Why do we blame individuals for economic crises? | Liene Ozolina

Prevodilac: Milenka Okuka Lektor: Ivana Korom

It was a cold, sunny March day.

Bio je hladan, sunčan martovski dan.

I was walking along the street in Riga.

Šetala sam ulicom u Rigi.

I remember the winter was slowly coming to an end.

Sećam se da se zima polako primicala kraju.

There was still some snow around here and there,

Još uvek je tu i tamo bilo snega,

but the pavement was already clear and dry.

ali trotoar je već bio čist i suv.

If you've lived in Riga,

Ako živite u Rigi,

you will know that feeling of relief that the first signs of spring bring,

znate taj osećaj olakšanja koji donose prvi znaci proleća

and you no longer have to trudge through that slushy mix

i više ne morate da bazate kroz bljuzgavicu

of snow and mud on the streets.

od snega i uličnog blata.

So there I am, enjoying my stroll,

Dakle, tako sam uživala u šetnji,

as I suddenly notice a stencil on the pavement in front of me,

kad sam iznenada primetila šaru na trotoaru ispred mene,

a graffiti:

grafit:

white letters painted on these dark grey bricks.

bela slova oslikana na tamonosivim ciglama.

It says,

Pisalo je:

"Where is your responsibility?"

„Gde je tvoja odgovornost?”

The question stopped me in my tracks.

Pitanje me u mestu zaustavilo.

As I'm standing there considering its meaning,

Dok sam stajala tu razmišljajući o njegovom značenju,

I notice I'm standing outside the Riga Municipality Social Welfare Department.

primetila sam kako stojim ispred Riginog Centra za socijani rad.

So it appears that the author of this graffiti, whoever it is,

Stoga se činilo kako je autor grafita, ko god on bio,

is asking this question to people coming to apply for social assistance.

postavljao ovo pitanje ljudima koji su dolazili da se prijave za socijanu pomoć.

That winter,

Te zime,

I had been doing research on the aftermath of the financial crisis in Latvia.

radila sam istraživanje o posledicama finansijske krize na Letoniju.

When the Global Financial Crisis erupted in 2008, Latvia got hit hard

Kada je globalna finansijsa kriza eruptirala 2008 godine,

Letonija je snažno pogođena kao mala, otvorena ekonomija.

as a small, open economy.

To balance the books,

Kako bi sredili finansije,

the Latvian government chose a strategy of internal devaluation.

letonska vlada je odabrala strategiju unutrašnje devalvacije.

Now, in essence, that meant drastically reducing public budget spending,

Sad, to je u suštini značilo drastično umanjenje budžeta javne potrošnje,

so, slashing public sector workers' wages,

dakle, skresavanje plata radnika u javnom sektoru,

shrinking civil service,

redukovanje državnih službi,

cutting unemployment benefits and other social assistance,

smanjenje naknada za nezaposlene i drugih socijalnih pomoći,

raising taxes.

podizanje poreza.

My mother had been working as a history teacher her whole life.

Moja majka je čitav život radila kao profesorica istorije.

The austerity for her meant seeing her salary cut by 30 percent

Štednja za nju je značila smanjenje plate za 30 procenata

all of a sudden.

iz čista mira.

And there were many in a situation like hers or worse.

A mnogi su bili u njenoj ili goroj situaciji.

The costs of the crisis were put on the shoulders of ordinary Latvians.

Troškovi krize su stavljeni na ramena običnih Letonaca.

As a result of the crisis and the austerity,

Kao rezultat krize i mera štednje,

the Latvian economy shrank by 25 percent in a two-year period.

letonska ekonomija se smanjila za 25 procenata u periodu od dve godine.

Only Greece suffered an economic contraction

Jedino je Grčka pretrpela umanjenje ekonomije

of a comparable scale.

uporedive veličine.

