[English below]
Sljedeći susret u sklopu serijala Transnacionalne solidarnosti posvećen je našim marginaliziranim susjedima – bivšim stanovnicima izbrisanog romskog naselja Struge i stanovnicima naselja Vrtni put. Iregularizirana svakodnevica naselja odvija se u prostoru između legitimnog i legalnog, obilježena je getoizacijom i strukturnim nasiljem, a odvija se kao paralelna stvarnost, izvan dosega pogleda većinskog, neromskog dijela stanovništva.
Prema svjedočenjima stanovnika, naselje na lokalitetu III. Struga postojalo je još od druge polovine prošlog stoljeća. Tada su, prema navodima samih Stružana, radi urbanizacije i izgradnje, potaknuti na preseljenje s lokacija na kojima su ranije živjeli (Ivanja Reka i jugoistočni dijelovi Zagreba) u napuštene policijske konjušnice i administrativne objekte na rubu Struga, blizu obale Save. Dio obitelji tada je imao konje, pa im je prostor bio adekvatan za brigu o životinjama. Napuštene policijske konjušnice i administrativni objekti od početka su bili neadekvatni za trajno stanovanje, ali je lokacija imala električnu energiju i vodu. Stanovnicima su III. Struge postale dom u kojem je odraslo nekoliko generacija te je u različitim razdobljima tamo živjelo i 200-300 ljudi. Međutim, objekti su s vremenom propali, a vlasništvo nad terenom je pripalo korporaciji INA d.d. koja na lokaciji ima industrijske objekte. Uslijedilo je odlaganje otpada, isključivanje struje, voda je postavljena samo na jednoj crpki ispred naselja te su uvjeti za život za preostalih 50-tak stanovnika na lokaciji postali sve teži, a ni prijave prebivališta na lokaciji više nisu bile moguće.
Kada je krajem srpnja 2022. godine gradska vlast prepoznala teške uvjete te organizirala prijevoz i krizni smještaj za obitelji iz Struga, tvrdila je da će ih samo privremeno, najviše do početka nove školske godine, krizno smjestiti u prihvatilište za beskućnike u Kosnici i u gradski hostel Arena te će tijekom tog razdoblja privremenog smještaja osmisliti model stambene podrške. Raspravljalo se o najmu gradskih stanova ili o postavljanju naselja s mobilnim objektima ili kontejnerima na gradskom zemljištu u blizini naselja. Stružanke i Stružani tada su povjerovali da im je gradska vlast napokon spremna pomoći.
Međutim, tri godine kasnije, Stružanke i Stružani i dalje su raseljeni te je dio njih i dalje u prihvatilištima, a dio se bori s beskućništvom i protupravnim statusima, a njihovo naselje je zagrađeno pa izbrisano.
Naselje neslužbenog naziva Vrtni put na području zagrebačke Savice Šanci s jedne strane ograđeno je zidovima susjednih poslovnih objekata, a s druge strane s nadzemnom cijevi toplane. Čini ga grupa od dvadesetak međusobno povezanih obitelji od kojih neke u naselju žive u kontinuitetu od 80-tih godina. Život u naselju, odvija se u improviziranim drvenim barakama, bez regularnih strujnih priključaka, bez vodovoda i kanalizacije, s jednom slavinom vode instaliranom u vanjskom betonskom koritu za stotinjak ljudi, od kojih prevladavaju djeca predškolskog i školskog uzrasta.
U razgovoru sa stanovnicima naselja ćemo pokušati rekonstruirati obrise svakodnevice Vrtnog puta, kao i života u Strugama, odnosno dosadašnjeg procesa preseljanja i brisanja naselja Struge. Aktualne procese stambenog zbrinjavanja stanovnika/ica Vrtnog puta pritom sagledavamo iz perspektive lekcija naučenih kroz suradnju s gradskim strukturama u slučaju Struge. Kako se razvija, izvodi i brani solidarnost s romskim sugrađankama/ima u kontekstu suradnje s institucijama koja često podrazumijeva i „usputnu“ instrumentalizaciju civilnih inicijativa?
Razgovor sa stanovnicama/ima temelji se na višegodišnjem terenskom radu i zamišljen je kao javna susjedska kava, a vodit će ga socijalna pedagoginja i aktivistikinja Martina Horvat te antropolog Bojan Mucko. Razgovor će se odrzati na hrvatskom jeziku, uz solidarni prijevod na engleski.
