Peter Handke zigose licemere

"Gnev moj narasta iz dana u dan. Najedared su listom protiv rata. Pa
cak i G.din Sirak kaza da sve po Pravu mora biti.
Kada se radilo o Jugoslaviji, zemlji koja je doprinela da se
covecanstvo oslobodi od nacizma, niko nije mario za Pravo. (...)
Pravo su tada gazili, a sad bi najedared da se Pravo postuje.
Necu stoga da se petljam sa onima koji su odobravali agresiju na
Jugoslaviju. Evropske drzave krivicu nikad nece sprati.
Posto su zadovoljili svoje krvozedne porive u Jugoslaviji - a Nemacka
je u tome prednjacila - sad su najedared za mir, ti zlocinci."

"Niko vise o Jugoslaviji ne govori, iako Milosevic nije Sadam, a jos
manje Hitler. Porediti neuporedivo semanticki je zlocin. Poredjenje
pritvornih centara sa konc-logorima bio je samo izgovor da Nemacka
nasrne na Jugoslaviju.
Svaki zlocin zapravo i pocinje semantickim zlocinom."


http://www.vorstadtzentrum.org/
cgi-bin/joesb/news/viewnews.cgi?category=5&id=1049745775

(prevodila: O. Juric)

(in italiano, in fondo, una parziale traduzione con commento su questo
emblematico scambio di opinioni tra Z. Jelincic, sloveno, e B.
Urosevic, serbo)


ARTEL GEOPOLITIKA by www.artel.co.yu
office@...
Datum: 26. mart 2003. g.


Prva medjunarodna konferencija o sukcesiji Jadranskog
mora i o granicama unutar nekadasnje SFRJ u Beogradu


---


Na molbu gospodina Zmage Jelincica ARTEL vam dostavlja ovaj poziv:
Prva medjunarodna konferencija o sukcesiji Jadranskog mora i o
granicama unutar nekadasnje SFRJ u Beogradu
Slovenska nacionalna stranka organizuje u Beogradu , u septembru
mesecu, prvu Medjunarodnu konferenciju o sukcisiji Jadranskog mora i o
granicama nekadasnje SFRJ.
Sledi tekst pozivnog pisma Zmage Jelincica, predsednika stranke,
potencijalnim ucesnicima ove konferencije:

Postovani!

U okviru svog politickog rada Slovenska nacionalna stranka, a
posledicno i Poslanicka grupa Slovenske nacionalne stranke u
Parlamentu Republike Slovenije zalaze se za striktno zagovaranje i
postivanje nacionalnih interesa slovenacke drzave i njezinih
drzavljanina.

Jer su nacionalni interesi Slovenije, a i nekih drugih drzava nastalih
podrocju bivse Jugoslavije uskracivani i ponistavani, u septembru
mesecu ove godine Poslanicka grupa Slovenske nacionalne stranke u
Beogradu organizira prvu medunarodnu konferenciju o sukcesiji
Jadranskog mora i o granicama unutar nekadasnje SFRJ.

Posle dezintegracije nekadasnje SFRJ ostalo je puno neresenih
problema, ponajvise oko granica i oko podele Jadranskog mora. Dok su u
vreme SFRJ unutrasnje granice bile administrativnog znacaja, posle
formiranja novih drzava ovo je pitanje postalo od vitalnog znacaja.
Ostalo je puno otvorenih pitanja, sa kojima se sve nekadasnje
republike susrecu u svakodnevnim medusobnim odnosima i koja temelje na
nepobitnim istoriskim cinjenicama, a do danas jos nisu determinirane i
resene.

Jedno od bitnijih pitanja je kako je moguce, da je Hrvatska dobila
celokupno Jadransko more, koje nikad nije bilo njezino, nego je bilo
zajednicka svojina SFRJ, pa po principu sukcesije mora da se omoguci
svim drzavama nastalim na podrucju bivse SFRJ izravan izlaz na
otvoreno more. U okviru morskih otvorenih pitanja tu je u najmanju
meru i pitanje Neuma i Prevlake, a da se i ne pominju pitanja o
nesredenim kopnenim granicama.
Pakozvana resavanja pogranicnih pitanja su bila ponajvise samo
pokusaji nekih politicara, da stvore politicki kapital za sopstvenu
korist na stetu sopstvenih naroda i da se udovolji nekim medunarodnim
institucijama.

Istorijski, etnografski, etnoloski, pa i pravni elementi mogu u
velikoj mjeri pomoci kod resavanja tih i drugih otvorenih pitanja.
Cilj je prve medunarodne konferencije o sukcesiji Jadranskog mora i o
granicama unutar nekadasnje SFRJ da sa tih stajalista otvori, a zatim
i osvetli sva nagomilana pitanja, pogotovo zbog uspesnih prikrivanja
istorijskih cinjenica ponajvise sa strane medunarodnih i hrvatskih
cimbenika. Bez otvorenog dijaloga i bez naznacbe svih dejstava, i
resavanje ovih problema nece biti moguce.

U vezi sa tim problemom ne sme se izostaviti nepobitna dejstva, da je
Jadransko more dobila posle drugog svetskog rata Jugoslavija (a ne
Hrvatska), da je Hrvatska na strani nacifasistickih sila izgubila
drugi svetski rat, da se granicna pitanja dogovaraju mirovnim
sporazumima, i tako dalje.

Saucesnici konferencije ce biti strucnjaci iz raznih podrucja, koji se
bave i interesira ih ili pak rade na pitanju sukcesije. Sa obzirom na
temu saucesnici ce biti iz tri grupe:
1. iz republika nekadasnje SFRJ;
2. iz medunarodnih organizacija koje rade na pitanjima sukcesije
odnosno imajo di rektan interes kod ovog pitanja;
3. iz drugih zainteresiranih zemalja (na primer iz Ruske federacije,
koja se sa slicnim problemom kao sto je Jadransko more susrece na
Kaspijskom moru; iz Italije, koja ima zbog blizine interes za
rjesavanje granicnih pitanja).

Posto je pitanje granica prije svega politicko, a naravno i medijsko
eksploatirano pitanje, pozvani ce biti i mediji, zainteresirana i
strucna javnost, politicki predstavnici zemlja saucesnika,
Zapadnoeuropske unije i Europske unije i predstavnici diplomatskih
predstavnistava iz Beograda.

Konferencija ce potrajati jedan dan. Na sjednicama plenarnog foruma
diskutirana ce biti najznacajnija i najzesca pitanja, na kojim ce
svatko od saucesnika, koji ce slati svoj referat, dobiti priliku, da
prezentira svoj prilog i tako osvetli problem u trajanju od 15 minuta.
Na kraju svakog sklopa biti ce diskusija u trajanju od 15 minuta.

Referati svih ucesnika biti ce stampani u posebnoj publikaciji u
integralnom tekstu, koji nece biti ogranicen (ali da mu duzina ne
iznosi preko tri autorske pole). Na kraju svakog referata koji ce biti
objavljen u jeziku autora, mora biti i sazetak u engleskom ili
francuskom jeziku.
Uz svaki referat autor treba na kratko da objasni svoju poziciju u
politickim ili strucnim krugovima.

