IL COMPAGNO FAUSTO B.

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> Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 21:51:06 +0000
> Subject: [disobbedienticampani] da internazionale_
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>
> Il compagno Fausto B.
> di Paul Bompard
>
> Il leader di Rifondazione visita la stampa estera. E dalle sue
> risposte sembra un ragionevole socialdemocratico. Anche un po’
> confuso, scrive Paul Bompard
>
> Alcuni miei amici inglesi di sinistra considerano il New Labour di
> Blair un cinico tradimento della tradizione socialista britannica.
> Dunque mi chiedono spesso di Rifondazione comunista e di Bertinotti.
> Pensano che chi
> ha abbandonato il Pci-Pds-Ds debba essere un marxista “duro e puro”, e
> sono molto colpiti dalle immagini televisive di grandi cortei pieni di
> bandiere rosse, con falce e martello e ritratti di Che Guevara.
>
> Insomma, dato che il vecchio Labour Party (quello che nazionalizzava e
> toglieva ai ricchi per dare ai poveri) non c’è più e che il British
> Communist Party è da anni ridotto a gruppetti di anziani nostalgici
> che si incontrano per una tazza di tè, sono invidiosissimi
> dell’Italia, che ha un “vero” partito comunista. Un partito con seggi
> in parlamento e con il peso
> per fare, o disfare, coalizioni di governo.
>
> Recentemente Fausto Bertinotti è venuto alla sede della stampa estera
> a Roma per un “incontro aperitivo” (acqua minerale e cocktail
> tropicale analcolico) con i corrispondenti esteri. Dopo una
> discussione generale sulla situazione politica e sull’articolo 18, e
> pensando agli amici inglesi, ho deciso di fare una domanda a
> Bertinotti: “Rifondazione comunista (Rc) si definisce marxista e
> comunista, due termini con precise connotazioni politiche, economiche,
> storiche e sociali. Ora, per capire qual è l’anima di Rifondazione le
> chiedo: se alle elezioni il suo partito ottenesse il 70 per cento dei
> seggi di camera e senato e formasse un proprio governo, che farebbe?
> Abolirebbe la proprietà privata? Nazionalizzerebbe Fiat, Pirelli,
> Mediaset, Telecom e Autostrade? Oppure solo Telecom e Autostrade?
> Insomma, cosa farebbe Rifondazione al governo?”.
>
> Con mia grande sorpresa Bertinotti non mi ha dato dell’ingenuo o del
> cretino. Anzi, in modo urbano e gentile mi ha spiegato che “il
> comunismo non si può applicare in un solo stato se il resto del mondo
> non è anch’esso comunista, e quindi bisogna lavorare in questa
> direzione. E il comunismo è, innanzitutto, cambiamento, rottura col
> passato. Per quanto riguarda un ipotetico programma di governo”, ha
> spiegato, “noi vorremmo aumentare i salari dei lavoratori, aumentare
> le pensioni, e creare una più equa distribuzione dei redditi. Ma non
> crediamo si debbano nazionalizzare delle aziende che vanno bene. Però
> se la Fiat stesse fallendo, meglio nazionalizzarla che lasciarla
> fallire”.
>
> Un programma, tutto sommato, moderatamente socialdemocratico. Fa
> pensare all’Iri voluto da Mussolini, o ai costosissimi salvataggi
> industriali degli anni settanta. Un programma economico da
> democristiani o da democratici americani, ma meno “di sinistra” di
> quello dell’“old labour” inglese. Poi, per meglio definire il ruolo di
> Rc, Bertinotti ha parlato dello stretto legame tra il partito e il
> movimento noglobal. Anzi, mi è sembrato volesse far capire che il
> movimento, e per estensione il movimento “per la pace”, appartengono a
> Rifondazione. Come se ogni
> pacifista, ecologista e noglobal fosse un sostenitore di Rc. E
> viceversa. Ha aggiunto che oggi il mondo si divide tra due
> “superpotenze”: da una parte gli Stati Uniti, dall’altra il movimento
> mondiale contro la guerra (che è roba sua). Infine ha lodato il papa
> per le sue posizioni pacifiste.
>
> Sono rimasto un po’ perplesso. Ma come: è questo il Bertinotti
> definito dai suoi oppositori un “veterocomunista”, un “pericoloso
> estremista”? E non mi nazionalizzi neanche Telecom e Autostrade? Ora
> cosa dico ai miei amici di sinistra inglesi, che ogni tanto visitano
> la tomba di Marx al cimitero di Highgate, e si commuovono (con self
> control, beninteso) quando mettono sul vecchio giradischi
> (espressamente conservato) il vinile con L’Internazionale cantata dal
> coro dell’Armata rossa?

Social massacre in Serbia
(Massacro sociale in Serbia)

1. US STEEL TO BUY SERBIA'S SARTID STEEL PLANT
(La "USA Acciaio" firma per l'acquisto delle acciaierie serbe "Sartid")

2. US AMBASSADOR: INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SUPPORTS SERBIA
(L'ambasciatore USA: noi appoggiamo la Serbia perche' reprime e
privatizza)

3. SERBIA: DETAINEES ALLEGE TORTURE
(Serbia: i detenuti denunciano di aver subito torture)

4. UNIONS OF SERBIA "DECLARE WAR" ON THE SERBIAN GOVERNMENT
(Federazione sindacale "dichiara guerra" al governo)

5. WORLD BANK OFFERS $80 MILLION TO PRIVATIZE SOCIALLY-OWNED FIRMS
(La Banca Mondiale offre 80 milioni di dollari per la privatizzazione
delle imprese a capitale sociale)

6. UNHCR CUTS AID TO BELGRADE; CASH CRISIS SHUTS SOUP KITCHENS;
SERBIA-MONTENEGRO HAS GRAVEST REFUGEE PROBLEM IN EUROPE
(Alto Commissariato ONU per i Rifugiati ed altri organismi "umanitari"
tagliano drasticamente i fondi alla Serbia, benche' il paese abbia la
situazione piu' drammatica d'Europa)


=== 1 ===


US Steel to buy Serbia's Sartid Steel Plant

So after the US imposed sanctions for ten years that limited market
access to steel produced by Sartid - Yugoslavia's largest steel
manufacturer - US Steel Corporation is now moving in to buy up the
remnants of the firm for virtually nothing.  US Steel - the largest
integrated steel manufacturer in the USA and a former member of the USX
consortium with Marathon Oil - promises to invest some 173-million in
the firm (including the $23-million "price-tag" for which they are
getting everything).  Considering that Sartid produces 2.5 million tons
of steel anually, and that 1 ton of steel fetches btwn 200 to 400 US$
on US markets (see table at the bottom of
http://www.manufacturing.net/pur/
index.asp?layout=articleWebzine&articleid=CA219922) , this means that
annual revenues (conservative estimate) will be some US$ 500-million
(i.e. 2.5 million tons X US$ 200).  This is assuming that the
2.5-million ton output is maximum capacity and that the firm cannot
produce more and that prices remain at the low end of the scale.  Thus
even if we cut these projected conservative revenues by a factor of
80%, the US Steel Corporation could still make back its initial
investment in 2 years or so.  There are other considerations that come
to mind:

1) The assumption being made in the press-release is that US Steel will
be seeking to build Sartid once it moves in.  But it's just as likely
that the promised $US 150-million investment in refurbishing Sartid
will never come and that US Steel will seek to sell the firms
components and make a quick profit (as was done with Russia)
contributing to the further de-industrialization of Eastern Europe. 
Another reason that this may be the prefered option for the execs at US
Steel is that this would avoid negotiations with labour over the new
ownership structure likely to be imposed on the firm.  I remember two
years ago hearing Soros talk about the "disapointment" that Russia had
become, and that his attention was now focused on the Balkans.  I'm
sure other investors have taken this as a sign to proceed with the
asset stripping of this region, in a similar fashion to that carried
out in the former Soviet Union (FSU).

2) Even if all this money is "invested" the press-release gives no
indication of how profits will be distributed.  But since it seems that
US Steel will assume full ownership of the firm, it can also be assumed
that all the profits will acrue to it.  Furthermore, the guarantee to
save jobs and install a communications center to "advertise" Serbia as
a center for investment (i.e. establishing a consulting firm to guide
other firms seeking to plunder Serbia) should be noted.  While the
later is a transparent ploy to make more money, the former is
completely lacking in any credibility and is simply designed to assuage
the fears of workers in the short-term and delay their general
mobilization against the new ownership.

(Kosta K. on ANTINATO@..., April 2nd, 2003)

---

US Steel to buy Serbia's Sartid steel plant for $23m, invest $150m

April 01, 2003

Belgrade, April 1, 2003 - US Steel, one of the world's largest steel
companies, announced on Tuesday that it will acquire Serbia's bankrupt
steel plant Sartid for $23 million, pledging to invest $150 million
over three years in the facilities and equipment and keep the
6,500-strong workforce, the Beta news agency reported.The deal, which
is to be finalised in the third quarter of 2003, was signed by US
Steel's general manager for the Balkans, Thomas Kelly, and Sartid's
bankruptcy manager, Branislav Ignjatovic. US Steel promised to invest
$150 million in upgrades to the plant's facilities as well as another
$5 million in the Smederevo municipality's development. The buyer also
vowed not to make any layoffs among Sartid's 6,500 workers. John
Goodish, U.S. steel's executive vice-president for international
activities, said the deal will be finalised when several countries
scrap measures limiting steel imports from Serbia and Montenegro.
Goodish added that US Steel intends to encourage the development of
Serbia and Montenegro by creating a $1.5 million information centre to
enlighten foreign investors on advantages of opening production plants
in Serbia and Montenegro. Smederevo-based steel concern Sartid is
Serbia and Montenegro's largest steel maker, with an annual production
capacity of 2.5 million tonnes. The company has been in the bankruptcy
procedure since November 2002 for its liabilities of $1.7 million.

http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
04/01/328490.html

---

CONTRACT BETWEEN SARTID, US STEEL IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR SERBIA

BELGRADE, April 1 (Tanjug) - US Ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro
William Montgomery said that a contract, which US Steel and Sartid of
Smederevo had signed on Tuesday, was very important both for the
Serbian economy and the future of the Smederevo iron and steel works.
This agreement will help Sartid overcome problems in
operation and help the Serbian government solve its major problem,
Montgomery told reporters at Belgrade's Sava Centre. Asked about the
Serbian industries he regarded competitive on the world market,
Mongtomery said that this was the wood-processing industry and fruit
juice production.


=== 2 ===


US AMBASSADOR: INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SUPPORTS SERBIA

BELGRADE, April 1 (Tanjug) - US Ambassador to Serbia
and Montenegro William Montgomery said Tuesday that the
international community supports the Serbian government's fight
against organized crime, indicating that it will meet with a
resounding response in the world, improving in that way the image of
Serbia. Speaking to participants in the summit on competitiveness,
Montgomery said that the United States supports the Serbian
government in its efforts to stabilize the situation in the state
following the murder of Premier Zoran Djindjic.
He said October 5 (2000) was in their hearts. Serbia has succeeded to
make large strides since October 5 and Serbia will be lauded for its
efforts in the fight against organized crime, Montgomery said.
Montgomery said that Serbia has sufficient qualified human resources
to become a leader in the region, in which a free market will be
created with some 60 million consumers. However, he warned, that
potential does not mean capital and a lot of work still needs to be
done in that respect.
Serbia has strong companies that are competitive and the United States
will support that, Montgomery promised and added that Serbia has to
make a concept of competitiveness in order to attract investments and
encourage exports. The United States and the international community
support Serbia every step of the way and wish it success, Montgomery
said.


=== 3 ===


IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, No. 434,
INVESTIGATIVE REPORT, June 04, 2003

SERBIA: DETAINEES ALLEGE TORTURE

Testimony collected by IWPR suggests suspects detained in post-Djindjic
police action subjected to abuse.
By Dragana Nikolic-Solomon and Gordana Igric in London, and IWPR
contributors in Belgrade


In the wake of the police sweep which followed the assassination of
prime minister Zoran Djindjic, IWPR has gathered testimony which points
to the use of torture and other forms of mistreatment against detained
suspects.
The evidence indicates that ill-treatment of detainees was more
widespread than statements from the Serbian government and from the
United Nations and OSCE suggest.
An international expert on human rights in Belgrade who asked for his
name not to be used said that about 30 per cent of those arrested had
suffered some form of mistreatment.
Conducted during the state of emergency which was in force from March
12, the day Djindjic was killed, to April 22, the Serbian police's
Operation Sabre led to the arrest of at least 10,000 people.
The focus of the investigation is to find the assassins and to break-up
crime rings. Criminal charges have been laid against at least 3,400 of
them. On April 29, the authorities charged 45 people, most of them
members of the notorious Zemun gang, with plotting and carrying out
Djindjic's murder.
One thousand people remain in custody under controversial new rules
which have meant that suspects can be held for two months or longer
without access to lawyers and relatives, or being given a preliminary
hearing in court. The rest have been released.

ACCOUNTS OF TORTURE

The main forms of ill-treatment reported were severe beatings and
suffocation. Electric shocks were also reported. Some detainees were
pressured to sign confessions under torture. The reported abuses took
place at a number of sites.
Milan Vukovic, a restaurant owner in Belgrade, was arrested on March
13, the day after the state of emergency was imposed. Accused of
belonging to the group thought to have killed the prime minister, he
was detained for one month. He was released without charge.
Vukovic outlined the treatment he received from police at Makis,
headquarters of the special interior ministry unit in charge of
fighting organised crime, near Belgrade.
"A group of five or six masked policemen tied my hands to a chair that
was fixed to the floor, and put a plastic bag over my head," he told
IWPR. "After a short while I used up all the air. The bag stuck to my
face, and I started struggling for air. When it was obvious that I was
suffocating, they punctured the bag. They played this game twice."
"They demanded that I admit I was a drug dealer, a racketeer and a gun
runner, and that I had traded illegally in oil, cigarettes and foreign
currency. They did not beat me. But when I found myself in Belgrade's
central prison, I saw dozens of beaten-up people in the hallways and
corridors."
Vukovic is one of the few who are not afraid to talk about the torture
they were subjected to without withholding their real names.
One man who spoke to IWPR on condition of anonymity said he was
arrested and spent 30 days in custody before being released without
explanation.
Concerned about himself and his family, he was reluctant to speak at
first but in the end said that he had been beaten while in custody.
"They were not locals, they were from somewhere else, and they were
wearing balaclavas," he said.
A cluster of testimonies was gathered in regard to a group of people
from the town of Krusevac, all of whom were accused of being involved
in organised crime. Most are still in custody, so IWPR was able to talk
only to lawyers and relatives of those who had been allowed outside
contact. Some others have not had legal counsel since their arrest.
Sandra Petrovic's husband Goran and her brother Igor Gajic were
arrested in Krusevac on March 14. She told IWPR that both men
disappeared without trace and the family was unable to get in touch
with them for more than a month. She saw her husband on May 13, when he
was brought before an investigating judge.
"I hardly recognised him. He had difficulty walking and had lost seven
or eight kilograms," she told IWPR.
Her husband told her that the police had taken him to a forest after
putting a bag over his head with a slit in it for breathing and then
covered it with adhesive tape. They beat him, and he lost consciousness
twice.
Speaking on May 26, lawyer Dejan Jovanovic said that Goran Petrovic
told him the same story, and that he and other inmates said they had
been "beaten in a very brutal manner". The lawyer said they had
sustained "visible mental and physical consequences". He said Petrovic
had suffered a spine injury.
When Sandra Petrovic saw her brother Igor, he had lost over 10
kilograms.
She said he too had been taken to the forest after they had put a bag
on his head and covered it with adhesive tape. Her brother told her
they had poured water on him and gave him electric shocks with cables.
He had asked that the investigating judge enter this into his report.
According to Sandra, after the beating the two of them were taken to
the Krusevac police station, where statements were taken from both.
They were then transferred from Cuprija prison to Belgrade on
instructions from the special prosecutor for organised crime. They
disappeared without trace, until the family eventually found them with
the help of two lawyers.
Violeta Kojic, whose husband Vladan was also arrested in Krusevac on
March 14, told IWPR that her husband had been severely beaten and now
had difficulty walking. She said that his physical and mental condition
was poor, that he had tried slashing his wrists twice, and that he had
been taken to the Military Hospital in Belgrade.
Kojic's lawyer, Momir Vuckovic, backed up her story. "I have never seen
a man beaten up that badly in my entire life," he said in an interview
with IWPR on May 25. "There is not a single spot on his body without
haematomas."
He confirmed to IWPR that his client had attempted suicide, and that
Kojic told him, "I'd rather kill myself than let them kill me."
After his 60-day detention, Kojic and others were transferred to
Belgrade under orders from the special prosecutor dealing with
organised crime. Lawyers were not informed.
A third man, Slavoljub Markovic, arrested at the same time as Kojic and
Petrovic has been allowed to see his lawyer only once.
"My client no longer resembles the person I knew before his arrest. He
is mentally disturbed and has attempted suicide," the lawyer, who asked
not to be named, told IWPR on May 26.
"He told me they had been taken to a forest," Markovic's wife Emina
said.
"He had a bag over his head. That's where they beat them."
"I saw my husband last Friday at the investigating prison in Krusevac,"
she continued. "I hardly recognised him. He had lost 12 kilos and his
nose was broken. There are traces of blood on the clothes I brought
back from prison. His trouser knees were torn, probably from kneeling.
"My husband told me they had beaten him four times - twice since the
state of emergency was lifted. He says they tried to torture out an
admission of things he had not done in order to frame him."
At least Markovic saw his lawyer. The latter told IWPR of the case of
Zivorad Zivkovic, who has been in the Krusevac prison for three months
without access to legal counsel. After spending 30 days in custody, he
got another 60 days detention under the law passed by parliament in
April.
Cases of abuse were also reported among the 45 people charged with
complicity in the Djindjic murder. IWPR received information on two of
these from an international human rights expert. One of them concerns a
man from Belgrade who was sleeping in his apartment when the interior
ministry's Special Antiterrorist Unit, SAJ, came in.
Neither he nor two others who were there heard them break in. Police
woke him and "began to kick me and beat me with truncheons. That lasted
15 of 20 minutes. They did the same to the other two - one of them wet
his trousers because of the beating". The witness was then taken to a
police station, and was later charged.

