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Ljubljana, June 2011,
migrant workers' demonstration

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I've worked all over the world.

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I even worked in Croatia before the war.

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In Bosnia and in Germany...

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I've been in Slovenia
for 9-10 years now.

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I'm from Tuzla,
municipality of Kalesija.

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I came here in April 2007.
I've been working here for 4 years.

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I'm from Buzim.
That's in Krajina.

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I've been working
in Slovenia for 32 years.

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I'm from Bosanska Krupa
in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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I've been working here for 5 years.
I'm a mason by profession.

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Armin Salihovic
migrant worker, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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I've never been unemployed.
I've always been busy,

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but I couldn't find work in my
profession. I'm a carpenter.

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Not that it was difficult to work,
but it was hard to make money.

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Simply put, wasted years.

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Slovenia offered work to foreign
workers and that was my way out.

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WE WANTED WORKERS,
BUT WE GOT PEOPLE INSTEAD

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Jelko Kacin
EU Parliament, Slovenia

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When we talk about construction work,
I'd even make this comparison,

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which applies to most
of the EU countries,

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that there's no big difference between
construction work and prostitution.

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Men and women forced to do
it are subjected to force,

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they're low paid,
they don't have social security

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and there's always a mediator,

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usually from their
native surroundings

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presenting themselves as protectors.

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Andreja Kuluncic
visual artist, Croatia

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They're promised all kinds of things.

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Companies sign contracts with them
in Bosnia and they come to Slovenia

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where they work for a year or two
and then either go back or stay.

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As far as I can tell, there has been no
big improvement in their everyday life.

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How come fines or penalties are always
avoided? How come there's no change?

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And we're all aware of it.
Us too. Let alone them.

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Look, I didn't expect anything.
We worked 10-12 hours a day.

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We spent the day working
and the night sleeping.

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When I came back to the workers' home,
I only had time to take a shower,

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make something to eat and go to bed.

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In the morning I had to get up
and go to work. And that was it.

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I'm either all day
at work or sleeping.

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I used to think that was normal
to work 10-12 hours a day,

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on Saturdays, Sundays, holidays,
it's normal in Slovenia and that's it.

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I wasn't aware of the
fact that I was exploited.

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Andrej Kurnik, Faculty of Social
Science, ROG Social Center, Slovenia

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Slovenia has been exploiting
Bosnians for the last 30-40 years.

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Even when it wasn't
an EU country candidate,

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it had mechanisms and legislative etc.

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that lead to discrimination
of those workers.

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An extreme form of
migrant workers exploitation

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was apartheid in South Africa.

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The logic was similar:

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preventing workers' mobility
and getting higher qualifications,

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social mobility and so on,

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which can only go on if
they're denied their rights,

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either political,
citizen or ownership rights.

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10% of active population in Slovenia
is made up of foreign migrant workers

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Since I came here, I had problems
and went through various hardships.

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They just treat us as their slaves.

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Contract states that I don't have
to work Saturdays or Sundays.

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They want us to work for as
little money as possible and that's it.

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We're not citizens
for them, that's obvious.

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Gallery of Modern Art, Ljubljana

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Museum in the street - exhibition

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They wanted to use slogans made of
things Slovenians were saying to them,

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like "Shut up and work!",
"Keep your kids at home!"

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because they didn't want them
to bring their kids to Slovenia.

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Also, "Enough for you!", "Bosnians, out!",
which is the title of the project

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because they use that a lot with them.

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At the same time, they need
Bosnians as construction workers

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or for some other jobs
they don't want to do.

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And "It'll do for you!", or
that's good enough for you.

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They wanted these things
to appear on posters.

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They don't want to be "the others",
which they have become

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and are treated as such.

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They don't say that Slovenians loved
them during the time in Yugoslavia,

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but their relationship was different.

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The laws weren't tailored in such a way
that they could mistreat them like this.

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Because their living conditions
are really below any human dignity.

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We live there in a sort of ghetto.

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We don't communicate with
people outside of this circle.

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I was in Bosnia while being in Slovenia!

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In workers' home there were
at least 3 or 4 men living

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in one 110-160 sq. ft room.

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Later there was a trend like, if
the bed fits in, the wardrobe goes out.