Posto znam za Vas visegodisnji rad na podrucju, vrlo bliskom temama,
koje ce biti diskutirane i prezentirane na konferenciji, odlucio sam
se obratiti na Vas. Konferencija je izvrsna prilika da iznesete svoje
stavove i da prezentirate svoj rad u oblici referata, koji ce
pridonjesti ka resavanju pitanja granica. Zato Vas molim, da
razmislite, dali i sa kojom temom zelite ucestvovati na konferenciji.

Ako ste zainteresirani, molim Vas da me pozovete na telefon +386 1
4789 671 u Parlament Republike Slovenije, posaljete faks na broj +386
1 4789 865 u Parlamentu Republike Slovenije ili posaljete poruku na
e-mail zmago.jelincic@... da se dogovorimo o svemu.

Do tada, pozdravljam Vas sa puno postovanja,

Zmago Jelincic Plemeniti
- clan parlamenta Republike Slovenije,
- clan parlamentarne skupstine
Zapadnoeuropske unije
- i predsednik Slovenske
nacionalne stranke.


---


Reakcija: Bora Urosevic o pozivu Zmage Jelincica za Prvu
konferenciju o sukcisiji Jadranskog mora u Beogradu

Jedna od brojnih reakcija na pozivno
pismo Zmage Jelincica za Prvu
konferenciju o sukcesiji Jadranskog mora i
granicama nekadasnje SFRJ u Beogradu
(ARTEL/Izbor/Jugoslavija/26.03.2003./)

Bora Urosevic
Beograd, 30. mart 2003. godine
infograf@...

"Gospodine Jelincicu,
Vasom akcijom da u Beogradu
organizujete konferenciju o sukcesiji
Jadranskog mora i o granicama nekadasnje
SFRJ, samo ste potvrdili moje ( i
ne samo moje ) misljenje o bezgranicnom
bezobrazluku i licemerju koje
Slovenci, u liku aktuelne politike,
sprovode od kako su, uz pomoc Srbije,
dobili svoju drzavu i iz uloge austijskih
konjusara, preskocili veliki
vremenski period i postali "razvijeni
zapad" SFRJ. Svi mi znamo kako se to
dogodilo. Znate to i Vi. Kako su cele
fabrike iz "nerazvijene" predratne
Srbije prenosene u "Dezelu" a najbolji
inzenjeri dekretom premestani u istu
tu "Dezelu" kako bi te fabrike radile.
Sve svoje probleme resavali ste u
Beogradu - najpre u vozovima "Bratstva i
Jedinstva" a potom i pomocu visokih
politicara iz Slovenije u vrhu
FNRJ/SFRJ.
Kada ste osetili da Vam vise i nismo toliko
potrebni, osim mozda kao
trziste na kome cete plasirati svoju robu,
pozurili ste u Evropu ne pitajuci
za cenu.
Mislite li Vi da cemo tako brzo zaboraviti
nasu decu koja su, ostavljena od
svojih oficira, praznim puskama branila
gole zivote? Mislite li da cemo Vam
zaboraviti Kucana, Dolanca, Drnovseka i
ostale razbijace SFRJ ?
U toj Vasoj bivsoj drzavi nije bilo potrebno
da nekoga pitate mozete li na
otvoreno more u svet i s` kime cete
trgovati. I da li je granica na kopnu
pravilno postavljena. Sada morate da pitate
Hrvate koji, kako rekoste, nisu
dobili Jadransko more jer ga nikada nisu ni
imali. Nisu oni imali ni drzavu,
bas kao ni Vi, dok Vas Kraljevina Srbija
nije primila pod svoje skute i dok
se nije odrekla svog imena zarad
zajednicke nam drzave Jugoslavije.
I, zaista, FNRJ je oslobodilackom borbom
izvojevala i Jadransko more i
Makedoniju i Vasu "Dezelu" a posle sve to
lepo podelila administrativnim
granicama. U toj podeli ucestvovali su
Vasi velikani, poput Titovog
prijatelja Kardelja, i mnogo tupavih
srpskih politicara koji su mislili samo
na sebe.
Prica "svi Srbi u jednoj drzavi"
podrazumevala je Jugoslaviju a ne Veliku
Srbiju kako se zlonamerno govorilo. Posto
nema vise Jugoslavije, Srbi su
sada svuda osim kod Vas u "Dezeli" i
Vasoj, nekad voljenoj a nekad ne ( vec
prema potrebi ), Hrvatskoj.
Dakle, sto se nas tice, ne trebate nam ni u
prici a jos manje da dolazite u
Beograd na Konferencije o nepravilnoj
sukcesiji i tako pokusavate da
resavate svoje, a ne nase, probleme.
DALEKO VAM LEPA KUCA !
Vass put u Evropu ne moze dalje od Beca.
Tako Vam je sudjeno. Mozda vise
necete biti konjusari ali ce Vam oni, budite
sigurni, vec udeliti pravu
ulogu.
Srdacno, Bora Urosevic"

P.S. Pozdravljam odluku urednistva sajta
ARTEL sto je ispunilo zelju Zmaga
Jelincica i objavilo poziv za savetovanje.
Tako su nam pomogli da se ponovo
uverimo da se ustvari nista nije promenilo!?


---


Odgovor Zmaga Jelincica
na reakciju Bore Urosevica povodom inicijative za odrzavanje
Medjunarodne konferencije o podeli Jadranskog mora i o granicama
bivse SFRJ

/ARTEL/Izbor/Jugoslavija/ i
/ARTEL/Komentari/
Ljubljana, 01. april 2003. godine.

Postovani Bora Urosevic,

Procitao sam vas mail i razveselio se vaseg odgovora. Naime, uvjerili
ste me, da na svetu ima puno ljudi, koji samo jadikuju i kukaju zbog
proslih dogadjaja, a nista ne urade. Godine 2000, kada je NATO
bombardirao Jugoslaviju, kao jedini poslao sam pismo potpore srpskom
narodu. Iste godine dosao sam u Beograd i donio pomoc za djecu u
obliku lekova. Gdje ste bili vi?!
Moje je nacelo, da ne jadikujem, nego promjenim i borim se za stvari,
koje mi se cine nepravednim. Podjela jadranskog mora je jedna od
takvih, za koje se i u Srbiji zna, da ih treba promjeniti. Ako ste vi
zadovoljni sa obstojecom pozicijom, to je vasa stvar. Ako ne zelite,
da Srbija dobije svoj dio mora, isto tako. Samo nemojte za 10 godina
ponovno jadikovati, da je sve ovo bilo zbog nekih srpskih politicara,
nego se pitajte, sta ste uradili vi?