OTHER FORMS OF ILL-TREATMENT

Other testimonies collected by IWPR concerned forms of abuse and
degrading treatment other than physical violence.
Sleep deprivation was reportedly applied to Svetlana Raznatovic, a
popular singer and widow of the paramilitary leader Zeljko "Arkan"
Raznatovic.
Better known by the stage name Ceca, she told international experts
that police kept her from sleeping for 35 hours by interrogating her in
shifts round the clock. Slobodan Pazin, formerly the senior policeman
handling violent crime cases in Belgrade, told the same source he was
deprived of sleep for at least 40 hours in the same manner. The two
were arrested
during Operation Sabre, and are still in detention.
A prominent Belgrade lawyer speaking on condition of anonymity told
IWPR that in his view the whole detention procedure amounted to
deliberate ill-treatment.
"Is it not torture when a man is thrown into a basement and left
without any contact with his family and the outside world for days?
People were not allowed to have a bath or change their underwear for 30
days," he said.
"Many of them were released after spending weeks in custody without
anyone asking them anything or questioning them during that time.
"The thing that they most often heard from the police as part of their
psychological torture was, 'You're criminals, and you have no rights at
all'."
He continued, "I have talked to a man who spent 22 days in the basement
of the police station in Zemun. They did not give him any food during
the first three days, and he had nothing to cover himself with while he
slept on a bench in a cell with broken windows. He was released from
custody without any hearing, and no charges were brought against him."

Many other people refused to talk to IWPR. In some of the cases on
which IWPR gathered information, the alleged victim was still in jail.
In these instances, statements were taken from lawyers and wives. Those
who had already been released were reluctant to speak out for fear that
they would be subject to re-arrest or other forms of victimisation.
Most of those who
did made anonymity a condition.
As well as collecting statements from witnesses, IWPR spoke to a number
of local and international experts working within Serbia's legal system
or involved in monitoring human rights abuses. Unlike the report
published by the OSCE and the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights, UNHCHR, of which more below, these sources indicated that
the problems were widespread.

POLICE POWERS OF ARREST AND CUSTODY

The alleged abuses have taken place in the context of a large number of
arrests carried out under new rules that allow suspects to be held
incommunicado for up to two months. Such practices mean that detainees
have no means of redress in the crucial period before a criminal case
is formulated.
Most of the abuse was reported at this early stage. Once suspects are
charged and transferred from police detention to a prison, they may be
seen by a doctor who's required to document injuries.
In one case reported to IWPR, members of an international organisation
were shown such a document when they inquired about a particular
prisoner (whom they did not get to see). The document said the man had
a black eye and haematoma on the soles of his feet suggesting that he
had been beaten there.
Several sources in the judiciary, the legal profession and
international organisations told IWPR that the bulk of the physical
mistreatment took place during arrest or preliminary detention. These
sources allege that the SAJ was one of the worst offenders.
"Nearly everyone who fell into the SAJ's hands underwent torture," said
one of these sources.
The extended powers of detention granted to police came initially from
an emergency order which the then acting Serbian president Natasa Micic
signed when the state of emergency began. That gave police the right to
detain anyone considered to "endanger the security of other citizens of
the republic" and keep them in custody for 30 days. During that time
suspects have no right to see a lawyer, to appear before a judge, or to
contact their family
The order expired with the end of the state of emergency, but on April
11 Serbia's parliament amended the legislation on organised crime to
give the police even more draconian powers. Now they can hold suspects
incommunicado for up to 60 days, referring only to their superiors in
the interior ministry for approval. The investigating judge can also
order detention for a further 90 days in special cases.
In some cases, suspects were initially held under the
state-of-emergency order but have remained in detention under the new
law, so they may not see a lawyer for three months.
Human Rights Watch has said that holding suspects in prolonged
isolation is in breach of international standards. "The jurisprudence
of the European Court of Human Rights has established that even an
incommunicado detention significantly shorter than currently practised
in Serbia violates the European Convention of Human Rights," a May 10
statement from the organisation said.
Suspects are allowed access to lawyers only when they are brought
before an investigating judge. Those among the former to whom IWPR
spoke reported getting only limited access to the latter and some said
their clients were subsequently moved to different detention centres
without notification.
The authorities have pressured a number of lawyers to sign pledges to
keep case materials confidential.

Indications that major gangsters were behind the killing means there is
little sympathy for them in Serbia. This lack of interest is mirrored
abroad, where shock at the assassination, approval for the clampdown on
crime, and a desire to support a still fledgling democracy appear to
have downplayed concerns about the fate of those arrested.
But the United Nations' International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, which bans torture and "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment",
draws no distinction between suspects who are eventually found guilty
and those who are innocent.
The Yugoslav criminal code which now applies in Serbia and Montenegro
does not explicitly prohibit torture. But Article 190 states that
"officials who, in the line of duty, use force, threats or other banned
means or method with the intention of extracting a confession or other
statement from an accused person, witness, source other person, are to
be punished with three months to five years imprisonment". And Article
191 stipulates
the same prison terms for officials who "cause someone serious physical
or mental suffering, threaten or insult someone, or behave in any other
way that demeans his or her human dignity".

OFFICIAL DENIAL

The Serbian authorities have steadfastly maintained that there have
been no significant breaches of human rights.
Rasim Ljajic, minister for human and minority rights for Serbia and
Montenegro, told IWPR that in some cases people had been beaten during
arrest - but that this was not on a massive scale, nor did it
constitute systematic violation of human rights.
He rejected allegations that torture had been used. Even though some
people had been beaten at the time of arrest, no one had been beaten
while in custody, he said.
In a reference to the OSCE-UNHCHR visit to a prison in April, Ljajic
said, "If we had been guilty, we wouldn't have allowed them to visit in
the first place."
Ljajic said his ministry had opened a hot line so that people could
call in to report human rights violations.
When IWPR called the Serbian interior ministry on June 3 after
receiving no reply to its faxed questions about the allegations,
spokesman Colonel Vladan Colic said, "International organisations who
have visited the detainees have given their assessment. The ministry
has nothing to add."
Although the first reports of mistreatment of detainees seeped out only
days after March 12, the authorities only responded to the claims
following an April 7 letter from the US-based Human Rights Watch to the
Serbian government urging it to stop keeping suspects in isolation.
Justice Minister Vladan Batic responded with a simple denial. "No
measures such as force, coercion or acts contrary to law were applied
against those in custody," he said.
The day after Human Rights Watch's letter was made public, Deputy Prime
|Minister Cedomir Jovanovic told journalists that there was "no cause
for concern" and that "the police, prosecutors and courts are working
in line with their authority".
To underline his assertion that Human Rights Watch's concerns were
unfounded, Jovanovic made a curious statement, "Over the past week
representatives of the OSCE, Council of Europe and EU have visited the
central prison in Belgrade and seen first hand to what degree human
rights
are protected there."
This claim turned out to be entirely untrue. At that time, no
representative of foreign organisations had been allowed to visit any
prison. At least one prominent organisation had in fact requested
permission to do so, but received no reply in the three weeks since the
state of emergency began.
"I was surprised that deputy prime minister Jovanovic had this
information. We checked and found out that no international
organisation had made any visits," said an official from the
organisation.
"Even two or three days after Jovanovic's statement, we received an
official statement saying they could not allow us to visit on the terms
we wanted," he said, adding that his organisation had free access to
Serbian prisons when Slobodan Milosevic was still in charge.

INTERNATIONAL TEAM VISITS JAILS

In the face of strong external pressure, the authorities had to relent.
On April 14 and 15, more than a month after the state of emergency was
imposed, representatives of UNHCHR, the OSCE mission in Belgrade and
the OSCE's for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, ODIHR, visited
the central prison and the main police station in Belgrade. In a joint
report
on their preliminary findings, published on May 13, these organisations
reported two cases of possible torture and a number of other problems.
"During the visit the delegation heard allegations and saw indications
of torture and ill-treatment of at least two detainees. It was
impossible to fully check the truth of these allegations, but the
delegation believes it is important for detainees to be able to lodge
such complaints and expect their complaints to be taken into
consideration as soon as possible," the report said.
The team also said that "extended periods of detention coupled with
substandard conditions of detention for many detainees amounts to
degrading punishment or treatment".
Public statements made by the OSCE indicated a desire to limit
criticism of the Serbian government. On April 17, immediately following
the prison visit, the OSCE's head of mission in Serbia and Montenegro,
Maurizio Massari, told Serbian media that OSCE experts had not
registered a single "significant violation of rights" or "particularly
unfavourable" facts concerning the condition of prisoners. Massari did
not take part in the visit.
OSCE spokesperson Rory Keane told IWPR that that his organisation had
had unlimited access to detainees and that they had not received direct
individual complaints either during or after the state of emergency.

WAS REPORT WATERED DOWN?

The joint UNCHR-OSCE report was damning of the detention procedures,
but its evidence did not amount to systematic physical abuse. However,
one delegation member told IWPR that the report represented a
compromise reached by UNHCHR, OSCE and ODIHR, and that it had toned
down the real conditions that they had found.
"What we saw was really horrible. No one should be allowed to beat
you," the source said. "The conditions in solitary confinement were so
disastrous that they were torture in their own right. We were unable to
breathe in these rooms so that we talked to the detainees at another
location."
The same source confirmed findings of physical torture of detainees and
said that they could barely recognise some of the people.
"One of the detainees, with signs of physical ill-treatment that were
visible 20 days after his arrest, told the delegation that he had
looked like the 'elephant man' after the first beating," the source
said.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH DENIED ACCESS

Prison doors, however, were opened only to the OSCE and UN. The
non-government Humanitarian Law Centre and Helsinki Committee for Human
Rights in Serbia have not been allowed in. Nor has Human Rights Watch.
A May 14 statement from the latter organisation says, "After one month
of promising Human Rights Watch unhindered access to detainees, the
authorities now appear to have actually been doing their best to
prevent such a visit from taking place."
Bogdan Ivanisevic, a Human Rights Watch representative in Belgrade,
told IWPR that his organisation had not been allowed to enter the
central prison to talk to detainees, even though it had been given
permission to do so by the ministry of justice.
"It is conceivable that the Serbian government is preventing Human
Rights Watch from interviewing detainees, especially in light of a
(UNHCHR-OSCE) report which cites limited access to detainees and voices
serious criticism concerning poor prison conditions and the injuries
inflicted on detainees," said Ivanisevic.

POLICE IMPUNITY AND THE COURTS

Although it has admitted that isolated incidents of beatings took place
in the earliest stages of detention procedures, the government has
taken no action that IWPR is aware of to investigate the actions of its
regular and specialised police forces. According to Article 2 of the
Convention against Torture, signatory countries are obliged to " take
effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to
prevent acts of
torture".
Defendants in future trials are likely to cite the use of torture, and
a number of cases may be overturned at first hearing or on appeal. That
will embarrass the government both in its efforts to stamp out
organised crime, and as it tries to convince the European institutions
that it is bringing its legal framework and practice into line with EU
standards ahead of accession.
"Many things have yet to come to light. Sooner or later, what happened
to those detained during the state of emergency will end up before the
court in Strasbourg. This country will be paying lots of compensation,"
said IWPR's source in the international team which visited Belgrade
prison.
One man arrested during Operation Sabre, Mihajlo Colovic, is already
planning to press charges against Dejan Joksimovic, chief of police in
the central Serbian town of Arandjelovac. Court records include
Colovic's statement that Joksimovic whipped him with a telephone cable,
punched him, kicked him and hit him with a baseball bat, in an attempt
to get him to make an acccusation against another man. Colovic told
IWPR that his eardrum was ruptured in the beating and he had to seek
medical attention.

Belgrade is also likely to face pressure to revise laws which give too
much power to the police.
"Because of the provision for 60 days' detention, our country may run
into trouble with the international institutions," said Professor
Momcilo Grubac, an authority on criminal law. "Since we are members of
the Council of Europe, any citizen subjected to this kind of thing can
turn to the court in Strasbourg."


Dragana Nikolic-Solomon is Assistant Editor and Gordana Igric is
Balkans Project Manager with IWPR in London.

IWPR's network of leading correspondents in the region provides
in-depth analysis on events and issues affecting the Balkans. The
reports are published online in English, Serbian and Albanian. They are
also available via e-mail. For syndication information, contact Anthony
Borden tony@...
Balkan Crisis Report is supported by the Department for International
Development, the European Commission, the Swedish International
Development and Cooperation Agency, The Netherlands Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, and other funders. IWPR also acknowledges general
support from the Ford Foundation.
For further details on this project, other information services and
media
programmes, visit IWPR's website: www.iwpr.net


=== 4 ===


ARTEL Geopolitika
http://www.artel.co.yu/en/izbor/jugoslavija/2003-06-14.html

THE FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT UNIONS OF SERBIA
"DECLARES WAR" ON THE SERBIAN GOVERNMENT - UNTIL VICTORY!

Borivoje Uroševic
Belgrade - 5 June, 2003.

At a press conference, held on the 20th of May, 2003, the President of
the Sinidikata Srbije (Serbia's Unions) Milenko Smiljanic declared a
general protest of workers in Serbia with the following sentence: "We
can no longer sit by while those in power continue directing our lives
and for this reason we are moving into action."

The list of demands that the Union is directing towards the Government
and from which they will not back-down are the following:

* That the further laying-off and firing of workers cease completely;
* That a program that would secure the employment of a large number of
those currently unemployed be initiated immediately;
* That a real development strategy be adopted for Serbia, that social
programs be implemented and that a real social dialogue be started;
* That the privatization model be reformed so that those disposing of
dubious capital for the laundering of money be excluded;
* That the rights of the employed that stem from their work be
regulated exclusively by collective bargaining agreements;
* That all the debts that the State and various firms have towards
their workers be settled and that workers be allowed to complete their
work terms as originally planned;
* That all price hikes that are within the competences of the
Government and organs of local self-management be stopped.

In so far as the Government of Serbia doesn't achieve an appropriate
agreement in its dialogue with the Federation of Independent Unions of
Serbia and does not aprove these demands within 30 days, our Union will
demand the Governments resignation, that is to say its departure and
the holding of early parliamentary elections.

The scenario for the planned protests is such that work stoppages and
protests will be held in all major cities throughout Serbia on specific
dates, while a major convergence - that will gather the representatives
of all workers from Serbia and Belgrade - will be held on the 25 June
2003 in Belgrade.

Commentary by Borivoje Urosevic:

This action plan is well thought out, but I fear will be hard to
realize.  The Unions have waited too long to gather a "critical mass"
to hit the pavement and bring people out into the streets.  Industry no
longer works, workers have lost hope and self-respect and until hunger
and neediness don't reach every portion of Serbia's population, it is
hard to see how something can be achieved.  Only at this stage we will
no longer need unions to organize the workers.

The introduction of Martial Law in Serbia after the Premier's
assassination [backed by the US government], and the repression metted
out by authorities that resultant in over 10,000 illegal and long-term
detentions - so that about 40 of this number could be tried - has
created a climate of fear and mistrust among the general population. 
It would be hard to start something now, since those workers who still
have something left - even though this "something" is in reality a big
nothing - are afraid that they will even loose this; and they would,
therefore, rather avoid confrontations.

I don't wish to be a bearer of bad omens - I plan on attending the
protests and actions after all - but I'm afraid that we will only march
the way we did when this government passed its [regressive] Labour
Law.  Since then, everything in fact, has started going downhill. 

The vision of the leadership of Serbia's Unions and its president
Milenko Smiljanic for the future of the workers movement is the
recently founded "National Workers Consortium with the goal that during
the privatization process, by way of insider selling, we stop firms
from going into unwanted hands and that they not be purchased by
dubious capital.  It is expected that the Consortium will be comprised
of around 100,000 workers who will invest from 100 to 3000 euros
individually over the next 6 years, which will create a capital fund of
50 to 100 million euros."

In a situation in which the famillies of workers in Serbia "live"
off-of monthly salaries of around 100 euros, it is utopic to expect
them to save the projected sum of around 100 to 3000 euros.  Although
the idea has some merit [in terms of its ability to save a number of
enterprises], for now it's a long-shot.

The slogan for the protests is: "For the Defense of Labour and Industry
in Serbia"

In contradiction with the analysis of the Unions and the degrading
situation that confronts most famillies in Serbia, the official
decleration of the Bureau of Statistics talks about: UNKNOWN PRICE
HIKES IN MAY 2003.

"Prices are up some 0.5% from April and some 13,4% more in relation to
May 2002"  From this anouncement we see that the cost of living with
respect to April 2003 has increased by 0.4% and some 2,6% when compared
to the figures for December 2002.

We also learn that the largest change in prices was in the agricultural
sector (nutrition) beverages and industrial unprocessed goods.   The
statistic further indicates that the prices of industrially processed
goods in May, dropped about 0.2% in realtion to April and that this was
the result of lower prices for fresh meat and specific prepared meats,
milk and animal fat products.

What do the statistics fail to reveal, and what in fact happened!?! 
The bulk import of meat, meat products and milk "killed" the price of
domestic production in these sectors, the agricultural fund was
decimated, grain prices went up, drought means a bad harvest this
autumn and what can we expect for the future?  Without the agricultural
fund there will be no meat, no milk, no meat products...The
Agricultural Minister has resigned, but not because of poor policies in
the agregate (which were evident from the get-go) but due to the tragic
traffic accident in the middle of Belgrade, that involved his car.

The stats failed to show the drastic drop in energy prices, which made
the averages somewhat skewed as well.

What can we expect more from this Government of "experts"?

And for the end, instead of conclusions, which I leave to you who will
read this, I would like to say that I sincerely support the
demonstrations that we are initiating at the end of June.  Something
serious needs to happen for things to begin going in the right
direction.  Is this going to be the moment when this happens we will
soon find-out.


=== 5 ===


Da: Rick Rozoff
Data: Mer 11 Giu 2003 17:37:18 Europe/Rome
A: antinato@...
Oggetto: NATO's Victory: World Bank Offers $80 Million To Privatize
Socially-Owned Firms

http://www.seeurope.net/en/Story.php?StoryID=41065&LangID=1
Seerope.net - June 11, 2003

SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO: WB Approves USD 80 M Loan

The World Bank today approved an eighty million dollar
IDA credit for Serbia-Montenegro for the Private and
Financial Structural Adjustment Credit (PFSAC II) that
will provide financing for the Government of Serbia
with the aim of supporting regulatory, institutional,
and structural reforms in private and financial
sectors.
The overall objective of the PFSAC II is to help the
Government of Serbia improve the business environment,
strengthen the financial system, privatize and/or
liquidate majority state-owned banks, and privatize
and restructure socially-owned enterprises.
Reform of the business environment aims to improve
business entry through a better registration system;
facilitate efficient business operations through
reforming the Enterprise Law; build capacity for
regulatory reform and improve enterprises’ access to
finance; and reduce barriers to the efficient exit and
redeployment of non-productive assets, radio B92
reported.


=== 6 ===


UNHCR cuts aid to Belgrade
        
BELGRADE, June11 (B92) -The UN High Commission for Refugees has reduced
aid to Serbia-Montenegro by seven million dollars compared to last
year, UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said today.
Mahecic told media that the cut came at the recommendation of a working
group on humanitarian issues set up under the Dayton Agreement.
The UNHCR will this year set aside 22 million dollars for the problems
of refugees in Serbia-Montenegro.
Mahecic said that Serbia and Montenegro currently had 114,605 refugees
from Bosnia-Hercegovina and 216,000 refugees from Croatia.

