Jugoinfo
IL PAGLIACCIO
"Possiamo inviare altri 50mila soldati ma non possiamo impedire alle
persone di comportarsi male, se sono proprio determinate a comportarsi
male"
Lo ha detto George Robertson, Segretario Generale della NATO - che ha
armato ed addestrato il fanatismo nazionalista dell'UCK, ne protegge i
terroristi e chiude entrambi gli occhi dinanzi ai continui atti di
violenza e vandalismo - in visita nella zona d'occupazione del Kosovo il
18 luglio u.s.
> STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM
>
> http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/07/18/yugo.kosovo.02/index.html
>
> NATO chief visits Kosovo as fresh violence breaks out
>
> July 18, 2000
> Web posted at: 2:07 p.m. EDT (1807 GMT)
> In this story:
> Arrest of Serb sparks protest
> October elections may be in jeopardy
>
> KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Kosovo -- NATO Secretary-General George Robertson on
> Tuesday appealed to Serbs in Kosovska Mitrovica to help stop the culture
> of violence.
>
> Peace in the Balkans
> "You can bring in another 50,000 troops and you can't stop people
> behaving badly if they are determined to behave badly. So what has got
> to happen is the culture of violence has got to cease," he said.
> Robertson and about 20 ambassadors from NATO member states arrived in
> Kosovo on Tuesday to check the situation more than a year after the
> beginning of the peacekeeping mission.
> As he toured Prizren, hundreds of Serbs in Kosovska Mitrovica were
> protesting to demand the release of a Serbian suspect whose arrest
> sparked demonstrations and violence Monday night.
> During the Monday disturbances, NATO-led peacekeepers from the KFOR
> force used tear gas and fired in the air. One U.N. police officer was
> briefly held hostage during the unrest.
> Robertson said KFOR and the United Nations had dealt professionally with
> the violence and urged Serbs to choose cooperation rather than
> confrontation.
> "The Serb community's future depends on KFOR and that is why they have
> to cooperate with KFOR, why they should be involved in civic
> institutions that the United Nations is creating -- that is for their
> future and for their benefit," he told reporters in Prizren.
> Robertson had earlier met the peacekeeping commander, Brig. Gen. Juan
> Ortuno of Spain, before flying to Prizren and was expected to return to
> Pristina for meetings with U.N. officials and representatives of Serb
> and ethnic Albanian communities.
> Arrest of Serb sparks protest
> Since NATO and the United Nations took control of Kosovo in June of last
> year, Kosovska Mitrovica has been their most dangerous flashpoint,
> mainly because it is the only place in the province where Serbs and
> ethnic Albanians still live near each other in large numbers.
> In the latest outbreak of violence, trouble flared after U.N. police
> arrested the Serb on Monday for an alleged assault on an ethnic Albanian
> last month.
> "The Serb population was very angry," said Oliver Ivanovic, the leader
> of the Serb community in the northern part of the city.
> The protesters stopped the U.N. vehicles and threw rocks at the
> peacekeepers. About 30 Serbs were seen carrying baseball bats.
> Soldiers had fired five tear gas grenades to disperse the crowd, KFOR
> spokesman Maj. Scott Slaten said.
> Kosovo's U.N.-led administration, known as UNMIK, said four people had
> been slightly injured by the tear gas canisters. A local Serb surgeon
> said one woman was more seriously hurt and that a total of nine people
> had sought medical treatment.
> By Tuesday morning, calm had returned to Kosovska Mitrovica, where
> Kosovo Serbs and ethnic Albanians live in mutual hostility, separated
> only by the river Ibar that runs through its center.
> Protesters gathered again Tuesday outside the jail where the Serb,
> Dalibor Vukovic, was being held. Their protest appeared to be peaceful,
> at least initially.
> Serb leaders sent a letter to U.N. police repeating their demand for the
> release of Vukovic, who authorities say is a member of a self-styled
> Serb security force known as the "bridge watchers." The bridge watchers
> monitor people crossing into the Serb section of the city across the
> main bridge.
> The Serbs threatened more violence if Vukovic is not released.
> It was the second confrontation in less than a week between Serbs and
> peacekeepers in the city.
> On Friday, four grenades were fired from the ethnic Albanian side,
> touching off about three hours of Serb protests, which ended without
> injuries.
> Also, on Sunday, an explosion ripped through a medieval Serbian Orthodox
> Church in Kosovo, flattening the structure. The church of the Holy
> Prophet Elijah was located in the village of Pomazetin, just outside the
> Serb village of Kosovo Polje. The church was not under guard by NATO-led
> peacekeepers.
> October elections may be in jeopardy
> The Kosovska Mitrovica clash occurred as the U.N. mission is trying to
> convince Serbs to register for municipal elections in October, the first
> internationally supervised balloting in Kosovo's history.
> Most Serb leaders are resisting until the United Nations and NATO can
> guarantee their security and allow thousands of Serbs to return to
> Kosovo, which they fled after Yugoslav forces withdrew at the end of
> NATO's 78-day bombing campaign in 1999.
> Since then, more than 150,000 Kosovo Serbs have also fled the province
> in fear of attacks by ethnic Albanians seeking vengeance.
> The leader of the largest Serb community left in Kosovo has assured
> international officials that he will not stand in the way of Serbs who
> may want to register.
> However, Oliver Ivanovic said Monday that he did not believe many Serbs
> would sign up until the U.N. takes steps to allow more than 200,000
> Serbs to return there.
> Ivanovic offered assurances to Daan Everts, head of the Kosovo mission
> of the 54-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,
> which will oversee the election and which is registering voters.
> Everts said Ivanovic's comments were encouraging.
> "Mr. Ivanovic has promised that he would do what he can to avoid any
> violence or intimidation and let people at least have the freedom of
> choice," Everts said.
> --
> CNN Belgrade Bureau Chief Alessio Vinci, The Associated Press and
> Reuters contributed to this report.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
"Possiamo inviare altri 50mila soldati ma non possiamo impedire alle
persone di comportarsi male, se sono proprio determinate a comportarsi
male"
Lo ha detto George Robertson, Segretario Generale della NATO - che ha
armato ed addestrato il fanatismo nazionalista dell'UCK, ne protegge i
terroristi e chiude entrambi gli occhi dinanzi ai continui atti di
violenza e vandalismo - in visita nella zona d'occupazione del Kosovo il
18 luglio u.s.
> STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM
>
> http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/07/18/yugo.kosovo.02/index.html
>
> NATO chief visits Kosovo as fresh violence breaks out
>
> July 18, 2000
> Web posted at: 2:07 p.m. EDT (1807 GMT)
> In this story:
> Arrest of Serb sparks protest
> October elections may be in jeopardy
>
> KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Kosovo -- NATO Secretary-General George Robertson on
> Tuesday appealed to Serbs in Kosovska Mitrovica to help stop the culture
> of violence.
>
> Peace in the Balkans
> "You can bring in another 50,000 troops and you can't stop people
> behaving badly if they are determined to behave badly. So what has got
> to happen is the culture of violence has got to cease," he said.
> Robertson and about 20 ambassadors from NATO member states arrived in
> Kosovo on Tuesday to check the situation more than a year after the
> beginning of the peacekeeping mission.
> As he toured Prizren, hundreds of Serbs in Kosovska Mitrovica were
> protesting to demand the release of a Serbian suspect whose arrest
> sparked demonstrations and violence Monday night.
> During the Monday disturbances, NATO-led peacekeepers from the KFOR
> force used tear gas and fired in the air. One U.N. police officer was
> briefly held hostage during the unrest.
> Robertson said KFOR and the United Nations had dealt professionally with
> the violence and urged Serbs to choose cooperation rather than
> confrontation.
> "The Serb community's future depends on KFOR and that is why they have
> to cooperate with KFOR, why they should be involved in civic
> institutions that the United Nations is creating -- that is for their
> future and for their benefit," he told reporters in Prizren.
> Robertson had earlier met the peacekeeping commander, Brig. Gen. Juan
> Ortuno of Spain, before flying to Prizren and was expected to return to
> Pristina for meetings with U.N. officials and representatives of Serb
> and ethnic Albanian communities.
> Arrest of Serb sparks protest
> Since NATO and the United Nations took control of Kosovo in June of last
> year, Kosovska Mitrovica has been their most dangerous flashpoint,
> mainly because it is the only place in the province where Serbs and
> ethnic Albanians still live near each other in large numbers.
> In the latest outbreak of violence, trouble flared after U.N. police
> arrested the Serb on Monday for an alleged assault on an ethnic Albanian
> last month.
> "The Serb population was very angry," said Oliver Ivanovic, the leader
> of the Serb community in the northern part of the city.
> The protesters stopped the U.N. vehicles and threw rocks at the
> peacekeepers. About 30 Serbs were seen carrying baseball bats.
> Soldiers had fired five tear gas grenades to disperse the crowd, KFOR
> spokesman Maj. Scott Slaten said.
> Kosovo's U.N.-led administration, known as UNMIK, said four people had
> been slightly injured by the tear gas canisters. A local Serb surgeon
> said one woman was more seriously hurt and that a total of nine people
> had sought medical treatment.
> By Tuesday morning, calm had returned to Kosovska Mitrovica, where
> Kosovo Serbs and ethnic Albanians live in mutual hostility, separated
> only by the river Ibar that runs through its center.
> Protesters gathered again Tuesday outside the jail where the Serb,
> Dalibor Vukovic, was being held. Their protest appeared to be peaceful,
> at least initially.
> Serb leaders sent a letter to U.N. police repeating their demand for the
> release of Vukovic, who authorities say is a member of a self-styled
> Serb security force known as the "bridge watchers." The bridge watchers
> monitor people crossing into the Serb section of the city across the
> main bridge.
> The Serbs threatened more violence if Vukovic is not released.
> It was the second confrontation in less than a week between Serbs and
> peacekeepers in the city.
> On Friday, four grenades were fired from the ethnic Albanian side,
> touching off about three hours of Serb protests, which ended without
> injuries.
> Also, on Sunday, an explosion ripped through a medieval Serbian Orthodox
> Church in Kosovo, flattening the structure. The church of the Holy
> Prophet Elijah was located in the village of Pomazetin, just outside the
> Serb village of Kosovo Polje. The church was not under guard by NATO-led
> peacekeepers.
> October elections may be in jeopardy
> The Kosovska Mitrovica clash occurred as the U.N. mission is trying to
> convince Serbs to register for municipal elections in October, the first
> internationally supervised balloting in Kosovo's history.
> Most Serb leaders are resisting until the United Nations and NATO can
> guarantee their security and allow thousands of Serbs to return to
> Kosovo, which they fled after Yugoslav forces withdrew at the end of
> NATO's 78-day bombing campaign in 1999.
> Since then, more than 150,000 Kosovo Serbs have also fled the province
> in fear of attacks by ethnic Albanians seeking vengeance.
> The leader of the largest Serb community left in Kosovo has assured
> international officials that he will not stand in the way of Serbs who
> may want to register.
> However, Oliver Ivanovic said Monday that he did not believe many Serbs
> would sign up until the U.N. takes steps to allow more than 200,000
> Serbs to return there.
> Ivanovic offered assurances to Daan Everts, head of the Kosovo mission
> of the 54-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,
> which will oversee the election and which is registering voters.
> Everts said Ivanovic's comments were encouraging.
> "Mr. Ivanovic has promised that he would do what he can to avoid any
> violence or intimidation and let people at least have the freedom of
> choice," Everts said.
> --
> CNN Belgrade Bureau Chief Alessio Vinci, The Associated Press and
> Reuters contributed to this report.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
* La Jugoslavia deve vivere (L'avamposto degli incompatibili)
* SOS Zastava (Torino)
* Edizione greca per "L'arcivescovo del genocidio"
* Manifestazioni e processi contro i pacifisti (Olanda)
* Stop alle sanzioni! (Svezia)
* Sotto processo militanti dell'IAC (USA)
---
http://digilander.iol.it/CONTROAPPUNTO1/
LA JUGOSLAVIA DEVE VIVERE
E' da un po' di tempo che circola nel "movimento antagonista" una
posizione sulla guerra
degna di un pacifismo acritico e di fatto complice della NATO. Si dice:
guerra inutile e
dannosa perché senza risolvere i problemi che l'hanno scatenata, ha
portato morti e
distruzione, soprattutto fra i civili e alle fabbriche.
Ciò, secondo noi, oltre ad essere falso, tende a spostare la discussione
su un terreno
lacrimoso e di fatto equidistante fra le parti in causa.
Di questa guerra tutto si può dire eccetto che sia stata inutile,ammesso
che una guerra sia
mai stata inutile. Fare questa affermazione significa accettare
l'assioma della NATO,
secondo cui questa guerra è stata condotta per porre fine alla
cosiddetta "pulizia etnica" e
per portare a convivere le varie etnie in un Kosovo democratizzato. Solo
accettando tale
assioma, si può definire questa guerra inutile oltre che dannosa.
Ma come tutti sanno questo assioma è falso!
Falso, non solo perché la "pulizia etnica" è stata strombazzata ad arte:
tanto è vero che le
fosse comuni non sono mai state trovate, nonostante l'invio di
specialisti NATO, ma anche
perché i veri motivi di questa guerra erano geo-politici ed economici,
come la realtà ha
ampiamente dimostrato.
Se questi sono i fatti, la guerra nei Balcani, per i paesi NATO non è
stata nè dannosa nè
tantomeno inutile.
Vediamo i fatti
I paesi NATO, che sono stati i più convinti fautori della
disintegrazione Jugoslava, sono:
Germania (e il satellite Austria);
Italia
Turchia (e la sua longa manus albanese);
USA (e Inghilterra di contorno).
E' STATA INUTILE LA GUERRA PER QUESTI PAESI? NO!
Dalla disintegrazione Jugoslava la Germania guadagna la conquista
economica di Slovenia e
Croazia (dove ormai la moneta dominante è il marco tedesco) oltre che di
parte della
Bosnia: vale a dire le zone più ricche dell' ex Jugoslavia. Nell'ultimo
periodo, poi, l'influenza
economica sta acquistando sempre più le caratteristiche di influenza
politica, anche grazie al
cavallo di Troia austriaco. Basti pensare ai rapporti fra Carinzia,
Friuli e Slovenia, con la
tacita benedizione dei demo-reazionari bavaresi. Tenendo presente che è
forte la spinta
verso l'Europa a due velocità e la presenza dell'asse franco-tedesco,
secondo noi, la
conquista tedesca dello sbocco sull'Adriatico è stato un fenomeno
cruciale nell'assetto
geo-politico dell'Europa del futuro.
Altro che guerra inutile per la Germania!
Le ambizioni Italiane erano più limitate, come sempre daltronde. Come ai
tempi del fascismo
ci si è accontentati di stabilire una specie di protettorato in Albania
(in comproprietà coi
turchi) magari allargabile domani al Montenegro. Questo obiettivo è
stato raggiunto, e molte
"imprese" italiane si sono spostate da quelle parti per "diventare
competitive".
Poca cosa , naturalmente, ma da questa guerra qualche briciola l'ha
guadagnata anche
l'Italia.
Veniamo alla Turchia. Con gli accordi di Helsinki dei mesi scorsi si è
assicurata la
commercializzazione del petrolio del Caucaso, con un'opzione sul gas
Turkmeno. Con
questa guerra si è assicurata, grazie ad Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia il
passaggio dei futuri
oleodotti e gasdotti verso la destinazione Europea. Se avranno successo
le spinte
panalbanesi anche in Macedonia il passaggio sarà lineare. Non è un caso
che pochi mesi fa,
l'Italia ha deciso di liberalizzare l'approvvigionamento di gas
proveniente dai paesi europei,
e solo da quelli.
E, naturalmente, sono aumentate le chances turche di entrare nell'UE.
Altro che guerra inutile per la Turchia!
E gli USA? E' risaputo che gli USA non sono mai stati entusiasti
dell'Europa "dall'Atlantico
agli Urali", cosa che alla lunga potrebbe risultare pericolosa per il
proprio dominio sul
pianeta. Piazzare nel sud-Europa il cavallo di Troia del fedele alleato
turco da affiancare
all'altro cavallo di Troia inglese significa indebolire politicamente e
condizionare
economicamente l'Unione Europea. Se poi dovesse prendere corpo il
progetto di Europa a
due velocità gli USA si assicurerebbero il dominio economico in tutto il
sud-Europa, Italia
compresa.
Se così stanno le cose, il movimento antimperialista, invece di
piagnucolare sulla guerra inutile e
dannosa, dovrebbe demistificare e denunciare l'ideologia guerrafondaia
imperialista che contagia tutti, in
primis i sinistri di governo, e mettere in risalto quali danni questa
guerra ha prodotto sia in Jugoslavia sia sui
popoli che in questa guerra sono stati catapultati. In Italia, per
esempio, nessuno ha mai spiegato ai proletari che,
a fronte dei vantaggi per le imprese, questa guerra ha portato
incremento della disoccupazione al sud, visto che le
imprese trasferite in Albania, per i bassi costi del lavoro, hanno
licenziato in Italia, specialmente in Puglia.
Inoltre questa guerra ha portato ad aumenti vertiginosi del prezzo dei
prodotti petroliferi e derivati, sia a causa
dell'apprezzamento del dollaro dopo la guerra del Kosovo, sia grazie ai
già citati accordi di Helsinki e alla,
anch'essa già citata, liberalizzazione dell'approvvigionamento del gas
turco.
Se non ci si muove in questa direzione, ci si ritroverà a breve
scadenza, catapultati in
un'altra guerra: quella del Montenegro. Già i preparativi sono in atto e
di nuovo si stanno
strombazzando proclami di "liberazione del Montenegro dal dittatore
Milosevic", reo di aver
modificato la costituzione "per garantirsi con l'elezione diretta la
rielezione a presidente
Jugoslavo". Strano a dirsi, la stessa cosa che molti vogliono fare in
Italia. Ma si sa, una
legge fatta in Italia è profondamente democratica. La stessa legge fatta
in Jugoslavia, vuol
dire dittatura.
E allora basta piagnucolare e muoviamoci per demistificare e contrastare
questo spirito
guerrafondaio. Altrimenti non hanno senso incontri con operai della
Zastava o contromarce
della pace. Noi ci siamo opposti alla guerra e all'embargo, non perché
inutili e dannosi, ma
perché vogliamo combattere contro l'imperialismo occidentale e il
dominio imperiale
amerikano.
SMRT FASIZMU - SLOBODA NARODU!
morte al fascismo - libertà al popolo",
L'Avamposto degli Incompatibili
http://digilander.iol.it/CONTROAPPUNTO1/
---
Informazione sul viaggio del 15 e 16 giugno a Kragujevak
Nei giorni 15 e 16 giugno 2000, una delegazione di lavoratori e
militanti
sindacali di Torino si è recata a Kragujevac per portare gli aiuti ai
156
ragazzi, figli dei lavoratori della Zastava, adottati a distanza dopo la
guerra del 1999 ed i bombardamenti subiti dal più grande stabilimento
jugoslavo.
La delegazione ha portato 27 milioni di lire da distribuire ai ragazzi.
Ha
visitato 6 famiglie dei ragazzi adottati. Ha visitato la fabbrica
accompagnata dal sindacato aziendale.
Il complesso industriale Zastava era composto da tre stabilimenti: la
fabbrica di automobili, la fabbrica di camion chiamata "Iveco -
Zastava", ed
uno stabilimento di armi da caccia e sportive. In tutto lavoravano
36.000
lavoratori: 2.500 alla Iveco, 2.000 alla fabbrica d'armi, oltre 30.000
in
quella delle auto. Il complesso è stato bombardato due volte con 36
missili
o bombe laser di precisione. Sono stati colpiti e distrutti in modo tale
da
rendere irricostruibili: il centro informatico, gli impianti
automatizzati
di verniciatura, lo stabilimento di meccanica dell'Iveco. Sono stati
distrutti, ma si è iniziato per il recupero della centrale termica,
degli
impianti di lastroferratura e del montaggio delle automobili e dei
trattamenti termici dell'Iveco (usiamo il termine "Iveco" perché usato
dai
lavoratori interessati, la partecipazione della Fiat Iveco è al 40%). La
fabbrica di armi è stata bombardata per ultima con un solo missile sui
36
lanciati, ha distrutto i capannoni, ma non gli impianti perché questi
erano
già stati trasferiti in quanto ritenuti obiettivo militare,
contrariamente
alla produzione di automobili e di camion.
Il risultato è che oggi lavorano poco più di 10.000 lavoratori, per
produrre
automobili e camion quando si può (durante la visita, un impianto era
fermo
in per mancanza di energia) e come si può (nei box di verniciatura si
lavora
a mano, le fucine sono come erano le nostre alla Fiat negli anni '60).
Nelle
famiglie che abbiamo incontrato le lavoratrici o i lavoratori della
Zastava
lavorano, quando va bene, una settimana al mese.
Il secondo risultato ottenuto con bombardamenti è che la famiglia di chi
non
lavora nel mese ha un reddito di 15.000 lire, di chi lavora 1 settimana
al
mese di 37.000 lire, di chi lavora tutto il mese davanti ad una forgia
ne
guadagna 100.000. Gli operai però sono particolarmente dinamici, quando
abbiamo visitato la famiglia di un ragazzo adottato da lavoratori della
Fiat
Iveco, il padre, vedovo con quattro figli, ci ha raccontato che per
arrotondare lo stipendio riempie vecchi accendini e li va vendere lungo
la
strada. Alcune settimane or sono ha incontrato sulla strada un cinese e
gli
ha detto: "hai visto? Sono messo peggio di te…".
Un terzo aspetto è quello sanitario: nelle sei famiglie che abbiamo
visitato
2 piccoli ragazzi hanno l'asma ma non hanno i farmaci per curarsi; una
mamma, lavoratrice Zastava, è mentalmente malata; un'altra mamma soffre
di
sclerosi multipla ma non si riesce a lenire con cure farmacologiche
questa
grave malattia progressiva.
Nessuno di coloro che abbiamo incontrato, nella fabbrica, nelle case o
per
strada ha espresso sentimenti di rancore nei nostri confronti. Prima
abbiamo
concorso a distruggere le fonti della loro esistenza (e, per alcuni di
loro;
delle possibilità di vivere almeno dignitosamente) ed oggi ci
ringraziano
perché li aiutiamo.