S postovanjem,

Zmago pl. Jelincic


=== IN ITALIANO ===


RISPOSTA di Bora Urosevic all'invito di Zmago Jelincic

per una Conferenza a Belgrado che riguardi la spartizione del Mare
Adriatico e la definizione delle frontiere amministrative della
RSFJ
[Repubblica Socialista Federativa di Jugoslavia]


Signor Jelincic,

Con il suo invito ad organizzare una conferenza a Belgrado
che riguardi la spartizione del Mare Adriatico e la
definizione delle frontiere nella RSFJ lei ha confermato il
mio (e non soltanto il mio) pensiero sulla illimitata spudorata
sfrontatezza che gli sloveni stanno usando nell'attuale politica,
da quando con l'aiuto della Serbia avevate ottenuto un proprio
Stato e dal salto di qualità che avete fatto da "stallieri" degli
austriaci diventando "l'occidente sviluppato" della RSFJ.
Tutti sappiamo come ciò è avvenuto. Lo sa anche lei.
Intere fabbriche della "sottosviluppata" Serbia di prima della
II guerra mondiale nel dopoguerra sono state trasportate nella
"Dezela" ["Patria" in sloveno, N.d.t.], ed i migliori
ingegneri per decreto trasferiti per fare funzionare queste stesse
fabbriche.
Tutti i vostri problemi li risolvevate tramite "Belgrado",
prima coi convogli ferroviari dell'"Unità e fratellanza", poi con
l'aiuto di politici sloveni al vertice governativo, prima nella RPFJ
[Repubblica Federativa Popolare di Jugoslavia] e poi con la RSFJ.

Quando avete capito che non vi siamo più necessari, eccetto
come mercato sul quale piazzare i vostri prodotti, avete preso la
corsa verso l'Europa, non chiedendo il prezzo.
Pensate voi che dimenticheremo così presto i nostri figli,
abbandonati dai propri ufficiali, che dovevano difendere la propria
vita con i fucili scarichi? [Si riferisce al 1991, quando i
territoriali sloveni attaccarono le caserme federali. Negli scontri
morirono oltre una trentina di reclute dell'Esercito jugoslavo, di
ogni nazionalita', e 2-3 territoriali sloveni, N.d.t.]
Pensate voi che vi dimenticheremo Kucan, Dolanc, Drnovsek e gli
altri secessionisti che smembrarono la RSFJ? [Tutti e tre all'epoca
alle più alte cariche governative e politiche; Kucan, presidente della
Repubblica Socialista di Slovenia e poi presidente della Slovenia
"libera", Dolanc, segretario della Lega dei Comunisti,
Drnovsek, presidente nel 1990 di turno della Presidenza
federale collegiale, N.d.t.].

In quello Stato [la RSFJ, N.d.t.] non avevate bisogno di chiedere a
nessuno il permesso per uscire sul mare aperto, o con chi commerciare.
Stesso dicasi per le frontiere terrestri stabilite. Ora dovete
domandare il permesso ai croati, che come dice lei non hanno
riottenuto il mare Adriatico, perché non lo avevano prima. Perché
nemmeno loro avevano un loro Stato, come non lo avevate voi,
fintantoché il Regno di Serbia non vi ha accolto in grembo e non ha
rinunciato al proprio nome per creare lo Stato jugoslavo [negli anni
Venti, ndT]. Ed in effetti, la RPFJ, con la lotta di Liberazione, ha
conquistato il Mare Adriatico, la Macedonia e la "Dezela", dividendosi
poi cosi "bene" nelle frontiere amministrative. Alla divisione hanno
partecipato i vostri grandi leader, come Edvard Kardelj, amico di Tito
[Kardelj era il delfino di Tito. Si pensava a lui come al successore,
N.d.t.] e molti ottusi politici serbi che pensavano soltanto a se
stessi. Il detto "tutti i serbi in uno Stato" si riferiva alla
Jugoslavia e non alla grande Serbia come con cattiveria si andava
dicendo [particolarmente dal 1990 in poi, N.d.t.]. Siccome non c'e'
più la Jugoslavia i serbi si trovano sparsi nelle ex repubbliche
jugoslave, tranne che nella vostra "dezela" e nella vostra Croazia -
amica o nemica, secondo l'opportunita' del momento.
Dunque, per quello che ci riguarda, nemmeno col pensiero e
tantomeno fisicamente ci serve di venire a Belgrado per una cosiddetta
Conferenza su di una divisione ingiusta, per così poter risovere i
vostri, e non i nostri problemi.
"Che vi sia bella la vostra casa lontana!"
Il vostro cammino verso l'Europa non può oltrepassare Vienna. Così e'
il vostro destino. Forse non sarete più stallieri ma, siatene certi,
vi troveranno un nuovo ruolo adeguato.

Distinti saluti, Bora Urosevic
Belgrado, 30 marzo 2003

P.s. Ringrazio la decisione della redazione ARTEL di aver pubblicato
l'invito per le consultazioni. Così ci hanno aiutato a constatare, di
nuovo, che niente è cambiato. (B.U.)


---


Risposta di Zmago Jelincic

Stimato Bora Urosevic,
Ho letto il suo e.mail e mi sono ralegrato della sua risposta.
Infatti mi sono convinto che nel mondo c'e' tanta gente che soltanto
si lamenta e piange sugli avvenimenti passati, non facendo niente.
Nel 2000, quando la NATO bombardava la Jugoslavia, sono stato l'unico
a mandare la lettera di sostegno al popolo serbo. Lo stesso anno sono
venuto a Belgrado portando degli aiuti per i bambini in medicinali.
Dove era lei?!
Il mio principio è di non lamentarmi ma di cambiare e lottare per le
cose che ritengo siano ingiuste.
La spartizione del Mare Adriatico è una di queste, delle quali
si sa anche in Serbia. Se lei è d'accordo con questa situazione è
affar suo. Se non vuole che la Serbia ottenga la parte sua del mare, è
lo stesso. Soltanto non venga tra 10 anni di nuovo a lamentarsi che
ciò è avvenuto a causa di alcuni politici serbi, ma si chieda che cosa
ha fatto lei.

Distinti saluti, Zmago Jelincic


---


Commento del traduttore:

Dopo le "soluzioni" della diatriba croato-slovena sulla
termocentrale nucleare di "Krsko", sullo sbocco nelle acque
internazionali, sull'accordo sulla pesca degli sloveni nel
litorale croato - che sollevò proteste tra i pescatori
croati -, dopo la proposta-choc del presidente croato Mesic
al Governo italiano per spartirsi l'Adriatico, ecco arrivare
un'altra idea da Zmago Jelincic, parlamentare sloveno di destra
(nazionalista-autonomista), per una Conferenza a Belgrado sulla
spartizione del Mare Adriatico...

A questa "botta" e' sopraggiunta l'adeguata "risposta" di Bora
Urosevic, nella quale si fa riferimento a fatti documentati e
documentabili. E' comprensibile il rammarico di chi l'ha scritta.

Da parte mia, e credo non soltanto mia, non puo' esistere un
dialogo con i quisling locali ne' con i loro seguaci, che hanno
contribuito allo squartamento della RSFJ.
Tutti costoro meritano soltanto la nostra critica ed il nostro
disprezzo, per il dramma che hanno causato impedendoci di vivere
pacificamente nello Stato multinazionale.


Ivan per il CNJ

LETTRE OUVERTE A DEUX INTELLECTUELS


L'article d'Élie Wiesel, prix Nobel de la Paix, ainsi
que la lettre du professeur Georges Leroux publiés dans
le Devoir du 25 mars suggerent plusieurs remarques.

Monsieur Wiesel déclare, a propos de la guerre contre
l'Irak, qu'en toute autre circonstance il aurait sans
doute rejoint les marcheurs de la paix. Quand on sait
que le Prix Nobel ne s'était point joint aux marcheurs
de la paix ni lors de la premiere guerre dans
le Golfe, ni dans celle qui avait déchiré la Yougoslavie,
ni dans celle d'Afghanistan, on peut se demander quel
doit etre cette autre circonstance? Curieusement, dans
toutes ces guerres, les positions d'Élie Wiesel et du
gouvernement des États-Unis coincidaient.