Yet, while Greeks were out in the streets for months

Međutim, dok su Grci mesecima bili na ulicama

staging continuous, often violent protests in Athens,

organizujući stalne, često nasilne proteste u Atini,

all was quiet in Riga.

u Rigi je sve bilo tiho.

Prominent economists were fighting in the columns of "The New York Times"

Ugledni ekonomisti su se prepirali u kolumnama „Njujork tajmsa”

about this curious extreme Latvian experiment

o ovom zanimljivom ekstremnom letonskom eksperimentu

of this austerity regime,

ovog režima štednje

and they were watching on in disbelief

i posmatrali su u neverici

how the Latvian society was putting up with it.

kako to letonsko društvo podnosi.

I was studying in London at the time,

U to vreme sam studirala u Londonu

and I remember the Occupy movement there

i sećam se tamošnjeg pokreta Okupirajmo

and how it was spreading from city to city,

i kako se širio od grada do grada,

from Madrid to New York to London,

od Madrida preko Njujorka do Londona,

the 99 percent against the one percent.

99 procenata protiv jednog procenta.

You know the story.

Poznata vam je priča.

Yet when I arrived in Riga,

Ipak, kad sam stigla u Rigu,

there were no echoes of the Occupy here.

ovde nije bilo odjeka Okupirajmo pokreta.

Latvians were just putting up with it.

Letonci su prosto trpeli.

They "swallowed the toad," as the local saying goes.

„Progutali su žabu”, kako lokalna izreka glasi.

For my doctoral research,

Za moje doktorsko istraživanje,

I wanted to study how the state-citizen relationship was changing in Latvia

želela sam da izučavam kako se odnos država-građanin menja u Letoniji

in the post-Soviet era,

u periodu postsovjetske ere,

and I had chosen the unemployment office

a odabrala sam zavod za zapošljavanje

as my research site.

kao mesto istraživanja.

And as I arrived there in that autumn of 2011,

I kako sam stigla tamo u jesen 2011. godine,

I realized, "I am actually witnessing firsthand

shvatila sam da zapravo svedočim iz prve ruke

how the effects of crises are playing out,

kako se razvijaju efekti krize

and how those worst affected by it, people who have lost their jobs,

i kako oni koji su njome najviše pogođeni, ljudi koji su izgubili poslove,

are reacting to it."

reaguju na nju.

So I started interviewing people I met at the unemployment office.

Te sam počela da intervjuišem ljude koje sam sretala u zavodu za zapošljavanje.

They were all registered as job seekers and hoping for some help from the state.

Svi su imali status onih koji traže posao i nadali su se nekakvoj pomoći od države.

Yet, as I was soon discovering, this help was of a particular kind.

Uskoro sam, pak, otkrila kako je ta pomoć naročite vrste.

There was some cash benefit,

Bilo je nešto novčane pomoći,

but mostly state assistance came in the form of various social programs,

ali je državna pmoć uglavnom bila u vidu niza socijalnih programa,

and one of the biggest of these programs was called

a jedan od najvećih sličnih programa se zvao

"Competitiveness-Raising Activities."

„Aktivnosti uvećanja konkurentosti”.

It was, in essence, a series of seminars

U suštini, radilo se o nizu seminara

that all of the unemployed were encouraged to attend.

na koje su podsticali sve nezaposlene da ih pohađaju.

So I started attending these seminars with them.

Počela sam da pohađam te seminare s njima.

And a number of paradoxes struck me.

A količina paradoksa me je zatekla.

So, imagine:

Dakle, zamislite:

the crisis is still ongoing,

kriza je u toku,

the Latvian economy is contracting,

letonska ekonomija se skuplja,

hardly anyone is hiring,

gotovo da niko ne zapošljava,

and there we are,

a mi smo tu,

in this small, brightly lit classroom,

u toj malenoj, jako osvetljenoj učionici,

a group of 15 people,

grupa od 15 ljudi,

working on lists of our personal strengths and weaknesses, our inner demons,

radimo na spisku naših ličnih snaga i slabosti, naših unutrašnjih demona

that we are told are preventing us from being more successful

za koje nam je rečeno da nas sprečavaju da budemo uspešniji

in the labor market.

na tržištu rada.

