IndyMedia - Vrij Media Centrum Nederland

Today, in Tuzla, the people are creating a better future. The government has submitted their resignation and have ceded power; this was our first demand. By achieving this, we now have an open path for resolving our existing problems. Our anger and rage have accumulated and now cause this violent behaviour. The ignorant attitude of the government towards their citizens, has led to the anger and rage escalating.

Now, we will try to focus on rebuilding a productive government system. We invite all citizens to support the implementation of the following requirements:

1. Maintaining public order in cooperation with citizens, police and civil protection, in order to avoid any criminalization, politicization and manipulation of the protests.

2. Establishing a 'pragmatic government' made out of professional, non-partisan and uncorrupted members, which so far, have not had any mandate at any level of government. They would lead the government in the Tuzla Canton until the elections in 2014. This alternative Government will have a duty to submit weekly plans and reports on the activities, and it should achieve the given goals. The work of this Government would be supervised by all interested citizens.

3. Renationalisation of privatised factories: 'Dita', 'Polihem', 'Poliolhem', 'Gumara' and 'Konjuh', with the following stipulations:

Pensions and health care to be properly and fairly provided for workers
Prosecution of the participants of economic crime
Seize the illegally acquired assets
Annul the privatization contracts
Reassessment of the privatization
Return the factories to the workers and place them under control of public authorities in order to safeguard public interest, and start production in those factories where possible.

4. Balancing the salaries of government representatives with the salaries of employees in public and private sectors.

5. Reversal of additional payments to the representatives of government, including the so called 'personal income' – which is paid on the basis of participation in committees or elsewhere, and other unreasonable and unjustified fees that other workers are not entitled to.

6. The abolition of the wage for ministers and other government officials after the expiration or termination of their mandate. (Officials are paid one year full salary after leaving office).

These demands are made by the workers and people of Tuzla Canton, and are for our common good.

Declaration made on 7th February 2014
Translated by: AbrasMedia.info

Het begon in Tuzla, de industriestad in het Noorden van Bosnië op woensdagnacht 5 februari. Daar werden duizenden arbeiders van vier geprivatiseerde voormalige staatsbedrijven ontslagen. Als reactie werd er gedemonstreerd en werden gebouwen van de (nationalistische) regeringspartij aangevallen en in brand gestoken. De protesten sloegen daarna over naar andere steden, waaronder Sarajevo. http://www.abrasmedia.info/content/sarajevo-rising-again-police-brutalit...

Foto's op de website van BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26087946

Op een draad bij de website Libcom http://libcom.org/news/protests-bosnia-07022014 is te lezen

"During the unrest on Friday, 7 February, the mayor of Brčko was taken hostage by the crowd for a short while and then released. By the morning hours of Saturday, 8 February, the riots had spread to Brčko, Mostar, Banja Luka, Jajce, Bihać, Prijedor, Travnik, Bugojno, Donji Vakuf, Kakanj, Visoko, Gračanica, Sanski Most, Cazin, Živinice, Goražde, Orašje, Srebrenik, Prozor and Tešanj, among others."

Een bericht uit Tuzla vermeldt een set eisen:

http://www.abrasmedia.info/content/demands-workers-and-citizens-tuzla-ca...

Een uitvoerig bericht op de website van Al Jazeera heeft het over 'general social insurrection' http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/02/it-spring-at-last-bosni...

Ook is er een heel handige wikipedia-pagina over de opstand:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Bosnia_and_Herzegovina_social_riots

Een een van de weinige Nederlandstalige stukken bij Mo*: http://www.mo.be/artikel/crisis-bosnie-herzegovina