Aujourd'hui, Élie Wiesel affirme, encore une fois en
phase avec l'administration américaine, que Saddam Hussein
est un tyran impitoyable d'un État voyou, mais en omettant de
rappeler que les États-Unis l'avait soutenu tant qu'il
faisait la guerre contre l'Iran.
Quant au spectre des conséquences terrifiantes qu'Élie
Wiesel agite, si nous refusons d'intervenir, nous sommes
en droit de douter qu'un pays exsangue, soumis depuis une
décennie aux sanctions économiques, aux bombardements, quasi
quotidiens, et au contrôle de son armement par les Nations
Unis, puisse disposer d'armes de destruction massive.
D'ailleurs, deux semaines apres le commencement des hostilités
les troupes anglo-américaines n'en n'ont trouvé la moindre trace.

D'apres Élie Wiesel, seule une intervention militaire
avait pu mettre fin au bain du sang dans les Balkans.
Mais ne serait-il pas nécessaire de préciser que ce sont
d'abord les visées géostratégiques de l'Allemagne et des
États-Unis qui avaient provoqué le conflit dans cette
région du monde. Si on en doutait, il suffirait de relire
les journaux européens de décembre 1991 pour se rappeler que
dans la nuit du 17 au 18 décembre 1991 le ministre
allemand des affaires étrangeres Gerhard Genscher avait
arraché a Rolland Dumas, ministre des affaires étrangeres de
la France, la reconnaissance de la Slovénie et de la Croatie
par les pays européens, ce qui a mis le feu aux poudres.
L'armement de la Croatie par l'Allemagne réunifiée et des
musulmans par des avions cargo américains atterrissant la
nuits a l'aéroport de Tuzla, en dépit de l'embargo sur les
armes proclamé par les Nations Unies, sont des secrets de
polichinelle. Par la décomposition de la Yougoslavie
l'Allemagne avait réalisé son vieux reve de faire disparaître
le dernier vestige du traité de Versailles.

Pour ce qui est de la guerre en Bosnie tout se passait
comme si dans les esprits des dirigeants occidentaux ce
conflit avait offert une occasion unique de faire un deal
avec le monde islamique: concluons la paix en Israël et
en contre partie vous aurez un État musulman en Bosnie.
Dans la politique tous les accords se font sur la base
du donnant donnant, Hélene Carrere d'Encausse dixit.

Élie Wiesel croit a Colin Powell quand il dit que
Hussein dispose d'armes prohibées, car «un homme d'un
tel calibre ne risquerait pas sans raison son nom, sa
carriere, son prestige, son passé, son honneur». On ne
peut qu'admirer la crédibilité d'Élie Wiesel quand on
sait avec quelle scepticisme ont été accueillies les
preuves de Colin Powell par tous les membres du Conseil
de Sécurité a l'exception de la Grande Bretagne. Wiesel
précise aussi que Colin Powell n'aime pas la guerre, mais
on se demande alors pourquoi le secrétaire d'État continue
de faire partie de ce gouvernement qui avait décidé
d'intervenir en Irak?

En conclusion Élie Wiesel insiste sur l'existence d'un
arsenal non conventionnel de l'Irak pour justifier la
guerre, qu'il appelle par pudeur intervention. Or, apres
deux semaines de guerre, les troupes d'Alliance n'ont rien
trouvé de cet arsenal non conventionnel.

La lettre du professeur Leroux est intéressante, car
elle est le paradigme du désarroi éprouvé par un grand nombre
d'intellectuels occidentaux, qui découvrent, tardivement,
les méfaits d'une intervention militaire sans aval des
Nations Unis.

Professeur Leroux se souvient des engagements courageux
d'Élie Wiesel dans des guerres cruelles de Bosnie et de
Kosovo. On se demande de quel courage avait besoin le
prix Nobel de la paix pour exprimer les opinions conformes a
la ligne politique de la majorité des gouvernements
occidentaux et de l'opinion publique fortement travaillée
par les médiats. Un général américain n'a-t-il pas
déclaré ouvertement, dans un interview a l'hebdomadaire
Nouvel Observateur apres la guerre de Kosovo, l'opinion
publique ça se travaille?

Professeur Leroux reconnaît avoir été partisan de
l'interventions en ex-Yougoslavie sans préciser les
raisons. Ces interventions avaient été justifiées par
des prétendus massacres commis par les Serbes, or nous
disposons aujourd'hui des témoignages irrévocables
prouvant qu'au moins deux de ces massacres étaient
organisés par les musulmans d'Alia Izetbegovitch,
auteur de la fameuse Déclaration islamique qui prône
ouvertement l'incompatibilité d'un État laique avec la
charia.

Le premier de ces massacres se produisit le 27 mai 1992
devant une boulangerie de la rue Vasa Miskin a Sarajevo
et fit dix-sept morts et cent cinquante blessés. Il eut pour
conséquence des sanctions contre la Yougoslavie qui durerent,
avec une courte interruption, presque huit ans. Le général
canadien Lewis MacKenzie, le premier commandant des troupes
des Nations Unies a Sarajevo et de ce fait témoin privilégié,
écrit a ce propos dans son livre The road to Sarajevo :

« La présidence bosniaque dénonce un bombardement
serbe. Les Serbes parlent d'une charge explosive préparée a
l'avance. Nos soldats (les Canadiens) disent qu'il y a un certain
nombre de détails qui ne collent pas. La rue a été bloquée
juste avant l'incident. Une fois la file d'attente formée,
les médiats bosniaques ont fait leur apparition, mais sont
restés a distance avant de se ruer sur les lieux sitôt l'attaque
terminée ».

On pourrait ajouter également que la deuxieme intervention
militaire contre les Serbes de Bosnie s'était produite
suite a un massacre commis prétendument par les Serbes.
D'apres Le Nouvel Observateur du 31 aout 1995, Édouard
Balladur, premier ministre français a l'époque, et les
généraux français savaient tres bien que le massacre de
Markalé n'était pas l'ouvre des Serbes. Tous les membres
de l'Otan le savaient donc aussi, ce qui ne les a pas
empeché de bombarder les Serbes pour faire sortire l'Otan
de ses atermoiements. Donc les Serbes ont été bombardés pour
raison de commodité. Il est intéressant de remarquer que
Édouard Balladur n'a jamais démentit ses propos, mais on
doit lui rendre hommage, car il fut un des rares qui a eu
le courage de reconnaître ouvertement:

Nul ne le conteste: pour gouverner, il arrive qu'il
faille recourir a des procédés qui ont peu a voir avec
la morale courante (Les mots de politiques, Éditions Ramsay)

Le bombardement de la Yougoslavie en 1999 par les forces de
l'Otan a été justifié par le prétendu massacre de Ratchak.
Or, la commission des médecins légiste finlandais du docteur
Ranta n'a jamais confirmé qu'il s'agissait d'un massacre.
Tous ces faits et bien d'autres furent connus a l'époque
et on s'étonne que le professeur Leroux ait pu soutenir en
ce temps une intervention armée contre les Serbes, sans
avale des Nations Unies. Qu'il plaide maintenant pour la
raison et condamne une action unilatérale des États
Unis en Irak sans consentement des Nations Unies ne peut que
nous rendre perplexe. Pourquoi aujourd'hui et pas hier?
Pourquoi deux poids deux mesures? Remarquons que la
contradiction dans laquelle s'est enfermé professeur
Leroux est aussi celle de nombreux intellectuels français.


