Informazione
Western governments cut aid to Balkans
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/apr2003/balk-a07_prn.shtml
One millions refugees remain from 1990s wars
By Paul Mitchell
7 April 2003
Recent reports show that the dire state of the Balkans economy is the
primary reason that more than one million refugees and displaced
people have still not returned to their former homes.
The crisis is a warning to anyone taken in by the propaganda peddled
by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair that the
US/UK intervention in Iraq will lead to peace and prosperity.
Poverty, corruption and ethnic separation have become endemic in the
Balkan region, whilst much of the economic assistance promised by the
Western powers during their repeated interventions into the region
during the 1990s has not materialised. Now most Western governments
and agencies are withdrawing financial support and manpower from the
region.
During the civil war in Croatia (1991-1995) nearly 200,000 dwellings
were destroyed. By 2002, the government reconstructed some 120,000 of
them, mostly for Croats. The majority of the 220,000 Croats displaced
by the civil war have returned but two-thirds of the displaced 300,000
Serbs remain in Serbia. The Serb proportion of the population has
shrunk from 12 percent in 1991 to four percent now.
In total, 770,000 people are living in Serbia and Montenegro as
refugees from the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. In Serbia, some
55,000 refugees housed in collection centres-often hotels and
government buildings-have been told to leave as the government
prepares to privatise the real estate.
In 1995 President Franjo Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)
government introduced the Law on Temporary Take-Over and
Administration of Specified Property in Croatia. Serbs were deprived
of occupancy rights [1] and their dwellings put up for privatisation.
The government handed many dwellings over to Croat refugees from the
war in Bosnia and encouraged other Croats to occupy properties not
covered by the law.
Western governments heralded the election of a coalition government
led by social democrat (and former Stalinist) Prime Minister Ivica
Racan in January 2000 as a solution to the refugee problem. However,
Racan stated, "We are aware of the ethnic composition in this region
that used to exist here before the war and the aggression against
Croatia [but] this can not be repeated."
Racan has declared that the "issue of occupancy rights has been
abolished"-in effect, leaving Serbs homeless. It is rare for Serbs who
have lost occupancy rights to win appeals in Croatian courts and the
State Prosecutor had only initiated 17 reviews by November 2002.
Of the Serbs who do return to Croatia, many stay just long enough to
sell property that they have managed to regain. With unemployment
standing at 22 percent, higher in the war-torn areas, Serbs who stay
find themselves discriminated against in the hunt for jobs. As
elsewhere in the Balkans it is often elderly people owning a plot of
land in rural areas that enables them to eke out a living who stay.
In Bosnia-Herzegovina 2.2 million people-half the population-fled the
fighting during the civil war in 1992-1995. Some 900,000 have returned
of which some 367,000 have gone back to areas in which they are the
minority.
According to the International Crisis Group (ICG) report The
Continuing Challenge of Refugee Return in Bosnia and Herzegovina the
economy in Bosnia is "moribund" and "dire" with unemployment standing
at 40 percent.
The Dayton Peace Accords recognised the partition of Bosnia into the
Croat-Moslem Federation and Republika Srpska (RS) and created a
parliament based on the three "constituent peoples" enshrining ethnic
divisions. Most institutions remain "staffed almost exclusively by
members of the locally dominant nation" and children are taught in one
of three curricula depending on their ethnic origin.
The ICG reports "while returns have risen steadily since 1999, the
availability of funds to support this movement has declined just as
steadily". Organisations such as the US Bureau of Population, Refugees
and Migration and United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
have recently stopped money for reconstruction. The European Union cut
its budget from $100 million in 1999 to $25 million in 2002.
Western agencies have promoted privatisation as the panacea for the
Balkan people but it has only enriched a new and narrow elite.
Former socially owned land has been privatised as with the land
allocated for 6,000 dwellings for Serb refugees near the capital
Sarajevo. The major beneficiaries have been ruling Serb Democratic
Party bureaucrats who have received building contracts and profits
from land sales.
In 1998 USAID initiated a voucher system overseen by 12 privatisation
agencies. A large number of vouchers were distributed to war veterans
that have ended up with leaders of the nationalist parties. Such was
the case of Bosnia's biggest exporter Aluminium Mostar that fell into
the hands of HDZ functionaries.
In contrast, the average monthly household income is less than $100
and probably closer to $50. A United Nations Development Program
survey last year found 67 percent of the population in RS and 49
percent in the Federation were not earning enough to meet basic needs.
The average wage in RS is "significantly lower than the cost of a
typical basket of essential consumer items."
International organisations refuse to release figures on the number of
attacks against minorities. They are rarely investigated by the police
and often result in suspects being released. In the last two weeks of
March this year the UNHCR reported that eight returnees have died as a
result of attacks, landmines and abandoned grenades.
In Kosovo, nearly all the 850,000 Albanians who left when NATO bombing
started in 1999 have returned. However only 5,800 have returned of the
230,000-280,000 non-Albanians who fled. These refugees are mostly
Serbs but include several thousand Roma, Ashkaeli, Bosniaks, Gorani
and Egyptians.
The Western powers are desperate to encourage Serb return to Kosovo to
prove that the 1999 NATO intervention and the subsequent occupation of
the region have not created a "mono-ethnic state". Western governments
provided an initial injection of aid and assistance but according to
one UNHCR Emergency Co-ordinator "The more bombing had no effect
except to push refugees out, the more governments felt obliged to be
caring for the refugees".
Subsequently, as the UNHCR report The State of the World's Refugees
points out, "The funds allocated to NATO's air campaign had been
massive but post-war investment-both politically and economically-once
again proved minimal in comparison."
Since the NATO bombing stopped, Kosovo has, indeed, assumed the
features of a mono-ethnic state sprinkled with enclaves inhabited by
ethnic minorities.
In the Osojane Valley situated close to Serbia, nearly all the Serbs
fled after their dwellings were destroyed. For three years the valley
lay deserted but by summer last year some 200 people had returned.
However "the entrances and exits to the valley remain heavily guarded,
the perimeter patrolled and only residents and those who receive
clearance are allowed into the valley. KFOR has pictures of all
residents, and copies of these pictures are kept at the entrance" (ICG
Report Return to Uncertainty: Kosovo's Internally Displaced).
On October 10, 2002 pensioners from Osojane bussed into Pec/Peje to
collect their pensions were met with petrol bombs and several hours of
rioting.
Employment in Kosovo is estimated at 29 to 57 percent and as high as
85 percent in minority areas. The Kosovan economy remains dependent on
aid and remittances from Kosovars living overseas.
Although the murder rate has decreased from 245 in 2000 to 64 in 2002
ethnically motivated crimes still go "largely unpunished". As a result
of KFOR troop cutbacks two Orthodox churches were blown up in the town
of Istog/Istok as recently as November last year.
Of 21,360 claims submitted to regain property only 835 had been
resolved by October 2002. The Roma minority is in the worst position.
Many are confined to "illegal" encampments that receive no aid
whatsoever but even in the "legal" camps the authorities cut water and
electricity when donors leave. Though they have resided in areas for
many generations many Roma lack property documents and are thus denied
the rights to residency.
Despite these facts most governments are cutting back on aid. The
biggest donor is the European Agency for Reconstruction, which
provided $700 million in aid in 2000-2001. In 2002 the Agency
decreased its contribution to $150 million and this year will only
provide $50 million.
Footnote: [1] In the former Yugoslavia citizens were registered as
citizens of one of the six constituent republics. Someone could live
his whole life in one republic-enjoying occupancy rights ("stanarsko
pravo") of state-provided housing-but be registered elsewhere. "At the
time, this was of no practical relevance as all Yugoslav citizens
enjoyed equal rights throughout Yugoslavia" (ICG Report A Half-hearted
Return: Refugee Returns to Croatia).
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/apr2003/balk-a07_prn.shtml
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/apr2003/balk-a07_prn.shtml
One millions refugees remain from 1990s wars
By Paul Mitchell
7 April 2003
Recent reports show that the dire state of the Balkans economy is the
primary reason that more than one million refugees and displaced
people have still not returned to their former homes.
The crisis is a warning to anyone taken in by the propaganda peddled
by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair that the
US/UK intervention in Iraq will lead to peace and prosperity.
Poverty, corruption and ethnic separation have become endemic in the
Balkan region, whilst much of the economic assistance promised by the
Western powers during their repeated interventions into the region
during the 1990s has not materialised. Now most Western governments
and agencies are withdrawing financial support and manpower from the
region.
During the civil war in Croatia (1991-1995) nearly 200,000 dwellings
were destroyed. By 2002, the government reconstructed some 120,000 of
them, mostly for Croats. The majority of the 220,000 Croats displaced
by the civil war have returned but two-thirds of the displaced 300,000
Serbs remain in Serbia. The Serb proportion of the population has
shrunk from 12 percent in 1991 to four percent now.
In total, 770,000 people are living in Serbia and Montenegro as
refugees from the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. In Serbia, some
55,000 refugees housed in collection centres-often hotels and
government buildings-have been told to leave as the government
prepares to privatise the real estate.
In 1995 President Franjo Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)
government introduced the Law on Temporary Take-Over and
Administration of Specified Property in Croatia. Serbs were deprived
of occupancy rights [1] and their dwellings put up for privatisation.
The government handed many dwellings over to Croat refugees from the
war in Bosnia and encouraged other Croats to occupy properties not
covered by the law.