As the largest local bank is being bailed out

Dok su najveću lokalnu banku spasavali

and the costs of this bailout are shifted onto the shoulders of the population,

a troškove ovog spašavanja su prebacivali na ramena naroda,

we are sitting in a circle and learning how to breathe deeply

mi smo sedeli u krugu i učili kako da duboko dišemo

when feeling stressed.

kada smo pod stresom.

(Breathes deeply)

(Diše duboko)

As home mortgages are being foreclosed

Dok se domovi pod hipotekom zaplenjuju

and thousands of people are emigrating,

i na hiljade ljudi je u emigraciji,

we are told to dream big and to follow our dreams.

nama je rečeno da sanjamo velike snove i da pratimo naše snove.

As a sociologist,

Kao sociološkinja,

I know that social policies are an important form of communication

znam da je socijalna politika važan oblik komunikacije

between the state and the citizen.

između države i njenih građana.

The message of this program was,

Poruka ovog programa je bila,

to put it in the words of one of the trainers,

da se izrazim rečima jedne instruktorke:

"Just do it."

„Samo to uradite.”

She was, of course, citing Nike.

Naravno da je citirala Najki.

So symbolically, the state was sending a message to people out of work

Dakle, simbolično, država je slala poruku nezaposlenim ljudima

that you need to be more active, you need to work harder,

da moraju da budu aktivniji, moraju vrednije da rade,

you need to work on yourself, you need to overcome your inner demons,

moraju da rade na sebi, moraju da savladaju unutrašnje demone,

you need to be more confident --

moraju da budu samouvereniji -

that somehow, being out of work was their own personal failure.

da je nakako to što su nezaposleni njihov lični neuspeh.

The suffering of the crisis

Ispaštanje zbog krize

was treated as this individual experience of stress

je tretirano kao iskustvo stresa kod pojedinca

to be managed in one's own body

s kojim se treba izboriti unutar sopstvenog tela

through deep and mindful breathing.

kroz duboko i pažljivo disanje.

These types of social programs that emphasize individual responsibility

Ovakvi vidovi socijalnih programa koji naglašavaju odgovornost pojedinca

have become increasingly common across the world.

su postali sve uobičajeniji širom sveta.

They are part of the rise of what sociologist Loïc Wacquant calls

Oni su deo uspona nečega što sociolog Loik Vakan naziva

the "neoliberal Centaur state."

„neoliberalnom kentaur državom”.

Now, the centaur, as you might recall,

Kentaur, kao što se možda sećate

is this mythical creature in ancient Greek culture,

je mitsko biće iz antičke grčke kulture,

half human, half beast.

pola čovek, pola zver.

It has this upper part of a human and the lower part of a horse.

Ima gornju polovinu koja je ljudska i donju polovinu koja je konjska.

So the Centaur state is a state

Dakle, kentaur država je država

that turns its human face to those at the top of the social ladder

koja okreće svoj ljudski lik onima koji su na vrhu društvene lestvice

while those at the bottom are being trampled over,

dok su oni na dnu pregaženi,

stampeded.

smrvljeni.

So top income earners and large businesses

Dakle, oni koji najviše zarađuju i velike firme

can enjoy tax cuts and other supportive policies,

mogu da uživaju u srezivanju poreza i drugim politikama podrške,

while the unemployed, the poor

dok nezaposlene, siromašne

are made to prove themselves worthy for the state's help,

teraju da dokažu da su vredni državne pomoći,

are morally disciplined,

moralno ih disciplinujući,

are stigmatized as irresponsible or passive or lazy

stigmatizujući kao nedgovorne ili pasivne ili lenje

or often criminalized.

ili često ih kriminalizujući.