---

BALKAN CRISIS REPORT No. 438 - www.iwpr.net

SERBIA: CASH CRISIS SHUTS SOUP KITCHENS

A drop in international funding has left local authorities struggling
to provide free meals for needy Serbs.

By Marko Romcevic in Belgrade

A financial crisis has put thousands of Serbia's most vulnerable people
at risk of losing their only daily meal.
The withdrawal of international donors has left the cash-strapped
government struggling to fund nearly 80 soup kitchens used by
impoverished or sickly Serbs.
For much of the last decade, they would queue six days a week to
receive a portion of bread and a cooked meal. But at the beginning of
June, many kitchens were forced to close due to lack of money.
The free food programme has been running since 1992, when an anonymous
donor distributed 2,000 meals to the needy. Since then, the number
benefiting from the service had grown to 30,000, at cost of 21 euro per
person per month.
But in the last few months, international aid agencies have ended their
involvement in the programme, handing over responsibility to local
authorities.
The German Red Cross was the last major donor to pull out of the scheme
on March 31.
The government has promised to keep only 28 out of 78 soup kitchens
open - one in each municipality - until the end of December.
In Serbia's northern province of Vojvodina, the programme continues in
only two of 15 original outlets. Those in Pozarevac, Smederevska
palanka, Uzice, Cuprija, and Jagodina have been closed down. One in
Bujanovac, southern Serbia, which used to have one thousand visitors a
day, has also been shut.
In Belgrade, the capital's authorities have pledged to continue the
food scheme, financing it from the city assembly budget and providing
meals for nearly 7,000 people six days a week - a reduction of around
40 per cent.
One pensioner from the Palilula area of the capital, who did not want
to give his name, told IWPR, "My [monthly] pension is around 50 euro,
which is just enough for me to pay my regular bills [the average salary
in 150 euro], but leaves me hardly anything to buy food.
"I have been coming here for the past few years and I don't know what
will happen to those whose local kitchen has closed down. Even the one
day a week that the kitchens did not operate was a problem for people."
Dragica Kljajic, the Serbian Red Cross coordinator for food provision,
said local authorities are struggling to meet the cost of the soup
kitchens. "The programme is now almost fully dependent on the
municipal governments - and these bodies have to find ways to finance
it in the future," she said.
"At the moment, the budgets are irregular and we were left with no
choice but to close many kitchens. We hope that some donors will show
compassion and help us keep the programme running, because otherwise
there could be tragic consequences."
Damir Glavonjic of the Palilula municipal administration told IWPR that
the situation was now extremely serious. "There are 4,800 socially
handicapped people - those whose family income does not exceed 20 euro
per person [a month] - in our area alone," he said. "We don't think
it's right for international organisations to withdraw in these crucial
times of transition."
The Red Cross says more soup kitchens may be forced to close in the
near future. "This current state of affairs - where we are requesting
that local municipalities take charge cannot go on for much longer,"
said Kljajic.
"One possible solution would be for each donor to pick one municipality
and finance the programme in it."
In the capital, the Palilula pensioner shakes his head as he ponders
the current situation. "I am a native Belgrader and I can hardly
believe I have lived to see this," he told IWPR.
"But the people will help us to survive - a woman volunteering in the
kitchen gave me a euro yesterday."


Marko Romcevic is a journalism student at the University of Belgrade.

---

Serbia-Montenegro has gravest refugee problem in Europe 

GENEVA, June 26 (Tanjug) - Geneva-based United Nations 
Serbia-Montenegro Mission representative Dusanka Divjak-Tomic said  on
Wednesday that Serbia-Montenegro has the most difficult problem  with
refugees and internally displaced persons of all European  countries. 
Speaking at a session of the UNHCR Permanent Committee in Geneva,  she
said the UNHCR has still not adequately dealt with the problem  of
refugees in former Yugoslavia, and in particular in Serbia and 
Montenegro. This is especially true for the very serious problem of 
internally displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija province, 
Divjak-Tomic said. 
Divjak-Tomic said she hoped the United Nations High Commissioner  for
Refugees, in cooperation with the International Committee of the  Red
Cross (ICRC) and other international institutions, would devote  far
greater attention to this complex problem. In addition to about 
250,000 displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija, whose prospects 
for returning home are vary poor, there are also 350,000 refugees  from
Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in Serbia and Montenegro, she  said.  In
spite of international forces being present in Kosovo and  Metohija for
four years already, there are still no basic conditions  in the
province for the return of refugees - personal safety and  security,
and politically and ethnically motivated murders have  still not been
rooted out and their perpetrators will never be found  or punished, the
official said.        

La eliminazione dei serbi dalla Croazia / 2

(english)

1. Family of murdered Croatian war crimes witness seeks
damages

2. TRANSCRIPT OF FRANJO TUDJMAN'S MILITARY STAFF MEETING SHORTLY AFTER
OPERATION STORM


=== 1 ===


http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/dv/Qwarcrimes-croatia.RHix_DyT.html

Family of murdered Croatian war crimes witness seeks
damages

(2003)

ZAGREB, May 29 (AFP) - The family of a Croatian man
who was murdered after testifying in war crimes cases
linked to killings of ethnic Serbs in Croatia in 1991,
has filed for damages from the state, national radio
reported Thursday.
The wife and the son of Milan Levar filed the suit at
a Zagreb court seeking almost one million kuna in
damages (133,000 euros, 157,000 dollars), accusing the
state of not doing enough to prevent his killing.
He was killed "in a terrorist act which the state
should have prevented," the two claim.
Levar, a witness for the UN war crimes tribunal, was
killed in August 2000 whan a device planted in front
of his house in the central town of Gospic exploded.
Noone has been charged over the killing.
Levar's family are seeking compensation for emotional
distress.
Levar hit the headlines in Croatia in 1997 when he
voluntarily travelled to The Hague-based UN tribunal
to testify over atrocities committed by Croatian
forces against Serb civilians in the Gospic region at
the outbreak of the 1991-95 Serbo-Croatian war.
He made allegations in the local press accusing
high-ranking Croatian officers of organising the
systematic killing of ethnic Serbs in the area.
One of them, retired general Mirko Norac, was
sentenced earlier this year by a local court to 12
years in jail for the executions of at least 50 ethnic
Serb civilians in the Gospic region in 1991.
At the time of Levar's killing, the UN tribunal said
that it had offered him protective measures after
questioning him on alleged Croatian war crimes, but
that he had voiced a wish to remain in Croatia.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1998 requested the Croatian
government provide protection for Levar.
He had warned police that he had been receiving
threats, and in previous incidents a bomb was thrown
at his house and a mine mine planted under his car.


=== 2 ===


TRANSCRIPT OF FRANJO TUDJMAN'S MILITARY STAFF MEETING SHORTLY AFTER
OPERATION STORM

These transcripts contain some significant material. Focus on the
actual transcript, and ignore Feral Tribune's propaganda commentary
about the "Serb occupation" of the Krajina.

Feral Tribune (Croatia) / Translated by TOL - July 17, 2003

---

http://www.tol.cz/look/wire/
article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=10&NrIssue=733&NrSection=1&NrArti
cle=10051

Historical Transcript: Tudjman on Ethnic Cleansing

Feral Tribune publishes transcripts of former Croatian President Franjo
Tudjman's secret staff meeting, held shortly after Croatian forces
retook control of Serb-occupied territory in 1995.

CROATIAN PRESIDENT FRANJO TUDJMAN: The demographic problem should be
solved militarily.

"One should proceed with the consideration that a military command
could be a most effective means for solving the internal needs of the
state. Considering the situation we face with the liberation of
occupied territories, the demographic situation, it is necessary for
military command precisely to become one of the most efficient
components of our state policies in solving the demographic situation
of Croatia. We have to consolidate Croatianhood in Istria and populate
certain parts. … We didn’t accidentally create the Croatian Republic of
Herzeg-Bosna [a Croatian wartime self-proclaimed entity in Bosnia] and
the Croatian Defense Council (HVO) [the Croat militia in Bosnia].

"We have, as you see, despite everything, despite all the
circumstances, created an admired army. Therefore, we will solve that
too."

It was with these historical words that Tudjman addressed the members
of his military establishment on 23 August 1995, after they gathered
that morning in the presidential palace at Pantovcak. Tudjman’s words
were recorded in a transcript that--together with hundreds of other
records of the Pantovcak sessions … --has long been in the possession
of the prosecutors of The Hague [International Criminal Tribunal for
the former Yugoslavia]. Early this week, [the transcripts] reached the
Feral Tribune’s editorial office.

“We will solve that too” referred, in fact, to the violent
state-sponsored Croatization of territory that was, until the beginning
of August of that year, part of the so-called Republic of Srpska
Krajina [the self proclaimed Croatian Serb entity]. “We will solve that
too” was the code for the beginning of a broad campaign to cement the
results of ethnic cleansing that the Croatian authorities--with the
unselfish assistance of Krajina and Belgrade chiefs--realized through
Operation Oluja [Storm]. After military action, it was necessary to
radically change the ethnic picture of the liberated and “cleansed”
area.

Consequently, on 23 August 1995, at 10 a.m., Tudjman’s defense heads,
represented by Defense Minister Gojko Susak, Chief of Staff General
Zvonimir Cervenko, Major-General Vinko Vrbanac, Rear Admiral Davor
Domazet Loso, Colonel-General Josip Lucic, Colonel-General Imra Agotic,
Colonel-General Petar Stipetic, Admiral Sveto Letica, and Admiral
Davorin Kajic, assembled. The central role at the meeting, however,
wasn’t intended for any of the soldiers, but civilian Jure Radic,
former reconstruction and development minister and the supreme
commander’s main operator in the sophisticated question of ethnic
engineering. The settling of the deserted Krajina and the definite
“consolidation of Croatianhood” in the until-then “un-Croatian” regions
were the main topics of the session in Pantovcak.

We remind our readers that the transcript from the presidential palace
discussed here appeared 18 days after the end of Oluja. The atmosphere
is no longer particularly euphoric, but noticeably solemn and, above
all, worklike. It was necessary to think of a model that would bring
into action Tudjman’s instructions, addressed in a short dialogue with
Jure Radic, a dialogue that could function as the motto of the session.

“Vojnic,” said Radic, “had 76 Croats, and 7,600 Serbs.” Tudjman
responds: “Ok, now it’s going to be different.” [Vojnic is a town in
central Croatia.]

Supreme commander Tudjman intended to carry out his plan with the help
of the new territorial organization of Croatian armed forces. At the
very beginning of the meeting he stated the following: “Considering a
military-administrative command, or what we would consider division in
operational zones as we have addressed them up until now, as well as
the distribution of military units, one consequently needs to consider
the geopolitical stance and strategic interests of the country, taking
into account foreseen and possible enemies, today and in the future.
However, one should also proceed with the consideration that a military
command could be a most effective means for solving the internal needs
of the state. We, however, don’t have the need, the special need, to
solve consolidation of the existing order as it is the case in other
countries, but we have it, for example, in the Istria region. But
considering the situation we face with the liberation of occupied
territories, the demographic situation, it is necessary for military
command precisely to become one of the most efficient components of our
state politics in solving the current crucial problem, namely the
demographic situation of Croatia.

"Therefore, I called the vice president of the government and the
reconstruction and development minister, Dr. Radic, to this meeting, in
order to present, for the start of this debate, the current demographic
situation, because the distribution of authority, regions, brigades of
others, educational facilities, etc., can be a very beneficial and
effective way of solving the situation where we need to consolidate
Croatianhood as in Istria, and on the other hand to do it as soon as
possible--nowadays it is not about changing the makeup as much as about
populating certain towns, certain regions. If you establish towns,
greater authorities, educational facilities, etc., it means that tens
and hundreds of people will come to establish a family there and at
once we have a different situation, life, etc.”

Jure Radic then took the stand to share his ideas for “consolidating
Croationhood.”

JURE RADIC: Indeed, to be concise, I think it is well known to all of
us that after the liberation of Croatia, the main problem in Croatia is
the Croat. Simply, there are fewer and fewer Croats every day for a
couple of reasons. One of the reasons is exile, as many were moved out
of Croatia in the past because of political and economic reasons. The
other reason has to do with the fact that in the past 40 years, fewer
and fewer people are returning to Croatia every year. From 1953 until
today, the number of those born in Croatia has declined by half. In
1953, … there were 98,000 births, and last year, only 48,000, thus half
the number. This is certainly something that we in the army will
experience in a little while, when those who can carry a gun will be
fewer and fewer. We have black holes on the Croatian soil, where no
Croats live. This of course is a consequence of devised greater-Serbia
politics that intended, through the preparation of this aggression, to
create deserted regions, and when we look at today’s picture of
Croatia, we are counting on the premature return of all people to their
homes, something difficult to expect when many have gotten accustomed
to the surroundings of their exile …

"In this order of range, the critical area is the area that attempts a
division of Croatia’s narrowest part in half, a division that those
plotting in Belgrade and other places wanted to accomplish. Thus, from
our point of view, the area that gets first priority for population
consists of the former counties of Vrginmost, Vojnic, and part of the
Karlovac county. Thus, the region of Petrova Gora and the surrounding
mountains. Before the war, … 4,259 Croats and 26,298 Serbs lived in
these three counties. Thus, [it is] a completely empty region, and the
national priority No.1 is to populate that region with Croats and
create as much of a balance as possible. I think that we have to focus
on economic propulsion in towns that exist there, and these are
Vrginmost, Vojnic, and some larger villages such as Veljun, Krnjak,
etc."

TUDJMAN: We don’t have time for that. You present the situation, we’ll
make decisions afterward."

RADIC: That’s the critical point. Equally critical is the area
underneath, the Slunj area, where Croats have to return. This area is
also pretty empty, but fortunately, there weren’t any Serbs or there
were few. Thus, of equal concern from our point of view is this
red-blue area [pointing at a map] at the narrowest part of Croatia,
where Croatia was completely split. The next priority, ranging third,
depends on whether we will consider the regions in Herzeg-Bosna, or
Bosnia and Herzegovina, or not. It can be placed in order of importance
in regards to Croatia. If the liberated areas of Livno, Glamoc, Kupres,
Grahovo, and Drvar ever become populated by Croats, then the region of
Knin becomes less important." [Livno, Glamoc, Kupres, Grahovo, and
Drvar are Serb-populated towns in western Bosnia taken by the Croatian
Army in the aftermath of Operation Oluja].

TUDJMAN: If it ever happens."

RADIC: That’s why the decision is up to you whether it will happen or
not. If not, an equal third priority is everything in the former
counties of Donji Lapac and Knin. These are two split communities that
stretch along the Croatian border, with almost no Croats. In Knin there
were, for example, 1,660 Croats, in Srb 29, in Doljane none, and in
Donji Lapac 14."

TUDJMAN: Do you know how many there were after World War II,
approximately?

RADIC: In Knin, 60 percent of the population was Croatian after World
War II. I have the data but not with me right now.

TUDJMAN: What, 60 percent?

RADIC: Yes, 60 percent of Croats only in the city of Knin. … Knin was
small then. Thus, this entire region of Donji Lapac and Knin is a key
border region entirely devoid of Croats. I don’t know--I think it is
interesting that the ethnically purest community in Croatia was the
county of Donji Lapac, with over 99 percent Serbs. There is not one
county in Croatia that has over 98 percent Croats, according to a
prewar census from 1991, not one. There are in Herzegovina, four of
them …"

TUDJMAN: There aren’t any in Zagorje either."

At this point we will take a short break to note Radic's joy that in
the county of Slunj, there "weren't any Serbs," consequently to
establish that Tudjman and company were cold-bloodedly handling the
distribution of people in another country [Livno, Glamoc, Kupres,
Grahovo, and Drvar are in Bosnia and Herzegovina], and to notice that
the regions to be populated with Croats precisely overlap with the
regions dehumanized during Oluja. Dehumanization entailed hundreds of
liquidations of Serbian civilians, the departure of 200,000 people
considered unwanted by the [ruling] HDZ [Croatian Democratic Union] for
having the wrong names and surnames, the looting and burning of 15,000
to 20,000 Serb houses. … The goal of the listed activities was clear
and clearly stated: Krajina should never again be Serbian by majority.
Now we give the stage back to Tudjman …

TUDJMAN: Regarding the headquarters in the listed regions, operatively
and strategically speaking it is not normal that a fifth division is in
Osijek, Djakovo, and Pozega. Thus, primarily operatively, [I consider]
Karlovac and Petrinja. Here, due to political reasons, I would rather
go to Pazin than … you understand. Here I think that Knin is
indisputable, considering that we have school facilities in Knin, a
system more extensive than needed for civil schools in 50 years. Thus,
should we make use of that for the headquarters for the … does that
mean we should then have a high school?"

GOJKO SUSAK: There is enough space to bring in a guard brigade,
headquarters, and a school. We don’t have to invest anything, Mr.
President, all three will fit there."

TUDJMAN: I agree that we should make use of it and thus make Knin
Croatian fairly quickly. But I want to see what we will do with Gospic.
We also have to give Gospic some military institutions …"

CROATIAN ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF GENERAL ZVONIMIR CERVENKO: Here, Mr.
President, we have a proposition for the operative distribution of
commands, it is item No. 2, so allow the general to present what we
think …"

TUDJMAN: I’m not sure whether Ploce, Metkovic, Neum would be the best,
but we can’t [consider that] for now." [Ploce and Metkovic are Croatian
towns on the Adriatic coast, while Neum is part of the Bosnian
Federation, also on the coast.]

SUSAK: No, no, … the headquarters should be on the other side of Neum,
not in Neum."

RADIC: If so, yes, precisely the other side."

TUDJMAN: Where?"

SUSAK: South of Neum."

TUDJMAN: Maybe Ston."

And it was, naturally, Ston, but the most important is the recognition
that Tudjman had intensively thought about making Knin “Croatian fairly
quickly,” and that in August 1995 he still thought … that it was
impossible to install military headquarters in Neum as the furthest
region of southern Croatia. The headquarters for the military regions
(six regions of the Croatian armed forces where units, constituting
operational and administrative command) were finally established in
Pazin, Knin, Karlovac, Varazdin, Dakovo, and Ston, while Knin,
Karlovac, and Pazin were chosen to stabilize Croatianhood in those
regions after decades of instability. Knin and Karlovac were also
chosen in order to have more Catholic flesh transported from somewhere
(most probably Bosnia) to the regions--a guarantee for making Serbs
second-grade citizens and actively obstructing their return. The
following two dialogues from the shorthand report bear witness to that
very well …

GENERAL MAJOR VINKO VRBANAC: By liberating, Mr. President, this third
part of the occupied area of the Republic of Croatia, the present
conditions show, as you said in the introduction, that a change in
population needs to occur by military means."

TUDJMAN: We have the fortunate situation that the liberation demands a
distribution of military units that would simultaneously solve the
demographical [aspect]."

RADIC: Vojnic and Vrginmost are the most critical counties. In one of
those counties one should have at least some …"

TUDJMAN: Not only one, but both. If not a whole unit, at least a
company should be placed there, without a compromise, please. Let‘s
move on."

And then the grand finale of the Pantovcak session happens. Near the
very end, Tudjman addresses his favorite topic, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
and complains to his chief assistants about the world idiots [leaders]
that didn’t recognize the genius of his Bosnian adventures.

TUDJMAN: Maybe someone was watching when in the last pre-electoral
speech in 1990 I somewhat undiplomatically said that the borders of the
Croatian ‘pretzel’ were untenable,” says the commander, “but this
doesn’t mean that we accidentally created the Croatian Republic of
Herzeg-Bosna and the HVO, and are now conducting those operations
there. It is true that never in Croatian history have Croatian soldiers
controlled more territory than now, but it's clear that in a formally
administrative sense we can't yet organize differently than we have
proposed. You know, in this formation, after creating such an army and
politically succeeding in demoralizing Serbianhood and its army, if
there were any international circumstances and wisdom, if they had let
us, if they had told me, ‘we won’t allow Yugoslav air traffic, rockets
provided by Russians, etc. to engage against Croatia,’ we could have
said today, after [operations] Ljeto (Summer) and Oluja, we could have
borders that would fit Croatia, and the rest of the world as well. But
considering that there is no such wisdom, we have to discuss things
under these circumstances, and ignore what we have accomplished in
terms of Croatian interests and the Croatian state.”

And this is how Tudjman spoke in August of 1995.

This transcript--together with hundreds of others located at The
Hague--testifies to the fact that the former Croatian authorities
carefully planned, prepared, and carried out the ethnic cleansing of
Krajina Serbs. From the forged leaflets distributed in Krajina before
Operation Oluja, asking Serbs to flee, to post-Oluja days when from
Knin to Dvor na Uni mass murders and burnings of houses took place, to
later weeks and months when the ethnically cleansed regions were
sometimes successfully populated with Croatian settlers brought
together by poverty. They were assigned Serbian houses spared by the
flames and the dynamite, in order to exclude the possibility of a
return of the unwanted. And that wasn't the only method used to stop
their return.

Finally, it is unclear why individuals from the current Croatian
government, who sent kilograms upon kilograms of Tudjman's transcripts
to The Hague, are today fanatically defending Ante Gotovina [suspected
war criminal indicted by the ICTY], claiming that no ethnic cleansing
took place in Krajina. It would be better if they spoke to, let's say,
Jure Radic, about that issue.

---
Translated by Mirna Skrbic.

The news items posted on TOL Wire have been edited by TOL staff with
only minor changes to the original content. Larger additions are marked
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Un profilo di George Soros

(For this text in english see:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2547
See also important related news at:
George Soros' agenda for the Balkans
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2525 )


Il miliardario che è diventato il re senza corona
dell'Europa orientale e profeta della ''the open
society''. Ma aperta a cosa?

George Soros visto da Neil Clark

George Soros è arrabbiato. In comune con il 90% della
popolazione mondiale, l'uomo che ha distrutto la Bank
of England ne ha abbastanza del presidente Bush e
della sua politica estera. In un articolo recente sul
Financial Times, Soros condanna la politica verso
l'Iraq dell'amministrazione, definendola
"fondamentalmente sbagliata" - basata sulla "falsa
ideologia che gli USA deve dare il diritto di imporre
le sue volontà al resto del Mondo ".

Wow! Uno degli uomini più ricchi del mondo,
l'archetipo amorale del capitalista che fa i miliardi
con il crack del 1997 dell'estremo oriente e che
l'anno scorso è finito davanti a un tribunale in
Francia per insider trading, è illuminato in età
avanzata? (ha 72 anni) dobbiamo stappare champagne e
brindare alla sua conversione?

Non prima di domandarci cosa lo motiva per davvero. A
Soros piace presentarsi come un outsider, un emigrato
ungherese dallo spirito libero e filosofo-saggio che
si distacca dal complesso militare-industriale degli
USA. Ma date una occhiata ai membri della commissione
delle ONG che organizza e finanzia. Presso Human
Rights Watch, per esempio, vi è Morton Abramowitz,
assistente segretario di stato Usa per l'intelligence
e ricerche nel 1985-89, e adesso è membro
dell'interventista del Council on Foreign Relations;
l'ex-ambasciatore Warren Zimmerman (il cui discorso in
Yugoslavia coincise con la distruzione del paese); e
Paul Goble, direttore delle comunicazioni della Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty della CIA (che Soros
finanzia). L'International Crisis Group di Soros si
avvale di "indipendenti" luminari come gli ex
consiglieri della sicurezza nazionale Zbigniew
Brzezinski e Richard Allen, come del Generale Wesley
Clark, una volta comandante supremo alleato della Nato
per l'Europa. Il gruppo del Il vice-presidente del
gruppo è l'ex-deputato Stephen Solarz, già descritto
come il "capo legislatore della lobby Israeliana e
tattico di Capitol Hill" e firmatario, assieme a
Richard Perle e Paul Wolfowitz, di una nota lettera
al presidente Clinton nel 1998 che chiedeva una
"comprensiva strategia politica e militare per
abbattere Saddam e il suo regime".

Date uno sguardo ai soci di Soros. Alla Carlyle Group,
dove ha investito più che altrove, sono presenti
l'ex-segretario di stato James Baker e il segretario
della difesa Frank Carlucci, George Bush Sr e, fino di
recente, gli strani parenti di Osama Bin Laden.
Carlyle, uno delle più grandi fondazioni private del
mondo che ottiene finanziamenti dal suo lavoro come
contraente della difesa.

Soros non é, come qualcuno ha suggerito, un agente
della CIA. Ma le sue aziende e le ONG sono così
strettamente legate all'espansionismo USA che non vi
si può dubitare in modo serio.

Così perché attacca Bush? La risposta è semplice.
Soros è arrabbiato non per le mire di Bush, estendere
la Pax Americana e rendere il mondo sicuro per il
capitalisti globali come lui stesso, ma con il modo
crasso e accecato di Bush di procedere. Rendendo
chiare le ambizioni USA, la banda Bush ha commesso il
peccato capitale di sabotare il gioco. Per anni, Soros
e le sue ONG hanno lavorato per estendere i confini
del "mondo libero" in modo così abile che nessuno se
ne è accorto. Adesso il Texano ubriacone e la banda di
fanatici neo-conservatori l'hanno scoperto.

Come uomo di cultura e raffinato (laurea in filosofia
della London School of Economics, laurea honoris causa
delle Università di Oxford, Yale, Bologna e Budapest),
Soros sa assai bene che gli imperi finiscono quando
fanno il passo troppo lungo e provocano la formazione
di alleanze avversarie. Comprende che l'approccio di
Clinton al multilateralismo, e che gli allettamenti e
bustarelle USA non sono mai stati così crudi come
minacciato, è il solo che permetterà all'impero di
durare. La politica di Bush ha diviso l'Europa, la
Nato- è allo sbando, la genesi della nuova alleanza
Franco-Germanica-Russa e il primo passo significativo
verso l'unità araba dai tempi di Nasser.

Soros sa molto bene, che armato con qualche miliardo
di dollari, con una manciata di ONG e con dei legami
con il Dipartimento di Stato USA, è perfettamente
possibile rovesciare i governi stranieri che si
oppongono al business, controllarne gli indirizzi e
perfino essere ringraziati per la benevolenza. Soros
l'ha fatto.

La visione convenzionale, condivisa da molti a
sinistra è che il socialismo
È collassato in Europa Orientale a causa della sua
debolezza strutturale e per il fallimento della élite
politica nel costruire un supporto popolare. Ciò è
parzialmente vero, ma il ruolo di Soros è cruciale.
Dal 1979, ha finanziato i dissidenti come Solidarnosc
in Polonia, Charta 77 in Cecoslovacchia e Andrei
Sakharov in Unione Sovietica. Nel 1984, fondò il suo
primo Open Society Institute in Ungheria e fornì
milioni di dollari ai movimenti di opposizione e ai
media indipendenti.
Puntando in modo ostensivo a costruire una "società
civile", tali iniziative furono designate per
indebolire le strutture politiche esistenti e aprire
la strada alla colonizzazione dell'Europa orientale da
parte del capitale globale.
Soros adesso dichiara, con tipica immodestia, che è il
nuovo responsabile per l'"Americanizzazione"
dell'Europa Orientale.

Gli jugoslavi sosteneva e eleggevano l'irriformabile
governo di Slobodan Milosevic e del suo Partito
Socialista. Soros accettò la sfida. Dal 1991, il suo
Open Society Institute canalizzò fondi alla
opposizione anti-Milosevic, fondando partiti politici,
case editrici e media "indipendenti" come Radio B92,
la piccola e sgangherata stazione radio studentesca
secondo la mitologia occidentale è in realtà
finanziata da uno degli uomini più ricchi del mondo
appartenente alla nazione più potente del mondo. Con
Slobo finalmente rovesciato nel 2000 in un colpo di
stato, pianificato e eseguito a Washington, assieme
alla messinscena della consegna del leader
ex-jugoslavo al tribunale dell'Aja, cofinanziato da
Soros assieme a altri custodi dei diritti umani come
Time Warner Corporation e Disney.
È stato accusato di crimini contro l'umanità, crimini
di guerra e di genocidio basati su prove orali di
(provate a vedere) Human Rights Watch.

Soros sottolinea il suo credo verso la "open society"
proposta dal filosofo Karl Popper, suo maestro nei
primi anni '50. La definizione di Soros della "open
society", "una società imperfetta che cerca di
migliorarsi society, sembra ragionevole, pochi amanti
della libertà genuina considerano il suo aspetto
centrale che "la open society è una forma di
organizzazione sociale più sofisticata del
totalitarismo". Ma la "open societies" di Soros non
funzionano in pratica.

Fin dalla caduta di Milosevic, la Serbia, sotto gli
auspici dei riformisti filo-Soros, è divenuta meno,
non più, libera. La recente instaurazione dello stato
di emergenza vede più di 4,000 persone agli arresti,
molti dei quali senza accuse formali, i partiti
politici sono minacciati di bando e giornali critici
di chiusura. È stato condannato dalla commissione
dell'ONU per i diritti umani e dal British Helsinki
Group. Ma non vi sono voci dall'Open Society Institute
o da Soros stesso. Inoltre, Soros è stato assai
critico verso il suo ex protetto Leonid Kuchma,
presidente dell'Ukraina, paese descritto dall'ex
ufficiale dell'intelligence Mykola Melnychenko come
"un grande racket del pizzo", e adesso lo stato
poliziesco più repressivo, possibilmente, dell'Europa.

Ma generalmente la triste conclusione è che per le sue
citazioni liberali di Popper, Soros vuole una società
"aperta" non al rispetto dei diritti umani e alle
libertà basilari. Ma "aperta" a lui e ai suoi soci
nel fare soldi. E Soros ha fatto soldi in ogni nazione
che ha aiutato a essere "open".
In Kosovo, per esempio, ha investito tentando di
ottenere il controllo del complesso minerario di
Trepca , dove vi sono vaste riserve do oro,
argento, piombo e altri minerali di valore della
regione. Ha ripetuto lo stesso copione in tutta
l'Europa orientale: chiedendo la "terapia shock " e
"riforme economiche", permettendo ai suoi soci di
comprare i beni di uno stato abbattendone i prezzi.

A più di dieci anni dopo la caduta del muro di
Berlino, Soros è il re senza corona dell'Europa
Orientale. Il suo Central European University, con
campus a Budapest, Varsavia e Praga e programmi di
scambio negli USA, sfacciatamente spaccia l'etica del
capitalismo neoliberale e clona la prossima
generazione pro-USA di leaders politici della regione.
Con la sua presa finanziaria sui partiti,
il business, gli enti scolastici e le arti, le
critiche a Soros nei media ufficiali dell'Europea
Orinatale sono difficili da trovare.
Non è agiografia. Il Budapest Sun riportava come a
febbraio sia divenuto cittadino onorario di Budapest a
opera del sindaco Gabor Demszky.
"Pochi hanno dato a Budapest quello che ha dato George
Soros" diceva Demszky, parlando del miliardario che
aveva fornito "il cambiamento strutturale e
mentale nella capitale e in Ungheria stesso ". Il
sindaco sbagliò nell'aggiungere Soros come benefattore
del partito di Demszky, i Liberi Democratici, che,
governando con i comunisti "riformati", ha perseguito
la classica agenda di Soros di privatizzazione e
liberalizzazione economica
aumentando il gap tra ricchi e poveri.

la strategia di Soros per estendere la Pax Americana
differisce da quella di Bush, è molto più sottile. Ma
è ambiziosa, e mortale. I liberali di sinistra
ammirano il suo sostegno verso qualche loro problema
favorito come i diritti dei gay e la legalizzazione
delle droghe leggere (Pannella e Camerati in Italia;
NdC), lasciandolo nell'oscurità.

Alla domanda sul pericolo della sua speculazione
basata sul crack delle economie dell'Estremo Oriente
nel 1997, Soros rispose: "Come partecipe del mercato,
io non ho bisogno di preoccuparmi delle conseguenze
delle mie azioni." Strane paorle da un uomo che si
presenta attento alla salvaguardia dei valori della
società civile e che scrive libri contro il
"fondamentalismo del mercato".


L'articolo è apparso sul New Statesman.
http://www.newstatesman.com/

Traduzione di Alessandro Lattanzio
Email: alexlattanzio@...
Sito: http://members.xoom.it/sitoaurora

Sul ruolo di Soros nello sfascio dei Balcani si veda anche:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2525

(italiano / english)

Yugoslavia and the Jews
1. Israeli Officials in Croatia and Serbia

A: CROAZIA-ISRAELE: KATSAV PRIMO PRESIDENTE ISRAELE A ZAGABRIA
Israeli president remembers the jewish victims of Croatian wartime
death camp Jasenovac (11/7/2003)

B: SERBIA-ISRAELE: L'AMBASCIATORE SHANI DECORATO PER AVERE APPOGGIATO
IL GOLPE DELLA DOS?
Israel ambassador decorated in Belgrade (3/3/2003)


=== A ===


CROAZIA-ISRAELE: UNA VISITA CHE LASCIA TROPPI INTERROGATIVI

Il presidente israeliano Katsav, in visita ufficiale a Zagabria, ha
avuto innegabilmente un grande merito: ha sbattuto in faccia ai
parlamentari dello staterello croato, riuniti nel loro "Sabor", la
storia eroica della Lotta Popolare di Liberazione, che spazzo' via i
nazifascisti ed i loro collaboratori ustascia nel corso della II Guerra
Mondiale.
Ciononostante, la visita presenta lati profondamente contraddittori e
lascia aperti molti legittimi interrogativi:
- Perche' e' stata effettuata, e come fa Katsav a dirsi "molto felice"
di essere giunto in Croazia, staterello fondato dai successori degli
ustascia attraverso la violenza ai danni di centinaia di migliaia di
persone?
- Che cosa ne pensa Katsav dello squartamento della Repubblica
Federativa Socialista di Jugoslavia, e perche' Israele non ha mai
denunciato che esso stava avvenendo per mano di neonazisti?
- Per quale motivo i dispacci di agenzia sulla visita riportano la
visita al lager di Jasenovac minimizzando sul genocidio compiuto ai
danni dei serbi durante il nazifascismo? Si noti infatti che le cifre
riportate per le vittime dello sterminio sono quelle sostenute dalla
pubblicistica revisionista di Tudjman (80mila vittime anziche' 700mila).
- E' opportuno che a ricordare ai croati l'antifascismo sia il
presidente di uno Stato fondato sulla epurazione etnica ("transfer") ai
danni della popolazione autoctona del suo territorio, cioe' i
palestinesi?

Italo Slavo

CROATIA-ISRAEL: A VISIT WHICH LEAVES SO MANY OPEN QUESTIONS

The Israeli President Katsav, in his official visit to Zagreb, did one
very good thing, for sure: he remembered in front of the MPs of this
small State, gathered in their "Sabor", the heroic history of the
Popular Struggle for Liberation (NOB) which defeated nazi-fascists and
their ustasha collaborateurs during World War II.
However, this visit presents some very contradictory aspects and leaves
many legitime questions unanswered:
- Why has the visit been organized, and how can Katsav be "very glad"
of being in Croatia, this small State which has been created by the
followers of the ustasha through violence against hundreds of thousands
of people?
- What does Katsav think about the butcher-like distruction of the
Federative Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia and why did Israel never
officially complained about it being realized by hand of neo-nazis?
- Why do the agency reports about the trip refer to Katsav visit in
Jasenovac minimizing the genocide suffered by the Serbs during World
War II? Please note that the figures of the extermination are the same
adopted by the revisionist literature of Tudjman (80.000 instead of
700.000).
- Is it normal that the antifascist values are reminded to the Croats
by the President of a State which was created thorugh ethnic cleansing
("transfer") of the original population of its territory, i.e. the
Palestinians?

Italo Slavo

---

http://www.ansa.it/balcani/croazia/croazia.shtml

CROAZIA-ISRAELE: KATSAV PRIMO PRESIDENTE ISRAELE A ZAGABRIA

(ANSA) - ZAGABRIA, 11 LUG - Il presidente israeliano Moshe Katsav e'
arrivato oggi a Zagabria per una visita di tre giorni, la prima di un
capo dello stato ebraico in Croazia. Katsav si e' incontrato
stamani con il presidente croato Stipe Mesic ed ha pronunciato un
discorso al parlamento di Zagabria nel quale ha espresso
''l'ammirazione di Israele per i partigiani croati e per l'eroismo dei
combattenti contro il fascismo''. ''L'antifascismo - ha sottolineato -
deve essere un valore nazionale croato, specialmente per i giovani''.
Il presidente israeliano, che oggi ha incontrato anche il premier
Ivica Racan e il presidente del parlamento Zlatko Tomcic, domani
andra' a Dubrovnik, nel sud-est del paese, dove visitera' la piu'
antica sinagoga in Croazia, fondata dagli ebrei fuggiti dalla Spagna
nel 1492. Per domenica e' in programma una visita a Jasenovac, una
cittadina a 60 km dalla capitale, dove durante la seconda guerra
mondiale si trovava un campo di concentramento del regime filonazista
degli ustascia di Ante Pavelic. In quello che fu chiamato
''l'Auschwitz croato'' persero la vita circa 80.000 tra ebrei, serbi,
rom e croati antifascisti. Secondo la comunita' ebraica croata sono
circa 17.000 gli ebrei uccisi a Jasenovac. I rapporti
croato-israeliani erano particolarmente tesi negli anni Novanta quando
a Zagabria era presidente Franjo Tudjman, autore di libri di storia
nei quali minimizzava l'olocausto. In un'occasione Tudjman ha anche
detto di essere felice che sua moglie non fosse ne' serba ne' ebrea.
La svolta nei rapporti croato-israeliani ci fu nell'ottobre 2001
quando Mesic, in visita a Gerusalemme, chiese scusa per le vittime
ebraiche degli ustascia. (ANSA). COR*VD 11/07/2003 16:40

---

http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0nk90

KATSAV VISITS CROATIA BREAKING 12 YEAR ABSENCE

President Moshe Katsav arrived in Croatia today for the first visit by
an Israeli head of State since the former Yugoslav republic achieved
its independence in 1991, HA'ARETZ reported. Katsav told a group of
Croatian lawmakers that Israel was willing to "go a long way" to
achieve peace with the Palestinians, but said they needed to back up
their anti-terrorist proclamations with concrete actions. "Israel is
prepared ... to go along way toward peace and reconciliation," Katsav
said. Katsav also said that he believed in Palestinian Prime Minister
Mahmoud Abbas's "sincerity to bring about the cessation of violence,
terror and incitement." But he cautioned that "declarations against
terrorism are not sufficient." "The Palestinian leadership must act in
order to uproot the plague of terror," Katsav added.

Katsav also referred to the "difficult and painful" memories Jews have
of World War II in Croatia, and he praised the country's anti-fascist
movement of the time. His visit underscored a growing friendship
between Israel and Croatia. "I am very glad to be here ... to find that
here, in Croatia, dramatic improvement happened," Katsav said earlier
Friday as he began his three-day stay by meeting with Croatian
President Stipe Mesic. The two leaders complimented each other and
called for intensified ties between their countries in a visit that
pointed up the dramatic change in relations between the two nations.

Israel and Croatia established diplomatic relations in 1997, but only
after Tudjman deleted a section from his 1989 book that questioned the
number of Jews who died in the Holocaust. Tudjman was never invited to
Israel despite his desire to visit. Croatia's new government, which
took power years ago, is openly critical of Nazism. Mesic, who visited
Jerusalem in 2001, apologized to Jews for their suffering here during
World War II. On Sunday, Katsav is scheduled to visit Jasenovac, the
site of the most notorious of some 40 concentration camps run by
Croatia's Nazis. About 30,000 Jews perished in concentration camps run
by Croatia's Nazi puppet state. Katsav is currently on a week-long tour
of four countries - Turkey, Moldova, Slovakia and Croatia.

---

http://see.oneworld.net/article/view/63581/1/

Katsav mourns 'Balkan Auschwitz' victims

JASENOVAC, Croatia - Israel's president Moshe Katsav visited
a Croatian concentration camp known as the "Auschwitz of the Balkans"
on Sunday, commemorating tens of thousands of people killed there by
the Nazi-allied Ustashe regime.
Jasenovac gained its nickname for the brutal treatment of inmates and
mass executions of Jews, Serbs, Gypsies and anti-fascist Croats carried
out from 1941 to 1945.
"It was my elementary duty to visit this place. A historic task for all
generations, current and future, is to learn the lessons from what
happened in this place," Katsav said at the camp, which lies some 100
km (60 miles) east of the capital, Zagreb.
Katsav is the first Israeli president to visit the former Yugoslav
republic since its 1991 independence. Relations were strained, mostly
due to Croatia's Nazi past, until a reformist coalition replaced
nationalists in power in 2000.
Accompanied by state officials, Jewish, Serb and Romany representatives
and a handful of elderly camp survivors, Katsav toured the memorial
site at Jasenovac and lit memorial candles.
Rabbi Kotel Dadon led a short prayer while Katsav and Croatian
President Stjepan Mesic laid wreaths at the foot of a flower-shaped
stone monument towering over the site of the camp.
Independent historians estimate that about 80,000 people, including
some 13,000 Jews, died in Jasenovac. The numbers are still fiercely
debated, with some Serbs arguing that the true death toll was in the
hundreds of thousands.
Geshua Abinun, a 76-year-old Jew, lost his entire family, including two
sisters and a brother, in the camp, while he survived detention there
from 1941 to 1945.
"With that in mind, the visit by the Israeli president is very
important for me personally and for future good relations of Croatia
and Israel," he said.
Relations between Croatia and Israel have only improved in recent years.
They established diplomatic relations in 1998, after then head of
state, late President Franjo Tudjman, apologized for comments
considered anti-Semitic.
He once said he was happy his wife was not a Serb or a Jew and disputed
as too high the number of Jews and others said to have been killed in
Croatian concentration camps.
His government was often accused of whitewashing Ustashe crimes and
reinstalling some symbols of their rule.
Tudjman's successor, Mesic, made a ground-breaking visit to Israel in
October 2001 and apologized for Ustashe atrocities.

---

http://www.hrt.hr/vijesti/arhiv/2003/07/11/ENG.html
EVENING NEWS 10.7.2003.

ISRAELI PRESIDENT ADDRESSES CROATIAN PARLIAMENT

”Israel appreciates Croatia for the role Croatian fighters against
fascism played in the Second World War,” Israeli President Moshe Katsav
said on Friday addressing MPs in the Croatian parliament. The Israeli
head of state also spoke about the position of his country, and the
greatest problem it faced, that of terrorism. According to Katsav,
Israel very much appreciates Croatian partisans and their bravery while
they fought for freedom and against fascism in Croatia. “Those
anti-fascist fighters are a credit to the people of Croatia and are an
important national value for the younger generation,” he told
parliamentary deputies. In his welcoming speech, the Croatian
parliament’s vice-president Mato Arlović said that the friendship
between Israel and Croatia was based on the understanding of the
troubles which a nation encounters while trying to set up its own state
in peace with neighbours. Katsav said the uprising of the Palestinians
in Israel, who are insisting on their own state, had been going on
since September 2000, adding that the terrorism which the Jewish state
has been fighting against for almost three years had not diminished the
belief in a peaceful solution.

---

SEE ALSO:

http://www.predsjednik.hr/english/speeches/31_10_2001_1.html

Speech of the President of the Republic of Croatia, Mr. Stjepan Mesić,
in Knesset. (Jerusalem, October 31, 2001)


=== B ===


L'AMBASCIATORE ISRAELIANO A BELGRADO DECORATO DA KOSTUNICA - FORSE PER
AVERE APPOGGIATO IL COLPO DI STATO DELLA DOS?

---
* 2002: in una intervista a "Nacional", l'ambasciatore si dice fiero di
avere appoggiato il colpo di Stato della DOS;
* 2003: Kostunica decora l'ambasciatore.
---
* 2002: in an interview to "Nacional", the ambassador says he is proud
of having supported DOS' coup against Milosevic;
* 2003: Kostunica decorates the ambassador.
---

Diaspora representatives, Israel ambassador decorated

BELGRADE, March 3 (Tanjug) - Before the end of his mandate, Yugoslav
President Vojislav Kostunica has bestowed orders on distinguished
Serbs from the diaspora, Israeli Ambassador Yoran Shani and head of
UNICEF office Jean-Michel Delmotte, the Official Gazette said.
Shani was decorated with the Yugoslav Star of First Degree
for exceptional merits in developing and improving interstate
relations, while Demotte was decorated with the Order of Yugoslav
Merits of Second Degree. US citizen Mila Lazarevic - Nolan was also
decorated with the Order of Yugoslav Merits of Second Degree.
Chairman of the US Serb Unity Congress Miroslav Djordjevic,
leader of the US Serb National Defense Slavko Panovic, the daily
Amerikanski Srbobran, chairman of the US Serb National Council Dusan
Ljubenko and French emigrant Zada Djurovic were decorated with the
Order of Yugoslav Flag of Second Degree.

---

za verziju na srpskohrvatskom:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/1743

Associazione civica "Comitato per la solidarieta' nazionale"
Tolstojeva 34, Belgrado
Tel. 011-3671372

Le missioni diplomatiche hanno il compito di presentare al
meglio il proprio paese, la sua politica, la cultura, la
storia, tutto quello insomma che potrebbe interessare i
cittadini del paese ospitante, e quello che la missione
diplomatica vorrebbe che essi sapessero. Nel nostro paese
abbiamo avuto anche, per ospiti, diplomatici che apertamente
facevano propaganda ostile contro di noi, come ad esempio i
diplomatici americani a Belgrado, Podgorica, e nel Kosmet,
immediatamente prima dell'attacco NATO contro la RF di
Jugoslavia. Ma non avevamo ancora un diplomatico che abbia
ammesso di aver partecipato attivamente a manifestazioni di
piazza contro il governo del paese che gli ha dato l'accredito.
Manifestazioni durante le quali si dava fuoco al Parlamento
ed alla TV nazionale.
Il signor Joram Sani, ambasciatore d'Israele a Belgrado,
nell'intervista rilasciata alla rivista "Nacional" con
orgoglio ammette di aver partecipato alle manifestazioni
del 5 ottobre 2000. Lo stesso signore, che non si puo' certo
definire "eccellenza", ammette di non aver fatto cio'
solamente allo scopo di cambiare il regime (il che sarebbe
comunque inammissibile) bensi' a causa della politica filoaraba
di Belgrado. Non so se per questo Joram Sani ritiene che i
due terzi del corpo diplomatico accreditato nel suo paese
dovrebbero trovarsi adesso tra le fila dell'Intifada, visto
che Israele trasgredisce tutte le possibili convenzioni
internazionali, gli accordi ed i diritti civili elementari
del popolo e dello Stato palestinese. Il signor Sani dovrebbe
domandarsi, prima di dichiarare con orgoglio di aver
partecipato a qualcosa cui non avrebbe dovuto prendere
parte affatto, quanto la politica del suo governo sia stata
antiserba durante il precedente regime [delle sinistre, ndT].
Quante azioni ha effettuato la lobby ebraica nel mondo ai danni
degli interessi serbi ? Il signor Sani, nella suddetta
intervista, quasi esclama che Israele e' uno STATO EBRAICO,
ed ha contrastato attivamente il governo serbo, che pure agiva
per uno Stato sovrano serbo. Pensa lui che il popolo serbo abbia
sofferto meno degli ebrei negli ultimi due secoli ? Oppure che
le nostre vittime siano meno degne, e che noi come popolo
semplicemente non meritiamo un nostro Stato nazionale, come
Israele, e percio'  dovevano manifestare tutti contro quel
governo, compresi i diplomatici che esso aveva accolto. Come
giustifica il signor Sani l'uso brutale della forza contro
i palestinesi, che e' a tutti gli effetti terroristico, mentre
il suo governo aveva tanta comprensione per le azioni
terroristiche schipetare contro la Serbia ?
Il diplomatico israeliano ha citato con piacere Rumsfeld, dicendo
che i terroristi vanno individuati e colpiti, ma da diplomatico
ha manifestato contro il governo di un paese che ha sofferto
sanzioni ed umiliazioni soltanto per avere combattuto i
terroristi sul PROPRIO territorio. Il signor Sani vedrebbe
con piacere la Jugoslavia nella UE, perche' implicitamente
significherebbe che come Stato non possiamo piu' partecipare
al movimento dei Non Allineati, il che per Israele e' piu'
importante ; ma egli allo stesso tempo non manca di disconoscere
e sottovalutare quello stesso Parlamento Europeo che richiede
sanzioni contro Israele, addossando questa iniziativa ai
partiti socialisti europei, dei quali Israele non ha grande
considerazione, come se i partiti socialisti europei nel
Parlamento Europeo rappresentassero i marziani e non gli europei. 
Gia' nella Costituzione della Apparizione [fondativa del
Regno Jugoslavo, ndT] si poteva leggere che ogni straniero
che viene in Serbia e'  libero e benvenuto, ma questo non
significa che l'ospitalita'  di questo paese e dei suoi
popoli si possa calpestare come pare e piace, senza subire
condanne. Vorremmo che l'ambasciatore pensasse un poco a
questo : forse Israele avrebbe meno problemi con il suo
vicinato, se i suoi  diplomatici facessero il proprio
mestiere, senza partecipare a manifestazioni distruttive
in paesi che li hanno accolti con il massimo rispetto.
Infine : questo non lo abbiamo scritto perche' siamo
antisemiti, razzisti, fascisti, xenofobi, o - dio ci
scampi ! - eurosocialisti, o non so cosa altro ancora si
possa oggi addossare, da parte di Israele, a chi critica
il suo ambasciatore, che sono nazionalisti serbi, ma perche'
pensiamo soltanto che un diplomatico al suo posto debba
assolutamente smettere di schierarsi pubblicamente
sulla scena politica del paese che lo ospita, perche'
tutto questo, per dirla in termini diplomatici, e'
preoccupante.

OLIVER VULOVIC
JELA JOVANOVIC

Srbija i Crna Gora... i Jugoslavija!

13. Rasturanje Jugoslavije, tj. likvidacija Jugoslavije, ilegalan cin i
destabilizacija celog Balkana! (R. Despotovic / Artel, 10.3.2003)
14. SRBIJA NA PUTU KA EVROPI (M. Belosevic / Artel, 6.3.2003)
15. U GODINI SLAVLJA, 100 GODINA SINDIKATA SRBIJE, MASOVNI PROTESTI
RADNIKA (B. Urosevic / Artel, 1.3.2003)
16. ZDRAVA HRANA TRAZI KUPCE (M. Belosevic / Artel, 23.2.2003)
17. O KRAJU JUGOSLAVIJE (Cosic, Tadic i Ekmecic / Nedeljni Telegraf,
februar 2003)


=== 13 ===


Rasturanje Jugoslavije, tj. likvidacija Jugoslavije, ilegalan cin i
destabilizacija celog Balkana!

Despotovic Ruza
10. mart 2003. god.

Pod pritiskom EU i u suprotnosti sa Ustavom SR Jugoslavije je
Jugoslavija rasturena i pretvorena u Republike Srbiju i Crnu Goru. Nova
Republika je na samom pocetku zasnovana bez Ustava i bez federalnih
institucija pa i predsednika. Ove reforme bi se mogle protumaciti kao
proces nastavljanja daljeg rasturanja, od strane zapadnih sila. Po svim
izgledima se ocekuju jos vece podele Srbije na jos manje protektorate,
koje ce Zapad moci lako da kontrolise.
Interpretacije od strane beogradskog i podgorickog rezima da smo na
dobrom putu ka demokratizaciji i pridruzivanju Evropsko-Atlantickim
institucijama, mogu biti samo laz. Krajem januara je Nato-boos
Robentson rekao: "Evropa hoce Jugoslaviju". Zajednica Srbije i Crne
Gore je predvidjena za samo tri godine opstanka, sto se do sada u
istoriji covecanstva jos nigde nije dogodilo, sta to znaci? Niko jos
nije uspeo da objasni ni narodima u Jugoslaviji ni narodima Evrope
zasto je Jugoslavija morala da se ugasi, pa i svoju istoriju da izbrise
kao i za dezintegraciju te zemlje, da bi stekla uslove da se pridruzi
EU? Sve ovo lici na tajne odluke, donesene iza zatvorenih vrata.
Bez ucesca politickih partija, naucnika i svih drugih gradjana, vodjene
su oprezne diskusije i donosene su odluke, plaseci se da ce se neko
pobuniti.
Jedno je sigurno da su glavni kreatori i pocinioci likvidacije
Jugoslavije EU i Savet Evrope. Savet Evrope vec dve godine diktira i
prezentira svoje liste sa uslovima od oko 30 zahteva-naredbi
Jugoslaviji, za koje smatra da moraju da ispune da bi stakli uslov za
ulazak u Savet Evrope, a izmedju ostalog i stvaranje nove Unije Srbije
i Crne Gore moralo je da se prihvati i sprovede.
Postavlja se pitanje, zasto Jugoslavija kao postojeca Federacija nije
mogla da bude prihvacena za ulazak u Savet Evrope? Motivi Zapada su po
svim izgledima sledeci, da nestankom Jugoslavije kao drzave, vise niko
nema pravo da ih optuzi za pocinjena zlodela, bombardovanjem unistenu
Jugoslaviju, niti trazenje ostete za unistenu infrastrukturu prilikom
izvrsene Nato agresije, koju su te iste Nato zemlje pocinile prema
Jugoslaviji. Nato zemlje su sebe na ovaj nacin oslobodile odgovornosti
prema Jugoslaviji, jer Jugoslavija vise ne postoji.
Navodno je predvidjeno i to da ce posle tri godine Crna Gora imati
mogucnost da se izjasni putem referenduma da li zeli ili ne zeli da se
odcepi od Srbije. Takodje se radi na tome da se i jos neki delovi
Srbije odcepe od Srbije, kao sto su Sandzak (sa vecinskim muslimanskim
zivljem), zatim Vojvodina (sa vecinskim Madjarskim zivljem).
I na kraju i Kosovo dolazi na red. Verovatno slucajno zamisljeno, da
posle tri godine kada bude prestala da postoji nova Unija S-CG, Kosovo
ce dobiti zeleno svetlo da se odcepi od Srbije. Rezolucija 1244 ce biti
na veoma vest nacin zaobidjena i negirana, sto znaci da ce Kosovo
dobiti mogucnost da se izjasni za samostalnost, jer u rezoluciji 1244
stoji da je Kosovo suvereni deo FR Jugoslavije, a nje nazalost vise
nema.
Mafijaska klika u Beogradu i Podgorici je po svim izgledima napravila
dil sa tim istim Nato odgovornim zlikovcima, koji su bombardovali
Jugoslaviju 1999 godine, da u finkciji zapadnih marioneta rasture sve
sto se rasturiti moze u Jugoslaviji, pa i pocepati na male i siromasne
protektorate, pod vojnom kontrolom od strane Nato-a. Da li su ovo
odlike demokratizacije ili kolonijalizma? Jugoslavija, sa vise od
jednog miliona izbeglica, bombardovanjem unistenom infrastrukturom od
strane Nato-a, svi ti narodi morace dalji zivot da nastave pognute
glave na putu ka siromastvu, bez posla, to sve umesto nekada ponosne i
napredne zemlje Jugoslavije, koju smo svi voleli. Sve ovo ukazuje da
stabilnosti nece biti nigde na Balkanu, bez stabilne Jugoslavije.
Politika Evrope na Balkanu, bi mogla i citavu Evropu jednog dana
dovesti u dilemu, da ili napuste Balkan ili otvoreno preci na kompletno
vojno osvajanje, tj. kolonijaliziranje Balkana.


=== 14 ===


SRBIJA NA PUTU KA EVROPI

infograf@...
Mirela Beloševic, novinar
Beograd, 6. mart 2003. god.