Western governments heralded the election of a coalition government
led by social democrat (and former Stalinist) Prime Minister Ivica
Racan in January 2000 as a solution to the refugee problem. However,
Racan stated, "We are aware of the ethnic composition in this region
that used to exist here before the war and the aggression against
Croatia [but] this can not be repeated."
Racan has declared that the "issue of occupancy rights has been
abolished"-in effect, leaving Serbs homeless. It is rare for Serbs who
have lost occupancy rights to win appeals in Croatian courts and the
State Prosecutor had only initiated 17 reviews by November 2002.
Of the Serbs who do return to Croatia, many stay just long enough to
sell property that they have managed to regain. With unemployment
standing at 22 percent, higher in the war-torn areas, Serbs who stay
find themselves discriminated against in the hunt for jobs. As
elsewhere in the Balkans it is often elderly people owning a plot of
land in rural areas that enables them to eke out a living who stay.
In Bosnia-Herzegovina 2.2 million people-half the population-fled the
fighting during the civil war in 1992-1995. Some 900,000 have returned
of which some 367,000 have gone back to areas in which they are the
minority.
According to the International Crisis Group (ICG) report The
Continuing Challenge of Refugee Return in Bosnia and Herzegovina the
economy in Bosnia is "moribund" and "dire" with unemployment standing
at 40 percent.
The Dayton Peace Accords recognised the partition of Bosnia into the
Croat-Moslem Federation and Republika Srpska (RS) and created a
parliament based on the three "constituent peoples" enshrining ethnic
divisions. Most institutions remain "staffed almost exclusively by
members of the locally dominant nation" and children are taught in one
of three curricula depending on their ethnic origin.
The ICG reports "while returns have risen steadily since 1999, the
availability of funds to support this movement has declined just as
steadily". Organisations such as the US Bureau of Population, Refugees
and Migration and United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
have recently stopped money for reconstruction. The European Union cut
its budget from $100 million in 1999 to $25 million in 2002.
Western agencies have promoted privatisation as the panacea for the
Balkan people but it has only enriched a new and narrow elite.
Former socially owned land has been privatised as with the land
allocated for 6,000 dwellings for Serb refugees near the capital
Sarajevo. The major beneficiaries have been ruling Serb Democratic
Party bureaucrats who have received building contracts and profits
from land sales.
In 1998 USAID initiated a voucher system overseen by 12 privatisation
agencies. A large number of vouchers were distributed to war veterans
that have ended up with leaders of the nationalist parties. Such was
the case of Bosnia's biggest exporter Aluminium Mostar that fell into
the hands of HDZ functionaries.
In contrast, the average monthly household income is less than $100
and probably closer to $50. A United Nations Development Program
survey last year found 67 percent of the population in RS and 49
percent in the Federation were not earning enough to meet basic needs.
The average wage in RS is "significantly lower than the cost of a
typical basket of essential consumer items."
International organisations refuse to release figures on the number of
attacks against minorities. They are rarely investigated by the police
and often result in suspects being released. In the last two weeks of
March this year the UNHCR reported that eight returnees have died as a
result of attacks, landmines and abandoned grenades.
In Kosovo, nearly all the 850,000 Albanians who left when NATO bombing
started in 1999 have returned. However only 5,800 have returned of the
230,000-280,000 non-Albanians who fled. These refugees are mostly
Serbs but include several thousand Roma, Ashkaeli, Bosniaks, Gorani
and Egyptians.
The Western powers are desperate to encourage Serb return to Kosovo to
prove that the 1999 NATO intervention and the subsequent occupation of
the region have not created a "mono-ethnic state". Western governments
provided an initial injection of aid and assistance but according to
one UNHCR Emergency Co-ordinator "The more bombing had no effect
except to push refugees out, the more governments felt obliged to be
caring for the refugees".
Subsequently, as the UNHCR report The State of the World's Refugees
points out, "The funds allocated to NATO's air campaign had been
massive but post-war investment-both politically and economically-once
again proved minimal in comparison."
Since the NATO bombing stopped, Kosovo has, indeed, assumed the
features of a mono-ethnic state sprinkled with enclaves inhabited by
ethnic minorities.
In the Osojane Valley situated close to Serbia, nearly all the Serbs
fled after their dwellings were destroyed. For three years the valley
lay deserted but by summer last year some 200 people had returned.
However "the entrances and exits to the valley remain heavily guarded,
the perimeter patrolled and only residents and those who receive
clearance are allowed into the valley. KFOR has pictures of all
residents, and copies of these pictures are kept at the entrance" (ICG
Report Return to Uncertainty: Kosovo's Internally Displaced).
On October 10, 2002 pensioners from Osojane bussed into Pec/Peje to
collect their pensions were met with petrol bombs and several hours of
rioting.
Employment in Kosovo is estimated at 29 to 57 percent and as high as
85 percent in minority areas. The Kosovan economy remains dependent on
aid and remittances from Kosovars living overseas.
Although the murder rate has decreased from 245 in 2000 to 64 in 2002
ethnically motivated crimes still go "largely unpunished". As a result
of KFOR troop cutbacks two Orthodox churches were blown up in the town
of Istog/Istok as recently as November last year.
Of 21,360 claims submitted to regain property only 835 had been
resolved by October 2002. The Roma minority is in the worst position.
Many are confined to "illegal" encampments that receive no aid
whatsoever but even in the "legal" camps the authorities cut water and
electricity when donors leave. Though they have resided in areas for
many generations many Roma lack property documents and are thus denied
the rights to residency.
Despite these facts most governments are cutting back on aid. The
biggest donor is the European Agency for Reconstruction, which
provided $700 million in aid in 2000-2001. In 2002 the Agency
decreased its contribution to $150 million and this year will only
provide $50 million.
Footnote: [1] In the former Yugoslavia citizens were registered as
citizens of one of the six constituent republics. Someone could live
his whole life in one republic-enjoying occupancy rights ("stanarsko
pravo") of state-provided housing-but be registered elsewhere. "At the
time, this was of no practical relevance as all Yugoslav citizens
enjoyed equal rights throughout Yugoslavia" (ICG Report A Half-hearted
Return: Refugee Returns to Croatia).
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/apr2003/balk-a07_prn.shtml
International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic (ICDSM)
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========================================================
The State of Emergency in Serbia
and the Slow Murder of Slobodan Milosevic
Nico Varkevisser's April 3rd ICDSM
Press Conference in Amsterdam
[Posted 9 April 2003]
========================================================
On Thursday, 3 April 2003, the
International Committee to Defend
Slobodan Milosevic (ICDSM) held a Press
Conference in Amsterdam.
At the press conference, Nico
Varkevisser, ICDSM Vice-Chairman in
charge of media relations, addressed
recent developments in Serbia; the actual
conduct of the Tribunal (ICTY) including
the attempt to prevent President
Milosevic from meeting with whomever he
chooses; and the consequences of these
matters for President Milosevic's defense
of Yugoslavia at the Tribunal.
Here is the statement delivered to the press.
* 'State of Emergency' in Serbia - Attack
on Yugoslavia in The Hague *
1.. The killing of Mr. Djindjic last
month showed all signs of being an
operation carried out by the NATO powers
in order to execute a political change in
Belgrade.
The killing was immediately followed by
the imposition of a State of Emergency.
This has nothing to do with fighting
organized crime, as claimed by the
controlled Yugoslav media, by the Western
media, and by US Secretary of State Colin
Powell, who recently visited Belgrade.
Working in the shadow of the Iraq war,
the pro-NATO authorities have arrested
thousands of people. They have especially
attacked the defenders and family of
President Slobodan Milosevic.
2.. Why was Zoran Djindjic killed? Mr.
Djindjic had ceased to be useful. He and
Yugoslav President Kostunica had done
their job. They destroyed the economy.
They violated the Yugoslav Constitution
and defied the Constitutional Court by
kidnapping Slobodan Milosevic and sending
this defender of Yugoslav sovereignty to
The Hague. They liquidated the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia.
Djindjic was despised by ordinary people
who blamed him personally for the
catastrophe that followed the October
5th, 2000 coup d'état in Belgrade.
No longer useful to NATO as a living
politician, and perhaps not completely
under NATO's control, Djindjic was
rendered useful by death.
3.. This assassination did not constitute
merely the removal of a no-longer-useful
individual. The implementation of the
State of Emergency, followed by mass
arrests, the specific targeting of the
SLOBODA foundation, which is central to
the defense of President Milosevic,
including arrests and other acts intended
to intimidate President Milosevic's
defenders, the seizure of SLOBODA's
computers in order to paralyze the work
of President Milosevic's supporters, the
arrest and indefinite detention of
SLOBODA President Bogoljub Bjelica, and
much-increased media slander and wild
accusations made against President
Milosevic's wife, Mira Markovic - with
the result that she is no longer able to
visit her husband - all this indicates
the nature of this, the second Yugoslav
coup d'état.
================================
'State of Emergency' Targets
anti-NATO opposition, not organized crime
================================
4.. To tighten its grip on Serbia, NATO
has installed a State of Emergency. This
means that the period during which
so-called democracy could serve as a
façade, hiding the anti-democratic
character of the October 2000 coup
d'état, is over. What will come now is
dictatorship, whether hard or soft.
The importance of this new dictatorship
to NATO is demonstrated by the recent
visit of US Secretary of State Collin
Powell. Though fully occupied with the
terrible war in Iraq, Powell had time to
come to Belgrade to praise 'the fight
against organised crime' and 'those who
threaten this society'.