Per le prime sottoscrizioni fatte a dicembre 1999 ed a febbraio 2000,
siamo
in possesso degli elenchi firmati da chi ha ricevuto i soldi. Per la
prossima volta ci chiedono di incontrare tutti i bambini e di consegnare
direttamente a loro le sottoscrizioni: si dovrà organizzare una
delegazione
da Torino.
per il
Comitato Piemontese SOS Zastava
Perini Fulvio
---
IL GENOCIDIO DIMENTICATO
Il giorno 28 giugno 2000 alle ore 20:30 ad Atene – Grecia
Un anno dopo la fine dei bombardamenti NATO e l’ occupazione del Kosovo
(teritorio della Jugoslavia) L’ Associazione di amicizia tra Grecia e
Serbia insieme alla casa editrice Proskinio, presentano ad Atene il
libro del prof. Marco Aurelio Rivelli, studioso della realt? balcanica,
“L'arcivescovo del genocidio” in lingua greca su licenza della Kaos
Edizioni Milano. Il libro a curato lo storico Nikos Klitsikas ed a
tradotto la dottoressa Margherita Salvato.
All dibatito che si terra’ all amfiteatro dell museo della guera di
Atene, interverrano:
Marco Aurelio Rivelli, scrittore
Nikos Klitsikas, storico
Panagiotis Kritikos, deputato socialista
Stelios Papathemelis, deputato socialista
Alexandros Likourezos, deputato dela nuova Democrazia
Maria Mantuvalou, proffesoressa al Universita’ di Atene
Vasilis Rafailidis, giornalista
Giorgos Anastopoulos, presidente del Associazione di Amicizia
Grecia-Serbia
Saranno presenti ed interverano:
Il vescovo di Tebe Ieronimos (il qualle ha fatto la prefazione del libro
nella edizione in lingua greca
L’ ambasciatore della Jugoslavia in grecia Dragomir Vucicevic.
La guerra contro la Jugoslavia non e’ finita, ma la resistenza contro
NATO continua
Una riflessione dedicata all'argomento sollecita ad esaminare, tra
l'altro, gli eventi che nel corso del II conflitto mondiale sfociarono
nella costituzione dello Stato Croato Indipendente, uno Stato che fu
servitore fedele del III Reich, che nacque connotato da un'ideologia
apertamente razzista, che venne difeso dalle gerarchie vaticane, nel
quale venne perpetrato il genocidio delle popolazioni serbe ortodosse.
La riflessione sulle vicende legate alla storia dello Stato guidato da
Ante Pavelic rappresenta oggi, dopo il crollo dell'unit? Jugoslava e la
nascita della Repubblica di Croazia, un'occasione preziosa per
comprendere le radici di questo presente, con la consapevolezza che i
progetti egemonici del Nuovo Ordine Mondiale non si fermeranno alle
frontiere dei Balcani.
---
Date: Sun, 09 Jul 2000 20:35:36 +0200
From: Herman de Tollenaere
Subject: Peace demonstrations Utrecht, The Netherlands
On Saturday 8 July, people gathered near the Central Station in Utrecht,
to
oppose the military propaganda at the "Megafestatie". The "Megafestatie"
is
a trade fair/exhibition in the Jaarbeurs hall, aimed at young people.
Main
exhibitors, besides, eg, MTV, are the Dutch military, aiming to get
teenagers into the Dutch army, military police, and Marines. Not many
young
people want to join the Dutch [professional] armed forces; they have
trouble with finding people for vacancies. To counter that, lots of tax
money go to expensive propaganda. The slogan of the armed forces is:
"[Like] a nanny; but differently." People killed or wounded by Dutch or
other NATO armed forces in the Balkans and elsewhere might differ. So,
during the whole Megafestatie, until 16 July, visitors will get counter
information to the official propaganda. Starting every day at 12
o'clock.
In the night of Friday 7 to Saturday 8 July, two activists wanted to tie
a
banner to a big building crane near the entrance of the Jaarbeurs. The
banner challenged the army's claim of being a "peace army." However,
police
arrested them.
Later on Saturday, the demonstrators gathered at Smakkelaarsveld
[Central
Station side, opposite to Jaarbeurs] for a street rave/march. The
leaflet
of the organizers, "Onkruit vergaat niet", said the army propaganda
stimulated violence, also in foreign countries. "Violence there [by
Dutch
and coalition armed forces] also does not bring communication between
parties in conflicts, but impedes it. We have seen this during the war
in
Kosovo and elsewhere." Other leaflets passed around told what
demonstrators
could do if arrested; and on the "humanitarian" 1999 Balkans war,
including
many deaths like of the fifteen years old Yugoslav schoolgirl and
mathematics champion, Sanja Milenkovic.
Behind a big banner, opposing militarist propaganda, gathered drummers;
people with signs of Crass and other punk rock bands on their clothes;
people with T shirts of Rood [Red], youth branch of the Socialist Party,
and against the witch hunt against "illegal" immigrants; people with
anarchist symbols on. Average age not much over twenty, though there
were
also some elderly people.
The marchers passed the army recruiting center in the inner city of
Utrecht
[closed for the weekend]. With chalk, people drew slogans on the
pavement
close to it, like "Stop recruiting child soldiers", and "Stop NATO."
The demonstration continued to the police station, where the arrested
activists were still being held. The demonstrators made very much noise
to
enable the people in the cells to hear that outside, there were people
in
solidarity with them.
Standing in front of a worker's house, a mother rocked her toddler to
the
rhythm of the music of the sound system in the demonstrators' van, as
her
husband waved to the demonstrators.
During the whole march, new people joined, so that at the Jaarbeurs, the
end, there were many more people then at the beginning. At the
"Megafestatie" entrance, many leaflets were passed to the visitors.
Demonstrators juggled with balls, to show a fun alternative to going
abroad
to shoot people.
Next day, Sunday 9 July, demonstrators gathered at the eastern entrance
of
the Jaarbeurs.
Three banners were taped to the Jaarbeurs entrance: "Onkruit vergaat
niet"
[the organizers]; "Stop military violence"; and "NATO out of the
Balkans"
[thanks, Utrecht friend, for improving the banner's letters!]
Repeatedly, there was street theater: a 'die in' with people being
'killed', falling to the ground, splattered with red 'blood' [paint]. A
more realist approximation of real war then the armed forces propaganda
inside the hall.
As the 'die in' went on, Yvonne shouted through her megaphone: "The
Dutch
army is not a peace army. The Netherlands is a member of NATO. NATO does
not bring peace. NATO kills innocent people!"
Some reactions from the audience were reserved. One boy asked: "You say
the
Dutch army is bad. But how about national defence?" However, he had to
concur that the practice of the Dutch army was *not* 'national defence.'
In
1945-1949, the Dutch army attacked Indonesia. Indonesians wanted
independence from colonialism; they did *not* invade The Netherlands.
Later, Dutch Marines ended a strike, broken by deaths, by workers in
Curacao [Antilles]. Defense? In 1999, the Dutch Air Force helped bomb
Yugoslavia. Defense? Dutch Prime Minister Kok was not even notified by
NATO
that the war begun, let alone the people in The Netherlands. "No" the
questioner had to concede,"that was not really democracy ... or
defence."
A woman, claiming to be married to a Dutch soldier of the NATO forces in
Kosovo, reacted emotionally to the 'die in.' However, it was not
possible
to understand more of her inarticulate words than "my husband did a good
job in Kosovo." A friend of hers dragged her away to prevent her from
making more of a spectacle of herself. If, indeed, as she claims, her
husband was a soldier in Kosovo, I hope it will be possible to explain
to
people like her how people like her husband are used for the dirty work,
while people like NATO General Secretary Lord George Robertson and the
management of cruise missile factory Raytheon, who would not dream of
doing
the dangerous dirty work themselves, make millions of dollars.
A skinhead angrily refused to accept a leaflet against the Balkan war,
bringing the Nazi salute. The Hitler greeting is illegal in The
Netherlands
[so are Hitler posters; still, as TV journalists found out in July 2000,
one may find them on Dutch military barracks' walls]. Nevertheless,
police
standing 10 meters away did not react.
However, reactions by the Megafestatie visitors were generally
favorable.
If you passed, eg, one leaflet on Sanja Milenkovic to one boy or girl,
then
ten of their friends might gather around you asking for more leaflets.
Met vriendelijke groet/Best wishes,
Herman de Tollenaere
-
Date sent: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 23:15:25 +0200
From: Herman de Tollenaere
Subject: Peace activists on trial, Den Bosch, The Netherlands
Peace activists on trial, Den Bosch, The Netherlands
In 1981, half a million people demonstrated at the Museumplein [Museum
Square] in Amsterdam, to get nuclear weapons out of The Netherlands. To
commemorate that demonstration, a sculpture of a stone "cruise missile"
arose on the Museumplein. The maker of that "missile" was Yugoslav born
Miletic, one of the best known sculptors of Amsterdam.
In 1999, as NATO cruise missiles, not of stone, and bombs rained on
Miletic's native country, authorities had his monument for the 1981
peace
demonstration ripped out from the Museumplein. That demonstration had
helped to prevent even more nuclear weapons in The Netherlands. However,
Volkel air base in the Southern Netherlands still has not only the F16
aircraft of the Balkan war; but also nuclear weapons. Well ... they are
very, very, probably there; officially, the government refuses to
confirm
or deny their presence. Even though the International Court of Justice
[older than, and not to be confused with, the NATO countries-financed
Yugoslavia Tribunal, also in The Hague] practically outlawed nuclear
weapons in 1996. The presence of NATO nuclear weapons in The Netherlands
is
also against the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty.
Already before the Balkans war, peace activists planned to go to Volkel
on
2 April 1999. They wanted to inspect the presence of nuclear weapons as
"civilian inspectors". According to the rules of the 1945 Nuremberg
trial,
every human is obliged to prevent war crimes. They unfastened a metal
thread of the fence, making it possible to enter the base. However, fife
of
them were arrested and faced a trial.
On Tuesday 11 July 2000, people gathered near the court house in Den
Bosch,
The Netherlands, to support the activists. They had banners with them,
and
photos of victims of the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. Yugoslav women said
why
they had come: "We know everything about war. However, we are waging
action, not just for the victims in Yugoslavia, but also for the
children
of Iraq, people in Colombia, and people all over the world at risk by
nuclear bombs. War, and capitalism, are world wide problems."
The lawyer of the accused, Mr Eric Hummels, had called for an expert
witness on international law: Nico Steijnen, who had often written on
nuclear weapons cases. However, the public prosecutor objected to
hearing
Mr Steijnen's testimony. The court went along with this, as, according
to
them, Mr Steijnen had often been the lawyer of private persons against
the
Dutch state in international law cases [like of civilian victims of the
NATO bombing in Yugoslavia], and, supposedly, as a consequence, was not
"independent." The accused protested against the exclusion of Mr
Steijnen.
"Not *we* should be in the dock here", one of the accused said, "but
Government Ministers Kok and Van Aartsen."
The accused stated there was a case of emergency. That emergency only
existed in the heads of the accused, the public prosecutor said. Really?
one of them replied. Are these outlawed nuclear weapons not an
emergency?
Also, we went there as civilian inspectors when NATO bombed Yugoslavia.
Not
an emergency? As one of the many terrible consequences, relationships
between the nuclear powers of NATO, Russia, and China worsened,
increasing
the danger of the war crime of use of nuclear weapons.
When the public prosecutor said there was complete opportunity for
democratic ways to express opposition to military policy, she caused
immediate bitter ironic laughter from the whole audience. Whether they
were
older people remembering police attacks on demonstrators against the
Vietnam war, or people so young that the Balkans 1999 war was the only
war
they remembered, they all had personal experience with free speech, or
lack
of it, on war in The Netherlands, belying the prosecutor's rosy colored
image.
Yvonne, one of the people in the dock, told how she had wanted to
distribute flyers: they had been torn from her hands. She had held a
banner: police tore it from her hands. Only yesterday, in Utrecht at the
Jaarbeurs, when she wanted to protest military propaganda at the
"Megafestatie", first private "police" had physically attacked the
demonstrators [which they have no right to]. Some were wounded. Then,
real
police came and arrested four demonstrators, including Yvonne. Some
demonstrators were wounded.
In the night of Friday 7 to Saturday 8 July, two activists wanted to tie
a
banner to a big building crane near the entrance of the Jaarbeurs. The
banner challenged the army's claim of being a "peace army." However,
police
arrested them.
On 25 July at 9.30, the court will announce its decision. If necessary,
the
activists will appeal this decision at a higher level court.
After the court case, peace activists met to discuss future activities:
- on 6 and 9 August, they will remember the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima
and
Nagasaki
- on 2 September, they will try to find the nuclear bombs on Volkel air
base
- during the Peace Week [17-24 September], activists will go to police
stations all over The Netherlands, and ask police to take action against
Prime Minister Wim Kok, for making the country and the world unsafe by
having NATO nuclear weapons at Volkel
- Sunday 1 October people will try to find the nuclear bombs on Volkel
air
base. This is world wide nuclear weapons abolition day. See:
http://www.napf.org/abolition2000
Met vriendelijke groet/Best wishes,
Herman de Tollenaere
---
Subject: Sanctions Against Yugoslavia - a Continuation of
NATO Aggression
The following report and appeal by a Swedish Member of
Parliament from the
Social Democratic Pary is very important. We urge that his
be used to
mobilize people in the U.S. to end the sanctions against
Yugoslavia and to
raise humanitarian aid.
International Center for Peace and Justice (ICPJ)
---------
Sanctions against Yugoslavia - a continuation of NATO
aggression
By Karin Wegestal MP, on behalf of the Swedish Committee
for Solidarity
with the Yugoslav People
During the last decade, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
has received
more than 500,000 refugees from Croatia and Bosnia, and
another 300,000
internally displaced persons, mainly from the province
Kosovo and Metohia.
For a country with about ten million inhabitants, such an
influx of
homeless people is obviously a very heavy burden - even
under peaceful
conditions.
But in addition to that, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
has been the
subject to sanctions from the western powers for close to
ten years and its
infrastructure was badly hurt through Nato's intense
bombardment during 78
days in 1999. The result of all this is that Yugoslavia,
once the most
developed industrial country in Eastern Europe, is today
the poorest
country in Europe. In Serbia excluding Kosovo, with about
ten million
inhabitants and close to a million refugees and displaced
persons, about 30
international aid organisations operate. This should be
compared to the
Kosovo province, with about one million inhabitants, where
no less than 400
aid organisations operate. There, one could talk about
overheated aid
activity. A delegation from the Swedish Committee in
support of the
Yugoslav people, the Yugoslavia Committee, visited the
country during one
week in January, on the invitation of the International Red
Cross and
Crescent Society. We saw with our own eyes the great relief
efforts made
for suffering people. We visited refugee camps, soup
kitchens and
warehouses for humanitarian relief in Uzice, Pozega, Cacak,
Novi Sad and
other places. We met representatives of the Roma people
(gypsies) and saw
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's Minister for refugees,
displaced
persons and humanitarian aid, Mrs Bratislava Morina.
This visit gave us a strong impression of the very
difficult situation of
the Yugoslav people, but also of the great efforts done to
relieve the
situation for the refugees and displaced persons and other
people driven
into misery, and to repair the damage done by Nato's bombs.
All the refugees and displaced persons must be given
lodging, food,
clothes, school and if possible also a new job. In the
beginning, many
families opened up their homes for refugees. Through great
personal
sacrifice, most could be taken care of in that way. But we
also met
refugees who have lived for nine years in provisional
refugee camps with
all their personal possessions squeezed into a few square
metres. Many have
to suffice with food rations containing only 20 grams of
meat a day.
The refugee situation is made worse by the country's
stagnating economy.
Many companies have been deprived, through the sanctions,
of their
possibilities to import raw material, to re-invest and to
export their
products. Therefore they have been forced to stop
production or to
continue working on a low level. The result is falling
salaries and
excessive unemployment. 1.2 million people are totally
jobless. The figures
have increased gradually, but took a great leap through the
bombardment in
March-May 1999, when many factories were destroyed. Over
two million people
- one out of five citizens - are under the line of poverty.
Except for the
refugee problem, there are 300,000
social cases.
Many people who have volunteered to take care of
refugees, have
themselves become dependent of social assistance. About one
million people
get assistance through the Red Cross, which has a well
functioning
organisation with offices in 180 places - a fantastic
structure and an
impressive work both from the employees and from many
unpaid volunteers.
For those people who are lucky enough to have a job, the
average salary
is about 82 D-marks (equivalent to some 40 British pounds)
a month. A
well-educated university graduate can have 150-300 D-marks
(75-150 GBP),
which is regarded as a very good salary. Many young people
- the best
educated and most productive ones - leave the country to
find jobs abroad
if given a chance.
The medical situation is all but catastrophic, with acute
lack of medicine
and spare parts. The insulin was almost used up. At our
visit at Bezanijska
Kosa Medical Center in Belgrade, we learnt that X-ray
equipment stood idle
because X-ray tubes are regarded as "strategic spare parts"
and therefore
cannot be imported - even with hard currency!
We can now see the paradoxical result of the Yugoslav
wars during the 90s.
Several ethnically cleaned states and areas have been
established and
today receive extensive international assistance, while
Serbia, the most
multinational society with 26 nationalities living
peacefully together, are
exposed to the punishment of the western world.
The sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
were not imposed
by the United Nations but single-handedly by the USA and
EU. Officially
they are not intended as a punishment against Yugoslavia or
its population,
but as a pressure to make the government "co-operate with
the world
society" and "respect human rights for all citizens of the
country".
In reality, however, they are a continuation of Nato's
war of aggression.
Their intention is to achieve what Nato could not achieve
at Rambouillet,
i.e. total political, economic and military control of the
whole country.
It is blatant big power aggression against a sovereign
country and gross
interference in its internal affairs.
The sanctions hit hard against the people. They are
obviously intended as
one of several means to force the people to overthrow their
government and
replace it with an administration which can be manipulated
and dominated
from abroad. That is a travesty of democracy; in fact its
very opposite.
What is now required is common action to force the EU
countries to stop
its hostilities. The sanctions and interference in
Yugoslavia's internal
affairs must come to an end and normal inter-state
relations be
established. Relief assistance must be increased to
alleviate the human
suffering.
International assistance must be given unconditionally to
help repair the
damages after Nato's bombing.
In Sweden, an appeal against the sanctions was published
in connection
with the anniversary of the start of Nato's bombing of
Yugoslavia. It was
signed by representatives of various political parties,
former government
members, bishops and priests, scholars and writers,
athletics, and many
other well-known people representing a broad political and
social opinion
among the Swedish people. The appeal was published in a
number of papers,
including the dominating dailies Aftonbladet and Dagens
Nyheter, and on
international
web-pages including www.antiwar.com and
www.transnational.org. That appeal
shows that there is a broad support in the Swedish society
for a
normalisation of relations.
It would be very useful if a similar initiative could be
carried out in
all EU countries, to mobilise broad strata of the people.
Such an appeal,
of course, must be supplemented with other forms of
mobilisation of public
opinion and mass actions to increase the pressure on our
governments to
stop their hostile actions and change their present hostile
policy against
Yugoslavia.
Karin Wegestal is a Member of the Swedish Parliament for
the Social
Democratic Party. She is a member of the Defense Committee
and of the
Swedish Parliamentary Delegation of the OSCE. She is one of
two
spokespeople of the Committee for solidarity with the
Yugoslav people,
which started in April 1999, as the Stop the bombings now!
Committee.
NOTE : URGENT : cette traduction est libre pour toute reproduction avec
mention du traducteur. La traduction été faite un jour férié, sans
possibilité de vérifier la valeur du Franc français par rapport au DM.
Prière de corriger le § 10 avant toute publication ou retransmission
(ÉMV)
SANCTIONS CONTRE LA YOUGOSLAVIE :
IL FAUT UNE ACTION COMMUNE CONTRE LE CHANTAGE DES PAYS AGRESSEURS
De Karin Wegestal, membre du Parlement Suédois, porte-parole du Comité
Suédois de Solidarité avec le Peuple Yougoslave (transmis le 15 juillet
2000
par Internet).
En dix ans, la République Fédérale de Yougoslavie a reçu plus de 500 000
réfugiés de Croatie et de Bosnie, et 300 000 autres de l'intérieur,
c'est à
dire essentiellement des provinces du Kosovo et de Métochia. Pour un
pays
d'environ dix millions d'habitants, une pareille marée de personnes
déportées, sans domicile fixe, serait de toute évidence un fardeau
insupportable même en temps de paix.
Mais de surcroît, la République Fédérale de Yougoslavie a été soumise à
des
sanctions par les puissances occidentales depuis presque dix ans et son
infrastructure a été gravement détruite par les bombardements intenses
de
l'OTAN, pendant 78 jours de 1999. Le résultat de tout ceci est que la
Yougoslavie, qui était l'un des pays les plus industriellement
développés
d'Europe de l'Est , est devenu le pays le plus pauvre d'Europe.
30 organisations d'aide internationale environ opèrent en Serbie (Kosovo
exclus), pour une population d'environ dix millions d'habitants et un
million de réfugiés et déportés. Il faut comparer ces chiffres aux 400
organisations d'aide internationale qui opèrent dans la seule province
du
Kosovo, peuplée d'un million d'habitants. Là, on pourrait parler d'une
surchauffe de l'aide humanitaire.
Une délégation du Comité Suédois de Solidarité avec le Peuple
Yougoslave, le
"Comité Yougoslavie", a visité ce pays pendant une semaine en janvier
2000,
à l'invitation de la Croix Rouge Internationale et du Croissant Rouge.
Nous
avons vu de nos propres yeux les grands efforts qui sont faits pour
soulager
ces souffrances. Nous avons visité des camps de réfugiés, des soupes
populaires et des lieux de distribution de produits d'aide humanitaire à
Uzice, Pozega, Cacak, Novi Sad et autres. Nous avons rencontré des
représentants du peuple Rom (les gitans) et rencontré la Ministre de la
République Fédérale pour les Réfugiés, les Déportés et l'Aide
Humanitaire,
Madame Bratislava Morina.
Cette visite nous a permis d'avoir une vue impressionnante de la
situation
très difficile du peuple yougoslave, mais aussi du grand effort qui est
fait
pour soulager la détresse des réfugiés et déportés, et des autres
personnes
réduites à la misère par les bombes de l'OTAN, ainsi que pour réparer
les
dégâts qu'elles ont causé.
Il faut procurer à tous les réfugiés et les personnes déplacées un abri,
de
la nourriture, des vêtements, une solarisation et si possible également
un
emploi. Au début, beaucoup de familles ont ouvert leurs portes aux
réfugiés.
Grâce à de grands sacrifices individuels, beaucoup ont pu être pris en
charge de cette manière. Mais nous avons aussi rencontré des réfugiés
qui
vivent depuis neuf ans dans des camps de réfugiés provisoires, toutes
leurs
affaires personnelles entassées dans quelques mètres carrés. La plupart
doivent se contenter d'une ration de viande de 20 grammes par jour.
