Re: ricordati di Macedonia

[Paola Lucchesi <paola.lucchesi at mail.inet.it>]

>"... Kad si sam, kad je sve tuzno,
>ti se sjeti nje, Makedonija ti pruza
>ljubav..." - (Dado Topic i 'Tajm')
>---
>
>Dk

eh, dragi Dragan, ci marciamo con la telepatia, io e te, ah?

Avevo il dito sul bottone del "send" per mandar qui il pezzo sulla Macedonia...

Adesso vedi dove andavo a parare col discorso che facevamo questi giorni?

Altro che Grande Albania! QUESTO e' il nemico, queste bande di rapinatori
che hanno saccheggiato non solo la Macedonia, ma anche tutti gli altri:
cosa dicevo, che ognuno preferisce farsi derubare dai "suoi"? E poi tirano
fuori i complotti internazionali e le grandi albanie e tutto l'altro
folklore per tener buona la loro gente derubata, impegnata a sparare
addosso all' "altro" invece di capire qual e' la vera lotta per i propri
diritti.

Per restare sul tema, ecco un altro pezzo di AIM sul dramma di Oslobodenje.
Altra rapina, altro sfruttamento, e qui un collega incazzato mette il dito
sulla piaga: sono gli sfruttati che devono trovare il coraggio di alzare la
voce e combattere per quel che e' loro.

paola


*** The War Between Journalists and the Management of "Oslobodjenje"

** Empty Pages Waiting for Clean Slates

  Journalists write daily about strikes, embezzlements, various cases of
abuse and violation of workers' rights. They can often find enough
material for such stories in their own editorial offices, but do not
resort to such examples until the eleventh hour. The clock in the
Sarajevo's daily "Oslobodjenje" (Oslobodjenje) is showing that "the
eleventh hour has long passed".

        AIM, Sarajevo, May 21, 2001

  Since May 17 journalists of "Oslobodjenje", the oldest daily in B&H,
are on strike demanding regular payment of their salaries, reduction of
managerial staff and written guarantees that they will be paid what the
firm owes them in unpaid salaries for the last five post-war years. The
direct motive for the strike was the announced 20 percent cut of
salaries, but the real reasons are much deeper. The attempt of several
editors loyal to the management to continue with the publishing of the
newspaper after the majority of members of the editorial board sided
with journalists, failed
ingloriously after two days. In the meantime, negotiations between trade
unions and the management, headed by Director Salko Hasanefendic, did
not bear fruit. Trade unions rejected the proposal of the current
Supervisory Board for the management and editorial board to resign, but
remain in office for the next 69 days until the shareholders' conference
is held. Thus, since May 19, for the first time in its 58 yearlong
history, "Oslobodjenje" did not appear on the stands.

  Essentially, what journalists and others working in "Oslobodjenje" are
faced with does not differ much from problems of their colleagues in
other B&H media. The only difference is that it seems that journalists
of "Oslobodjenje" were the first to become "class conscious". The
socialist-realist rhetoric of the management, invoking the "better past"
and international awards this paper won during the war in B&H, as well
as the principle that "a paper must come out at any cost, because it was
printed during the war under shellfire" sounds ridiculous, to say the
least, and speaks how much they have lost touch with reality. The war in
B&H has ended five years ago and this country has entered capitalism.
Since, by definition, work is a commodity, like any other, then it
applies to journalistic work as well. What sells every newspaper on the
market and why people buy it is not some hundred grams of paper, but
journalistic texts. That is why journalists rightfully demand to be paid
for their work. Incidentally, under international conventions, work
without pay is considered slavery so that it is unrealistic to expect
from journalists to voluntarily agree to such a status.

  A year ago when it was privatised, "Oslobodjenje" also accepted the
rules of the game called capitalism. At that time it was pompously
announced that this paper, state-owned until then, was "bought by its
employees and a strategic partner" personified in Temin Dedic, a B&H
businessman living and working in Germany. The workers' expectations
that things would fall into place after privatisation, i.e. that they
would receive regular salaries for their work, were not met. The
management of "Oslobodjenje" gave its "contribution" to the world
business practice according to a simple recipe - salaries were still
late so that the last year also turned to be several months "shorter",
same as previous ones. On average, workers of "Oslobodjenje" got three
salaries less each year. Next year the management would simply "forget"
this debt and start all over again. Several months ago, a new strategic
partner appeared - "Kmecka druzba" (The Economic Group) from Slovenia.