Who are these threats to society who have
been arrested?
Journalists, lawyers, trade unionists,
dissenting politicians, political
activists, much-decorated Generals of the
Yugoslav Army, teachers, Professors and
writers. And defenders and family of
Slobodan Milosevic.
================
Absurd accusations
================
5.. The claim by the Belgrade authorities
and the media that President Milosevic is
linked to organized crime is simply
ridiculous. They speak of his 'contact'
with the mysterious Mr. Legija, officer
of the Red Berets. But his first contact
with that gentleman occurred when Legija
led a force of thousands of armed men,
some masked, who arrested President
Milosevic on April 1, 2001. Half a year
earlier, Mr. Legija took part in the
October 2000 coup d'état, which installed
Mr. Djindjic and Mr. Kostunica in power.
The accusations against President
Milosevic's wife, Mira Markovic, that she
was somehow involved in the death of
former Yugoslav President Ivan Stambolic,
are equally outlandish. Using easily
available information, we have produced
an analysis proving these charges cannot
be true. See, "The Absurdity of the
Accusations against Mira Markovic in the
Stambolic Murder," in your press kit. [To
be posted shortly on the Internet.]
6.. The claim that the Emergency
authorities are fighting organized crime
inherited from President Milosevic is a
vicious lie. During Slobodan Milosevic's
presidency, his government fought crime,
harder than many realize; and they did it
without a State of Emergency.
If President Milosevic had instituted a
State of Emergency, the world would have
cried that he was "as bad as Hitler". Yet
the Western media has only praise for the
current draconian measures.
7. There is ample evidence that those who
staged the October 2000 coup d'état
relied on organized crime. It is well
known that Mr. Djindjic was intimately
involved with criminals, for example the
cigarette Mafia in Montenegro. In
addition, since the October 2000 coup
d'état, the new authorities have acted as
criminals on a grand scale - overthrowing
the elected government, routinely
violating the constitution and some of
the established rules of Yugoslav and
Serbian democracy, giving away the
Yugoslav economy to their controllers
from the NATO countries.
So: criminals in their own right, and
linked to the Mafia, but now they root
out organized crime!
===========================================
Repression in Serbia
targets Milosevic's work at The Hague
===========================================
8.. These developments in Serbia have had
a great impact on the defense of
President Milosevic. His research and
support team in Belgrade is under heavy
attack and his wife has been cut off from
him. All this jeopardizes his ability to
maintain his historic defense against
NATO's court.
9.. The affect of the arrests and witch
hunt against President Milosevic's family
have been magnified because the Tribunal
continues to prevent him from seeing
lawyers and other associates of his
choice.
========================
ICDSM prevented from
meeting with President Milosevic
========================
10.. At President Milosevic's request, in
mid-December the ICDSM sent a delegation
to The Hague. However, the meeting was
denied by the Tribunal after we were told
it would be accepted. Two reasons were
given.
The first reason, claimed the Tribunal,
was that Ramsey Clark had visited
President Milosevic the day before, and
in the opinion of Tribunal officials,
this sufficed. ICDSM Attorney Tiphaine
Dickson spent a week at The Hague trying
to reverse this ruling; President
Milosevic protested as well; but all to
no avail.
Aside from the fact that Mr. Clark's
visit bore no relation to the work of the
ICDSM, and apart from the fact that
Tribunal officials were fully aware of
the request by President Milosevic to
meet our delegation well before the
impromptu visit of Mr. Clark, the reality
of this situation, where the Tribunal
arbitrarily decides who can and who
cannot see President Milosevic, and uses
one visit to cancel another, is absurd,
unacceptable and in violation of
President Milosevic's most basic rights.
The second reason for denying our visit,
according to the Tribunal, was that they
had concluded from reading the ICDSM
Website that we meant to report to the
media what President Milosevic told us.
This is remarkable. The Tribunal staff
and Prosecution regularly make
anti-Milosevic statements to the press.
The press lies about what transpires
during Tribunal proceedings. But not only
is President Milosevic forbidden to talk
to the press, on pain of being entirely
cut off from the outside world, but
members of his support committee are
forbidden to talk to the press as well.
We protest this attempt to gag us. Of
course it demonstrates the profound
insecurity of the Tribunal. So much
power, so frightened of daylight.
You will find in your press kit a copy of
the Tribunal's fax denying President
Milosevic his right to meet with our
delegation. [Note: This fax is now posted
on the Internet.]
http://www.icdsm.org/more/fax.htm
=================
Murder in slow motion
==================
11.. And there is more. We continue to
have the most serious concerns about
President Milosevic's medical care. When
his heart problems became more serious,
in the beginning of last year, the
Tribunal initially treated his condition
with aspirin. They refused to let
Yugoslav and other specialists examine
him. In November of last year we read in
the Dutch press that President Milosevic
had been given the wrong medicine.
Apparently nothing was done about this,
despite a flood of protests, because
President Milosevic continued to complain
about the side affects of the medicine he
received, which caused dizziness and
insomnia, making it hard to function.
That this was caused by faulty medicine
is indicated by the fact that when, very
recently, President Milosevic was given
different medication, the symptoms went
away.
12.. Is the problem mistaken diagnosis?
Or something worse?
Events make clear that this mistreatment
is deliberate.
Last July, Judge May read in court the
statement of a doctor who had examined
President Milosevic. The doctor said that
because of his serious heart condition,
President Milosevic should have more time
for rest. Instead, the Tribunal increased
his work hours.
Not only has the Tribunal refused to let
coronary specialists examine President
Milosevic, but in a session of the
Tribunal, at which President Milosevic
was not present, Judge May accused him of
refusing medication. This is simply a
lie.
========================
Four hundred *thousand* pages
========================
13.. The Tribunal has recently given
President Milosevic 400.000 (four hundred
thousand) pages of "relevant" documents
to read. If one were to read 500 pages a
day, obviously an impossibility, this
would take two years.
The intent is obviously to put an
unbearable strain on the former Yugoslav
head of state, whose heart condition
responds negatively to stress. This,
combined with the spiteful medical
'care', gives a picture of machinery
operating to destroy a man it cannot
politically defeat.
========================
If you can't defeat him, kill him
========================
14.. Perhaps The Hague proceedings were
planned to be a show trial. But
immediately the trial began, President
Milosevic's forthright, accurate and
devastating opening comments about what
NATO had done to his country frightened
those who control the Tribunal.
They realized that if ordinary people
were permitted to witness the
proceedings, the world would learn that
the media-created impressions of
President Milosevic, the Serbian people,
and what had happened in Yugoslavia, were
all based on lies.
Within days, virtually all television and
in-full newspaper coverage was stopped
cold.
========================
Why this case is so important
========================
Now, instead of a show trial, we are
witnessing a slow political murder! We
call upon on all people concerned with
the truth and with justice, upon all who
have realized NATO was wrong in
Yugoslavia, upon all who support
President Milosevic, upon all who support
fair play, to undertake initiatives to
support his demand to postpone this
so-called trial, to give President
Milosevic time to recover, with proper
medical care, and in freedom, to prepare
his continuing counterattack against
NATO's lies.
15.. Whatever their faults, national and
multinational states are today a crucial
component of ordinary people's rights -
often the very right to live - won over
centuries of struggle. All who now strive
for peaceful solutions to the problems of
our world should realize: Yugoslavia is
the model for national destruction in
this new Empire.
By refusing to make a legalistic defense
of just himself, by standing up to NATO's
lies about Yugoslavia at The Hague
Tribunal, President Milosevic is not only
defending the peoples of Yugoslavia.
He is defending us all.
-- ICDSM
1. To obtain the media kit, please write
icdsm@...
2. To be added to the ICDSM media list,
write icdsm@...
3. For further information contact Nico
Varkevisser
Phone ++ 31 20 615 1122
Fax ++ 31 20 615 1120
============================
(... To help the ICDSM fund, please go to
http://www.icdsm.org/donate.htm ...)
========================
Footnotes and Further Reading
========================
The record shows that President Milosevic
and the Serbian people have been the
victims of a campaign of media lies.
1) "Media Misrepresentation Of
Milosevic's Words: A Review Of The
Evidence," by Prof. Francisco Gil-White
at
http://www.icdsm.org/more/gw.htm
2) "KLA Attacks Everyone; Media
Attacks...Milosevic?" by Jared Israel at
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/expan.htm
3) Regarding our charge that the ICTY is
NATO's instrument, see "Official
Statements Prove Hague 'Tribunal' Belongs
to NATO," at
http://www.icdsm.org/more/belongs.htm
4) Here are 'Judge' May's own words
during the session of the so-called trail
on the 25th:
"?We have received a report, a medical
report, which in its conclusion describes
the accused as a man with severe
cardiovascular risk which demands careful
future monitoring. The authors recommend
that his workload be reduced?"
As a group of Nobel Prize winning
physicians from Germany noted in their
open letter to The Hague, since Judge May
made this statement, the ICTY has done
exactly the opposite.
http://emperor.vwh.net/icdsm/more/physicians.htm
www.icdsm.org
Join our email list at
http://emperor.vwh.net/MailList/icdsm.php
Receive articles from the ICDSM Website
Please forward this text or send the link
to a friend.
http://www.icdsm.org/more/press4-3.htm
To help the ICDSM fund, please go to
http://www.icdsm.org/donate.htm
========================================================
The State of Emergency in Serbia
and the Slow Murder of Slobodan Milosevic
Nico Varkevisser's April 3rd ICDSM
Press Conference in Amsterdam
[Posted 9 April 2003]
========================================================
On Thursday, 3 April 2003, the
International Committee to Defend
Slobodan Milosevic (ICDSM) held a Press
Conference in Amsterdam.