La situation des réfugiés est encore aggravée par la stagnation de
l'économie du pays. Beaucoup de sociétés ont été privées par les
sanctions
du droit d'importer des matières premières, de réinvestir et d'exporter
leurs produits. Elles ont dû en conséquence arrêter toute production ou
ne
continuer à travailler qu'au rythme le plus bas. Le résultat est une
chute
des salaires et un chômage excessif. Un million et demi de personnes est
totalement privé d'emploi. Les chiffres ont augmenté graduellement, mais
ont
fait un bond quantitatif avec les bombardements de mars à mai 1999, avec
la
destruction de nombreuses usines. Plus de deux millions (un citoyen sur
cinq) vivent au-dessous du seuil de pauvreté. Sans compter les réfugiés,
on
recense 300 000 cas sociaux.
Nombre de ceux qui s'étaient portés volontaires pour secourir les
réfugiés
sont devenus eux-mêmes dépendants de l'assistance sociale. Plus d'un
million
de personnes sont assistés par la Croix Rouge, qui a une bonne
organisation
locale, avec des bureaux dans 180 communes - une structure fantastique
et
des résultats impressionnants, tant de la part des employés que de
nombreux
volontaires bénévoles.
Pour ceux qui ont la chance d'avoir un emploi, le salaire moyen est
d'environ 82 deutschemark 'l'équivalent de quelquesXXXXXXXXXXfrancs
français) par mois. Un diplômé d'université de haut niveau peut gagner
entre
150 et 300 DM par mois, ce qui est considéré comme un très bon salaire.
De
nombreux jeunes gens - les plus instruits et les plus productifs -
quittent
le pays pour chercher un travail à l'étranger, dès qu'ils le peuvent.
La situation médicale est catastrophique, avec un manque aigu de
médicaments
et de matériel de rechange. Les stocks d'insuline sont pratiquement
épuisés.
A notre visite au Centre Médical Bezanijska Kosa de Belgrade, nous avons
découvert que le département de radiologie n'était plus en état de
service,
parce que les tubes pour les rayons X sont considérés comme "matériel
stratégique" et sont de ce fait interdits à l'importation - même contre
paiement en monnaies fortes.
Maintenant, nous pouvons faire le bilan des résultats paradoxaux des
guerres
qui se sont succédées sans interruption contre la Yougoslavie au cours
de
ces dix dernières années.
Plusieurs états et zones "ethniquement purifiés" ont été créés et
reçoivent
aujourd'hui une assistance internationale extensive, tandis que la
Serbie,
qui jouit de la société multiethnique la plus large, avec plus de 26
nationalités vivant paisiblement ensemble, est l'objet de la "punition"
décrétée par le monde occidental.
Les sanctions contre la République Fédérale de Yougoslavie n'ont pas été
imposées par les Nations Unies mais décidées unilatéralement par les USA
et
l'Union Européenne. Officiellement, elles n'ont pas pour but de punir la
Yougoslavie ou sa population, mais constituent un moyen de pression pour
obliger le gouvernement à "coopérer avec la société mondiale" et à
"respecter les Droits de l'Homme pour tous les citoyens du pays". En
réalité, cependant, elles sont la poursuite de la guerre d'agression de
l'OTAN - par d'autres moyens.
Leur but est d'achever ce que l'OTAN n'a pas réussi à obtenir à
Rambouillet,
c'est à dire un contrôle politique, économique et militaire total sur le
pays tout entier. C'est une agression patente de grandes puissances
contre
une nation souveraine, et une intervention grossière dans ses affaires
internes.
Les sanctions frappent lourdement le peuple. Elles sont visiblement l'un
des
divers moyens utilisés pour obliger ce peuple à renverser son propre
gouvernement et à le remplacer par une administration qui puisse être
manipulée et dirigée de l'étranger. C'est une parodie de démocratie; en
fait
c'est exactement le contraire.
Ce qu'il est urgent d'entreprendre aujourd'hui est une action commune
pour
obliger les nations qui composent l'Union Européenne à mettre fin aux
hostilités. Les sanctions et l'intervention dans les affaires
intérieures de
la Yougoslavie doivent cesser, et des relations internationales normales
doivent être rétablies. L'assistance humanitaire doit être augmentée
pour
soulager les souffrances humaines. Une aide internationale doit être
accordée inconditionnellement pour permettre de réparer les dommages
causés
par les bombardements de l'OTAN.
En Suède, un appel contre les sanctions a été publié à l'occasion de
l'anniversaire du début des bombardements de l'OTAN. Il a été signé par
des
représentants des différents partis politiques, d'anciens membres du
gouvernement, des évêques et des prêtres, des savants et des écrivains,
des
athlètes, et de nombreuses autres célébrités représentant un large
éventail
d'opinions sociales et politiques au sein du peuple suédois. Cet appel a
été
reproduit par de nombreux journaux, comprenant les quotidiens majeurs
que
sont le Aftonbladet et le Dagens Nyheter, ainsi que par plusieurs
"pages" du
Web international, dont www.antiwar.com et www.transnational.org.
Cet appel montre qu'il y a un large support dans la société suédoise
pour
une normalisation des relations. Il serait très utile qu'une initiative
similaire soit entreprise dans tous les pays de l'Union Européenne pour
mobiliser de larges couches du peuple. Un appel de ce genre doit
naturellement être accompagné d'autres formes de mobilisation de
l'opinion
publique et d'actions de masse pour augmenter la pression sur nos
gouvernants afin qu'ils arrêtent leur politique hostile actuelle contre
la
Yougoslavie.
K.W.
Karin Wegestal est membre du Parlement Suédois (Parti Social Démocrate).
Elle est membre du Comité de la Défense et de la Délégation
Parlementaire
Suédoise auprès de l'OSCE. Elle est l'un des deux porte-parole du Comité
pour la Solidarité avec le Peuple Yougoslave, créé en avril 1999 sous le
nom
de Comité "Arrêtez les Bombardements Maintenant"
Traduction Éliazar MARIO-VINCENT
pour le FORUM EUROPÉEN DES ORTHODOXES
---
INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER
For Immediate Release
Attention: Assignment Editor
Press contact: Sarah Sloan (212) 633-6646
July 17, 2000
VICTIMS OF POLICE PREVENTIVE DETENTION ACTION
STAND TRIAL IN WASHINGTON D.C. -
TUESDAY, JULY 18
This Tuesday, July 18, victims of the mass arrest of 678 people on
April 15 in Washington D.C. will stand trial. The defendants include
Brian Becker, Co-Director of the International Action Center,
George Vavatsikos, a Greek American activist and others.
The defendants face 90 days in jail and fines if convicted of
disorderly conduct.
They were arrested last April 15 at a demonstration held in
conjunction with the week of protests against meetings of the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington D.C.
The April 15 protest demanded "Shut down the Prison-Industrial
Complex" and "New Trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal."
A class action law suit alleging a police-government conspiracy to
deny the First Amendment rights of demonstrators will be filed in the
coming weeks.
"This trial is itself a brazen miscarriage of justice," said Brian
Becker.
"The police violated our constitutional rights to assemble and
protest and exercise our First Amendment guarantee of free speech.
All 678 arrested people were protesting against the Prison-
Industrial Complex, racism and to demand a new trial for Mumia
Abu-Jamal. We broke no laws and yet we were illegally detained,
handcuffed hand to foot and held for 24 to 36 hours in school
buses, basements and remote ad-hoc detention centers in the
Washington DC area," Becker asserted. For a detailed description
of events, see http://www.iacenter.org/rept415.htm.
"The outcome of this trial is important and must be put into the
context of a new, aggressive and we believe unconstitutional policing
strategy directed at denying the constitutional rights of those
engaged in protest," said Larry Holmes, a leader of the IAC and
one of the 678 arrested on April 15. "This is the post-Seattle
backlash by the police. They want to intimidate and prevent mass
protests at the Republican Convention in Philadelphia and the
Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. These efforts by the state
will fail. Our movement against the death penalty, against racist
police brutality and the Prison-Industrial Complex is getting
stronger, not weaker. We will fight in the memory of Shaka
Sankofa (aka Gary Graham) and all those freedom fighters who
have struggled against a system that breeds racism, repression and
death."
--30--
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@...
web: www.iacenter.org
CHECK OUT THE NEW SITE www.mumia2000.org
phone: 212 633-6646
fax: 212 633-2889
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
* SOS Zastava (Torino)
* Edizione greca per "L'arcivescovo del genocidio"
* Manifestazioni e processi contro i pacifisti (Olanda)
* Stop alle sanzioni! (Svezia)
* Sotto processo militanti dell'IAC (USA)
---
http://digilander.iol.it/CONTROAPPUNTO1/
LA JUGOSLAVIA DEVE VIVERE
E' da un po' di tempo che circola nel "movimento antagonista" una
posizione sulla guerra
degna di un pacifismo acritico e di fatto complice della NATO. Si dice:
guerra inutile e
dannosa perché senza risolvere i problemi che l'hanno scatenata, ha
portato morti e
distruzione, soprattutto fra i civili e alle fabbriche.
Ciò, secondo noi, oltre ad essere falso, tende a spostare la discussione
su un terreno
lacrimoso e di fatto equidistante fra le parti in causa.
Di questa guerra tutto si può dire eccetto che sia stata inutile,ammesso
che una guerra sia
mai stata inutile. Fare questa affermazione significa accettare
l'assioma della NATO,
secondo cui questa guerra è stata condotta per porre fine alla
cosiddetta "pulizia etnica" e
per portare a convivere le varie etnie in un Kosovo democratizzato. Solo
accettando tale
assioma, si può definire questa guerra inutile oltre che dannosa.
Ma come tutti sanno questo assioma è falso!
Falso, non solo perché la "pulizia etnica" è stata strombazzata ad arte:
tanto è vero che le
fosse comuni non sono mai state trovate, nonostante l'invio di
specialisti NATO, ma anche
perché i veri motivi di questa guerra erano geo-politici ed economici,
come la realtà ha
ampiamente dimostrato.
Se questi sono i fatti, la guerra nei Balcani, per i paesi NATO non è
stata nè dannosa nè
tantomeno inutile.
Vediamo i fatti
I paesi NATO, che sono stati i più convinti fautori della
disintegrazione Jugoslava, sono:
Germania (e il satellite Austria);
Italia
Turchia (e la sua longa manus albanese);
USA (e Inghilterra di contorno).
E' STATA INUTILE LA GUERRA PER QUESTI PAESI? NO!
Dalla disintegrazione Jugoslava la Germania guadagna la conquista
economica di Slovenia e
Croazia (dove ormai la moneta dominante è il marco tedesco) oltre che di
parte della
Bosnia: vale a dire le zone più ricche dell' ex Jugoslavia. Nell'ultimo
periodo, poi, l'influenza
economica sta acquistando sempre più le caratteristiche di influenza
politica, anche grazie al
cavallo di Troia austriaco. Basti pensare ai rapporti fra Carinzia,
Friuli e Slovenia, con la
tacita benedizione dei demo-reazionari bavaresi. Tenendo presente che è
forte la spinta
verso l'Europa a due velocità e la presenza dell'asse franco-tedesco,
secondo noi, la
conquista tedesca dello sbocco sull'Adriatico è stato un fenomeno
cruciale nell'assetto
geo-politico dell'Europa del futuro.
Altro che guerra inutile per la Germania!
Le ambizioni Italiane erano più limitate, come sempre daltronde. Come ai
tempi del fascismo
ci si è accontentati di stabilire una specie di protettorato in Albania
(in comproprietà coi
turchi) magari allargabile domani al Montenegro. Questo obiettivo è
stato raggiunto, e molte
"imprese" italiane si sono spostate da quelle parti per "diventare
competitive".
Poca cosa , naturalmente, ma da questa guerra qualche briciola l'ha
guadagnata anche
l'Italia.
Veniamo alla Turchia. Con gli accordi di Helsinki dei mesi scorsi si è
assicurata la
commercializzazione del petrolio del Caucaso, con un'opzione sul gas
Turkmeno. Con
questa guerra si è assicurata, grazie ad Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia il
passaggio dei futuri
oleodotti e gasdotti verso la destinazione Europea. Se avranno successo
le spinte
panalbanesi anche in Macedonia il passaggio sarà lineare. Non è un caso
che pochi mesi fa,
l'Italia ha deciso di liberalizzare l'approvvigionamento di gas
proveniente dai paesi europei,
e solo da quelli.
E, naturalmente, sono aumentate le chances turche di entrare nell'UE.
Altro che guerra inutile per la Turchia!
E gli USA? E' risaputo che gli USA non sono mai stati entusiasti
dell'Europa "dall'Atlantico
agli Urali", cosa che alla lunga potrebbe risultare pericolosa per il
proprio dominio sul
pianeta. Piazzare nel sud-Europa il cavallo di Troia del fedele alleato
turco da affiancare
all'altro cavallo di Troia inglese significa indebolire politicamente e
condizionare
economicamente l'Unione Europea. Se poi dovesse prendere corpo il
progetto di Europa a
due velocità gli USA si assicurerebbero il dominio economico in tutto il
sud-Europa, Italia
compresa.
Se così stanno le cose, il movimento antimperialista, invece di
piagnucolare sulla guerra inutile e
dannosa, dovrebbe demistificare e denunciare l'ideologia guerrafondaia
imperialista che contagia tutti, in
primis i sinistri di governo, e mettere in risalto quali danni questa
guerra ha prodotto sia in Jugoslavia sia sui
popoli che in questa guerra sono stati catapultati. In Italia, per
esempio, nessuno ha mai spiegato ai proletari che,
a fronte dei vantaggi per le imprese, questa guerra ha portato
incremento della disoccupazione al sud, visto che le
imprese trasferite in Albania, per i bassi costi del lavoro, hanno
licenziato in Italia, specialmente in Puglia.
Inoltre questa guerra ha portato ad aumenti vertiginosi del prezzo dei
prodotti petroliferi e derivati, sia a causa
dell'apprezzamento del dollaro dopo la guerra del Kosovo, sia grazie ai
già citati accordi di Helsinki e alla,
anch'essa già citata, liberalizzazione dell'approvvigionamento del gas
turco.
Se non ci si muove in questa direzione, ci si ritroverà a breve
scadenza, catapultati in
un'altra guerra: quella del Montenegro. Già i preparativi sono in atto e
di nuovo si stanno
strombazzando proclami di "liberazione del Montenegro dal dittatore
Milosevic", reo di aver
modificato la costituzione "per garantirsi con l'elezione diretta la
rielezione a presidente
Jugoslavo". Strano a dirsi, la stessa cosa che molti vogliono fare in
Italia. Ma si sa, una
legge fatta in Italia è profondamente democratica. La stessa legge fatta
in Jugoslavia, vuol
dire dittatura.
E allora basta piagnucolare e muoviamoci per demistificare e contrastare
questo spirito
guerrafondaio. Altrimenti non hanno senso incontri con operai della
Zastava o contromarce
della pace. Noi ci siamo opposti alla guerra e all'embargo, non perché
inutili e dannosi, ma
perché vogliamo combattere contro l'imperialismo occidentale e il
dominio imperiale
amerikano.
SMRT FASIZMU - SLOBODA NARODU!
morte al fascismo - libertà al popolo",
L'Avamposto degli Incompatibili
http://digilander.iol.it/CONTROAPPUNTO1/
---
Informazione sul viaggio del 15 e 16 giugno a Kragujevak
Nei giorni 15 e 16 giugno 2000, una delegazione di lavoratori e
militanti
sindacali di Torino si è recata a Kragujevac per portare gli aiuti ai
156
ragazzi, figli dei lavoratori della Zastava, adottati a distanza dopo la
guerra del 1999 ed i bombardamenti subiti dal più grande stabilimento
jugoslavo.
La delegazione ha portato 27 milioni di lire da distribuire ai ragazzi.
Ha
visitato 6 famiglie dei ragazzi adottati. Ha visitato la fabbrica
accompagnata dal sindacato aziendale.
Il complesso industriale Zastava era composto da tre stabilimenti: la
fabbrica di automobili, la fabbrica di camion chiamata "Iveco -
Zastava", ed
uno stabilimento di armi da caccia e sportive. In tutto lavoravano
36.000
lavoratori: 2.500 alla Iveco, 2.000 alla fabbrica d'armi, oltre 30.000
in
quella delle auto. Il complesso è stato bombardato due volte con 36
missili
o bombe laser di precisione. Sono stati colpiti e distrutti in modo tale
da
rendere irricostruibili: il centro informatico, gli impianti
automatizzati
di verniciatura, lo stabilimento di meccanica dell'Iveco. Sono stati
distrutti, ma si è iniziato per il recupero della centrale termica,
degli
impianti di lastroferratura e del montaggio delle automobili e dei
trattamenti termici dell'Iveco (usiamo il termine "Iveco" perché usato
dai
lavoratori interessati, la partecipazione della Fiat Iveco è al 40%). La
fabbrica di armi è stata bombardata per ultima con un solo missile sui
36
lanciati, ha distrutto i capannoni, ma non gli impianti perché questi
erano
già stati trasferiti in quanto ritenuti obiettivo militare,
contrariamente
alla produzione di automobili e di camion.
Il risultato è che oggi lavorano poco più di 10.000 lavoratori, per
produrre
automobili e camion quando si può (durante la visita, un impianto era
fermo
in per mancanza di energia) e come si può (nei box di verniciatura si
lavora
a mano, le fucine sono come erano le nostre alla Fiat negli anni '60).
Nelle
famiglie che abbiamo incontrato le lavoratrici o i lavoratori della
Zastava
lavorano, quando va bene, una settimana al mese.
Il secondo risultato ottenuto con bombardamenti è che la famiglia di chi
non
lavora nel mese ha un reddito di 15.000 lire, di chi lavora 1 settimana
al
mese di 37.000 lire, di chi lavora tutto il mese davanti ad una forgia
ne
guadagna 100.000. Gli operai però sono particolarmente dinamici, quando
abbiamo visitato la famiglia di un ragazzo adottato da lavoratori della
Fiat
Iveco, il padre, vedovo con quattro figli, ci ha raccontato che per
arrotondare lo stipendio riempie vecchi accendini e li va vendere lungo
la
strada. Alcune settimane or sono ha incontrato sulla strada un cinese e
gli
ha detto: "hai visto? Sono messo peggio di te…".
Un terzo aspetto è quello sanitario: nelle sei famiglie che abbiamo
visitato
2 piccoli ragazzi hanno l'asma ma non hanno i farmaci per curarsi; una
mamma, lavoratrice Zastava, è mentalmente malata; un'altra mamma soffre
di
sclerosi multipla ma non si riesce a lenire con cure farmacologiche
questa
grave malattia progressiva.
Nessuno di coloro che abbiamo incontrato, nella fabbrica, nelle case o
per
strada ha espresso sentimenti di rancore nei nostri confronti. Prima
abbiamo
concorso a distruggere le fonti della loro esistenza (e, per alcuni di
loro;
delle possibilità di vivere almeno dignitosamente) ed oggi ci
ringraziano
perché li aiutiamo.
Per le prime sottoscrizioni fatte a dicembre 1999 ed a febbraio 2000,
siamo
in possesso degli elenchi firmati da chi ha ricevuto i soldi. Per la
prossima volta ci chiedono di incontrare tutti i bambini e di consegnare
direttamente a loro le sottoscrizioni: si dovrà organizzare una
delegazione
da Torino.
per il
Comitato Piemontese SOS Zastava
Perini Fulvio
---
IL GENOCIDIO DIMENTICATO
Il giorno 28 giugno 2000 alle ore 20:30 ad Atene – Grecia
Un anno dopo la fine dei bombardamenti NATO e l’ occupazione del Kosovo
(teritorio della Jugoslavia) L’ Associazione di amicizia tra Grecia e
Serbia insieme alla casa editrice Proskinio, presentano ad Atene il
libro del prof. Marco Aurelio Rivelli, studioso della realt? balcanica,
“L'arcivescovo del genocidio” in lingua greca su licenza della Kaos
Edizioni Milano. Il libro a curato lo storico Nikos Klitsikas ed a
tradotto la dottoressa Margherita Salvato.
All dibatito che si terra’ all amfiteatro dell museo della guera di
Atene, interverrano:
Marco Aurelio Rivelli, scrittore
Nikos Klitsikas, storico
Panagiotis Kritikos, deputato socialista
Stelios Papathemelis, deputato socialista
Alexandros Likourezos, deputato dela nuova Democrazia
Maria Mantuvalou, proffesoressa al Universita’ di Atene
Vasilis Rafailidis, giornalista
Giorgos Anastopoulos, presidente del Associazione di Amicizia
Grecia-Serbia
Saranno presenti ed interverano:
Il vescovo di Tebe Ieronimos (il qualle ha fatto la prefazione del libro
nella edizione in lingua greca
L’ ambasciatore della Jugoslavia in grecia Dragomir Vucicevic.
La guerra contro la Jugoslavia non e’ finita, ma la resistenza contro
NATO continua
Una riflessione dedicata all'argomento sollecita ad esaminare, tra
l'altro, gli eventi che nel corso del II conflitto mondiale sfociarono
nella costituzione dello Stato Croato Indipendente, uno Stato che fu
servitore fedele del III Reich, che nacque connotato da un'ideologia
apertamente razzista, che venne difeso dalle gerarchie vaticane, nel
quale venne perpetrato il genocidio delle popolazioni serbe ortodosse.
La riflessione sulle vicende legate alla storia dello Stato guidato da
Ante Pavelic rappresenta oggi, dopo il crollo dell'unit? Jugoslava e la
nascita della Repubblica di Croazia, un'occasione preziosa per
comprendere le radici di questo presente, con la consapevolezza che i
progetti egemonici del Nuovo Ordine Mondiale non si fermeranno alle
frontiere dei Balcani.
---
Date: Sun, 09 Jul 2000 20:35:36 +0200
From: Herman de Tollenaere
Subject: Peace demonstrations Utrecht, The Netherlands
On Saturday 8 July, people gathered near the Central Station in Utrecht,
to
oppose the military propaganda at the "Megafestatie". The "Megafestatie"
is
a trade fair/exhibition in the Jaarbeurs hall, aimed at young people.
Main
exhibitors, besides, eg, MTV, are the Dutch military, aiming to get
teenagers into the Dutch army, military police, and Marines. Not many
young
people want to join the Dutch [professional] armed forces; they have
trouble with finding people for vacancies. To counter that, lots of tax
money go to expensive propaganda. The slogan of the armed forces is:
"[Like] a nanny; but differently." People killed or wounded by Dutch or
other NATO armed forces in the Balkans and elsewhere might differ. So,
during the whole Megafestatie, until 16 July, visitors will get counter
information to the official propaganda. Starting every day at 12
o'clock.
In the night of Friday 7 to Saturday 8 July, two activists wanted to tie
a
banner to a big building crane near the entrance of the Jaarbeurs. The
banner challenged the army's claim of being a "peace army." However,
police
arrested them.
