Sometimes it is not really clear whether Aleksandar Vučić is the president of the Republic of Serbia or the administrator of a Facebook page with memes. Namely, his statement yesterday fit perfectly into the production of memes that sarcastically comment on the catastrophic air pollution in Sarajevo and Belgrade. Thus, while Sarajevo's memes call on citizens to put more coal in the oven and thus overtake Belgrade in the ranking of polluted cities, Vučić, in the manner of a cynical admin, coldly says: it is polluted, but that's all because of the rise in standards.
If it wasn't for the statement of the most powerful man in the country, but a meme, it would be extremely funny. This just once again shows us all the political backwardness and concentration of power that can afford such a level of cynicism. The fact that he said it at the opening of a factory plant in Bečej and the remark that he saw one person in every car that morning in Belgrade probably gave him the alleged legitimacy for such a statement. And the scientific aura was given by the wording itself, which relied on inverse proportionality: "The air is worse for as much as our standard is higher."
To begin with, one should ask why air quality is not included in the standard of living, but obviously we are still too far from considering social reality at that level. So let's just look at several basic things. People drive in cars because public transport in Belgrade is disastrous. Also, those cars are not an indicator of rising standards, but rather suggest the impossibility of reaching standards in the West: Southeast Europe is a kind of dumping ground for diesels that countries like Germany are getting rid of, and because of the lower prices, people in our region can afford them.
Besides traffic, another key factor in pollution is heating. It does not point to a rise in standards either, but to poverty. Due to insufficient financial capacity for other forms of energy, district heating through the heating plant continues to use fuel oil. However, people massively disconnect from it because they cannot afford it and heat with low-quality coal in faulty stoves, which contributes to air pollution. Problematic are also some other large state-owned companies RTB Bora, Azotara and Petrohemija which, due to underinvestment, cannot afford filters or other mechanisms that would reduce their impact on air pollution. So, another indicator of a lower standard.
The reasons for Vučić's meme not being in harmony with the world are also the reasons for the announced protests due to the catastrophic situation. They, on the other hand, can also awaken political hope, because nothing suggests the necessity of solidarity action more than the fact that we all breathe the same air. And that its toxicity is the result of the same policies that impoverished the people.
Bonus video:
