May 9, 1999 Zaginflatch #39, 8th May: newsletter published by Zagreb Anarchist Movement ZAP / ARK GAJEVA 55 10 000 ZAGREB CROATIA zap_zg@geocities.com http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/3707/ *************************************** How you can help: forward this message to people who might be interested we need translators. especially if you speak soutslavic language(s). if you can, print this out and send to people who don't have access to email if you can, help us send Zaginflatch to people who usually receive paper version. We presently can't afford to mail them out via snail mail, and we have an international mailing list of people who regularly received this newsletter since it was founded. Write to us and ask if we have a contact in your country. It'd be great if you could send this newsletter for us... *************************************** ... today 's day was so good. A small expedition of five of us went on our bikes to Kamenica - a village 15 km from Kraljevo, towards the Goc mountain. Atmosphere was very relaxed. We foulled around and without any hurry advanced in the direction of our destination. Green forest, awakened nature and a beautifull day, made us almost completely forget our situation, and that because of increasing number of "accidental" mistakes of smart missiles and even brighter NATO pilots we are potential targets just like any other participant in traffic. We even made some jokes on that account. A day spent in nature, in playing table tennis, with ball, dogs, listening to music, eating some food and in a good mood brought energy back into my ruined body which is beeing trapped between 4 walls and in front of the computer for the last couple of days. But it was inevitable to mention the damn bombing. Somebody asked:"what did they hit last night?" and then we started talking about Cacak and catastrophy which has stroken that city. The peace and innocence of newborn forest around us was destroyed in a moment. We went back to the city very fast, as almost the whole way is downhill. We will definitevly repeat this trip. Maybe even tommorow. I even managed to get some sun ten, and i am glad because of that... *************************************** Subject: Fw: McDonalds' Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 We are horror-stricken by the magnitude of insanity that is revealing over our country. While the planet sleeps, the felons are rubbing their hands satisfied with their misdeeds. As we are a nation that is faithful to justice, we believe that the ones responsible will get their punishment. To this world here, on the west, one can say all sorts of different things, they will accept it. Their capacity of general philanthropic activities has been used up in relationships with animals who have an exalted place in their lives. They are persistently trying to humanize them - convinced that this the aim of animal evolution, and at the same time animalising themselves, better to say demising themselves from the true human values. Maybe they never had it at all - how would they otherwise despoil half of our planet during the past centuries. Almost all countries joined in our collective aggressor were colonial. Genocide was often, maybe even regularly, their means of conquest. We all know that the wolf only changes its fur but not his nature. Here there are today with the same dark passions in the old never abandoned mission. As world has progressed in the meantime, the methods should have been adjusted, but the essence has unavoidably stayed the same: killing, terror, the denial to the right of freedom for others. Where the corruption is not working, there are killing means to re-educate. The law of force as an inviolable means on the international plan, is today openly and without shame announcing itself as a general method of the next millennium. Why has Belgrade restored the demolished McDonalds', as we find out ? Is that the expression of our not yet healed weakness towards the west, the same west who is bombarding us and demolishing without a trace of bad conscience? Is that the indicator of our immaturity, lack of self-confidence? Are we still doubting about who we are and how much we are worth in a moment when we are giving the whole world a lecture about the most exalted human behavior? Has someone sold his own dignity for a handful of dollars, allowing even at this moment, our till now greatest enemy, to feed us with his cheap burgers. Seems that the McDonald brothers' are enthusiastic with the burgers and similar specialties while traveling in the Balkans, and equipped with an enterprising spirit, have developed an unimagined successful business through that idea. How successful? Very indeed, because it's image is indecisive even to those who are at the moment the most glorious representatives of the human kind. Citizens of Belgrade, why do you support America's economy, while you don't know whether you will live to see the next day after the flying over of her bombers at night above your homes? It seems that the generosity of our people sometimes is incomprehensible. The world is not that friendly and filled with understanding and love as much we see it or imagine it to be because we wish for it. Pure interest, above all of material kind, is rouling as the solely means of communication in the West. However, a certain amount of it seems necessary for survival. Pure liberality as if was anachron, so one needs to be careful in its revealing, especially towards an enemy. We are a strange nation for lots of people, but let us not be imprudent and let the next generations carry our ancestry on their backs because of some of our characteristics. Just the same as we are now facing the weaknesses of the legacy form our ancestors. Our wish to unselfishly help