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Belongings could be stashed
in a bag under the bed,

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just as long we had a place to crash.

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There was only one toilet for
the whole floor with 50-60 people.

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Also, there was one kitchen.
We weren't allowed to bring TVs.

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We couldn't rearrange
furniture in the room.

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When you work 12 hours
a day, you're tired,

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you have enough of yourself,
of the same collective,

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in which you live and work.

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Why did we all live together
in the workers' home?

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So that we can talk about doing
some new work the next day.

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We talked about work
in our spare time.

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We were perfect workers.

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Basic principle also proposed by
unions is: equal work means equal pay.

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Somebody who comes from abroad can't
be paid less than domestic workers

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for the same amount of work.

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Inga Zic, Ministry of Economy,
Labour and Entrepreneurship, Croatia

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A worker living in highly developed social
state such as Holland, Sweden or Denmark,

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is much more expensive
than a Romanian or Bulgarian

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living in not as highly
developed social state.

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Dumping comes from the fact that
such workers in Denmark or Sweden

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cost employers half as much
as Scandinavian workers.

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Marija Pejcinovic Buric, Committee
for European Integration, Croatia

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There's fear of those
people, their culture,

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so I think some long-term
policies will have to change.

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Whether there could be an answer
to that on the European level...

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I think European institutions
answered to it as far as they could

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through laws linked with
migrant workers rights within EU etc.

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EU tries to establish
a common migration policy,

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but it's interesting that
it's establishing it in areas

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of asylums, refugee policies,
family reunification and so on,

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not on the level of migrant workers.

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Srecko Horvat, philosopher, Croatia

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The real question is in what way
such a community can keep functioning,

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in what way can it maintain
cohesion among all nations

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if the only running principle
is the economic one

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which completely neglects human
rights and the fate of individuals.

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I got fired and I'm unemployed.

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I don't get social welfare money.

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I don't have money for rent,
so I struggle in life.

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I have two kids at home.

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We haven't received our wages
for five months. We're struggling.

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We live poorly.

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I lost my left eye at the construction
site. I received no compensation.

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I worked illegally for three years

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and I stopped working when
I fell from the third floor.

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I treated my injuries with alcohol.

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Then I went to Bosnia and received three
months of treatment at my own expense.

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Veronika Bajt, Peace Institute, Ljubljana

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Slovenia, as a social state,
is not there for them,

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it couldn't do anything
because of the legal situation.

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If you don't have a work
permit or a residence permit,

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which you can get after five
years of living in Slovenia,

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you can't register at the unemployment
office if you're unemployed,

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you can't ask for financial or
other aid in case of unemployment.

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There were problems
with health insurance,

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not to mention retirement insurance,
right to vacation, sick leave etc.

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The law also states, those who
invite migrants into the country,

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have to provide them with accommodation.
That's what they used against us.

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We were dependent on them because
Vegrad didn't deduct our wages,

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it simply wasn't
mentioned in the books.

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We did overtime as an excuse
to pay for our accommodation.

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At one point, a few of
them they rented an apartment

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because they could do it
in the outskirts of the city.

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The company said, no problem,

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but they kept deducting
120 Euros off their wages.

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So they had to pay twice,
once through company's deduction,

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and once for themselves.
They gave up on it eventually.

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Until there was a call from outside

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when activists said,
that's no way to live.

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The demands are as follows...

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ROG Social Center action
workers' home Krljesnica, 2007

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Those concerning the quality of
living in the workers' home rooms.

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Those are issues of hygiene,
floor space for living.

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We should start a campaign for
reducing rent in the workers' home,

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and not only in this one.
But that's for starters.

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So that people can have their space
where they can spend time together,

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receive friends and family.

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Also, that people can decide
themselves, like in a free society,

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what kind of regime should
be in place at the home.

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Did you come to help us
or for your own reasons?

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To help us as workers or because
of some issues known only to you?

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We're ashamed that these kinds of
conditions exist in this society.

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We can't tolerate it. -The society
is as it is and it'll stay like this.

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It's difficult to change it.

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When we put the posters up, they
disappeared couple of days later,

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which is also quite interesting.

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Then they talked about it on the
radio and people started asking,

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where are the posters,
where are the Bosnians?