Négovan Rajic
negovan.rajic@...

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

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

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

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

(Zyuganov: Stop the repression in Serbia! 31/3/2003
For this document in english go to:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2419 )


FERMATE LA REPRESSIONE IN SERBIA!
Dichiarazione di G.A. Zjuganov, presidente dell'Unione Popolare
Patriottica di Russia
www.kprf.ru =

31 marzo 2003

Dopo l'assassinio del primo ministro Djindjic, in Serbia è stato
dichiarato lo stato di emergenza. E' chiaro che ciò rappresenta un
affare interno delle autorità di ciascun paese, che hanno il diritto
di decidere come reagire ad ogni situazione concreta. Però, diversi
segnali mostrano che lo stato di emergenza viene usato prima di tutto
per scopi politici. Si può far notare che la Serbia non vive nel caos
e neppure in uno stato di disobbedienza civile. La legge e l'ordine
vengono rispettati. Non esiste alcun pericolo proveniente
dall'esterno. Le indagini sull'assassinio proseguono senza ostacoli. E
allora che senso ha l'imposizione dello stato di emergenza?
In tal modo la libertà di stampa è stata drasticamente limitata.
Vengono proibiti i raduni, le assemblee e gli scioperi. Le azioni
delle autorità fuoriescono dall'ambito delle indagini e della lotta
contro la criminalità. La polizia ha ottenuto il diritto di effettuare
perquisizioni e arresti arbitrari, di intercettare le conversazioni
telefoniche, di violare la segretezza della corrispondenza. Più di
duemila persone sono state arrestate. Violando gravemente la legge,
sono stati costretti alle dimissioni 35 giudici. E' in corso
un'energica "purga" negli organi di sicurezza. Quale connessione
possono avere queste misure semplicemente repressive con la ricerca
degli assassini? Si è generata l'impressione che, dietro la copertura
della caccia agli organizzatori dell'assassinio di Djindjic, le
autorità della Serbia nascondano in realtà una resa dei conti con i
propri avversari personali e politici, ed abbiano l'intenzione di
stroncare ogni opposizione.
Sono stati tratti in arresto i leader della campagna in difesa di
Slobodan Milosevic, Bogoljub Bjelica, Uros Suvakovic e Goran Matic.
Minacce e pressioni vengono esercitate su membri della famiglia di
S.Milosevic. E' chiaro che questa "caccia alle streghe", gli arresti
di persone direttamente coinvolte nella difesa del presidente
Milosevic contro accuse rivelatesi false, sono dirette a salvare la
farsa giudiziaria dell'Aia, che rischia di andare incontro ad un
fiasco totale.
I paesi occidentali, che sostengono di avere a cuore la "democrazia",
ignorano completamente che in Serbia le libertà civili sono seriamente
minacciate.
L'Unione Popolare Patriottica di Russia condanna l'uso dello stato di
emergenza in Serbia che ha lo scopo di terrorizzare gli oppositori
politici dell'attuale regime e rivolge un invito al governo della
Serbia perché siano ripristinate quanto prima possibile le libertà
civili essenziali.
Siamo intenzionati anche a sollevare il problema della repressione
politica in Serbia nel corso della prossima sessione dell'Assemblea
parlamentare del Consiglio d'Europa.

FERMATE LA REPRESSIONE POLITICA IN SERBIA!

FERMATE L'ODIOSA CAMPAGNA CONTRO IL PRESIDENTE MILOSEVIC, LA SUA
FAMIGLIA E I SUOI COLLABORATORI!

LIBERATE BOGOLJUB BJELICA E GLI ALTRI PRIGIONIERI POLITICI!

31 marzo 2003

Traduzione dal russo
di Mauro Gemma

http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200304_419_5_eng.txt

German Media Giant Dominates Balkans

Massive investment by a German publisher is revolutionising media in
the Balkans, but opinion is divided over the merits of the
transformation.

By Julie Poucher Harbin in Vienna and Sarajevo, Elena Yoncheva in
Bulgaria, Vera Didanovic in Serbia, and Drago Hedl in Croatia (BCR No
419, 01-04-03)

Germany's WAZ media group is pumping millions of dollars into former
state newspapers in Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia, giving ailing
titles a new lease of life. Yet there are fears the takeovers could
lead to a suffocating monopoly, concentrating media in the hands of a
few powerful businessmen.

The opening up of media to western investors in the early and mid-
1990s offered a fresh start to many papers in eastern and south-
eastern Europe. Unprecedented levels of investment and exciting new
formats seemed a sure-fire way of making them more competitive and
attracting a new readership. But have these hopes been justified? Or
has western ownership of large sections of the press come at too high
a price?

Many western countries have experienced the downside of having too
few owners in control of too many newspapers. This must be a
particular worry in the Balkans, where an absolute state monopoly
over the press is still very recent. Papers are generally on a weak
commercial footing, and the regulatory environment is still nascent.

The press is an important opinion-former in the Balkans, but
historically it has been very vulnerable to political pressure. As
wealthy foreign media companies move in to buy up leading titles,
many fear that one form of monopoly ownership and political bias
could simply be replaced by another - that of big business.

There are concerns that smaller players will be driven out of the
market, and that with them will go true pluralism of expression.
Editorial freedom may be curbed as much by the demand to "dumb down"
as by overt political pressures.

In this special report, IWPR looks at how one of the major players
now in the Balkans, Germany's WAZ media group, has operated in three
countries. We have taken Bulgaria, Croatia and Yugoslavia (now Serbia
and Montenegro) as our examples, because media development has moved
at a different pace in each country despite many common concerns. Of
the three, Bulgaria has the longest experience of WAZ involvement in
the press, while for Serbia it is still a novelty.

THE RISE OF WAZ

WAZ is a German media giant built on the success of the Essen paper
Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, from which it takes its initials.
The media group already published a wide range of daily papers and
magazines across Germany, Austria and Hungary before it went into
south-east Europe in 1996.

Since that time, it has become the unchallenged leader among foreign
media investors. Pumping millions of euro into publishing houses and
printing plants in the region since the mid-90s, WAZ owns an
additional 13 papers and numerous magazines in Bulgaria, Croatia,
Yugoslavia and Romania.

A few figures should suffice to show the scale of WAZ's conquests. In
Bulgaria it controls a third of print publications and nearly half
the print advertising market. In Croatia the group, together with its
local partner, have between one third and one half of the daily paper
and magazine market respectively.

In Serbia it owns half of the major publishing house that puts out
the prominent Belgrade daily Politika. With investments on the cards
in Montenegro and northern Serbia, it is only the beginning of their
expansion plans there.

Add to this the majority stake that WAZ has obtained in two leading
Romanian papers, National and Romania Libera, since 2001, and you
begin to get the picture.