At the press conference, Nico
Varkevisser, ICDSM Vice-Chairman in
charge of media relations, addressed
recent developments in Serbia; the actual
conduct of the Tribunal (ICTY) including
the attempt to prevent President
Milosevic from meeting with whomever he
chooses; and the consequences of these
matters for President Milosevic's defense
of Yugoslavia at the Tribunal.
Here is the statement delivered to the press.
* 'State of Emergency' in Serbia - Attack
on Yugoslavia in The Hague *
1.. The killing of Mr. Djindjic last
month showed all signs of being an
operation carried out by the NATO powers
in order to execute a political change in
Belgrade.
The killing was immediately followed by
the imposition of a State of Emergency.
This has nothing to do with fighting
organized crime, as claimed by the
controlled Yugoslav media, by the Western
media, and by US Secretary of State Colin
Powell, who recently visited Belgrade.
Working in the shadow of the Iraq war,
the pro-NATO authorities have arrested
thousands of people. They have especially
attacked the defenders and family of
President Slobodan Milosevic.
2.. Why was Zoran Djindjic killed? Mr.
Djindjic had ceased to be useful. He and
Yugoslav President Kostunica had done
their job. They destroyed the economy.
They violated the Yugoslav Constitution
and defied the Constitutional Court by
kidnapping Slobodan Milosevic and sending
this defender of Yugoslav sovereignty to
The Hague. They liquidated the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia.
Djindjic was despised by ordinary people
who blamed him personally for the
catastrophe that followed the October
5th, 2000 coup d'état in Belgrade.
No longer useful to NATO as a living
politician, and perhaps not completely
under NATO's control, Djindjic was
rendered useful by death.
3.. This assassination did not constitute
merely the removal of a no-longer-useful
individual. The implementation of the
State of Emergency, followed by mass
arrests, the specific targeting of the
SLOBODA foundation, which is central to
the defense of President Milosevic,
including arrests and other acts intended
to intimidate President Milosevic's
defenders, the seizure of SLOBODA's
computers in order to paralyze the work
of President Milosevic's supporters, the
arrest and indefinite detention of
SLOBODA President Bogoljub Bjelica, and
much-increased media slander and wild
accusations made against President
Milosevic's wife, Mira Markovic - with
the result that she is no longer able to
visit her husband - all this indicates
the nature of this, the second Yugoslav
coup d'état.
================================
'State of Emergency' Targets
anti-NATO opposition, not organized crime
================================
4.. To tighten its grip on Serbia, NATO
has installed a State of Emergency. This
means that the period during which
so-called democracy could serve as a
façade, hiding the anti-democratic
character of the October 2000 coup
d'état, is over. What will come now is
dictatorship, whether hard or soft.
The importance of this new dictatorship
to NATO is demonstrated by the recent
visit of US Secretary of State Collin
Powell. Though fully occupied with the
terrible war in Iraq, Powell had time to
come to Belgrade to praise 'the fight
against organised crime' and 'those who
threaten this society'.
Who are these threats to society who have
been arrested?
Journalists, lawyers, trade unionists,
dissenting politicians, political
activists, much-decorated Generals of the
Yugoslav Army, teachers, Professors and
writers. And defenders and family of
Slobodan Milosevic.
================
Absurd accusations
================
5.. The claim by the Belgrade authorities
and the media that President Milosevic is
linked to organized crime is simply
ridiculous. They speak of his 'contact'
with the mysterious Mr. Legija, officer
of the Red Berets. But his first contact
with that gentleman occurred when Legija
led a force of thousands of armed men,
some masked, who arrested President
Milosevic on April 1, 2001. Half a year
earlier, Mr. Legija took part in the
October 2000 coup d'état, which installed
Mr. Djindjic and Mr. Kostunica in power.
The accusations against President
Milosevic's wife, Mira Markovic, that she
was somehow involved in the death of
former Yugoslav President Ivan Stambolic,
are equally outlandish. Using easily
available information, we have produced
an analysis proving these charges cannot
be true. See, "The Absurdity of the
Accusations against Mira Markovic in the
Stambolic Murder," in your press kit. [To
be posted shortly on the Internet.]
6.. The claim that the Emergency
authorities are fighting organized crime
inherited from President Milosevic is a
vicious lie. During Slobodan Milosevic's
presidency, his government fought crime,
harder than many realize; and they did it
without a State of Emergency.
If President Milosevic had instituted a
State of Emergency, the world would have
cried that he was "as bad as Hitler". Yet
the Western media has only praise for the
current draconian measures.
7. There is ample evidence that those who
staged the October 2000 coup d'état
relied on organized crime. It is well
known that Mr. Djindjic was intimately
involved with criminals, for example the
cigarette Mafia in Montenegro. In
addition, since the October 2000 coup
d'état, the new authorities have acted as
criminals on a grand scale - overthrowing
the elected government, routinely
violating the constitution and some of
the established rules of Yugoslav and
Serbian democracy, giving away the
Yugoslav economy to their controllers
from the NATO countries.
So: criminals in their own right, and
linked to the Mafia, but now they root
out organized crime!
===========================================
Repression in Serbia
targets Milosevic's work at The Hague
===========================================
8.. These developments in Serbia have had
a great impact on the defense of
President Milosevic. His research and
support team in Belgrade is under heavy
attack and his wife has been cut off from
him. All this jeopardizes his ability to
maintain his historic defense against
NATO's court.
9.. The affect of the arrests and witch
hunt against President Milosevic's family
have been magnified because the Tribunal
continues to prevent him from seeing
lawyers and other associates of his
choice.
========================
ICDSM prevented from
meeting with President Milosevic
========================
10.. At President Milosevic's request, in
mid-December the ICDSM sent a delegation
to The Hague. However, the meeting was
denied by the Tribunal after we were told
it would be accepted. Two reasons were
given.
The first reason, claimed the Tribunal,
was that Ramsey Clark had visited
President Milosevic the day before, and
in the opinion of Tribunal officials,
this sufficed. ICDSM Attorney Tiphaine
Dickson spent a week at The Hague trying
to reverse this ruling; President
Milosevic protested as well; but all to
no avail.
Aside from the fact that Mr. Clark's
visit bore no relation to the work of the
ICDSM, and apart from the fact that
Tribunal officials were fully aware of
the request by President Milosevic to
meet our delegation well before the
impromptu visit of Mr. Clark, the reality
of this situation, where the Tribunal
arbitrarily decides who can and who
cannot see President Milosevic, and uses
one visit to cancel another, is absurd,
unacceptable and in violation of
President Milosevic's most basic rights.
The second reason for denying our visit,
according to the Tribunal, was that they
had concluded from reading the ICDSM
Website that we meant to report to the
media what President Milosevic told us.
This is remarkable. The Tribunal staff
and Prosecution regularly make
anti-Milosevic statements to the press.
The press lies about what transpires
during Tribunal proceedings. But not only
is President Milosevic forbidden to talk
to the press, on pain of being entirely
cut off from the outside world, but
members of his support committee are
forbidden to talk to the press as well.
We protest this attempt to gag us. Of
course it demonstrates the profound
insecurity of the Tribunal. So much
power, so frightened of daylight.
You will find in your press kit a copy of
the Tribunal's fax denying President
Milosevic his right to meet with our
delegation. [Note: This fax is now posted
on the Internet.]
http://www.icdsm.org/more/fax.htm
=================
Murder in slow motion
==================
11.. And there is more. We continue to
have the most serious concerns about
President Milosevic's medical care. When
his heart problems became more serious,
in the beginning of last year, the
Tribunal initially treated his condition
with aspirin. They refused to let
Yugoslav and other specialists examine
him. In November of last year we read in
the Dutch press that President Milosevic
had been given the wrong medicine.
Apparently nothing was done about this,
despite a flood of protests, because
President Milosevic continued to complain
about the side affects of the medicine he
received, which caused dizziness and
insomnia, making it hard to function.
That this was caused by faulty medicine
is indicated by the fact that when, very
recently, President Milosevic was given
different medication, the symptoms went
away.
12.. Is the problem mistaken diagnosis?
Or something worse?
Events make clear that this mistreatment
is deliberate.
Last July, Judge May read in court the
statement of a doctor who had examined
President Milosevic. The doctor said that
because of his serious heart condition,
President Milosevic should have more time
for rest. Instead, the Tribunal increased
his work hours.
Not only has the Tribunal refused to let
coronary specialists examine President
Milosevic, but in a session of the
Tribunal, at which President Milosevic
was not present, Judge May accused him of
refusing medication. This is simply a
lie.
========================
Four hundred *thousand* pages
========================
13.. The Tribunal has recently given
President Milosevic 400.000 (four hundred
thousand) pages of "relevant" documents
to read. If one were to read 500 pages a
day, obviously an impossibility, this
would take two years.
The intent is obviously to put an
unbearable strain on the former Yugoslav
head of state, whose heart condition
responds negatively to stress. This,
combined with the spiteful medical
'care', gives a picture of machinery
operating to destroy a man it cannot
politically defeat.
