Veselinović: The opposition will win in Belgrade – Politika

Dobrica Veselinović, an activist from the Let’s Not Drowning in Belgrade Initiative (NDMBGD), said the organization would go to the next elections on the condition that the local elections be separated from the presidential and parliamentary ones.

In an interview with the Beta agency, Veselinović expressed his hope that with the help of European MPs, electoral conditions in Serbia will improve.

“Even in such a difficult situation, the opposition can win in Belgrade if it comes out in multiple columns offering people to vote for something they believe in,” he said.

When asked who are the possible partners of the NDMBGD coalition, Veselinović said that these are organizations and individuals who have been fighting for the preservation of natural resources for a long time, greater participation of citizens in decision-making , as well as numerous left and green organizations.

“At the national level, it is undoubtedly a group around the Civic Front, and at the local level, several groups of citizens and organizations that are active from Padinska Skela, Obrenovac, Lazarevac, through the blocks of New Belgrade, Karaburma, Vidikovac, Rakovica , Vozdovac and all other parts of Belgrade. “, He claimed.

He added that NDMBGD has recently been cooperating with Nebojsa Zelenovic, the former mayor of Sabac.

Veselinovic said that the NDMBGD would not form pre-electoral coalitions with individuals and organizations that cooperated with the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and played a decisive role in “looting public and natural resources and contributing to the impoverishment of citizens and the humiliation of institutions and democracy”.

When asked how the opposition can “mobilize” abstainers to go to the polls, Veselinovic said that in addition to good ideas, daily work on the ground is necessary.

“If others do the same, victory is possible because Belgrade wants neither progressives nor Goran Vesić. Of course, the precondition is to fight for better electoral conditions and more freedoms for the media,” he said.

When asked by Beta if and to what extent opposition parties, movements and their leaders are worthy of the task that the opposition electorate expects of them, Veselinović said that in the past a large number of political parties betrayed the trust of the citizens.

“That is why we organize ourselves in the Don’t Drown Belgrade Initiative and demand that the power to decide on the development of our city be returned to those who live and work in it.” Citizens need to achieve a systemic change in our society and in that task we need everyone. “No one is going to liberate our cities and our country except us,” he said.

When asked what the biggest mistakes of the current city government are and what decisions were important to the city and the people of Belgrade, Veselinović said that absolutely all the moves were unprofessional or a consequence of a deal with investors for profit. private, to the detriment of the public interest.

“I’ll just cite one example, when citizens see Gradski zelenil equipment, they immediately start calling us because they think some trees will be cut down,” he said.

According to him, it is unacceptable that during the pandemic, the mayor of Belgrade, Dr. Zoran Radojicic, “simply hid and pretended nothing was happening instead of fighting for the life and health of the people of Belgrade.”

“If I were to see what’s positive, it’s that we’ve finally started to solve the sewage problem in Krnjača, but even that is going slowly and it is questionable when it will be finished and how well it will be done,” Veselinović said.

He says that good and hardworking people live in Belgrade, who are forced to fulfill their potential.

“Unfortunately, the corrupt political elite has gone to great lengths for years to turn off the light that Belgrade once threw out,” he said.

When asked what Belgrade lacks most today, Veselinović emphasizes “solidarity and love for the city”.

“Take care of its inhabitants, common resources and natural resources.” We lack the intelligence and knowledge necessary to improve us all, “he said.

When asked what the first steps would be if he were elected mayor, Veselinović said that from day one he would be absolutely available to citizens and the media who would know about his movements, with whom it was discussed and why.

“As ecology and environmental protection are one of the pillars of our policy, we would immediately start with real measures to reduce pollution in the city and fight pollution from the Danube and Sava,” he said.

Veselinovic says that, as mayor, he would begin to implement the plan “from home to work in 30 minutes”.

“It would open up the city administration for the citizens, it would publish all the contracts that have been and will be signed, the spending of the citizens’ money in real time will be displayed transparently on the city’s website,” Veselinović said.

He pointed out that the Communal Police would be dissolved and “the Inspection Secretariat would become one of the pillars of concern for equal compliance with the rules for all.”

A lot of unused public spaces and apartments, he said, would be made available to citizens to reduce inequalities in our society.

“We would begin to draft the Belgrade Vision for 2050, where we would bring together experts, civil society organizations and citizens, and initiate a broad dialogue on where and what Belgrade is in the future and build consensus for the sake of future generations,” Veselinovic concluded.

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