In Latvia, we've had such a Centaur state model

U Letoniji smo imali sličan model kentaur države

firmly in place since the '90s.

čvrsto ukorenjen od '90-ih.

Take, for example, the flat income tax that we had in place up until this year

Uzmite, na primer, proporcionalni porez na dohodak

koji smo imali sve do ove godine

that has been benefiting the highest earners,

koji je išao u prilog onima koji najviše zarađuju,

while one quarter of the population keeps living in poverty.

dok je četvrtina populacije i dalje živela u siromaštvu.

And the crisis and the austerity has made these kinds of social inequalities worse.

A kriza i mere štednje su pogoršale ove vidove društvene nejednakosti.

So while the capital of the banks and the wealthy has been protected,

I dok je kapital banaka i imućnih zaštićen,

those who lost the most

one koji su najviše izgubili

were taught lessons in individual responsibility.

su podučavali lekcijama individualne odgovornosti.

Now, as I was talking to people who I met at these seminars,

Sad, razgovarajući sa ljudima koje sam upoznala na tim seminarima,

I was expecting them to be angry.

očekivala sam da će da budu ljuti.

I was expecting them

Očekivala sam

to be resisting these lessons in individual responsibility.

da će da se opiru ovim lekcijama o individualnoj odgovornosti.

After all, the crisis was not their fault, yet they were bearing the brunt of it.

Naposletku, nisu oni krivi za krizu, a ipak su snosili njen glavni teret.

But as people were sharing their stories with me,

No, dok su ljudi delili svoje priče sa mnom,

I was struck again and again

iznova i iznova sam bila zatečena

by the power of the idea of responsibility.

snagom ideje o odgovornosti.

One of the people I met was Žanete.

Jedna od ljudi koje sam upoznala je bila Žaneta.

She had been working for 23 years

Radila je 23 godine

teaching sewing and other crafts at the vocational school in Riga.

podučavajući šivenje i ostale zanate u školi strukovnih studija u Rigi.

And now the crisis hits,

I sad nakon krize,

and the school is closed as part of the austerity measures.

škola je zatvorena kao deo mera štednje.

The educational system restructuring was part of a way of saving public money.

Restruktuiranje obrazovnog sistema je bilo deo uštede javnog novca.

And 10,000 teachers across the country lose their jobs,

I 10.000 prosvetara širom države je ostalo bez posla,

and Žanete is one of them.

a Žaneta je bila jedna od njih.

And I know from what she's been telling me

I znam iz onoga što mi je rekla

that losing her job has put her in a desperate situation;

da ju je gubitak posla stavio u nezgodan položaj;

she's divorced, she has two teenage children that she's the sole provider for.

razvedena je, ima dvoje tinejdžera čiji je jedini staratelj.

And yet, as we are talking,

Pa ipak, dok smo razgovarale,

she says to me that the crisis is really an opportunity.

rekla mi je kako je kriza istinska prilika.

She says, "I turn 50 this year.

Kaže, „Ove godine sam napunila pedesetu.

I guess life has really given me this chance to look around, to stop,

Valjda mi je život uistinu pružio šansu da se osvrnem, zaustavim

because all these years I've been working nonstop,

jer sam sve ove godine radila bez predaha,

had no time to pause.

nisam imala vremena za odmor.

And now I have stopped,

I sad sam se zaustavila

and I've been given an opportunity to look at everything and to decide

i pružena mi je prilika da sve sagledam i odlučim

what it is that I want

šta je to što želim

and what it is that I don't want.

i šta je to što ne želim.

All this time, sewing, sewing, some kind of exhaustion."

Sve ovo vreme samo šivenje, šivenje, nekako je iscrpljujuće.”

So Žanete is made redundant after 23 years.

Dakle, Žaneta je postala tehnološki višak nakon 23 godine.

But she's not thinking about protesting.