those who are in trouble, hasn't always returned to us in the shape of an award, but almost as a punishment. Isn't it time to start to control this urge, after we weigh it in case of a concrete move according to the concrete implications in the present, and the near and far future. Let not be lightly wasteful with generosity, humanity and similar human qualities. Let's learn first and always to think what will enable us and our children with a safer and happier future. It is not egoistic to think about oneself first, rather an imperative of a common sense. Maybe the world criminals do not tolerate us and punish us for our heart and soul by which leads us. I believe that we can better equip ourselves with caution, than they will connect with their heart and spirituality. A long evolution is necessary for that. Into the 21st century without McDonalds - what a victory that will be! Vesna *************************************** The evening of Friday, April 9, 1999 At this moment, as I am sitting on my balcony, my street seems incredibly quiet. It is a bit before 8.00 pm and I guess, most of the people are in their houses watching the news. As the private TV stations developed and their evening editions of the news became more and more interesting and worth watching, every day between 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm, in our house 4 half-an-hour broadcasts are watched. It is really good and important to see that finally, the news programmes are not just showing what happened and who said what, but also giving their own opinions and comments. In general, I am very happy with the development of both electronic and written media in Macedonia. While I am writing this, the noise of the military aircraft doesn’t stop. Every time I hear them, I cannot help thinking whether this aircraft is about to bomb something in Yugoslavia. I have a lot of friends in all parts of Yugoslavia and of course I am worried. But what I feel even more than the fear is the anger. Anger towards the NATO troops and the hypocrisy of the European Union and the “International Community”. I cannot stand the hypocrisy on the faces of those who decide whether and how severe my friends in Yugoslavia will be bombed or decide upon the destiny of the Kosovo refugees. As I watch the news and I get angry, every other moment I need to get up, walk around the room or spend a moment on the balcony. Fortunately, I quit smoking a year ago. It is an interesting coincidence that I found myself reading an excellent book about Sarajevo, by the Bosnian journalist Hamza Bakshicc. The book is called “Sarajeva vishe nema” (Sarajevo doesn’t exist anymore) and in a form of a diary describes the events from 1992-1995. The other coincidence is that I found this book in the flat of my friend in Belgrade that I have just recently visited, just before the NATO ejaculation started. I go trough the pages and I cannot help spotting the similarities in the hypocritical behavior of the International Community (The International Lords of War) in the case of Bosnia and now in the case of Kosovo. I also spot the similar fear in the air, the panic and the feeling of despair between the people here, the unbearable heaviness of being in the Balkans. As I have already written in some other occasions, I still believe the war is coming to Macedonia. But, at this moment, what concerns me even more is the situation with the refugees. The refugees that had to leave their homes and their lives behind and forced to “omnia mea mecum porto” are once again being used in the dirty games. That is really sick. As sick as the statements of the different world politicians and responsible for refugees. They are saying “the refugees need to stay in the region because it will be easier for them to return home”. Only a stupid person or somebody completely ignorant about the situation in the Balkans can say this. I am only concerned that such people are deciding upon our destiny. Just think about the statement of one of the “worried” about the refugees who accused the Macedonian government for not building tennis and football playgrounds in the refugees camps. Hey, I, who live in this country for 23 years have never had a tennis nor football playground nearby. GET REAL!!! But I would like to write a bit more about the statements that the refugees should stay in the region in order to be easier for them to return home. It is NOT the distance that prevents the refugees to come home, but the situation in their home countries and towns! Sorry guys (and girls) but I do not buy this. Do not try to hide the unwillingness of your countries (all of them MUCH wealthier than Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro TOGETHER) to house refugees by giving such statements. Nobody here believes in this! In 1992, we had refugees from Bosnia in our house. They were Bosnjaks (the official Bosnian name for people previously labeled as Bosnian Muslims) and they fled from a town which is now in Republika Srpska where it is very difficult to be even now, unless you are a Bosnian Serb. This family left for Sweden which we all know, is quite far from Bosnia (the term “distance” becomes a very interesting one. Politicians fly hundreds of miles every day, just to go somewhere and talk about “distances”). The daughter returned last year to Sarajevo and settled there after 6 years spent in Sweden. Her parents didn’t. They do not want to go to Sarajevo, they want to go to the town where they used to live before. But, they are afraid to do so because of their names. The geographical distance between Bosnia and Sweden is the same for both the daughter and the parents, and as shown IT IS NOT THE REASON why the parents do not return to Bosnia. Should I say more? And there is more to this. Macedonia is a very