Ova je večer dio serije Transnacionalnih solidarnosti — poziva na izgradnju i održavanje zajednica otpora koje su iskrene, solidarne i posvećene životnom dostojanstvu nasuprot isključenju i degradaciji. Seriju Transnacionalnih solidarnosti programiraju Emina Bužinkić i Lucija Mulalić, a ona je dio programskog pravca Ljudi u pokretu kluba MaMa, koju vodi Marija Krstanović (MaMa).
- Najavljena je diskusija organizirana u suradnji s projektom Infrapolitičke prakse i promjene: od devedesetih do življenih budućnosti (INFRA), koji provodi Institut za etnologiju i folkloristiku (IEF).
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[English version]
Struge and Vrtni put – Urban Marginalization of Roma Communities in the Zagreb Context
The next gathering in the Transnational Solidarities series is dedicated to our marginalized neighbors — former residents of the erased Roma settlement Struge and the current residents of Vrtni put. The irregularized everyday life in these settlements unfolds in a space between what is legitimate and what is legal, marked by ghettoization and structural violence. It exists as a parallel reality, outside the radar of the non-Roma majority population.
According to residents’ testimonies, the settlement in the area, known as Struge III existed since the second half of the last century. At that time, residents—encouraged by urbanization and new construction—were relocated from their previous homes in areas such as Ivanja Reka and southeastern Zagreb to abandoned police stables and administrative buildings on the edge of Struge, near the Sava River. Some families owned horses, so the location initially seemed suitable.
However, the abandoned police buildings were never adequate for permanent housing, even though the site had electricity and water. Over time, Struge III became home to several generations, with between 200 and 300 people living there at various times.
Eventually, the buildings deteriorated, and ownership of the land was transferred to INA d.d., an oil company that operates industrial facilities on the site. Waste dumping began, electricity was cut off, and water was made available only through a single outdoor pump. Living conditions for the roughly fifty remaining residents became increasingly difficult, and it was no longer possible to register official residence at the location.
In July 2022, the city authorities acknowledged the dire conditions and organized transportation and temporary housing for families from Struge, claiming it would be a short-term solution — no longer than until the start of the new school year — in shelters for the homeless in Kosnica and the city-run Hostel Arena. During that time, the city promised to develop a model for long-term housing support, including options such as municipal apartment rentals or container housing on nearby city-owned land. The residents of Struge believed, for a moment, that the city was finally ready to help them.
However, three years later, the residents of Struge remain displaced. Some are still in shelters, others struggle with homelessness and irregular status, and their former settlement has been fenced off — and effectively erased.
The Vrtni put settlement, informally named, is located in the Savica Šanci area of Zagreb. It is enclosed on one side by the walls of neighboring business complexes and on the other by the aboveground heating pipeline. The settlement is home to about twenty interconnected families, some of whom have lived there continuously since the 1980s. Life unfolds in makeshift wooden barracks, without formal electricity connections, water supply, or sewage system. A single outdoor tap installed in a concrete trough provides water for about a hundred residents, the majority of them preschool and school-aged children.
In conversation with residents, we will attempt to reconstruct the contours of everyday life in Vrtni put, as well as the history of life and displacement in Struge. Current processes of housing support for the residents of Vrtni put will be discussed through the lessons learned from collaboration with city institutions in the case of Struge. How is solidarity with Roma neighbors developed, enacted, and defended in contexts where cooperation with institutions often leads to the “incidental” instrumentalization of civic initiatives?
The conversation with residents is based on long-term fieldwork and will take place as a public neighborhood coffee gathering, moderated by social pedagogue and activist Martina Horvat and anthropologist Bojan Mucko. The discussion will be held in Croatian, with solidary translation into English.
This event is part of the Transnational Solidarities series — an ongoing call to build and sustain communities of resistance that are honest, solidaristic, and committed to life’s dignity in the face of exclusion and degradation. The series is curated by Emina Bužinkić and Lucija Mulalić, and forms part of the People on the Move program at Club MaMa, led by Marija Krstanović (MaMa).
The discussion is organized in collaboration with the project Infrapolitical Practices and Transformations: From the 1990s to Lived Futures (INFRA), carried out by the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research (IEF).
