The School of Mechanical Engineering

Yet another "crazy" action by the students of this already renounced school for seizing the attention of the public. The students were able to acquire a number of army trench coats, and so have "official combat uniforms". After the gathering in front of the school they marched in a line, covering the width of the street, to the building of the Borba (regime controled paper) and acting as the "SOS Troops" of Radmila Milentijevic they burned issues of differnet independent papers. They also "demanded" the return of the Flash, a youth-oriented SPS paper, which was "brutally" banned. They then walked to the Plato in front of the School of Philosophy. There they staged the forced entry into the School of Philosophy, which happened on the night of February 4th, when the police injured the autonomy of the university. After the swift action the students joined their colleagues at the Plato.

The Plato

Today was a day to remember what all belongs to the students of the Belgrade University. Misa Gavrilovic of the Initiative Board addressed the students and stated that there was about 50 million dollars worth of properties left to the students, which have been left to the students by different people in the past. Theses properties have been annexed by initially students organizations which have been taken over slowly by people of the regime. These are the Student Cultural Center, the Students Union, the Student Recreational Agency and others. The real estate included buildings in Knez Mihajlova street (the pedestrian zone in the center of the city) and vineyards in the Morava valley, a very rich agricultural area. The question was where was all of this, who was running it and gathering the profits. Why haven't the students seen any of this money invested into their recreation and education? The plan is for a student parliament to be founded and democratically elect representatives into this body. Those are the plans for the future... but today Zoran Radic, professor at the School of Civil Engineering summed up the losses and gains of the 102 days of the Student Protest '96/97, all in terms of cash. The paper included comparisons of the losses due to the protest and the cost of educating individuals who left the country after the 1992 student demonstration. (The paper will soon be available on this URL.) The final address after the service information, was made by Ceda Jovanovic, as usual. He listed the student organizations again, in the order in which we were to pass by them during the walk...

The "Walk"

We walked first to the Student Recreation Agency (ZPU) in Balkanska street, across the Republic Square and Terazije. From there we proceeded down the cobblestone trade street and into Nemanjina. Left into Nemanjina, right into Svetozara Markovica, and there was the second stop. The Student Union. The organization founded to protect the rights and interests of the working students had been taken over by one of the heads of the city board of the Socialist Party. In the past two months only 20 students managed to get employment through the organization. On we go! Counter-right into Tirsova and again into Bulevar JNA and into Slavija. Up Srpskih Vladara and past the Student Cultural Center. It is our center, so why don't we have any benefits such as cheaper tickets and other discounts? Yes, it was remodeled a few years back, but university students don's hang out there. Only underaged high school student. Up Kneza Milosa and into Mose Pijade. Another "student" legate. The Akademac club. A place dedicated to the fun and joy of the rich children of SPS and JUL officials which have absolutely nothing to do with academic citizens. Most of them attend private (and very expensive) "business schools". That was enough for today. Back to the Plato only to gather again tomorrow. No incidents, as usual. At least one pleasant memory for the day.