poor country and our economy was already dead and unable to satisfy the needs of the people already living here. How can one expect that Macedonia will be able to cover the needs of all these refugees? The one-time support in money, blankets and food, so much praised by the International Community is just offending me. Why offending? Because I, as a citizen of this world, am expected to believe that that will solve the problems. Well, I am not so stupid. These refugees need to eat, drink, sleep, wash and go to toilet several times a day. And what about the health care? What about some activities to help them overcome the situation they were put in? Macedonia will never be able to provide this.AND, even more important is the ethnic affiliation of the refugees. It is true that a number of 100.000-200.000 (mostly Albanian) Kosovo refugees in a country of 2 million inhabitants makes a big difference. The Macedonians are scared as the ethnic tensions have being growing for a long time now and this is just like oil on fire. People are scared, but the state and the International Community again, are failing to organise activities to promote tolerance and understanding and speak openly about this. I went yesterday to visit my Albanian friends. There have housed a refugee family from Kosovo. In the part where my friends live, a lot of refugees from Kosovo have been accepted by families of Macedonian Albanians. My friend was telling me that the Macedonians in her building were scared. I can argue a lot whether and how much this fear is justified, but in any case, the important thing is that THERE IS FEAR!!! And it is high time that somebody understands that this is something on which a lot of work needs to be done. Of course, if we want to decrease it. The refugees in my friends’ house are afraid and feel lost. My friends are also upset. Upset because they do not receive any financial support for the additional costs they have now for food, water and electricity. But, what is beven more present is the fear about their relatives that remained in Kosovo. For a lot of them, they do not have any information, they do not know whether they are alive and where they are, in which country. Still, we tried yesterday to discuss other things; my anemia and the spinach that I was eating in vain, my friends’ baby and his eating habits, as well as, my ability to get lost everywhere. We try to discuss other things, but all the time, all of us feel that we are working only with 30% of the brain capacity. The remaining 70% is occupied with the war. BUT, I do not give up. I do not let the war take the 30% still living the “normal life”. Every day I spend a lot of time sitting and reading (or writing) on my balcony, enjoying the smell of the spring which is as beautiful as usual. I enjoy watching the Dutch tulips in my garden, the fruit trees my father is so worried about and the birds. The birds whose song helps me to ignore a bit the noise of the planes. I was longing so much for the spring in Macedonia while I was living in the rainy Amsterdam. And I do not give it away, now that I have it. I was writing to some friends that all the NGO work lost its meaning to me now and it had been one raison d'être to me before. From Amsterdam, all the NGO support groups (Indonesia, Bosnia, Nicaragua...), all that made so much sense and I was so inspired by their work... But, I was in Amsterdam then. Now, when I am in the war zone, all these efforts seem ridiculous and in vain. In vain, because I receive every day loads of emails accusing the war and the bombing. I receive them just before I hear the news reporting the new bombings, the new killings and the new refugee crises. So, how can I believe that all these NGO efforts make any sense? That is why I decided to have a new mission; to make people smile. Instead of forwarding the emails about NATO, Miloshevicc, Solana and Kosovo, I decided to forward funny and funky emails, jokes and poems. I also decided to use all my positive energy when I speak with people behind the counters, in the shops and on the streets. I decided to smile. And I notice that my “mission” is successful. A lot of people have wrote to me saying how thankful they were about the laugh. And I notice that people react positively when I smile, so I will continue my mission, no matter how silly and naive it may seem to some people. The “positive energy” way, as I learned from my friends from Bosnia, is one of the individual ways to resist the war. So, I am promoting it. HannaH *************************************** I am sending you the latest document from our still active NGO group. Please distribute it as much as possible. We are getting used to wait for the air raids at night. So one may say that night life in Belgrade is wild, noisy and you never know what may hit you. Sincerelly Miljenko LETTER TO ALBANIAN FRIENDS FROM NONGOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS Dear friends, We are writing to you in these difficult moments of our shared suffering. Convoys of Albanians and other citizens of Kosovo, among whom many of you, were forced to leave their homes. The killings and expulsions, homes destroyed and burnt, bridges, roads and industrial buildings demolished - paint a somber and painful picture of Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, as in indicating that life together is no longer possible. We, however, believe that it is necessary and possible. The better future of citizens of Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, of Serbs and Albanians, as citizens of one state or closest neighbors, will not arrive by itself, or over night. But it is something we can and must work on together, as we have many times in the past, not so long ago. We know that it will now be very difficult, and