Ali nije pomišljala na protestovanje.

She's not talking about the 99 percent against the one percent.

Nije govorila o 99 procenata protiv jednog procenta.

She is analyzing herself.

Ona je analizirala sebe.

And she was thinking pragmatically of starting a small business

I razmišljala je pragmatično o tome da otvori malu firmu

out of her bedroom

u sopstvenoj spavaćoj sobi

making these little souvenir dolls to sell to tourists.

gde će da pravi lutkice suvenire za prodaju turistima.

I also met Aivars at the unemployment office.

Takođe sam upoznala Ajvarsa u zavodu za zapošljavanje.

Aivars was in his late 40s,

Ajvars je bio u kasnim četrdesetim,

he had lost a job at the government agency overseeing road construction.

izgubio je posao u vladinoj agenciji koja je nadgledala izgradnju puteva.

To one of our meetings, Aivars brings a book he's been reading.

Na jedan od naših sastanaka, Ajvars je doneo knjigu koju je čitao.

It's called "Vaccination against Stress, or Psycho-energetic Aikido."

Naslovljenu „Vakcinacija protiv stresa ili psihoenergetski aikido”.

Now, some of you might know that aikido is a form of martial art,

Sad, neki od vas možda znaju da je aikido vrsta borilačke veštine,

so, psycho-energetic aikido.

dakle, psihoenergetski aikido.

And Aivars tells me that after several months

I Ajvars mi je rekao da nakon nekoliko meseci

of reading and thinking and reflecting while being out of work,

čitanja i razmišljanja i osvrtanja dok je bio bez posla,

he has understood that his current difficulties are really his own doing.

da je razumeo da su njegove trenutne poteškoće njegovo lično delo.

He says to me,

Rekao mi je:

"I created it myself.

„Sam sam kriv.

I was in a psychological state that was not good for me.

Bio sam u psihološkom stanju koje nije bilo dobro za mene.

If a person is afraid to lose their money, to lose their job,

Ako neko strahuje od gubitka novca, gubitka posla,

they start getting more stressed, more unsettled, more fearful.

postaje sve više pod stresom, sve nervozniji, plašljiviji.

That's what they get."

I to im se i desi.”

As I ask him to explain,

Tražeći od njega da pojasni,

he compares his thoughts poetically to wild horses running in all directions,

on je poetično uporedio svoje misli sa divljim konjima koji jure na sve strane,

and he says, "You need to be a shepherd of your thoughts.

i rekao je: „Moraš da budeš pastir svojih misli.

To get things in order in the material world,

Kako bi sve doveo na mesto u materijalnom svetu,

you need to be a shepherd of your thoughts,

moraš da budeš pastir svojih misli

because it's through your thoughts that everything else gets orderly."

jer kroz tvoje misli sve ostalo dolazi na svoje mesto.”

"Lately," he says, "I have clearly understood

„U poslednje vreme,” rekao je, „postalo mi je jasno

that the world around me, what happens to me,

da je svet oko mene, sve što mi se dešava,

people that enter in my life ... it all depends directly on myself."

ljudi koji ulaze u moj život... sve to zavisi direktno od mene.”

So as Latvia is going through this extreme economic experiment,

Dakle, dok Letonija prolazi kroz ovaj ekstremni ekonomski eksperiment,

Aivars says it's his way of thinking that has to change.

Ajvars kaže da njegov način razmišljanja mora da se promeni.

He's blaming himself for what he's going through at the moment.

On krivi sebe za ono kroz šta trenutno prolazi.

So taking responsibility is, of course, a good thing, right?

Pa je preuzimanje odgovornosti, naravno, dobra stvar, zar ne?

It is especially meaningful

Naročito je smisleno

and morally charged in a post-Soviet society,

i moralno obojeno u post-sovjetskom društvu

where reliance on the state is seen as this unfortunate heritage

gde se na oslanjanje na državu gleda kao na nesrećno nasleđe

of the Soviet past.

sovjetske prošlosti.

