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Kosovo joins Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia, North Macedonia, and Greece in the regional supermarket boycott on International Consumer Day
Kosovo has joined Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia, North Macedonia, and Greece in a regional supermarket boycott held on March 15, International Consumer Day, reports Ekonomia Online.
This boycott, organized by the initiative “Kosova Boykot,” aims to address the high prices of essential products, which remain a challenge for citizens relative to their income.
Auron Doli, from this initiative, explained that this is a collective action following similar protests in neighboring countries.
“The initiative is a regional boycott that will take place in the Western Balkans countries, starting from Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia, North Macedonia, and Greece. We have decided to join this regional boycott due to the very high prices of essential products, which is also the same reason for previous boycotts, driven by the gap between low wages and the very high prices of essential products,” he said.
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According to Doli, the boycott is not just a symbolic act, but an effort to create organized pressure against price hikes.
“The expectations are, I think, difficult to measure, but the citizen initiative has had a very significant momentum in the beginning. The group now has 10,000 members, but we are always working on methods and ways, and we ask the citizens for this because, in the end, this is a citizens’ organization, not just a group of people. Our expectations are for a massive boycott of supermarkets where the majority of the main capital spent by consumers is concentrated. We expect a boycott that will also trigger a chain reaction in the prices,” he said.
He added that, in addition to protesting high prices, the boycott aims to raise citizens’ awareness of their power in the market.
“I think the boycott is primarily about raising citizens’ awareness regarding the prices and collective action against high prices, specifically now for supermarkets but in general. It’s a kind of collective reaction against an increasingly unaffordable daily life for most citizens. I think this is the beginning of the boycott, and then further actions should go beyond the boycott; there should be legal tools and other citizen organizations to play a role in the pricing issue,” he said.
He also called on citizens to spread the message and cooperate to make the boycott as successful as possible.
“I call on citizens to join the boycott, organize with each other, spread the news to colleagues, family members, friends, and at the same time, I also call on supermarket workers to solidarize and self-organize, even unionize among themselves,” he said. / Ekonomia Online