  Its share in cash soon melted away because it was partly used for
salaries and partly for "the promotion of business operations" in the
form of new cars for the management. Currently, the greatest mystery is
who is the real owner of "Oslobodjenje". After all investments and
capital inflow, the employees believed that everything taken into
account, they held one third of shares, that the second third was in
Temin Dedic's hands and that the remainder belonged to the Slovenian
partner. Consequently, they were  rather surprised and bitter to learn
(true, unofficially) that they had only something over three percent of
shares. This practically meant that several people from the management
owned at least 30 percent of shares. That is why strikers' demands were
broadened to include auditing of the firm's privatisation and overall
financial operations. Onetime media and business giant, "Oslobodjenje"
embarked upon privatisation with a debt of DM 6
million and in the last year the situation did not improve much. Despite
over 200 permanently employed workers, the circulation fell below 10
thousand copies. Workers of "Oslobodjenje" demanded from management all
details on numerous business "undertakings" of this media house before
privatisation, such as the one with "Benetton" clothing boutique in
Sarajevo, management of business space in other parts of B&H and abroad,
as well as business arrangements with foreign editions of
"Oslobodjenje".

  What will be the final outcome in "Oslobodjenje" no one knows for sure.
The worst possible alternative would for the firm to declare bankruptcy.
Nevertheless, judging by indications, primarily the "silent" acquisition
of Liberation's shares at the free market, foreign investors, primarily
the Slovenian ones, are interested, while press concerns from Western
Europe are also "measuring" the local media. A possibility that the
employees might look for a way out of this stalemate in starting a new
newspaper, should not be ruled out since it would be free of all old
debts and style of work and could prove attractive to both domestic and
foreign investors. The fate of "Oslobodjenje" will be more certain after
the shareholders conference, which is to be held within the next 60
days. In the meantime, the trade unions insist on negotiating with
representatives of "The Economic Group", who have remained silent till
now.

  The greatest disappointment in this whole story were mild reactions of
colleagues from the other media. Officially, only two out of seven
journalistic associations in B&H declared their support. The other media
mostly carried statements of trade unions and the management, sitting on
the fence. There are several specific examples that solidarity among B&H
journalists is just wishful thinking.

  A special "jewel" was a report on the strike which was broadcast in the
central information programme of TV B&H on Saturday evening. A wretched
reporter of this house concluded his report with a claim that if
"Oslobodjenje" stopped coming out some other paper would take its place,
while its 210 employees "will find it hard to get another job".
Colleagues from the Cantonal TV in Sarajevo did not do much better.
Along with  their reporter's story about the strike in "Oslobodjenje",
they showed a documentary about this newspaper made during the war with
a basic message "the sky can fall, but "Oslobodjenje" must come out".
Thus, the blame for the disappearance of "Oslobodjenje" has been
practically imputed to its journalists who should, it seems, for the
sake of "higher interests", fame and tradition agree to work for
nothing, although in supermarkets or when paying electricity, gas or
water bill "fame and tradition" are not accepted as means of payment.

  There have been journalistic strike in B&H before this, but mostly in
the local media. The strike in "Oslobodjenje" is the first case of
journalistic "rebellion" in a "great" media house in B&H. Therefore,
their requests are not just an internal affair of workers employed in
this house, but also concerns other journalists in B&H. They are without
a collective contract and defined lowest price of journalistic work,
they receive wages from time to time and in the amount which exclusively
depends on the employer's good will and have no paid contributions for
health care and retirement insurance. Unfortunately, the majority of
national reporters fall into this category.

  Believing the employers' claims that "this is the only place they can
work since no one will hire them", reporters agree to almost everything,
losing self-confidence and self-respect, guided by a logic "keep silent,
it can get worse". That is why the strike in "Oslobodjenje" also
represents an attempt at saving the minimum journalistic personal and
professional dignity. As things now stand, the majority of journalists
in B&H are not aware of this fact, which means that they cannot hope
that their status would improve in foreseeable future, because no one
but they can and will fight for things to change for the better.

# Drazen SIMIC

(AIM Sarajevo)


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