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Of course, I'm aware of the fact that
the projects I do in these countries

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aren't appealing to the locals,
nor can they appeal to them

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because I'm trying to address

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the relationship between their
laws and them with the others.

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The posters were eventually put back.

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We received a letter saying they were
removed due to a bureaucratic error.

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But we've learned that during those
two days when the posters were removed

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some foreign statesmen
were visiting Slovenia.

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Slovenians still say,

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you know what it's like,
we're a small country,

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there's only 2 million of us,
what do they want from us.

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We're also making a contribution,
but we're being left out.

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Haris Golemis, Nicos
Poulantzas Institute, Greece

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Could the EU exist the way it does
with certain social and other policies

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if free movement was allowed?

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I think the EU would
collapse very quickly.

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The whole time you have a hypocritical
situation in which G20 countries

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struggle to implement democracy
in Tunisia while at the same time

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they don't allow their refugees
from Tunisia into our democracy.

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Then you ask yourself
what kind of democracy it is.

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On the other hand, they need workers
for the jobs they don't want to do,

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but they don't those workers to
enjoy life fully in those countries.

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There's an old Swiss saying that goes,

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we wanted workers, but we got
people instead, what will we do?

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When you're born, you
don't choose your parents,

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just like you don't choose
the country you're born in.

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So how can you force someone
who lives in some country

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not to be a part of its society?

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We see that this visa system
doesn't function as rationally

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as it looks in a legal system,

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but it's a mechanism of exploitation
of those very people that live

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outside of a certain region
which we currently call the EU

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which exploits those outside
of it to realize certain goals

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whereby those outside always
have to prove themselves

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in their economic goal.

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The biggest problem is that
there's this law by which

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the company you're tied to
and you got your work permit for,

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if you want to change it,
you lose your work permit

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and you have to go back to Bosnia

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not knowing whether you'll ever again
get a new work permit for Slovenia.

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As far the legislation goes,

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the pivotal problem is that the
employee is dependent on the employer.

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He's dependent because, in order
to obtain personal work permit

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which allows you to freely choose
the employer and to get work anywhere,

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of course, based on your
capabilities, education and so on,

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you have to be in a
working relationship in which

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your employer basically
owns your work permit.

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Those employers transferred
workers between their companies,

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interrupting their employment

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so that they could stay with
them for at least five years,

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or they used maneuvers
with different visas

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in order to extend five years
to seven or eight years.

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Simply put, any disagreement with
the employer results in deportation.

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The eviction notice is in there.

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WE WON'T PAY FOR YOUR CRISIS

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THIS STORY SPEAKS ABOUT YOU TOO

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Through Rog we linked workers' homes,

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and people from the city started
changing their view towards the workers.

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Many workers from workers'
homes go to the city center.

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We've changed the routes they take.

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Small steps have been made after all.

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00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:56,200
You should know that this became
one of the hottest topics in Slovenia,

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00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:57,840
which wasn't the case previously.

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00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:02,040
Nobody knew before that 10% of
the people in such circumstances

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00:25:03,360 --> 00:25:06,480
build infrastructure of the country.

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00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:11,920
Foreign workers with their
work in this country

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00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:17,040
or some other EU member state
don't exploit those countries,

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but contribute to development
of the economy and state.

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00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:25,840
They're part of the solution,
not part of the problem.

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00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:59,480
Due to sudden increase
of the number of migrants,

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00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:02,000
many European countries are considering
setting up border crossings back again.

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00:26:03,120 --> 00:26:08,720
July 2011, Danish Parliament voted
for introduction of border controls

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00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:15,000
It'd be great to have Europe
which wants good for its workers,

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00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:21,520
protects its citizens and
strives for some kind of equality.

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00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:24,160
It'd be great, but it doesn't happen.

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00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:26,560
Nor anybody talks about it anymore.

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00:26:27,120 --> 00:26:31,720
I don't know what time will bring,
but I won't leave for the time being.

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00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:36,920
But it's hard to spend your
life proving to someone

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00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:41,440
how good migrant I am, so
that I could become a citizen.

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00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:47,280
We're only defined
as migrants. We're human beings.

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00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:55,920
It's easier to impose a label onto a
group of people, but we're human beings.

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00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:20,600
THE END