But when I listen to Žanete and Aivars and to others,

Međutim, slušajući Žanetu i Ajvarsa, kao i ostale,

I also thought how cruel this question is --

takođe sam pomislila koliko je okrutno to pitanje -

"Where is your responsibility?" --

„Gde je tvoja odgovornost?” -

how punishing.

koliko je iscrpljujuće.

Because, it was working as a way of blaming and pacifying people

Jer je funkcionisalo kao način da se okrive i umire

who were hit worst by the crisis.

oni koji su najviše pogođeni krizom.

So while Greeks were out in the streets, Latvians swallowed the toad,

Stoga, dok su Grci bili na ulicama, Letonci su progutali žabu

and many tens of thousands emigrated,

i na desetine hiljada je emigriralo,

which is another way of taking responsibility.

a to je još jedan način preuzimanja odgovornosti.

So the language, the language of individual responsibility,

Dakle, jezik, jezik individualne odgovornosti

has become a form of collective denial.

je postao oblik kolektivnog poricanja.

As long as we have social policies that treat unemployment

Sve dok imamo socijalne politike koje tretiraju nezaposlenost

as individual failure

kao neuspeh pojedinca,

but we don't have enough funding for programs that give people real skills

a ne ulažemo dovoljno sredstava u programe koji pružaju ljudima stvarne veštine

or create workplaces,

ili stvaraju radna mesta,

we are blind of the policymakers' responsibility.

ostajemo slepi za odgovornost autora tih politika.

As long as we stigmatize the poor as somehow passive or lazy

Sve dok stigmatizujemo siromašne kao nekako pasivne i lenje,

but don't give people real means to get out of poverty

a ne pružamo ljudima istinska sredstva da se izvuku iz siromaštva

other than emigrating,

osim eimgracije,

we are in denial of the true causes of poverty.

poričemo istinske uzročnike siromaštva.

And in the meantime,

A u međuvremenu,

we all suffer,

svi ispaštamo

because social scientists have shown with detailed statistical data

jer su društveni naučnici pokazali detaljnim statističkim podacima

that there are more people with both mental and physical health problems

da ima više ljudi kako sa mentalnim tako i fizičkim zdravstvenim problemima

in societies with higher levels of economic inequality.

u društvima sa većim stepenom ekonomske nejednakosti.

So social inequality is apparently bad for not only those with least resources

Dakle, društvena nejednakost je očito loša ne samo za one sa manjim primanjima,

but for all of us,

već i za sve nas

because living in a society with high inequality

jer živeti u društvu velikih nejednakosti

means living in a society with low social trust and high anxiety.

znači živeti u društvu niskog društvenog poverenja i visoke anksioznosti.

So there we are.

Dakle, tu smo.

We're all reading self-help books,

Svi čitamo knjige za samopomoć,

we try to hack our habits,

pokušavamo da ovladamo navikama,

we try to rewire our brains,

pokušavamo da prestrojimo mozgove,

we meditate.

meditiramo.

And it helps, of course, in a way.

I od pomoći je, naravno, na neki način.

Self-help books help us feel more upbeat.

Knjige za samopomoć nam pomažu da budemo optimističniji.

Meditation can help us feel more connected to others spiritually.

Meditacija može pomoći da se osećamo duhovno povezaniji sa drugima.

What I think we need

Smatram da nam je jednako potrebna

is as much awareness of what connects us to one another socially,

svest o tome šta nas u društvenom smislu povezuje jedne s drugima

because social inequality hurts us all.

jer društvena nejednakost povređuje sve nas.

So we need more compassionate social policies

Stoga su nam potrebne saosećajnije društvene politike

that are aimed less at moral education

koje su manje usmerene na moralno obrazovanje,

and more at promotion of social justice and equality.

a više na promociju socijalne pravde i jednakosti.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)