Around four hundred members and supporters of “Zagreb je naš!” (Zagreb is ours!) political platform gathered outside the building of Zagreb City Assembly on Tuesday evening to present their 25 point manifesto about what they want the city to look like in the future and what they will fight for at the local elections, Nacional reported on March 21, 2017.
The procession, carrying a “Zagreb is ours!” banner, started at Catherine’s Square, continued along St. Cyril and Methodius’ Street, and finally arrived in front of the City Assembly, where they placed the manifesto of the political platform “Zagreb is ours” – Let’s take the city back into our own hands on the Assembly door. They proceeded to read the 25-point manifesto.
One of the members, Tomislav Tomašević, stated that this was the date they chose for their first public rally because the City Council had announced elections for city districts and local boards on that day, adding that that was the level which requires special attention because the members of the platform want more decisions on the management of city funds and priority projects to be made on the city districts and local boards levels.
“This is the level of government closest to the citizens and I urge citizens and partnership initiatives to mobilize, become more active, join us and form lists for local boards and city districts to take control and see how the city funds are being managed, “Tomašević said.
He announced that the political party “Za grad” (For the city) had also joined the platform, so they will participate at the elections together. He said they will have joint candidates for the mayor, City Assembly list, as well as city district councils and local boards. He invited other progressive parties, neighbourhood initiatives and citizens to join them.
Tomašević stated that they want to change the city development model completely because it is “based on megalomaniac projects, privatization of public utilities, which benefit individuals and result in citizens’ paying higher bills”.
“We want greater citizen participation in shaping the city’s development – we want the citizens to decide what their neighbourhoods will look like, rather than having to protest against the arbitrariness of economic and political powers, like the cases we have seen at Savica, where there were plans to tear down a park and build a church instead of it, as well as similar cases in Vrbik, Središće, and so on, “he added.
“We want a green industrialization of the city, development of social entrepreneurship, we want culture to be decentralized, public procurement to be used for economic localization, we want to transform public companies by introducing civil control over them in order to reduce clientelism and corruption. We want to change this model in which everything that is built in the city exceeds its actual price, meaning that a narrow circle of people make a big profit on the side,” Tomašević said.
The political platform “Zagreb is ours!” added that they want to develop a partnership with the University of Zagreb because they want a city in which education and educational policy at all levels will receive regular funding, and a city with kindergartens and schools promoting democracy and civil rights.
“We want Zagreb to become a city where the budget at all levels is fully transparent, and citizens to be able to directly decide on the part of the budget distribution.” they said.
They want to “introduce social and economic policies which promote egalitarian division of work and care between men and women and which support the diversity of modern households – from single parents and same-sex couples to extended families.”
“We want Zagreb to develop as an intercultural city where the rights of migrants and refugees are respected and we want everyone who decides to live here to have a say in the city’s political, economic and cultural life”, the political platform „Zagreb is ours!“ manifesto stated.
