Srđ je Grad is a local/municipal political party, founded in October 2020. As a political citizen initiative, it had run for the city and county elections since 2013 within different configurations. In the elections, it presented a coalition with the local party Zaokret and national parties New Left and Možemo. In 2018, it ran for district council elections under a citizen initiative called Dajmo Ruke.
- Number of seats: 3
- First presented to elections in: 2013
Context
Srđ je Građ stemmed from the two informal citizen initiatives called “Initiative for the Salvation of Dubrovnik” (2004) and Srđ is Ours (2010-), both fighting the urban decay, heritage degradation, and devastation, pressure from the monoculture of tourism, speculative investments and projects as well as environmental protection, and insisting on establishing transparency and participatory principle when it comes to urban planning, development, and decision-making. After the citizen-organized referendum in 2013 (the first of its kind since the establishment of the democracy in Croatia in the 1990s) against the speculative land-grabbing and “apartmanisation” project of the golf courses on the hill of Srđ located just above the town of Dubrovnik, a fraction of Srđ je naš called Srđ je Grad has run for the city elections in 2013 and 2017 as a political citizen initiative, and in 2020 they registered as a local political party.
The electoral list consists of people from all around the County, both from the major coastal and island municipalities, and members of both informal and formal local initiatives. Since the local elections in 2021 they have had three councilors in the City Council of Dubrovnik (as the strongest opposition party, landing in second place by the number of votes), and three councilors in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County Council.
Approach
Srđ je Grad intends to further develop and establish the concept of active citizenship, solidarity, and transparency, as well as to insist on transparency and participatory principles in urban planning, development, governance, and decision-making. The participatory principle entails the equal participation of public-civil and private actors. We also want to make sure that our community has a better quality of life by protecting public goods and services, ensuring comprehensive, holistic, and professionally led spatial planning and development, preserving the cultural and natural heritage of Dubrovnik and Dubrovnik-Neretva County, strengthening democratic institutions, and improving forms of representative and participatory democracy. They are attempting to integrate left and green ideas into the governance of the city and council.
Sr je Grad's primary focus is the county of Dubrovnik-Neretva. As a result, the organization primarily operates on a local scale, namely at the city and county levels. This collaboration is not interfering with decision-making. They are autonomous in this regard, aiming to make decisions through consensus. At the same time, they have strong alliances with other actors: on the one hand, they supported the establishment of the Možemo Platform, a national platform for green-left policies and politics; on the other hand, Green Action (Friends of the Earth Croatia) has been their long-term partner in issues of environmental protection, sustainability, and waste management policies. On a regional level, they also support other citizen initiatives, political or not.
Practice
Empowerment & Democracy
The main core of our values is citizen participation. Through this regard, we efficiently collaborate with other citizens and citizen initiatives when issues arise in which we can help logistically, legally, and sometimes financially.
In 2021 we have created an application for open and easy access to the City Budget with an additional searchable database of all of the City’s expenses. This application is one of the main tools of our efforts to make the City finances and governance open and transparent
After almost 8 years without the active or existing City District Councils, in 2018 we supported the citizen initiative Dajmo ruke. which is working actively on the idea that the city district is the level, to begin with, the development and enforcement of participatory governance.
Since 2013 we have advocated and then ensured the active participation of the relevant actors and especially citizens and civil society organizations during the preparation and development phase of the Management Plan for the UNESCO-protected Old Town of Dubrovnik
Commons & Right to the City
For 15 years we have been opposing the land-grabbing speculative project of the golf resort placed on the hill of Srđ located just above the town of Dubrovnik.
We are consistently advocating the need for making the new General Urban Plan, which will be made by the principle of participation, professionalism, and protection of the natural, and cultural resources as well as the resources for the community.
We are continually advocating the establishment and increase of the public apartments fund for long-term leases.
Climate & Environmental Justice
We have organized and supported advocacy actions against several speculative investments and projects in the fields of natural resources and waste management such as the case of River Ombla Hydropower Plant and Lučino razdolje waste management center.
