Poor people across Europe are blocking their countries, as was seen in Germany this week. Although the EU allocates much more money for agriculture than, for example, in Serbia. Professor and trade unionist Zoran Stojiljković tells why this is so for "Vreme".
After farmers in Germany decided to use tractors to block key roads across the country, the strike also spread to the railways. As announced, German train drivers will not enter the cockpits for three days, and the union there has decided that, in addition to passenger, the strike will also cover freight traffic, which will affect neighboring countries that depend on German railways to a certain extent.
November last year in Serbia was also marked by a protest by farmers, who blocked some of the most important roads with tractors for more than a week, trying to point out the miserable position they are in.
More satisfied than they were
The blockades ended, and the protests subsided, after four agricultural associations negotiated with the Prime Minister and line minister Jelena Tanasković that in the future, farmers buy diesel at gas stations of the Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) at a preferential price of 179 dinars, and then within two weeks receive a refund of 50 dinars per liter.
Subsidies per hectare were also agreed, of which 17.000 dinars will be paid in goods, and the rest in money. As Serbian farmers said then, they are more satisfied than they were.
Let's remind, farmers demanded subsidies of 300 euros per hectare of arable land.
We spoke with Zoran Stojiljković, a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences and a long-time trade unionist, about why European farmers are more complex, and therefore more powerful, even though they come from a system in which much larger funds are allocated for the survival of agrarians than in Serbia.
Necessary self-organization
As he explains for "Vreme", the situation in which farmers in Serbia are is just an example of something that exists on all other levels.
"What is our specificity in all this, and it is the result of earlier development not only in agriculture but also in our economy, is this kind of reliance on state promises and unwillingness for autonomous self-defense, as well as organizing among farmers who are oppressed on the one hand with corporate capital, and with the other large landowners", says Stoiljković.
As he says, the small sector is under pressure and if there is no adequate development policy and development strategy of the state, a very unpleasant situation and an occasional crisis will occur, which then makes economic development impossible in general.
"Our farmers are only now beginning to gain these experiences of effective self-organization. First, they learned, like everyone else, that the election campaign is the right time to make your protests more visible and to make some more significant promises, but what they are learning now is that those promises and some agreements for the future require more solid self-organization," says Stojiljković.
Growth phase
He explains that the fragmented party and trade union scene is typical for Serbia, where the state's attempt to have its favorite parties, loyal trade unions, and loyal agricultural associations is always present.
"Agriculturists are going through the infant stage of pluralization of self-organization here," says Stojiljković.
What he recognizes as the main problem is the partial organization of rataeos, raspberry farmers, livestock farmers, without the awareness that something can be done through real self-organization.
"A protest can be successful from the point of view of immediate satisfaction of demands, but a movement that produces change is another thing. We also have a problem with these civil protests.
The third conclusion is a global matter, and the majority of Protestants in our country have not come to it. If democratic-political demands are not connected with social demands, there will be no positive discharge. Just as farmers will have to finally understand that without a democratic framework and social dialogue there is no permanent discharge", says Stojiljković.
In order to make the sphere of politics as responsible as possible, it is necessary to recognize one's own power, says our interlocutor and adds that this is the function of the media, trade unions, associations, protests...
"It is difficult to become a political adult," concludes Stojiljković.
The war before the reform
With reference to agricultural protests in Europe, he assesses that despite stronger self-organization, last year's protests in France and Germany did not have any great effect either.
"But it shows that the imperial polarization around the world and Russian aggression in Ukraine is something that causes the problem and is conditioned by the imperial logic of the collective political West, which would rather go to the production of wars to preserve power, than to reform its own societies.
In order for the essence of change to occur, you must first have self-respect, awareness of solidarity and the fact that change is possible", says Stojiljković.
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The state currently has no money for the second installment of subsidies per hectare, announced the Minister of Agriculture in the technical mandate, Dragan Glamočić. Farmers were waiting for the promised help before the autumn sowing, while agro-economic analysts warn that the government's technical mandate does not release the state from its obligations.
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A black picture and the breakdown of the rule of law subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
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