I feel very frustrated as a citizen in relation to politicians, and it all seems to me that there is absolutely no connection between them and the people who vote in elections, who struggle every day to earn their living, says Mrs. Ida, whom we interviewed as part of a short survey on asked on the streets of Zagreb to describe his impression of the state of democracy in Croatia, the political system and the politicians themselves. There are only a few days left until the parliamentary elections in Croatia, until what not so long ago was called "the holiday of democracy". But it seems that few still believe in such quality of electoral manifestation of democratic will.
"As if there was some confusion, some misunderstanding, or a trick," continues our interlocutor, "this is how the whole system looks to me. Few people understand what they are discussing, there is always some other interest hidden behind everything. , a certain real problem, then they often complicate that too with useless discussions or intellectualistic bickering instead of simple and effective solutions." Therefore, according to her own testimony, she no longer hopes for an immediate improvement in the situation, thinking at the same time "of the possibility of a decent life and work, of public services, of health care, education and the like." He also says that he thinks "that this whole circus should fall apart once and for all", because he does not believe that it can be fixed, since it is "just useless makeup".
The elite do not care about the people
At the beginning of October, the study of the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, Survey of Respondents' Perception and Attitudes About Citizenship, was promoted. At the same time, the public paid attention mainly to certain aspects related to education and information, while the topic of the relationship to the state of democracy remained somewhat in the shadows. Today, however, with the elections approaching, it is necessary to update that segment. And it turned out that the respondents are drastically skeptical about the permanently worrisome situation, especially about the miserable responsiveness of the government - its capacity to react to concrete incentives from the angle of the public interest.
Our next surveyed citizen is called Lav Lukačić and he believes that voters continue to go to the polls because they are forced to function within the system by everyday reality, and not because they think that the system even adequately meets the needs of the wider community. "Of course, if we somehow managed to lead it by people who would really represent the general interest, we would solve a lot of things. But all the levers of power are in their hands, and no one really trusts them anymore, neither that they know their job nor that they want it. work the way it should. And it's as if they deliberately disgusted people with politics and at the same time closed all access to those levels of decision-making," said Lukačić. He maintains that negative selection is clearly present through the parties and the overall mechanism of government, so a rather impenetrable "caste of the privileged" has emerged among them. They have distinguished themselves as an elite, therefore, they represent only their own interest, or those from whom they have some direct benefit. "Ideologies only serve as an excuse for them, but real and substantive ideological differences between them are almost non-existent, it is mostly a backdrop to divert public attention," concludes Lukačić and adds that the essence of the problem lies in what unites them - politicians in to different parties - that in which they are the same, and against the rest of the people on the other side.
The voice of the tycoon decides
However, our first respondent warned us that we should talk about all this in the context of the EU. "The EU is changing irreversibly and we don't know what it will look like tomorrow. When I see how refugees are forced to flood this continent, I think that we are all ordinary ants with no influence in someone's big game," said Mrs. Ida. And in the end, we stopped a passer-by who introduced himself as Michel and immediately pointed to the main institutions of the state authorities: "There they are up there, in Upper Town, feel free to film me, there are thieves. What do you think 'who are they representing'? They are presenting their armchairs, not to say something else simple." "Everyone keeps talking about not going back to the old topics; please, then they talk non-stop about the black shirts and the Udbas, there's no way we can get rid of it. It suits someone, someone certainly benefits from it. While the people are pushing in an argument about these things," he told us under his breath: "The powerful take money from his nose, and we are all uneducated about political culture." We also learned that "none of the ordinary people is so crazy as to think that his vote and will in supposedly free and democratic elections will be worth as much as the will of some tycoon". And then what is left of democracy in Croatia, we asked Mr. Mišel about the end. "Just a nice and already boring word, nothing more," he asserted. And on his way out, instead of saying goodbye, he wished "all the best to everyone - maybe one day".
(D.W.)
Bonus video: