Informazione
CIUDAD SIN DIOS
I INTRODUCCIÓN .................................................................................................................. 1
II SREBRENICA: ¿QUIEN, COMO, CUANDO, POR QUE? ................................................................ 3
¿Quién la necesitaba? ................................................................. 3
¿Cómo ocurrió todo? ................................................................... 5
Continuo baile de números no es más que otro disparo al corazón de las víctimas ....... 7
¿Quién determina la causa de la muerte de los cuerpos exhumados en zona de Srebrenica?
...................................................................................... 8
¿Quién ha sido condenado hasta ahora? ................................................. 9
III ELLOS ESTUVIERON ALLÍ ................................................................................................... 10
Un genocidio virtual: las mentiras y los juegos mediáticos ........................... 10
“Muyahidines cortaban las cabezas” ................................................... 15
IV LOS MEDIOS REINVENTAN LA HISTORIA ............................................................................. 17
La prueba que falta .................................................................. 17
Capitulo XIV ......................................................................... 23
Falta de censo permite juegos macabros con los muertos ............................... 25
V PROYECTO HISTÓRICO SREBRENICA .................................................................................. 27
Pruebas, contexto y política ......................................................... 28
Mentiras de Erdemović - oportunidad de Karadžić ...................................... 34
¿Por qué el asesinato de 8000 argentinos les convierte en víctimas de segunda y no se
considera un genocidio? .............................................................. 36
Entrevista con Stephan Karganovich ................................................... 39
VI JUICIOS ........................................................................................................................... 48
Naser Ori, otro criminal en libertad ................................................ 48
CIJ: Serbia inocente ¿y ahora qué? ................................................... 49
Aniversario de Srebrenica ............................................................ 51
El arresto del general Mladić y derecho internacional ................................ 54
VII TESTIGO CLAVE ................................................................................................................ 58
Srebrenica – testigo clave en La Haya ................................................ 59
La historia de Dražen Erdemović ...................................................... 63
Fechas clave ......................................................................... 67
El “testigo clave” en el proceso contra Karadžić ..................................... 69
El caso de D. Erdemović y la verdad oculta sobre Srebrenica .......................... 74
VIII LA DECLARACIÓN DEL PARLAMENTO SERBIO SOBRE SREBRENICA ........................................ 80
Gobierno de Tadić se disculpa a los musulmanes bosnios ............................... 80
Srebrenica: declaración sin reconciliación ........................................... 81
IX CIUDAD TRAICIONADA ...................................................................................................... 86
Srebrenica desde Noruega ............................................................. 87
Srebrenica: ciudad traicionada (Ole Flyum) ........................................... 89
X OTROS HAN ESCRITO ........................................................................................................ 92
La cancamusa serbia y el periodismo piltrafa ......................................... 92
Los condenados (juzgados) de La Haya ................................................. 94
Srebrenica, Cataluña y amantes del falso paralelismo ................................. 97
Srebrenica, la historia “ocultada” ................................................... 99
XI ALGUNOS APUNTES PARA RECORDAR ............................................................................... 103
http://www.semanarioserbio.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4435
SREBRENICA HISTORICAL PROJECT
Postbus 90471,
2509LL
Den Haag, The Netherlands
+31 64 878 09078 (Holland)
+381 64 403 3612 (Serbia)
E-mail: srebrenica.historical.project@...
Web site: www.srebrenica-project.com
____________________________________________
ICTY Exaggerates Number of Prisoners Captured by Bosnian-Serbs in Srebrenica Operation
[If our associate Andy Wilcoxson is correct in his critical assessment of the evidence at the disposal of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia regarding the number of Muslims captured by Serbian forces in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Srebrenica on 11 July 1995, the implications are staggering. To name just two. First, since Mr. Wilcoxson argues from the logical premise that the Serbs could not have executed more prisoners than they had in their custody, his analysis would tend to show that the maximum number of victims of illegal executions could not have exceeded half the claimed figure of 7.000 to 8.000. Second, that the judges of the Hague Tribunal probably did not even bother to critically read their own evidence before issuing factual conclusions that were at variance with it, as demanded by the Prosecution.
With regard to the first implication, it should be noted that from it there does not follow the automatic conclusion that even that many persons were executed. It only means that about 3.500 is the maximum number of executed persons that the evidence presented to the judges will support. It is still up to the judges to carefully review that evidence and arrive at a figure that is credible. But one thing is certain. It is mathematically impossible for the number of executed prisoners to be greater than the number of prisoners that were captured.
The second implication is very disturbing. Viewed in the light most favorable to the judges and to the institution which employs them, it suggests that they are incompetent, lazy, and unfit for the position to which they were appointed. From a more critical perspective, it could also be said of the judges that they are obliged n’importe quoi to confirm in their verdicts conclusions that go beyond the evidence but which are mandated politically. There is a precedent that supports this view. Dr Ljubiša Simić’s meticulous analysis of the 3.568 Srebrenica autopsy reports prepared by forensic experts of the Office of the Prosecutor, who conducted on site exhumations between 1996 and 2001, demonstrated that the factual conclusions reached by various ICTY Chambers, that supposedly were based on that evidence, also were completely gratuitous and unsupported by the underlying data. That brings us back to the same dichotomy of possibilities. Either the Chambers acted incompetently, or they acted in bad faith and deliberately ignored and/or misrepresented evidence that was incompatible with the factual conclusions that it was expected of them to draw.
Whichever explanation we choose, the result is shocking. We extend our gratitude to Mr. Wilcoxson for his seminal analysis of this key unresolved aspect of Srebrenica. It removes another major prop from under the mythological account of these events.]
By Andy Wilcoxson
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) claims that Bosnian-Serb forces captured and executed up to 7,826 Bosnian-Muslim prisoners when the Srebrenica enclave collapsed in July of 1995.[1]
This paper will expose the flaw in that thesis by demonstrating that the ICTY significantly over-estimates the number of prisoners captured by Bosnian-Serb forces in the Srebrenica operation, particularly with respect to the number of prisoners captured and detained at two sites: the Sandici Meadow and the Nova Kasaba football field.
General Overview of Where and When the Prisoners Were Captured
Bosnian-Serb forces captured prisoners from two groups of people when the Srebrenica enclave fell. They captured men from among refugees gathered at Potocari on July 12-13, and from July 12ththrough the 17th they captured Bosnian-Muslim men from a column of men that set out from the enclave on July 11th and 12th and crossed Bosnian-Serb territory to Tuzla.
The vast majority of people captured from the column were captured on July 12th and 13th as they attempted to cross the Bratunac – Konjevic Polje – Milici Road. These prisoners were detained at two main sites: the Sandici meadow and a football field in Nova Kasaba.
Smaller groups were captured at Konjevic Polje, Jadar River, Luke School, and in the general area around Burnice, Sandici, Kamenica, Krajinovici and Mratinci all the way until the 17th of July.
Most of the prisoners captured in Potocari and along the Bratunac – Konjevic Polje – Milici Road were sent to Bratunac on July 12-13, and from the morning of July 14 onwards most were sent north to the Zvornik region and murdered at various execution sites like Orahovac, Petkovci Dam, Pilica School, Branjevo Military Farm, Pilica Cultural Center, Kozluk, etc...
Obviously, it goes without saying that executing unarmed prisoners is a war crime regardless of the number killed, and the people responsible deserve to be punished. The point of calculating the number of prisoners is not to excuse what happened, but to establish accurate information about what happened.
Prisoners Captured At Potocari
Bosnian-Serb forces entered Potocari on the morning of July 12th and sometime between 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM they began taking military aged Bosnian-Muslim men as prisoners from among the refugees who had gathered there. The Tribunal estimates the number of prisoners captured in Potocari by Bosnian-Serb forces to be about 1,000 men.[2] The total number reported missing from Potocari on July 12-13 is 1,487 men.[3]
Prisoners Held on Nova Kasaba Soccer Field
The Krstic trial chamber "estimated 1,500 to 3,000 men captured from the column were held prisoner on the Nova Kasaba football field on 13 July 1995."[4] They base their finding on estimates provided by two of the prisoners who were held captive on the field: "Witness P" and "Witness Q."
However, better evidence exists than what was relied upon by the Tribunal. The best evidence is an aerial reconnaissance photograph produced by the United States that shows the group of prisoners held captive on the Nova Kasaba football field at approximately 2:00 PM on July 13th.
By overlaying the American reconnaissance photograph in Google Earth it is possible to measure how much ground space is occupied by the prisoners sitting captive on the soccer field. These measurements show that the prisoners occupied approximately 670 square meters of ground space.[5]
An average man sitting on the ground occupies about one square meter.[6] If we assume that each prisoner occupies approximately 1 to 0.85 square meters that would mean there was 670 to 790 prisoners in the 670 square meters occupied by them in the aerial reconnaissance photograph.
In addition to the aerial reconnaissance photograph, we have eye witness testimony from Lt. Vincentius Egbers, a soldier in the Royal Dutch Army who was deployed to the Srebrenica enclave with DutchBat III.
On July 12th he saw "between 100 and 200 men" lined up on the field "sitting on their knees with their hands in their neck."[7] On July 13th he passed by the field again in the morning and saw "there were still men on the football field and men who were brought towards the football field at the day before" he estimated their number to be "a few hundred".[8]
Zoran Malinic who was a Bosnian-Serb soldier tasked with guarding and compiling a list of prisoners testified in the Tolimir trial that the prisoners were held there until about 6:00 PM on July 13th when they were loaded on busses and sent to Bratunac. He estimated the total number of prisoners to be between 1,000 and 1,200.[9]
Bojan Subotic, commander of the Bosnian-Serb military police platoon tasked with loading the prisoners onto the busses and trucks, testified that at around 7 p.m. on 13 July, about fifteen vehicles arrived at the Nova Kasaba Football Field to transport the prisoners to Bratunac.[10] This is roughly consistent with the estimate of 1,000 to 1,200 prisoners made by Malinic if one assumes that 65 to 80 prisoners were loaded on to each vehicle.
The picture being painted here is consistent. There were 100 to 200 prisoners on the morning of the 12th, by the morning of the 13th the number had grown to "a few hundred", by 2:00 PM that number had grown to 670 to 790, and by 6:00 or 7:00 PM the number had reached 1,000 to 1,200 prisoners when they were loaded on the busses and sent to Bratunac.
Prisoners at Sandici Meadow and Kravica Warehouse
Throughout the morning and afternoon of July 13th Bosnian-Muslim men from the column surrendered to, or were captured by, Bosnian-Serb troops at Sandici meadow. Some of the prisoners were sent to Kravica warehouse 1.2 kilometers away and massacred there at approximately 5:00 PM that evening. The rest of the prisoners remained on the meadow before being sent to Bratunac later that day.
The Popovic trial chamber heard estimates from people detained on the meadow that there was a total of anywhere from 900 to 2,000 prisoners held captive there.[11] According to the Krstic trial verdict, "Between 1,000 and 4,000 Bosnian Muslim prisoners taken along the Bratunac-Konjevic Polje road were detained in the Sandici Meadow throughout 13 July 1995."[12] The Krstic trial chamber bases this estimate largely on Serbian radio communications allegedly intercepted by the Bosnian Army.
As was the case with the Nova Kasaba football field, better evidence exists than what has been relied upon by the Tribunal. Yet again, we have aerial reconnaissance photography taken at approximately 2:00 PM on July 13th showing the prisoners sitting on the Sandici Meadow. The prisoners in the photograph occupy roughly 478 square meters of ground space.[13] This means there was about 480 to 570 prisoners on the meadow at that time.
It is important to note that busses can be seen parked on the road by the meadow, and in another reconnaissance photo taken at about the same time; two busses can be seen parked in front of the Kravica warehouse.[14] It is clear from the photographs that the transfer of prisoners from Sandici Meadow to Kravica warehouse had already begun when the photographs were taken.
The ICTY's lead Srebrenica investigator, Jean-Rene Ruez testified about the reconnaissance photographs in the Popovic trial saying, "We knew from the Witness 37 that he was taken there by bus, before being taken inside this east part, and the picture, the aerial picture dated 13 July, shows that at that moment, just at that moment, two buses were parked in front of this east part of the warehouse."[15]
Witness 37 testified under the pseudonym PW-111 in the Popovic trial, and he did indeed testify that "two buses arrived [at the meadow], and they awaited us on the asphalt road. They made a selection. They didn't get everybody at the same time. This officer came, the one who stood in front of us with a knife, and he said, 'You, you, you, come out. Go down to the asphalt road and get on buses.' I was among them. He selected me, too."[16]
During his testimony PW-111 marked a photograph showing where the busses that brought him and the group of prisoners he was with to the warehouse were parked, and it corresponds exactly to aerial reconnaissance photograph.[17]
Most importantly, PW-111 testified that the prisoners he arrived with were the first ones to arrive at the warehouse.[18] And although he wasn't exactly sure how long the process of transporting prisoners from the meadow to the warehouse lasted, he estimated that it took an hour and a half to two hours.[19]Another survivor of the Kravica warehouse massacre testified that he was not brought from the meadow to the warehouse until 4:00 or 5:00 PM.[20]
Given that the distance from the meadow to the warehouse is only 1.2 kilometers; if the busses seen in the aerial reconnaissance photograph are the same busses that brought PW-111 to the warehouse, and if PW-111 was among the first to arrive at the warehouse, and if it took a couple of hours to bring the rest of the prisoners from the meadow to the warehouse that would mean that at 2:00 PM when the reconnaissance photos were taken that most of the prisoners would have still been at the Sandici meadow.
The 480 to 570 prisoners on the meadow, plus the two busloads of prisoners at Kravica warehouse which included PW-111 would put the most probable number of prisoners captured at Sandici Meadow somewhere in the neighborhood 700 or 800 prisoners assuming that some of them might have already been loaded on the busses seen waiting on the road at Sandici meadow in the photograph.
Prisoners Captured At Other Locations
Although I dispute the ICTY's findings regarding the number of prisoners captured at Sandici Meadow and the Nova Kasaba football field, I'm not going to bother disputing their claims regarding the number of prisoners captured at other locations.
According to the ICTY prosecution: On the evening of July 13th two busloads of prisoners held at an agricultural warehouse in Konjevic Polje were sent to Bratunac.[21] The busses were not completely full and stopped to pick up prisoners at Sandici Meadow on their way.[22] On the morning of July 13thsixteen men were captured by Bosnian-Serb forces and taken to a remote part of the Jadar River where they were killed on the spot.[23] On July 13th, six Bosnian Muslim men were captured, and then interrogated and killed at the Bratunac brigade headquarters.[24] Between July 13th and 17th 200 prisoners were captured in a sweep of the terrain between Sandici, Kamenica, Krajinovici and Mratinci towards Konjevic Polje.[25] On July 13th at Luke School near Tisca 22 men were captured off of busses transporting refugees and killed.[26]
By my reckoning, the ICTY prosecution claims to have adduced evidence showing that the number of prisoners captured and detained at places other than Potocari, Nova Kasaba, and Sandici meadow was about 350 to 400 prisoners.
Total Number of Prisoners
1,000 to 1,487 prisoners captured in Potocari, another 1,000 to 1,200 at the Nova Kasaba football field, 700 to 800 at Sandici Meadow, plus another 350 from other locations adds up to 3,050 to 3,837 prisoners that the Bosnian-Serbs could have captured, not the 7,000 to 8,000 that have been alleged by the Tribunal.
Another piece of information that lends credence to the thesis that the Serbs did not capture as many prisoners as alleged by the Tribunal is Momir Nikolic's testimony that he estimated the total number of prisoners held in Bratunac on the night of July 13th to be around 3,500 or 4,500.[27] Although Nikolic has credibility problems[28], as the assistant chief of security and intelligence for the Bratunac Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, Nikolic would have been one of the best placed people to make an estimate of this kind, and his estimate is at least in the same general ball park as our calculations here.
As shown above, the key flaw in the ICTY's findings is that they drastically over-state the number of prisoners captured by the Bosnian-Serbs at Sandici Meadow and the Nova Kasaba football field.
The Nature of the Evidence Relied Upon By the ICTY
Instead of determining the number of prisoners based on hard photographic evidence that can be precisely measured and objectively evaluated, the Tribunal opts instead to rely on wildly varying estimates provided by surviving massacre victims, hearsay evidence, and "intercepts" of alleged Serb radio traffic provided by the Bosnian Army.
As the Krstic trial chamber explained in its judgment, "Prominently featured in the evidence presented by the Prosecution in this case, were transcriptions of conversations between VRS personnel in July and August 1995 that were intercepted by intelligence officers from the ABiH. These documents were handed over to the OTP by the Bosnian government."[29]
The Tribunal assures us that it "considered all challenges made by the Defence, including the theory that the intercepts had been fabricated, evidence relating to the chain of custody, and the general lack of audio recordings" and in spite of that "the Trial Chamber remains satisfied, particularly in light of the evidence given by the intercept operators, that the intercepts are a contemporaneous record of intercepted VRS communications. It is satisfied that there is no deficiency in the chain of custody of the intercept materials, and finds there is no evidence in support of the Defence allegation that the intercepts were either fabricated or tampered with."[30]
The intercepts related to Srebrenica consist solely of written transcripts, and even though the audio recordings that the transcripts were allegedly produced from have not been provided, the Tribunal is unable to see how they might not be trustworthy evidence. There's a hole in that reasoning so big you could drive a bus through it, but I won't belabor such an obvious point. Without audio recordings to back them up, the intercepts have zero value as evidence -- especially when the people providing the intercepts are the military faction who fought against the Serbs in the war.
Flaws in the ICTY's Use of Forensic Evidence
The ICTY prosecution has produced a list of 7,661 persons missing and dead in connection with the fall of Srebrenica.[31] In addition, the ICMP has identified the remains of 6,838 persons in connection with the fall of Srebrenica through DNA analysis, and estimates the total number of missing to be between 8,000 and 8,100.[32]
You're probably asking yourself: If that many people are missing and dead, if almost 7,000 bodies have been found, and if the Serbs couldn't have executed more than the 3,050 to 3,837 prisoners that they had, then how did the rest of these people die? The most likely explanation is that those people died in combat or else they got caught in the cross-fire as the column fought its way across Bosnian-Serb territory to Tuzla.
In addition to the Tribunal's decision to attach less weight to photographic evidence than it does to far weaker evidence, the Tribunal misinterprets the forensic evidence that it has collected as well.
For example, the ICTY asserts that over 1,000 prisoners were executed at Kravica warehouse, and they base this finding on the number of victims found in mass-graves that have been linked to Kravica warehouse.[33]
Prosecution investigator Dusan Janc prepared an expert report in 2009 in which he concluded that the remains of 1,319 individuals had been found in primary and secondary graves associated with the Kravica Warehouse killings.[34]
What they do not take into consideration is the fact that the Kravica warehouse is a finite space that could have only housed a limited number of prisoners.
The total floor space of the two rooms of Kravica warehouse where the prisoners were held is 589.5 square meters; 262.5 square meters in the west room, and 327 square meters in the east room.[35]Therefore, we know that the number of prisoners who could have been seated on the floor of Kravica warehouse is somewhere in the region of 600 or 700 men if the warehouse were empty, which it wasn't. The warehouse was in use at the time of the massacre and part of the floor space was occupied by the material being stored inside of the warehouse.
One of the men who survived the massacre testified that inside the room of the warehouse where he was sitting there were containers, an old wire fence, and a dilapidated old car that were all being stored inside of the warehouse.[36]
Janc was forced to revise his 2009 findings when other evidence proved that a significant number of the bodies in the graves that he had linked to the Kravica warehouse massacre had in fact come from other locations.[37] We're not talking about one or two bodies either; we're talking about whole truck loads of bodies that were brought in from other places at different times to be buried in these graves and the forensic investigators who exhumed the graves and carried out the investigation never had a clue.
The forensic investigators knew there was plaster and building materials from the warehouse in the graves that they were examining, they knew that DNA found on the walls of the warehouse matched the DNA of some of the victims found in the graves[38], but they had no way of knowing the origin of all of the bodies in the grave. Just because some of the bodies came from the warehouse it didn't mean that all of the bodies had come from the warehouse.
The mistake that Janc made with regard to Kravica warehouse is repeated over and over again in the Tribunal's interpretation of the forensic evidence. If they find a link between a primary grave and a secondary grave they assume that all of the bodies in the secondary grave must have come from the primary grave. If they find a link between a grave and an execution site they assume that all of the bodies in the grave must have been killed at that execution site, even though they have no way of knowing whether some of the bodies in the grave might have been brought in from other places.
The graves are a huge mess because the Bosnian-Serbs dug up the "primary" graves where the victims were initially buried and then re-buried them in "secondary" graves, most probably to conceal evidence of the executions.
The graves are all within about a 50 mile radius of each other. It therefore seems likely that the combat casualties and the executed prisoners have all been mixed together in the same graves. Although the Krstic trial chamber found that "the majority of the victims were executed"[39], they did concede that one "cannot rule out the possibility that a percentage of the bodies in the gravesites examined may have been of men killed in combat."[40]
Conclusion
There is no compelling evidence to suggest that Bosnian-Serb forces managed to capture more than 3,000 to 4,000 prisoners. Photographic evidence showing the number of prisoners at the two main prisoner regroupment sites at Sandici meadow and the Nova Kasaba football field show that far fewer prisoners were captured at those locations than claimed by the Tribunal.
The number of prisoners executed by the Bosnian-Serbs is limited by the number of prisoners they captured. If the Tribunal's findin
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Serbian Brothers in Germany: Lusatian Serbs
“Serbia is Our Ancestral Land”
Just like in the 1990s, during the civil war in the territory of former Yugoslavia, in recent years too German media supported the decision of their government both when it came to recognizing the mafia state on Serbian territory — its Kosovo and Metohija province — and when it was decided Germany should be the first country in the world to raise their office in Priština to the level of embassy.
Only one political party, the Left (Die Linke), led by two prominent politicians Oskar Lafontaine (former German finance minister and ex chairman of the leading Social Democratic Party) and Gregor Gizi, distanced itself from those decisions. Last year was the first time Die Linke received a significant number of votes also on the territory of the former West Germany, in addition to its popularity in the former East Germany. But although Die Linke represents the opinion of many Germans, the mainstream media in Germany noted their opposition to imposed redrawing of Serbian borders only at the very bottom of newspapers, as a side note. Much greater attention was given to the information that “Lusatian Serbs oppose the secession of Kosovo province from Serbia.”
Later, when Łužica (Lusatian) Serbs (also called “Sorbs” in foreign sources, although they call themselves by the same name as their Balkan brothers — Serbs: Serbja, Serby) organized news conference at which they pointed to the alarming situation for ancient Serbian minority in Germany, many questions followed to which they replied that they consider Serbia their ancestral land, and that they sometimes view their Balkan compatriots as their “wandered-off offspring”.
Jan Nuk, President of the Union of Lusatian Serbs “Domowina” (Domovina, “homeland”), together with the other prominent representatives of the Western Serbs, stressed that Germans should worry about minorities in their own and not in someone else’s territory, adding that currently 60,000 Lusatian Serbs live in Germany (40,000 in Saxony and 20,000 in the neighboring province of Brandenburg). They are surrounded with 6.5 million Germans in those two provinces, and with 82 million Germans in the entire country.
At the same time, he asked how will the Kosovo Serbs, surrounded with Albanians, survive. With this heated issue, Nuk attracted attention of the local media and non-governmental organizations and, in response to numerous questions, explained who, according to the historical data, Lusatian Serbs are.
“We call ourselves Serbja, Serb, Serbonjka, and the Serbs in Serbia – South Serbja”, representative of the Serbian nation in Germany said.
He added that, from their initial settlements, Western Serbs were “forcibly pushed into the space between the Elbe River and the gates of Berlin, between Budyšin [Bautzen] and Kočebuz [Cottbus], formerly marshy and deserted land, which they turned into a fertile region with their hard work.”
The Fiercemen
Lusatian Serbs consisted of numerous tribes, the most prominent of which were the Milceni [Milčani] and Serbs, in the regions of Obodrit, Ljutiša, Velet, Gomačan and Stodoran. In the 7th century, Western Serbian Prefect Dervan joined the Samovoj country, and in the 8th and 9th century some tribes merged to create a strong defense front, but after the end of the fighting or death of the Prefects (some of them are known by the names, such as Miloduh, Dragovit) they were again separated. Western Serbs became victims of Franc and German feudal lords, but they survived that too. They fiercely defended their land and freedom, leading some historians to the conclusion that the Tribe Ljutić (Fiercemen) was a name given because they were fierce fighters, striking dread in the enemy.
“In 805, to insure the most efficient countering of the Serb defense, Charlemagne constituted Limes Sobaricus, the beltway region where it was strictly prohibited to sell weapons to the Serbs. Charlemagne’s order from the year 807 testifies that Serbs were far from being an easy prey. Here, he instructed his underlings: ‘if the Czechs attack us, third of the army should get into the battle; if the Serbs attack us, use the whole army’,” Nuk reminded.
Feudal German expansion lasted over 200 years. In the 10th century Lusatians were defeated, then Milčani, and by the end of the century all Lusatian Serb country was occupied by the Germans.
From the 12th century, the conquerors began ruthless colonization Lusatian Serbs are still opposing.
Many heroes are remembered to this day, fighters for the rights of Serbs. One of them is Serb Jan Čuška, who lead a passionate uprising in 1794, forcing Frederick William I of Prussia to engage both the regular army and cavalry against a handful of Serb leaders. In the end, he captured all of the 18 Serbian rural leaders and sentenced them to life in prison. What remained to this day are Čuška’s proud words, ringing through the centuries: Today, it is not you who has the power, but us!
The revolts against the German feudal lords continued throughout 16th century. In 1548, in the district of Lukovo, Serb rebels have managed to establish the self-rule, set up their king, abolish serfdom and taxes, but this attempt was also soon smothered in blood.
The wars kept storming through the Lusatian Serb land: Thirty Years’ War, Seven Years’ War, Napoleon wars, the First, then the Second World War.
The wars were followed by the plague, famine and emptying of the villages, and then re-colonizations by the Germans. Colonizations reinforced the Germanization. Serbs were prohibited from speaking their language even in their homes and within the family, they were not allowed to wear their national costumes (so the male national costumes were eventually completely lost), Serb girls were not allowed to wear any jewelry, Serb men could not wear traditional leather shoes.
In the region of Lower Lusatia it was even worse — young couples were not allowed to get married unless they spoke fluent German. At the same time, Serb tradesmen were being expelled from the guilds, and Lusatia Serbs were forced to attend the German church. If those Serbs who wished to live and work in the towns signed the obligatory oath, they were automatically renationalized and labeled Germans.
Still, by the 18th century Western Serbs who were stripped of most of their rights, their prefects and leaders, did not lose their traditions and intellectuals.
Several of them came to prominence during the era of Humanism: Kašpor Peucerus, who was publicly declaring himself a Serb (sentenced to 11 years in prison due to his “progressive ideas”), was successfully pursuing mathematics, astronomy, medicine and philosophy. He wrote a historical chronicle of Budyšin city. Jan Rak (Ragnus) was a professor in Wittenberg, poet and writer; Jan Bogas (Bokasius) was Doctor of Philosophy and poet; Jan Solfa was a medical doctor and author of medical books. Others have acquired titles of science masters, theology doctorates and were occupying high positions as deans and rectors of theological schools in Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.
“Reformation which, in addition to political, also contained economic elements, was expanded to almost the entire Lusatia and preserved the national character by defending national interests,” writes historian Nada Đorđević in the treatise “History and Culture of Lusatian Serbs”.
From the 16th century Lusatian Serbs speak in two dialects, Upper and Lower Serbian. At the same time, there was a great pressure on the faith of Lusatian Serbs and since the 16th century they are divided on Protestants and Roman Catholics.
“Lutheranism, which in principle demanded the use of national languages in the church, was against the use of Serbian language, because Luther spoke very offensively about it. Only after his death Serbian priests started introducing Serbian language and opening the schools where it was taught. The first translation of the New Testament from Miklavž Jakubica, appeared in 1545. However, it remained in the manuscript form, as well as Catechism by Albin Moler and collection of songs by Vaclav Varihius,” Đorđević explains.
Maćica Serbska and Domowina
It was only in the 18th century that the broad Lusatian public learned they are not alone and that they have brothers in Eastern Europe, somewhere in the Balkans. At the time, Eastern Serbs were under the Ottoman rule, fighting against the Turkish empire. Western Serbs were receiving sporadic information from their Eastern brothers’ wars with Turks.
This encouraged Lusatian Serb Hendri Zejler (1804-1872) to write poetry, becoming the greatest poet of the Lusatian Romanticism. He lived in Lipsk (Leipzig), where he met with the prominent Eastern Serbian writer Sima Milutinović in 1826. It is assumed Milutinović helped Zejler to translate the first Serbian folk song “The Maiden chooses a Youth” into Lusatian Serbian. Zejler’s artistic circle later received collection of Serbian national poetry gathered and compiled by Vuk Karadzic.
Most of Serbian national epos, folk songs and poetry were translated by the well-known and dedicated Lusatian Serb fighter, author and artist Jurij Vjelan (1817-1892), who visited Belgrade and wrote about it enthusiastically in the newspaper of Lusatian Serbs. Mihal Hornjik (1833-1894), another Western Serb, remained faithful to the Serbian national poetry throughout his life, translating it tirelessly.
According to the texts of Lusatian Serb authors, several central events were most important for spreading Lusatian Serb culture and for maintaining Western Serbs’ national identity.
The first one was establishment of Serbian Society “Maćica Serbska” (in Lusatian Serbian, “Matica Srpska” in Serbian), principally thanks to the efforts of Arni Smoler and Hendri Zejler. Western “Maćica Serbska” was founded in 1847, twenty years after the Eastern “Matica Srpska” was established in Pest (today’s capital of Hungary, Budapest), the seat of which was later moved to the Serbian town of Novi Sad.
Forming of the Lusatian Serb society “Domowina” (“Domovina” in Serbian, ‘homeland’) in 1912 was equally important for preservation of the rich Western Serbian culture and, along with Maćica Serbska, “Domowina” represents the main pillar of the Lusatian Serb national development. Historian and archeologist Grga Novak pointed out that the language reform by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, Serbian linguist and anthologist, which was in full swing at that time, provided great inspiration and enthusiasm in the Lusatian Serb culture.
No Autonomy for Serbs in Germany
So, that is how the history of Lusatian Serbs roughly went — the nation which after the First World War wanted its political autonomy, but neither the Weimar Republic nor the European superpowers would allow them the status of national minority. During this period the number of Lusatian Serbs was significantly reduced.
Nuk told reporters that at the time of Weimar Republic (1920-1930) there were 250,000 Lusatian Serbs, four times more than now. Under the Nazi regime, at the time of Hitler, they were massively persecuted, discriminated against and destroyed.
Although they were only formally recognized in East Germany (NDR) after the Second World War, they did have a cultural center in Dresden, along with their newspaper, while the language of Lusatian Serbs in the province, in the places where they live, was an official language.
Jurij Brezan, national writer and chronicler of Lusatian Serbs during the past century, published more than 20 books about the Western Serbs in his native tongue. According to him, the name of Lusatian Serbs which was first recorded by the ancient historians in 632 in the Fredeger Chronicle, today, in a unified Germany, where they live in the area east of Berlin, toward the Polish border and in the south-east towards the Czech Republic border, up to Dresden, is almost no longer allowed to be used.
Toponyms: “Berlin” was a Muddy Pond
Lusatian Serbs were the first to give names to the towns they were inhabiting since the 6th century. Thus, the city which is today called Dresden was originally named Drježdzen by the Western Serbs. Budyšin was germanized into Bautzen, Lipsk in Leipzig, Kamjenica into Chemnitz, river Sprjewja to Spree, Lubinjow to Lübbenau… They also gave the first name to today’s metropolis – Brljin, by the mud ponds the town was surrounded with, which was later turned into Berlin.
Faith in Slavic Svevid
Like all the other Slavs and their Balkan brothers, Lusatian Serbs were also pagans at first and believed in the same Slavic deities: Svevid, Svarog, Živa, Perun, Gromovnica and the other, lesser gods. Historians recorded that “during the union with Moravian principality, [Byzantine Greek missionaries and educators, Saints] Cyril and Methodius were spreading Christianity among the Lusatian Serbs, but the influence of German missionaries was stronger, because the Serbs defended their religion and their gods as persistently as their lands”. German religious missionaries initially had to preach in Serbian, which is why Emperor Otto I (962-73) in Magdeburg established the school where future missionaries had to learn Serbian language. Due to the great resistance of Lusatian Serbs, bishops were coercing Germans to settle among the Serbs, because “their land is rich”. The new German settlers established numerous convents, which were most often the hotbeds of Germanization.
At one point Lusatia was administered by the Poland and the Czech Republic, but this did not improve the conditions and position of this nation, because all the feudal lords protected exclusively their own interests. Thus, for example, Polish duke Mnjačko in 1030 destroyed 100 Serb villages as a punishment. Under the Polish and Czech rule, Lusatian Serbs were not allowed to settle in the cities, exceptionally only in the suburbs, where they were permitted to work in a limited number of trades, as fabric weavers, carpenters, fishermen, but without the right to enter into guilds. The first document written in the Lusatian Serb language is the text of the oath in the 16th century, which was taken upon joining the guild.
Hitler: “The Word ‘Serbs’ has to Disappear”
According to historians, restrictions and banning the language of Lusatian Serbs was quite similar to negation and prohibition of the language and Cyrillic script of the Balkan Serbs.
In 1334, Leipzig Parliament passed a regulation that everyone who utters the word in the Lusatian Serb language will be punished by death. That was the time when the Lusatian writers protested by writing in Latin, but not in the German language.
Hitler’s coming to power brought the new rules: “Limit as much as possible Wendish (Serbian) language; keep opening German kindergartens, so that Germanism is built from below and to primarily prevent the establishment of the Wendish political headquarters.”
Year 1937 marked the pogrom and arrest of the most prominent Lusatian Serbs, the abolition of all of their cultural and national organizations, confiscation of their property and persecution on all levels. Then, the following measures for “strengthening the Germanism” were undertaken: there must be no lectures about the “Wendish people and customs”, during the reading classes and especially on breaks, only the German language may be spoken, the “wealth of German games and songs” is to be transferred to children, the homeland toponyms are given only in German and written solely in German, only the teachers “of German blood” may be employed, the words “Wends” and “Serbs” must disappear…
Politically, the situation for Lusatian Serbs is not much better today. They have only one representative in Bundestag, Marija Mihalk (CDU), 49-year-old economist. In the parliamentary discussions, her voice is heard very rarely, almost never. Stanislav Tilih (49) recently became a premier of the province of Saxony. This is the highest function a Lusatian Serb was allowed to reach in Germany.
The Most Famous: Pavle Jurišić Šturm, Serbian Hero
In Serbia, the most famous Western Serb is Pavle Jurišić Šturm, born in 1848 as Paulus Sturm, Lusatian Serb who died as Serbian Army General, after distinguishing himself in the wars of liberation, from 1912-1918. He graduated at the Military Academy in Wroclaw, Silesia, and then as a Prussian officer participated in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). Prior to the Balkan wars, he went to Serbia to teach at the Serbian Military Academy and stayed on, to fight in the Serbian-Turkish wars from 1876 to 1878.
Šturm commanded the Drina Division, which was especially distinguished in the Kumanovo battle, where it broke down Turkish defense. He faced the First World War at the helm of Serbia’s 3rd army, which has hindered the penetration of Austro-Hungarian troops in Serbia, enabling General Stepa Stepanović and the 2nd army to realign and win the first WWI victory for the Allied Forces over the Central Powers, in the Battle of Cer.
As commander of the 3rd army, he participated in operations of the Serbian Army during the autumn of 1914 and greatly contributed to the victory in the Battle of Kolubara. During the joint aggression against the Kingdom of Serbia in 1915, carried out by the Austro-Hungarian and German empires and Bulgarian kingdom, troops under Šturm’s command offered spirited resistance to the 11th German army, preventing its penetration toward Morava valley. This valiant hero chose to stay in the land of his forefathers. He married a Serbian woman, raised a son who also fought against the Austro-Hungary, and died in his Belgrade home in 1922.
During the WWII, Jurišić’s son, already veteran of WWI, fought against the German fascist occupier alongside Serbian Royal Guard (Chetniks) lead by General Draža Mihajlović. When Gestapo, which captured and interrogated him, learned his father came from Germany they wanted to release him. According to the records, Jurišić took this as an insult and told his captors: “Even if I had a drop of German blood in me, it was drained out on the Salonika front — I am the Serb!”
Afterwords, as he stood before the firing squad, Jurišić shouted the famous Chetnik salute: “Long live the King! Long live Motherland Serbia!”
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Robin de Ruiter: Who Killed Slobodan Milošević and Why
Sudden suspicious death of former Yugoslav and Serbian President Slobodan Milošević in Hague Tribunal’s detention cell continues to raise questions among the researchers and independent media six years later.
Robin de Ruiter, Dutch publicist and historian raised in Spain, wrote a fascinating book (soon to be published in Serbia, but still not available in English), which doesn’t question whether former Serbia’s president was killed in The Hague, but focuses on the parties responsible for commissioning and committing this crime.
Brutal Demonization Ending in Premeditated Murder
De Ruiter uses verifiable facts to dismantle the Western mainstream myth about the “butcher of Balkans”, and examines the reasons behind the brutal propaganda demonization aimed at turning former Serbian president into a monster, along with the entire Serbian nation.
Using a simple method of piecing together the portrait of an actual person and historical facts behind the grotesque caricatures created in the West, the author presents strong evidence for the main reason why NATO and Washington-led Western powers wanted Milošević silenced for good.
Contrary to the common mainstream claims and the basic premises of Hague prosecution’s indictment, “Milošević’s political goal was to preserve Kosovo within Serbia’s borders and to prevent Albanian majority to drive Serbian minority out of Kosovo. There was no incitement of nationalist hatred, nor has the ethnic cleansing been carried out. On the contrary, Milošević and Socialist Party members always stressed the advantages of multiethnicity for Serbia”, Robin de Ruiter writes.
The author, who felt obligated to write this book “for the sake of truth”, cites a number of legal experts, historians and independent investigative reporters who have helped him in a thorough research while piecing together presented material.
An Aspirin a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
On March 11, 2006, at 10 AM, 65-year-old Milošević was found dead in his detention cell located in the Scheveningen section of The Hague, Netherlands, while his trial for the alleged war crimes was in full swing, with Defense presenting evidence. According to the Dutch forensics, the cause of death was cardiac arrest. In addition to the autopsy, a toxicology analysis was requested.
According to the Hague officials, Milošević’s health which started to deteriorate abruptly and progressively when the trial began, was under constant supervision of the “highly qualified medical personnel”. The author points, however, that no one mentioned the fact only a single GP and one nurse were the whole team that comprised Hague detention center’s ‘highly qualified medical personnel’.
De Ruiter also reveals that the entire ‘therapy’ Milošević has been receiving during the first year of detention consisted of a single aspirin a day, despite the fact he was known to suffer from heart problems and high blood pressure.
Milošević’s lawyer Zdenko Tomanović claimed back then his client’s health is being systematically eroded.
When President Milošević died, Russian specialist Dr. Leo Bokeria, of the famous Bakulev Institute revealed to the media:
“During the past three years we have constantly insisted, without success, that Milošević needs to be sent to a hospital to be properly diagnosed. If Milošević was allowed access to any specialist clinic, he would have been given a proper treatment and would have lived many more years.”
Early on, in May 2003, group of thirteen German doctors addressed tribunal in writing, expressing their concern for Milošević’s health and lack of proper treatment. But all suggestions by medical specialists were discarded and the adequate therapy remained unavailable. Moreover, there was no response to this and further written protests by the same group of doctors.
Unknown Medications in Milošević’s Blood
A year after a miraculous aspirin-a-day treatment for a range of cardiovascular ailments, a group of medical doctors hand-picked by the tribunal bureaucrats issued the following diagnosis: secondary damage to various organs and extremely high blood pressure which, under certain conditions, could lead to stroke, coronary or cardiac arrest and premature death.
In contradiction to this finding, Hague Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte seemed to have known better and claimed Milošević “feels exceptionally well”.
Medical analysis in 2005 showed the presence of “unknown” chemical substances in Milošević’s bloodstream which are nullifying effects of medications for high blood pressure. Because of this finding, Milošević requested to be treated by the Russian specialists.
Even though the Russian Government on 18 January 2006 offered guarantees Milošević will be placed at tribunal’s disposal after the treatment, Milošević’s request was denied in February. Few weeks after it was already too late – Milošević suffered announced and expected fatal heart attack.
Among others, De Ruiter cites the conclusion of Dutch magazine Targets: “The very fact that judges [Robinson, Kwon and Bonomy] refused to comply with his request for treatment at this instance is sufficient cause to bring charges against the Tribunal for premeditated murder.”
Additional suspicions were raised by the fact that Milošević family’s repeated requests for an independent autopsy outside of Netherlands were denied and ignored.
Robin de Ruiter also cites statement by Hikeline Verine Stewart (sp?) of Amnesty International, who stressed Milošević’s untimely death was a direct consequence of the contraindicated medications found in his blood. “We are certain that is the cause of death. Death by natural causes is absolutely out of the question”, she said.
Potatoes Mashed with Rifampicin
The author examines a number of speculations about the prolonged poisoning of the former president in Scheveningen detention center and concludes they are far from being unfounded.
In 2002 it turned out Milošević was being given wrong medications which were raising his already high blood pressure. De Ruiter cites Dutch newspaper NRC Hadelsblad from 23 November 2002:
“Slobodan Milošević was being given wrong medications in Scheveningen detention, which raised his blood pressure. This was the reason the trial to a former Yugoslav president had to be paused at the start of November. One of Tribunal’s commentators claimed this was not an error. He refused all further comments.”
One piece of evidence showing that Milošević was probably being poisoned during his trial was an incident from the end of August 2004, when Scheveningen staff got very alarmed after discovering another detainee received Milošević’s supper.
In September 2004, during the trial, Milošević mentioned this incident:
“For three years doctors here regard me as healthy and capable of conducting my own defense. And then something really strange took place: all of a sudden some ‘independent’ doctor showed up from Belgium, country where NATO Headquarters is situated, announcing my health isn’t good enough for me to continue my own defense. And all the doctors here are suddenly in unanimous agreement over this [...]
“Feel free to reach your own conclusions, but please keep in mind I’m using medications your doctors have prescribed. I’m not quite sure what is going on here, but I could call on the entire detention staff to testify what took place when I was given a meal prepared for a person on the opposite side of the corridor. There was a major uproar to get me the food which was prepared for me in particular, even though all the meals appear exactly the same. I didn’t make a problem out of this, I had no idea what is happening. But I do have certain hypothesis which may be justified or not, but there is clear evidence...”
At that point, Judge Robinson silenced Milošević by turning his microphone off. This alarming incident was never discussed or investigated.
Meanwhile, Milošević’s health continued to rapidly deteriorate on a daily basis. He reported suffering daily from terrible pressure behind the eyes and in the ears.
Former Canadian Ambassador James Bissett testified after visiting Serbian president in Scheveningen that Milošević suddenly went horribly red in the face and grabbed his head in his hands. Milošević said his head echoed as if he spoke into a metal pan.
In March 2006, Milošević expressed his concerns for the umpteenth time:
“During five years in prison I didn’t take a single antibiotic, I didn’t have any infections except for one flu, and still, medical report from January 12, 2006 [which he received two months later] states there are medications in my blood that are used to treat tuberculosis and leprosy – Rifampicin.”
Commenting on these test results which discovered highly toxic Rifampicin in Milošević’s blood, Verine Stewart said:
- It is an inexplicable mystery why Milošević and his lawyers were given results of his January 12 medical tests the entire two months later, on March 7.
Another question that has also remained unanswered is why was Milošević’s death discovered so late, in this most secure, technologically advanced detention unit with cameras in every cell and round-the-clock half-an-hour checkups.
At the ensuing press conference Carla del Ponte claimed there were no controls every half an hour during the night when Milošević died. Furthermore, for some reason all the video cameras were turned off that night.
When asked why would that be, Del Ponte simply replied she’s “not responsible for things that happen in prison”.
German Ambassador: Milošević’s Indictment Not Worth the Paper it was Written On
In the meantime, according to De Ruiter, a number of official statements by the world-class international law and war crime experts surfaced, stressing that Milošević’s trial, at first advertised as the ‘trial of the century’ has turned into a secret trial.
According to the former German Ambassador Ralph Hartmann, “already in his opening speech, Milošević revealed sensational facts and water-tight evidence of the active role United States, Germany and other NATO countries played in dismemberment and wars in former Yugoslavia. One may ignore the truth, but one cannot defeat it”.
As the trial progressed it became evident the indictment was hardly worth the paper it was written on.
...Better if He Dies in the Docket
Many legal experts worldwide quickly caught on the Hague charade, publicly pointing out Hague’s prosecution clearly has no real evidence against Milošević and that the indictment against him is unceremoniously falling apart.
A number of commentators, some of whom De Ruiter cites, actually stressed the only way The Hague can get out of its predicament is if Milošević dies.
- It would be better if Milošević dies while he is still in the docket, – James Gaw, war crimes expert and Hague tribunal advisor said.
- Because, if the process is carried through to the end, the only thing he can possibly be convicted of is a minor violation of law, – said Gaw.
The author concludes that tribunal can undoubtedly be charged for the manslaughter, and possibly even for the premeditated murder for which, as some media reports claimed, the charges will be brought.
There is no doubt that the Hague Tribunal and Washington bear full responsibility for Milošević’s death, de Ruiter writes.
The Boomerang Effect
On August 25, 2005 Prosecutor Geoffrey Nice announced Milošević is no longer being accused of an attempt to create the mythological ‘Greater Serbia’.
Removal of such a major building block of an indictment against Serbian president has radically shaken the entire construction. Indeed, the whole foundation on which all parts of the indictment against Slobodan Milošević rested and which tied them all together was the premise that everything Milošević allegedly did had a single underlying motive – to create ‘Greater Serbia’.
Painfully, Tribunal realized its chances of reaching a nominally credible conviction were getting progressively slimmer.
Dutch lawyer N.M.P. Steijnen said:
“The chaos was getting more and more obvious. Accusations started to turn against the prosecutors, like a boomerang.
“Tribunal feared Milošević and his witnesses will reveal the role West played in dismemberment of Yugoslavia, how the West was systematically spreading lies about the alleged Serb drive for ‘Greater Serbia’, and the crimes committed by NATO in the war of aggression against Yugoslavia and Serbia – and, thus, that Milošević and his witnesses will conclusively demonstrate who it is that must be brought before the judges.
“Milošević presented over and over again, and with the help of witnesses from the Western countries, powerful evidence that Kosovo was not facing a ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ on the eve of NATO bombardment of Yugoslavia in 1999.
“It was not Milošević who was losing the trial, but the Tribunal.”
In one article Mr. Steijnen wrote:
“During years-long trial, in 466 sessions, prosecutors brought hundreds of witnesses against Milošević, they heaped over five thousand documents on him, and they proved nothing.
“This lack of actual evidence, this friendly haggling of prosecution with suspects who refused to testify against Milošević to get shorter sentences in return, all that was only damaging Tribunal’s case.
“Tribunal Worshipers in the role of reporters were carefully protecting public from knowing that Milošević, with his witnesses, struck fatal blows to the remnants of the indictment.”
Considerable Motives for Coldblooded Murder
De Ruiter notes the Hague was already in serious trouble, but things got much worse when it was finally Milošević’s turn to start his defense.
Witnesses who testified in Milošević’s defense were, without exception, eminent, authoritative and credible, and they were creating major headaches for the Tribunal, especially when one keeps in mind the fact most of the prosecution witness’ testimonies were debunked and exposed as falsehoods, sometimes to the point of becoming ludicrous and idiotic.
Situation became extremely tense when, at the end of February 2006, Milošević announced he will call Wesley Clark and Bill Clinton to the stand. He aimed to prove beyond any doubt that United States led an illegal war against Yugoslavia, and consciously and purposely bombed civilian targets – thus presenting the actual crime against humanity.
According to De Ruiter, Milošević’s intention wasn’t only unacceptable for NATO, but also for the tribunal, which would have been completely destroyed if such evidence was presented.
James Bissett, Canadian Ambassador for former Yugoslavia from 1990-1992, said:
“I have always been skeptical towards Tribunal, because I am convinced it is an instrument used by United States and its allies to mask their own mistakes in the Balkan tragedy. Tribunal serves to present Milošević and Serbian nation as the party responsible for all the ills which befell that unfortunate country.”
Russian General Leonid Ivashov said:
“Slobodan Milošević was the only one who could give crystal clear testimony about the role United States played in the bloody dismemberment of Yugoslavia during the nineties, and who could do so completely and down to tiniest details. That is precisely what he fought for while he was being tried.”
According to General Ivashov, if Milošević was declared innocent, such ruling would have far-reaching consequences both for the Tribunal and NATO. General Ivashov believes that is why Milošević was killed.
- It is a political assassination by a proxy, – Ivashov said.
“Slobodan Milošević died in his detention cell precisely at the time his defense was in full swing. He was worried over his health, but he burned with a desire to expose the truth about what really took place in the Balkans. He had no motive for suicide. On the other hand, Hague Tribunal had an obvious and considerable motive for murder.
“NATO, Tribunal’s initiator and financier, was losing control over Milošević case. Was Milošević silenced before he could exercise his right to speak up?”, Ruiter asks.
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6 décembre 2012
Depuis les années 1990 et en particulier depuis la guerre du Kosovo en 1999, les adversaires des interventions occidentales et de l’OTAN ont dû faire face à ce qu’on pourrait appeler une gauche (et une extrême-gauche) anti-anti-guerre, qui regroupe la social-démocratie, les Verts, et le plus gros de la gauche « radicale » (le Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (1), divers groupes antifascistes etc.) (2). Celle-ci ne se déclare pas ouvertement en faveur des interventions militaires occidentales et est parfois critique de celles-ci (en général, uniquement par rapport aux tactiques suivies et aux intentions, pétrolières ou géo-stratégiques, attribuées aux puissances occidentales), mais elle dépense le plus gros de son énergie à « mettre en garde » contre les dérives supposées de la partie de la gauche qui reste fermement opposée à ces interventions.
Elle nous appelle à soutenir les « victimes » contre les « bourreaux », à être « solidaires des peuples contre les tyrans », à ne pas céder à un « anti-impérialisme », un « anti-américanisme », ou un « anti-sionisme » simplistes, et, surtout, à ne pas s’allier à l’extrême-droite. Après les Albano-Kosovars en 1999 on a eu droit aux femmes afghanes, aux Kurdes irakiens, et plus récemment aux peuples libyen et syrien, que « nous » devons protéger.
On ne peut pas nier que la gauche anti-anti-guerre ait été extrêmement efficace. La guerre en Irak, qui était présentée sous forme d’une lutte contre une menace imaginaire, a bien suscité une opposition passagère, mais il n’y a eu qu’une très faible opposition à gauche aux interventions présentées comme « humanitaires », telles que celle du Kosovo, le bombardement de la Libye, ou l’ingérence en Syrie aujourd’hui. Toute réflexion sur la paix ou l’impérialisme a simplement été balayée devant l’invocation du « droit d’ingérence », de la « responsabilité de protéger », ou du « devoir d’assistance à peuple en danger ».
Une extrême-gauche nostalgique des révolutions et des luttes de libération nationale tend à analyser tout conflit à l’intérieur d’un pays donné comme une agression d’un dictateur contre son peuple opprimé aspirant à la démocratie. L’interprétation, commune à la gauche et à la droite, de la victoire de l’Occident dans la lutte contre le communisme, a eu un effet semblable.
L’ambiguité fondamentale du discours de la gauche anti-anti-guerre porte sur la question de savoir qui est le « nous » qui doit protéger, intervenir etc. S’il s’agit de la gauche occidentale, des mouvements sociaux ou des organisations de défense des droits de l’homme, on doit leur poser la question que posait Staline à propos du Vatican : « combien de divisions avez-vous ? » En effet, tous les conflits dans lesquels « nous » sommes supposés intervenir sont des conflits armés. Intervenir signifie intervenir militairement et pour cela, il faut avoir les moyensmilitaires de le faire. Manifestement, la gauche européenne n’a pas ces moyens. Elle pourrait faire appel aux armées européennes pour qu’elles interviennent, au lieu de celles des Etats-Unis ; mais celles-ci ne l’ont jamais fait sans un appui massif des Etats-Unis, ce qui fait que le message réel de la gauche anti-anti-guerre est : « Messieurs les Américains, faites la guerre, pas l’amour ! ». Mieux : comme, après leur débâcle en Afghanistan et en Irak, les Américains ne vont plus se risquer à envoyer des troupes au sol, on demande à l’US Air Force, et à elle seule, d’aller bombarder les pays violateurs des droits de l’homme.
On peut évidemment soutenir que l’avenir des droits de l’homme doit être confié aux bons soins et à la bonne volonté du gouvernement américain, de ses bombardiers et de ses drones. Mais il est important de comprendre que c’est cela que signifient concrètement tous les appels à la « solidarité » et au « soutien » aux mouvements sécessionnistes ou rebelles engagés dans des luttes armées. En effet, ces mouvements n’ont nul besoin de slogans criés dans des « manifestations de solidarité » à Bruxelles ou Paris, et ce n’est pas cela qu’ils demandent. Ils veulent des armes lourdes et le bombardement de leurs ennemis et, cela, seuls les Etats-Unis peuvent le leur fournir.
La gauche anti-anti-guerre devrait, si elle était honnête, assumer ce choix, et appeler ouvertement les Etats-Unis à bombarder là où les droits de l’homme sont violés ; mais elle devrait alors assumer ce choix jusqu’au bout. En effet, c’est la même classe politique et militaire qui est supposée sauver les populations « victimes de leur tyrans » et qui a fait la guerre du Vietnam, l’embargo et les guerres contre l’Irak, qui impose des sanctions arbitraires contre Cuba, l’Iran et tous les pays qui leur déplaisent, qui soutient à bout de bras Israël, qui s’oppose par tous les moyens, y compris les coups d’état, à tous les réformateurs en Amérique Latine, d’Arbenz à Chavez en passant par Allende, Goulart et d’autres, et qui exploite de façon éhontée les ressources et les travailleurs un peu partout dans le monde. Il faut beaucoup de bonne volonté pour voir dans cette classe politique et militaire l’instrument du salut des « victimes », mais c’est, en pratique, ce que la gauche anti-anti-guerre prône, parce que, étant donné les rapports de force dans le monde, il n’existe aucune autre instance capable d’imposer sa volonté par des moyens militaires.
Evidemment, le gouvernement américain sait à peine que la gauche anti-anti-guerre européenne existe ; les Etats-Unis décident de faire ou non la guerre en fonction de ses chances de succès, de leurs intérêts, de l’opposition interne et externe à celle-ci etc. Et, une fois la guerre déclenchée, ils veulent la gagner par tous les moyens. Cela n’a aucun sens de leur demander de ne faire que de bonnes interventions, seulement contre les vrais méchants, et avec des gentils moyens qui épargnent les civils et les innocents.
Ceux qui ont appelé l’OTAN à « maintenir les progrès pour les femmes afghanes », comme Amnesty International (USA) l’a fait lors du meeting de l’OTAN à Chicago (3), appellent de fait les EU à intervenir militairement et, entre autres, à bombarder des civils afghans et à envoyer des drones sur le Pakistan. Cela n’a aucun sens de leur demander de protéger et pas de bombarder, parce que c’est ainsi que les armées fonctionnent.
Un des thèmes favoris de la gauche anti-anti-guerre est d’appeler les opposants aux guerres à ne pas « soutenir le tyran », en tout cas pas celui dont le pays est attaqué. Le problème est que toute guerre nécessite un effort massif de propagande ; et que celle-ci repose sur la diabolisation de l’ennemi et, surtout, de son dirigeant. Pour s’opposer efficacement à cette propagande, il faut nécessairement dénoncer les mensonges de la propagande, contextualiser les crimes de l’ennemi, et les comparer à ceux de notre propre camp. Cette tâche est nécessaire mais ingrate et risquée : on vous reprochera éternellement la moindre erreur, alors que tous les mensonges de la propagande de guerre sont oubliés une fois les opérations terminées.
Bertrand Russell et les pacifistes britanniques étaient déjà, lors de la première Guerre mondiale, accusés de « soutenir l’ennemi » ; mais, s’ils démontaient la propagande des alliés, ce n’était pas par amour du Kaiser, mais par attachement à la paix. La gauche anti-anti-guerre adore dénoncer « les deux poids deux mesures » des pacifistes cohérents qui critiquent les crimes de leur propre camp mais contextualisent ou réfutent ceux qui sont attribués à l’ennemi du moment (Milosevic, Kadhafi, Assad etc.), mais ces « deux poids deux mesures » ne sont jamais que la conséquence d’un choix délibéré et légitime : contrer la propagande de guerre là où l’on se trouve (c’est-à-dire en Occident), propagande qui elle-même repose sur une diabolisation constante de l’ennemi attaqué ainsi que sur une idéalisation de ceux qui l’attaquent.
La gauche anti-anti-guerre n’a aucune influence sur la politique américaine, mais cela ne veut pas dire qu’elle n’a pas d’effets. D’une part, sa rhétorique insidieuse a permis de neutraliser tout mouvement pacifiste ou anti-guerre, mais elle a aussi rendu impossible toute position indépendante d’un pays européen, comme ce fut le cas pour la France sous De Gaulle, et même, dans une moindre mesure, sous Chirac, ou pour la Suède d’Olof Palme. Aujourd’hui, une telle position serait immédiatement attaquée par la gauche anti-anti-guerre, qui possède une caisse de résonance médiatique considérable, comme un « soutien au tyran », une politique « munichoise », coupable du « crime d’indifférence ».
Ce que la gauche anti-anti-guerre a accompli, c’est de détruire la souveraineté des Européens face aux Etats-Unis et d’éliminer toute position de gauche indépendante face aux guerres et à l’impérialisme. Elle a aussi mené la majorité de la gauche européenne à adopter des positions en totale contradiction avec celles de la gauche latino-américaine et à s’ériger en adversaires de pays comme la Chine ou la Russie qui cherchent à défendre le droit international (et ont parfaitement raison de le faire).
Un aspect bizarre de la gauche anti-anti-guerre c’est qu’elle est la première à dénoncer les révolutions du passé comme ayant mené au totalitarisme (Staline, Mao, Pol Pot etc.) et qu’elle nous met sans cesse en garde contre la répétition des « erreurs » du soutien aux dictateurs faite par la gauche de l’époque. Mais maintenant que la révolution est menée par des islamistes nous sommes supposés croire que tout va aller bien et applaudir. Et si la « leçon à tirer du passé » était que les révolutions violentes, la militarisation et les ingérences étrangères n’étaient pas la seule ou la meilleure façon de réaliser des changements sociaux ?
On nous répond parfois qu’il faut agir « dans l’urgence » (pour sauver les victimes). Même si on admettait ce point de vue, le fait est qu’après chaque crise, aucune réflexion n’est menée à gauche sur ce que pourrait être une politique autre que l’appui aux interventions militaires. Une telle politique devrait opérer un virage à 180° par rapport à celle qui est prônée actuellement par la gauche anti-anti-guerre. Au lieu de demander plus d’interventions, nous devrions exiger de nos gouvernements le strict respect du droit international, la non ingérence dans les affaires intérieures des autres états et le remplacement des confrontations par la coopération. La non ingérence n’est pas seulement la non intervention sur le plan militaire, mais aussi sur les plans diplomatique et économique : pas de sanctions unilatérales, pas de menaces lors de négociations et le traitement de tous les états sur un pied d’égalité. Au lieu de « dénoncer » sans arrêt les méchants dirigeants de pays comme la Russie, la Chine, l’Iran, Cuba, au nom des droits de l’homme, ce que la gauche anti-anti-guerre adore faire, nous devrions les écouter, dialoguer avec eux, et faire comprendre leurs points de vue politiques à nos concitoyens.
Evidemment, une telle politique ne résoudrait pas les problèmes des droits de l’homme, en Syrie, ou Libye ou ailleurs. Mais qu’est-ce qui les résout ? La politique d’ingérence augmente les tensions et la militarisation dans le monde. Les pays qui se sentent visés par cette politique, et ils sont nombreux, se défendent comme ils peuvent ; les campagnes de diabolisation empêchent les relations pacifiques entre états, les échanges culturels entre leurs citoyens et, indirectement, le développement des idées libérales que les partisans de l’ingérence prétendent promouvoir. A partir du moment où la gauche anti-anti-guerre a abandonné tout programme alternatif face à cette politique, elle a de fait renoncé à avoir la moindre influence sur les affaires du monde. Il n’est pas vrai qu’elle « aide les victimes » comme elle le prétend. A part détruire toute résistance ici à l’impérialisme et à la guerre, elle ne fait rien, les seuls qui agissent réellement étant, en fin de compte, les gouvernements américains. Leur confier le bien-être des peuples est une attitude de désespoir absolu.
Cette attitude est un aspect de la façon dont la majorité de la gauche a réagi à la « chute du communisme », en soutenant l’exact contrepied des politiques suivies par les communistes, en particulier dans les affaires internationales, où toute opposition à l’impérialisme et toute défense de la souveraineté nationale est vue à gauche comme une forme d’archéo-stalinisme.
La politique d’ingérence, comme d’ailleurs la construction européenne, autre attaque majeure contre la souveraineté nationale, sont deux politiques de droite, l’une appuyant les tentatives américaines d’hégémonie, l’autre le néo-libéralisme et la destruction des droits sociaux, qui ont été justifiées en grande partie par des discours « de gauche » : les droits de l’homme, l’internationalisme, l’antiracisme et l’anti-nationalisme. Dans les deux cas, une gauche désorientée par la fin du communisme a cherché une bouée de secours dans un discours « humanitaire » et « généreux », auquel manquait totalement une analyse réaliste des rapports de force dans le monde. Avec une gauche pareille, la droite n’a presque plus besoin d’idéologie, celle des droits de l’homme lui suffit.
Néanmoins, ces deux politiques, l’ingérence et la construction européenne, se trouvent aujourd’hui dans une impasse : l’impérialisme américain fait face à des difficultés énormes, à la fois sur le plan économique et diplomatique ; la politique d’ingérence a réussi à unir une bonne partie du monde contre elle. Presque plus personne ne croit à une autre Europe, à une Europe sociale, et l’Europe réellement existante, néo-libérale (la seule possible) ne suscite pas beaucoup d’enthousiasme parmi les travailleurs. Bien sûr, ces échecs profitent à la droite et à l’extrême-droite, mais cela uniquement parce que le plus gros de la gauche a abandonné la défense de la paix, du droit international et de la souveraineté nationale, comme condition de possibilité de la démocratie.
Jean Bricmont
version française du texte publié sur Counterpunch http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/12/04/beware-the-anti-anti-war-left/
(1) Sur cette organisation, voir Ahmed Halfaoui, Colonialiste d’« extrême gauche » ? Voir http://www.legrandsoir.info/colonialiste-d-extreme-gauche.html .
(2) Par exemple, en février 2011, un tract distribué à Toulouse demandait, à propos de la Libye et des menaces de “génocide” de la part de Kadhafi : “Où est l’Europe ? Où est la France ? Où est l’Amérique ? Où sont les ONG ? » et : « Est-ce que la valeur du pétrole et de l’uranium est plus importante que le peuple libyen ? ». C’est-à-dire que les auteurs du tract, signé entre autres par Alternative Libertaire, Europe Écologie-Les Verts, Gauche Unitaire, LDH, Lutte Ouvrière, Mouvement de la Paix (Comité 31), MRAP, NPA31, OCML-Voie Prolétarienne Toulouse, PCF31, Parti Communiste Tunisien, Parti de Gauche31, reprochaient aux Occidentaux de ne pas intervenir, en raison d’intérêts économiques. On se demande ce qu’ont du penser ces auteurs lorsque le CNT libyen a promis de vendre 35% du pétrole libyen à la France (et cela, indépendamment du fait que cette promesse soit ou non tenue ou que le pétrole soit ou non la cause de la guerre).
(3) Voir par exemple : Jodie Evans, Why I Had to Challenge Amnesty International-USA’s Claim That NATO’s Presence Benefits Afghan Women. http://www.alternet.org/story/156303/why_i_had_to_challenge_amnesty_international-usa’ .
Stenski koledar 2013 Tito:
https://www.cnj.it/documentazione/DOSSIER96/Pages/29.html
http://www.ned.org/where-we-work/central-and-eastern-europe
FUNDING
NED Grants Program: Direct Funding to NGOs
18/12/2012 - The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is one of the major international grantmaking organizations providing direct funding to NGOsworldwide working to advance democratic goals and strengthen democratic institutions. In 2012 alone, NED funded an average grant of of $50,000 to eachorganization and more than thousand projects across 92 countries were supported by is funding. NED provides funding to NGOs including civic organizations, associations, independent media, and other similar organizations. It encourages applications from organizations working in diverse environments including newly established democracies, semi-authoritarian countries, highly repressive societies and countries undergoing democratic transitions.
The next upcoming deadline to submit proposals is 18 January 2013.
For more information visit this link: http://www.fundsforngos.org/ned/unofficial-guide-apply-grants-ned/
By Milina Jovanović
In this essay I present my personal reflections on the life in the former Yugoslavia (Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) and on the current trends of privatization and corporate takeover of Yugoslav natural, economic, and human resources. Years ago, I personally experienced the best phase of Yugoslav socialism and worked in academic and research institutions. Even though the following pages don’t appear in the form of a scholarly article, I attempt to briefly present and explain the most important institutions and aspects of the Yugoslav socio-political and economic system, highlighting “the Yugoslav way of life” and what it meant for the diverse peoples of Yugoslavia. Seven small, disoriented, and colonized countries—the remains of Yugoslavia—struggle today, torn between their unique past and unsettling present. Desperation and apathy go hand in hand with wars and foreign occupation. Yet, Yugoslav people are resilient and therefore I finish this essay with some examples of current workers struggles and people’s resistance.
Growing Up in the Socialist Yugoslavia
Growing up in Belgrade, and in the socialist Yugoslavia, my generation was very fortunate. As elementary school children, we got to participate in self-management days. The entire school was run by students during those days: from administration, to class instruction, to cleaning and maintenance of school kitchens—everything was managed by students with no adult presence. Students applied and adjusted programs, maintained regular school schedules, gave lectures and graded assignments of their fellow students. I vividly remember a few times when I acted as a teacher. All the grades that I gave to my schoolmates had the same importance as the grades given by our real teachers. We felt much empowered, trusted, responsible, and quite free. We went to school in shifts, because it was recognized by the society that some children (and adults) learn better in the morning and some stay more alert and creative in the afternoon. The emphasis of the entire society was on developing collective values. Everything that happened in one classroom, including individual students’ performance, was discussed with all parents and students present. All the way into my adulthood, my generation felt safe and secure. As one of the three founders of the Nonaligned Movement, Yugoslavia’s goal was to only teach new generations how to defend their country; we never thought about meddling into any other country’s affairs. My generation did not worry about the future[1]. We grew up relaxed and optimistic, cherishing priorities such as well-rounded self-development and self-liberation from any relicts of capitalist and patriarchal ideologies.
As a college student and later as a researcher and social scientist, I believed that one of my greatest priorities was to develop and maintain a critical approach towards the Yugoslav socio-economic and political system, so that it could continue to evolve. It is possible that my generation was one of the last generations of Yugoslav idealists and dreamers. Yugoslavia was like no other country in recent history. I came to this realization in much more profound ways once I immigrated to the U.S. My friend Andrej Grubačić wrote eloquently: “Yugoslavia for me, and for people like me, was never just a country—it was an idea. Like the Balkans itself, it was a project of interethnic coexistence, a transethnic and pluricultural space of many diverse worlds…a home to pirates and rebels; a refuge of feminists and socialists, of antifascists and partisans; a place of dreamers of all sorts struggling both against provincial “peninsularity” as well as against occupations, foreign interventions… Like my grandparents, I too believe in and dream of a region where many worlds fit, and where everything is for everyone. I have no other emotion but utter contempt for people who helped destroy Yugoslavia and I feel the same about the people who are now selling what is left of it.”[2] I am definitely one of the people who share Mr. Grubačić’s views.
Basic Characteristics of the Yugoslav Model of Socialism
In some instances, the Yugoslav model of socialism is recognized as unique even by those who are a priori against socialism. Yet, most scholarly works published outside Yugoslavia have failed to understand what constituted that uniqueness. Neither Yugoslav theoretical concepts nor their practical application are really well known in the Western world. I don’t use the phrase “communist Yugoslavia” because I don’t equate the rule of a communist party with communism. I would only use the term “communism” in its original Marxist terms as a new socio-economic formation. Rather, I believe that the word socialism is much more appropriate and reflective of the social reality that existed in Yugoslavia between 1945 and 1990. Every socialist society is transitional and contains elements of the old and new social systems. Socialist Yugoslavia was founded on several basic concepts, institutions, and practices. The most important ones were self-management and social ownership. Local control of local resources was guaranteed by the associations of free producers in the work arena while people directly participated in local governance in their neighborhood associations. In order to better address issues of self-management and social ownership, the society created a special branch of law called self-management law and corresponding self-management courts. Some people criticized this legal duality and the quantity of self-management laws and regulations.
It was considered that no one should acquire income based on private property, but based on labor. Theoreticians of socialist self-management argued that a unique category of social ownership would ensure that. Social ownership was not equal to state ownership. Means of production, land, housing resources, natural resources, common good, art, media, and educational institutions, were all to belong to the society as a whole—to everyone and no one in particular. Only about 20% of agricultural resources and small businesses were in the private sector[3]. Land that belonged to farm workers was limited to 10 hectares per individual. During the socialist era, most housing was constructed for working people and their families. Following specific criteria, workers were awarded apartments to use, but not to own. Their children and all future generations could also use the same apartments, but none of them were considered owners. Neither were they renters. This legal category is difficult to explain, as it goes beyond common understanding in the Western world.
In socialist Yugoslavia, it was a basic premise that local people had an inalienable right to control local resources. In associations of free producers, workers had many opportunities to make informed decisions about their needs, available resources, and spending. The Yugoslav people made decisions about their own natural resources, productive assets, and production itself. For example, domestic production of electric energy was designed to meet domestic needs for a period of several decades. All the way to the 1980s the majority of Yugoslav products were produced for domestic use, not for exports. Official data showed that between the 1950s and the early 1990s, the most common trading partners of all former Yugoslav republics were other Yugoslav republics.
In addition to social ownership, self-management was another crucial social institution; both were seen as ideals and basic principles of social organization. Associations of Free Producers (OUR) were basic units of associated labor and they were organized on several levels. Working people decided to work together in order to meet their common needs and interests, so they created these associations. They worked collectively by using socially owned means of production and produced goods and values. Associations of free producers existed in the sphere of material production, but also in other social sectors such as social services, culture, art, education and health care. In every such association, most important decisions were made by referendum. Workers also formed workers councils that met regularly in order to run the associations on a day-to-day basis. Some American authors, such as Michael Albert[4], often talk about participatory economics implying that this is somewhat a new concept. Such authors rarely recognize the importance of the Yugoslav model of self-management that was in place for more than forty years. My own father was at the same time a production worker and a manager. In my youth, I was able to see self-management in practice and witness some of its organizational efficiency. For example, the complete body of workers in one association would meet and propose candidates for worker’s council, or plan their annual production. It is true that over time the existence of the market economy and other factors, limited economic and political power of the working people. Yet, this shouldn’t nullify the value of the Yugoslav experiment with self-management, in both theory and practice.
Neighborhood associations (Mesne Zajednice) were another type of basic units of self-governance. In associations of free producers, neighborhood organizations, and communes, Yugoslav people had an opportunity to engage in direct self-management. In neighborhood associations people made decisions about their neighborhoods and daily lives. In addition, they selected delegates for communal and republic governments, made decisions regarding working and living conditions, social politics, child care, education etc. Every neighborhood association had its own statute created by the people living in it. The most important decisions were also made by referendums.
Communes were larger territorial units, founded on the principles of the Paris Commune[5] to ensure decentralization and people’s direct participation in local self-governance. Communes, republics, autonomous provinces and the Yugoslav federation were connected in the same pyramid of the socio-political system. All republic constitutions acknowledged the Commune as the basic socio-political unit, critically important for republic and federal governments. The main goal of all economic and political processes in socialist Yugoslavia was to achieve the best possible working conditions and living standards for all working people.
Socialist Yugoslavia’s Achievements and the Global Corporate Agenda
During the entire socialist period, and especially between the 1960s and the 1980s, Yugoslavia was a prosperous country in which every person was guaranteed the right to work and receive a living-wage, free education of superb quality—all the way to post doctorate degrees, aminimum of one month paid vacation, unlimited sick leave based on health needs, a yearlong paid maternity/paternity leave, and the right to housing[6]. In addition, Yugoslavia was the only country in the world that incorporated women’s reproductive rights and freedoms in its constitution. Women made multiple advances in the spheres of education and employment, entering traditionally male dominated fields in very significant numbers. My master’s thesis compared Yugoslav and Californian women’s achievements in these two spheres. The data I collected showed that women in Yugoslavia made greater advances and challenged patriarchal divisions more often than women in California.[7]
During the same period, public transportation worked well, cultural and artistic life flourished and much of it was considered vanguard in global terms. All forms of artistic and cultural events and performances were produced for the people and there was no “elite culture” or “elite art.” Participation in all of cultural and artistic events was very affordable. Children were taught music, art, and a number of foreign languages at a very early age (starting in kindergarten). In the original Marxist tradition, it was considered that all people should be raised as well-rounded individuals. Starting in elementary school, we were taught to always perform and balance manual and intellectual work and to resist over-specialization. General education was highly valued. History and geography classes included lessons covering all continents. Especially during the early years of socialism, people of all ages, and youth in particular, volunteered to work together to build bridges, roads, plant trees and forests. Doing public works gave them a sense of pride, provided opportunities for new friendships and expanding horizons. My generation had annual school plans that included week long fieldtrips, so that we could go to different resorts and see natural jewels located in other Yugoslav republics. Yugoslav multiculturalism is rarely understood in the Western world. Throughout the socialist period there was a high rate of intermarriages and great numbers of people embraced what was called “Yugoslav brotherhood and unity.” Socialist Yugoslavia had a good reputation all over the world: it was seen as an instrumental member of Nonaligned Nations and an important partner in international relations.
As Michael Parenti stated numerous times, this is exactly an example of a country that would bother the U.S. policymakers, especially after the 1980s. Such countries challenge the U.S. quest for global domination, prospects of the global corporate agenda and “thirdworldization” of the entire planet[8]. At the beginning of 1990, the time came for the U.S. and its NATO allies to intervene: they did whatever was in their power, including the use of the pure force, in order to wipe out Yugoslavia from the map of Europe. Yet, Yugoslavia (and especially Serbia and Montenegro) was the only country in the region that wouldn’t voluntarily discard what remained of its socialism in order to install a free-market system[9]. The dismantling of Yugoslavia and wars of the 1990s are not the topic of this essay. Much has been written on that topic, mostly as a justification for NATO and U.S. wars and subsequent occupation. However, for a small number of scholars and activists it was obvious even in the 1990s that the goals of the global empire were no different in Yugoslavia than in multiple other countries around the globe. Again, in Parenti’s words: “the U.S. goal has been to transform Yugoslavia into a cluster of weak right-wing principalities with the following characteristics :
a) Incapable of charting an independent course of self-development
b) Natural resources completely accessible to transnational corporate exploitation, including the enormous mineral wealth in Kosovo
c) An impoverished but literate and skilled population working at subsistence wages, a cheap labor pool that will help depress wages in Western Europe and elsewhere
d) Dismantled petroleum, engineering, mining, pharmaceutical, construction, automotive, and agricultural industries, so they no longer offer competition against Western producers.[10]”
The U.S. and its NATO allies had some additional goals to be achieved by destroying Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was often seen as a regional power and a seed of a larger Balkan federation. That in itself was a real threat for the global empire’s quest for absolute domination. The U.S. and its European NATO allies also knew that their physical presence in the Balkan Peninsula would bring many additional rewards such as better oversight of all European resources and developments, control over the heroin trade, human and organ trafficking, and the Caspian Sea pipeline. The so-called peacekeeping missions which obviously became clear occupation agendas ensured building and maintenance of permanent military bases and detention centers.
In many ways, the U.S. and the E.U. have already achieved a number of their imperial goals. Visiting my hometown on an annual basis, I can see greater numbers of accomplishments every year. However, the complete occupation, privatization of all economic and natural resources, as well as total demoralization of people are not easy goals to achieve in the Balkans. In his documentary film The Weight of Chains, Serbian-Canadian director Boris Malagurski shows that many people are waking up, now realizing that the free-market economy and foreign domination have brought hardly anything positive. This has happened in all countries that once constituted Yugoslav republics. What free-market ideologists call “Yugonostalgia” is actually awakening and realization of the great loss. This is also an affirmation of people’s collective memory and a testimony that opposing processes exist together in their own dialectical unity: some social forces strive for inclusion in E.U., while others struggle to go back to their socialist tradition and maintain independence. Yugoslav peoples couldn’t simply erase their positive experiences gained from living under socialism. Even though the imposed ideologies glorifying capitalist values and consumerism, the values of the European Union and global corporate agenda are influential, significant numbers of workers do attempt to regain their power. They struggle against privatizations, corporate takeovers, loss of jobs and general austerity measures. The resistance has never stopped.
The Advancement of the Global Empire
The neocolonial agenda has advanced in recent years. Here is what I observed several months ago in Belgrade, Serbia’s capital.
People’s Resources, Industry, Financial Sector, and Consumerism
Walking around Belgrade, especially in the downtown area, I counted numerous offices of foreign banks. In many instances, these banks are on every corner and often spread out with their doors only 100 meters apart. In addition, the number of exchange offices didn’t decrease that much from the time of the early 1990s when they were mushrooming literally everywhere. This is consistent with the takeover of the Serbian financial sector by the EU powers & so-called international financial institutions. The Serbian workers who work in these banks are sometimes quite grumpy and not necessarily meeting the standards of “professionalism” expected in other countries. This time, because of an incident when an ATM machine wouldn’t return my card and the bank was closed on Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday, I had to endure their bad customer service and arrogant attitudes. It seems that they are not happy about their working conditions imposed on them by these unscrupulous foreign banks and their disturbance and disappointment are then reflected in their work with customers.
The newly embraced capitalist ideology that glorifies consumerism is clearly visible on the streets, in shops, institutions, and in the media. Every year, there is a slightly larger number of fast food restaurants such as Mc Italia, or Greek and Chinese fast food. These unhealthy foods and drinks are coupled with what many Belgraders believe is already happening behind closed doors—imports of GMO seeds and foods, in spite of the government claims that they wouldn’t allow something like that to happen. The same is applicable to inhumanely produced meat that is full of hormones and infectious bacteria. As a result, we can see more overweight people on the streets of Belgrade. However, it seems that this is still a marginal problem since Belgraders walk a lot and many now jog, bike and go to yoga classes. The more alarming part seems to be the increase in numbers of people in their forties and fifties who suffer from high blood pressure, heart diseases, and stroke.
The foreign firms bought numerous formerly Serbian or Yugoslav companies. The privatization of Yugoslav water resources is one of the most striking examples. Rosa Water is a Coca-Cola Hellenic owned company, VODA VODA is owned by the Arteska International Co, BB Minaqua Co. is divided by Krones of Germany, Sidel of Italy and Thomson Machinery for its Cyprus production. Even though many of these firms claim that they have eco-friendly packaging, such as “Rosa plant-based bottle,” the plastic packaging and its waste are saturating the environment while leaching toxic chemicals into the bottled water that many Belgraders now buy and carry around with them. Previously, the tap water quality was much higher and hardly anyone believed that they needed bottled water. Until the 1990s, all beverages were packaged in glass bottles.
Garment and cosmetic firms are now either foreign or domestic ones that have been bought by foreigners. For example, if we look at the children’s clothing, shoes, cosmetics, food, etc. we get a combination of these mostly foreign and well-known brands that now have all markets open to them: Avent, Disney, Chicco, Graco, Bertoni, Peg-Perego, Bambino, Pavlogal, Humana, Frutek, Hipp, Nestle, Juvitana, & Bebelac. Kosili and Dr. Pavlovic are among a few exceptions. While we had a few Italian baby firms present in Belgrade even before the wars of the 1990s, Nestle & Disney are definitely more present now. Even some domestic firms wanted English names such as BEBA KIDS, Just Click, etc.
Belgrade based Dahlia Cosmetics used to produce predominantly plant and mineral based cosmetic products. Now Dahliacosmetic is privatized and, as stated on its website, 100% owned by the Belgrade’s Beohemija. Beohemija in turn, was formed as a merger between Delta from Zrenjanin and Slovenian Sanpionka. In all of those mergers and privatizations thousands of workers lost their jobs and it is difficult to believe that now Dahlia wouldn’t replace the mineral based products with the use of synthetic ingredients. Just by looking at the labels of a few products I had seen, it was difficult to say.
Duvanska Industrija Niš or Nis Tobacco Industry was repeatedly bombed during the NATO’s bombing operations in 1999. It was one of the largest factories employing 2,500 workers.[11] These bombing operations prepared the terrain for the subsequent take-over. In 2003 the tobacco giant Phillip Morris seized the Serbian cigarette factory. Philip Morris uses GMO tobacco additionally saturated with pesticides in its cultivation and other toxic substances in the cigarette production.
Speaking of privatizations and loss of jobs, many businesses have closed and new ones opened in the past 2 years, since my last visit. There was a souvenir shop across the street from the Belgrade City Hall the last time I was there, but now there was a different kind of store in the same space and no one I asked knew what happened with the souvenir shop. Serbia doesn’t have the domestic garment industry anymore as Centrotekstil, Kluz, Beko, Tekstilna Industrija Zemun, all ceased to exist. The same is true for the Elektronska Industrija Niš (Nis Electronic Industry) and Zemun’s INSA that produced clocks and watches. Both of these viable domestic industries completely disappeared. Zastava—the domestic car industry based in Kragujevac is also destroyed. Once solid shoe industry is now reduced to Boreli a firm whose production sites and stores were targeted by the Croatian Borovo for potential sell-offs. Borovo claimed to be the headquarters of the Sombor firm. Workers’ prolonged struggles at Boreli have not resolved the question of privatization. In Serbia, all industry together now amounts to 37% of what it was in 1986. In addition to corporations, even politicians such as Madeleine Albright have an eye on the Yugoslav industry, services, and resources. Albright Capital Management or ACM—the former Secretary of State Albright’s Company—is buying Kosovo’s Telecom, as reported by Tanjug & RTS on August 18. Madam Albright served under Bill Clinton and was instrumental in the delivery of the “humanitarian wars” against Yugoslavia and Serbia specifically.
Apple now has several offices in Belgrade and is selling its expensive equipment to the wealthy segment of Belgrade’s population. Yugoslavia always had good foreign language university departments and domestic institutes. This year, I saw a Berlitz Institute’s office at Belgrade’s hillside called Banovo Brdo, so I suspect that the new assumption is that domestic language institutes are not necessarily considered “world-class institutions.” It might sound strange to some, but is probably a logical consequence of the destroyed economy that relied on black markets during the war years, but it is still not that uncommon to buy a computer in regular stores, get an official declaration and warranty certificates that list official service providers, and then receive service through official channels by knowledgeable individuals who would work for those servicing firms unofficially.
Language, Culture, Services, and Public Displays
It is often considered that one of the best indicators of the level of colonization is the incorporation of the language of the oppressor into the native language of the oppressed people. At this time and era oppressors come as a multiplicity, not as one. The Serbian language is definitely invaded with so many foreign words, but they are predominately English words. In many instances, they sound almost ridiculous, as funny hybrids (such as surfuj, katering, etc.), directly put in Serbian Cyrillic and with Serbian spelling. It is difficult to listen, and sometimes refrain from laughing. We still have countless numbers of Turkish words and phrases that became so deeply ingrained into the Serbian language because of the centuries long Ottoman rule; regardless of the fact that we used to resist and protest their usage, now some of them might sound better than what is currently invading the Serbian language. Countless local businesses, music bands, tourist offers, etc. all have English names instead of Serbian. In addition, Belgrade has always hosted some of the most famous rock groups, other musicians and all kinds of celebrities. This summer, it also had Cirque de Soleil perform for Belgraders. The popular riverside boat restaurants (splavovi) are as active as ever. One of them is called “Bollywood.”
For the first time I saw Chinese-Serbian people walk around town relaxed and behaving like tourists. During previous years I could see them only working in Belgrade’s Chinatown. The estimates are that now we have less than 5,000 Chinese residents in Belgrade. Some do have children who go to regular Serbian schools. This is one of the great illustrations of surprising patterns of global migrations.
Public transportation is still working well in Belgrade. Yet, they recently introduced an electronic ticketing machines to be used in buses leaving too many passengers confused and uninformed about how to use them, where to get tickets, etc. The transition has not happened smoothly.
Belgrade has too many humongous billboards that celebrate the new capitalist consumerism and contain commercials for foreign banks, corporations, and products. There are a few enormous sized billboards advertizing Viagra equivalents. Now, Serbian people have their own Viagra product called “Vulkan” (volcano). As all colonized people are, the people from the Balkans were also often over-sexualized by their oppressors over the centuries, especially men. Yet, in today’s world, many are
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http://www.marx21.it/internazionale/area-ex-urss/7808-la-nato-si-appresterebbe-ad-aprire-una-base-militare-in-moldavia-una-nuova-provocazione-contro-la-russia.html
http://www.marx21.it/internazionale/area-ex-urss/557-grande-manifestazione-contro-il-governo-liberista-e-filo-occidentale-della-moldavia.html
La “Guardia di Ferro” torna in Moldavia
http://www.marx21. it/internazional e/area-ex- urss/8182- la-guardia- di-ferro- torna-in- moldavia. html
La “Croce di Ferro” si rese responsabile non solo di assassini politici dei combattenti antifascisti, ma anche dell'organizzazione dei pogrom degli Ebrei che risiedevano in Bessarabia. L'antisemitismo del suo fondatore Codreanu fu particolarmente violento.
L'insegna della “Guardia di Ferro” è stata adottata ora dall'organizzazione “Nuova Destra” (Noua Dreapta), che si pone come obiettivo (in assoluta corrispondenza con i piani della NATO) l'unificazione della Moldavia alla Romania. La “Nuova Destra”, come altre organizzazioni neofasciste europee, utilizza come simbolo anche la croce celtica.
Questo avvenimento, inquietante segnale della deriva reazionaria e fascista delle pulsioni nazionaliste (e filo-imperialiste) presenti in alcune repubbliche dell'ex URSS, si registra non casualmente nello stesso momento in cui il parlamento moldavo vota per l'interdizione dei simboli comunisti.
Sui rigurgiti fascisti in Moldavia:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noua_Dreaptă
http://www.lenta.ru/news/2012/12/18/cross/
Secondo il legale del partito, Sergiu Sirbu, la decisione, dettata esclusivamente da considerazioni politiche, rappresenta una grave violazione del diritto internazionale.
“In pratica – ha dichiarato il giurista, sono stati ignorati tutti gli argomenti relativi all'adozione delle norme internazionali a riguardo e sono state applicate, in modo restrittivo solo disposizioni di legge interne e non la Convenzione Europea. Noi definiamo questa decisione del tutto politica, dal momento che non è stato presentato un solo argomento in grado di contrastare la nostra richiesta”.
Naturalmente l'ennesima misura restrittiva dell'iniziativa politica di un partito comunista in un paese europeo non ha provocato, come era del resto prevedibile, alcuna reazione da parte di quei “difensori dei diritti dell'uomo”, così solerti quando si tratta di indignarsi (per vere o presunte violazioni) nei paesi sgraditi ai “grandi” del nostro continente.
La decisione delle autorità moldave ha però suscitato l'energica protesta di alcuni partiti comunisti europei, tra cui AKEL di Cipro (http://grenada.md/post/kiprioty_dlea_moldovyy), che ha anche denunciato le sanzioni prese nei confronti del leader della gioventù comunista moldava, “reo” di avere contravvenuto alla disposizione.
Fonte http://www.pcrm.md/main/index.php?action=news&;id=7889
Website and articles:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com
Nine O'Clock News (Romania) - July 7, 2011
Voronin urges EU to publicly denounce Basescu’s WWII statements
The head of the Republic of Moldova’s Communist Party, former President Vladimir Voronin, yesterday criticised President Traian Basescu’s recent comments about the Second World War and demanded that the EU publicly denounce the Romanian head of state for his words, Pro TV Chisinau reported.
In a TV show on June 22, President Basescu said he would have done the same as Marshal Ion Antonescu did during the war, when joining Germany in invading the Soviet Union. “We had an ally and we had a territory to recover (e.n. Moldova). If I had faced the same conditions I would have done it,” Basescu argued.
“The president of a EU member state labelled as correct the actions of a war criminal and Nazi executioner, Antonescu, by whose actions more than 300,000 people were exterminated,” Voronin said yesterday.
Basescu’s comments were fiercely criticised by the opposition and large parts of the public, but also by Russia, which said the head of state was practically trying to justify his country’s decision to join the war against the Soviet Union on Hitler’s side. Moreover, it was reported that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also had some very tough comments on Basescu during the NATO-Russia council earlier this week. Asked to comment on the reports, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen refused.
“President Medvedev talks about this matter in a confidential diplomatic framework and in the terms appropriate for this framework. The Romanian envoy to NATO replied in the same framework and the same terms,” he said. NATO envoy Sorin Ducaru too refused to make any comments.
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http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/181545_print.html
Itar-Tass - July 8, 2011
Moldova’s former Pres urges EU to condemn Romanian Pres statement.
CHISINAU: Moldova’s former President Vladimir Voronin on Thursday expressed surprise over the absence of reaction on the part of the European Union to the remarks made by Romanian President Trajan Basescu regarding Hitler’s aggression against the USSR in 1941.
Basescu said earlier this week he would have sent Romanian soldiers to take part in the occupation of the USSR along with Hitler’s forces in 1941.
Romanian dictator Ion Antonescu did send Romanian troops to war against the Soviet Union in June 1941.
‘We’re indignant over Basescu’s statement,” Vladimir Voronin said Thursday as he met in Chisinau with European Council President Herman van Rompuy. “In actual fact, Basescu, who is president of an EU member-state, justified the war criminal and butcher Antonescu, whose immediate involvement - in the punitive operations - took away the lives of more than 300,000.”
“Now Basescu says that if he had been in Antonescu’s position seventy years ago, he, too, would have ordered the troops to cross the river Prut,” Voronin said.
“We expect condemnation of these statements,” Voronin said.
Gallerie fotografiche ed ulteriori informazioni sono riportate alla pagina facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/nonbombemasolocaramelle
Oggetto: Relazione su viaggio a Kragujevac e 5 per mille
Data: 01 dicembre 2012
Care amiche e cari amici solidali, vi inviamo la relazione del viaggio compiuto a Kragujevac a ottobre scorso per la consegna degli affidi e lo sviluppo dei nostri progetti.
Come vedrete la seconda parte della relazione, quella che descrive la situzione economica, e piu’ corta del solito perche’ non abbiamo avuto molti dati nuovi rispetto alla relazione precedente, che vi avevamo inviato a settembre.
Il prossimo viaggio a Kragujevac si svolgera’ nel periodo 28-31 marzo 2013.
(...) Vi informiamo che abbiamo appena inserito nuove gallerie fotografiche e nuove relazioni nella nostra pagina facebook
http://www.facebook.com/nonbombemasolocaramelle
Un cordiale saluto a tutte/i
Per la ONLUS Non bombe ma solo caramelle
Gilberto Vlaic
ONLUS Non Bombe ma Solo Caramelle - Trieste
DI RITORNO DA KRAGUJEVAC
Viaggio del 18 – 22 ottobre 2012
Introduzione
Vi inviamo la relazione del viaggio svolto circa un mese e fa a Kragujevac per la consegna delle adozioni a distanza che fanno capo alla ONLUS Non Bombe ma solo Caramelle e al Coordinamento Nazionale RSU CGIL.
Questi viaggi servono anche a verificare lo stato dei numerosi progetti che sono stati portati a termine e per la messa in cantiere di nuovi progetti.
Come sempre in questa relazione saranno presenti alcune fotografie per illustrare questi progetti; ne troverete molte di piu’ per ogni singolo progetto sulla nostra pagina facebook
http://www.facebook.com/nonbombemasolocaramelle
Tutte le nostre informazioni vengono pubblicate regolarmente sui due siti che seguono; altri siti di tanto in tanto riportano le relazioni dei nostri viaggi oppure le schede informative che periodicamente inviamo.
Sul sito del coordinamento RSU trovate tutte le notizie sulle nostre iniziative a partire dal 1999 alla pagina, facendola scorrere verso il basso:
http://www.coordinamentorsu.it/guerra.htm
I nostri resoconti sono presenti anche sul sito del Coordinamento Nazionale per la Jugoslavia, al nuovo indirizzo:
Cronaca del viaggio; i progetti in corso
Giovedi’ 18 ottobre 2012; il viaggio e l’arrivo al Sindacato
La partenza e lo svolgimento del nostro viaggio sono ben piu’ complessi del solito; all’abituale pullmino prestato dalla ASIT di Trieste (su cui alla fine viaggeranno sei persone, e sette al ritorno) si affiancano due auto per un totale di undici persone.
Ci sono poi il pullmino della Misericordia della Bassa Friulana di San Giorgio di Nogaro, che sara’ donato alla associazione malati di distrofia, ed un ulteriore mezzo della Misericordia che sara’ usato per il ritorno dai quatto volontari di questa associazione.
Ed e’ il furgone da donare che determinera’ inciampi e ritardi continui.
Si comincia all’uscita dall’Italia, con la necessita’ di denunciare in dogana l’esportazione; aspettiamo un’ora e mezzo alla Dogana di Fernetti per avere il relativo documento.
Poi c’e’ la sosta alla frontiera tra la Slovenia e la Croazia, dove il documento di esportazione deve essere timbrato per dimostrare l’uscita dall’Unione Europea.
L’inghippo successivo e’ rappresentato dall’ingresso in Croazia, dove e’ necessario ottenere un certificato di transito per dimostrare il percorso seguito.
L’inizio della sosta in Croazia e’ catastrofico: alcuni doganieri vorrebbero che cambiassimo strada e passassimo dall’Ungheria, in modo da non aver bisogno di questo documento.
Molto fortunosamente otteniamo il certificato, ed il viaggio cosi’ puo’ proseguire fino alla frontiera di ingresso in Serbia, dove un’altra ora e mezza viene persa per ottenere il documento di importazione nel Paese, che ci servira’ poi il giorno successivo per svolgere le formalita’ burocratiche finali per poter fare la donazione di questo mezzo.
Alla frontiera serba decidiamo di separarci: un’auto e i due pullmini della Misericordia aspetteranno il documento, gli altri proseguiranno in modo da arrivare ad un’ora ragionevole (verso le otto di sera, con tre ore di ritardo rispetto al solito) cosi’ da poter preparare le buste degli affidi da consegnare durante l’assemblea del sabato.
Finalmente incontriamo i nostri amici del sindacato nella loro sede. L’atmostera e’ come sempre festosa, come se ci si fosse lasciati il giorno prima, anche se si sente la tensione dovuta alla liquidazione della Zastava Automobili, avvenuta il 5 gennaio 2011, con la conseguente perdita del posto di lavoro per quasi 1600 lavoratori, tra cui tre delle persone (su cinque) che lavorano per il Sindacato e che si occupano dell’ufficio adozioni.
E’ chiaro che senza di loro la nostra campagna di solidarieta’ materiale con i lavoratori di Kragujevac, in piedi ormai da 13 anni, sarebbe destinata a finire molto presto, tra l’altro in una fase come questa, in cui il modesto ma concreto aiuto che periodicamente portiamo diventa ancor piu’ indispensabile.
Vi ricordo a questo proposito che tutte le associazioni italiane che intervengono a Kragujevac (una decina) hanno deciso di creare un apposito fondo, SENZA toccare il denaro destinato agli affidi, che integra almeno in parte il sussidio di disoccupazione per queste tre persone (Rajka, Dragan e Delko) permettendo quindi di continuare l’attivita’ dell’ufficio.
Prepariamo tutte le buste con gli affidi che saranno consegnati durante l’assemblea pubblica di sabato 20 ottobre, organizziamo gli appuntamenti che avremo nei tre giorni successivi ed infine consegnamo le tre buste con i contributi per l’ufficio adozioni, per le quali ci viene rilasciata una regolare ricevuta.
E cosi’ quasi alle dieci di sera ci ritroviamo tutti a cena, molto stanchi ma finalmente senza piu’ problemi e incubi di documenti vari.
Una bella notizia: le previsioni del tempo dicono che avremo tre giorni di tempo spendido, con temperature quasi estive.
Venerdi’ 19 ottobre; la verifica dei progetti
Inizia una lunghissima giornata, densa di incontri ma soprattutto di emozioni.
Alle 9 il primo incontro e’ con il direttore della Zastava Veicoli.
Si tratta della parte del gruppo Zastava che non e’ ancora stata privatizzata e che non e’ stata assorbita dalla Fiat.
Ne fanno parte 1880 lavoratori; le realta’ piu’ grandi sono rappresentate dalle seguenti fabbriche:
Zastava Kamioni (775 lavoratori) in coproprieta’ tra governo serbo (70 per cento) e la italiana IVECO (30 per cento).
La parte italiana si disinteressa totalmente di questa realta’, che ha produzioni minime; malgrado una riduzione continua del personale il Governo non riesce a venderla.
La seconda fabbrica e’ Zastava INPRO, con 315 dipendenti di cui 215 invalidi, sia mentali che fisici.
E’ una fabbrica protetta dalla legislazione sul lavoro degli invalidi; la avevamo visitata un anno fa; produce sostanzialmente carrelli rimorchio per auto, ed esporta quasi tutta la produzione.
E’ una fabbrica strana, dove a fianco di macchinario moderno si trovano strumentazioni antidiluviane.
E poi c’e’ il Centro Medico della Zastava con 280 dipendenti, di cui 90 medici; ha un bacino di utenza di 40.000 persone, la strumentazione a disposizione e’ vetusta; anni fa, in una collaborazione con la ONLUS Cooperazione Odontoiatrica Internazionale avevamo fornito quattro poltrone dentistiche e molto materiale sia strumentale che di consumo, rinnovando completamente il reparto stomatologia, che in questa maniera, tra l’altro, si era salvato da chiusura quasi certa.
Attualmente forniamo a questo centro quantita’ significative di medicinali in ognuno dei viaggi che facciamo.
Il Sindacato Pensionati Italiani di Brescia sta iniziando un nuovo progetto in questo centro, allo scopo di ristrutturare completamente il reparto fisioterapia con un investimento di circa 12.000 euro.
Subito dopo, alle 10, ci riceve in Comune la nuova assessora ai Servizi Sociali Sladjana Boskovic, con la quale ci auguriamo di poter collaborare in modo positivo fin da subito.
Conosce bene tutto cio’ che abbiamo fatto in questi anni, e ci tiene a ringraziarci.
L’incontro soprattutto verte sulla sua presentazione del nuovo programma poliennale che il suo assessorato, insieme a quello per la Istruzione, vuole portare avanti per sviluppare processi di inclusione sociale per gli alunni delle scuole di Kragujevac con handicap fisici. Ci presenta con ricchezza di particolari cio’ che desiderano fare per il superamento delle barriere architettoniche, e su questo chiede il nostro aiuto, perche’ non hanno sufficienti risorse economiche. Si tratta di intervenire su 6 scuole, prevalentemente in periferia.
L’intervento economico dovrebbe aggirarsi su 13-14 mila euro; e’ una cifra ingente, ma se troveremo altre associazioni disposte a collaborare dovremmo essere in grado di portare avanti il progetto.
A queste scuole poi si aggiunge l’associazione Centar da Samostalni Zivot (Centro per la Vita Autonoma) che ha 58 soci, di cui 43 in carrozzina, e che nella propria sede non possiede una servizio igienico utilizzabile dagli invalidi.
Alle 11 e 30 FESTA GRANDE! inauguriamo la sede dei Tetraplegici che e’ stata completamete rifatta.
Avevamo visitato per la prima volta questa associazione a luglio scorso; la loro sede era in condizioni disastrose ed era bastata una occhiata per decidere che dovevamo intervenire per fornire a queste sfortunate persone una sede piu’ dignitosa, con servizi igienici adatti ai loro problemi fisici.
SIamo felici di vedere tutto ricostruito; ecco alcune foto che ci mostrano il tipo di intervento eseguito.
Questa sede e’ stata intitolata alla memoria di Vittorio Tranquilli, uno dei fondatori della Associazione ABC, Solidarieta’ e Pace di Roma e che tanto ha dato al popolo serbo in questi lunghi anni.
Oltre noi, hanno contribuito ai lavori la ONLUS Associazione Zastava Brescia per la Solidarieta’ Internazionale e le due associazioni romane ABC e Un ponte per
[FOTO: La targa in memoria di Vittorio Tranquilli]
A luglio, quando avevamo visitato la Scuola dopo i lavori, era tempo di vacanze e cosi’ questa festa e’ stata rimandata ad ottobre.
Moltissimi bambini si esibiscono, tutti con molta buona volonta’, e si va dalla recita delle poesie alle danze acrobatiche per finire, come in ogni festa che si rispetti a Kragujevac, al ballo in costume della Sumadija.
Si ricomincia il pomeriggio, ed e’ di nuovo FESTA GRANDE!
C’e’ la consegna alla associazione Distrofici di Kragujevac del pullmino della Misericordia della Basa Friulana di San Giorgio di Nogaro che avventurosamente e’ riuscito ad arrivare in Serbia.
L’associazione distrofici ha circa 140 membri di cui la meta’ bambini, sono persone quasi tutte disoccupate, molte di loro ormai legate alla carrozzina e hanno bisogno di aiuto anche per le necessita’ piu’ semplici. Spesso sono persone molto povere e ai margini della societa’.
La loro sede e’ un locale di proprieta’ pubblica; ricevono dal Comune un aiuto economico con cui far fronte alle spese per elettricita’, riscaldamento e telefono.
E’ presente sul piazzale davanti alla sede anche un altro pullmino, che era stato donato quattro anni fa, nel 2008, ad un’altra associazione, quella dei malati di Sclerosi Multipla; il suo trasporto in Serbia era stato altrettanto tormentato; quattro anni fa era stato reimmatricolato a Kragujevac e fa un certo effetto ora vedere il logo della Misericordia di San Giorgio sulle sue fiancate (compreso il numero di telefono), e le targhe che sono serbe!
Sono presenti giornali e televisioni e si fanno molte interviste.
I membri della associazione provano e riprovano con grande felicita’ la piattaforma che carica le carrozzine nel pullmino. Un mezzo del genere per loro rappresenta un vero salto qualitativo.
[FOTO: Una prova di carico; a sinistra si intravede il secondo pullmino / I volontari della Misericordia con il pullmino donato]
La festa poi prosegue all’interno della sede, tra discorsi e consegne di regali.
Sul muro esterno, vicino alla porta, e’ stata recentemente apposta una targa a ricordo del fatto che durante l’estate abbiamo rifatto il tetto della sede.
[FOTO: La targa / Lavori (estivi) in corso per la ricostruzione il tetto]
La giornata si conclude alle 17, con la visita alla associazione Invalidi civili di guerra.
Ci riceve il loro presidente, insieme all’impiegata del Comune distaccata in questa sede.
Hanno a disposizione da quaranta anni un locale in pienissimo centro citta’, che non ha mai ricevuto alcuna manutenzione, e si vede...; e’ di proprieta’ pubblica, il comune paga le bollette.
Ci chiedono un pressante aiuto per costruire un servizio igienico (che attualmente manca, anche se ci sono i possibili allacci) e per restaurare pareti, soffitto e porta di ingresso.
Prenderemo una decisione in merito insieme alle altre associazioni in Italia.
Sabato 20 ottobre 2012
E’ la giornata dell’assemblea della consegna degli affidi a distanza.
Prima, pero’ abbiamo un lungo incontro con i delegati sindacali della Fiat Auto Serbia, per fare il punto della situazione di questa fabbrica. Incontriamo Zoran Markovic, attuale segretario sindacale in FAS e Zoran Mihajlovic, che lo ha preceduto in questo incarico e che attualmente ricopre la carica di Vicesegretario generale del Samostalni a Belgrado.
Inseriremo le cose che ci hanno raccontato nella seconda parte, quella economica, di questa relazione.
Centinaia di persone ci stanno pazientemente davanti all’ingresso della grande sala dove si distribuiranno le quote, nella storica palazzione della dierione della Zastava.
Queste persone probabilmente non leggono i giornali serbi e italiani che descrivono Kragujevac perche’ altrimenti non sarebbero qui, ma a festeggiare il magnifico Eldorado in cui l’arrivo della Fiat ha trasformato la loro citta’.
No, per loro, i nostri amici e le loro famiglie, la realta’ e’ un’altra: vivono si’ a Kragujevac, ma nella citta’ reale, dove la disoccupazione e’ quasi al trenta per cento, e se invece hanno la fortuna di lavorare il loro salario non arriva a 300 euro al mese; sono senza lavoro e resteranno per sempre ai margini della sopravvivenza e nessuna vaghissima (e sempre rimandata) promessa di ingresso nella comunità europea riuscirà a tramutare in condizioni di vita dignitose le loro speranze. E tutto questo in un paese europeo che poteva aspirare ad un futuro normale, prima di essere distrutto dai bombardamenti dei civilissimi Paesi aderenti alla NATO. Tra cui, non dimentichiamolo mai, l’Italia.
Durante questa assemblea distribuiamo 161 quote di affido (per la maggior parte quote pari ad un semestre) per un totale di 26680 e euro; malgrado le difficolta’ legate ad alcune rinuncie, alle quali fa fronte la ONLUS con i fondi propri (che pero’ si assottigiano sempre piu’) riusciamo anche questa volta a aprire 3 nuovi affidi da tre nuovi sottoscrittori.
Inoltre consegniamo quattordici quote annuali di 310 euro provenienti dalla Associazione Aiutiamo la Jugoslavia di Bologna e un contributo (200 euro) proveniente da un sottoscrittore della Associazione Most Za Beograd di Bari.
E cosi’ si chiude l’anno 2012, con 14 nuovi affidi aperti a marzo scorso e due aperti a luglio.
Da tutti i nostri amici c’e’ un saluto, un abbraccio, una stretta di mano, regali da portare alle famiglie italiane; molti vogliono raccontarci dei loro problemi e vogliono sapere notizie sulle famiglie italiane donatrici.
Qui termina il nostro viaggio tra i nostri (quasi tutti ex) lavoratori serbi nel cuore dell’Europa civile...
Domenica 21 ottobre
E’ il giorno dell'anniversario della terribile strage nazista di Kragujevac, del 21 ottobre 1941.
Tra il 14 e il 19 ottobre 1941 vi furono nei dintorni della citta’ durissimi scontri tra soldati tedeschi e partigiani, durante i quali vi furono dieci morti e ventisei feriti tra le truppe occupanti.
Le agghiaccianti regole di rappresaglia imponevano il rapporto di 100 fucilati per ogni tedesco morto e 50 per ogni ferito. In realta’ tra il 19 e il 21 ottobre furono fucilate 7300 persone, quasi tutti maschi, rastrellati in tutta la citta’ e nei villaggi contadini circostanti; trovarono la morte anche gli studenti e i professori del Ginnasio, prelevati direttamente dalle aule. E furono poi uccisi anche i piccoli rom della citta’ che facevano tradizionalmente i lustrascarpe, perche’ rifiutarono di pulire gli stivali dei fucilatori.
I fucilati vennero gettati in trentatre fosse comuni, disseminate in 380 ettari di terra che oggi costituiscono il Parco della Rimembranza. Nel territorio del Parco sono stati eretti molti monumenti, il piu’ imponente dei quali ricorda gli studenti del Ginnasio ed e’ chiamato le Ali Spezzate, ed e’ il simbolo della citta’.
Ogni anno da piu’ di 60 anni nell’anniversario della strage si tiene una imponente commemorazione, che viene chiamata ‘’La grande lezione di Storia’’ a cui prendono parte decine di migliaia di persone.
Quest’anno la cerimonia si svolge durante una giornata di sole quasi estivo. Prima vi e’ una cerimonia religiosa, con molti canti liturgici pieni di fascino, ed una lunga deposizione di corone e fiori provenienti da mezzo mondo. Fa particolare impressione vedere una corona con i colori nazionali tedeschi.
Di seguito si svolge nel prato antistante al monumento delle Ali Spezzate una rapppresentazione teatrale, recitata da un gruppo di attori del teatro di Kragujevac, molto interessante ed emotivamente molto coinvolgente; anche senza capire le parole si possono intuire i significati e le forti tensioni delle singole scene.
[FOTO: Il monumento delle Ali Spezzate]
Il giorno dopo rientriamo in Italia, e inizieremo a preparare il prossimo viaggio con la stessa determinazione e convinzione con cui abbiamo preparato tutti i precedenti.
Grazie a tutte/i voi per il sostegno che date a questa campagna solidale!
ALCUNI INDICI ECONOMICI GENERALI SULLA SERBIA
I dati contenuti in questa relazione sono stati ricavati per la maggior parte dai bollettini periodici dell’Ufficio Centrale di Statistica; qualora la fonte sia diversa viene esplicitamente indicata.
Non ci sono molte novita’ rispetto alla relazione del viaggio di luglio 2012, ed un lettore attento notera’ che per alcuni capitoli si tratta di una riproposizione di cio’ che e’ stato scritto a luglio, non avendo trovato nuovi dati.
Cambio dinaro/euro (fonte: comunicati periodici della Banca Nazionale)
La Serbia e’ un Paese con un fortissimo deficit commerciale (come vedremo tra poco) e piu’ della meta’ del commercio con l’estero si svolge con la Unione Europea, Italia e Germania in primis.
Il cambio del dinaro con l’euro ha quindi una immediata e fortissima influenza sui prezzi delle merci e sulle (scarsissime) capacita’ di acquisto delle famiglie.
Ripercorriamo la variazione del cambio negli ultimi tre anni.
Al 22 ottobre 2009 era di 93.2 dinari per euro.
Un anno dopo, il 4 novembre 2010 il cambio era arrivato a a 107.5 dinari per euro.
Dopo questa data c’era stato per circa sei mesi un rafforzamento progressivo del dinaro che era giunto al valore di 96.5 dinari per un euro il 22 maggio 2011 per poi iniziare nuovamente a calare.
Questo rafforzamento momentaneo e’ stato dovuto esclusivamente a ragioni politiche interne; ha avuto vantaggi solo per chi ha aperto mutui in euro, ma ha penalizzato fortemente le gia’ scarse esportazioni, mentre i prezzi dei beni di prima necessita’ e le tariffe hanno continuato ad aumentare.
Fino alla fine del 2011 il cambio e’ poi oscillato intorno a 100-102 dinari per un euro.
Poi per tutto il 2012 la moneta ha subito un indebolimento continuo, dai 103 dinari per un euro a gennaio fino ai 119 dinari per un euro a fine agosto, malgrado la Banca Nazionale abbia speso almeno 1500 milioni di euro per sostenere il dinaro, per attestarsi a circa 113 dinari per un euro a ottobre-novembre.
Prodotto interno lordo (PIL) e indice della produzione industriale
Il PIL nel primo trimestre del 2012 e’ diminuito del 1.3 % rispetto allo stesso periodo del 2011; nel secondo trimestre il calo e’ stato dello 0.6 % rispetto allo stesso periodo del 2011.
L’indice della produzione industriale nel periodo gennaio-settembre 2012 e’ diminuito del 3.8% rispetto a quello dello stesso periodo del 2011, mentre se si confronta settembre 2012 con settembre 2011 il calo e’ stato di 1.6%, con un caduta del 5.9% nel settore manifatturiero.
Commercio con l’estero.
Anche nel 2011 la Serbia ha avuto un un deficit commerciale altissimo,
Ecco il consuntivo dell’anno: le esportazioni sono state pari a 8441.4 milioni di euro, con un aumento del 14.2% rispetto al 2010; le importazioni invece sono state pari a 14250.0 milioni di euro, con un aumento del 12.9% rispetto al 2010.
Il deficit della bilancia commerciale e’ stato dunque di 5808.6 milioni di euro, in crescita dell’11.1% in confronto al 2010.
Il rapporto tra esportazioni ed importazioni lo scorso anno e’ stato del 57.4%.
Per quanto riguarda il 2012, tra gennaio e settembre le esportazioni sono state pari a EUR 6399.3 milioni di euro con un incremento del 1.9%, in confronto allo stesso periodo del 2011, mentre il vavore delle importazioni e’ stato di 10778.5 milioni di euro, con un incremento di 4.5% in confronto allo stesso periodo del 2011,
Il deficit e’ stato quindi di 4379.1 milioni di euro, con un aumento di 8.4% rispetto agli stessi mesi del 2011.
Il rapporto tra esportazioni ed importazioni e’ dunque di 59.3% ed e’ piu’ basso di quello rilevato nello stesso periodo del 2011, quando aveva raggiunto il valore di 60.9%.
Prezzi
I prezzi continuano a salire.
Il grafico [ https://www.cnj.it/AMICIZIA/grafico_rel1012.jpg ] riporta la variazione mensile dei prezzi al consumo rispetto allo stesso mese dell’anno precedente posto uguale a 100.
Si nota come dopo un periodo di discesa, da circa l’11 al 3% , l’inflazione ha ripreso a correre arrivando all’8% ad agosto; essa e’ attesa a circa il 10% alla fine dell’anno, circa il doppio di quella programmata.
Per quanto riguarda i bisogni delle famiglie si conferma il dato che per una famiglia di 4 persone, per poter vivere dignitosamente, servirebbero 100.000 dinari al mese (circa 900 euro), cioe’ circa 2.5 volte uno stipendio medio.
Per questo motivo, con le poche risorse a disposizione, devono essere privilegiati i consumi assolutamente essenziali, e cosi’ le spese delle famiglie sono per il 45% destinate alla alimentazione e se si aggiungono le bollette delle utenze domestiche si arriva per queste due voci ad una spesa di circa il 60% del reddito disponibile.
Livelli occupazionali e salari
I livelli occupazionali continuano a scendere.
Gli occupati ad agosto 2012 erano 1.726.000 con una diminuzione di circa 18.000 unita’ rispetto all’agosto dell’anno precedente.
I lavoratori autonomi e loro dipendenti erano 391.000; i lavoratori dell’indusria manifatturiera sono rimasti stabili a 288.000.
I disoccupati sempre ad agosto erano 752.000, con un tasso di disoccupazione superiore al 26%.
Il salario netto medio ad agosto e’ stato di 42122 dinari, corrispondenti a circa 370 euro.
C’e da sottolineare che ci sono tra alcune decine di migliaia di lavoratori che lavorano SENZA percepire un salario.
Le famiglie di operai o peggio di ex operai che sono al centro delle nostre azioni solidarieta’ e della nostra amicizia sono lontani anche da questi redditi medi, come potrete vedere nelle successive informazioni che riguardano direttamente la Zastava, o cio’ che resta di questa grande realta’ industriale.
Informazioni sulla situazione di Fiat Auto Serbia (FAS)
I dipendenti FAS al 20 ottobre 2012 sono 2300, di cui 270 impiegati ed il resto operai.
I lavoratori che provengono dalla vecchia Zastava, sono 720, gli altri sono neo-assunti.
Gli iscritti al Samostalni Sindikat sono attualmente 860.
Stipendi netti mensili (in dinari)
Ricordiamo che negli ultimi mesi 2012 il cambio dinaro/euro e’ oscillato mediamente intorno a 114 dinari per un euro:
Neo-assunti in periodo di prova 30.000
Operai 34.000
Impiegati (compresi capireparto) 40.000
Vi sono poi circa 50 dirigenti che contrattano personalmente lo stipendio con l’azienda. I dati sui loro stipendi sono sconosciuti.
Produzioni in FAS
Linea di montaggio della vecchia Punto
La linea di montaggio della Punto era giunta a Kragujevac alcuni anni fa, ed e’ stata utilizzata per montare il modello Punto 188 con pezzi in arrivo da Mirafiori.
E’ ancora presente, ma e’ del tutto inattiva; ci sono ancora circa 1500 vetture invendute. I lavoratori eddetti a questa linea sono stati tutti spostati sulla linea della 500L.
Linea della 500L
I reparti sono tutti funzionanti; vi sono difficolta’ nel ricevere i pezzi dai fornitori.
Nei circa tre mesi trascorsi dalla nostra ultima relazione la produzione e’ aumentata gradualmente, da alcune vettture al giorno fino a circa 150 per turno, a fronte di una produzione programmata di 240 vetture.
Le auto prodotte vengono spedite al porto di Bar in Montenegro due volte alla settimana via treno (206 vetture per ogni treno) da dove poi partono per Bari ed una volta la settimana verso la Germania.
Le restanti auto vengono esportate via camion.
Orario, pause e straordinari
Ci sono due turni di lavoro, dalle 6 alle 16 e dalle 20 alle 6 del mattino successivo.
Attualmente molti lavoratori restano ancora una o due ore al lavoro in straordinario.
Si lavora quattro giorni alla settimana, dal lunedi’ al giovedi’.Le pause: una prima pausa di 10 minuti, poi mezz’ora per la mensa, una ulteriore di 10 minuti e infine un’ultima di 15 minuti.
Nonostante la precarieta’ della loro situazione i lavoratori FAS si sono mobilitati ed hanno iniziato a protestare contro le durissime condizioni di lavoro a cui sono sottoposti e alla miseria dei salari che percepiscono.
Sembra che al momento la FIAT sia disponibile a concedere aumenti salariali dell’orine del 10-13 per cento, mentre non e’ disponibile a entrare nel merito degli orari di lavoro.
I debiti del Governo con la Fiat
Dopo le recenti elezioni politiche e per la presidenza della Repubblica Il governo della Serbia ha cambiato la sua composizione politica, ma ci sono dei ministri inossidabili e per adatti a tutte le stagioni...
Mladjan Dinkic era Ministro dell’Economia nel passato governo fino alla primavera del 2011, ed e’ stato uno dei piu’ grandi sostenitori del progetto FAS.
Adesso di nuovo e’ Ministro dell’Economia nel nuovo Governo; il 24 agosto scorso ha comunicato che il Governo serbo non sara’ in grado di far fronte ai suoi periodici obblighi contrattuali con la Fiat, che prevedono un versamento di 90 milioni di euro entro il 2012 per il completamento delle infrastrutture stradali cittadine che servono per gli stabilimenti FAS, soprattutto il tronco autostradale da Kragujevac all’autostrada Belgrado-Grecia e della zona industriale di Grosnica, dove sono installati i fornitori della Fiat.
Il MInistro ha affermato che questo ritardo e’ dovuto alle cattive condizioni del bilancio dello Stato ed al fatto che il precedente governo (di cui aveva fatto parte...) aveva messo a bilancio solo una parte di questo denaro.
La Fiat ha accettato la proposta il ritardo dei pagamenti, per circa 50 milioni da versare entro la fine dell’anno e 40 entro il marzo del 2013, ma ammonendo per bocca di Sergio Marchionne (volato subito a Belgrado) il governo serbo che deve mantenere le sue obbligazioni sul progetto di joint venture.
CONCLUSIONI
In Serbia l’occupazione complessiva e’ sempre in discesa, il potere di acquisto dei salari e soprattutto delle pensioni e’ in costante diminuzione, non si vedono speranze per i giovani che sono costretti ad emigrare, soprattutto se dotati di una buona formazione scolastica.
La nostra ONLUS tiene duro, consapevole della responsabilita’ che si e’ assunta insieme alle altre associazioni italiane con cui collaboriamo ed al Sindacato dei lavoratori Zastava.
Riusciamo a mantenere pressoche’ inalterato il numero di affidi in corso, mentre abbiamo ampliato il numero di progetti che vanno incontro a reali bisogni sociali della popolazione di Kragujevac, e che lo stato di poverta’ della citta’ non permette di soddisfare, nel campo della scuola, della sanita’, del disagio fisico e mentale, in tutto cio’ che puo’ regalare una piccola speranza alle nuove generazioni.
Sappiamo bene che le condizioni materiali stanno deteriorandosi sempre
(Message over 64 KB, truncated)
Georges Berghezan
12 décembre 2012
En l’espace de moins de quinze jours, le Tribunal de La Haye, jugeant les crimes commis pendant les guerres d’ex-Yougoslavie, a fait preuve d’une clémence inhabituelle en acquittant cinq prévenus. Point commun : ils étaient tous accusés d’avoir commis des crimes de guerre ou des crimes contre l’humanité à l’encontre de civils serbes.
Public UN Debate About The Hague Tribunal
Ad Hoc Tribunals Public Debate in the UN Scheduled for April 2013
United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) President Vuk Jeremić has called a public debate for April 10, 2013 on the role and performance of international ad hoc criminal tribunals founded by the UN in achieving justice and reconciliation among nations.
Acquittal of Croat War Criminals Blow to the UN Reputation
The debate is a reaction to the decision of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Appeals Chamber to acquit former Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač. In Jeremić’s opinion, the acquittal struck a blow to the UN’s reputation.
The decision of the Appeals Chamber of the Hague Tribunal related to Operation Storm understandably caused indignation in many parts of the world. It is an undeniable fact that about a quarter of a million Serbs were driven out of their homes in the space of only several days, and that the court, set up to investigate such misdeeds, in effect decided that no one was guilty or responsible. This could lead to a conclusion that no crime in fact took place, which evidently stands in contrast with reality, Jeremić said in the release.
Jeremić believes that a full understanding of the work of the ICTY and its consequences must be accessible to the wide international public, so that history can have the final say, and so that it never happens anywhere again that evil deeds are pardoned and declared a virtue.
He said that considering that the UN was the founder of ad-hoc courts, he had decided to schedule the public debate to discuss their performance and the level to which they fulfill their original purpose.
It is my personal opinion that the decision of the Appeals Chamber of the Hague Tribunal has dealt a blow to the reputation of the United Nations, but I allow for the possibility that as a member of the nation whose expulsion was legalized by this act, I may be somewhat subjective on this issue, said the UNGA president.
UN Debate Open to International Law Experts and Associations
The debate will be open not only to states, but also to the academic community, distinguished individuals and civil associations, Jeremić said.
Jeremić said he was strongly convinced that reconciliation and a fresh start in relations between feuding nations cannot be based on denial and glorification of crime, because that essentially represents an incentive for crimes to be repeated.
This is why I have scheduled a debate entitled ‘The role of the international judiciary in achieving reconciliation’ for April 10, 2013 at the UNGA in New York, concluded Jeremić.
Integral Text of Jeremić’s Release
The decision of the Hague Tribunal’s Appeals Chamber in regards to the Operation Storm caused understandable indignation in many parts of the world. It is an undeniable fact that about a quarter of a million Serbs were driven out of their homes in the space of only several days, and that the court, set up to investigate such crimes, in effect decided that no one was guilty or responsible for this act.
Subsequently, this could lead to a conclusion that in fact no crime took place, which evidently stands in contrast with reality.
I believe that the full insight in the workings of the Hague tribunal and its consequences must be accessible to the wide international public, in order to enable history to reach its final conclusion, and so that it never happens anywhere again that evil deeds are pardoned and declared a virtue.
