----- Original Message -----
>
> AFP. 5 October 2001. First anniversary of Milosevic's ouster marred by
> economic woes.
>
> BELGRADE - A year after the popular uprising that ousted Yugoslav
> president Slobodan Milosevic, the reformers who succeeded him face
> rising anger among impoverished workers impatient with the lack of
> improvement in their daily lives.
>
> A convoy of more than 100 trucks and buses took the road from the
> central Serbian town of Cacak on Friday -- the same they had taken last
> October to Belgrade for a mass protest against Milosevic -- to mark the
> first anniversary of the ouster.
>
> "This day should not be forgotten," Milun Kuzmanovic, one of the
> organisers, told radio B92, but warned that the authorities "are being
> closely watched."
>
> "This day marks the date when one regime has fallen, but it is also a
> warning to the new authorities," Kuzmanovic said, leading the convoy
> headed by a dredge which had been parked in front of the federal
> parliament last year as the first sign of the unprecedented popular
> uprising.
>
> The past 12 months without Milosevic have been marked by limited effects
> on economic growth.
>
> The government risks running into serious economic and social problems
> despite winning international financial [read: capitalist] support,
> including pledges of 1.27 billion dollars for 2001-04 at a donor
> conference in Brussels in June.
>
> But the international reconstruction aid came at a price.
>
> The reformist authorities had to impose tough new economic laws and
> taxes -- non-existent during Milosevic's time [N.B.] -- prompting an
> increase in prices and financial hardship for the population.
>
> Salaries are among the lowest in Europe at an average of 80 euros (73
> dollars) a month while the cost of living has increased by more than 50
> percent.
>
> Recent strikes at Telekom Serbia and labour tensions at Kragujevac, 120
> kilometres (70 miles) from Belgrade, where privatisation of the Zastava
> auto factory has brought 8,000 job losses, herald worse to come,
> analysts believe.
>
> Last week, thousands of miners in the biggest coal mine in Serbia,
> Kolubara, launched a strike demanding salary increases. They were soon
> joined by hundreds of others from several mines, forcing the government
> to bow to their demands.
>
> Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic dismissed the "ultimatums" set by
> miners.
>
> "The time chosen for the strike shows that it is a political and not a
> social one," Djindjic said.
>
> Independent analyst Vladimir Goati admitted that "the economic situation
> in the country might be worse than last year, but there are more
> freedoms."
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
> Barry Stoller
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
>
>
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