Later on Saturday, the demonstrators gathered at Smakkelaarsveld
[Central
Station side, opposite to Jaarbeurs] for a street rave/march. The
leaflet
of the organizers, "Onkruit vergaat niet", said the army propaganda
stimulated violence, also in foreign countries. "Violence there [by
Dutch
and coalition armed forces] also does not bring communication between
parties in conflicts, but impedes it. We have seen this during the war
in
Kosovo and elsewhere." Other leaflets passed around told what
demonstrators
could do if arrested; and on the "humanitarian" 1999 Balkans war,
including
many deaths like of the fifteen years old Yugoslav schoolgirl and
mathematics champion, Sanja Milenkovic.
Behind a big banner, opposing militarist propaganda, gathered drummers;
people with signs of Crass and other punk rock bands on their clothes;
people with T shirts of Rood [Red], youth branch of the Socialist Party,
and against the witch hunt against "illegal" immigrants; people with
anarchist symbols on. Average age not much over twenty, though there
were
also some elderly people.
The marchers passed the army recruiting center in the inner city of
Utrecht
[closed for the weekend]. With chalk, people drew slogans on the
pavement
close to it, like "Stop recruiting child soldiers", and "Stop NATO."
The demonstration continued to the police station, where the arrested
activists were still being held. The demonstrators made very much noise
to
enable the people in the cells to hear that outside, there were people
in
solidarity with them.
Standing in front of a worker's house, a mother rocked her toddler to
the
rhythm of the music of the sound system in the demonstrators' van, as
her
husband waved to the demonstrators.
During the whole march, new people joined, so that at the Jaarbeurs, the
end, there were many more people then at the beginning. At the
"Megafestatie" entrance, many leaflets were passed to the visitors.
Demonstrators juggled with balls, to show a fun alternative to going
abroad
to shoot people.
Next day, Sunday 9 July, demonstrators gathered at the eastern entrance
of
the Jaarbeurs.
Three banners were taped to the Jaarbeurs entrance: "Onkruit vergaat
niet"
[the organizers]; "Stop military violence"; and "NATO out of the
Balkans"
[thanks, Utrecht friend, for improving the banner's letters!]
Repeatedly, there was street theater: a 'die in' with people being
'killed', falling to the ground, splattered with red 'blood' [paint]. A
more realist approximation of real war then the armed forces propaganda
inside the hall.
As the 'die in' went on, Yvonne shouted through her megaphone: "The
Dutch
army is not a peace army. The Netherlands is a member of NATO. NATO does
not bring peace. NATO kills innocent people!"
Some reactions from the audience were reserved. One boy asked: "You say
the
Dutch army is bad. But how about national defence?" However, he had to
concur that the practice of the Dutch army was *not* 'national defence.'
In
1945-1949, the Dutch army attacked Indonesia. Indonesians wanted
independence from colonialism; they did *not* invade The Netherlands.
Later, Dutch Marines ended a strike, broken by deaths, by workers in
Curacao [Antilles]. Defense? In 1999, the Dutch Air Force helped bomb
Yugoslavia. Defense? Dutch Prime Minister Kok was not even notified by
NATO
that the war begun, let alone the people in The Netherlands. "No" the
questioner had to concede,"that was not really democracy ... or
defence."
A woman, claiming to be married to a Dutch soldier of the NATO forces in
Kosovo, reacted emotionally to the 'die in.' However, it was not
possible
to understand more of her inarticulate words than "my husband did a good
job in Kosovo." A friend of hers dragged her away to prevent her from
making more of a spectacle of herself. If, indeed, as she claims, her
husband was a soldier in Kosovo, I hope it will be possible to explain
to
people like her how people like her husband are used for the dirty work,
while people like NATO General Secretary Lord George Robertson and the
management of cruise missile factory Raytheon, who would not dream of
doing
the dangerous dirty work themselves, make millions of dollars.
A skinhead angrily refused to accept a leaflet against the Balkan war,
bringing the Nazi salute. The Hitler greeting is illegal in The
Netherlands
[so are Hitler posters; still, as TV journalists found out in July 2000,
one may find them on Dutch military barracks' walls]. Nevertheless,
police
standing 10 meters away did not react.
However, reactions by the Megafestatie visitors were generally
favorable.
If you passed, eg, one leaflet on Sanja Milenkovic to one boy or girl,
then
ten of their friends might gather around you asking for more leaflets.
Met vriendelijke groet/Best wishes,
Herman de Tollenaere
-
Date sent: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 23:15:25 +0200
From: Herman de Tollenaere
Subject: Peace activists on trial, Den Bosch, The Netherlands
Peace activists on trial, Den Bosch, The Netherlands
In 1981, half a million people demonstrated at the Museumplein [Museum
Square] in Amsterdam, to get nuclear weapons out of The Netherlands. To
commemorate that demonstration, a sculpture of a stone "cruise missile"
arose on the Museumplein. The maker of that "missile" was Yugoslav born
Miletic, one of the best known sculptors of Amsterdam.
In 1999, as NATO cruise missiles, not of stone, and bombs rained on
Miletic's native country, authorities had his monument for the 1981
peace
demonstration ripped out from the Museumplein. That demonstration had
helped to prevent even more nuclear weapons in The Netherlands. However,
Volkel air base in the Southern Netherlands still has not only the F16
aircraft of the Balkan war; but also nuclear weapons. Well ... they are
very, very, probably there; officially, the government refuses to
confirm
or deny their presence. Even though the International Court of Justice
[older than, and not to be confused with, the NATO countries-financed
Yugoslavia Tribunal, also in The Hague] practically outlawed nuclear
weapons in 1996. The presence of NATO nuclear weapons in The Netherlands
is
also against the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty.
Already before the Balkans war, peace activists planned to go to Volkel
on
2 April 1999. They wanted to inspect the presence of nuclear weapons as
"civilian inspectors". According to the rules of the 1945 Nuremberg
trial,
every human is obliged to prevent war crimes. They unfastened a metal
thread of the fence, making it possible to enter the base. However, fife
of
them were arrested and faced a trial.
On Tuesday 11 July 2000, people gathered near the court house in Den
Bosch,
The Netherlands, to support the activists. They had banners with them,
and
photos of victims of the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. Yugoslav women said
why
they had come: "We know everything about war. However, we are waging
action, not just for the victims in Yugoslavia, but also for the
children
of Iraq, people in Colombia, and people all over the world at risk by
nuclear bombs. War, and capitalism, are world wide problems."
The lawyer of the accused, Mr Eric Hummels, had called for an expert
witness on international law: Nico Steijnen, who had often written on
nuclear weapons cases. However, the public prosecutor objected to
hearing
Mr Steijnen's testimony. The court went along with this, as, according
to
them, Mr Steijnen had often been the lawyer of private persons against
the
Dutch state in international law cases [like of civilian victims of the
NATO bombing in Yugoslavia], and, supposedly, as a consequence, was not
"independent." The accused protested against the exclusion of Mr
Steijnen.
"Not *we* should be in the dock here", one of the accused said, "but
Government Ministers Kok and Van Aartsen."
The accused stated there was a case of emergency. That emergency only
existed in the heads of the accused, the public prosecutor said. Really?
one of them replied. Are these outlawed nuclear weapons not an
emergency?
Also, we went there as civilian inspectors when NATO bombed Yugoslavia.
Not
an emergency? As one of the many terrible consequences, relationships
between the nuclear powers of NATO, Russia, and China worsened,
increasing
the danger of the war crime of use of nuclear weapons.
When the public prosecutor said there was complete opportunity for
democratic ways to express opposition to military policy, she caused
immediate bitter ironic laughter from the whole audience. Whether they
were
older people remembering police attacks on demonstrators against the
Vietnam war, or people so young that the Balkans 1999 war was the only
war
they remembered, they all had personal experience with free speech, or
lack
of it, on war in The Netherlands, belying the prosecutor's rosy colored
image.
Yvonne, one of the people in the dock, told how she had wanted to
distribute flyers: they had been torn from her hands. She had held a
banner: police tore it from her hands. Only yesterday, in Utrecht at the
Jaarbeurs, when she wanted to protest military propaganda at the
"Megafestatie", first private "police" had physically attacked the
demonstrators [which they have no right to]. Some were wounded. Then,
real
police came and arrested four demonstrators, including Yvonne. Some
demonstrators were wounded.
In the night of Friday 7 to Saturday 8 July, two activists wanted to tie
a
banner to a big building crane near the entrance of the Jaarbeurs. The
banner challenged the army's claim of being a "peace army." However,
police
arrested them.
On 25 July at 9.30, the court will announce its decision. If necessary,
the
activists will appeal this decision at a higher level court.
After the court case, peace activists met to discuss future activities:
- on 6 and 9 August, they will remember the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima
and
Nagasaki
- on 2 September, they will try to find the nuclear bombs on Volkel air
base
- during the Peace Week [17-24 September], activists will go to police
stations all over The Netherlands, and ask police to take action against
Prime Minister Wim Kok, for making the country and the world unsafe by
having NATO nuclear weapons at Volkel
- Sunday 1 October people will try to find the nuclear bombs on Volkel
air
base. This is world wide nuclear weapons abolition day. See:
http://www.napf.org/abolition2000
Met vriendelijke groet/Best wishes,
Herman de Tollenaere
---
Subject: Sanctions Against Yugoslavia - a Continuation of
NATO Aggression
The following report and appeal by a Swedish Member of
Parliament from the
Social Democratic Pary is very important. We urge that his
be used to
mobilize people in the U.S. to end the sanctions against
Yugoslavia and to
raise humanitarian aid.
International Center for Peace and Justice (ICPJ)
---------
Sanctions against Yugoslavia - a continuation of NATO
aggression
By Karin Wegestal MP, on behalf of the Swedish Committee
for Solidarity
with the Yugoslav People
During the last decade, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
has received
more than 500,000 refugees from Croatia and Bosnia, and
another 300,000
internally displaced persons, mainly from the province
Kosovo and Metohia.
For a country with about ten million inhabitants, such an
influx of
homeless people is obviously a very heavy burden - even
under peaceful
conditions.
But in addition to that, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
has been the
subject to sanctions from the western powers for close to
ten years and its
infrastructure was badly hurt through Nato's intense
bombardment during 78
days in 1999. The result of all this is that Yugoslavia,
once the most
developed industrial country in Eastern Europe, is today
the poorest
country in Europe. In Serbia excluding Kosovo, with about
ten million
inhabitants and close to a million refugees and displaced
persons, about 30
international aid organisations operate. This should be
compared to the
Kosovo province, with about one million inhabitants, where
no less than 400
aid organisations operate. There, one could talk about
overheated aid
activity. A delegation from the Swedish Committee in
support of the
Yugoslav people, the Yugoslavia Committee, visited the
country during one
week in January, on the invitation of the International Red
Cross and
Crescent Society. We saw with our own eyes the great relief
efforts made
for suffering people. We visited refugee camps, soup
kitchens and
warehouses for humanitarian relief in Uzice, Pozega, Cacak,
Novi Sad and
other places. We met representatives of the Roma people
(gypsies) and saw
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's Minister for refugees,
displaced
persons and humanitarian aid, Mrs Bratislava Morina.
This visit gave us a strong impression of the very
difficult situation of
the Yugoslav people, but also of the great efforts done to
relieve the
situation for the refugees and displaced persons and other
people driven
into misery, and to repair the damage done by Nato's bombs.
All the refugees and displaced persons must be given
lodging, food,
clothes, school and if possible also a new job. In the
beginning, many
families opened up their homes for refugees. Through great
personal
sacrifice, most could be taken care of in that way. But we
also met
refugees who have lived for nine years in provisional
refugee camps with
all their personal possessions squeezed into a few square
metres. Many have
to suffice with food rations containing only 20 grams of
meat a day.
The refugee situation is made worse by the country's
stagnating economy.
Many companies have been deprived, through the sanctions,
of their
possibilities to import raw material, to re-invest and to
export their
products. Therefore they have been forced to stop
production or to
continue working on a low level. The result is falling
salaries and
excessive unemployment. 1.2 million people are totally
jobless. The figures
have increased gradually, but took a great leap through the
bombardment in
March-May 1999, when many factories were destroyed. Over
two million people
- one out of five citizens - are under the line of poverty.
Except for the
refugee problem, there are 300,000
social cases.
Many people who have volunteered to take care of
refugees, have
themselves become dependent of social assistance. About one
million people
get assistance through the Red Cross, which has a well
functioning
organisation with offices in 180 places - a fantastic
structure and an
impressive work both from the employees and from many
unpaid volunteers.
For those people who are lucky enough to have a job, the
average salary
is about 82 D-marks (equivalent to some 40 British pounds)
a month. A
well-educated university graduate can have 150-300 D-marks
(75-150 GBP),
which is regarded as a very good salary. Many young people
- the best
educated and most productive ones - leave the country to
find jobs abroad
if given a chance.
The medical situation is all but catastrophic, with acute
lack of medicine
and spare parts. The insulin was almost used up. At our
visit at Bezanijska
Kosa Medical Center in Belgrade, we learnt that X-ray
equipment stood idle
because X-ray tubes are regarded as "strategic spare parts"
and therefore
cannot be imported - even with hard currency!
We can now see the paradoxical result of the Yugoslav
wars during the 90s.
Several ethnically cleaned states and areas have been
established and
today receive extensive international assistance, while
Serbia, the most
multinational society with 26 nationalities living
peacefully together, are
exposed to the punishment of the western world.
The sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
were not imposed
by the United Nations but single-handedly by the USA and
EU. Officially
they are not intended as a punishment against Yugoslavia or
its population,
but as a pressure to make the government "co-operate with
the world
society" and "respect human rights for all citizens of the
country".
In reality, however, they are a continuation of Nato's
war of aggression.
Their intention is to achieve what Nato could not achieve
at Rambouillet,
i.e. total political, economic and military control of the
whole country.
It is blatant big power aggression against a sovereign
country and gross
interference in its internal affairs.
The sanctions hit hard against the people. They are
obviously intended as
one of several means to force the people to overthrow their
government and
replace it with an administration which can be manipulated
and dominated
from abroad. That is a travesty of democracy; in fact its
very opposite.
What is now required is common action to force the EU
countries to stop
its hostilities. The sanctions and interference in
Yugoslavia's internal
affairs must come to an end and normal inter-state
relations be
established. Relief assistance must be increased to
alleviate the human
suffering.
International assistance must be given unconditionally to
help repair the
damages after Nato's bombing.
In Sweden, an appeal against the sanctions was published
in connection
with the anniversary of the start of Nato's bombing of
Yugoslavia. It was
signed by representatives of various political parties,
former government
members, bishops and priests, scholars and writers,
athletics, and many
other well-known people representing a broad political and
social opinion
among the Swedish people. The appeal was published in a
number of papers,
including the dominating dailies Aftonbladet and Dagens
Nyheter, and on
international
web-pages including www.antiwar.com and
www.transnational.org. That appeal
shows that there is a broad support in the Swedish society
for a
normalisation of relations.
It would be very useful if a similar initiative could be
carried out in
all EU countries, to mobilise broad strata of the people.
Such an appeal,
of course, must be supplemented with other forms of
mobilisation of public
opinion and mass actions to increase the pressure on our
governments to
stop their hostile actions and change their present hostile
policy against
Yugoslavia.
Karin Wegestal is a Member of the Swedish Parliament for
the Social
Democratic Party. She is a member of the Defense Committee
and of the
Swedish Parliamentary Delegation of the OSCE. She is one of
two
spokespeople of the Committee for solidarity with the
Yugoslav people,
which started in April 1999, as the Stop the bombings now!
Committee.
NOTE : URGENT : cette traduction est libre pour toute reproduction avec
mention du traducteur. La traduction été faite un jour férié, sans
possibilité de vérifier la valeur du Franc français par rapport au DM.
Prière de corriger le § 10 avant toute publication ou retransmission
(ÉMV)
SANCTIONS CONTRE LA YOUGOSLAVIE :
IL FAUT UNE ACTION COMMUNE CONTRE LE CHANTAGE DES PAYS AGRESSEURS
De Karin Wegestal, membre du Parlement Suédois, porte-parole du Comité
Suédois de Solidarité avec le Peuple Yougoslave (transmis le 15 juillet
2000
par Internet).
En dix ans, la République Fédérale de Yougoslavie a reçu plus de 500 000
réfugiés de Croatie et de Bosnie, et 300 000 autres de l'intérieur,
c'est à
dire essentiellement des provinces du Kosovo et de Métochia. Pour un
pays
d'environ dix millions d'habitants, une pareille marée de personnes
déportées, sans domicile fixe, serait de toute évidence un fardeau
insupportable même en temps de paix.
Mais de surcroît, la République Fédérale de Yougoslavie a été soumise à
des
sanctions par les puissances occidentales depuis presque dix ans et son
infrastructure a été gravement détruite par les bombardements intenses
de
l'OTAN, pendant 78 jours de 1999. Le résultat de tout ceci est que la
Yougoslavie, qui était l'un des pays les plus industriellement
développés
d'Europe de l'Est , est devenu le pays le plus pauvre d'Europe.
30 organisations d'aide internationale environ opèrent en Serbie (Kosovo
exclus), pour une population d'environ dix millions d'habitants et un
million de réfugiés et déportés. Il faut comparer ces chiffres aux 400
organisations d'aide internationale qui opèrent dans la seule province
du
Kosovo, peuplée d'un million d'habitants. Là, on pourrait parler d'une
surchauffe de l'aide humanitaire.
Une délégation du Comité Suédois de Solidarité avec le Peuple
Yougoslave, le
"Comité Yougoslavie", a visité ce pays pendant une semaine en janvier
2000,
à l'invitation de la Croix Rouge Internationale et du Croissant Rouge.
Nous
avons vu de nos propres yeux les grands efforts qui sont faits pour
soulager
ces souffrances. Nous avons visité des camps de réfugiés, des soupes
populaires et des lieux de distribution de produits d'aide humanitaire à
Uzice, Pozega, Cacak, Novi Sad et autres. Nous avons rencontré des
représentants du peuple Rom (les gitans) et rencontré la Ministre de la
République Fédérale pour les Réfugiés, les Déportés et l'Aide
Humanitaire,
Madame Bratislava Morina.
Cette visite nous a permis d'avoir une vue impressionnante de la
situation
très difficile du peuple yougoslave, mais aussi du grand effort qui est
fait
pour soulager la détresse des réfugiés et déportés, et des autres
personnes
réduites à la misère par les bombes de l'OTAN, ainsi que pour réparer
les
dégâts qu'elles ont causé.
Il faut procurer à tous les réfugiés et les personnes déplacées un abri,
de
la nourriture, des vêtements, une solarisation et si possible également
un
emploi. Au début, beaucoup de familles ont ouvert leurs portes aux
réfugiés.
Grâce à de grands sacrifices individuels, beaucoup ont pu être pris en
charge de cette manière. Mais nous avons aussi rencontré des réfugiés
qui
vivent depuis neuf ans dans des camps de réfugiés provisoires, toutes
leurs
affaires personnelles entassées dans quelques mètres carrés. La plupart
doivent se contenter d'une ration de viande de 20 grammes par jour.
La situation des réfugiés est encore aggravée par la stagnation de
l'économie du pays. Beaucoup de sociétés ont été privées par les
sanctions
du droit d'importer des matières premières, de réinvestir et d'exporter
leurs produits. Elles ont dû en conséquence arrêter toute production ou
ne
continuer à travailler qu'au rythme le plus bas. Le résultat est une
chute
des salaires et un chômage excessif. Un million et demi de personnes est
totalement privé d'emploi. Les chiffres ont augmenté graduellement, mais
ont
fait un bond quantitatif avec les bombardements de mars à mai 1999, avec
la
destruction de nombreuses usines. Plus de deux millions (un citoyen sur
cinq) vivent au-dessous du seuil de pauvreté. Sans compter les réfugiés,
on
recense 300 000 cas sociaux.
Nombre de ceux qui s'étaient portés volontaires pour secourir les
réfugiés
sont devenus eux-mêmes dépendants de l'assistance sociale. Plus d'un
million
de personnes sont assistés par la Croix Rouge, qui a une bonne
organisation
locale, avec des bureaux dans 180 communes - une structure fantastique
et
des résultats impressionnants, tant de la part des employés que de
nombreux
volontaires bénévoles.
Pour ceux qui ont la chance d'avoir un emploi, le salaire moyen est
d'environ 82 deutschemark 'l'équivalent de quelquesXXXXXXXXXXfrancs
français) par mois. Un diplômé d'université de haut niveau peut gagner
entre
150 et 300 DM par mois, ce qui est considéré comme un très bon salaire.
De
nombreux jeunes gens - les plus instruits et les plus productifs -
quittent
le pays pour chercher un travail à l'étranger, dès qu'ils le peuvent.
La situation médicale est catastrophique, avec un manque aigu de
médicaments
et de matériel de rechange. Les stocks d'insuline sont pratiquement
épuisés.
A notre visite au Centre Médical Bezanijska Kosa de Belgrade, nous avons
découvert que le département de radiologie n'était plus en état de
service,
parce que les tubes pour les rayons X sont considérés comme "matériel
stratégique" et sont de ce fait interdits à l'importation - même contre
paiement en monnaies fortes.
Maintenant, nous pouvons faire le bilan des résultats paradoxaux des
guerres
qui se sont succédées sans interruption contre la Yougoslavie au cours
de
ces dix dernières années.
Plusieurs états et zones "ethniquement purifiés" ont été créés et
reçoivent
aujourd'hui une assistance internationale extensive, tandis que la
Serbie,
qui jouit de la société multiethnique la plus large, avec plus de 26
nationalités vivant paisiblement ensemble, est l'objet de la "punition"
décrétée par le monde occidental.
Les sanctions contre la République Fédérale de Yougoslavie n'ont pas été
imposées par les Nations Unies mais décidées unilatéralement par les USA
et
l'Union Européenne. Officiellement, elles n'ont pas pour but de punir la
Yougoslavie ou sa population, mais constituent un moyen de pression pour
obliger le gouvernement à "coopérer avec la société mondiale" et à
"respecter les Droits de l'Homme pour tous les citoyens du pays". En
réalité, cependant, elles sont la poursuite de la guerre d'agression de
l'OTAN - par d'autres moyens.
Leur but est d'achever ce que l'OTAN n'a pas réussi à obtenir à
Rambouillet,
c'est à dire un contrôle politique, économique et militaire total sur le
pays tout entier. C'est une agression patente de grandes puissances
contre
une nation souveraine, et une intervention grossière dans ses affaires
internes.
Les sanctions frappent lourdement le peuple. Elles sont visiblement l'un
des
divers moyens utilisés pour obliger ce peuple à renverser son propre
gouvernement et à le remplacer par une administration qui puisse être
manipulée et dirigée de l'étranger. C'est une parodie de démocratie; en
fait
c'est exactement le contraire.