This is why I have decided to exercise the powers of the President of the UN General Assembly and schedule a public debate about the role of the international ad hoc crime tribunals in attaining justice and reconciliation among the nations. Considering that the UN itself was the founder of ad hoc tribunals, I believe it is appropriate to discuss their performance right here, as well as debate about the degree to which such tribunals have fulfilled their initial purpose.
It is my personal opinion the decision of the Hague Tribunal’s Appeals Chamber has struck a blow to the UN reputation, but being a member of the nation whose expulsion from their homesteads was legalized by this act, I allow the possibility that I may be somewhat subjective on this issue.
For this reason, I will open the UN General Assembly Debate for the wide public and allow not only states, but also the academic community, distinguished individuals and civic associations to take part.
I am strongly convinced true reconciliation and turning a new page in relations between the feuding nations cannot be established upon denial and glorification of crimes, because that essentially represents an incentive for crimes to be repeated. This is why I have scheduled a debate entitled ‘The role of the international judiciary in achieving reconciliation’ for April 10, 2013 at the UNGA in New York.
Links to Related Articles in Serbian Media
Being that the information about the upcoming public UN debate doesn’t seem to deserve attention of the Western mainstream media, here is some of the coverage from the Serbian press (in English), including the early attempts to prevent the debate taking place:
Pocar: Fatal errors of ICTY - http://www.tanjug.rs/news/66648/pocar--fatal-errors-of-icty.htm
UNGA to hold public debate in wake of Hague ruling - http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=11&dd=19&nav_id=83229
Jeremić: Pressure will not make me cancel debate - http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=11&dd=20&nav_id=83248
Vuk Jeremić schedules debate on Hague Tribunal at UN - http://english.blic.rs/News//9223/Vuk-Jeremic-schedules-debate-on-Hague-Tribunal-at-UN
Hague judge says justice has not been served - http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=11&dd=17&nav_id=83206
Malta News, Judge Carmel Agius
Judge hits out at ‘confusing, extremely problematic’ acquittal of Gotovina, Markac - http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/courtandpolice/Judge-hits-out-at-confusing-extremely-problematic-acquittal-of-Gotovina-Markac-20121117
Related PDF Documents, ICTY
Prosecutor v Ante Gotovina Mladen Markac, integral ICTY Appeals Chamber document - http://de-construct.net/e-zine/e-zine/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Prosecutor-v-Ante-Gotovina-Mladen-Markac.pdf
Dissenting Opinion of Judge Fausto Pocar - http://de-construct.net/e-zine/e-zine/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Dissenting-Opinion-of-Judge-Fausto-Pocar.pdf
Dissenting Opinion of Judge Carmel Agius - http://de-construct.net/e-zine/e-zine/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Dissenting-Opinion-of-Judge-Carmel-Agius.pdf
Kusturica: Gotovini da daju Nobela
VARAJU se oni koji misle da je na priču o generalu Gotovini stavljena tačka. Bojim se da nam se mogu desiti nova iznenađenja. Najviše zbog humanističkog karaktera međunarodne zajednice. Navikavala nas je na humanističke bombe, anđeoska ratovanja, na kraju, ona i njene organizacije su znale da nagrade čuvare svetskog mira.
Kada je u pitanju Gotovina, u Srbiji su, čak, i nevladine organizacije uzbuđene. Ali ne zbog Srba. Njih brine princip. Meni padaju na um ideje koje, siguran sam, nisu ideje međunarodne zajednice. Ja sam uveren da je tih 200.000 Srba počišćenih sa teritorije multietničke Hrvatske, završni čin delovanja dueta Starčević-Pavelić. Teoretičar i koljač nisu do kraja, u Drugom svetskom ratu, sproveli svoju ideju o uništenju srpskih civila. Starčević je stvorio ideju: trećinu Srba u Hrvatskoj pobiti, trećinu prevesti na katoličku veru i trećinu proterati. Ko se danas bavi trećinama. Ljudi su se okrenuli celinama, a među Hrvatima skoro da nema jedan koji misli da mi i ostatak sveta preterujemo sa brojevima. Engleske enciklopedije kažu da je u Jasenovcu ubijeno preko sedam stotina hiljada civila, uglavnom Srba. Ali, malo koji Hrvat u to veruje. I malo ko od njih može da poveruje da ovo što se desilo u ”Oluji” liči na završni akt delovanje tandema Starčević-Pavelić! Jer, sud je presudio da Gotovina nije kriv. Zašto bi neko razbijao glavu. U razmatranju ove odluke jedan od odlučujućih argumenata da je isterivanje Srba sa teritorije Hrvatske bilo neizbežno i da se time bavila međunarodna zajednica jeste ispovest američkog ambasadora Galbrajta iz vremena ”Oluje”. On kaže da je ”Oluja” morala doći na red zbog Srebrenice! Među Srbima ima onih koji idu tako daleko da čitavu stvar obrću naopačke. Sve suprotno od ovog Galbrajta. Kažu da je Srebrenica napravljena da bi se medijski pokrilo proterivanje Srba iz Hrvatske. Svašta nama Srbima pada na um. Čudan smo mi narod. I logika nam nikako ne miruje! Evo jednog primera! Šta može da bude komplikacija u donošenju odluke o dodeljivanju Nobelove nagrade Gotovini.Ne znamo šta je sve okačio o vrat sudija koji je onomad odrapio generalu Gotovini 24 godine zatvora. Mora da je bilo teško delo, ali ovaj što ga je raskačio sigurno ima viziju. Što je gore, on ništa nije uradio ako se sada čitava stvar zaustavi na oslobađanju. Lako se može desiti da odu dalje rukovodeći se svojim humanističkim idejama. Jer, ako je u ”Oluji” proterano više od 200.000 Srba sa teritorije Hrvatske, i to nije zločin i general je slobodan, onda mora da je u pitanju neko humano delo koje nam čini međunarodna zajednica. General nije u ”Oluji” pobio sve što je mrdalo ispred njega, a mogao je?! U tom slučaju, jasno je da ima materijala za Nobelov komitet za mir! Trebalo bi da ga nagrade za ono što je mogao da uradi, a nije. Davno su prošla vremena Majke Tereze i tipova koji trtljaju o humanosti i na terenu pomažu gubavim, leproznim i bolesnim. Mnogo je ljudi na planeti. Valja to počistiti! Nema više vremena za humanistička i egzistencijalistička naglabanja kao što su to činili sedamdesetih i osamdesetih. Sada je na snazi novi koncept. Kada si u prilici da pobiješ stotine hiljada ljudi, ubiješ samo par hiljada, odmah se kvalifikuješ za neku nagradu. Najbolje ako ti daju za mir. Zašto bi, onda, Nobelov komitet za mir čekao u slučaju Gotovine? Američki predsednik Obama, tek što je stupio na dužnost, poslao je samo 30.000 novih američkih vojnika u Avganistan i tako izrazio suzdržanost, državničku mudrost. Zbog toga mu Nobel nije mogao izmaći. Zamislite koliko je on ljudi mogao da pobije, a nije. Istina, u Avganistanu je bilo sporadičnih incidenata. Neko je snimio kako marinci ubijaju civile i pevaju ”baj baj ameriken paj”, ali to su samo izuzeci.
U zatvoru leži Milan Martić, srpski policajac koji se u Krajini borio za opstanak Srba u Hrvatskoj. On se opirao ideji etničkog čišćenja ali je, na kraju, optužen za etničko čišćenje! Eh, sada, pošto je Gotovina očistio Hrvatsku od Srba, Martić je optužen za etničko čišćenje Hrvata koji čine devedeset pet posto stanovništva Hrvatske?! Malo je nelogično. Verovatno će međunarodna zajednica posegnuti za novom logikom koju mi Srbi ne razumemo. Evropa je katolički projekat i cena ulaska u to društvo je visoka. Ona podrazumeva mnoštvo stvari koje mi nikada nećemo razumeti. Uostalom, neka mudre glave Nobelovog komiteta misle i donose svoje odluke bez pritisaka sa strane!
Kusturica: Gotovina the Next Nobel Peace Prize Laureate?
Those who think general Gotovina story ends here are mistaken. I’m afraid we are in for new surprises. Mostly due to the humanitarian character of the international community.
Humanitarian Character of the International Community
The international community has been accustomizing us to humane bombs and angelic forms of war. In the end, the international community and its organizations knew how to reward guardians of the world peace.
We don’t know what was all that for which the judge earlier blasted general Gotovina with 24 years in prison. It must have been a heavy crime. But this one who unblasted him now surely has a vision. What’s worse, he’s done nothing if the whole thing ends with acquittal. It can easily happen that they go further, guided by their humanitarian ideas.
Nobel for Gotovina: He could Have Killed 250,000 Serbs, but Killed Only Few Thousand
Because, if in [the Operation] Storm more than 200,000 Serbs were driven out from the territory of Croatia, and if that is not a crime and the general is free, then that must be some humane act bestowed to us by the international community. During The Storm the general didn’t wipe out everything that moved in front of him and he could have?! In that case, there is clearly material for the Nobel Peace Prize Comity! They should award him for what he could have done and didn’t do.
Long are gone the times of Mother Teresa and some guys gibbering about humanity, helping the leprous, plague-ridden and sick on the ground. There’s a lot of people on the planet. That needs to be cleansed. There’s no more time for the humanistic and existentialist prattle the way it was done in the seventies and eighties. A new concept is now in place: When you get a chance to kill hundreds of thousands of people and you kill only few thousand, you immediately qualify for some award. It’s best if they give you the one for peace. Why, then, would Nobel Comity for Peace wait in the case of Gotovina?
Why Obama Deserved His Nobel
As soon as he took over the office, American President Obama sent only 30,000 fresh American soldiers to Afghanistan, therefore demonstrating his restraint, a statesman wisdom. That is why the Nobel couldn’t have escaped him. Imagine how many people he could have killed, and didn’t. Indeed, there were sporadic incidents in Afghanistan. Someone taped marines killing civilians while singing Bye, bye American pie, but those are mere exceptions.
When it comes to Gotovina, even the NGOs in Serbia are roused. But not because of the Serbs, they are worried over the principle.
Operation Storm, the Final Act of Starčević-Pavelić Endeavor
I’m coming up with notions which, I’m sure, are not the notions of the international community. I am convinced that those 200,000 ethically cleansed Serbs from the territory of the multiethnic Croatia are the final act of the endeavor of Starčević-Pavelić duo.
The theorist and the slaughterer didn’t get to carry their idea of annihilation of the Serb civilians through to the end during the Second World War. Starčević created the concept: third of Serbs in Croatia to be killed, third to be converted to Roman Catholicism, and third to be driven out. Who can be bothered with thirds nowadays? Men have turned to the wholes. And there is hardly a single Croat today who doesn’t believe we and the rest of the world are exaggerating the numbers.
British encyclopedias say that over seven hundred thousand civilians, mainly Serbs, were killed in Jasenovac. But there is hardly a Croat who believes that. And very few of them think that what took place in The Storm looks like the final act of the work of Starčević-Pavelić twosome. Because the court decided Gotovina is not guilty. Why would anyone break their head trying to think it through?
Srebrenica Manufactured to Shift Media Attention from The Storm
In the consideration of this decision, one of the decisive arguments for the theory that expulsion of Serbs from the territory of Croatia was inevitable, which the international community was involved in, was the reminiscence of American ambassador Galbraith from the time Storm took place. He says that The Storm had to happen because of Srebrenica.
There are those among Serbs who go as far as turning the whole thing upside down. All contrary to this Galbraith. They say Srebrenica was manufactured in order to shift the media attention from the expulsion of Serbs from Croatia. The things we Serbs come up with! We are indeed a strange nation. And our logic never rests.
Martić Convicted for Ethnic Cleansing Committed by Gotovina
Here is one example: What could possibly complicate the decision to award Gotovina Nobel Peace Prize?
Milan Martić, Serb policeman who in Krajina fought for survival of Serbs in Croatia, is lying in prison. He resisted the ethnic cleansing, but in the end he was convicted for ethnic cleansing. So, now that Gotovina has cleansed Croatia of Serbs, Martić is convicted for ethnic cleansing of Croats who comprise ninety five percent of Croatia’s population. It’s kinda illogical. The international community will probably reach for the kind of logic we Serbs can’t comprehend.
High Price for Joining the Roman Catholic EU Project
Europe is a Roman Catholic project and the price of entering that club is high. It incorporates plenty of things we shall never understand.
After all, let the wise heads of the Nobel Comity ponder and make their decisions without interference from the outside.
Editor’s note
In 2008, a year before Barack H. Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel Comity’s Laureate was an obscure Finish politician Martti Ahtisaari, whose only mention-worthy act in the entire career was breaking up of Serbian state and gifting southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija to Albanians. He was given the highest award despite the evidence provided by the German BND that he received over 40 million Euros in bribe from Albanians to create the infamous ‘Ahtisaari Plan’, which was meant to finalize amputation of the Serbian province.
The Hague has been faithfully goose-stepping in tune in regards to the war crimes committed by Albanians as well, and has yesterday acquitted Ramush Haradinaj too, an Albanian war criminal.
http://www.skoj.org.rs/110.html
HARADINAJ JE ZLOČINAC – ODMAH RASPUSTITI IMPERIJALISTIČKI HAŠKI SUD
Savez komunističke omladine Jugoslavije (SKOJ) najoštrije protestuje protiv skandalozne odluke imperijalističkog Haškog tribunala da oslobodi osvedočenog ratnog zločinca Ramuša Haradinaja.
Pored toga što je ratni zločinac, Haradinaj je terorista, pro-imperijalistički kvisling, antijugosloven i izdajnik sopstvenog albanskog naroda na Kosovu i Metohiji koga je u sadejstvu sa
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Slovenia: l’austerity non si tocca, vietati referendum su banche e privatizzazioni
di Marco Santopadre
La Corte costituzionale slovena ha deciso oggi di vietare i referendum che miravano ad abrogare due leggi che fanno parte del cosiddetto “pacchetto anti-crisi” del governo conservatore di Janez Jansa, quelle sul risanamento delle maggiori banche (alla quale il governo ha già regalato ingenti finanziamenti pubblici) e sulla gestione unificata delle aziende pubbliche (che comporterà tagli e licenziamenti). A parere del massimo organo legislativo del paese i referendum in questione “potrebbero avere conseguenze anticostituzionali”.
I due quesiti erano stati promossi dai deputati del partito Slovenia Positiva (maggiore formazione dell'opposizione di centro-sinistra), guidato dal sindaco di Lubiana Zoran Jankovic, secondo cui le due leggi non gioverebbero affatto alla ripresa dell'economia slovena e invece aprirebbero le porte a una veloce privatizzazione di molte società pubbliche di importanza strategica per lo sviluppo del Paese.
La legge sul risanamento delle banche, che dopo il pronunciamento di oggi della Corte costituzionale potrà entrare subito in vigore, prevede invece l'istituzione di una ''banca debole'' pubblica, una bad bank che si addosserebbe i crediti inesigibili e altre ''proprietà finanziarie tossiche'' delle maggiori banche commerciali del Paese. Tutto ciò naturalmente a spese dei contribuenti. Ed in attesa della completa privatizzazione delle banche pubbliche ancora esistenti, annunciata per il 2013.
Ma il governo di destra di Jansa non è ancora soddisfatto per aver ottenuto un no della Corte Suprema all’esercizio di democrazia del popolo sloveno. Il premier ha detto che intende chiedere alla Corte il parere sulla possibile anticostituzionalità di un terzo referendum, promosso questa volta dai sindacati, contro la legge di bilancio per il 2013 e il 2014. I sindacati si oppongono agli ulteriori tagli degli stipendi dei dipendenti pubblici, previsti nei bilanci per i prossimi due anni, e per fermarli hanno avviato una raccolta di firme per indire il referendum abrogativo. Chi sa se almeno questo la ‘democratica’ Slovenia glie lo lascerà fare…
giovedì 20 dicembre 2012
La procura finlandese ha aperto un procedimento per corruzione e spionaggio industriale a carico di 6 nuovi imputati nel caso della fornitura di armi da parte del gruppo «Patria» al governo sloveno, avvenuta nel 2006. La procura sospetta un passaggio di “mazzette” intascate da alcuni politici sloveni ed elargite dalla ditta finlandese, con l’intento di aggiudicarsi il contratto per la costruzione di 135 carri armati destinati a Lubiana. Il contratto risale al 2006, e fra i politici coinvolti c’è anche il premier Janez Jansa, che al tempo era al suo primo mandato in qualità di primo ministro. Fra i sei indagati ci sono l’ex direttore esecutivo del «Patria group» e della sua controllata «Patria Vehicles».
La partita di carri armati faceva parte del programma di Lubiana di adattamento del proprio equipaggiamento militare agli standard richiesti dalla Nato, dopo l’entrata del Paese nell’Alleanza atlantica nel 2004. «Gli imputati - si legge nel comunicato della magistratura finlandese - sono sospettati di aver partecipato alla promessa o concessione di tangenti in forma di commissioni di pagamento attraverso intermediari, in cambio dell’azione di alcuni pubblici ufficiali sloveni e di alcuni militari. Tra questi - prosegue il comunicato - compaiono il primo ministro e il vicecapo dell’esercito sloveno, poiché si ritiene abbiano influito nella procedura di acquisizione dei veicoli».
La tangente sarebbe corrisposta al 10 per cento del valore della vendita, «che superava i 160 milioni di euro». Jansa è attualmente già sotto processo, e fino ad ora ha negato ogni accusa. L’ordine di 135 veicoli militari si è ridotto nel frattempo a 30. Durante le indagini da parte della procura finlandese, è emerso anche che «alcuni documenti segreti appartenenti a un concorrente austriaco di Patria sono stati trovati in possesso dei sospettati», da cui la seconda accusa di spionaggio industriale.
(fonte http://italintermedia.globalist.it 20 dicembre 2012)
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