Paper short abstract:

The paper analyzes unsettlement as an existential and social condition both, among the Roma population of Belgrade living in the most degraded "cardboard settlements" dismantled owing to large municipal infrastructure projects, as well as among the receiving communities.

Paper long abstract:

Since 2009 the Roma population living in some of the most degraded "cardboard settlements" in Belgrade had to be resettled owing to the infrastructure projects related to the repairs and construction of the two largest city bridges. This paper will describe and analyze two specific situations which the Roma families, the municipal authorities, as well as the communities designated to receive the displaced families faced under these strained conditions. In the case of the repairs undertaken at the bridge "Gazelle", the drama occurred when the European investment banks, backed by Amnesty International and local NGOs, pressed the Belgrade authorities to adequately resolve the housing and employment problem of the Roma living under the bridge, threatening to freeze the next installment of credit. In the case of dismantling the Roma settlement located next to the Belleville elite housing complex, due to the completion of an auxiliary road to the new "Ada Bridge", the whole city rose to their feet during the public protest of one of the Belgrade communities designated to receive the displaced Roma. The protest involved clashes with the police, peaceful marches, petitions, and an informal visit to the "new neighbors" with the aim of informing them about inadequate living conditions awaiting them at the new location. The discussion of the Belgrade cases within the panel should lead to the comparison of the varieties and scales of unsettlement produced by neo-liberal capitalism world-wide.