========================
If you can't defeat him, kill him
========================
14.. Perhaps The Hague proceedings were
planned to be a show trial. But
immediately the trial began, President
Milosevic's forthright, accurate and
devastating opening comments about what
NATO had done to his country frightened
those who control the Tribunal.
They realized that if ordinary people
were permitted to witness the
proceedings, the world would learn that
the media-created impressions of
President Milosevic, the Serbian people,
and what had happened in Yugoslavia, were
all based on lies.
Within days, virtually all television and
in-full newspaper coverage was stopped
cold.
========================
Why this case is so important
========================
Now, instead of a show trial, we are
witnessing a slow political murder! We
call upon on all people concerned with
the truth and with justice, upon all who
have realized NATO was wrong in
Yugoslavia, upon all who support
President Milosevic, upon all who support
fair play, to undertake initiatives to
support his demand to postpone this
so-called trial, to give President
Milosevic time to recover, with proper
medical care, and in freedom, to prepare
his continuing counterattack against
NATO's lies.
15.. Whatever their faults, national and
multinational states are today a crucial
component of ordinary people's rights -
often the very right to live - won over
centuries of struggle. All who now strive
for peaceful solutions to the problems of
our world should realize: Yugoslavia is
the model for national destruction in
this new Empire.
By refusing to make a legalistic defense
of just himself, by standing up to NATO's
lies about Yugoslavia at The Hague
Tribunal, President Milosevic is not only
defending the peoples of Yugoslavia.
He is defending us all.
-- ICDSM
1. To obtain the media kit, please write
icdsm@...
2. To be added to the ICDSM media list,
write icdsm@...
3. For further information contact Nico
Varkevisser
Phone ++ 31 20 615 1122
Fax ++ 31 20 615 1120
============================
(... To help the ICDSM fund, please go to
http://www.icdsm.org/donate.htm ...)
========================
Footnotes and Further Reading
========================
The record shows that President Milosevic
and the Serbian people have been the
victims of a campaign of media lies.
1) "Media Misrepresentation Of
Milosevic's Words: A Review Of The
Evidence," by Prof. Francisco Gil-White
at
http://www.icdsm.org/more/gw.htm
2) "KLA Attacks Everyone; Media
Attacks...Milosevic?" by Jared Israel at
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/expan.htm
3) Regarding our charge that the ICTY is
NATO's instrument, see "Official
Statements Prove Hague 'Tribunal' Belongs
to NATO," at
http://www.icdsm.org/more/belongs.htm
4) Here are 'Judge' May's own words
during the session of the so-called trail
on the 25th:
"?We have received a report, a medical
report, which in its conclusion describes
the accused as a man with severe
cardiovascular risk which demands careful
future monitoring. The authors recommend
that his workload be reduced?"
As a group of Nobel Prize winning
physicians from Germany noted in their
open letter to The Hague, since Judge May
made this statement, the ICTY has done
exactly the opposite.
http://emperor.vwh.net/icdsm/more/physicians.htm
www.icdsm.org
il manifesto - 11 Marzo 2003
Disoccupati di guerra
Zastava addio? A 4 anni dalla guerra dimenticata e a due dalla svolta
liberista la più grande fabbrica di automobili dei Balcani è allo
stremo
LORIS CAMPETTI
Chi si ricorda più del Kosovo, due o tre guerre fa? Allora la guerra
si chiamava intervento umanitario e quando le bombe intelligenti
ammazzavano la popolazione serba, nonché quella albanese che si diceva
di voler difendere, si trattava soltanto di effetti collaterali. A
sostenere le ragioni delle bombe, il 24 marzo del `99, in Italia era
il governo di centrosinistra. Soffrendo, naturalmente, ma il
nostro paese doveva essere riconosciuto atlanticamente fedele e
promosso nel club delle nazioni che contano, spiegava il presidente
Massimo D'Alema. Ancora più sofferenza si registrava in casa della
Cgil, dove contro la guerra non furono schierate le armate pacifiche
dei lavoratori, in nome della contingente necessità. Oggi l'Ulivo sta
pagando cara quella guerra e deve rispondere a ogni piè sospinto alle
accuse delle destre al governo. La maggior parte dei dirigenti di
centrosinistra tenta goffamente di ribaltare la frittata per dire:
«Noi non siamo contro tutte le guerre, siamo contro questa guerra».
Solo da Sergio Cofferati, allora segretario generale della Cgil, è
venuto un ripensamento: «Forse non è stato fatto il possibile per
evitarla».
Non sto a chiedere a Rajka, a Ruzica e a Radoslav come valutino tale
ripensamento, che riguarda non solo un dirigente ma l'insieme della
più importante organizzazione di massa italiana, di fronte al rischio
di una nuova, terribile avventura bellica. I tre sindacalisti
della Zastava portano ancora sulla pelle i segni della guerra
umanitaria e sabato 15 febbraio, alla più grande manifestazione
pacifista, dal palco di piazza San Giovanni Rajka ha ricordato a
tutti cosa è stata quella guerra e quali macerie si è lasciata alle
spalle, senza risolvere alcuno degli obiettivi che i gendarmi del
mondo e i loro sherpa avevano annunciato. Rajka Veljovic parla bene
l'italiano e per questo, oltre che per passione civile, dal `99 si
occupa delle adozioni a distanza dei figli dei lavoratori della
fabbrica di auto distrutta dalle bombe, attivate in Italia da
associazioni, gruppi, da strutture della Fiom e dalla Cgil, cioè da
chi 4 anni fa non si era fatto abbindolare dalla «contingente
necessità». L'iniziativa era stata lanciata dal manifesto con
l'associazione Abc solidarietà e pace. Ruzica Milosavljevic è membro
della presidenza del sindacato metalmeccanico serbo e Radoslav Delic è
il segretario generale del Sindacato Autonomo Zastava. Ci siamo fatti
raccontare dai tre amici che cosa resta di quella che fu la prima
fabbrica di automobili dei Balcani, parte di un gruppo metalmeccanico
diversificato in moltissime attività. Una di queste è la Zastava
Kamiona, la cui proprietà vede tutt'ora la presenza - con una quota
vicina al 50% - della Fiat-Iveco. Ma è dall'inizio delle guerre che
hanno sventrato la ex-Jugoslavia che la multinazionale torinese si è
chiamata fuori, disinteressandosi della sorte della sua partecipata.
Qualche lettore ricorderà i nostri reportages dalla Zastava di
Kragujevac, le decine di operai che presidiavano la loro fabbrica
feriti dalle bombe, i reparti rasi al suolo, la centrale elettrica
colpita con millimetrica precisione così come le lapidi che
ricordavano i lavoratori uccisi dai nazisti nella 2° guerra mondiale.
Quasi nulla rimase in piedi delle officine e delle linee di montaggio,
dell'infermeria, del centro di calcolo. La distruzione del reparto di
verniciatura provocò un terribile danno ambientale per la
fuoriuscita di liquidi chimici cancerogeni (Pbc o pirolene) che sono
penetrati nel terreno della zona circostante lo stabilimento. Per non
parlare di uranio impoverito di cui, infatti, in Serbia non si parla.
Dati scientifici è impensabile averne, la caduta di Slobo Milosevic
non ha portato né trasparenza né sicurezza. Si sa, e ce lo conferma
Rajka, che i casi di tumori - in particolare al seno - sono aumentati
a dismisura nell'area di Kragujevac, tra le più inquinate della Serbia
insieme a Pancevo dove venne ripetutamente bombardato il
petrolchimico. Donne, anziani e soprattutto bambini sono le fasce più
esposte della popolazione. La situazione sanitaria è allarmante:
«Nel reparto di radiologia di Kragujevac gli apparecchi non funzionano
da mesi. Alla gente colpita dal cancro - dice Rajka - non resta che
aspettare la morte, senza quei farmaci introvabili o troppo cari che
potrebbero alleviare la sofferenza e allungare la vita. A Kragujevac
non c'è uno strumento per la mammografia e così le donne sono
costrette ad andare a loro spese all'ospedale di Belgrado, dove ci
sono soltanto due apparecchi. Nel presidio sanitario della Zastava,
ricostruito con la solidarietà internazionale, ce n'è uno ma non
funziona perché manca un pezzo, costosissimo. Degli operai che hanno
lavorato al risanamento del reparto fucine, sette sono già morti di
tumore al fegato e molti hanno gravi problemi alla pelle e al fegato.
Nel campo profughi di Kragujevac, dove vivono anche ex lavoratori
della Zastava, si stanno registrando svariati casi di tubercolosi».
Due anni fa, dopo la caduta del regime di Milosevic, sull'onda
dell'ubriacatura neoliberista il Gruppo Zastava è stato scomposto in
decine di aziende per favorirne la privatizzazione. Da allora,
soltanto un reparto è stato privatizzato (produzione di solventi,
appena 13 addetti). Nel frattempo, la mannaia del nuovo corso
economico e i dicktat del Fondo mentario hanno desertificato le
fabbriche, alla paralisi per effetto delle bombe e della crisi: dei
36mila dipendenti del gruppo ne restano meno di 16mila. Nel settore
automobilistico gli occupati sono scesi da 13.500 a 4.300. E chi
resta, di lavoro da fare ne ha ben poco. Prima dell'inizio delle
guerre jugoslave, la Zastava produceva 220 mila automobili, nel 2002
sono uscite dalle linee di montaggio di Kragujevac - parzialmente
ricostruite dal lavoro degli operai, organizzati dal sindacato di
Rajka - appena 10 mila vetture dei vari modelli Yugo. Il che significa
che ogni operaio costruisce poco più di due automobili l'anno. Per non
parlare dell'Iveco: 430 camion lo scorso anno, contro una produzione
di 5 mila in tempi normali. La drastica riduzione dell'occupazione è
stata realizzata attraverso l'incentivo alle dimissioni
(200 marchi per anno di anzianità), gli altri esuberi sono stati
collocati chi nel collocamento pubblico, chi in quello della Zastava.
