The movement "Ne davimo Beograd" announced that at the constitutive session of the Commission for Monuments and Names of Squares and Streets of the City of Belgrade, Branislav Milićević, a city councilor from the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), verbally attacked the members of the commission of the movement "Ne davimo Belgrade" with insults and vulgarities and coalition MORAMO, and then targeted them with the agenda and materials for the preparation of the session.
"Milićević, as the oldest councilor, presided over the first session of the Commission and was visibly annoyed because we asked for the floor and explained our disagreement with the agenda and decisions imposed on us with incomplete material, which seems to be the practice of all city services and institutions until now." said Natalija Simović, city councilor "Ne davimo Beograd" and councilor group MORAMO. Showing the crumpled material with which the member of the SNS was aimed at them, commission member Olga Manojlović Pintar stated at the commission's session: "This is your attitude towards the commission that should set street names and monuments in Belgrade. We'll save this for the museum. This is one exhibit that the National Museum can show, how a member of the Commission for Monuments and Street Naming relates to his function. What a responsible councilor he is."
It's not just about the councilman, but about the actor, the childhood hero of everyone who grew up in SFRY, FRY, Serbia... We all watched the series "Kocka, kocka, kockica" and were convinced that Branko Kockica was our friend. Of course, later we grew up and realized that many heroes of our childhood simply failed, so why not one more. But it's one thing when we indirectly, through the media and social networks, state a failure, and it's another thing when a childhood hero throws papers at us because of a political disagreement.
THERE IS A SNS EMPIRE IN THE WORLD
Branislav Milićević, better known as Branko Kockica, emerged in March this year as a candidate for councilor of the Serbian Progressive Party, a member of Goran Vesić's current. Where did he come from and why is he here and what does this mean to someone who has achieved it and how did he achieve it, it is not even interesting to ask, because he is neither the only one, nor the most accomplished one who, for reasons known only to him, came close to the dominant political current.
During the election campaign in Belgrade, at one point the Party of Freedom and Justice issued a statement in which they claim that the candidate for councilor of the list "Aleksandar Vučić - Because we love Belgrade", actor Branko Milićević Kockica, in the witches' kindergartens "Fića", "Mića i Aćim" and "Gulliver" offers children tickets for their performances, at which their parents should appear and where one of the leaders of the Serbian Progressive Party will address them. "Such behavior is contrary to domestic legislation, but also to all international documents related to children's rights and the prohibition of the abuse of children for political purposes," the announcement states. The list "Dragan Đilas - Belgrade decides, people win" stated that SNS daily "harassed" people in city businesses to sign that party, as well as in nursing homes. "Activists of SNS ring the doorbell of citizens up to ten times and call on mobile phones. However, the action that SNS with Branko Kockica is carrying out in kindergartens in Vračar goes beyond all of the above", the announcement states. Soon, they announced from SNS - city manager Goran Vesić told the state agency Tanjug that "Dragan Đilas wants to prevent children from watching free performances", and that Đilas is the one who abuses children for political purposes.
Branislav Milićević, better known as Branko Kockica, is a Serbian writer and actor. He was born on April 3, 1946 in Zemun. He was married to director Slobodanka Caca Aleksić, who passed away in 2019.
He has been acting since childhood. Milićević took his first acting steps in the Zrenjanin theater. Even as a high school student, he was a permanent member of the ensemble, and after graduating from the Theater Academy, he stayed in Belgrade. He was a member of the ensemble of Atelier 212. He acted in the famous plays "Prometheus Chained", "Early Morning", "Marke, and Emilia", "Sweet Orthodoxy", "Hamlet in the Cellar", "Nuns", "Hair" ", "Lulu", "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Tom Payne", "Four", "Kennedy's children - One afternoon at the bistro" and others.