Ce qu'il est urgent d'entreprendre aujourd'hui est une action commune
pour
obliger les nations qui composent l'Union Européenne à mettre fin aux
hostilités. Les sanctions et l'intervention dans les affaires
intérieures de
la Yougoslavie doivent cesser, et des relations internationales normales
doivent être rétablies. L'assistance humanitaire doit être augmentée
pour
soulager les souffrances humaines. Une aide internationale doit être
accordée inconditionnellement pour permettre de réparer les dommages
causés
par les bombardements de l'OTAN.
En Suède, un appel contre les sanctions a été publié à l'occasion de
l'anniversaire du début des bombardements de l'OTAN. Il a été signé par
des
représentants des différents partis politiques, d'anciens membres du
gouvernement, des évêques et des prêtres, des savants et des écrivains,
des
athlètes, et de nombreuses autres célébrités représentant un large
éventail
d'opinions sociales et politiques au sein du peuple suédois. Cet appel a
été
reproduit par de nombreux journaux, comprenant les quotidiens majeurs
que
sont le Aftonbladet et le Dagens Nyheter, ainsi que par plusieurs
"pages" du
Web international, dont www.antiwar.com et www.transnational.org.
Cet appel montre qu'il y a un large support dans la société suédoise
pour
une normalisation des relations. Il serait très utile qu'une initiative
similaire soit entreprise dans tous les pays de l'Union Européenne pour
mobiliser de larges couches du peuple. Un appel de ce genre doit
naturellement être accompagné d'autres formes de mobilisation de
l'opinion
publique et d'actions de masse pour augmenter la pression sur nos
gouvernants afin qu'ils arrêtent leur politique hostile actuelle contre
la
Yougoslavie.
K.W.
Karin Wegestal est membre du Parlement Suédois (Parti Social Démocrate).
Elle est membre du Comité de la Défense et de la Délégation
Parlementaire
Suédoise auprès de l'OSCE. Elle est l'un des deux porte-parole du Comité
pour la Solidarité avec le Peuple Yougoslave, créé en avril 1999 sous le
nom
de Comité "Arrêtez les Bombardements Maintenant"
Traduction Éliazar MARIO-VINCENT
pour le FORUM EUROPÉEN DES ORTHODOXES
---
INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER
For Immediate Release
Attention: Assignment Editor
Press contact: Sarah Sloan (212) 633-6646
July 17, 2000
VICTIMS OF POLICE PREVENTIVE DETENTION ACTION
STAND TRIAL IN WASHINGTON D.C. -
TUESDAY, JULY 18
This Tuesday, July 18, victims of the mass arrest of 678 people on
April 15 in Washington D.C. will stand trial. The defendants include
Brian Becker, Co-Director of the International Action Center,
George Vavatsikos, a Greek American activist and others.
The defendants face 90 days in jail and fines if convicted of
disorderly conduct.
They were arrested last April 15 at a demonstration held in
conjunction with the week of protests against meetings of the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington D.C.
The April 15 protest demanded "Shut down the Prison-Industrial
Complex" and "New Trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal."
A class action law suit alleging a police-government conspiracy to
deny the First Amendment rights of demonstrators will be filed in the
coming weeks.
"This trial is itself a brazen miscarriage of justice," said Brian
Becker.
"The police violated our constitutional rights to assemble and
protest and exercise our First Amendment guarantee of free speech.
All 678 arrested people were protesting against the Prison-
Industrial Complex, racism and to demand a new trial for Mumia
Abu-Jamal. We broke no laws and yet we were illegally detained,
handcuffed hand to foot and held for 24 to 36 hours in school
buses, basements and remote ad-hoc detention centers in the
Washington DC area," Becker asserted. For a detailed description
of events, see http://www.iacenter.org/rept415.htm.
"The outcome of this trial is important and must be put into the
context of a new, aggressive and we believe unconstitutional policing
strategy directed at denying the constitutional rights of those
engaged in protest," said Larry Holmes, a leader of the IAC and
one of the 678 arrested on April 15. "This is the post-Seattle
backlash by the police. They want to intimidate and prevent mass
protests at the Republican Convention in Philadelphia and the
Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. These efforts by the state
will fail. Our movement against the death penalty, against racist
police brutality and the Prison-Industrial Complex is getting
stronger, not weaker. We will fight in the memory of Shaka
Sankofa (aka Gary Graham) and all those freedom fighters who
have struggled against a system that breeds racism, repression and
death."
--30--
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@...
web: www.iacenter.org
CHECK OUT THE NEW SITE www.mumia2000.org
phone: 212 633-6646
fax: 212 633-2889
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
* INIZIATIVA A SPOLETO (21/7)
* CAMPO ANTIIMPERIALISTA 2000 (ASSISI 30/7-6/8): PROGRAMMA DEFINITIVO
---
Iniziativa alla "Festa dei Comunisti" a Spoleto il 21 luglio prossimo:
(...) Il C.A.R. (Comitato Antimperialista Romano) gestisce e partecipa
ad alcune iniziative-dibattito a Spoleto all'interno della suddetta
festa organizzata tutti gli anni dal locale circolo di Rifondazione.
Venerdì 21/7 alle ore 18,00 ci sarà un incontro sugli embarghi come
prosecuzione/preparazione delle guerre (militari e commerciali) e quindi
parleremo anche degli effetti di quello alla Jugoslavia.
---
> Campo antimperialista 2000 - Assisi, 30 luglio - 6 agosto
>
> Programma
>
> (per prenotazioni telefonare direttamente e prima possibile allo:
> 0333.3543251)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Domenica 30 luglio, arrivi
> Durante tutto il Campo: Laboratorio Informatico di Comunicazione
> Alternativa
> a cura di Elías Letelier
> (poeta cileno ed ex ufficiale dell¹Esercito Sandinista di Liberazione
> Nazionale)
> dalla mattina del 30 Luglio sarà attivo il sito del Campo:
> http://www.antiimperialista.com
>
> ore 21,00
>
> Presentazione del programma e delle delegazioni ospiti.
> Lettura saluti e messaggi.
>
> Ore 22,30 Concerto.
>
>
>
> Lunedì, 31 luglio
>
> Ore 9,30
>
> Forum n.1: Incontro con la delegazione jugoslava
> Forum n.2: Incontro con le delegazioni cilena
> (Rete Cilena Popolare ed Indigena)
> Forum n.3: Incontro con le delegazioni russe
> (Oleg Shein, deputato comunista della Duma e Sergey Novikov,
> responsabile relazioni internazionali del Partito Russo dei Comunisti)
>
>
> Ore 15,30
>
> 1. Sessione plenaria: I crimini NATO nei Balcani: i capi di accusa del
> Tribunale Ramsey Clark. Presiedono: Stefano De Angelis ed altri
>
> Ore 21,30
>
> Forum n.1: Le ³guerre umaniterie² e le nuove strategie NATO per la
> supremazia mondiale. Introducono: Marco Saba (Osservatorio Etico
> Ambientale)
> Francesco Iannuzelli (Ass. Peacelink sez.
> Disarmo)
> Forum n.2: Dall'emarginazione alla resistenza, percorsi di dignità nel
> Brasile d'oggi .
> Introducono: Paola Riccobelli (Centro di Difesa dei Diritti Umani di
> Garulhos, Sao Paulo)
> Responsabile del Coordinamento Latinoamericano dei Giuristi,
> Ricercatori Sociali e Gruppi Emarginati per una Alternativa
> Democratica e Popolare
> Forum n.3: Questione nazionale e socialismo: tavola rotonda coi
> movimenti di liberazione
>
> Martedì, 1 agosto
>
> ore 9,30
>
> Forum n.1: Incontro con le delegazioni messicane
> (Sinistra Democratica Popolare, Fronte Popolare Francisco
> Villa e CLETA)
> Forum n.2: Incontro con le delegazioni sarde
> (Gavino Sale e Bustiano Cumpostu di Sardigna Natzione e
> Confederazione dei Comunisti Sardi)
> Forum n.3: Incontro con la delegazione turca
> (Fronte Rivoluzionario di Liberazione del Popolo, DHKC)
>
> Ore 15,30
> 2. Sessione plenaria: Repressione, Prigionia Politica, violazione dei
> diritti umani e civili nel tempo della globalizzazione
> Tavola rotonda con:
> Associazione dei Familiari ed Amiici dei Prigionieri
> Politici (Spagna)
> Partito Repubblicano Socialista Irlandese (Irlanda)
> Euskal Herriko Komunistak, Comunisti dei Paesi Baschi (Paesi
> Baschi)
> Fronte Rivoluzionario di Liberazione del Popolo, DHKC
> (Turchia)
> Fedeltà all¹Uomo e alla Terra (Palestina)
>
> Ore 21,30
>
> Forum n.1: Violenza o non-violenza? Forme di lotta contro la
> globalizzazione
> Introduce: Comitato Contro la NATO ela Guerra di Ravenna
> Forum n.2: La guerra in Cecenia, il governo Putin e la sinistra russa
> Introducono:
> Oleg Shein, deputato comunista della Duma
> Sergey Novikov, responsabile relazioni internazionali del Partito
> Russo dei Comunisti
> Forum n.3: La Solidarietà Internazionalista, da percorsi diversi per
> un obiettivo comune. Introducono:
> Don Vitaliano Della Sala
> Padre Jean Marie Benjamin (responsabile delle manifestazioni
> culturali dell¹Unicef)
>
> Mercoledì, 2 agosto
>
> ore 9,30
>
> Forum n.1: "Teoria e pratica dell'autonomia per il potere popolare",
> introduce Prof. J. (CLAJADEP, Brasile)
> Forum n.2: incontro con la delegazione irlandese
> Partito Socialista Repubblicano Irlandese (IRSP)
> Forum n.3: incontro con le delegazioni basche
> Euskal Herriko Komunistak, Comunisti dei Paesi Baschi (Paesi
> Baschi)
>
> Ore 15,30
>
> 3. Sessione plenaria: Echelon: sorveglianza informatica mondiale e
> contromisure democratiche. Incontro con Nicki Hager
>
> ore 21,30
>
> Forum n.1: Immigrazione e lotta contro il razzismo nell¹Europa di
> Shengen
> Introducono: Gruppo Immigrati di Brescia
> Paola Riccobelli (operatrice sociale nell¹ambito della prostituzione
> per l¹Associazione On the Road)
> Forum n.2: Africa: Imperialismo e Multinazionali nella crisi dei
> vecchi equilibri africani
> Introduzione: Forze Africane di Liberazione della Mauritania (FALM,
> Mauritania)
> e altri. . . .
> Forum n.3: Nuova destra e antifascismo
> Introducono: W. Fisher (Germania Est)
> L. Willy (Austria)
>
> Giovedì, 3 agosto
>
> ore 9,30
>
> Forum n.1: incontro con le delegazioni palestinese e libanese
> I Comunardi (Libano)
> Fedeltà all¹Uomo ed alla Terra (Palestina)
>
> Forum n.2: incontro con la delegazione mauritana
> Forze Africane di Liberazione della Mauritania (FALM)
> Forum n.3: incontro con la delegazione dello Sri lanka
> Fronte di Liberazione del Popolo (JVP)
>
> Ore 15,30
>
> 4. Sessione plenaria: Islam e nuovo ordine mondiale
> Introduce: Associazione Culturale di Hezbollah
>
> ore 21,30
>
> Forum n.1: La resistenza libanese contro il sionismo.
> Introduce l¹Associazione Culturale di Hezbollah
> Forum n.2: Le nuove sfide della tecnologia nella comunicazione di
> massa in un progetto rivoluzionario. Introduce: Elias Letelier
> Forum n.3: Iran: Lotte sociali e opposizione nell¹Iran di Khatamy.
> Introducono: Guerriglieri Feddayn del Popolo dell¹Iran
>
> Venerdì, 4 agosto
>
> ore 9,00
>
> Forum n.1: incontro con la delegazione pakistana
> (Partito Comunista Pakistano)
> Forum n.2: incontro con le delegazioni filippine
> (K.M.U. Centrale Sindacale delle Filippine
> Nuova Alleanza Patriottica, BAYAN))
> Forum n.3: Incontro con la delegazione venezuelana
> (Federazione degli Studenti Universitari del Venezuela, FEUV)
>
> ore11:00
> Conferenza Stampa Interplanetaria
> INCONTRO CON I PROTAGONISTI E GLI OSPITI DEL CAMPO
> CON I MEZZI DI COMUNICAZIONE
> TRASMESSA IN VIDEOCONFERENZA
>
> Ore 15,00
> 5. Sessione plenaria: La lotta di Liberazione in Colombia, la minaccia
> dell¹intervento USA e l¹esito dei negoziati di pace.
> Introducono
> Paul Emile Dupret (assessore della Sinistra Unitaria Europea per le
> relazioni con l¹America del Sud)
> Esponente della Commissione Internazionale delle Forze Armate
> Rivoluzionari della Colombia - Esercito del Popolo
> Esponente del Fronte Internazionale dell¹Esercito di Liberazione
> Nazionale della Colombia
>
> ore 21,30
>
> Forum n.1: Reddito di cittadinanza o lavoro come diritto inalienabile?
> Forum n.2: Quale futuro per il Popolo Assiro, dopo la svolta del PKK
> Introduce: Organizzazione Patriottica Rivoluzionaria di Bethnarin
> Forum n.3: Il Messico dopo le elezioni: via parlamentare o via
> rivoluzionaria
> Introducono: Sinistra Democratica Popolare (Izquierda Democratica
> Popular),
> Fronte Popolare Francisco Villa e CLETA
>
> sabato, 5 agosto
>
> ore 9,30
>
> 6. Sessione plenaria: Inquinamento, transgenica e bio-tech: un nuovo
> terreno della lotta anticapitalista.
> Tavola rotonda con: Laura Corradi, esperta di salute ambientale,
> docente di sociologia della medicina, presso l¹Università di Messina
> Grazia Francescato, presidentessa dei Verdi e altri
>
> Ore 15,30
>
> 7. Sessione plenaria: Seattle : valore e limiti della rivolta contro
> il WTO
> ITavola rotonda con: Grazia Francescato, presidentessa dei Verdi
> (Italia)
> Norma G. Biñas, segretaria del K.M.U. (Filippine)
> José Bové, rappresentante di Confederazione dei Contadini
> (Francia)°
> °(in attesa di conferma)
> ore 21,00
>
> Saluti ai Partecipanti
>
> ore 21,30 - Concerto e festa di chiusura -Domenica 6 agosto, partenze
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
* CAMPO ANTIIMPERIALISTA 2000 (ASSISI 30/7-6/8): PROGRAMMA DEFINITIVO
---
Iniziativa alla "Festa dei Comunisti" a Spoleto il 21 luglio prossimo:
(...) Il C.A.R. (Comitato Antimperialista Romano) gestisce e partecipa
ad alcune iniziative-dibattito a Spoleto all'interno della suddetta
festa organizzata tutti gli anni dal locale circolo di Rifondazione.
Venerdì 21/7 alle ore 18,00 ci sarà un incontro sugli embarghi come
prosecuzione/preparazione delle guerre (militari e commerciali) e quindi
parleremo anche degli effetti di quello alla Jugoslavia.
---
> Campo antimperialista 2000 - Assisi, 30 luglio - 6 agosto
>
> Programma
>
> (per prenotazioni telefonare direttamente e prima possibile allo:
> 0333.3543251)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Domenica 30 luglio, arrivi
> Durante tutto il Campo: Laboratorio Informatico di Comunicazione
> Alternativa
> a cura di Elías Letelier
> (poeta cileno ed ex ufficiale dell¹Esercito Sandinista di Liberazione
> Nazionale)
> dalla mattina del 30 Luglio sarà attivo il sito del Campo:
> http://www.antiimperialista.com
>
> ore 21,00
>
> Presentazione del programma e delle delegazioni ospiti.
> Lettura saluti e messaggi.
>
> Ore 22,30 Concerto.
>
>
>
> Lunedì, 31 luglio
>
> Ore 9,30
>
> Forum n.1: Incontro con la delegazione jugoslava
> Forum n.2: Incontro con le delegazioni cilena
> (Rete Cilena Popolare ed Indigena)
> Forum n.3: Incontro con le delegazioni russe
> (Oleg Shein, deputato comunista della Duma e Sergey Novikov,
> responsabile relazioni internazionali del Partito Russo dei Comunisti)
>
>
> Ore 15,30
>
> 1. Sessione plenaria: I crimini NATO nei Balcani: i capi di accusa del
> Tribunale Ramsey Clark. Presiedono: Stefano De Angelis ed altri
>
> Ore 21,30
>
> Forum n.1: Le ³guerre umaniterie² e le nuove strategie NATO per la
> supremazia mondiale. Introducono: Marco Saba (Osservatorio Etico
> Ambientale)
> Francesco Iannuzelli (Ass. Peacelink sez.
> Disarmo)
> Forum n.2: Dall'emarginazione alla resistenza, percorsi di dignità nel
> Brasile d'oggi .
> Introducono: Paola Riccobelli (Centro di Difesa dei Diritti Umani di
> Garulhos, Sao Paulo)
> Responsabile del Coordinamento Latinoamericano dei Giuristi,
> Ricercatori Sociali e Gruppi Emarginati per una Alternativa
> Democratica e Popolare
> Forum n.3: Questione nazionale e socialismo: tavola rotonda coi
> movimenti di liberazione
>
> Martedì, 1 agosto
>
> ore 9,30
>
> Forum n.1: Incontro con le delegazioni messicane
> (Sinistra Democratica Popolare, Fronte Popolare Francisco
> Villa e CLETA)
> Forum n.2: Incontro con le delegazioni sarde
> (Gavino Sale e Bustiano Cumpostu di Sardigna Natzione e
> Confederazione dei Comunisti Sardi)
> Forum n.3: Incontro con la delegazione turca
> (Fronte Rivoluzionario di Liberazione del Popolo, DHKC)
>
> Ore 15,30
> 2. Sessione plenaria: Repressione, Prigionia Politica, violazione dei
> diritti umani e civili nel tempo della globalizzazione
> Tavola rotonda con:
> Associazione dei Familiari ed Amiici dei Prigionieri
> Politici (Spagna)
> Partito Repubblicano Socialista Irlandese (Irlanda)
> Euskal Herriko Komunistak, Comunisti dei Paesi Baschi (Paesi
> Baschi)
> Fronte Rivoluzionario di Liberazione del Popolo, DHKC
> (Turchia)
> Fedeltà all¹Uomo e alla Terra (Palestina)
>
> Ore 21,30
>
> Forum n.1: Violenza o non-violenza? Forme di lotta contro la
> globalizzazione
> Introduce: Comitato Contro la NATO ela Guerra di Ravenna
> Forum n.2: La guerra in Cecenia, il governo Putin e la sinistra russa
> Introducono:
> Oleg Shein, deputato comunista della Duma
> Sergey Novikov, responsabile relazioni internazionali del Partito
> Russo dei Comunisti
> Forum n.3: La Solidarietà Internazionalista, da percorsi diversi per
> un obiettivo comune. Introducono:
> Don Vitaliano Della Sala
> Padre Jean Marie Benjamin (responsabile delle manifestazioni
> culturali dell¹Unicef)
>
> Mercoledì, 2 agosto
>
> ore 9,30
>
> Forum n.1: "Teoria e pratica dell'autonomia per il potere popolare",
> introduce Prof. J. (CLAJADEP, Brasile)
> Forum n.2: incontro con la delegazione irlandese
> Partito Socialista Repubblicano Irlandese (IRSP)
> Forum n.3: incontro con le delegazioni basche
> Euskal Herriko Komunistak, Comunisti dei Paesi Baschi (Paesi
> Baschi)
>
> Ore 15,30
>
> 3. Sessione plenaria: Echelon: sorveglianza informatica mondiale e
> contromisure democratiche. Incontro con Nicki Hager
>
> ore 21,30
>
> Forum n.1: Immigrazione e lotta contro il razzismo nell¹Europa di
> Shengen
> Introducono: Gruppo Immigrati di Brescia
> Paola Riccobelli (operatrice sociale nell¹ambito della prostituzione
> per l¹Associazione On the Road)
> Forum n.2: Africa: Imperialismo e Multinazionali nella crisi dei
> vecchi equilibri africani
> Introduzione: Forze Africane di Liberazione della Mauritania (FALM,
> Mauritania)
> e altri. . . .
> Forum n.3: Nuova destra e antifascismo
> Introducono: W. Fisher (Germania Est)
> L. Willy (Austria)
>
> Giovedì, 3 agosto
>
> ore 9,30
>
> Forum n.1: incontro con le delegazioni palestinese e libanese
> I Comunardi (Libano)
> Fedeltà all¹Uomo ed alla Terra (Palestina)
>
> Forum n.2: incontro con la delegazione mauritana
> Forze Africane di Liberazione della Mauritania (FALM)
> Forum n.3: incontro con la delegazione dello Sri lanka
> Fronte di Liberazione del Popolo (JVP)
>
> Ore 15,30
>
> 4. Sessione plenaria: Islam e nuovo ordine mondiale
> Introduce: Associazione Culturale di Hezbollah
>
> ore 21,30
>
> Forum n.1: La resistenza libanese contro il sionismo.
> Introduce l¹Associazione Culturale di Hezbollah
> Forum n.2: Le nuove sfide della tecnologia nella comunicazione di
> massa in un progetto rivoluzionario. Introduce: Elias Letelier
> Forum n.3: Iran: Lotte sociali e opposizione nell¹Iran di Khatamy.
> Introducono: Guerriglieri Feddayn del Popolo dell¹Iran
>
> Venerdì, 4 agosto
>
> ore 9,00
>
> Forum n.1: incontro con la delegazione pakistana
> (Partito Comunista Pakistano)
> Forum n.2: incontro con le delegazioni filippine
> (K.M.U. Centrale Sindacale delle Filippine
> Nuova Alleanza Patriottica, BAYAN))
> Forum n.3: Incontro con la delegazione venezuelana
> (Federazione degli Studenti Universitari del Venezuela, FEUV)
>
> ore11:00
> Conferenza Stampa Interplanetaria
> INCONTRO CON I PROTAGONISTI E GLI OSPITI DEL CAMPO
> CON I MEZZI DI COMUNICAZIONE
> TRASMESSA IN VIDEOCONFERENZA
>
> Ore 15,00
> 5. Sessione plenaria: La lotta di Liberazione in Colombia, la minaccia
> dell¹intervento USA e l¹esito dei negoziati di pace.
> Introducono
> Paul Emile Dupret (assessore della Sinistra Unitaria Europea per le
> relazioni con l¹America del Sud)
> Esponente della Commissione Internazionale delle Forze Armate
> Rivoluzionari della Colombia - Esercito del Popolo
> Esponente del Fronte Internazionale dell¹Esercito di Liberazione
> Nazionale della Colombia
>
> ore 21,30
>
> Forum n.1: Reddito di cittadinanza o lavoro come diritto inalienabile?