BANKE U STECAJU
U Srbiji su 23 banke u stecaju a 8 je pod nadzorom Agencije za
osiguranje depozita, sanaciju, stecaj i likvidaciju banaka. Od oktobra
2001. Privredna banka Novi Sad, Slavija i Valjevska, od maja 2002.
Srpska komercijalna i od 3. januara 2002. cetiri velike drzavne banke.
Od 307 objekata procenjeno je 266 i vrednost nekretnina je 156 miliona
evra. Do sada je unovceno 5,6 miliona evra, sa tim sto je imovina
prodavana na licitaciji po vecoj ceni od procenjene. Vise od 220
objekata je dato u zakup uglavnom bankama. U Beogradu je recimo sav
prostor izdat. Broj zaposlenih je sada 7 odsto od ranijeg broja i jos
ce se smanjivati . Firme koje su uzimale kredite od ovih banaka imaju
nenaplacena potrazivanja u inostranstvu od cak 90 miliona dolara,
naravno realna vrednost duga je manja. To je tesko naplativo, mada je
recimo Beobanka uspela da podmiri dug Cilea. Gradjani duguju pola
milijarde dinara i sada se pravi skala na osnovu koje ce biti tuzeni.
Agencija ima uloge u 100 preduzeca i banaka. Sa ponudama takvih uloga
uskoro ce izaci na trziste. Sanacija bi trebalo da traje 3 ipo godine
sto zavisi od Trgovackog suda. U Agenciji kazu da je uzrok stecaja ovih
banaka los plasman sredstava: 16 odsto je ulozeno u javna preduzeca, 25
odsto u preduzeca koja se restuktiraju a cak 44 odsto u firme u
stecaju. Verovatno ima i drugacijih misljenja ali ekonomistima to
trenutno ocigledno nije interesantna tema za razmisljanje.

PUN EKRAN ŠTRAJKOVA
Prosecna plata u Srbiji prema podacima Republicke statistike iznosi
9.468 dinara, što je prevedeno na devizni kurs 150 evra. U Vojvodini je
januarski prosek zarada 10.145 dinara a u centralnom delu republike
9.219 dinara. Po platama smo na najnižoj lestvici u regionu, gori i od
Albanije a prilican broj opština u Srbiji ima prosek zarada ispod 100
evra. Tako na primer u Dimitrovgradu januarski prosek zarada je ispod
100 evra, tacnije 40 evra. Još poraznija slika je kad se izdvoje samo
plate zaposlenih u privredi. U Dimitrovgradu prosek u privredi je 16
evra. U ovim opštinama znatan deo zaposlenih u privredi na ime plate ne
primi ništa, pa se suma onih koji je prime statisticki preraspodeli na
ukupan broj evidentiranih zaposlenih i tako dobiju ovakvi proseci.
Ovakvih opština sa polu ili total umrtvljenom privredom ima prilican
broj. Samo 10 opština, odnosno gradova u Srbiji imalo je u januaru
prosek veci od 11.000 dinara.
U januaru uz to usledio je pad proizvodnje od 17-18 odsto u odnosu na
prosecnu mesecnu proizvodnju u prošloj godini. Opravdanje nije to što
je u januaru bilo puno praznicnih dana, jer tako je bilo i prošlog
januara a ovogodišnji ucinak industrije je manji od istog meseca prošle
godine za šest do sedam procenata.
Za izmirenje izdataka za hranu prosecnoj cetvoroclanoj porodici je u
januaru prema racunici savezne statistike trebalo 11.000 dinara. Rec je
o korpi hrane u koju je uvršceno 65 artikala, a koja je radjena prema
nutricionistickim merilima.
Kad je ovakva slika privrede, ne cudi što mediji stalno objavljuju
informacije o štrajkovima. Recimo Upravni odbor "Goša holding
korporacije" usvojio je na zahtev koordinacionog odbora gladnih,
ostavke predsednika upravnog odbora ove korporacije i generalnog
direktora. Medjutim i pored ostavki protest se nastavlja dok se ne reši
težak položaj radnika koji mesecima ne primaju platu, ne pokrene
proizvodnja u fabrikama, obezbedi socijalna pomoc i "poveže " radni
staž. U "Trajal" korporaciji su takodje izglasali nepoverenje
generalnom direktoru, jer je najavio da je oko 1.000 radnika tehnološki
višak. U "Trajalu " imaju manjka posla a ne viška radnika smatraju
sindikalci. Prošlog leta "Trajal" je dobrovoljno napustilo uz
otpremninu od 100 evra po godini radnog staža, oko 1.400 radnika ali to
nije pomoglo da ostalima u korporaciji materijalni pložaj bude bolji.
Štrajkovali su i radnici preduzeca za vodne puteve "Ivan Milutinovic"
jer su ogromna devizna dugovanja za poslove koji su radili u
inostranstvu i koji su naplaceni ali nenamenski potrošeni.
Povodom katastrofalne situacije u obrenovackom poljoprivrednom
kombinatu a.d.''Dragan Markovic'' održana je vanredna skupština društva
na kojoj je smenjen dosadašnji predsednik Upravnog odbora. Predsednik
sindikata "Nezavisnost" kaže da im je ministar poljoprivrede obecao
pomoc u nafti i hrani za stoku ali da mu nije jasno kako je država
uopšte dozvolila da dodju u ovakvu situaciju. Radnici ovog kombinata ne
traže milostinju vec samo pomoc koju planiraju u nekom normalnom roku
da vrate kroz poslovanje. Kombinat "Dragan Markovic" ima 750
zaposlenih. Na farmi koja se prostire na 3. 600 hektara nalazi se oko
19.500 svinja, 450 muznih krava i nešto goveda. Dva velika mlina ne
rade jer nemaju šta da melju.
Carinici takodje štrajkuju ali pošto im nije dozvoljeno da smanje obim
rada oni su ga povecali i tako napravili zastoje na granicnim
prelazima. Njihov dohodak u proseku je 117 evra.
"Radnicki otpor" ponavlja zahteve iz protesta koji traje od
potpisivanja sporazuma sa Vladom o dekomponovanju grupe ''Zastava'' iz
jula 2001. Radnicki otpor je do sada sudu podneo više od 3.500 tužbi
kojima radnici traže da im se isplate zakinuti delovi zakonom
garantovanih zarada koji ukupno iznose oko 30 miliona dolara.
Dogovoreno je da se odštampaju pojedinacni obracuni o dugovanjima za
svakog od 30.000 nekadašnjih i sadašnjih radnika "Zastave" na ime
neisplacenih delova zarada od 1997 do 2001.
Mogli bismo tako da nabrajamo ... Republicki ministar za privredu i
privatizaciju medjutim kaže da ga ne plaši da ce štrajkovi ugroziti
reforme zato što su, smatra on, štrajkovi nezaobilani deo tranzicije
koja mora biti bolna. Koliki je prag bola i da li baš mora ovoliko da
boli pokazace naravno vreme. Dijagnosticari se razlikuju,a terapija
željno išcekuje.


=== 15 ===


U GODINI SLAVLJA, 100 GODINA SINDIKATA SRBIJE, MASOVNI PROTESTI RADNIKA

infograf@...
Borivoje Uroševic
Beograd, 2. mart 2003. god.

Sindikat Srbije se sprema da proslavi, 15. maja 2003. godine, sto
godina postojanja radnickog pokreta u Srbiji. Jubilej, dostojan
poštovanja, treba dostojno i proslaviti. Imaju li radnici volje za
slavlje i razmišljaju li o tome ? U opštem sivilu i letargiji u kojoj
se Srbija nalazi - teško. Zato o slavlju necu ni pisati, što ne znaci
da sam protiv njega. Naprotiv, jednom je 100 godina i radnicki pokret
Srbije ima se cime podiciti i sigurno je da taj datum treba obeležiti.
A kakva je srpska zbilja ? Radnici masovno protestvuju u Boru,
Majdanpeku, Kragujevcu... Razlog : Teško se živi, privreda ne radi,
plate su toliko male da od njih ne može da se prehrani porodica, za sve
ostalo nema. Privatizacija je ustvari rasprodaja srpske privrede, bez
dobrog socijalnog programa. Vlada Zorana Djindjica, sigurna u sebe i
svoju moc, Sindikate ne uvažava kao partnere, ustupa im mrvice i smatra
to svojim velikim ustupcima.
Nedavno je u Skupštini Srbije usvojen Predlog o izmenama i dopunama
Zakona o privatizaciji koji ce ozvaniciti vec postojece stanje
rasprodaje srpske privrede. Doduše, usvojena su i TRI predloga koja je
uputio Savez samostalnih sindikata Srbije a koji se odnose na to da 30
procenata akcija firme koja se privatizuje pripada zaposlenima u
nominalnom iznosu od 200 evra po godini staža, da buduci kupac firme ne
može biti fizicko ili pravno lice koje ima dug ili finansijske obaveze
prema subjektu privatizacije i da se sindikalna imovina i objekti
namenjeni za odmor i rekreaciju u vlasništvu sindikata, ne mogu
privatizovati.
Na stav Vlade i odluku Skupštine Srbije, kada je u pitanju Zakon o
privatizaciji, Sindikat Srbije je ''oštro'' reagovao. Svi su se
''uplašili'' !!!
I dok se Sindikat Srbije, u liku svog predsednika, bavi ''oštrim''
saopštenjima i ''plaši mecku rešetom'' u Boru radnici zahtevaju od
Vlade hitan sastanak i razgovore o sudbini Kombinata i celokupne
privrede u regionu. Ugroženi su i ekonomski i ekološki i porucuju da im
preostaje samo da se odande isele.
U Majdanpeku je istovetna situacija. Ne vidi se na koji nacin ce se
pokrenuti privreda, Vlada izgleda nema nameru da pomogne.
Radnici ne traže milostinju. Oni samo žele da sacuvaju svoja preduzeca
i da od svog rada mogu normalno da žive sa svojim porodicama.
Posle svih potresa koji su se dogodili u Kragujevcu uništavanjem
''Zastave'' i neispunjenih obecanja, radnici Kragujevca su se
samoorganizovali u ''RADNICKI OTPOR''. Razocarani u sindikalce koje je
iznedrila ''Oktobarska revolucija 2000. godine'' bili su prinudjeni da
se samoorganizovanjem bore za svoj status.
I, kako nadavno rece predsednik Sindikata Srbije Milenko Smiljanic,
komentarušici radnicke proteste u Boru, Majdanpeku i Kragujevcu da je
ovo kraj sumornoj socijalnoj slici Srbije. ''Na sceni je sindikalni muk
i apatija. Svake nedelje izbije po neki plamen protesta i nemirenja sa
propadanjem. Vlast uporno siluje statistiku kako nam je sve bolje.
Dokle - dok gora ne zazeleni. Ustace radnici, s` tim svi moraju
racunati, a na celu ce im biti Savez samostalnih sindikata Srbije i
moja malenkost''...
Ako se secate reci Milenka Smiljanica o ''vrucoj jeseni'', pregurali
smo i hladnu zimu i sada cekamo da ''gora zazeleni''. Sasvim je
prirodno da posle toga dolazi vruce leto. Sa ovakvim predsednikom, ako
se radnici sami ne organizuju, doci ce ponovo ''vruca jesen'' ali tada
više nece biti sindikalnog pokreta u Srbiji.
Nece valjda Milenko Smiljanic biti upamcen kao poslednji predsednik - i
to baš u godini slavlja ?!


=== 16 ===


ZDRAVA HRANA TRAZI KUPCE

infograf@...
Mirela Belosevic, novinar
Beograd, 23. februar 2003. god.

Izvoz zdrave hrane je nasa jedina sansa da poboljsamo bilans
spoljnotrgovinske razmene sa svetom, i sa time se svi slazu ukljucujuci
i politicare. Medjutim ono sto se desava u praksi ne potvrdjuje takva
opredeljenja. Krajem februara potpisan je ugovor o prodaji 55,4 odsto
drzavnih akcija u jednoj od najlepse tehnoloski uredjenih fabrika u
svetu, industriji smrznute hrane nadomak Beograda "Frikom". Akcije
Frikoma kupio je Hrvatski koncern Agrokor u cijem sastavu je
proizvodjac smrznutih proizvoda "Ledo" i najveci trgovinski lanac hrane
"Konzum". Na tenderu je ucestvovala i Grcka "Delta" ali su ponudili
manje para za drzavne akcije, ali su sa druge strane ponudili vece
investicije. Hrvati su dobili 1 5oo hektara zemlje, proizvodnju
smrznutog testa, povrca i sladoleda. U Evropsku Uniju Frikom izvozi 6
odsto proizvodnje sladoleda, isto toliko smrznutog testa i 28 odsto
smrznutog povrca. Kvalitet imaju, a pri tom je ucesce njihovih
proizvoda na domacem trzistu oko 40 odsto. Proizvodi su im doduse bili
nesto skuplji nego kod drugih domacih proizvodjaca a u svetu su ih
prodavali po nizoj ceni nego kod kuce. Mozda ce potrosaci i dobiti
nesto ovom prodajom, ali dugorocno kao zemlja gubimo jer je hrana za
nas strateski proizvod. Domaci potrosac pokrivao je "fleke" u privredi
ali se one ipak jedino na taj nacin ne mogu sanirati. Dugovi Frikoma
prema Beobanci i Kapital banci narasli su na 13 miliona evra, i kamate
bi samo u ovoj godini bile pretesko breme za ovu proizvodnju. Agrokor
se obavezao da ce otplatiti dugove u prvoj godini i investirati 17,5
miliona evra. Kako je Frikom zapao u tako tesku situaciju da zbog duga
izgubi mnogo veci kapital? Jedan od razloga su i sankcije. Drugi
razlog, mada mozda i vazniji od prvog, su kamate koje su kod nas
visestruko vece nego u svetu.Takva nam je monetarna politika i sad je
pitanje da li bi drzava, koja je siromasna, mogla da stampa pare ali
naravno uz ogranicenja.Da li se novac za sanaciju Frikoma mogao naci u
nekoj inostranoj banci? Sada je naravno kasno za sva ta pitanja.
Najbolje resenje bilo bi da se rukovodstvo fabrike izborilo za
dokapitalizaciju kao sto su uspeli u Beogradskom "Imleku" koji
proizvodi mleko i mlecene proizvode i kao sto ce najverovatnije uspeti
u "Soko Starku" proizvodjacu cokolada i slatkisa. Frikom je nekada bio
deo Poljoprivrednog kombinata Beograd, giganta u proizvodnji hrane u
kome drzava takodje ima znacajan broj akcija pa ostaje da li ce se sve
zavrsiti sa Frikomom.
Radnici za sad, za nrednih pet godina, ostaju na svojim radnim
mestima.Disciplina ce u svakom slucaju biti pojacana. Kako im je moci
cemo da ih pitamo tek kad prodje prvi proizvodni ciklus.Sada su
remonti.Tehnoloski nisu mnogo zastareli, cak su prosle godine kupili i
novu masinu za sladoled.
Agrokor je inace potpisao sporazum o poslovnoj saradnji sa 22 srpske
firme medju kojima su Imlek, Novosadska mlekara, Apatinska pivara,
Simpo, Delta, Takovo,Karneks,. i druge. Nakon potpisivanja ugovora o
slobodnoj trgovini trebalo bi da se preko Agrokora uveze iz Srbije
prehrambenih proizvoda u vrednosti 200 miliona dolara. Hrvatska u
Srbiju vec uvozi tu grupu proizvoda.Trgovinski deficit Srbije sa
Hrvatskom je blizu 100 miliona dolara. Hrvatska vlada uputila je u
hitnu parlamentarnu proceduru ugovor o slobodnoj trgovini izmedju
Hrvatske i Srbije i Crne Gore. Stupanjem ugovora na snagu
liberalizovace se trgovina najveceg dela industrijskih proizvoda, za
manji deo osetljivih industrijskih proizvoda carina ce se postepeno
ukidati do pocetka 2007. godine, kao i za poljoprivredne proizvode, dok
su za primarne poljoprivredne proizvode utvrdjene carinske kvote unutar
kojih se primenjuje preferencijalna carina. Srbija, Crna Gora i Bosna i
Hercegovina su jedine zemlje s kojima Hrvatska u robnoj razmeni belezi
suficit. "Apatinska pivara" do sada je plasirala simbolicne kolicine
piva na trziste Vukovara i Belog Manastira a "Delta" preko Agrokora
prodaje deterdzent sa sudove i omeksivac a ocekuje da listu prosiri
deterdzentom za rublje. Vise nego skromna prodaja. Cini se i da
Hrvatski potrosaci imaju mnogo veci otpor prema nasim proivodima nego
sto je to slucaj kod nas, bas kao sto i mi mnogo blagonaklonije
prihvatamo gostovanje njihovih pevaca i zvezda. Bojkot robe bio je
nekada naznaka nasih politickih sukoba i zato je uspostavljanje
ekonomskih odnosa prava stvar, ali pri tom ne treba ici u drugu
krajnost. Nasa preduzeca jesu osiromasena ali tim vise treba da budemo
obazrivi. Da li ce se izvoz nasih proizvoda u Hrvatsku realizovati
potpisivanjem pojedinacnih ugovora videcemo, za sada je jedino izvesno
da su oni postali vecinski vlasnici Frikoma i time i te kako
profitirali.
Nije to slucaj samo sa Hrvatskom. U stranim trgovinskim lancima su
zadovoljni sa nasim proizvodjacima. U Grckom Veropulosu kazu da smo mi
kupci koji znaju sta je kvalitet ali nam finansijske mogucnosti ne
dopustaju da to sebi priustimo. Hvale nase konditore: Pionir, Soko
Stark, Bambi ali i proizvodjace suhomesnatih proizvoda. Medjutim nismo
uspeli da cujemo koji nasi proizvodi se prodaju u Veropulosu u Grckoj.
U slovenackom Merkatoru se hvale profitom koji su ostvarili kod nas ali
opet nismo culi sta se to nase prodaje u njihovim objektima van nase
zemlje. Mozda nemamo mnogo sta da ponudimo ali zdravu hranu za izvoz
imamo. Na hektar zemljista kod nas se primenjuje pola kilograma
djubriva a recimo u Madjarskoj osam kilograma.To je danak siromastvu
ali i prednost koju ne umemo jos da iskoristimo.Takva hrana zasluzuje
mnogo bolju marketinsku i politicku podrsku.


=== 17 ===


http://www.nedeljnitelegraf.co.yu/novi/jug.html
Februar 2003

Cosic, Tadic i Ekmecic
O KRAJU JUGOSLAVIJE

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Dobrica Cosic: Kraj jedne politicke epohe

lako ce nas pretvoriti u novo gubiliste

Na ovoj sahrani posmrtnih ostataka Jugoslavije, meni se cuti. Ali
se na povratku sa sahrane govori o pokojniku.
U srpskoj knjizevnosti, i u svim jugoslovenskim knjizevnostima
druge polovine 20. veka, ja sam najvise pisao protiv nacionalizma,
o jugoslovenstvu i Jugoslaviji; najvise je branio; najranije
posumnjao u njenu trajnost; zalagao se za stvaranje jugoslovenske
reformisticke opozicije u cilju njenog spasavanja; prvi u Srbiji
predlozio opsti jugoslovenski referendum, na kome bi se proverila
politicka volja gradjana da li zele da zive u Jugoslaviji i u
kakvoj drzavi zele da zive, cime bi se izbegao gradjanski rat; iz
moralnih i patriotskih pobuda, prihvatio sam se duznosti prvog
predsednika Savezne Republike Jugoslavije s namerom da delam na
okoncanju gradjanskog rata u Bosni i Hrvatskoj, izvodjenju zemlje
iz medjunarodne blokade, ustavnom i drustveno-politickom preuredjenju
te drzave, pa politickim pucem u parlamentu bio smenjen i
onemogucen da ispunim ocekivanja naroda Srbije i Crne Gore... S
takvom biografijom nemam pravo samo cutanjem da propratim tragican
kraj jedne politicke epohe u bivstvovanju srpskog naroda. Zato, nadam
se, poslednji put pisem o Jugoslaviji.
Citavim 19. vekom, krvlju i verom, srpski narod je spremao svoje
konacno oslobodjenje i ujedinjenje. Trebalo je poraziti dve velike
imperijalne sile, osmanlijsku i habsbursku carevinu, da bi se
ostvarila zajednicka drzava Juznih Slovena i srpski narod ziveo u
jednoj drzavi. Citavo dvadeseto stolece utroseno je na stvaranje i
rusenje Jugoslavije, u cemu je, osobito na njenom kraju, odlucujuce
ucestvovala Evropa.
A Jugoslavija je na Jugoistoku Evrope bila drzava sa najvisim
politickim znacajem. Njena uloga u borbi protiv fasizma i
staljinizma, i uloga koju je imala u pokretu nesvrstanih u „hladnom
ratu", cinili su tu drzavu vrlo znacajnom za Evropu i svet. Ali, ne
radi se samo o kraju Jugoslavije, cije se rusenje dokoncava, rusenje
potpomognuto od Nemacke i njenih sledbenika devedesetih godina;
radi se o realnom kraju svake autohtone drzave srpskog naroda u
ovoj istorijskoj etapi.

Istorijsko bezumlje

Za stvaranje drzave Juznih Slovena, za njenu odbranu i njeno
rusenje, palo je u oba svetska rata i u ratovima vodjenim od 1991.
godine, vise od dva miliona ljudi. Najvise Srba.
Imamo li sada pravo da kazemo da je stvaranje Jugoslavije bilo
kobna greska srpskih politicara i srpskog monarha u Prvom svetskom
ratu? Imamo li pravo na zakljucak da je Jugoslavija bila zabluda
srpskog naroda i onih delova hrvatskog i slovenackog naroda koji su
verovali u smisao njene odbrane i socijalne i politicke promene u
Drugom svetskom ratu? Imamo li pravo da tvrdimo da je srpski narod
stvaranjem i odbranom Jugoslavije izgubio citavo stolece -
istorijsko vreme koje je izgubljeno za svagda?
Imamo pravo! Imamo pravo i na jos bolnije i poraznije zakljucke.
Stotinama hiljada Srba spaljena je kuca; razorena porodica;
prekinuta zivotna profesija i karijera; izgubljena imovina,
zavicaj, svoje groblje... I nije takva samo srpska sudbina. Mnogo
je unesrecenih ljudi iz drugih naroda koji su ziveli u Jugoslaviji.
Stotine hiljada, milioni ljudi potamneli su od patnje u poslednjoj
deceniji 20. veka. Oplavila ih je i mrznja; sa mrznjom ocajanje,
beznadje i nagon za osvetom. Ako bilo ko u Evropi i bilo zbog cega
zapocne rat, bivse jugoslovenske zemlje lako se mogu pretvoriti u novo
gubiliste. Poslednji ratovi na jugoslovenskom tlu ostavili su
korene i motive za njihovu obnovu. Jer, nepravedan i okupacijski
mir, koji je uspostavljen na Balkanu, moze biti uzrok svakome
sukobu i ratu. Nada da se stvaranjem Evropske unije konacno stupa u
epohu trajnog mira, nova je zabluda dok postoji NATO pakt i dok se
silom i diktatima hegemona sveta uspostavljaju drzavno-politicka
ustrojstva narodima. Svet, u njemu Evropa, u Evropi i mi, narodi
nekadasnje Jugoslavije, stupamo u neizvesnu buducnost.
Konacan nestanak Jugoslavije nije samo istorijska prekretnica u
trajanju srpskog naroda. Bitne posledice istorijskih zbivanja na
tlu nekadasnje Jugoslavije pri kraju 20. veka i nestanak
Jugoslavije sa evropske karte, mi savremenici ne mozemo da sagledamo;
te bitne posledice mozda ce se ispoljiti tek na polovini ili na
kraju 21. veka. Mi savremenici ne vidimo i ne znamo stvarni
istorijski i evropski znacaj i stvaranja i propasti Jugoslavije.
Moze se dogoditi da narodi njeni rusitelji najteze plate svoje
poslednje nacionalne i drzavne pobede; moze se dogoditi da neki
njeni rusitelji i nestanu sa etnicke i politicke mape Evrope. Jer,
integracija malih sa velikim, pogotovo u savremenoj civilizaciji,
sadrzi imanentnu mogucnost topljenja malih.
Nestanak Jugoslavije nije bio jedino moguci ishod njenog
postojanja. Stvaranjem Jugoslavije i njenom obnovom i odbranom,
pored teskih ideoloskih zabluda i pogresnih drzavno-pravnih
pretpostavki, upravljao je i istorijski razum srpskog, hrvatskog i
slovenackog naroda; razaranjem Jugoslavije upravljalo je samo
istorijsko i nacionalno bezumlje. Ako nismo mogli da zivimo zajedno
uprkos tolikim medjuzavisnostima i u zapocetim procesima evropske
integracije, mogli smo da se razidjemo mirnim putem i uvazavanjem prava
drugome koja prisvajamo za sebe. Mi smo se medjusobno ubijali i u
poslednjim ratovima za tudje interese. Ratovima od 1991. do 1995.
upravljali su nacionalni separatizmi i sovinizmi, ali su njima
upravljale i velike sile, kako su to cinile i u ratovima citavog
20. veka.
Za nestanak Savezne Republike Jugoslavije, zajednicke drzave
Srbije i Crne Gore, mora se to u ovom trenutku reci, odgovorne su
politicke vodje Srbije i Crne Gore, koji su 1992. godine na
titoistickim osnovama zasnovali Saveznu Republiku Jugoslaviju. Kao njen
prvi predsednik, ja sam odmah uvideo da ta drzava ne moze da
funkcionise bez temeljne ustavne reforme kojom bi se gradjanska
ravnopravnost pretpostavila drzavnim suverenitetima republika. Za
takvu, stvarno demokratsku, efikasnu, modernu i jeftinu drzavu, nisu
bile raspolozene beogradske i podgoricke, socijalisticke,
partokratske vodje. Crnogorsko drzavoborstvo i separatizam,
utemeljeni na Kominterninim, titoistickim ideologemama i
retrogradnim tradicijama, podsticani i opravdavani vlastoljubljem
srbijanskog autokrate, postali su i ostali glavni rusioci Savezne
Republike Jugoslavije. Crnogorski separatisti i dukljanski
sovinisti razorili su duhovno i politicko bice crnogorskog naroda,
odrekli se korenskih tradicija i njegosevskog etosa i omogucili
stranim faktorima komandnu ulogu u unutrasnjim poslovima nase
zemlje, uslovili zivot naroda inostranim baksisem, prizvali
cinovnike Evropske unije da nas prisilno, diktatima, primoraju na zivot
u nekakvoj „originalnoj" drzavnoj tvorevini - politickom
provizorijumu, cije ce zakone ispisati stranci, „eksperti", da bi
se ostvarila nekakva „harmonizacija" nepomirljivih, sa stanovista
zdravog razuma besmislenih suprotnosti, proizaslih iz crnogorskog
secesionizma, antisrpstva i funkcionerskog profiterstva.
Diktiranjem Ustavne povelje i stvaranjem uslovne, virtualne drzave
Srbija i Crna Gora, Evropska unija nije izrazavala svoj
demokratizam, nego volju i nameru da na Balkanu ne postoji
autohtona i suverena drzava srpskog naroda.
Nisu „visoki predstavnici" Evropske unije napravili kompromis sa
radikalnim crnogorskim separatistima, nego su ovi isli u susret
politickoj koncepciji Evropske unije o preuredjenju Balkana. Da je
Evropska unija imala interes da se na teritoriji Srbije i Crne Gore
stvori normalna, funkcionalna, moderna drzava, ona bi taj interes lako
ostvarila i ne bi joj predstavljala nikakvu ozbiljnu prepreku
arheoloska ideologija crnogorskih „lidera". Crnogorski separatizam
odgovara kratkorocnim interesima i vizijama Balkana Briselske
kancelarije, isto onako kako je slovenacki i hrvatski separatizam
odgovarao trijumfalistickim koncepcijama Kolove i Genserove Nemacke i
njenih tadasnjih sledbenika.
Naglasavanjem odgovornosti crnogorskog rezima za razbijanje
Savezne Republike Jugoslavije kao zajednicke drzave Srbije i Crne
Gore, nije mi namera da umanjim odgovornost srbijanskog rezima za
propast SR Jugoslavije. Milosevicev i DJukanovicev rezim su
simbioticke politicke tvorevine, o cemu sam dosta pisao.

Postojao kraci put

Sumnjam da se moze smatrati dalekovidim drzavotvorstvo sadasnjih
srpskih drzavnika, njihovo prihvatanje Ustavne povelje u verziji
podgorickih secesionista i „visokog predstavnika Evropske unije".
Cini mi se da je postojao kraci i demokratskiji put Srbije do
Evropske unije, a bilo bi i izvesnije njeno nastojanje da stabilizuje
balkanski prostor.
Crnogorskim uslovljavanjem vazenja i postojanja poveljske „drzave"
Srbija i Crna Gora, srpski narod u celini, opet i dalje, gubi
istorijsko vreme za konacno drzavno konstituisanje, ekonomski i
civilizacijski razvoj i neuslovljeno ujedinjavanje s Evropom.
Ali, moze se i mora se bez fatalistickog pesimizma razmisljati o
nasoj sudbini; Srbija i Crna Gora nisu prvi put na rubu istorijskog
ponora. Moze se i mora sada misliti iz „glave cijeloga naroda" i
delati za opstanak i boljitak onom zivotonosnom snagom koja jos
nije potrosena.
U ovoj sahrani Jugoslavije, ja u dusi stajem uz one ljude koji
imaju razumnu nadu da se uprkos svemu moze stvoriti drzava Srbije i
Crne Gore sposobna da sacuva duhovni identitet i stvaralacki
potencijal naroda i opstane u savremenoj civilizaciji i Evropskoj uniji.

6. februar 2003.

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Dr Milorad Ekmecic: Jugoslaviju je srusila ravnodusnost njenih gradjana

Ameriko, ako nam zelis demokratsku buducnost, idi!

Kada bi neko na ulici presreo nekog imaginarnog „prosecnog
Jugoslovena" i uputio mu sudbonosno pitanje - sta se desilo na
veliki istorijski datum 4. februara 2003, on bi se jedva mogao snaci u
zbrci nedoumica, vajkanja na sve gore pamcenje, a najvise oko toga
o kakvoj ga drzavi pitaju. Ko je do kraja ubedjen da je
federativna, jedinstvena Jugoslavija zaista postojala?
Crna Gora odavno upotrebljava stranu valutu, a tamo su i u
agresiji NATO na nasu zemlju bombardovali samo ciljeve
jugoslovenske vojske. Stvar bi se resila saznanjem da stara sala
„Ode Mujo... Ode vala!", kako su Haso i Huso propratili tonjenje svog
prijatelja pod vodu, nije vise sala. Takvu su ravnodusnost pokazali
svi koji su slusali vesti, ili ih citali u novinama sutra ujutro,
da je jugoslovenska zajednica propala u vodu.
„Prosecni Jugosloven", ako bismo se ohrabrili da takav identitet
uopste trazimo, jedno je tuzno bice koje vise nema snage da roni
suze nad svojim istorijskim porazima i sve sto se oko njega
politicki desava posmatra kao okretanje starog dosadnog filma koji on
gleda samo da ubije vreme. Na slavni, veliki datum prekjucerasnjeg 4.
februara osvrtacemo se nekada u buducnosti, kada nam se vrati
izgubljeno osecanje stida. Vecina Srba je ovu drzavu koja je
propala, ove grobare koji su se veselili i pevali na njenoj sahrani,
ove sumorne dane u kojima se nista znacajno ne moze desiti, pa ni
iscezavanje velikih istorijskih drzava, dozivljavala kao nesto sto
nije njegovo, sto on nije hteo i ni u snu ne bi vecinom glasova na
izborima stvarao. Srbin je na tu drzavu gledao iz fotelje u
pozoristu, kao igru na sceni u kojoj on nije glumac. Sto mutna voda
donese, ta ista voda nekada kasnije mora i da odnese.

Vreme drzava-pigmeja

„Bosna sutkom pade", a ko je danas siguran da je 1463. neka
ozbiljna drzava, spremna da se od Turaka brani, tamo uopste
postojala. Ne place se Srbinu za drzavom koju nije smatrao svojom,
niti mu se veseli onoj koja ce doci i za koju je ubedjen da takodje
nece biti njegova. Sve to izgleda kao jedna dosadna igra senki u kojoj
su velike zapadne drzave udavile Jugoslaviju i sad ne znaju sta ce
od tih krhotina koje su ostale. Od jedne, stvoreno je najmanje sest
manjih drzava bez buducnosti.
U  trijumfalnom zanosu pobede nad komunizmom Sjedinjene Drzave su
1992. srusile jugoslovensku federativnu drzavu, ostvarile
istorijski vatikanski san oslobodjenja katolicke manjine na
zapadnom Balkanu i sad nad tom provalijom, nad tim besmislenim
krhotinama patuljastih „regna pigmea", kako je Kukuljevic-Saksinski jos
pre 1848. nazivao besmislenost malih drzavica na Balkanu koje
dolaze, stoje na tom groblju sa glupim pitanjem: „A sta sada?"
Srusili smo Jugoslaviju, jer katolicka manjina Srednje Evrope i
Balkana ne moze da zivi u zemlji cija su osovina ljudi druge vere. Kad
sutra sruse jos sijaset tako krhkih „regna pigmea" po svetu, kao sto
su 1992. i 2003. slomili nas, isto tako ce se pitati: „A sta sada?"
Ostatak Jugoslavije, za koju u kafanama ne znaju da li da je
nazivaju zabljom, ili zabljackom, stvorila je stihija kretanja
vremena, jer je trebalo nekako zakrpiti krhotinu koju je Amerika
slavodobitno izazvala i dovela na svet, misleci da ce vatikanski
san izleciti sve balkanske boljke kad se jednom ostvari. SAD ne
znaju sta bi sa tom novom krhotinom koju su doveli na svet akcijom
bombardovanja Sumadije i Vojvodine najvecom vojnom silom koja je ikad
pod nebom stvorena. Kad i to razore i stvore nove krhotine nad onim
koje su stvorile u beogradskoj skupstini 4. februara, opet ce se
pitati: „A sta sada?" Stvorili su nezavisno Kosovo i kome sad da ga
udenu?
Sa Sjedinjenim Americkim Drzavama danas se desava ono sto je 22.
jula 1941. Vinston Cercil rekao za nacisticku Nemacku: „Strasna
vojna masina, koju smo mi (Englezi) i ostatak civilizovanog sveta
tako ludo, tako ravnodusno, tako bezosecajno prepustili da je
nacisticki gangsteri iz godine u godinu podizu iz nicega, ne moze
opstati nepokretna, a da ne zahrdja i raspadne se. Da bi opstala,
mora biti u stalnom pokretu, meljuci ljudske zivote, ruseci domove
i prava stotina miliona ljudi". To je osnovni razlog da je Amerika
tako „ludo, tako ravnodusno, tako bezosecajno" prepustila Vatikanu da
dokusuri jos jednu jugoslovensku drzavu 1992. Besmisleno stvorena
vojna masina, kakvu svet nikada pod nebom ranije nije video, malo
se podmazala, malo prezvakala progutane krhotine do novog zaleta na
neku nezasticenu, izmrcvarenu od istorije, zabacenu i osamljenu
zemljicu koju niko ne brani i za koju niko valjano ne haje. Masina mora
da bude stalno u pokretu da ne bi zahrdjala i raspala se, da bi u
rusenju svega sto niko ne brani nasla smisao svog besmislenog
postojanja. Od koga strasna americka vojna masina danas treba da
brani svet, kad svaki balkanski slepac vidi da je on ugrozen upravo od
same te masine koja besmisleno postoji i uvecava se.

Glogov kolac u demokratiju

Mi Srbi danas nismo jedine Hase i Huse koji se naknadno sete da im
je burazer potonuo u plahoj Miljacki. Slusam svake nedelje starog
reportera Alestera Kuka, koji vec pedesetak godina preko BBC cita
svoje „Letter from America". Sa nestrpljenjem ocekujem tih
blistavih 15 minuta o nicemu. Zali se da je nedavno proslavio 92.
rodjendan i da bez pomocnika ne moze da stoji na nogama. Ali um je
ostao neumorni tkacki razboj iz kojeg izlazi uvek svez, raznobojan
i dopadljiv knjizevni skotski tartan. Pre nekoliko nedelja veli da
je cudno sto se u Americi desilo nesto sto se na taj nacin nikada
ranije nije desilo. Stvoreno je jedno novo ministarstvo, nesto kao
jedna nova zandarmerijska ustanova za koju je u novom budzetu
predvidjena stavka od preko 40 milijardi dolara. Hiljade i hiljade
tajnih agenata skupljace podatke o svakome („Information Awareness",
obavestajno saznanje). Ono sto je americka demokratija uvek smatrala
svojim glogovim kocem zbog koga se ne bi mogla uspraviti, sada je
„sutke palo". Niko ne protestuje, niko ne komentarise, niko o tome
ne obavestava, niti sredstva informisanja, za koje je venecuelanski
predsednik Cavez rekao da su „cetvrti jahac Apokalipse", ista
analizuju. Ode i americki Mujo, ode vala! Sta je ostalo od stare
demokratije ako i tamo svaki gradjanin rodjenjem dobija svoj
policijski karton?
Preko noci je, jednim birokratskim aktom, podrezan koren americkoj
demokratiji, a da niko ne protestuje. To se desava u zemlji u kojoj
se protestuje sto se prave zenske bunde od nevinih tuljana, sto se
macke gnjave i sto popovi vole maloletnu decu. O ukidanju
demokratije niko ni da zucne cestito. Ne bi se trebalo cuditi
ravnodusnom ponasanju jugoslovenskih gradjana. Pored osecanja
izgubljenosti zbog opsteg okretanja ledja u celom svetu, svaki
Srbin je u krvi nasledio endemsko nepoverenje prema obavestajnim
sluzbama i policiji.
Cetvrti jahac Apokalipse je nemilosrdni ratnik. U Sjedinjenim
Drzavama televizija nije samo sredstvo zabave i informisanja. Ona
je i posebni rod americke vojske. Odmah nakon dalekometnih raketa,
pomorske pesadije i atomskih pretnji, nastupa CNN kao najefikasnije
sredstvo. I izvan americkih granica druge televizije rade isto i slicno
tome. Kazu da je to primer nezavisnog, demokratskog novinarstva. U
svim strateski znacajnim zemljama u svetu njihov znatan deo
finansiraju americke nevladine organizacije, a ne nacionalni
diktatori i nedemokratski rezimi. Posledica jeste ono sto je osnovna
karakteristika amerikanizovane demokratije iza koje ne stoji
pupcana vrpca iz dublje proslosti toga naroda: apatija, izborna
apstinencija, umrtvljenost javnog mnjenja, umor drustva od svoje
drzave i politike uopste, svuda prisutna ravnodusnost za prijatelje
koje je sa obale matica odvukla pod vodu. Zaista je u odlukama
Reganove administracije o podrivanju Sovjetskog Saveza od 2.
septembra 1982. akcenat stavljan na razmenu „tehnologije i zabava
(diversions)". Odatle u medijima vise slika ruzicastih holivudskih
lepotica, nego ozbiljnih analiza o promeni drzavnog ustava.