He appeared on film for the first time in 1968 in the war film "The cause of death not to be mentioned". Branko portrayed Peter, while the main roles went to Bekim Fehmi and Olivera Katarina. In the same year, the film "Sarajevo Assassination" by Fadil Hadžić premiered, in which Branko played a wounded illegal. He played a minor role in the TV comedy "Magnificent Cuckold", which was first broadcast in 1969 on Television Belgrade. In the award-winning drama "Ambush" he played the leader of the Skoja people, and he also appeared in the short film "U senci klisure" by Ognjenka Milićević. With Faruk Begoli and Milan Gutović, he recorded the comedy "Our Manners", which premiered to the public in 1970. This was followed by a minor role in Zdravko Randić's love drama, which was published in 1971 under the title "Opklada". He collaborated with famous directors Miloš Forman, Dušan Makajev, Paul Morrissey, Puriš Đorđević and others during the filming of the short film "I miss Sonja Heni", which describes the life of the Norwegian figure skater and actress. In 1972, he filmed the drama "Slava i san" with Žarko Mitrović, Miro Stupić and Mihajlo Miša Janketić, and the comedy "Barijon's Wedding" with Slobodan Aligrudić, Miodrag Andrić, Taško Načić and others. In the series "Filip on a horse" and "What can happen when two agree" Milićević portrayed Stefan and Branko. Many remember him as Misha from the war drama "Republic of Užice", which was shown in 1974. In the same year, he played minor roles in the series "Dimitrije Tucović" and "Život je lep".
He played about twenty other roles in film and television, but the children's show "Kocka, kocka, kockica" that brought him the greatest popularity, which was broadcast for almost two decades, started on Television Belgrade in 1974. Milićević was the host of the show, and the nickname Branko Kockica comes from that time. Within a year, "Kockica" became one of the most popular shows for children in Yugoslavia, and it kept that status long after Yugoslavia was no more.
In 1977, he and his wife founded the Puž Theater, which quickly became one of the most famous children's theaters in Belgrade. "Puž" produced numerous plays for children and adults, as well as a constellation of young actors who started their careers precisely on its boards.
As he said in an interview, although he was engaged in "Atelje", he wanted to found his own theater. What is important to note is that Branko od Kockica retained one characteristic, which is to introduce an educational note into his conversations with children and making plays for children. His goal, he says, is for children and adults to learn something new. About his approach to various topics, the actor often consults with experts in the field of pedagogy and child psychology. That's why it's not surprising that his performances in Pozorištancet are always current. His means of expression are not only words, Branko plays several instruments, and he also recorded a dozen albums of children's songs. They included songs from the show "Kocka, kocka, kockica", as well as songs he created for the needs of performances in "Puž". He also published two books for adults, "Little Male Anthology" and "Early Happiness".
Although the appearance of Branko Milićević on the list of councilors of SNS surprised some, it should be known that this is already his second mandate. Also on the list of progressives, he has been a councilor since 2018. However, this is not his first attempt at politics either: in the first multi-party elections in Serbia, in 1990, he was an independent candidate in the local elections in the Belgrade municipality of Vračar for a deputy in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. Despite his popularity, he did not win the mandate.
SMALL CHILDREN AND BIG GARBAGE
At one time, he stated that some small children grow up to be big garbage. Bearing in mind political opportunism, and the latest incident with the "Ne davimo Beograd" councilors, there is room for questioning whether he is talking about this kind of growth from personal experience. Natalija Simović, member of the "Ne davimo Beograd" councilor, described in detail the incident from the session of the Commission for Monuments and Names of Squares and Streets: at one point Milićević told her: "Srećice, calm down", and everything, as she pointed out, culminated when he crumpled agenda and pelted them with it. Then, as she explained, a video was created that spread on social networks, in which Manojlović Pintar "pointed out that it is a symbol of irresponsibility towards public office". "Only the two of us were targeted, silenced, interrupted, belittled," added Simović, who does not expect Milićević to face any sanctions for his behavior.
It is interesting, however, to watch Branko Milićević build two characters in parallel in public for decades: one is Branko Kockica, a boy in the body of an adult, the best friend, and everything in that direction, the best in the world. The second is Branislav Milićević, a horny man in his eighth decade of life, who behaves arrogantly, opportunistically, abuses his own theater and his own audience, and throws papers at women five decades younger and calls them "lucky". However, the latter should not be surprising from a man who declared that women should only be discussed with men and that women use two weapons against men: cosmetics and tears.
At the public sessions of the City Assembly, however, sometimes it is not Branislav Milićević, but Branko Kockica. So in 2019, he recited from the podium: "I will start with a quote from Duško Radović. Dear children, end of quote. My dear respected children, I say mine because all of you, honor to the few exceptions, such as colleagues from PUPS, you are all my children, because you watched me on TV when you were little, unlike these PUPS people who watched me when they were growing up. You all looked at me and you all believed me. And children of partisans and children of stars. That's why I hope and want you to trust me even now that you are grown up. Well, I am asking partisans and star players and all members of all parties not to go down in history by voting against the historic budget. Thank you!”
The councilors of "Ne davimo Beograd" did not believe him. Or they are, but only in the part about small children and big garbage.
