Lost at the waterfront? Explaining the absence of green organisations in the Don’t let Belgrade D(r)own movement

ABSTRACT

The Don’t let Belgrade D(r)own, protest movement against the city’s controversial waterfront development, is one of the largest civil society campaigns in post-Milošević Serbia. Despite engaging an eclectic mix of activists, there has been no tangible participation by Belgrade’s well-established environmental NGOs (ENGOs). The absence of ENGOs is all the more surprising given the project’s well-documented threat to surface water, increased risk of flooding, and air pollution. The extant literature would suggest that EU enlargement, distancing of green organisations from domestic grassroots agendas as a consequence of external donor funding, and widespread NGO fatigue are to blame. In addition to these explanations, we contend that the limited participation of ENGOs was also due to ideological differences and initial framing of the activism by those who had emerged from, and become disenchanted with, the NGO sector.

KEYWORDS:

• Protest
• movements
• environmental activism
• urban development
• serbia

List of interviews

Interview 1, Regionalni centar za životnu sredinu (REC) Serbia, 23 May 2017

Interview 2, European Policy Centre/Centar za evropske politike (CEP), 19 May 2017.

Interview 3, Center for Ecology and Sustainable Development/Centar za ekologiju i održivi razvoj (CEKOR), 19 May 2017.

Interview 4, Young Researchers Serbia/Mladi istraživači Srbije/(MIS), 19 May 2017.

Interview 5, NdB activist, 18 December 2017.

Interview 6, NdB activist, 26 November 2018.

Interview 7, NdB activist, 17 December 2017.

Interview 8, NdB activist, 4 December 2017.

Acknowledgments

We thank Jelisaveta Petrović, Aron Buzogány and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The ENGOs were selected on the basis of desk research on media coverage of environmental issues in Belgrade. The advice of Civic Initiatives and the EU Delegation was also sought as to which groups are prominent and active. No up to date database exists, but the help of the Regional Environmental Center (Serbia) was also sought.

2. The EU accession negotiation is structured around 35 chapters of the acquis communautaire or the body of EU law. Chapter 27 is dedicated to the domain of environment.

3. This is a view articulated by all CSOs interviewed when asked to summarise their relationship with the Serbian Government. It was not disputed by the two officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy and the Ministry of Environmental Protection, 23 May 2017.

4. European Western Balkans, ‘Poglavlje 27, ne najskuplje već neophodno’, 29 August 2018. https://europeanwesternbalkans.rs/poglavlje-27-ne-najskuplje-vec-neophodno/.

5. The Coalition 27 monitors Serbia’s environmental changes and its harmonisation with EU’s enviromental standards and issues periodic reports. As of 2018, the members of the Coalition 27 are: Safer Chemicals Alternatives, Belgrade Open School, Centre for Ecology and Sustainable Development, Environment Improvement Centre, Climate Action Network Europe, Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia, GM Optimist, One Degree Serbia, World Wide Fund for Nature, Young Researchers of Serbia and Environment Engineering Group. Source: https://www.activity4sustainability.org/koalicija-27.

6. Official website, Ministry of Space (Ministarstvo prostora) https://issuu.com/ministarstvoprostora.

7. Still in Belgrade, Actions in abandoned spaces: revival of Inex Film, 21 July 2013 http://stillinbelgrade.com/actions-in-abandoned-spaces-revival-of-inex-film/.

8. Guardian, The arthouse Belgrade cinema flickering back to life, 30 January 2016 https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jan/30/zvezda-cinema-belgrade-privatisation-occupied.

9. Guardian, Belgrade Waterfront: an unlikely place to Gulf petrodollars to settle, 10 December 2015 https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/dec/10/belgrade-waterfront-gulf-petrodollars-exclusive-waterside-development.

10. Some of these grassroots organisations are Let’s Preserve Sava Embankment (Sačuvajmo Savski nasip), Streets for Cyclists (Ulice za bicikliste), Let’s Preserve the Miljakovac Springs (Sačuvajmo Miljakovačke izvore), Fifth Park (Peti parkić), Let’s Protect Zvezdara’s Forest (Zaštitimo Zvezdarsku šumu) etc.

11. Vreme, Ne da (vi)mo Beograd,26 October 2014 https://www.vreme.com/cms/view.php?id=1239802.

12. Public insight into The Draft Spatial Plan ‘Belgrade Waterfront http://www.rapp.gov.rs/en-GB/informations-about-planning-documents/cid257-83644/public-insight-into-the-draft-spatial-plan-belgrade-waterfront.

13. All formal objections filed by NdB are available here: https://nedavimobeograd.wordpress.com/2014/10/07/naslov/.

14. The list of hotspots where the initiative got engaged is available here: https://nedavimobeograd.rs/program/#zarista.

15. This is based on author’s personal observation of the event.

16. It was CEKOR. Republika Srbija, Ministarstvo zaštite životne sredine, Rešenje, br. 353-02-1092/2018-03. 19 September 2018.

17. The full list of their objections made to the Study on environmental effects of the Belgrade Tower are available here: https://nedavimobeograd.wordpress.com/2017/12/28/ministarstvo-otkazalo-javnu-raspravu-o-kuli-beograd/.

18. Al Jazeera Balkans, Kula Beograd: zamjerke zbog nedovršene javne rasprave, 23 January 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojAuSWdz1Pk.

19. Rešenje, p.3.

20. https://nedavimobeograd.rs/skupovi-borba-za-cist-vazduh-odrzani-u-vise-od-20-gradova/.

21. Heinrich Boll Stiftung, Environmental Issues in Serbia: A lack of Funds and Political Will, 25 May 2018. https://rs.boell.org/en/2018/05/25/environmental-issues-serbia-lack-funds-and-political-will.

22. Some leaders of ENGOs have joined the government. As of the time of writing this article, the former president of the Young Researchers of Serbia (Mladi istraživači Srbije) Ivan Karić is a State Secretary at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the president of the Green Party.