Ma il mercato del lavoro è inesistente nell'area di Kragujevac, dove
vivono 200-250 mila abitanti, da sempre esclusivamenti legati alla
filiera della Zastava.
Gli investimenti stranieri non arrivano, il sistema bancario della
Serbia è al collasso (10 mila licenziati in pochi mesi). I disoccupati
nel paese sono 905 mila, il 50% della forza di lavoro. Il 65% della
popolazione spende meno di 2 dollari al giorno, il 20% meno di 1
dollaro. Solo il 3% dei disoccupati usufruisce di un sussidio
pubblico, pari al 60% del salario, garantito solo per il primo anno di
disoccupazione. Chi ancora lavora (si fa per dire) alla Zastava
percepisce un salario di 150 euro, a cui va sottratto il costo del
pasto. «Ma solo quando la fabbrica è aperta: a gennaio, lo
stabilimento è rimasto chiuso per tutto il mese e il salario è stato
sostituito da una sorta di cassa integrazione, quindi decurtato. Chi è
iscritto al collocamento della Zastava percepisce appena 50 euro e
dev'essere disposto a qualsiasi lavoro, anche ad andare a
cogliere la frutta «in un'altra parte della Serbia. Chi rinuncia viene
cancellato dal collocamento. Inoltre è in corso una riforma del
mercato del lavoro per cui, chi verrà scoperto a fare qualche
lavoretto per integrare il sussidio con cui non si campa, perderà
tutto». Eppure, nonostante la pesante crisi economica e sociale, un
piccolo mercato dell'auto esiste. Ma è un mercato particolare: «Invece
di sostenere la produzione dell'industria nazionale si favorisce
l'importazione». Racconta Rajka: «Due anni fa, uno dei primi decreti
del governo presieduto da Djndjc autorizzò l'importazione di vetture
usate, e in questo modo è stata affossata la nostra produzione. Pensa
che già nel primo anno sono state immatricolate 280 mila automobili
straniere, il che spiega il crollo della produzione Zastava» (prezzo
delle Yugo, da 3,5 mila euro per il modello base a 6 mila per la
versione Florida).
Il sindacato maggioritario (85% dei dipendenti sono iscritti al
Sindacato autonomo, quello che più si è impegnato nella ricostruzione
post-bellica e nelle adozioni a distanza) della Zastava, di quel che
resta dei vari pezzi del gruppo collassato, continua a battersi per la
ripresa della produzione e per modifiche legislative che ne sostengano
la domanda. In questo quadro, il ruolo dei sindacalisti è poco più che
assistenziale: «Ci battiamo per costringere la direzione a consegnare
regolarmente i salari ai dipendenti, e non è un'impresa da poco.
Organizzare scioperi è sempre più difficile, dopo lo spezzatino del
gruppo e i licenziamenti di massa». Ultimamente c'è stato un
proliferare di sindacatini. Prospettive di interventi di capitali
stranieri, per ora non se ne vedono. La Fiat-Iveco continua a
disinteressarsi della Zastava Kamiona, mentre la voce diffusa mesi fa
sull'arrivo di un mercante statunitense, Malcolm Briklin, in passato
importatore negli Usa di vetture Yugo, si è rivelata infondata. Si può
dire che l'unica iniziativa concreta a favore della Zastava negli
ultimi 4 anni, sia stata l'adozione a distanza dei figli dei
lavoratori.
Oggi, in Italia, molti pensano che la Jugoslavia sia tornata alla
normalità. «Purtroppo non è così - chiariscono Rajka, Ruzica e
Radoslav - e la situazione sociale, occupazionale, sanitaria è
peggiore di quando ci cadevano le bombe sulla testa».
Non possiamo che far nostro l'appello a rilanciare la solidarietà con
questi lavoratori d'oltre Adriatico. Per aderire all'iniziativa,
contattare l'associazione «Abc solidarietà e pace»: via Umberto
Calosso 50, 00155 Roma; email: abcsolidarieta@... posta
elettronica; http://abcsolidarieta.freeweb.org; telefono e fax:
06-4063334
---
Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2003 11:41:04 +0200
From: "Abconlus" <info@...>
To: A, B, C, Solidarietà e pace <abcsolidarieta@...>
Il 30 marzo 2003 si è svolta la IV Assemblea annuale dei soci dell'
Associazione "A, B, C, solidarietà e pace".
L'Assemblea, confermando la linea politica militante di diplomazia dal
basso, espressa in questi anni attraverso interventi e finanziamenti
mirati a sostenere microprogetti precisi, concreti e circoscritti, ha
voluto manifestare la sua opposizione a quello che sta accadendo in
questi terribili giorni nel Golfo, approvando, su proposta del
Consiglio direttivo, lo stanziamento di mille euro a favore dei
bambini iracheni curati nel dispensario per malattie gastrointestinali
infantili di Bassora. La somma sarà erogata a favore dell'Associazione
"Un ponte per...".
L'Assemblea ha anche approvato la relazione sull'attività svolta nel
corso del 2002 e i bilanci consuntivo 2002 e preventivo 2003.
Sono stati poi confermati, per altri tre anni, revisori gli amici
Giorgi Colomba Rossella, Giovanni D'Alfonso e Fabio Fanti e supplenti
Rosa Ortu e Marco Santamaria.
Nel corso dell'assemblea sono stati infine annunciati la "nascita" di
"A, B, C, solidariedade e paz - Guiné Bissau" e un accordo con la
Direzione Sanitaria della Regione Oio della Guinea Bissau.
Speriamo di poter lavorare sempre meglio grazie al vostro sostegno!
Cordiali saluti a tutti.
IL CONSIGLIO DIRETTIVO DI ABC
Disoccupati di guerra
Zastava addio? A 4 anni dalla guerra dimenticata e a due dalla svolta
liberista la più grande fabbrica di automobili dei Balcani è allo
stremo
LORIS CAMPETTI
Chi si ricorda più del Kosovo, due o tre guerre fa? Allora la guerra
si chiamava intervento umanitario e quando le bombe intelligenti
ammazzavano la popolazione serba, nonché quella albanese che si diceva
di voler difendere, si trattava soltanto di effetti collaterali. A
sostenere le ragioni delle bombe, il 24 marzo del `99, in Italia era
il governo di centrosinistra. Soffrendo, naturalmente, ma il
nostro paese doveva essere riconosciuto atlanticamente fedele e
promosso nel club delle nazioni che contano, spiegava il presidente
Massimo D'Alema. Ancora più sofferenza si registrava in casa della
Cgil, dove contro la guerra non furono schierate le armate pacifiche
dei lavoratori, in nome della contingente necessità. Oggi l'Ulivo sta
pagando cara quella guerra e deve rispondere a ogni piè sospinto alle
accuse delle destre al governo. La maggior parte dei dirigenti di
centrosinistra tenta goffamente di ribaltare la frittata per dire:
«Noi non siamo contro tutte le guerre, siamo contro questa guerra».
Solo da Sergio Cofferati, allora segretario generale della Cgil, è
venuto un ripensamento: «Forse non è stato fatto il possibile per
evitarla».
Non sto a chiedere a Rajka, a Ruzica e a Radoslav come valutino tale
ripensamento, che riguarda non solo un dirigente ma l'insieme della
più importante organizzazione di massa italiana, di fronte al rischio
di una nuova, terribile avventura bellica. I tre sindacalisti
della Zastava portano ancora sulla pelle i segni della guerra
umanitaria e sabato 15 febbraio, alla più grande manifestazione
pacifista, dal palco di piazza San Giovanni Rajka ha ricordato a
tutti cosa è stata quella guerra e quali macerie si è lasciata alle
spalle, senza risolvere alcuno degli obiettivi che i gendarmi del
mondo e i loro sherpa avevano annunciato. Rajka Veljovic parla bene
l'italiano e per questo, oltre che per passione civile, dal `99 si
occupa delle adozioni a distanza dei figli dei lavoratori della
fabbrica di auto distrutta dalle bombe, attivate in Italia da
associazioni, gruppi, da strutture della Fiom e dalla Cgil, cioè da
chi 4 anni fa non si era fatto abbindolare dalla «contingente
necessità». L'iniziativa era stata lanciata dal manifesto con
l'associazione Abc solidarietà e pace. Ruzica Milosavljevic è membro
della presidenza del sindacato metalmeccanico serbo e Radoslav Delic è
il segretario generale del Sindacato Autonomo Zastava. Ci siamo fatti
raccontare dai tre amici che cosa resta di quella che fu la prima
fabbrica di automobili dei Balcani, parte di un gruppo metalmeccanico
diversificato in moltissime attività. Una di queste è la Zastava
Kamiona, la cui proprietà vede tutt'ora la presenza - con una quota
vicina al 50% - della Fiat-Iveco. Ma è dall'inizio delle guerre che
hanno sventrato la ex-Jugoslavia che la multinazionale torinese si è
chiamata fuori, disinteressandosi della sorte della sua partecipata.