> Forum n.2: Quale futuro per il Popolo Assiro, dopo la svolta del PKK
> Introduce: Organizzazione Patriottica Rivoluzionaria di Bethnarin
> Forum n.3: Il Messico dopo le elezioni: via parlamentare o via
> rivoluzionaria
> Introducono: Sinistra Democratica Popolare (Izquierda Democratica
> Popular),
> Fronte Popolare Francisco Villa e CLETA
>
> sabato, 5 agosto
>
> ore 9,30
>
> 6. Sessione plenaria: Inquinamento, transgenica e bio-tech: un nuovo
> terreno della lotta anticapitalista.
> Tavola rotonda con: Laura Corradi, esperta di salute ambientale,
> docente di sociologia della medicina, presso l¹Università di Messina
> Grazia Francescato, presidentessa dei Verdi e altri
>
> Ore 15,30
>
> 7. Sessione plenaria: Seattle : valore e limiti della rivolta contro
> il WTO
> ITavola rotonda con: Grazia Francescato, presidentessa dei Verdi
> (Italia)
> Norma G. Biñas, segretaria del K.M.U. (Filippine)
> José Bové, rappresentante di Confederazione dei Contadini
> (Francia)°
> °(in attesa di conferma)
> ore 21,00
>
> Saluti ai Partecipanti
>
> ore 21,30 - Concerto e festa di chiusura -Domenica 6 agosto, partenze
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
VANDALISMO CONTRO LE CHIESE ORTODOSSE IN KOSMET:
LA KFOR SBADIGLIA, L'UNMIK RELATIVIZZA, I MEDIA MINIMIZZANO,
PREDRAG MATVEJEVIC ED ENZO BETTIZA SE NE FREGANO
(e certo, mica e' la biblioteca di Sarajevo!)
Per le immagini e l'elenco delle distruzioni operate finora:
http://www.decani.yunet.com/
http://www.decani.yunet.com/destroyedchurch.html
---
ANOTHER SERB ORTHODOX CHURCH DESTROYED IN KOSOVO
Gracanica, July 17 2000
Last night (July 16) around 23.30 the Serbian Orthodox Church of St.
Elias in Pomazatin, 12 km west from Pristina was completely destroyed in
a powerful explosion The church of St Elias was originally built in 1937
near the river Drenica. At the beginning of the WW2 it was destroyed by
Albanian Nazi troops called Balli Combetar. After the war the Serbs
rebuilt the church in 1965 and it served as a parish church since then.
Last year in summer, just after the deployment of KFOR in Kosovo the KLA
memebers damaged the entrance of the church by a hand grenade. Despite
this damage the church could be easily repaired and the Diocese
requested from KFOR to secure the church from further destruction. KFOR
only surrounded the church by barbed wire and from time to time patrols
would pass near by.
The church of St. Elias is only a few hundred meters from the nearest
British KFOR base. The attackers who are supposed again to be the
members of the former KLA brought large quantity of explosive and
informed the local population not to go out of their homes at the time
of explosion which was planned for 23.30.
Serbian Orthodox Church has condemned this latest barbarous attack and
has requested from KFOR and UN Mission to carry out the investigation.
There are very few reasons to believe that the perpertrators would ever
be arrested because so far not a single attacker on nearly 90 destroyed
Serb churches has been identified or arrested.
Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren
Information Service
KFOR
Daily Press Release
Delivered by Major Scott A. Slaten
KFOR Spokesman
#07-10
PRISTINA, Kosovo - Monday, 17 July, 2000
Serb Church Destroyed
A ruined Serb Church in the village of Pomatetin/ Pomazatin (5
kilometers west of Fushe Kosove/ Kosovo Polje) was completely destroyed
in
an explosion last night.
Explosives were detonated at approximately 11.30 p.m. and UNMIK police
reported that two suspects were seen running from the scene towards
Fushe
Kosove / Kosovo Polje. Initial reports from explosive experts state that
up
to 30 kilograms of dynamite were used in the attack.
The Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah has been out of use for the past
six years and was badly damaged during last year's conflict. As a result
it
was not one of the churches guarded by KFOR troops.
An investigation is ongoing in the destruction of the church. KFOR MNB
Centre is committed to removing the weapons used for these types of
extremist activities from general use. As a result, a search operation
has
begun in the municipality this morning.
Weapons Search Targets Extremists
Troops from MNB Centre began a search operation this morning which
centers on the village of Miradi e Eperme / Gornje Dobrevo in the Kosovo
Polje municipality.
The mission of the operation is to search for illegal weapons in the
area and remove them from the hands of extremists. Four hundred KFOR
Norwegian soldiers make up the core of the units participating in the
operation. Additional manpower and expertise is being provided by search
teams from the 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, the
Swedish
Battalion and the Scots Dragoon Guards.
The village is located near the scene of a mine strike in early June
which killed three Serbs whose car drove over a mine which had been
planted
in the road. Although the village is in no way connected with last
night's
attack on the Serb Church, it is this type of extremism that the search
operation aims to prevent.
Incidents During the Past 24 Hours
Multinational Brigade North
Shots Reported
KFOR MNB North reported that shots were heard in the northern and
southern areas of Mitrovica for several hours last night. KFOR patrols
searched the areas. No reports of injuries or loss of life were reported
as
a result of the shootings.
Mass Held
KFOR soldiers secured the area around the southern Mitrovice/Mitrovica
Orthodox Church yesterday morning, in order to secure church goes
attending
mass. There were no reported incidents of violence or serious incidents
during the transport escort and mass of the attendees.
Multinational Brigade West
Weapons Seized, Men Arrested
KFOR soldiers near the village of Piskote stopped a vehicle driven by a
Kosovar Albanian man from the village of Skiviane. A search of the
vehicle
revealed an empty automatic machinegun magazine.
The driver was detained for questioning. KFOR Italian Military Police
then conducted a search of the man's home. One AK-47 Assault Rifle with
magazines and ammunition was discovered and confiscated. The man was
then
handed over to UNMIK Police for arrest. The investigation is still
ongoing.
Later in the evening, KFOR soldiers from Task Force Pegasus stopped a
car driven by a Kosovar Albanian man at the Zaimovo Bridge. A search of
the
vehicle revealed a Simonov Rifle. The weapon was confiscated and UNMIK
Police arrested a male passenger in the vehicle. The investigation is
still
ongoing.
Multinational Brigade Centre
See Lead Story
Multinational Brigade South
Commemoration Held
Yesterday morning, a commemoration for former UCK-fighters took place
in the village of Hoca Zagradska. The commemoration was announced
yesterday
evening. KFOR MNB South reinforced the area with additional soldiers. An
estimated 400 people participated in the commemoration. The
commemoration
was peaceful and ended without incidents at 11:45 a.m.
Multinational Brigade East
Weapons Seized
Yesterday morning, north of the village of Saraiste, soldiers from KFOR
US 501st Mechanized Infantry Battalion and UNMIK Police conducted a
house
search of a Kosovar Albanian man arrested for carrying a hand grenade. A
search of the house revealed one grenade, assorted ammunition, One MUP
uniform, two sets of binoculars, and two syringes. UNMIK Police held the
individual for questioning.
UXO Reported, Weapons Seized
In MNB East, yesterday evening in the town of Cernica, KFOR US Task
Force
1-187 headquarters reported that an item of unexploded ordinance was
found
in the backyard of a Kosovar Serb home.
An Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team was dispatched to the scene and
discovered a hand grenade near the house. Assessing the situation, the
EOD
team determined that the grenade could not be safely moved. It was then
detonated in place. The resulting blast caused some damage to the house
and
revealed some 7.62 ammunition. A search of the house was then conducted
and
an AK-47 Assault Rifle and magazines were confiscated. The investigation
is
still ongoing.
KFOR Medical Assistance Provided
An 11-year-old Kosovar Serb boy was medically evacuated (MEDEVAC) to
the 212th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital at Camp Bondsteel, and treated
for
appendicitis early this morning.
The boy was admitted to the hospital at 1:40 a.m. and had his appendix
removed. The youth was from the town of Strpce and escorted to Camp
Bondsteel by members of the 18th Polish Battalion. The boy's condition
is
currently listed as being stable.
The 212th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital also provided medical support
to another Kosovar Serb citizen last night. A 64-year-old woman
requested a
MEDEVAC last night and was transported by ambulance to Camp Bondsteel
for
treatment of a possible heart attack. The woman was admitted just after
10
p.m. and by midnight was listed in stable condition. Medical tests were
conducted and are pending results to determine the severity of the
attack.
The woman will remain at the 212th MASH for further observation.
MEDIA INFORMATION
UNMIK and NATO
A Press Conference will be held Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. in the Press
Conference Room of the UNMIK Government Building. NATO Secretary
General,
the Lord George Robertson of Port Ellen and SRSG, Dr. Bernard Kouchner
will
be speaking.
MNB Centre
Destroyed Serb Church
An MNB Centre media event will take place after the press conference
today. The schedule will include a visit the site of the destroyed
church
and then go on to the search operation being carried out in the local
area.
This operation highlights the KFOR activities being carried out to
prevent
any form of extremism threatening the people living in Kosovo.
Live Fire Ranges
The Second Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, will be
exercising and live firing their Warrior Armored Vehicles on the
Krivolak
ranges in the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) next
week.
This is part of an ongoing training operation that the KFOR British
troops carry out to ensure that British soldiers are continuously
trained on
their weapon systems in order to meet any threats.
MNB Centre will provide a media opportunity on the afternoon of Wed 19
July, 2000 to cover this event. Twelve places are currently available
for
interested journalist on a KFOR helicopter. Journalists should get in
contact with Flight Lieutenant Tim Serrell-Cooke, at the MNB Centre PIO
office.
MNB South
NATO Secretary General, Sir George Robertson and North Atlantic Council,
will visit MNB South to receive an overview of the current situation and
to
gain information on reconstruction projects in the town of Reshan
Mahala.
A media event is scheduled on Tuesday 18 July 2000 in Prizren.
Journalists are requested to be at the KFOR Main Headquarters VIP Gate
no
later than 9:10 a.m. for transportation to Prizren. For details please
see
the KFOR Media Event Flyer located in the main lobby of the KFOR Press
and
Information Center, Pristina.
KFOR Press and Information Center, Pristina, Kosovo
PTT phone: +389 91 68-6600
PTT fax: +389 91 68-6610
Sat phone : +871 382 060 323
Official KFOR homepage: http://kforonline.com
For specific information related to brigade-level operations, please
contact
Brigade Information Offices:
Multinational Brigade Centre
PPT phone: +44-7808946390 or +44-7801130055
PTT fax: +381-38-501 433-234
Sat phone: +870-762 103 839, +870-762 103 843 or +870-762 134 957
Sat fax: +870-762 134 991
Multinational Brigade East
http://www.hqusareur.army.mil/htmlinks/tffalconframe.htm
Sat phone: +871 762 069 495
E-mail: pao@...
Multinational Brigade North
PTT phone: +381-28-31024 or +381-28-31025
PTT fax: +381-28 - 31022
Sat phone: +871-762159078 or +871-761294148
Sat fax: +870-762134991
Multinational Brigade South
Satellite phone: +871-11 22 151 or +871-761 617 247 or +871-762069467
Satellite fax: +871-1122152
E-mail: piz_ge_kfor@...
Multinational Brigade West
Sat phone: +871-762 069 491
E-mail: martiref@...
Serbian Church Blown Up in Kosovo
.c The Associated Press
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - An explosion ripped through a medieval
Serbian
Orthodox Church in Kosovo, flattening the structure, U.N police said
Monday.
The church of the Holy Prophet Elijah was located in the village of
Pomazetin, just outside the Serb village of Kosovo Polje. The church was
leveled in the Sunday night explosion, said Oleg Rubezhov, a U.N. police
officer who patrols the area.
``It was destroyed to the basement,'' he said.
About 66 pounds of explosives were used in the 11:30 p.m. blast,
peacekeepers said. Two people were seen running from the site shortly
after
the explosion.
The church was not under guard by NATO-led peacekeepers, U.N. police
said.
They said it had already been severely damaged during the war between
ethnic
Albanian separatists and the forces of Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic.
However, the private Beta and FoNet news agencies in Belgrade said in
their
reports that the church was first damaged last August in a fire or by an
explosion.
The opposition Serbian Renewal Movement blamed the latest explosion on
the
peacekeeping force, called KFOR, saying its troops did nothing to
prevent it
in this heavily ethnic Albanian province.
``Members of KFOR know well enough that Albanian extremists
systematically
destroy Orthodox Christian churches, but they obviously do nothing to
prevent
them, which is proven by this latest crime,'' the party said.
Minority Serbs have faced daily attacks over the past year and Serb
Orthodox
monuments have been targeted by ethnic Albanian militants. The Beta news
agency said 86 religious objects have been destroyed.
Beta said Pomazetin was an ethnically mixed village before Kosovo's
1998-99
war. Since the deployment of NATO-led peacekeepers in the province last
year,
Serb villagers have fled, fearing for their safety.
AP-NY-07-17-00 0948EDT
ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS DESTROYED CHRISTIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
KOSOVO POLJE, July 17 (Tanjug) A strong explosion echoed in
Pomazatin village near Kosovo Polje late Sunday, amateur radio operators
said early on Monday.
Unofficial sources said ethnic Albanian terrorists had razed
the
Serbian Orthodox church of St. Ilia in this village of Kosovo and
Metohija
province which had had a mixed Serbethnic Albanian population before
international forces KFOR arrived in June 1999. All Serbs have meanwhile
been forced to flee the village due to onslaughts by militant ethnic
Albanians.
There was a power failure a minute before the blast, which took
place at about 11.30 p.m., and electricity was turned on again a minute
after the explosion.
Local Serbs believe that this is a synchronized action by
ethnic
Albanian extremists and those employed in the Obilic electric power
plant
in order to make such attacks appear more frightening in total darkness.
======================================================================
>Orthodox Church on post-war Kosovo firing line
>
>SLOVINJE, Yugoslavia, June 13 (Reuters) - Three attacks over the
>space of 10 months have reduced a Serb Orthodox church in a Kosovo
>village to a mound of rubble.
>
>Children play in the ruins and ethnic Albanians smile when asked what
>happened. "The church stepped on a mine," said a bearded man with a
>laugh.
>
>Slovinje's Church of Saint Nicholas is just one of 87 Orthodox Serb
shrines,
>churches and monasteries that have been destroyed or damaged in the
>year since NATO-led peacekeepers entered Kosovo as Yugoslav Serb
>security forces withdrew.
>
>Father Sava Janjic, in the nearby 14th-century monastery of Gracanica,
>says Albanian extremists are systematically seeking to eradicate the
>church from Kosovo as part of a wider campaign to chase out the minority
>Serb population.
>
>"The Orthodox church is the anchor of the Serbian people here. If the
>churches are destroyed then the Serb people will not stay," said Father
>Sava, an Orthodox priest who acts as spokesman for the region's Serb
>moderates.
>
>An estimated 150,000 Serbs have fled Kosovo since June 1999, leaving
>100,000 behind out of a total population of less than two million.
>The Albanian majority is nominally Moslem.
>
>Anxious to reassure the Serbs that they have their best interests at heart,
>KFOR peacekeepers now stand guard 24 hours a day outside many of
>Kosovo's remaining Orthodox shrines.
>
>CHURCH HAS LONG KOSOVO HISTORY
>
>Kosovo, which remains legally a part of Yugoslavia but has become a de
>facto international protectorate, is regularly described by Serbs as the
>cradle of their culture and the spiritual home of their Orthodox church.
>
>The seat of the Serb church was not actually founded in Kosovo, but
>moved there at the end of the 13th century after its original foundation in
>central Serbia burned down.
>
>Seven centuries later, many of Kosovo's most beautiful buildings are
>its Orthodox centres, including the monasteries at Pec, Decani and
>Gracanica.
>
>"I'd say that 95 percent of Kosovo's cultural heritage sites are Orthodox
>buildings. These need saving not just for the Serbs, but for all
Europeans,"
>said Father Sava.
>
>For ethnic Albanians, who suffered years of repression at the hands of
>Serbian troops and police, the Orthodox Church is inextricably linked
>to the notion of Serb national identity.
>
>A wave of Orthodox churches built over the past 10 years are described
>by locals as "political churches" and they have borne the brunt of the
>attacks. Some KFOR commanders openly question whether it is worth
>trying to save these buildings.
>
>"If a church has value as a historical place then clearly it should be
>guarded," said Finnish Colonel Arto Raty, head of KFOR operations in
>Slovinje, which lies just to the south of the regional capital Pristina.
>
>"But if it has no historical value and there is no chance of the Serbs
>returning anytime soon to the area, then it should be gently dismantled,"
>he told Reuters.
>
>A "CRUCIFIED" KOSOVO
>
>Slovinje's little domed church and adjacent belfry were built in 1996 on
>the site of a 16th-century church. It was attacked in June and July 1999
>and then again in May of this year, leaving just a pile of shattered
>concrete and red brick.
>
>KFOR troops later found the church's heavy iron bell hidden under an ethnic
>Albanian's haystack.
>
>Father Sava is angry that despite the presence of some 47,000 peacekeepers
>in Kosovo nobody has been caught or charged for the attacks on Orthodox
>property.
>
>The Church has published a book, "Crucified Kosovo", to highlight the
>plight of the Orthodox faith in the province, asking the world not to
>blame it for the policies of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
>
>Father Sava, who admits to harbouring sometimes un- Christian feelings of
>hate for Milosevic, says his Church did what it could to protect the
>Albanians from Serbian forces.
>
>"There was no organised involvement of the Serb church in fighting for
>Albanian rights because we had our own problems with the Yugoslav
>regime. But we always insisted that all human beings should be treated in
the
>same way," he said.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Predrag Tosic" <p-tosic@...>
To: "yugoslaviainfo" <Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.>
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2000 4:54 PM
Subject: [yugoslaviainfo] A reminder: God's houses in ruin [throughout
Kosovo]
[ A few basic questions for Mr Kouchner and UNMIK, as well as each and
every NATO country government:
- How many of the damaged or destroyed churches and monasteries have
been
rebuilt?
- In how many instances has the reconstruction at least started?
- In how many instances have the culprits - arsonists, bombers and other
attackers at Christian religious shrines in Kosovo - been arrested?
- How many of the arrested have been acquited? Is anybody
currently serving a prison term in Kosovo for vandalizing or destroying
a
church? If there is, how many people?
Between 85 and 100 Christian churches (mostly Serbian Orthodox, as
well
as some other) have been either severely damaged or destroyed in Kosovo
since mid-June of 1999. If our readers know of a single case where the
culprits were arrested - please let us know; thus far, I do not recall
reading or hearing a single news agency report to that effect. PT ]
Subject: God's houses in ruins: The world keeps silent as Serb churches,
monasteries are destroyed in Kosovo under noses of
peacekeepers
The Montreal Gazette
Sunday 27 February 2000
God's houses in ruins: The world keeps silent as Serb churches,
monasteries
are destroyed in Kosovo under noses of peacekeepers
MARK ABLEY The Gazette
The Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas, in the Kosovo village Banjska, was
probably not an international treasure.
As far as we know, it was just a modest house of God in an area dotted
with
the same.
But no one may ever be sure. On Jan. 30, 11 kilograms of explosives were
detonated at the altar, leaving much of the building in ruins.
The explosion forms part of a sad and continuing pattern. Since a wary
peace took shape in Kosovo in June 1999, nearly 80 of its Orthodox
churches
and monasteries are known to have suffered heavy damage or destruction.
The
total may be higher, given that a lot of churches are located in remote
areas where few, if any, Serbs still live.
These attacks did not occur during the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization's
bombing campaign last spring. They have happened since the return of
Kosovo's Albanian majority. Extremists, usually assumed to be linked to
the
Kosovo Liberation Army, have carried out a systematic campaign of
destruction under the eyes of international peacekeepers.
The unanswered question is why this devastation has caused so little
outcry. British and French media have paid some attention to the
attacks;
but the North American media have carried few reports. Dozens of
non-profit
groups are now working in Kosovo; they have said next to nothing.
"The Western world is rather fed up with the Balkans," suggested Colin
Kaiser, chief of the unit for southeast Europe and the Arab states in
UNESCO's Division of Cultural Heritage. "The wars, first in Croatia,
then
in Bosnia and most recently in Kosovo, became more and more intense in
terms of damage. But the cumulative effect has been that the Western
sensibility to it all has been dulled."
True enough. But beyond that, it also seems true that after the wars of
the
past decade, few Westerners dare to sympathize with anything Serbian.
Last September, Bishop Artemije, the head of the Orthodox diocese of
Raska
and Prizren, charged that while the first aim of the Kosovo Albanians
"is
to expel all Serbs, the second is to eradicate all traces and witnesses
that could serve as evidence that the Serbs have existed at all.
"But who and what are the witnesses? Churches, monasteries and holy
places.
So they set out to destroy the witnesses, to obliterate the traces. In
21Z2
months more than 70 monasteries and churches were burned or demolished.
Among them were the churches built by our illustrious and holy ancestors
in
the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. The churches and monasteries, which
survived 500 years of Turkish occupation, did not endure two months in
the
presence of a 50,000-strong international 'peacekeeping' force."
Peacekeeping troops from the United Arab Emirates, serving in the United
Nations' multinational KFOR mission, had been stationed near the Church
of
St. Nicholas. But in late January they withdrew, leaving the church
unprotected. It was soon blown to pieces.
The presence of the UN soldiers has slowed the rate of destruction in
recent months, but foreign troops can provide no guarantee of safety. On
Jan. 14, for instance, the Church of St. Elias, in a village called
Cernica, was partly destroyed by explosives. It stood just 70 metres
from a
checkpoint of U.S. soldiers.
Almost everyone would agree that the destruction of St. Elias's and St.
Nicholas's churches is regrettable. But what has so far escaped much
notice, particularly in North America, is that dozens of the earlier
victims were not just Serbian village churches, but buildings of great
beauty and historical significance. Among them:
- The Church of the Holy Virgin in Musutiste, built in 1315. Frescoes
painted in the following years were among the finest examples of
medieval
wall-painting in the entire region. The church was looted, burned and
mined
by explosives.
- The Church of St. Nicholas in Prizren, which is said to date to 1348
or
earlier, and which contained medieval icons. Five explosives went off,
causing extensive damage.
- The Monastery of the Holy Trinity near Musutiste, built from 1465 on.
It
held a unique library of manuscripts as well as a collection of recent
icons. The monastery was first plundered, then burned and finally
leveled
with explosives.
- The Monastery of the Holy Archangels in Gornje Nerodimjle, built in
the
14th century, renewed and extended in 1700. The monastery was looted and
burned; a great pine tree, said to date from 1336, was chopped down and
burned; the cemetery was desecrated.
The stories go on and on. The pattern is undeniable - and for once, no
one
is even trying to claim that Yugoslavia's notorious president, Slobodan
Milosevic, is behind it.
