Dobrica and Vladeta: For Kalemegdan without a gondola

I couldn't be more different: Dobrica Veselinović, born in 1981, Ne da(vi)mo Belgrade, green-left activist, he is associated with the yellow duck; Vladeta Janković, born in 1940, Democratic Party of Serbia, nationally conservative professor and politician, associate him with Vojislav Koštunica.

And again: both are educated, decent, well-mannered people, measured in communication and want the same thing - to wrest Belgrade away from an ignorant clique with obviously freaky aesthetic views that works in the interests of investors and return it to the citizens of Belgrade.

The Belgrade elections do not decide the fate of Kosovo or whether Serbia will continue on the Euro-Atlantic or Orthodox Russian path, but whether a gigantic housing and business complex will be built on the Belgrade water source in Makish, or not; whether the central railway station will return to Belgrade or not; whether the bus station will also be moved somewhere who knows where so as not to disturb the residents of Belgrade on the water, or not; whether or not the Old Bridge will be removed for the same reason; will there be a gondola on Kalemegdan, or not...

In the elections on April 3, the citizens of Belgrade will decide whether another Belgrade on the water will spring up in their city, whether the green areas in block 70A will be filled with squares for sale, whether the protected urban-architectural complex Cerak Vinogradi will be renovated, whether the Vračar Sports Center will be demolished, will the row of buildings in Smiljanićeva that exude the spirit of Belgrade from the beginning of the 20th century be demolished, as was done in Misharska, or not...

Regardless of all the differences, both Dobrica Veselinović and Vladeta Janković will address the same residents of Belgrade in the elections, those who, despite all the pink bombs, see everything that offends their common sense: metro lines from nowhere to nowhere, incomprehensibly long street reconstructions, concealment of contracts with investors and accounts for spending budget money, Goran Vesić on TikTok...

The list of technically-urbanistic-aesthetically controversial construction projects in Belgrade is long, but all these stories can be reduced to the story of the Sava Amphitheater, which symbolizes everything that happens in the city under the rule of the Serbian Progressive Party. Belgrade on the water will remain, where it is, forever and for learning, and the citizens of Belgrade with the right to vote will vote for the return of the railway station where it belongs and the relocation of the monument to Stefan Nemanja, because it does not belong there due to its size. They will also vote on whether they want to finally find out how much it cost them. Every part of Belgrade has a similar, but smaller, story.

It is to be hoped that Dobrica Veselinović and Vladeta Janković will lead the campaign, as they announced it: for what they believe in, and not against each other. Professor Janković announced this in his first speech as a candidate for the mayor of Belgrade in front of the United Serbia, saying that "every success of the opposition partners will be our success", that they are "not opponents, but allies" and that, if they succeed in winning the majority, to do everything together to fix what the SNS government destroyed in Belgrade.

In an atmosphere of general gnawing and biting, they would do a lot not only for Belgrade, but also for Serbia, if they stood in front of the cameras, shook hands and said: let the better one win, others will support him. If they do that, precisely because of their diversity, together they have a great chance of attracting a sufficient number of voters to change the government in Belgrade.

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