Qualche lettore ricorderà i nostri reportages dalla Zastava di
Kragujevac, le decine di operai che presidiavano la loro fabbrica
feriti dalle bombe, i reparti rasi al suolo, la centrale elettrica
colpita con millimetrica precisione così come le lapidi che
ricordavano i lavoratori uccisi dai nazisti nella 2° guerra mondiale.
Quasi nulla rimase in piedi delle officine e delle linee di montaggio,
dell'infermeria, del centro di calcolo. La distruzione del reparto di
verniciatura provocò un terribile danno ambientale per la
fuoriuscita di liquidi chimici cancerogeni (Pbc o pirolene) che sono
penetrati nel terreno della zona circostante lo stabilimento. Per non
parlare di uranio impoverito di cui, infatti, in Serbia non si parla.
Dati scientifici è impensabile averne, la caduta di Slobo Milosevic
non ha portato né trasparenza né sicurezza. Si sa, e ce lo conferma
Rajka, che i casi di tumori - in particolare al seno - sono aumentati
a dismisura nell'area di Kragujevac, tra le più inquinate della Serbia
insieme a Pancevo dove venne ripetutamente bombardato il
petrolchimico. Donne, anziani e soprattutto bambini sono le fasce più
esposte della popolazione. La situazione sanitaria è allarmante:
«Nel reparto di radiologia di Kragujevac gli apparecchi non funzionano
da mesi. Alla gente colpita dal cancro - dice Rajka - non resta che
aspettare la morte, senza quei farmaci introvabili o troppo cari che
potrebbero alleviare la sofferenza e allungare la vita. A Kragujevac
non c'è uno strumento per la mammografia e così le donne sono
costrette ad andare a loro spese all'ospedale di Belgrado, dove ci
sono soltanto due apparecchi. Nel presidio sanitario della Zastava,
ricostruito con la solidarietà internazionale, ce n'è uno ma non
funziona perché manca un pezzo, costosissimo. Degli operai che hanno
lavorato al risanamento del reparto fucine, sette sono già morti di
tumore al fegato e molti hanno gravi problemi alla pelle e al fegato.
Nel campo profughi di Kragujevac, dove vivono anche ex lavoratori
della Zastava, si stanno registrando svariati casi di tubercolosi».
Due anni fa, dopo la caduta del regime di Milosevic, sull'onda
dell'ubriacatura neoliberista il Gruppo Zastava è stato scomposto in
decine di aziende per favorirne la privatizzazione. Da allora,
soltanto un reparto è stato privatizzato (produzione di solventi,
appena 13 addetti). Nel frattempo, la mannaia del nuovo corso
economico e i dicktat del Fondo mentario hanno desertificato le
fabbriche, alla paralisi per effetto delle bombe e della crisi: dei
36mila dipendenti del gruppo ne restano meno di 16mila. Nel settore
automobilistico gli occupati sono scesi da 13.500 a 4.300. E chi
resta, di lavoro da fare ne ha ben poco. Prima dell'inizio delle
guerre jugoslave, la Zastava produceva 220 mila automobili, nel 2002
sono uscite dalle linee di montaggio di Kragujevac - parzialmente
ricostruite dal lavoro degli operai, organizzati dal sindacato di
Rajka - appena 10 mila vetture dei vari modelli Yugo. Il che significa
che ogni operaio costruisce poco più di due automobili l'anno. Per non
parlare dell'Iveco: 430 camion lo scorso anno, contro una produzione
di 5 mila in tempi normali. La drastica riduzione dell'occupazione è
stata realizzata attraverso l'incentivo alle dimissioni
(200 marchi per anno di anzianità), gli altri esuberi sono stati
collocati chi nel collocamento pubblico, chi in quello della Zastava.
Ma il mercato del lavoro è inesistente nell'area di Kragujevac, dove
vivono 200-250 mila abitanti, da sempre esclusivamenti legati alla
filiera della Zastava.
Gli investimenti stranieri non arrivano, il sistema bancario della
Serbia è al collasso (10 mila licenziati in pochi mesi). I disoccupati
nel paese sono 905 mila, il 50% della forza di lavoro. Il 65% della
popolazione spende meno di 2 dollari al giorno, il 20% meno di 1
dollaro. Solo il 3% dei disoccupati usufruisce di un sussidio
pubblico, pari al 60% del salario, garantito solo per il primo anno di
disoccupazione. Chi ancora lavora (si fa per dire) alla Zastava
percepisce un salario di 150 euro, a cui va sottratto il costo del
pasto. «Ma solo quando la fabbrica è aperta: a gennaio, lo
stabilimento è rimasto chiuso per tutto il mese e il salario è stato
sostituito da una sorta di cassa integrazione, quindi decurtato. Chi è
iscritto al collocamento della Zastava percepisce appena 50 euro e
dev'essere disposto a qualsiasi lavoro, anche ad andare a
cogliere la frutta «in un'altra parte della Serbia. Chi rinuncia viene
cancellato dal collocamento. Inoltre è in corso una riforma del
mercato del lavoro per cui, chi verrà scoperto a fare qualche
lavoretto per integrare il sussidio con cui non si campa, perderà
tutto». Eppure, nonostante la pesante crisi economica e sociale, un
piccolo mercato dell'auto esiste. Ma è un mercato particolare: «Invece
di sostenere la produzione dell'industria nazionale si favorisce
l'importazione». Racconta Rajka: «Due anni fa, uno dei primi decreti
del governo presieduto da Djndjc autorizzò l'importazione di vetture
usate, e in questo modo è stata affossata la nostra produzione. Pensa
che già nel primo anno sono state immatricolate 280 mila automobili
straniere, il che spiega il crollo della produzione Zastava» (prezzo
delle Yugo, da 3,5 mila euro per il modello base a 6 mila per la
versione Florida).
Il sindacato maggioritario (85% dei dipendenti sono iscritti al
Sindacato autonomo, quello che più si è impegnato nella ricostruzione
post-bellica e nelle adozioni a distanza) della Zastava, di quel che
resta dei vari pezzi del gruppo collassato, continua a battersi per la
ripresa della produzione e per modifiche legislative che ne sostengano
la domanda. In questo quadro, il ruolo dei sindacalisti è poco più che
assistenziale: «Ci battiamo per costringere la direzione a consegnare
regolarmente i salari ai dipendenti, e non è un'impresa da poco.
Organizzare scioperi è sempre più difficile, dopo lo spezzatino del
gruppo e i licenziamenti di massa». Ultimamente c'è stato un
proliferare di sindacatini. Prospettive di interventi di capitali
stranieri, per ora non se ne vedono. La Fiat-Iveco continua a
disinteressarsi della Zastava Kamiona, mentre la voce diffusa mesi fa
sull'arrivo di un mercante statunitense, Malcolm Briklin, in passato
importatore negli Usa di vetture Yugo, si è rivelata infondata. Si può
dire che l'unica iniziativa concreta a favore della Zastava negli
ultimi 4 anni, sia stata l'adozione a distanza dei figli dei
lavoratori.
Oggi, in Italia, molti pensano che la Jugoslavia sia tornata alla
normalità. «Purtroppo non è così - chiariscono Rajka, Ruzica e
Radoslav - e la situazione sociale, occupazionale, sanitaria è
peggiore di quando ci cadevano le bombe sulla testa».
Non possiamo che far nostro l'appello a rilanciare la solidarietà con
questi lavoratori d'oltre Adriatico. Per aderire all'iniziativa,
contattare l'associazione «Abc solidarietà e pace»: via Umberto
Calosso 50, 00155 Roma; email: abcsolidarieta@... posta
elettronica; http://abcsolidarieta.freeweb.org; telefono e fax:
06-4063334
---
Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2003 11:41:04 +0200
From: "Abconlus" <info@...>
To: A, B, C, Solidarietà e pace <abcsolidarieta@...>
Il 30 marzo 2003 si è svolta la IV Assemblea annuale dei soci dell'
Associazione "A, B, C, solidarietà e pace".
L'Assemblea, confermando la linea politica militante di diplomazia dal
basso, espressa in questi anni attraverso interventi e finanziamenti
mirati a sostenere microprogetti precisi, concreti e circoscritti, ha
voluto manifestare la sua opposizione a quello che sta accadendo in
questi terribili giorni nel Golfo, approvando, su proposta del
Consiglio direttivo, lo stanziamento di mille euro a favore dei
bambini iracheni curati nel dispensario per malattie gastrointestinali
infantili di Bassora. La somma sarà erogata a favore dell'Associazione
"Un ponte per...".
L'Assemblea ha anche approvato la relazione sull'attività svolta nel
corso del 2002 e i bilanci consuntivo 2002 e preventivo 2003.
Sono stati poi confermati, per altri tre anni, revisori gli amici
Giorgi Colomba Rossella, Giovanni D'Alfonso e Fabio Fanti e supplenti
Rosa Ortu e Marco Santamaria.
Nel corso dell'assemblea sono stati infine annunciati la "nascita" di
"A, B, C, solidariedade e paz - Guiné Bissau" e un accordo con la
Direzione Sanitaria della Regione Oio della Guinea Bissau.
Speriamo di poter lavorare sempre meglio grazie al vostro sostegno!
Cordiali saluti a tutti.
