Back then, while the former state was crumbling into fragments with blood dripping all around, the writer Dobrica Cosic spoke about the advantages of the "civilizational backwardness" of Serbia and the Serbs. I guess it was in 1992. According to him, the fact that we, as a country and as a society, are depressed was a good flywheel for rapid progress. Let's say, to preserve natural resources, urban sprawl, to focus on cultural progress and a return to tradition, and to be as little dependent on the outside world as possible.
And now, as far as he was right, today it looks beautiful. Magnificent and almost identity backwardness has made Serbia a banana-state whose fate is in the hands of interest and criminal groups, of course not only local ones, or at least local ones.
A war on natural resources has been declared: wherever it can, either concrete or a mine springs up. Rivers are polluted, quality drinking water flows only in the fountains of a minority of local governments.
The cities are destroyed and look like overcrowded kasabas, the villages are emptied, and the tradition has turned into a reality show that echoes turbo-howls, mostly composed further east than us, while books with the signatures of the most famous local authors are thrown into the dumpster by the school.
It could go on like this until morning.
The comparative advantage of poverty
However, it's not that Dobrica didn't take a stab at it. Kragujevac can be an example of that. At least that's what happens to a person who comes to this city hospitable people and drinking cafes. A kind of comparative advantage of poverty can be observed. Over the past thirty years, this city has gone through many very difficult economic phases, which prevented it from accelerated "urban development" such as Belgrade, Novi Sad, and even Niš. And that's how he actually saved himself.
Due to the lack of money, the progressive urban planners were not able to fully expand in this city (neither were the previous transitional ones). Although there are many neglected buildings and houses in the wider center, even though the "Vučić residents" destroyed almost everything they touched, it still seems that at least in this part of the city there is a lot of space to arrange it urbanistically, to make it functional, airy, then when and if we become a normal society led by people who love their country and who love the cities they manage.
Unlike Kragujevac, richer Belgrade and Novi Sad have been irretrievably destroyed urbanistically. There is no fix.
The case of the Market Square in Kragujevac: Whoever asks is the "Ustasha"
The famous Market Square in Kragujevac is a typical example of progressive creative-building scope, a kind of gentle introduction to last year's tragedy in Novi Sad. This building was built in 1929, for King Aleksandar Karađorđević, in approximately 12 months, in the spirit of Art Nouveau. So a little less than a hundred years ago, with the technology of the time, probably with the use of horses and oxen and wooden carts. She looked beautiful, the people of Kragujevac were proud of her. Rightfully so.
The ravages of time have taken their toll. It was dilapidated and ready for reconstruction. Reconstruction began in 2020. Everyone was happy that it will once again be not only a market, but also a meeting place for the people of Kragujevac, and that it will beautify the view of Kragujevac. But, when the progressives get their hands on something... What would the people say: they would also spoil Givikt!
The reconstruction of something that was built for a year, with all the modern technology and new materials of our time, takes five full years. And it is not yet known when it will be completed. All these years, the market in the center of the city is on cobblestones, when you walk through it you feel like you are in Beirut during the civil war of the eighties. You remember scenes like this from television.
In the meantime, the consortium of companies performing the works, as well as the contractor, has changed. The price went from 2,5 million euros to almost four times the figure, with multiple changes to the contract, as is done here. He wrote about it recently Kragujevac portal "Glas Šumadije".
The main contractor at the beginning of the reconstruction was the company "Eurodomus" from Belgrade, which the authorities of Kragujevac later thanked for their cooperation and saw off. At the beginning of the works, part of the building protected by law collapsed. Fortunately, no human casualties. This company, after the incident, continues to receive lucrative government jobs, although it is definitely responsible for the collapse of the building and the delay in the works. But who cares. Criminal charges for the incident ended up in someone's drawers. The Kragujevac portal also writes about this in a research text.
The portal's journalist sent questions to "Eurodomus" about the incident and their business. Their answer is very significant, we transmit it in full, without proofreading and proofreading: "We will not answer your questions because we do not answer questions from media that have a distinctly anti-Serbian, i.e. Ustasha narrative. For any clarifications, you can contact, for example, Natasa Kandić or Zdravko Ponoš, or similar Ustasha activists in Serbia. Long live Serbia!"
Toma and Vučić: Who will take on whom?
Apparently it's a company close to Tomislav Nikolić, whose son was the first man in Kragujevac at the time of the deal, so she lost her job more because of that than because of omissions and delays. Now, whether that is true is less important, it is an area for eyebrows. The question of whether the Market will be safe at all, and whether it will ever receive a use permit, is attracting more attention from citizens. Will it be enough for them if Vucic he repeated (as he already said about that tunnel) that the usage permits are roughly - nonsense.
But when we mentioned Tom, let's not keep silent about what we heard in Kragujevac taverns, from people who know him directly or indirectly. Interesting interpretations of Aleksandar Vučić's recent visit to the Nikolić family at their family estate in nearby Bajcetina. Allegedly, Nikolić triumphantly received his "prodigal son" who came to ask him for a political favor. Quite disappointed because he overplayed his hand in the meantime. Allegedly, Toma sent him away without any promise, as if he would think about the offer.
Allegedly, Nikolić never forgave him during the last years of his presidential mandate, and especially not Dragica. And we all remember what happened. First, Vučić completely marginalized the man with whose help he came to power (Vučić, it is worth reminding, never won an election that he did not organize, which is quite understandable), and when the latter expressed his desire to run for president again, he passed the tabloid warm rabbit. They beat Tom from all sides, all Vučić's "muppets", from Šešelj, through DJ Vučićević, to Nenad Čanko. Vučić threatened to arrest his wife Dragica because of alleged irregularities in the work of her foundation.
Toma realized that it's not worth messing around with someone who is hornier than you. He retreated to exclusive house arrest, was banished from public view, appearing only when he was ordered to draw at a function. It wasn't a problem, he paid for it well, he got a lot of money for it, which is what he's up to. However, this public humiliation does not please anyone. He was also promised the post of mayor of Kragujevac for his son. While it lasted.
And now Vučić is coming to Toma. It brings gifts and new promises. As if nothing happened. In politics, friends easily become enemies, and the greatest enemies become friends. However, some limits are known. Vučić crossed those limits, also in this case. According to his acquaintances, Tom is not very upset about the national uprising in Serbia. His eyebrows are smiling at him. Not only to him, but also to his family, horizontally, and especially vertically.
Now, we'll see if all this we've heard makes sense. Soon.
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