So far, thanks to a 24-hour guard by foreign soldiers, the greatest of
all
treasures in the region - the monastic churches of Gracanica and Decani
-
have survived. Writers have waxed eloquent about them for generations;
Rebecca West, for one, called Gracanica "as religious a building as
Chartres Cathedral. The thought and feeling behind it were as complex. S
There is in these frescoes, as in the parent works of Byzantium, the
height
of accomplishment."
Some of the buildings were jewels of European civilization. Now they are
rubble.
- - -
Throughout the Balkans, politics and art, history and myth, oppression
and
religion are intertwined. The ruined Orthodox buildings of Kosovo were
not
only centres of worship and art; they were political symbols.
Since the mid-1980s, writes Michael Sells, professor of comparative
religion at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, "Serb nationalists have
manipulated concern for the (Kosovo) shrines to motivate, justify and
implement 'ethnic cleansing' and annihilation of centuries of non-Serb
artistic and religious monuments.
"In exploiting Serbian monasteries and the heritage they represented to
foment hate and violence, they desecrated a great Serbian heritage that
deserves better."
It must also be said that if the KLA is behind the devastation, it's
following a path already trod by Serbs themselves. In Sarajevo, Banja
Luka
and other Bosnian cities, the Serbs blew up historic mosques and Islamic
shrines, as well as burning the Oriental Institute and the National
Library.
Moreover, between March and June last year, while NATO was bombing
Serbia
and hundreds of thousands of Albanian-speaking Kosovars were seeking
foreign refuge, many buildings in Kosovo were subject to deliberate
Serbian
attack.
The main targets, however, do not seem to have been mosques. Serbian
forces
aimed most of their destruction at Albanian houses and marketplaces.
Now the Serbs are reaping the whirlwind. Since the Kosovars poured back
into their ravaged homeland, any buildings where Serbs lived or prayed
have
been vulnerable - even if they were homes built in Ottoman style during
the
long centuries of Turkish rule.
Another of the recently damaged buildings is the Kosovo Battle Memorial,
built on the famous battleground of 1389. That losing fight against the
invading Turks became a cornerstone of Serbian memory and folk history.
It
also became a useful symbol for Milosevic when he wanted to stir up
nationalist fervour in the 1980s.
In recent months, the Yugoslav government has bitterly protested against
the desecration of Orthodox buildings in Kosovo. But the protests have
fallen on deaf ears.
"I don't know how many times we have said this already," complained
Ljiljana Milojevic Borovcanin, first counselor at the Yugoslav embassy
in
Ottawa. "We have raised the issue at the United Nations and also
bilaterally, with the countries participating in KFOR."
Those countries include Canada. About 1,450 Canadian troops are now in
Kosovo, serving mostly in the central and northern areas alongside
soldiers
from Britain, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Czech Republic. The
international community has a lot at stake in the peacekeepers' success.
Under KFOR, Kosovo has been divided into five sectors, each run by a
NATO-led brigade. The peacekeeping force is made up of 42,500 soldiers
from
28 countries, in addition to a further 7,500 troops based in
neighbouring
countries. For each soldier in the KFOR mission, only about two Serbs
remain in Kosovo.
Borovcanin says she has spoken to Canadian officials about the
continuing
destruction of Orthodox churches, "and the response was always
diplomatic.
The Canadian government says it regrets all the damage, but at no time
will
it take any action.
"Yet it's the non-implementation of the UN resolution that has enabled
this
barbarism to occur."
She was alluding to Security Council Resolution 1244. Under its terms,
the
mandate of the KFOR troops involves "demilitarizing the Kosovo
Liberation
Army (KLA) and other armed Kosovo Albanian groups S establishing a
secure
environment in which refugees and displaced persons can return home in
safety S (and) ensuring public safety and order."
UNESCO has been in touch with KFOR leaders, Kaiser told The Gazette.
"We provided them with lists of heritage sites that were much longer
than
what they could actually handle. We were told that they have many
responsibilities, and can't possibly station soldiers in front of every
monastery."
Speaking from Pristina last week, KFOR spokesman Lt.-Commander Philip
Anido
said that "KFOR and its soldiers have static guards on the sites that
are
active. Some of the churches are guarded by moving patrols, and it's up
to
the brigade commander to decide on the level of sensitivity and the
level
of risk."
About 800,000 Albanian refugees are thought to have fled Kosovo before
and
during the war last spring. Perhaps it's not surprising that Canada - a
full participant in the NATO bombing campaign - should be reluctant to
speak out publicly against the Kosovo Albanians whom it spent so much
time,
effort and money in helping.
Canada even contributed $200,000 to help pay for a cultural festival in
Kosovo last September. On hand along with international stars like
Mikhail
Baryshnikov, Meryl Streep and Elton John was the Cape Breton choir Men
of
the Deeps, flown in to sing coal-mining songs.
"Canada is helping rebuild Kosovo," Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd
Axworthy
said at the time. "That rebuilding effort must not only focus on bricks
and
mortar; we must also help rebuild the human spirit."
But as elements of the KLA were quick to realize, the best way to crush
the
spirit of Kosovo's remaining Serbs was to destroy significant chunks of
their bricks and mortar. The day after the cultural festival ended, the
14th-century church of Saints Cosma and Damian in the village of Zociste
was razed. The church was noted for its frescoes of Old Testament
prophets.
On the same day, near the town of Vitina, the remnants of the
14th-century
monastery of the Holy Archangel Gabriel were destroyed by explosives.
The
monastery had already been looted and burned.
So much for the human spirit.
- - -
What is surprising, if not downright shocking, is that the destruction
of
churches and monasteries in Kosovo has aroused so little attention from
international groups that are supposedly dedicated to the preservation
of
cultural treasures.
To an outsider, it looks very much as though the ancient buildings and
artworks are somehow tainted by their association with present-day
Serbia.
When it comes to the monasteries and churches of Kosovo, silence has
become
an unofficial policy.
Consider the following:
- The World Monuments Fund (a private, non-profit group based in New
York
and funded extensively by American Express) placed no Kosovo buildings
on
its recent list of the 100 most endangered sites around the world.
The fund has given money for architectural restoration and preservation
to
165 projects in 51 countries - not including Kosovo. Its Web site
includes
no mention of Kosovo, and a request for an interview with its president,
Bonnie Burnham, was turned down.
- If you believe the Web site of the International Centre for the Study
of
the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, this awkwardly
named
group is a "catalyst for action." But it has remained silent about the
dangers to cultural property in Kosovo. An E-mail asking for an
explanation
went unanswered.
- At UNESCO's headquarters in Paris last July, a six-day official
meeting
took place under the auspices of the Convention Concerning the
Protection
of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Member nations debated the
threats to heritage sites in no fewer than 55 countries, including
Canada
(a proposed open-pit mine near Jasper National Park came under
scrutiny);
but Kosovo received only a brief general mention.
UNESCO did sponsor two missions of inquiry to Kosovo in July and
November.
Yet Colin Kaiser, who led one of them, admitted that "UNESCO is not
tooled
to work quickly for emergencies."
Part of the problem, he said, is that proper documentation is not
available
for Kosovo. The agency intends to resume work there in co-operation with
a
Swedish group called Cultural Heritage Without Borders.
"But we can't become involved in saying who did what," Kaiser
emphasized.
"UNESCO cannot take sides."
- Last April, at the height of the war in Kosovo, a statement went out
from
the International Committee of the Blue Shield (a joint endeavour that
unites librarians, archivists, museum curators and preservation
officials).
The statement expressed a generalized "concern about all damage to the
cultural heritage of the peoples of Yugoslavia." Once the war was over,
the
Blue Shield Committee had nothing more to say.
Last week, Manus Brinkman, the secretary-general of the International
Council of Museums, told The Gazette that "ICBS has not issued any new
appeals, because the first one is still as valuable as ever."
Asked about the response to the April statement, Brinkman said that
"there
have been a lot of positive reactions and the appeal invoked much
discussion. S Sadly enough, there was no reaction from the parties
involved
in the fighting in Kosovo, neither from the official Serbian or Albanian
side, nor from NATO."
- Canada is one of many nations represented on ICOMOS, the International
Council on Monuments and Sites, whose aim is "the conservation of the
world's historic monuments and sites." The Web site of ICOMOS Canada
includes statements from 1997 onward. None mentions Kosovo.
The Canadian group's administrative secretary, Victoria Angel, said that
ICOMOS Greece has tried to raise awareness about the cultural monuments
in
Kosovo. But Greece was not one of the NATO members that bombed
Yugoslavia;
and anyway, a little-known non-profit group based in Athens can scarcely
be
expected to kindle public attention in other countries.
"North America is still stuck with the message that there's a good guy
and
a bad guy in Kosovo," said Dinu Bumbaru, the head of Heritage Montreal
and
a vice-president of ICOMOS Canada. "And what the good guy does at the
end
of the movie is fine with us."
Bumbaru noted that while a great deal of information is available about
the
Kosovo destruction, especially on the Internet, "there's no
communications
campaign. Frankly I just wonder if, in the West, this is of interest."
In 1992, following Yugoslavian attacks on the magnificent Croatian city
Dubrovnik during a previous Balkan war, Bumbaru led a UNESCO-sponsored
mission to assess the damage. International funds were provided to help
Croatia, and Dubrovnik has largely been rebuilt.
But Croatia was widely seen as a victim, so, in the case of Dubrovnik,
it
was politically easy for other countries to do the right thing.
The Serbs, on the other hand, were widely seen as aggressors. Now
they're
outnumbered in Kosovo nearly 20 to 1; and in Kaiser's words, "the
problem
is that ultimately, the defence of anything depends upon local people.
"Ideally, both Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo will realize that the loss
of
the monasteries and churches, like the loss of the mosques and Ottoman
houses, will impoverish the whole area."
But that's a remote ideal. In the meantime, there appears to be no
political will outside Kosovo to stand up for an Orthodox heritage so
fraught with beauty, so redolent of pain.
- Reporter Mark Abley can be reached at (514) 987-2555 or by E-mail at
mabley@....
---
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=2958
19-May-2000 -- EWTN News Brief
KOSOVO PENTECOSTAL CHURCH ATTACKED BY ISLAMIC
MILITANTS
PRISTINA, Kosovo (CWNews.com/Keston) - The Fellowship
of the Lord's People, an Assemblies of God Church in
the Kosovo capital Pristina, was raided by
self-proclaimed Islamic militants in the early hours
of April 29.
The robbers, who claimed to represent the Kosovo
branch of an organization linked to Saudi terrorist
Osama bin Laden, threatened the occupants with guns
during a two-hour raid and stole a considerable sum of
money, a computer, and other valuable items of
equipment. They daubed the door and the walls of the
church building with Islamic slogans.
The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) police
force has primary responsibility for law and order in
the Pristina region and its officers visited the
incident, but an UNMIK representative said so far they
are only looking at the raid "from a criminal aspect."
However, he promised that all three raids the church
has endured over the past year would be reviewed.
The overwhelming majority of Kosovo's Albanian
population is of Muslim background, though some
Albanians are Christians (mostly Catholic, with a
small number of Protestants). The vast majority of the
Serbs that remain in Kosovo are of Serbian Orthodox
background.
The Rev. Artur Krasniqi and his brother Driton
reported the bandits entered the church in the early
morning and tied up the two men and two others,
including an American and a 14-year-old boy, pointing
guns at them and ordering them to renounce
Christianity.
Krasniqi reported that UNMIK police arrived an hour
after the intruders had left and, according to
Krasniqi, did little to help them. However,
representatives from the peacekeeping Kosovo Force
(KFOR) have shown interest, and KFOR representatives
attended a meeting at the church on May 9. "The
British KFOR is trying to do something investigating
this crime," Artur Krasniqi declared. "There have been
no results yet, even though they have some information
already. From UN so far nothing. 'Defend yourself' was
the reply of some UNMIK policemen."
A spokesman for the UNMIK police in Pristina region,
Charley Johnson, confirmed that UNMIK had gone to the
church in the wake of the raid. "The incident has been
listed not as an ethnic crime, but one of robbery and
vandalism," Johnson said this week. "The UNMIK police
are looking at it from a criminal aspect. We have not
developed any suspects as yet."
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
LA KFOR SBADIGLIA, L'UNMIK RELATIVIZZA, I MEDIA MINIMIZZANO,
PREDRAG MATVEJEVIC ED ENZO BETTIZA SE NE FREGANO
(e certo, mica e' la biblioteca di Sarajevo!)
Per le immagini e l'elenco delle distruzioni operate finora:
http://www.decani.yunet.com/
http://www.decani.yunet.com/destroyedchurch.html
---
ANOTHER SERB ORTHODOX CHURCH DESTROYED IN KOSOVO
Gracanica, July 17 2000
Last night (July 16) around 23.30 the Serbian Orthodox Church of St.
Elias in Pomazatin, 12 km west from Pristina was completely destroyed in
a powerful explosion The church of St Elias was originally built in 1937
near the river Drenica. At the beginning of the WW2 it was destroyed by
Albanian Nazi troops called Balli Combetar. After the war the Serbs
rebuilt the church in 1965 and it served as a parish church since then.
Last year in summer, just after the deployment of KFOR in Kosovo the KLA
memebers damaged the entrance of the church by a hand grenade. Despite
this damage the church could be easily repaired and the Diocese
requested from KFOR to secure the church from further destruction. KFOR
only surrounded the church by barbed wire and from time to time patrols
would pass near by.
The church of St. Elias is only a few hundred meters from the nearest
British KFOR base. The attackers who are supposed again to be the
members of the former KLA brought large quantity of explosive and
informed the local population not to go out of their homes at the time
of explosion which was planned for 23.30.
Serbian Orthodox Church has condemned this latest barbarous attack and
has requested from KFOR and UN Mission to carry out the investigation.
There are very few reasons to believe that the perpertrators would ever
be arrested because so far not a single attacker on nearly 90 destroyed
Serb churches has been identified or arrested.
Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren
Information Service
KFOR
Daily Press Release
Delivered by Major Scott A. Slaten
KFOR Spokesman
#07-10
PRISTINA, Kosovo - Monday, 17 July, 2000
Serb Church Destroyed
A ruined Serb Church in the village of Pomatetin/ Pomazatin (5
kilometers west of Fushe Kosove/ Kosovo Polje) was completely destroyed
in
an explosion last night.
Explosives were detonated at approximately 11.30 p.m. and UNMIK police
reported that two suspects were seen running from the scene towards
Fushe
Kosove / Kosovo Polje. Initial reports from explosive experts state that
up
to 30 kilograms of dynamite were used in the attack.
The Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah has been out of use for the past
six years and was badly damaged during last year's conflict. As a result
it
was not one of the churches guarded by KFOR troops.
An investigation is ongoing in the destruction of the church. KFOR MNB
Centre is committed to removing the weapons used for these types of
extremist activities from general use. As a result, a search operation
has
begun in the municipality this morning.
Weapons Search Targets Extremists
Troops from MNB Centre began a search operation this morning which
centers on the village of Miradi e Eperme / Gornje Dobrevo in the Kosovo
Polje municipality.
The mission of the operation is to search for illegal weapons in the
area and remove them from the hands of extremists. Four hundred KFOR
Norwegian soldiers make up the core of the units participating in the
operation. Additional manpower and expertise is being provided by search
teams from the 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, the
Swedish
Battalion and the Scots Dragoon Guards.
The village is located near the scene of a mine strike in early June
which killed three Serbs whose car drove over a mine which had been
planted
in the road. Although the village is in no way connected with last
night's
attack on the Serb Church, it is this type of extremism that the search
operation aims to prevent.
Incidents During the Past 24 Hours
Multinational Brigade North
Shots Reported
KFOR MNB North reported that shots were heard in the northern and
southern areas of Mitrovica for several hours last night. KFOR patrols
searched the areas. No reports of injuries or loss of life were reported
as
a result of the shootings.
Mass Held
KFOR soldiers secured the area around the southern Mitrovice/Mitrovica
Orthodox Church yesterday morning, in order to secure church goes
attending
mass. There were no reported incidents of violence or serious incidents
during the transport escort and mass of the attendees.
Multinational Brigade West
Weapons Seized, Men Arrested
KFOR soldiers near the village of Piskote stopped a vehicle driven by a
Kosovar Albanian man from the village of Skiviane. A search of the
vehicle
revealed an empty automatic machinegun magazine.
The driver was detained for questioning. KFOR Italian Military Police
then conducted a search of the man's home. One AK-47 Assault Rifle with
magazines and ammunition was discovered and confiscated. The man was
then
handed over to UNMIK Police for arrest. The investigation is still
ongoing.
Later in the evening, KFOR soldiers from Task Force Pegasus stopped a
car driven by a Kosovar Albanian man at the Zaimovo Bridge. A search of
the
vehicle revealed a Simonov Rifle. The weapon was confiscated and UNMIK
Police arrested a male passenger in the vehicle. The investigation is
still
ongoing.
Multinational Brigade Centre
See Lead Story
Multinational Brigade South
Commemoration Held
Yesterday morning, a commemoration for former UCK-fighters took place
in the village of Hoca Zagradska. The commemoration was announced
yesterday
evening. KFOR MNB South reinforced the area with additional soldiers. An
estimated 400 people participated in the commemoration. The
commemoration
was peaceful and ended without incidents at 11:45 a.m.
Multinational Brigade East
Weapons Seized
Yesterday morning, north of the village of Saraiste, soldiers from KFOR
US 501st Mechanized Infantry Battalion and UNMIK Police conducted a
house
search of a Kosovar Albanian man arrested for carrying a hand grenade. A
search of the house revealed one grenade, assorted ammunition, One MUP
uniform, two sets of binoculars, and two syringes. UNMIK Police held the
individual for questioning.
UXO Reported, Weapons Seized
In MNB East, yesterday evening in the town of Cernica, KFOR US Task
Force
1-187 headquarters reported that an item of unexploded ordinance was
found
in the backyard of a Kosovar Serb home.
An Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team was dispatched to the scene and
discovered a hand grenade near the house. Assessing the situation, the
EOD
team determined that the grenade could not be safely moved. It was then
detonated in place. The resulting blast caused some damage to the house
and
revealed some 7.62 ammunition. A search of the house was then conducted
and
an AK-47 Assault Rifle and magazines were confiscated. The investigation
is
still ongoing.
KFOR Medical Assistance Provided
An 11-year-old Kosovar Serb boy was medically evacuated (MEDEVAC) to
the 212th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital at Camp Bondsteel, and treated
for
appendicitis early this morning.
The boy was admitted to the hospital at 1:40 a.m. and had his appendix
removed. The youth was from the town of Strpce and escorted to Camp
Bondsteel by members of the 18th Polish Battalion. The boy's condition
is
currently listed as being stable.
The 212th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital also provided medical support
to another Kosovar Serb citizen last night. A 64-year-old woman
requested a
MEDEVAC last night and was transported by ambulance to Camp Bondsteel
for
treatment of a possible heart attack. The woman was admitted just after
10
p.m. and by midnight was listed in stable condition. Medical tests were
conducted and are pending results to determine the severity of the
attack.
The woman will remain at the 212th MASH for further observation.
MEDIA INFORMATION
UNMIK and NATO
A Press Conference will be held Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. in the Press
Conference Room of the UNMIK Government Building. NATO Secretary
General,
the Lord George Robertson of Port Ellen and SRSG, Dr. Bernard Kouchner
will
be speaking.
MNB Centre
Destroyed Serb Church
An MNB Centre media event will take place after the press conference
today. The schedule will include a visit the site of the destroyed
church
and then go on to the search operation being carried out in the local
area.
This operation highlights the KFOR activities being carried out to
prevent
any form of extremism threatening the people living in Kosovo.
Live Fire Ranges
The Second Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, will be
exercising and live firing their Warrior Armored Vehicles on the
Krivolak
ranges in the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) next
week.
This is part of an ongoing training operation that the KFOR British
troops carry out to ensure that British soldiers are continuously
trained on
their weapon systems in order to meet any threats.
MNB Centre will provide a media opportunity on the afternoon of Wed 19
July, 2000 to cover this event. Twelve places are currently available
for
interested journalist on a KFOR helicopter. Journalists should get in
contact with Flight Lieutenant Tim Serrell-Cooke, at the MNB Centre PIO
office.
MNB South
NATO Secretary General, Sir George Robertson and North Atlantic Council,
will visit MNB South to receive an overview of the current situation and
to
gain information on reconstruction projects in the town of Reshan
Mahala.
A media event is scheduled on Tuesday 18 July 2000 in Prizren.
Journalists are requested to be at the KFOR Main Headquarters VIP Gate
no
later than 9:10 a.m. for transportation to Prizren. For details please
see
the KFOR Media Event Flyer located in the main lobby of the KFOR Press
and
Information Center, Pristina.
KFOR Press and Information Center, Pristina, Kosovo
PTT phone: +389 91 68-6600
PTT fax: +389 91 68-6610
Sat phone : +871 382 060 323
Official KFOR homepage: http://kforonline.com
For specific information related to brigade-level operations, please
contact
Brigade Information Offices:
Multinational Brigade Centre
PPT phone: +44-7808946390 or +44-7801130055
PTT fax: +381-38-501 433-234
Sat phone: +870-762 103 839, +870-762 103 843 or +870-762 134 957
Sat fax: +870-762 134 991
Multinational Brigade East
http://www.hqusareur.army.mil/htmlinks/tffalconframe.htm
Sat phone: +871 762 069 495
E-mail: pao@...
Multinational Brigade North
PTT phone: +381-28-31024 or +381-28-31025
PTT fax: +381-28 - 31022
Sat phone: +871-762159078 or +871-761294148
Sat fax: +870-762134991
Multinational Brigade South
Satellite phone: +871-11 22 151 or +871-761 617 247 or +871-762069467
Satellite fax: +871-1122152
E-mail: piz_ge_kfor@...
Multinational Brigade West
Sat phone: +871-762 069 491
E-mail: martiref@...
Serbian Church Blown Up in Kosovo
.c The Associated Press
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - An explosion ripped through a medieval
Serbian
Orthodox Church in Kosovo, flattening the structure, U.N police said
Monday.
The church of the Holy Prophet Elijah was located in the village of
Pomazetin, just outside the Serb village of Kosovo Polje. The church was
leveled in the Sunday night explosion, said Oleg Rubezhov, a U.N. police
officer who patrols the area.
``It was destroyed to the basement,'' he said.
About 66 pounds of explosives were used in the 11:30 p.m. blast,
peacekeepers said. Two people were seen running from the site shortly
after
the explosion.
The church was not under guard by NATO-led peacekeepers, U.N. police
said.
They said it had already been severely damaged during the war between
ethnic
Albanian separatists and the forces of Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic.
However, the private Beta and FoNet news agencies in Belgrade said in
their
reports that the church was first damaged last August in a fire or by an
explosion.