sometimes very painful. The example of the German-French postwar reconciliation and cooperation could serve as a model and stimulus. In the sake of future life together, the pain of crime has to be revealed so that it is, with forgiveness,remembered. This tragedy, yours and ours, personal and collective, is a result of a long series of erroneous policies of the most radical forces among us and in the international community. The continuation of these policies will take both Serbs and Albanians into abyss. Also, the road of collective guilt is a road of frustration, continuation of hatred and endless vengeance. That is why this road has to be abandoned. Our first step of distancing from hatred, ethnic conflict and bloody retaliations is a public expression of our deepest compassion and sincere condemnation of everything that you and your fellow citizens are experiencing. As citizens of Serbia, we today suffer destruction and casualties as a result of NATO bombing, armed conflict in Kosovo and long lasting economic and social tumbles under the burden of the dictatorship's deadly policies. Ethnic cleansing, NATO bombing and armed conflict should stop because they are not contributing to the solution of the Kosovo crisis but are only making it deepen. There should be no more casualties. All refugees should be allowed to return safely to their homes and live in the manner appropriate for free and proud people. We are convinced that together, we will find strength and courage to step on the road of peace, democracy, respect of human rights, mutual reconciliation and respect. Dialogue, political negotiations and peace process have no alternative. For all of us, it is the only way out of the war conflict. It is the safest way to secure the return of refugees to their homes, to renew normal life and activities and find a solution to the status of Kosovo. In order to make this happen, we have to join our efforts to end the war conflict, revitalize the peace process and reconstruct, economically and democratically, the development of Kosovo, Serbia and the entire Balkan region. We are convinced that by joining forces we can contribute to the reaching of a just and rational political solution to the status of Kosovo and build confidence and cooperation between Serbs and Albanians. Association of Citizens for Democracy, Social Justice and Support to Trade Unions United Branch Trade Unions NEZAVISNOST European Movement in Serbia Civic Initiatives Forum for Ethnic Relations Center for Transition to Democracy-ToD Center for Democracy and Free Elections Distrikt 0230 (Kikinda) Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia Women in Black Belgrade Center for Human Rights Students Union of Serbia VIN-Weekly Video News Group 484 Yu Lawyers Committee for Human Rights Foundation for Peace and Crisis Management Urban Inn (Novi Pazar) Belgrade Circle Union for Truth about Antifascist Resistance Sombor's Peace Group (Sombor) Society for Peace and Tolerance (Backa Palanka) Alternative Academic Educational Network In Belgrade, April 30, 1999 *************************************** YUGOSLAV NGOs Belgrade, April 26, 1999 STATEMENT ON POSSIBLE INTERNET BAN We, the representatives of the Yugoslav civil society, coming together to protest NATO bombing and ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia now have to deal with other problem that could uncouple us from the world and practically forbid our free expression and dissent. One threat is coming from Yugoslav government agencies and the controlled domestic INTERNET providers. For them it is important to shut up all independent voices for which reason they banned the radio B92 and put under control other independent media. For NATO it appears important to cut off all dissenting people and groups from Yugoslavia in order to maintain the image of Yugoslav society as if it is totally controlled by Milosevic regime and made only of extreme nationalists who deserve punishment by bombs. For us who are long time activists of human rights, minority rights, union rights, free press rights, women rights, peace and democracy activists, it is vital to maintain Internet connection to the world in order to get information and communicate with people about our situation. We are using INTERNET with respect to the netiquette and urge all Yugoslav users to avoid hostile and insulting vocabulary. We also pledge to all our international contact people to exercise their influence on INTERNET public opinion to avoid aggressive language and hatespeech in correspondences to people in Yugoslavia. PLEASE HELP US TO STAY IN TOUCH WITH THE WORLD! *************************************** Dear friends, Info about Zaginflatch is available on request. Basically, with this newsletter we want to inform the international community (this is you) on how antiauthoritarians in Yugoslavia and ex-Yugoslavia feel in these moments. Also, as people who have experienced air raids and general alerts, we want to support our friends in Yugoslavia who are experiencing this today. We don't want to prejudice any political solutions to Kosovo and other ex-yu problems, we just want to help our friends, and support them in this way. All opinions published in Zaginflatch will be just personal ones. There is no joint platform. Zaginflatch will bring you hardly any news in the way mainstream media does it. For this kind of info we suggest you try cnn, bbc or some other services. They are available to you anyway.. This is meant to come from inside... Also, if you're into alternative news sources, we suggest you try at www.b92.net ... Zagreb Anarchist Movement (ZAP) ******** The A-Infos News Service ******** COMMANDS: majordomo@tao.ca REPLIES: a-infos-d@tao.ca HELP: a-infos-org@tao.ca WWW: http://www.ainfos.ca/ INFO: http://www.ainfos.ca/org