And it is not over yet. In an interview for IWPR, Dr Markus Beermann,
who is in charge of WAZ's operations outside Germany, said his firm
is looking forward to a boom in the print market all across south-
east Europe. "It has been an enormous challenge for us investing in
the Balkans," he said. "But we are sure we are on the right track."

UNSTOPPABLE?

In the tough economic aftermath of communism and civil war in the
Balkans, the group's huge budget gave it virtually a free hand to buy
up major papers and spruce up both their look and their content with
the help of better journalists attracted by higher wages.
Refurbishing obsolete printing presses allows the Germans to slash
production and distribution costs.

Such economic clout has naturally given rise to concerns that across
the region, WAZ is seeking a monopoly over papers, distribution
systems and advertising revenue. A trade union representative of the
group's German workforce put it bluntly:

"WAZ is almost unstoppable," Horst Leroi warned a trade union seminar
held in Zagreb in 2001. "Wherever it goes, it buys more and more,
taking over newspapers, printing firms and distribution networks,
destroying the competition or merging with it. Then it rationalises
and creates publishing and marketing pools. And wherever possible the
number of employees is reduced. Everything is directed towards one
single goal: maximum profits."

There's some evidence to support this harsh view. Take Bulgaria,
where the group has had more time to establish itself as dominant
player than in Croatia or Serbia.

BULGARIA: AGGRESSIVE BUSINESS, TIMID REGULATION

WAZ first entered the Bulgarian market in 1996. Two years later, it
owned the country's biggest dailies and controlled three-quarters of
the print media market, with shares valued at 50 million euro. Its
subsidiary, WAZ Media Group Bulgaria, owned the Media Holding
company, which publishes the biggest circulation daily, Trud, as well
as another publishing group, Press Group 168 Hours, that prints the
popular daily 24 Chasa and the weekly 168 Chasa.

This sweeping success did not go unnoticed by the authorities. In
1999, Bulgaria's anti-monopoly agency, the Committee for the
Protection of Competition, CPC, decided that WAZ had breached
legislation prohibiting ownership of more than 35 per cent of the
country's media by any one firm. As a result, the group was forced to
divest itself of most of its shares in Media Holding. It sold 65 per
cent to Bulgarian, Austrian and Swiss investors, and held on to 35
per cent.

The redistribution apparently brought the Germans back within the
law. That's certainly the way the CPC sees it. Its chairman, Nikolay
Pavlov, told IWPR in an interview that WAZ no longer has an ownership
monopoly. Its share of the market is now somewhere between 30 and 37
per cent, he said. He also said the group no longer has an
advertising monopoly - a view which contrasts sharply with his
commission's 1999 ruling that WAZ controlled 70 per cent of the print
advertising market.

Dr Beermann, too, rejects any talk of a monopoly. "The WAZ Group
holds an important share in the print media market, but is far away
from keeping a dominant position," he said. "Over and above that, the
print titles of our subsidiary company in Bulgaria are in keen
competition with each other."

This view is not shared by all Bulgarians. There is still a
perception that the biggest papers are in German hands, that WAZ
continues to monopolise print and advertising, and that, as a result,
independents cannot compete. This is borne out by the fact that WAZ
Media Group Bulgaria still fully owns Press Group 168 Hours and the
Exprint printing house, which prints all WAZ publications, including
24 Chasa and Trud.

Even if it does not technically have a monopoly, WAZ is still accused
by its critics of trying to squeeze rival publications out of the
market. In Bulgaria it distributes its papers on a sale-or-return
basis. Distributors thus tend to order more papers from the German
publisher and less from its competitors, who do not have a sale-or-
return policy and charge retailers the full amount however many they
sell. Add to that the fact that WAZ papers cost less, and it is easy
to see why Georgy Gotev of the low circulation Sega daily thinks the
group's sales policy could spell disaster for publications like his.

"They could destroy us very soon. We will disappear," Gotev told
IWPR.

But not all the blame is directed at WAZ itself. Some say that after
its initial tough stance, the CPC went soft on tackling WAZ's hold
over print media.

"We do not accuse WAZ, which is just doing its business," says Vesela
Vaceva, who heads BAREM, an association of local papers. "We accuse
the CPC, which allows this monopoly in the press."

This view is echoed by Radostina Konstantinova, deputy editor of
Monitor, one of the major competitors of leading WAZ titles.

"It is true that the WAZ monopoly is killing the Bulgarian press,"
she told IWPR. "We can't do anything in this situation, because the
only institution which could stop this monopoly, the CPC, is not
reliable."

CROATIA: CONTACTS OVER COMPETITION

As in Bulgaria, so also in Croatia WAZ appears to have come close to
an effective monopoly over the national press. The group's joint
venture with Croatia's Europa Press Holding, EPH, is today the
leading newspaper and magazine publisher.

Croatia was a natural target for WAZ investment, with a relatively
advanced economy already closely tied into German markets. In 1998,
WAZ spent 16 million euros acquiring 50 per cent ownership in EPH. At
the time, EPH already owned and published the daily Jutarnji List,
the weeklies Globus, Glorija, Arena, Mila and Auto Klub, and the
profitable Croatian editions of Cosmopolitan, Playboy and OK.

Analysts say that despite this impressive portfolio, EPH needed the
merger to obtain an injection of cash to support the ailing Jutarnji
List. That investment seems to have worked; today, Jutarnji List is
the country's second highest selling daily (after Vecernji List,
which is owned by Austria's Styria media group rather than WAZ).

And that is only one paper; across the entire Croatian market,
EPH/WAZ is a powerhouse, holding a 35 per cent share of the daily
newspaper market and 46 per cent of the magazine market, according to
WAZ officials.

Although the limit for market share is set at 30 per cent in Croatia,
the government body charged with safeguarding fair competition, the
Agency for Protection of Market Competition, has not stepped in thus
far.

Mladen Cerovac, the agency's deputy chief, told IWPR that though
EPH/WAZ controls more than 30 per cent of the print market, they are
not breaking the law, because they have not "abused their dominant
position".

The agency's powers are limited, and it can act only to prevent abuse
of monopolies, rather than the monopoly itself. It says it has not
seen evidence that EPH/WAZ is acting unfairly towards the
competition.

SERBIA: POLITICIANS AND PUBLISHERS

WAZ's entry into the Serbian market was fairly dramatic: it bought 50
per cent of the Politika publishing house, which owned Politika, a
leading paper - and one-time mouthpiece of Slobodan Milosevic - as
well as two other dailies, 14 magazines and printing and distribution
systems. The deal, concluded in March 2002, cost WAZ 12.5 million
euro.

But there were immediate questions in the press about why it had
risked so much money investing in a set of low-circulation
publications from which short-term profits were unlikely given the
depressed state of the economy. According to one estimate (cited in
Der Spiegel in August 2002) the new venture, called Politika
Newspapers and Magazines, has debts of 100 million euro.

Darko Ribnikar, editor-in-chief of Politika Newspapers and Magazines,
acknowledges that the company was not in great shape at the time of
the deal.

"During the Milosevic regime, we lost a lot of our reputation, so
they took a certain risk in taking on a company which had lots of
employees, was technologically backward, used old machinery, and had
a tarnished reputation."

It is widely believed that the late Serbian prime minister, Zoran
Djindjic, was instrumental in brokering the deal.