The opposition Serbian Renewal Movement blamed the latest explosion on
the
peacekeeping force, called KFOR, saying its troops did nothing to
prevent it
in this heavily ethnic Albanian province.
``Members of KFOR know well enough that Albanian extremists
systematically
destroy Orthodox Christian churches, but they obviously do nothing to
prevent
them, which is proven by this latest crime,'' the party said.
Minority Serbs have faced daily attacks over the past year and Serb
Orthodox
monuments have been targeted by ethnic Albanian militants. The Beta news
agency said 86 religious objects have been destroyed.
Beta said Pomazetin was an ethnically mixed village before Kosovo's
1998-99
war. Since the deployment of NATO-led peacekeepers in the province last
year,
Serb villagers have fled, fearing for their safety.
AP-NY-07-17-00 0948EDT
ETHNIC ALBANIAN TERRORISTS DESTROYED CHRISTIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
KOSOVO POLJE, July 17 (Tanjug) A strong explosion echoed in
Pomazatin village near Kosovo Polje late Sunday, amateur radio operators
said early on Monday.
Unofficial sources said ethnic Albanian terrorists had razed
the
Serbian Orthodox church of St. Ilia in this village of Kosovo and
Metohija
province which had had a mixed Serbethnic Albanian population before
international forces KFOR arrived in June 1999. All Serbs have meanwhile
been forced to flee the village due to onslaughts by militant ethnic
Albanians.
There was a power failure a minute before the blast, which took
place at about 11.30 p.m., and electricity was turned on again a minute
after the explosion.
Local Serbs believe that this is a synchronized action by
ethnic
Albanian extremists and those employed in the Obilic electric power
plant
in order to make such attacks appear more frightening in total darkness.
======================================================================
>Orthodox Church on post-war Kosovo firing line
>
>SLOVINJE, Yugoslavia, June 13 (Reuters) - Three attacks over the
>space of 10 months have reduced a Serb Orthodox church in a Kosovo
>village to a mound of rubble.
>
>Children play in the ruins and ethnic Albanians smile when asked what
>happened. "The church stepped on a mine," said a bearded man with a
>laugh.
>
>Slovinje's Church of Saint Nicholas is just one of 87 Orthodox Serb
shrines,
>churches and monasteries that have been destroyed or damaged in the
>year since NATO-led peacekeepers entered Kosovo as Yugoslav Serb
>security forces withdrew.
>
>Father Sava Janjic, in the nearby 14th-century monastery of Gracanica,
>says Albanian extremists are systematically seeking to eradicate the
>church from Kosovo as part of a wider campaign to chase out the minority
>Serb population.
>
>"The Orthodox church is the anchor of the Serbian people here. If the
>churches are destroyed then the Serb people will not stay," said Father
>Sava, an Orthodox priest who acts as spokesman for the region's Serb
>moderates.
>
>An estimated 150,000 Serbs have fled Kosovo since June 1999, leaving
>100,000 behind out of a total population of less than two million.
>The Albanian majority is nominally Moslem.
>
>Anxious to reassure the Serbs that they have their best interests at heart,
>KFOR peacekeepers now stand guard 24 hours a day outside many of
>Kosovo's remaining Orthodox shrines.
>
>CHURCH HAS LONG KOSOVO HISTORY
>
>Kosovo, which remains legally a part of Yugoslavia but has become a de
>facto international protectorate, is regularly described by Serbs as the
>cradle of their culture and the spiritual home of their Orthodox church.
>
>The seat of the Serb church was not actually founded in Kosovo, but
>moved there at the end of the 13th century after its original foundation in
>central Serbia burned down.
>
>Seven centuries later, many of Kosovo's most beautiful buildings are
>its Orthodox centres, including the monasteries at Pec, Decani and
>Gracanica.
>
>"I'd say that 95 percent of Kosovo's cultural heritage sites are Orthodox
>buildings. These need saving not just for the Serbs, but for all
Europeans,"
>said Father Sava.
>
>For ethnic Albanians, who suffered years of repression at the hands of
>Serbian troops and police, the Orthodox Church is inextricably linked
>to the notion of Serb national identity.
>
>A wave of Orthodox churches built over the past 10 years are described
>by locals as "political churches" and they have borne the brunt of the
>attacks. Some KFOR commanders openly question whether it is worth
>trying to save these buildings.
>
>"If a church has value as a historical place then clearly it should be
>guarded," said Finnish Colonel Arto Raty, head of KFOR operations in
>Slovinje, which lies just to the south of the regional capital Pristina.
>
>"But if it has no historical value and there is no chance of the Serbs
>returning anytime soon to the area, then it should be gently dismantled,"
>he told Reuters.
>
>A "CRUCIFIED" KOSOVO
>
>Slovinje's little domed church and adjacent belfry were built in 1996 on
>the site of a 16th-century church. It was attacked in June and July 1999
>and then again in May of this year, leaving just a pile of shattered
>concrete and red brick.
>
>KFOR troops later found the church's heavy iron bell hidden under an ethnic
>Albanian's haystack.
>
>Father Sava is angry that despite the presence of some 47,000 peacekeepers
>in Kosovo nobody has been caught or charged for the attacks on Orthodox
>property.
>
>The Church has published a book, "Crucified Kosovo", to highlight the
>plight of the Orthodox faith in the province, asking the world not to
>blame it for the policies of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
>
>Father Sava, who admits to harbouring sometimes un- Christian feelings of
>hate for Milosevic, says his Church did what it could to protect the
>Albanians from Serbian forces.
>
>"There was no organised involvement of the Serb church in fighting for
>Albanian rights because we had our own problems with the Yugoslav
>regime. But we always insisted that all human beings should be treated in
the
>same way," he said.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Predrag Tosic" <p-tosic@...>
To: "yugoslaviainfo" <Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.>
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2000 4:54 PM
Subject: [yugoslaviainfo] A reminder: God's houses in ruin [throughout
Kosovo]
[ A few basic questions for Mr Kouchner and UNMIK, as well as each and
every NATO country government:
- How many of the damaged or destroyed churches and monasteries have
been
rebuilt?
- In how many instances has the reconstruction at least started?
- In how many instances have the culprits - arsonists, bombers and other
attackers at Christian religious shrines in Kosovo - been arrested?
- How many of the arrested have been acquited? Is anybody
currently serving a prison term in Kosovo for vandalizing or destroying
a
church? If there is, how many people?
Between 85 and 100 Christian churches (mostly Serbian Orthodox, as
well
as some other) have been either severely damaged or destroyed in Kosovo
since mid-June of 1999. If our readers know of a single case where the
culprits were arrested - please let us know; thus far, I do not recall
reading or hearing a single news agency report to that effect. PT ]
Subject: God's houses in ruins: The world keeps silent as Serb churches,
monasteries are destroyed in Kosovo under noses of
peacekeepers
The Montreal Gazette
Sunday 27 February 2000
God's houses in ruins: The world keeps silent as Serb churches,
monasteries
are destroyed in Kosovo under noses of peacekeepers
MARK ABLEY The Gazette
The Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas, in the Kosovo village Banjska, was
probably not an international treasure.
As far as we know, it was just a modest house of God in an area dotted
with
the same.
But no one may ever be sure. On Jan. 30, 11 kilograms of explosives were
detonated at the altar, leaving much of the building in ruins.
The explosion forms part of a sad and continuing pattern. Since a wary
peace took shape in Kosovo in June 1999, nearly 80 of its Orthodox
churches
and monasteries are known to have suffered heavy damage or destruction.
The
total may be higher, given that a lot of churches are located in remote
areas where few, if any, Serbs still live.
These attacks did not occur during the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization's
bombing campaign last spring. They have happened since the return of
Kosovo's Albanian majority. Extremists, usually assumed to be linked to
the
Kosovo Liberation Army, have carried out a systematic campaign of
destruction under the eyes of international peacekeepers.
The unanswered question is why this devastation has caused so little
outcry. British and French media have paid some attention to the
attacks;
but the North American media have carried few reports. Dozens of
non-profit
groups are now working in Kosovo; they have said next to nothing.
"The Western world is rather fed up with the Balkans," suggested Colin
Kaiser, chief of the unit for southeast Europe and the Arab states in
UNESCO's Division of Cultural Heritage. "The wars, first in Croatia,
then
in Bosnia and most recently in Kosovo, became more and more intense in
terms of damage. But the cumulative effect has been that the Western
sensibility to it all has been dulled."
True enough. But beyond that, it also seems true that after the wars of
the
past decade, few Westerners dare to sympathize with anything Serbian.
Last September, Bishop Artemije, the head of the Orthodox diocese of
Raska
and Prizren, charged that while the first aim of the Kosovo Albanians
"is
to expel all Serbs, the second is to eradicate all traces and witnesses
that could serve as evidence that the Serbs have existed at all.
"But who and what are the witnesses? Churches, monasteries and holy
places.
So they set out to destroy the witnesses, to obliterate the traces. In
21Z2
months more than 70 monasteries and churches were burned or demolished.
Among them were the churches built by our illustrious and holy ancestors
in
the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. The churches and monasteries, which
survived 500 years of Turkish occupation, did not endure two months in
the
presence of a 50,000-strong international 'peacekeeping' force."
Peacekeeping troops from the United Arab Emirates, serving in the United
Nations' multinational KFOR mission, had been stationed near the Church
of
St. Nicholas. But in late January they withdrew, leaving the church
unprotected. It was soon blown to pieces.
The presence of the UN soldiers has slowed the rate of destruction in
recent months, but foreign troops can provide no guarantee of safety. On
Jan. 14, for instance, the Church of St. Elias, in a village called
Cernica, was partly destroyed by explosives. It stood just 70 metres
from a
checkpoint of U.S. soldiers.
Almost everyone would agree that the destruction of St. Elias's and St.
Nicholas's churches is regrettable. But what has so far escaped much
notice, particularly in North America, is that dozens of the earlier
victims were not just Serbian village churches, but buildings of great
beauty and historical significance. Among them:
- The Church of the Holy Virgin in Musutiste, built in 1315. Frescoes
painted in the following years were among the finest examples of
medieval
wall-painting in the entire region. The church was looted, burned and
mined
by explosives.
- The Church of St. Nicholas in Prizren, which is said to date to 1348
or
earlier, and which contained medieval icons. Five explosives went off,
causing extensive damage.
- The Monastery of the Holy Trinity near Musutiste, built from 1465 on.
It
held a unique library of manuscripts as well as a collection of recent
icons. The monastery was first plundered, then burned and finally
leveled
with explosives.
- The Monastery of the Holy Archangels in Gornje Nerodimjle, built in
the
14th century, renewed and extended in 1700. The monastery was looted and
burned; a great pine tree, said to date from 1336, was chopped down and
burned; the cemetery was desecrated.
The stories go on and on. The pattern is undeniable - and for once, no
one
is even trying to claim that Yugoslavia's notorious president, Slobodan
Milosevic, is behind it.
So far, thanks to a 24-hour guard by foreign soldiers, the greatest of
all
treasures in the region - the monastic churches of Gracanica and Decani
-
have survived. Writers have waxed eloquent about them for generations;
Rebecca West, for one, called Gracanica "as religious a building as
Chartres Cathedral. The thought and feeling behind it were as complex. S
There is in these frescoes, as in the parent works of Byzantium, the
height
of accomplishment."
Some of the buildings were jewels of European civilization. Now they are
rubble.
- - -
Throughout the Balkans, politics and art, history and myth, oppression
and
religion are intertwined. The ruined Orthodox buildings of Kosovo were
not
only centres of worship and art; they were political symbols.
Since the mid-1980s, writes Michael Sells, professor of comparative
religion at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, "Serb nationalists have
manipulated concern for the (Kosovo) shrines to motivate, justify and
implement 'ethnic cleansing' and annihilation of centuries of non-Serb
artistic and religious monuments.
"In exploiting Serbian monasteries and the heritage they represented to
foment hate and violence, they desecrated a great Serbian heritage that
deserves better."
It must also be said that if the KLA is behind the devastation, it's
following a path already trod by Serbs themselves. In Sarajevo, Banja
Luka
and other Bosnian cities, the Serbs blew up historic mosques and Islamic
shrines, as well as burning the Oriental Institute and the National
Library.
Moreover, between March and June last year, while NATO was bombing
Serbia
and hundreds of thousands of Albanian-speaking Kosovars were seeking
foreign refuge, many buildings in Kosovo were subject to deliberate
Serbian
attack.
The main targets, however, do not seem to have been mosques. Serbian
forces
aimed most of their destruction at Albanian houses and marketplaces.
Now the Serbs are reaping the whirlwind. Since the Kosovars poured back
into their ravaged homeland, any buildings where Serbs lived or prayed
have
been vulnerable - even if they were homes built in Ottoman style during
the
long centuries of Turkish rule.
Another of the recently damaged buildings is the Kosovo Battle Memorial,
built on the famous battleground of 1389. That losing fight against the
invading Turks became a cornerstone of Serbian memory and folk history.
It
also became a useful symbol for Milosevic when he wanted to stir up
nationalist fervour in the 1980s.
In recent months, the Yugoslav government has bitterly protested against
the desecration of Orthodox buildings in Kosovo. But the protests have
fallen on deaf ears.
"I don't know how many times we have said this already," complained
Ljiljana Milojevic Borovcanin, first counselor at the Yugoslav embassy
in
Ottawa. "We have raised the issue at the United Nations and also
bilaterally, with the countries participating in KFOR."
Those countries include Canada. About 1,450 Canadian troops are now in
Kosovo, serving mostly in the central and northern areas alongside
soldiers
from Britain, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Czech Republic. The
international community has a lot at stake in the peacekeepers' success.
Under KFOR, Kosovo has been divided into five sectors, each run by a
NATO-led brigade. The peacekeeping force is made up of 42,500 soldiers
from
28 countries, in addition to a further 7,500 troops based in
neighbouring
countries. For each soldier in the KFOR mission, only about two Serbs
remain in Kosovo.
Borovcanin says she has spoken to Canadian officials about the
continuing
destruction of Orthodox churches, "and the response was always
diplomatic.
The Canadian government says it regrets all the damage, but at no time
will
it take any action.
"Yet it's the non-implementation of the UN resolution that has enabled
this
barbarism to occur."
She was alluding to Security Council Resolution 1244. Under its terms,
the
mandate of the KFOR troops involves "demilitarizing the Kosovo
Liberation
Army (KLA) and other armed Kosovo Albanian groups S establishing a
secure
environment in which refugees and displaced persons can return home in
safety S (and) ensuring public safety and order."
UNESCO has been in touch with KFOR leaders, Kaiser told The Gazette.
"We provided them with lists of heritage sites that were much longer
than
what they could actually handle. We were told that they have many
responsibilities, and can't possibly station soldiers in front of every
monastery."
Speaking from Pristina last week, KFOR spokesman Lt.-Commander Philip
Anido
said that "KFOR and its soldiers have static guards on the sites that
are
active. Some of the churches are guarded by moving patrols, and it's up
to
the brigade commander to decide on the level of sensitivity and the
level
of risk."
About 800,000 Albanian refugees are thought to have fled Kosovo before
and
during the war last spring. Perhaps it's not surprising that Canada - a
full participant in the NATO bombing campaign - should be reluctant to
speak out publicly against the Kosovo Albanians whom it spent so much
time,
effort and money in helping.
Canada even contributed $200,000 to help pay for a cultural festival in
Kosovo last September. On hand along with international stars like
Mikhail
Baryshnikov, Meryl Streep and Elton John was the Cape Breton choir Men
of
the Deeps, flown in to sing coal-mining songs.
"Canada is helping rebuild Kosovo," Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd
Axworthy
said at the time. "That rebuilding effort must not only focus on bricks
and
mortar; we must also help rebuild the human spirit."
But as elements of the KLA were quick to realize, the best way to crush
the
spirit of Kosovo's remaining Serbs was to destroy significant chunks of
their bricks and mortar. The day after the cultural festival ended, the
14th-century church of Saints Cosma and Damian in the village of Zociste
was razed. The church was noted for its frescoes of Old Testament
prophets.
On the same day, near the town of Vitina, the remnants of the
14th-century
monastery of the Holy Archangel Gabriel were destroyed by explosives.
The
monastery had already been looted and burned.
So much for the human spirit.
- - -
What is surprising, if not downright shocking, is that the destruction
of
churches and monasteries in Kosovo has aroused so little attention from
international groups that are supposedly dedicated to the preservation
of
cultural treasures.
To an outsider, it looks very much as though the ancient buildings and
artworks are somehow tainted by their association with present-day
Serbia.
When it comes to the monasteries and churches of Kosovo, silence has
become
an unofficial policy.
Consider the following:
- The World Monuments Fund (a private, non-profit group based in New
York
and funded extensively by American Express) placed no Kosovo buildings
on
its recent list of the 100 most endangered sites around the world.
The fund has given money for architectural restoration and preservation
to
165 projects in 51 countries - not including Kosovo. Its Web site
includes
no mention of Kosovo, and a request for an interview with its president,
Bonnie Burnham, was turned down.
- If you believe the Web site of the International Centre for the Study
of
the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, this awkwardly
named
group is a "catalyst for action." But it has remained silent about the
dangers to cultural property in Kosovo. An E-mail asking for an
explanation
went unanswered.
- At UNESCO's headquarters in Paris last July, a six-day official
meeting
took place under the auspices of the Convention Concerning the
Protection
of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Member nations debated the
threats to heritage sites in no fewer than 55 countries, including
Canada
(a proposed open-pit mine near Jasper National Park came under
scrutiny);
but Kosovo received only a brief general mention.
UNESCO did sponsor two missions of inquiry to Kosovo in July and
November.
Yet Colin Kaiser, who led one of them, admitted that "UNESCO is not
tooled
to work quickly for emergencies."
Part of the problem, he said, is that proper documentation is not
available
for Kosovo. The agency intends to resume work there in co-operation with
a
Swedish group called Cultural Heritage Without Borders.
"But we can't become involved in saying who did what," Kaiser
emphasized.
"UNESCO cannot take sides."
- Last April, at the height of the war in Kosovo, a statement went out
from
the International Committee of the Blue Shield (a joint endeavour that
unites librarians, archivists, museum curators and preservation
officials).
The statement expressed a generalized "concern about all damage to the
cultural heritage of the peoples of Yugoslavia." Once the war was over,
the
Blue Shield Committee had nothing more to say.
Last week, Manus Brinkman, the secretary-general of the International
Council of Museums, told The Gazette that "ICBS has not issued any new
appeals, because the first one is still as valuable as ever."
Asked about the response to the April statement, Brinkman said that
"there
have been a lot of positive reactions and the appeal invoked much
discussion. S Sadly enough, there was no reaction from the parties
involved
in the fighting in Kosovo, neither from the official Serbian or Albanian
side, nor from NATO."
- Canada is one of many nations represented on ICOMOS, the International
Council on Monuments and Sites, whose aim is "the conservation of the
world's historic monuments and sites." The Web site of ICOMOS Canada
includes statements from 1997 onward. None mentions Kosovo.
The Canadian group's administrative secretary, Victoria Angel, said that
ICOMOS Greece has tried to raise awareness about the cultural monuments
in
Kosovo. But Greece was not one of the NATO members that bombed
Yugoslavia;
and anyway, a little-known non-profit group based in Athens can scarcely
be
expected to kindle public attention in other countries.
"North America is still stuck with the message that there's a good guy
and
a bad guy in Kosovo," said Dinu Bumbaru, the head of Heritage Montreal
and
a vice-president of ICOMOS Canada. "And what the good guy does at the
end
of the movie is fine with us."
Bumbaru noted that while a great deal of information is available about
the
Kosovo destruction, especially on the Internet, "there's no
communications
campaign. Frankly I just wonder if, in the West, this is of interest."
In 1992, following Yugoslavian attacks on the magnificent Croatian city
Dubrovnik during a previous Balkan war, Bumbaru led a UNESCO-sponsored
mission to assess the damage. International funds were provided to help
Croatia, and Dubrovnik has largely been rebuilt.
But Croatia was widely seen as a victim, so, in the case of Dubrovnik,
it
was politically easy for other countries to do the right thing.
The Serbs, on the other hand, were widely seen as aggressors. Now
they're
outnumbered in Kosovo nearly 20 to 1; and in Kaiser's words, "the
problem
is that ultimately, the defence of anything depends upon local people.
"Ideally, both Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo will realize that the loss
of
the monasteries and churches, like the loss of the mosques and Ottoman
houses, will impoverish the whole area."
But that's a remote ideal. In the meantime, there appears to be no
political will outside Kosovo to stand up for an Orthodox heritage so
fraught with beauty, so redolent of pain.
- Reporter Mark Abley can be reached at (514) 987-2555 or by E-mail at
mabley@....
---
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=2958
19-May-2000 -- EWTN News Brief
KOSOVO PENTECOSTAL CHURCH ATTACKED BY ISLAMIC
MILITANTS
PRISTINA, Kosovo (CWNews.com/Keston) - The Fellowship
of the Lord's People, an Assemblies of God Church in
the Kosovo capital Pristina, was raided by
self-proclaimed Islamic militants in the early hours
of April 29.
The robbers, who claimed to represent the Kosovo
branch of an organization linked to Saudi terrorist
Osama bin Laden, threatened the occupants with guns
during a two-hour raid and stole a considerable sum of
money, a computer, and other valuable items of
equipment. They daubed the door and the walls of the
church building with Islamic slogans.
The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) police
force has primary responsibility for law and order in
the Pristina region and its officers visited the
incident, but an UNMIK representative said so far they
are only looking at the raid "from a criminal aspect."
However, he promised that all three raids the church
has endured over the past year would be reviewed.
The overwhelming majority of Kosovo's Albanian
population is of Muslim background, though some
Albanians are Christians (mostly Catholic, with a
small number of Protestants). The vast majority of the
Serbs that remain in Kosovo are of Serbian Orthodox
background.
The Rev. Artur Krasniqi and his brother Driton
reported the bandits entered the church in the early
morning and tied up the two men and two others,
including an American and a 14-year-old boy, pointing
guns at them and ordering them to renounce
Christianity.
Krasniqi reported that UNMIK police arrived an hour
after the intruders had left and, according to
Krasniqi, did little to help them. However,
representatives from the peacekeeping Kosovo Force
(KFOR) have shown interest, and KFOR representatives
attended a meeting at the church on May 9. "The
British KFOR is trying to do something investigating
this crime," Artur Krasniqi declared. "There have been
no results yet, even though they have some information
already. From UN so far nothing. 'Defend yourself' was
the reply of some UNMIK policemen."
A spokesman for the UNMIK police in Pristina region,
Charley Johnson, confirmed that UNMIK had gone to the
church in the wake of the raid. "The incident has been
listed not as an ethnic crime, but one of robbery and
vandalism," Johnson said this week. "The UNMIK police
are looking at it from a criminal aspect. We have not
developed any suspects as yet."
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
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