Nye trusler
I have actually lived with the blocks in Belgrade, for a large part of my life. One thing that often gets left out of such conversations is that the blocks, although aesthetically connected to “bad”, were, and still are, the most stabile block of our economy. Since disassembling its socialist setup that brought great prosperity, the country has went through doing multiple wars, and multiple genocides, a nato bombing, a record setting inflation and poverty, a brief push towards the EU, finally the return of right wing oligarchy, and a general deterioration of all and any workers conditions – however, the blocks have, much like many of the remenants of the socialist era, served as a force of stability. Stabile rents, stabile quality of life, in and outside of the home, kept the social interactions and connections going, and have saved many families from going into poverty. Also it doesn’t hurt that some of them (surely not all) actually are aesthetically very pleasing, and human-centric, although that part often gets lost as only the images of the “blocky” blocks are ever shared. At a time where low quality investor-led buildings are all over the place, and everything is being bought up by rich Russian immigrants and Saudi oil funds, the blocks stand tall (quite literally) and help the families on the ground by giving them a stabile foundation. In fact, the situation has deteriorated so much, that in the past couple of years, the blocks are actually some of the most expensive real estate in Belgrade, which unfortunately means that many of these families are selling off and leaving, but also serves as a practical example of how socialist institutions are the most worthwhile part of the country, that can resist being sold off and ruined for decades before it finally collapses under the weight of corrupt liberal capitalism.
Log ind for at svare
