Assemblies Launch Environmental Activism Throughout Serbia

Protests under the slogan, "We Want Elections," took place in over 30 Serbian cities on June 1.(BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

On the invitation of students in blockade, the citizens throughout the country started organizing into assemblies in March, to discuss problems in their local communities, and have since also become an important platform for solving local environmental and communal problems.

The portal Klima101 reported on June 19 that the citizens’ interest in solving ecological problems in their local communities was huge and that such assemblies were a way for the people to influence, through direct democracy, environment protection, fight against pollution and improvement of local infrastructure.

The Civil Initiatives organization has published an estimate that at least 148 assemblies were held in March alone, while the Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA) counted the communities in which at least 339 assemblies were held in April alone, from Subotica to Vranje and from Loznica to Negotin. The number of assemblies continues to grow and it is currently not possible to assess their numbers.

A month ago, there were as many as 47 assemblies on the list of participants who applied to the “Roll Up Your Sleeves” drive  from various parts of Serbia, while assemblies throughout the country have organized cleaning drives in their local communities. “Assemblies have the potential to become a platform for the citizens’ participation in organizing our environment – and various ideas about how that platform can be utilized are appearing throughout Serbia,” the Klima101 has reported.