Belgrade elections — here we come?

As you read last week, municipal elections in Belgrade will take place on March 4, and DiEM25’s local group (DSC) in Belgrade is teaming up with a local grassroots movement to return the city to its people.
Over the last week, DSC Belgrade helped to collect signatures to enable the movement, Ne Da(vi)mo Beograd/Don’t let Belgrade d(r)own, to contest the upcoming city elections. In spite of numerous obstacles (not to mention somewhat dubious activities like the absence of the public officials who are supposed to verify each signature at its location!), the number of signatures necessary was collected. The next step was to hand over the list of candidates for the City Parliament, and last Thursday they did.
We’re thrilled to announce that two DiEM25 members are putting their names forward for inclusion on the list with Don’t let Belgrade d(r)own. They are:
– Ivana Nenadović, DiEM25 Coordinating Collective (CC) member, theatre producer and a coordinator of DSC Belgrade
– Zoran Sokolovski our economic and European New Deal (END) wizard, also of DSC Belgrade
DSC Belgrade is also helping to develop the political programme of Don’t let Belgrade d(r)own. In particular, they are focusing on economic and social policy proposals, inspired by DiEM25’s END and adapted to Belgrade’s situation, like digital income tax credits and taxing unused working space and housing. They are also working on innovative proposals on culture and ecology.
As ever with DiEM25, our participation in this election will be up for a vote by the entire DiEM25 membership. We will announce details shortly, but here you can review their draft proposal.
If accepted by DiEM25’s membership, Ivana’s and Zoran’s presence on this list would be a big leap forward for DiEM25 in Serbia. It would ensure that yet another significant grassroots political force in Europe will have parts of END implemented in its programme.
DSC Belgrade is standing with those who shared its struggle, with those who fought on the streets when everybody else was doing business as usual. With people who are showing that there is an alternative, make an impact on the next rebel city, the next rebel region, the next rebel country!