Thread by @salematkovic

I want to share what happened in more detail as some strange things have been happening in Serbia after Scholz's visit - that wreak of neocolonialism. Firstly, after his visit there have been massive national protests in every major city, and especially in the villages. (1/28)

What happened was that the Serbian government signed a range of deals for a whole electric vehicles (EV's) production chain, from lithium extraction to refining and battery production, mostly with German companies like Mercedes Benz, but also InoBat, (2/28)

a Rio Tinto subsidiary. Stellantis, which is already in Serbia, is also involved and actually showcased a finished EV prototype in Kragujevac, a town in Serbia, a few weeks ago. None of this was made public before and we all learned this only after came to sign the deals, (3/28)

along with German automakers. All of this is presented almost as non-negotiable by some EU officials despite the fact that this means that Serbia will become the only country in the world where one of the largest lithium mines will open up in a populated area called the (4/28)

"Jadar region". It is an agricultural land sitting on top of an undergound water reservoir, previously designated to supply the north of Serbia, after another one runs out. (5/28)

The government have been changing laws on expropriation and acting as a PR for the company ever since 2021. When I published an open letter putting the economic benefits of the mine into question in a popular daily newspaper, (6/28)

I got several death threats in an escalating order, and this came on top of the protests already under way. This made me question the capitalist green transition even further and I want to share the methods that were used. First, (7/28)

I got a message saying "We will follow you until you disappear." on Telegram. Now, my profile is invisible and you can't find me unless I am in your contacts meaning someone knew my number which is not exactly public. This was on midnight on August 14, four days ago. (8/28)

The profile was only signed as "Andriy". I thought someone was kidding, But then tomorrow I got a message saying "How's the Rio Tinto struggle going?" from another profile, only this time, the distance was displayed - 500 meters from me. (9/28)

After I reported the messages to the police, only hours afterwards I received a third message. This third message was, however, not written in Serbian, but in *German*. The message began by saying: "You don't understand anything. (10/28)

We know about your connections to the leaders of the revolt." It followed by describing my behavior in the movement (in which I was active from time to time, something the message noted) and that I should "step out of the public light for some time, (11/28)

if I want to continue to write and breathe." It ended by saying that I did not understand that I should be afraid for my safety, as well as that of my "little brother". They here referred to my ten years younger brother, (12/28)

which is also a fact not publicly available anywhere on the internet. This third message happened on August 15, and on that night I received about ten more messages asking me if I am "sleeping tightly" etc. I would get them whenever I was online, not before or after, (13/28)

meaning that someone was monitoring my internet activity. All messages came from various profiles. When the news got out, the police denied that they received any report from me and only with the pressure of the media, (14/28)

did they admit that a report was filed by me and stated that they will take some action. Then, when this whole thing exploded in the media, (15/28)

a Dutch journalist who wanted to publish the news abroad also got some weird messages trying to persuade her from publishing the news. Soon after, four apartments of some of my friends who participated in the protests were raided by the police and one of my friends, (16/28)

who is in the fifth month of her pregnancy, had her home invaded by the Serbian Internal Security (BIA) on charges of "attempting to abolish the constitutional order", (17/28)

for being an admin of a Facebook group called "Activism" which simply shared solidarity posters with me and others. Some other friends have been getting strange calls soon after and this whole thing is just going insane right now. (18/28)

I have stopped getting threats after going public but non of this is right. I think Vučić doesn't know what the hell to do with the protests after he basically gave German companies and Rio Tinto a carte blanche when it comes to Serbian lithium. (19/28)

All I know is that this is a first time someone got a death threat due to a scientific text which basically argued that mining investments have been on the rise without contributing to a rise in the standard of living. (20/28)

I also published data on increasing extraction of domestic resources and falling domestic resource productivity in Serbia, arguing that this is not a viable model for a peripheral country. This is an ongoing story that is yet to reach the Western media, (21/28)

and I have been helped by a lot of people. At the same time, this situation has basically ruined any semblance of normal life as there is talk of UN getting involved, (22/28)

I've received offers to live in a foreign embassy if this thing escalates and the regional media have gone wild. However, after taking a short pause I was really left with one simply question: is this how a green transition looks like? Is this the European Green Deal? (23/28)

We are going unhinged with dictatorial methods over a mine that would allow a bunch of rich people to continue driving around. Instead of raising public investments into public transport infrastructure for the wider masses, (24/28)

we are focusing on private mining companies for private auto manufacturers for the dwindling European middle class with loads of problems from uncoordinated charging stations, slow auto modelling, and what not. (25/28)

And I am really wondering to what extent any of this is contributing to mitigating climate change. After everything that went down in the last couple of days, (26/28)

climate change is the last thing I think about when I think about the European Green Deal/EV production/lithium mining. (27/28)

Instead, all I experienced is, in this order: a) stealth infiltration by a company; b) meddling with national laws; c) putting down local opposition and protests; d) bringing in foreign powers without local knowledge; e) death threats and f) silence over all of the above. (28/28)

This post literally got more half a million views in a day so am posting the English translation of the original letter so anyone can read it:

Today I also asked the German Embassy and Rio Tinto to publicly condemn the threats: tni.org/en/article/ope…
danas.rs/dijalog/licni-…