardless of who won the local elections".

However, Nis inhabitants soon realized that promises must be taken with some caution. The republican authorities are listing the property and objects in towns won by the opposition, with the intention of seizing this property and leaving the city authorities without a cent. Immediately after the elections, the tax on the turnover of trade was reduced in cities won by the opposition. Asked whether there will be a war between Nis and the republican authorities, Zivkovic said: "We were on the streets for three months asking for law and order. We will do nothing illegal, but we will fight to protect the people's interest and we will most definitely have their support. Don't forget that we are not alone. We have formed an association of free towns and municipalities. We are stronger than the regime thinks. One of the basic goals of this association is to fight the aggression of republican authorities. The television can no longer lie to the people. The people know what their living standard is, they know who is to blame for it and most importantly, they are no longer afraid to stand up for themselves".