Bosnia and Herzegovina in Spring
Latest film in the Global Uprisings series recounts the uprising that rocked Bosnia last month, spawning a countrywide experiment in direct democracy.
This short documentary tells the story of the uprising in Bosnia and Herzegovina that started in early February 2014. Since February 5 2014, protests — started by workers from five factories in northern city of Tuzla: Dita, Polihem, Poliolhem, GUMARA and Konjuh – have swept across the country. The factories had been privatized, bankrupted and stripped of their assets, leaving the workers with large debts, no salaries, no health care and no benefits. The protests culminated on February 7, 2014 when several governmental buildings were set on fire in cities across the country, including the presidential building in Sarajevo. Under pressure of protests, four regional governments resigned. The protests were followed with mass popular assemblies, referred to as plenums, that quickly spread across the country.