IL CONSIGLIO DIRETTIVO DI ABC
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2003 10:55:08 +0200
From: "Vladimir Krsljanin"
YU MEDIA CENTER BELGRADE
Utorak, 8. april, 13.00 Konferencija za novinare Udruzenja "Sloboda"
jugoslovenskog komiteta za odbranu Slobodana
Milosevica Prof. dr Mirko Zurovac, profesor Filozofskog fakulteta u
Beogradu, Dr Branko Rakic, docent Pravnog fakulteta u
Beogradu, Mr Vladimir Krsljanin, ambasador i Momo Raicevic, advokat,
govorice o Hagu i sudbini Srbije.
Prenos uzivo: srpski,
Prenos Konferencija
http://www.yumediacenter.com/srpski/indexs.asp
Tuesday, April 8, 1:00 p.m. Press conference by the "Sloboda"
Association of the Yugoslav Committee for the Defense of
Slobodan Milosevic Prof. Dr. Mirko Zurovac, professor at the Faculty
of Philosophy in Belgrade, Dr. Branko Rakic, assistant
professor at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, Vladimir Krsljanin, M.A.,
ambassador and Momo Raicevic, lawyer, to speak about
The Hague and the destiny of Serbia.
Live broadcast: serbian,
Broadcast Conference
http://www.yumediacenter.com/srpski/indexs.asp
===
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2003 03:15:48 +0200
From: "Vladimir Krsljanin"
STOP THE AGGRESSION AND THE HAGUE TERROR AGAINST SERBIA!
AFTER PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC EXPOSED THE ROLE OF THE
HAGUE AND ITS MENTORS IN THE PRESENT TERROR IN
SERBIA, TV TRANSMITIONS FROM THE TRIBUNAL HAVE BEEN
TEMPORARILY STOPPED IN SERBIA "DUE TO TECHNICAL
REASONS".
ON THURSDAY, APRIL 3RD, AFTER BEING FOR MONTHS
TORTURED BY THE "TRIAL" RHYTHM AND BY THE PRISON
CONDITIONS AND FINALLY GIVEN WRONG THERAPY,
PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC DEMANDED ADJOURNMENT OF THE
TRIAL FOR HIS PROPER MEDICAL TREATMENT, RECOVERY
AND APPROPRIATE PREPARATION FOR THE CONTINUATION
OF THE PROCESS. HE STRESSED THAT HE RECEIVED 400000
(FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND) PAGES OF MATERIAL FROM
THE PROSECUTION. JUST FOR QUICK READING OF 500 PAGES
PER DAY, ONE WOULD NEED 800 DAYS!
IN SERBIA, DAYS OF DARKEST POLITICAL TERROR
CONTINUE. THOUSANDS HAVE BEEN ARRESTED - TO KILL
ORGANIZED CRIME, AUTHORITIES CLAIM. BUT DRUGS ARE
STILL IN THE SAME AMOUNT IN THE STREETS, AND ALMOST
AT THE SAME PRICE.
AFTER THE MEDIA HAVE BEEN TRANSFORMED INTO
DIRTIEST INSTRUMENT OF POLITICAL LYNCH, AND AFTER
SEVERAL OPPOSITION POLITICAL ACTIVISTS HAVE BEEN
ARRESTED, THE ACTION CONTINUES. THEY ARREST
GENERALS, LAWYERS (THEY DEFENDED CRIMINALS!),
JOURNALISTS! THE WARRANT AGAINST PRESIDENT
MILOSEVIC'S WIFE HAS BEEN ISSUED. THERE ARE RUMORS
ABOUT THE TORTURE IN PRISONS.
STOP THIS INFERNAL SEQUENCE!
WE STILL KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE DESTINY OF OUR
COMRADES!
IN ALL BELGRADE SQUARES, IN SPITE THE TOTALLY CALM
SITUATION ALL THE TIME, ONE CAN SEE UNITS OF
GENDARMERIE (POLICE MILITARY UNITS) IN PANZERS, WITH
COVERED FACES, WITH MACHINE GUNS, WITH ARMORED
VEHICLES AND WITH THE LICENSE TO KILL (ANYONE WHO
WOULD RESIST ARREST).
NO MORE US DEMOCRACY IN SERBIA!
STOP THE US UNHIDDEN WAR IN IRAQ AND US HIDDEN WAR
IN YUGOSLAVIA!
STOP THE IMPERIAL GLOBAL CRUSADE AGAINST PEOPLE!
FREE MILOSEVIC! FREE SERBIA!
STOP THE POLITICAL REPRESSION IN SERBIA!
STOP THE EVIL CAMPAIGN AGAINST PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC, HIS
FAMILY AND ASSOCIATES!
RELEASE BOGOLJUB BJELICA AND OTHER POLITICAL PRISONERS!
SEND PROTESTS AND APPEALS TO YUGOSLAV EMBASSIES! -find
their addresses at http://www.mfa.gov.yu/Worldframe.htm
From: "Vladimir Krsljanin"
YU MEDIA CENTER BELGRADE
Utorak, 8. april, 13.00 Konferencija za novinare Udruzenja "Sloboda"
jugoslovenskog komiteta za odbranu Slobodana
Milosevica Prof. dr Mirko Zurovac, profesor Filozofskog fakulteta u
Beogradu, Dr Branko Rakic, docent Pravnog fakulteta u
Beogradu, Mr Vladimir Krsljanin, ambasador i Momo Raicevic, advokat,
govorice o Hagu i sudbini Srbije.
Prenos uzivo: srpski,
Prenos Konferencija
http://www.yumediacenter.com/srpski/indexs.asp
Tuesday, April 8, 1:00 p.m. Press conference by the "Sloboda"
Association of the Yugoslav Committee for the Defense of
Slobodan Milosevic Prof. Dr. Mirko Zurovac, professor at the Faculty
of Philosophy in Belgrade, Dr. Branko Rakic, assistant
professor at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, Vladimir Krsljanin, M.A.,
ambassador and Momo Raicevic, lawyer, to speak about
The Hague and the destiny of Serbia.
Live broadcast: serbian,
Broadcast Conference
http://www.yumediacenter.com/srpski/indexs.asp
===
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2003 03:15:48 +0200
From: "Vladimir Krsljanin"
STOP THE AGGRESSION AND THE HAGUE TERROR AGAINST SERBIA!
AFTER PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC EXPOSED THE ROLE OF THE
HAGUE AND ITS MENTORS IN THE PRESENT TERROR IN
SERBIA, TV TRANSMITIONS FROM THE TRIBUNAL HAVE BEEN
TEMPORARILY STOPPED IN SERBIA "DUE TO TECHNICAL
REASONS".
ON THURSDAY, APRIL 3RD, AFTER BEING FOR MONTHS
TORTURED BY THE "TRIAL" RHYTHM AND BY THE PRISON
CONDITIONS AND FINALLY GIVEN WRONG THERAPY,
PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC DEMANDED ADJOURNMENT OF THE
TRIAL FOR HIS PROPER MEDICAL TREATMENT, RECOVERY
AND APPROPRIATE PREPARATION FOR THE CONTINUATION
OF THE PROCESS. HE STRESSED THAT HE RECEIVED 400000
(FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND) PAGES OF MATERIAL FROM
THE PROSECUTION. JUST FOR QUICK READING OF 500 PAGES
PER DAY, ONE WOULD NEED 800 DAYS!
IN SERBIA, DAYS OF DARKEST POLITICAL TERROR
CONTINUE. THOUSANDS HAVE BEEN ARRESTED - TO KILL
ORGANIZED CRIME, AUTHORITIES CLAIM. BUT DRUGS ARE
STILL IN THE SAME AMOUNT IN THE STREETS, AND ALMOST
AT THE SAME PRICE.
AFTER THE MEDIA HAVE BEEN TRANSFORMED INTO
DIRTIEST INSTRUMENT OF POLITICAL LYNCH, AND AFTER
SEVERAL OPPOSITION POLITICAL ACTIVISTS HAVE BEEN
ARRESTED, THE ACTION CONTINUES. THEY ARREST
GENERALS, LAWYERS (THEY DEFENDED CRIMINALS!),
JOURNALISTS! THE WARRANT AGAINST PRESIDENT
MILOSEVIC'S WIFE HAS BEEN ISSUED. THERE ARE RUMORS
ABOUT THE TORTURE IN PRISONS.
STOP THIS INFERNAL SEQUENCE!
WE STILL KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE DESTINY OF OUR
COMRADES!
IN ALL BELGRADE SQUARES, IN SPITE THE TOTALLY CALM
SITUATION ALL THE TIME, ONE CAN SEE UNITS OF
GENDARMERIE (POLICE MILITARY UNITS) IN PANZERS, WITH
COVERED FACES, WITH MACHINE GUNS, WITH ARMORED
VEHICLES AND WITH THE LICENSE TO KILL (ANYONE WHO
WOULD RESIST ARREST).
NO MORE US DEMOCRACY IN SERBIA!
STOP THE US UNHIDDEN WAR IN IRAQ AND US HIDDEN WAR
IN YUGOSLAVIA!
STOP THE IMPERIAL GLOBAL CRUSADE AGAINST PEOPLE!
FREE MILOSEVIC! FREE SERBIA!
STOP THE POLITICAL REPRESSION IN SERBIA!
STOP THE EVIL CAMPAIGN AGAINST PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC, HIS
FAMILY AND ASSOCIATES!
RELEASE BOGOLJUB BJELICA AND OTHER POLITICAL PRISONERS!
SEND PROTESTS AND APPEALS TO YUGOSLAV EMBASSIES! -find
their addresses at http://www.mfa.gov.yu/Worldframe.htm