Djindjic had been on good terms with WAZ's managing director, Bodo
Hombach, dating back to the days when he was in the Serbian
opposition, and Hombach was co-ordinator of the Stability Pact for
South Eastern Europe.

There was widespread speculation in the Serbian press that once it
was no longer under Milosevic's grip, Politika was seen as a
potential political vehicle by the new Serbian premier - and that he
encouraged his friends at WAZ to help him get control of it.
Supporters of this view point to the rather timely appointment of
Nenad Stefanovic, formerly PR chief for Djindic's Democratic Party,
to a senior position at Politika shortly before the deal was
concluded.

The Germans categorically rejected these allegations. Hombach and
another WAZ director, Erich Schumann, put out a press statement in
June 2002 saying, "We deny the rumours alleging secret negotiations
with top Serbian officials." The decision was "not influenced by any
interest group whatsoever," the statement said.

"The claims against Mr Hombach, the director of WAZ, are also untrue
and fabricated, and this can be easily proved. We reiterate that WAZ
is an independent, non-partisan media company whose decisions are
guided exclusively by economic and publishing criteria."

Hombach turned down IWPR's offer of an interview, but Politika's
Darko Ribnikar defended him vigorously when IWPR raised these charges
with him.

"There's nothing wrong with Mr Djindjic and Mr Hombach being friends,
but that has nothing to do with it," Ribnikar said. "Djindjic's role
was simply that he brought all the chief editors to a meeting with
the German businessmen, and it turned out that we found common ground
with WAZ."

WAZ has yet to turn the business round and make money on its Serbian
acquisitions. It is early days yet, and unusually, the new management
at Politika Newspapers and Magazines has not tried to improve the
bottom line by slashing jobs, even though they recognise that the
firm is overstaffed. Nor have they axed Politika's weaker stable-
mates, opting instead to resuscitate some ailing titles.

Despite its problems, Politika itself remains the most important
Serbian daily. By October 2003, its circulation had recovered to
about 150,000, a significant increase on the end of the Milosevic
era, when it had sunk to 100,000, but still well down on the 250,000
enjoyed in earlier years.

"We have got back the respect and confidence of the readers,"
Ribnikar told IWPR. "People trust us again."

Without waiting for Politika to turn a profit, WAZ is moving ahead
with expansion plans, especially outside the capital. The group is
close to tying up deals with the publishers of the Montenegrin daily
Vijesti and the Novi Sad paper Dnevnik.

REGIONAL COVERAGE

All this suggests a repetition of the pattern in Bulgaria, which has
seen rapid growth of WAZ's influence in the regions.

"WAZ is making the media market more competitive, but they represent
a real danger for the local press," said Milen Valkov, who heads the
Union of Journalists in Bulgaria.

New regional editions of Trud and 24 Chasa in Bulgaria are selling at
prices that match or undercut their rivals, and are capturing most of
the regional advertising revenue. Editors of rival papers claim this
amounts to a death sentence.

Tzvetan Todorov, editor of the Lovech paper Naroden Glas,
explained, "It is impossible to edit a normal newspaper in an
abnormal market environment. WAZ's dumping prices are killing our
chance to get advertisements."

In January 2003, WAZ Media Group Bulgaria completed a new print house
in Varna, which will print local editions of its main papers. Spas
Spasov, in charge of advertising at the Varna daily Narodno Delo,
doesn't know how his paper will compete.

"We can barely survive because of WAZ's print monopoly," Spasov
says, "but the biggest threat to us is the monopoly over the
advertising market."

Hary Kasabov, the chief editor of Cherno More, is not so pessimistic,
but is still wary of WAZ's cost-cutting tactics.

"I am not afraid of WAZ competition here in Varna because we are
still the news leaders," he says, "but this month we had to drop the
price of our newspaper by 25 per cent."

Meanwhile, 30 local papers have formed an association called BAREM to
combat the trend. Its head, Vesela Vaceva, said, "Our goal is not
just to withstand the WAZ monopoly, but to withstand all possible
future monopolies in the media."

COMMERCE AND CONTENT

Public opposition to the relentless advance of WAZ is muted by the
fact that it has injected so much money into the cash-strapped
Bulgarian media sector. Between 1996 and 2000, WAZ investments in
Bulgaria totalled around 50 million euro, and it expects to invest
another 30 million in new technology, new magazines and better
working conditions for staff.

Journalists working for the group's papers have no complaints either.
They are paid up to 30 per cent more than elsewhere.

WAZ journalists also say the new management, and the economic
stability it brings, make for less intrusion into editorial
independence. As Violeta Simeonova, political analyst for 24 Chasa,
told IWPR, "I think the chief editors are less tempted to make up
their own private policies. There are fewer political directives."

Speaking about WAZ's operations in the Balkans as a whole, Dr
Beermann told IWPR that the firm is confident editorial content is of
a "good standard" and that its staff are fully aware of "serious
journalistic principles based on journalistic freedom".

An expert on media in the Balkans, Oliver Money-Kyrle, who is Project
Director for the International Federation of Journalists, agrees-up
to a point.

"In the past, one always talked about interference, censorship,
either through the government or by local press barons, who had
strong political interests or strong business interests that would
heavily influence the editorial policy of their media for their own
political or business ends," he told IWPR. "Clearly if you have
foreign media ownership, that pressure is relieved from the
journalists."

But Money-Kyrle says journalists in Bulgaria do face hidden
pressures, "Because of the weaker civil society and because of the
weaker journalist organizations, there's less pressure on the media
owners to maintain the quality of the journalism. It becomes a purely
commercial venture."

Some readers and parts of the media in the Balkans believe WAZ is
guilty of "dumbing down". It is one thing to give somewhat tired
publications a more colourful and modern look, say these critics, but
quite another to lower journalistic standards and introduce a staple
diet of sensationalism and sleaze, all in the name of profit.

One journalist from 24 Chasa, who asked IWPR not to use his name,
said, "We're prepared to print anything that attracts attention.
First, we started with naked women, although we're supposed to be a
serious newspaper. Then, we started to print sensationalist stories,
many of which are not proven.

"We are publishing too many crime stories and human interest stories,
but not serious analysis. We are told nobody wants to read them."

So what do the readers think? Architect Georgi Hadjinikolov buys both
Trud and 24 Chasa because he follows politics. But he's critical of
both of them.

"Most of the information they carry is totally superficial," he
said, "and there is a shortage of serious analysis."

Judging from the people IWPR spoke to in Serbia, the overall verdict
seems more positive. After all, almost anything would be an
improvement on the Milosevic years. With the end of overt political
control, Politika's writers have greater editorial freedom. Add to
that the improved look of the paper, and you have a winning formula.

Nikola Cubrilo is a loyal supporter of Politika, and never stopped
buying it in the Milosevic years, but "since the German money came,
it looks much better - I like it."

"No other daily in Serbia compares with Politika," she says. "It's
serious and professional."

Unlike Cubrilo, Marija Zivancevic did abandon the paper when the
propaganda got too much for her, but she started buying it again
after Milosevic fell.

"Since then it's been looking better every day," she said.

POWER IN A VACUUM

Whatever its critics say, it is clear that WAZ has been a breath of
fresh air for its Serbian press partners. But it is likely that rival
newspapers - which are just as keen to develop as vigorous
independent media - will find their very existence threatened by
WAZ's economic might and its hard-nosed sales policies, as seems to
be happening in Bulgaria.

