A support rally will be held on Saturday, October 11 National Theatre in Belgrade in front of his building, on Republic Square.
To the gathering that they called "All together! People's is people's!" are invited by the Union of Ballet Artists, the Union of Music Artists and SINGLUS of the National Theater in Belgrade.
Their building has been closed since October 3rd after the inspection supervision of the Department for Emergency Situations of the MUP, although this Department neither recommended nor requested it. The building was closed by the decision of the theater management i Ministry of Culture.
As the Minister of Culture said on that occasion Nikola Selakovic, the National Theater building is closing because they are concerned about the "safety of more than 1.000 workers."
When the previous administration warned the Ministry last spring that various fire prevention measures should be taken because the building is not safe, and that it would be convenient to use the summer break for repairs, the Ministry did not even respond, even though there were more than 1.000 workers in the building then. Apparently, there was no money. Let's remember, back then those workers did not protest against the management and the Board of Directors.
Stupid move
Now, however, they are protesting. And the Ministry of Culture immediately found the necessary money from the reserve to repair everything that threatens the safety of the building and those in it. And on the very same day that SINGLUS made an appointment strike warning demanding the replacement of the new administration, Dragoslav Bokan president of the board of directors and minister Nikola Selaković.
The aforementioned demands of the employees may have been the initial reason why the new administration and Minister Selaković closed the building just now. They thought that this would sway them, maybe prevent them from protesting.
It turned out to be a rather unwise move: they didn't stop the employees, they empowered them, plus they increased the public's affection for the National Theatre. In short, the opposite of what Bokan and his followers wanted to achieve happened.
It is now known that the money that will be used for fire protection is not the only expense caused by the decision to close the building.
The first thing that comes to mind is the loss of revenue from tickets.
True, some performances will be played on the stages of "Atelier 212" and "Zvezdara" theaters, who gave free times of their scenes to their colleagues from Narodni. Some other theaters are expected to join them. However, it will be necessary to pay for moving the performances to those other stages and returning them to the home stage. That cost could have been avoided if the work had been done during the summer, as the previous administration had suggested. Some even claim that the audience and employees would not bother the workers for this type of alterations.
But, so what - at least from the point of view of the Serbian Progressive Party. Because her people are the leaders of the National Theater that the employees will not and they need to be defended urgently. And why does it matter that state money will be spent for that purpose.
Maybe one day, and better as soon as possible, they will learn that the National Theater cannot be controlled with any money, threats of dismissal and similar SNS means.
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