These countries don't have the luxuries of healthy economies and
tough legislation, which in western Europe help offset the worst
excesses of anti-competitive business practice.

People in the region are sensitive to issues of media control and
ownership. Some fear that the press revolution that has allowed so
many independent voices to be heard may also bring monopolies, which
curb this diversity.

Julie Poucher Harbin is a freelance journalist in Sarajevo. Elena
Yoncheva is a prominent television journalist in Bulgaria. Vera
Didanovic is a journalist with the Belgrade weekly magazine Vreme.
Drago Hedl is a journalist for the weekly Feral Tribune in Split,
Croatia.



[Note: IWPR is an anti-Yugoslav report service financed by Western
fundations and institutions. CNJ]

Subject: Delegate della Zastava a Trieste e a Brescia
Date: Mon, 07 Apr 2003 15:19:06 +0200
From: Gilberto Vlaic


Carissime tutte, carissimi tutti,

Vi comunico che due delegate dell'ufficio internazionale adozioni del
sindacato della Zastava di Kragujevac saranno in Italia questa
settimana e precisamente a Brescia e a Trieste.

A Trieste si terra' un'assemblea pubblica a poi una cena di
solidarieta' il giorno 12 aprile (sabato prossimo) alle ore 16.

Per quelle/i di voi che gravitano nell'area milanese invece
l'appuntamento e' a Brescia il giovedi' 10 aprile alle ore 17.



=== BRESCIA 10 APRILE ===


A S S O C I A Z I O N E Z A S T A V A
P E R L A S O L I D A R I E T A'
I N T E R N A Z I O N A L E - B R E S C I A
O N L U S -
c/o Camera del Lavoro Territoriale, via Folonari nr. 20
25100 BRESCIA
INFO 030.2584282 / 030.2703114
www.zastavabrescia.cjb.net - zastavabrescia@...


A TUTTI GLI ADERENTI AL PROGRAMMA DI ADOZIONI A DISTANZA DEI
BAMBINI FIGLI DEI LAVORATORI DELLA ZASTAVA DI KRAGUJEVAC.

A TUTTI I SOSTENITORI DELLA SOLIDARIETA' TRA I POPOLI.


Carissimi,

nonostante il grande impegno di decine di milioni di
uomini di tutte le parti della Terra che hanno elevato il loro grido
di " NO ALLA GUERRA " e che continuano a rivendicare un mondo di
" PACE ", i grandi interessi di chi vuole imporre su tutto il pianeta
il proprio dominio, hanno per il momento prevalso.
Ma noi non ci dobbiamo sentire sconfitti. Adesso più di
prima dobbiamo gridare forte per dire " BASTA GUERRA " e per portare
immediatamente aiuto alle centinaia di migliaia di esseri umani che
devono sopravvivere alle distruzioni, alla fame e alle malattie
causate dalla guerra, dobbiamo gridare forte per pretendere il
ripristino della legalità internazionale sconvolta dalla barbarie e
dalla violenza di chi ha voluto a tutti i costi questa aggressione.

La nostra Associazione, che da sempre si trova
impegnata sul fronte della opposizione alla guerra, per un mondo di
pace e giustizia, vuole dare un contributo concreto a questa lotta,
organizzando, insieme con la Camera del Lavoro di Brescia, un
incontro pubblico al quale parteciperanno due militanti del sindacato
Zastava di Kragujevac, due donne coraggiose che fin dall' aggressione
Nato di quattro anni fa alla Jugoslavia, si trovano in prima fila
nella lotta contro la liquidazione della fabbrica e nella
organizzazione delle attività di solidarietà, fungendo da connessione
essenziale tra le famiglie dei lavoratori più bisognosi e tutti i
gruppi e le associazioni italiane e internazionali che hanno in atto
programmi di solidarietà. L' assemblea, aperta a tutti, vedrà la
partecipazione di sindacalisti e delegati di tutte le categorie e
aziende che si sono attivate per andare in aiuto ai lavoratori
jugoslavi. Essa si svolgerà:


GIOVEDI 10 APRILE 2003 ORE
17

SALONE BUOZZI DELLA CAMERA DEL LAVORO DI BRESCIA

VIA F.LLI FOLONARI, NR. 20


PARTECIPERANNO ALL' INCONTRO


RAJKA VELJOVIC e MILIJA SAKOVIC
Rappresentanti dell' Ufficio Internazionale
del Sindacato Zastava di Kragujevac



=== TRIESTE 12 APRILE ===



Oggi cascano bombe preventive e liberatorie,
ieri erano umanitarie?

Sulle macerie del muro di Berlino si parlava di pace e di progresso.
Invece in tutti questi anni abbiamo visto solamente un crescendo di
guerre e di miserie: dall'Iraq all'Afghanistan alla Palestina per
tornare all'Iraq ... passando sempre per la Jugoslavia?


Testimonianze da un popolo bombardato

Incontro con:
Rajka Veljovic e Milijanka Sakovic

del Sindacato
JEDINSTVENA SINDIKALNA ORGANIZACIJA
della fabbrica Zastava di Kragujevac, Jugoslavia
bombardata dalla NATO nell'aprile 1999

sabato 12 aprile 2003 ore 16
Trieste Via Tarabochia 3

A seguire, alle ore 20.30
Cena di solidarieta'
Alla casa del popolo di Sottolongera, Via Masaccio 12, TS
Per la cena (15 euro) prenotare al numero 040572114


Organizzano:
Gruppo ZASTAVA Triestre - zastavatrieste@...
PRC Federazione di Trieste

--- In Ova adresa el. pošte je zaštićena od spambotova. Omogućite JavaScript da biste je videli., "GORA2" ha scritto:



Il piano inclinato del capitale
Crisi, competizione globale e guerre



Roma, 12-13 aprile, ore 9,30
Hotel Universo

(Via Principe Amedeo, staz. Termini)



Forum Internazionale


Prima sessione: Crisi di accumulazione e imperialismo

Relazioni di:
Alan Freeman (università di Greenwich/Londra)
Guglielmo Carchedi (università di Amsterdam)

Seconda sessione: Dalla globalizzazione alla competizione globale

Relazioni di:
Enrike Galarza (università di Irunea - Pamplona)
Marcos Costa Lima (università di Recife)

Terza sessione: La guerra preventiva. Il "Mein Kampf" di Bush

Relazioni di:
Vladimiro Giacché (economista)
Joseph Halevi (università di Sidney)



Interventi :

Andrea Catone, Maurizio Galvani, Giorgio Gattei, Domenico Losurdo,
Alessandro Mazzone, Marco Melotti, Enzo Modugno, Luciano Vasapollo



Comunicazioni:

Georgy Cipras, Maurizio Donato, Sergio Manes,Vincenzo Miliucci,
Gianfranco Pala, Osvaldo Pesce, James Petras, Hugo Ramos, Roberto
Sidoli, Fausto Sorini, Sven Tarp.



I lavori del pomeriggio di sabato verranno probabilmente sospesi per
consentire la partecipazione alla manifestazione nazionale contro la
guerra



RETE DEI COMUNISTI



Per informazioni e adesioni: cpiano@...

Tel. 06/4394750 Fax. 06/4394768


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