Ratovi novinarskog basibozuka

A tu je i nirnberski sud u Hagu, pred koji se ne pozivaju oni za
koje postoje sumnje da su povezani sa nekim zlocinom, nego svi koji
su u ratu ucestvovali i nisu se odrekli zelje da pobede na
izborima. Nevladine organizacije, posebna neka sredstva informisanja
koja su za njih finansijski vezana, prave liste sumnjivih
nacionalnih intelektualaca za politicki odstrel. Prave se neumorno
i bez prestanka. Ko god otvori ekran da cuje sta se znacajno desava
u svetu, kao udarno iznenadjenje docekuje ga esesovski Bekantmachung
(obznana) o gonjenju onih koji su od Srba stvorili genocidni narod.
Ratovi za dominaciju svetom su odvec ozbiljna stvar da bi se
prepustili generalima. Novinarski basibozuk je mnogo efikasniji. On
rastrese protivnika, rastroji mu njegovo javno mnjenje, natera ga da se
stidi svoje istorije. Na groblju nacionalne kulture gavrani grakcu.
Ukidanje preostataka jugoslovenske drzave u beogradskoj Saveznoj
skupstini bilo je ruganje i nasoj i svetskoj istoriji. Drzava je
srusena u jednom parlamentu u kome ne sede predstavnici nikakvog
naroda, nego politicki cinovnici koji su svoja mesta zauzeli
kalkulacijom rasporeda dobiti u jednoj izbornoj koaliciji, u kojoj je
celni barjaktar izigran, a ostali oni koji na izborima ne bi mogli
pobediti kad bi nekih slobodnih izbora bilo. Razbijanje preostatka
Jugoslavije je preko svojih posrednika izveo blok zapadnih drzava,
zbog nekih buducih proracuna kako bi ovaj razoreni prostor ponovo
trebalo da se ujedini. Savez Srbije i Crne Gore jeste jezgro nekog
zamisljenog buduceg saveza na siroj osnovi, sa Kosovom, Bosnom i
Hercegovinom, Makedonijom i mozda Hrvatskom. Nova krhotina na
ostatku starih.
Kako god zapadne drzave zamisljale politicku organizaciju bivseg
jugoslovenskog prostora, on ce uvek ostati istorijsko nedonosce
nesposobno za zivot, jer su ga upravo oni stvorili da isprave svoju
omasku iz 1992, a ne prema volji ovoga naroda. Tesko je naci ijedno
drustvo u modernoj evropskoj istoriji u kome je politicka apatija,
pasivna rezistencija i otpor na individualnoj osnovi bio dublji
nego ovde. Cetvrti jahac Apokalipse uspeo je da marginalne
politicke stranke, male balkanske kortese, pretvori u neuverljive
drzavotvorne snage od nekog znacaja. Svakom „regna pigmea" su uvek
vladali pigmeji ljudi, koji za buducnost nista ne znace.
Ujedinjenje srpskog naroda iz Srbije, Crne Gore i Bosne i
Hercegovine nece obaviti mali anonimni politicari, koje je cetvrti
jahac pretvorio u velike lidere. To ujedinjenje obavice „ne milo i
nemilo, no narod". U ovim okolnostima je to nemoguce i treba se
pomiriti sa cinjenicom da je taj istorijski zadatak ostao za dugo vreme
u buducnosti. To ne znaci da je iscezao i da se nekada nece
izvrsiti.

Gorki plodovi iz 1992.

Buducu zajednicu koja se nagovestava oko ovog saveza Srbije i Crne
Gore mogu kao drzavu ocuvati samo strane trupe, kao sto sada cuvaju
sve ovo sto je razoreno nakon 6. aprila 1992. Pre blizu jednog
stoleca (1911) Jovan Skerlic je pisao da prvi korak „ka nasem
narodnom jedinstvu je verska ravnodusnost, jednovremeno svestrano
slabljenje verskog osecanja." Nijedna jugoslovenska drzava od 1918.
do danas to nije ostvarila. Svaku je progutala hidra religiozne
netolerancije, koju je negovala i za buducnost obezbedila katolicka
crkva. Tragedija je i Sjedinjenih Americkih Drzava i svih
jugoslovenskih naroda da su jugoslovensku federativnu zajednicu
razorili 1992. na osnovama verske netolerancije. Pokusaj da se i u
buducnosti sa istim zastavama religiozne netrpeljivosti, koja je
ugradjena u celo drustveno bice i temelje modernih drzava Hrvatske,
Slovenije, Bosne i Hercegovine i Kosova, stvore neke drzave unapred
je osudjen da bude samo jedna trajna vojna okupacija stranim
vojskama, koja bi jedina takvu nesloznu bracu mogla drzati na okupu.
Osnovni saveznik Sjedinjenih Drzava u razaranju Jugoslavije bili
su katolicki i muslimanski fundamentalizam. Pokusaj da se to
prevazidje proglasavanjem Alojza Stepinca i Johana Merca (osnivaca
hrvatskog sekularnog katolickog pokreta) za svece ne nagovestava da
su religiozni bastioni ovde i dalje trajno prisutni. Pored ove „Svete
Alijanse" sa Vatikanom, u Bosni je glavni americki saveznik bio
muslimanski fundamentalizam. Sve sto je komunizam za pola veka
umrtvio, preko noci je srusila americka vojna okupacija koja je
tocak religiozne netrpeljivosti vratila tamo gde je on bio zaustavljen
u maju 1945. Pokusaji da se muslimanski fundamentalizam sada zameni
nekim boljim muslimanskim saveznikom dace iste gorke plodove kakve
je doneo na svet 1992.
Ako americki politicari zaista balkanskim narodima zele
demokratsku buducnost, onda je osnovni preduslov da se odavde
pokupe i odu. Treba da nestanu sa svojim preracunavanjima
federacija, konfederacija, unija, saveza i ostave ovome narodu da se
jos jednom suoci sa grubom stvarnoscu i uz najveci duh
pomirljivosti, pomirenjem i pregovaranjem otkrije kljuc svoje
buducnosti. Sa perspektivom ovakve americke prisutnosti na Balkanu,
kakva se ispoljava danas, buducnost svakog naroda ovde je crna.
Stidljiva prizeljkivanja da ce to jedinstvo ostvariti rimski papa,
svojim unijatskim procesijama, kao i preodgajanje svesti balkanskih
naroda o proslosti samo je jedna nova cinovnicka besmislica ni od koga
ovlascenih teoreticara Karnegijeve fondacije za mir i Rand
korporacije. Oni su nas do ovog prosjackog stapa i doveli. Oni nisu
demokratska Amerika, nego koren zla iz koje je proklijao sistem
„Information Awareness" - a i cetvrtog jahaca Apokalipse.

La solidarieta' e' preziosa

1. Appello da "Un Ponte per..."
2. Relazione di viaggio a Kragujevac da "Zastava Brescia"
3. Relazione su Serbia e Bosnia da "ABC Solidarieta' e Pace"

NOTA: Le due relazioni (documenti 2 e 3) ci sono pervenute da Gilberto
Vlaic di Zastava Trieste, che scrive:
<<La prima e' della associazione ONLUS Zastava Brescia, e contiene un
resoconto molto bello (secondo me) sul viaggio e sulle riflessioni che
l'incontro con le famiglie e i bambini provoca in chi vi partecipa.
Sono sicuro che chi di voi ha gia' partecipato a questi viaggi potra'
riconoscere le emozioni provate; per chi non ha mai partecipato a un
viaggio potrebbe essere lo stimolo per farlo... Comunque leggetela...
La seconda e' della ONLUS ABC-Pace e solidarieta'. Si tratta di un
associazione romana che agisde in varie parti del mondo. Il loro
indirizzo e': http://www.abconlus.it/index1.htm
In questa relazione descrivono con dovizia di particolari le
drammatiche condizioni di quelle popolazioni. E' molto ricca di
dati...>>


=== 1 ===


il manifesto - 25 Luglio 2003
POSTA & PROPOSTA

Un piccolo aiuto

Anche quest'anno, Un Ponte per..., in collaborazione con l'Università
di Roma Tor Vergata, ha portato, ospiti di famiglie di dipendenti
dell'ateneo, 14 ragazzini jugoslavi, residenti a Kraljevo, profughi
della guerra del '99 di cui, ormai, ben pochi hanno voglia di parlare.
Fra questi proprio le famiglie dei bambini, che ogni volta ci
raccontano della loro vita, prima della guerra, ci mostrano foto di
case distrutte, le loro.Averli in mezzo a noi ci fa capire quanto è
stato importante contrastare quella guerra, così come tutte le altre.
Continua a farci capire quanto conoscere direttamente i veri
destinatari di tanta violenza resti uno dei pochi mezzi per dire no
alla guerra.Abbiamo prodotto un piccolo video «Il silenzio... sugli
innocenti», potete ordinarlo a Un Ponte per..., 06-6780808,
organizzeremo vendite di prodotti artigianali delle donne dei centri di
accoglienza che continuamente visitiamo per dare loro una mano. Ma non
basta. Perché insieme a questi bambini dalla Jugoslavia, che ora
chiamano Serbia-Montenegro, ne sono arrivati altri che cercano da noi
una speranza per contrastare malattie terribili quali Anemia Aplastica
o Leucemia. Marko, 12 anni, è uno di loro ed è qui da 8 mesi. E' al S.
Camillo, fa day hospital, attualmente in attesa di trapianto. Ma è
arrivato anche Milos, 17 anni e poi Lazar, 8 anni. Hanno bisogno
dell'aiuto di tutti. Il manifesto e la solidarietà di tanti si è già
occupata di loro, ma c'è ancora bisogno di medicine, della spesa
quotidiana, di alloggi anche minimi ma sicuri e di donazioni di sangue
e piastrine. Il tempo, e non solo, ce lo mettiamo noi. Ma serve di più.
Per un contributo (c/c postale 59927004 - intestato a: Un Ponte per...,
via della Guglia 69/a - causale "Marko vivrà"). Ulteriori informazioni
possono essere richieste a Alessandro Di Meo - Un Ponte per...
(alessandro.di.meo@...)


=== 2 ===


ZASTAVA BRESCIA (onlus)

c/o Camera del Lavoro, via F.lli Folonari 20 - 25100 Brescia
http://www.zastavabrescia.cjb, zastavabrescia@...
info 030-2584282 030-2703114

VIAGGIO A KRAGUJEVAC 31 MAGGIO – 3 GIUGNO 2003

Resoconto ed impressioni di Riccardo Pilato

Solito orario (un quarto alle sei del mattino), solito posto (il
parcheggio Esselunga della Volta, a Brescia), ci ritroviamo in sei,
Francesca, Domenico, Lory, Ugo, Luciano, e Riccardo (lo scrivente). I
primi tre affrontano per la prima volta questa avventura (non esagero,
vedrete che lo sarà veramente).
Il giorno prima abbiamo lavorato sodo per costringere i nostri due
furgoni ad accettare quello che a noi sembrava un enorme quantitativo
di materiale : 2 motorini, 42 biciclette, 2 computers, 31 scatole di
vestiti usati, 25 pacchi di alimenti vari, 12 pacchi di materiale
scolastico, 1 calcolatrice, 3 giochi, 5 sacchi di scarpe. Alla fine l’
abbiamo spuntata e solo poche scatole e qualche bici attenderanno un
altro viaggio (furgoni permettendo).
Già, i furgoni. Abbiamo tanto penato per riuscire ad averli ed
infine, grazie all’ interessamento del Comune di Brescia e alla tenacia
di Domenico, siamo riusciti ad ottenere uno Scudo e un Daily da Brescia
Trasporti e dall’ ASM.

Ho partecipato ad altri viaggi , ma questa volta aleggia intorno
a noi una diversa atmosfera, dovuta sicuramente alla consapevolezza che
un fatto è andare in macchina, magari circondati da pacchi e pacchetti,
un conto è presentarsi in frontiera, in tre frontiere, con due furgoni
stracarichi, dai quali crollano scatoloni ogni qualvolta apri una porta
del vano di carico. Abbiamo cercato di prendere delle precauzioni
facendoci accompagnare da alcune dichiarazioni relative agli scopi
umanitari del nostro trasporto, una del Comune di Brescia, un’ altra
della CGIL di Brescia con l’ elenco del materiale, un’ altra ancora
della nostra Associazione ( con traduzione in serbo-croato ); inoltre
Rajka ha predisposto presso la frontiera serba un passaggio morbido:
tutto questo ci conforta e ci tranquillizza un po’.
Dopo una breve sosta presso l’ area di servizio di Duino dove da
più di un’ ora ci attende il buon Gilberto con i nostri passaporti
vistati gratuitamente dal console jugoslavo di Trieste, suo amico,
ripartiamo sicuri di volare dritti a Kragujevac.
Poveri illusi! Giunti alla frontiera tra Slovenia e Croazia, già
provati da lunghe code a Mestre e alla frontiera tra Italia e
Slovenia, si presenta la realtà in maniera netta e cruda. La guardia
croata non vuole sentirne di farci passare nella corsia delle macchine,
dice (giustamente) che abbiamo troppa roba e ci fa tornare indietro a
fare la fila con i camion; inoltre ci fanno capire che dobbiamo
affidarci ad uno spedizioniere per compilare il documento di viaggio:
non valgono a nulla le nostre raccomandazioni, i nostri visti, il
nostro appellarci ai motivi del viaggio; noi continuiamo a ripetere a
tutti le poche parole che in tante altre occasioni hanno aperto tutte
le porte, “ Zastava “ e “Humanitaria Pomoc“, ma sono irremovibili.
Cominciamo a comprendere che dietro una rigida applicazione delle norme
c’ è la volontà di arrecare danno a quegli strani rompiscatole che si
ostinano ancora a portare aiuto ai “serbi“ . E allora non ci resta
altro da fare che accettare la realtà e affrontare, cercando di tenere
i nervi saldi, le richieste al rialzo dei vari spedizionieri i quali,
resisi conto della trappola in cui ci troviamo, continuano ad alzare il
prezzo della loro “prestazione“. Fin qui i “cattivi“. Per fortuna, come
in ogni storia d’ avventura, ci sono anche i buoni e trovo giusto
menzionarli per l’importante ruolo che hanno avuto nel farci uscire dai
guai. E proprio quei camionisti che tante volte stramalediciamo per i
loro sorpassi a dir poco azzardati, ci hanno commosso per l’ interesse
dimostrato nei confronti di sei colleghi un po’ imbranati, per quanto
riguarda il disbrigo di pratiche di spedizione internazionale, e molto
demoralizzati. In particolare un croato si è dato molto da fare e, in
coppia con l’ infaticabile Ugo, le ha tentate tutte. Alla fine, vista
la irremovibilità dei finanzieri, ci ha consigliato di aspettare le 19,
il cambio turno, affidandoci all’unica via d’uscita rimasta,
l’ottimismo. Ed è successo l’inaspettato: proprio nel momento in cui
Ugo reagiva in maniera a dir poco rumorosa ad una ennesima richiesta di
ben 1500 euro di uno spedizioniere, il cambio di guardia si dimostrava
effettivo, anche nel modo di pensare e di agire. Difatti, entrati in
contatto con il responsabile dei finanzieri croati, questi si
dimostrava sensibile al nostro problema e alla fine, dopo un colloquio
telefonico con Rajka, tutto si risolveva con un documento costato pochi
euro.
E via, di gran carriera, o quasi, sicuri che nulla ormai avrebbe
potuto farci perdere dell’altro tempo. Eravamo già abbastanza
dispiaciuti per aver perso una cena di benvenuto, con tanto di musica
serba, offerta dal proprietario dell’ albergo dove Rajka ci aveva
prenotato le stanze, volevamo almeno arrivare in un orario tale da
garantirci qualche ora di buon sonno prima della giornata impegnativa
che sapevamo aspettarci.
Frontiera croato – serba, i croati non fanno problemi, i serbi
invece cominciano con la solita storia del documento di spedizione. In
piena notte ci mettiamo a svegliare tutti gli spedizionieri alla
ricerca del documento che sappiamo essere già presso questa frontiera.
Naturalmente al primo giro niente, tanto nervoso e dopo una telefonata
a Rajka (ore 1.30 !) che teniamo in linea, torniamo presso un’agenzia
dove stavolta l’impiegato si decide a svegliare il capo il quale,
penso, si prenda un cattivo buongiorno da Rajka. Dopo “soltanto” due
ore, giusto il tempo per battere al computer la spedizione e far
apporre i sacri timbri dalla finanza serba, si va e non ci sembra
ancora vero. Arriviamo a Kragujevac quasi alle 8, dopo quasi 26 ore
dalla partenza, e Rajka e Dora (una sua ospite italiana) ci conducono
in albergo dove, dopo un breve racconto e una veloce colazione
riusciamo ad andare a riposare. Alle 12, dopo avere inutilmente atteso
di poter sprofondare in un sonno ristoratore, ma dopo aver fatto una
doccia per svegliarmi, mi reco in sala ad aspettare gli altri che alla
spicciolata arrivano più o meno assonnati. Non abbiamo molto tempo;
alle 13 siamo attesi a pranzo presso la famiglia di Kristina, la
bambina che ho in adozione e che non vedo da 18 mesi. E’ la prima volta
che sono ospite a casa loro e questa novità mi da un grande senso di
gioia ed anche una grande emozione. So già che sono una bella
famigliola, le bambine sono tre e le riconosco subito nel vederle
attenderci al cancelletto di casa. Dopo un grande pranzo con tantissime
portate e tanta allegria (come sempre si fanno in quattro per cercare
di dimostrare il massimo di ospitalità e di gratitudine nei confronti
degli ospiti che in queste contrade sono ancora sacri) ci accorgiamo
che il tempo è volato, che sono le 15 e che alle 15.30 abbiamo la
consegna delle adozioni nel salone del palazzo Zastava. In tutta fretta
inseriamo nelle buste i 155 euro previsti e poi via di corsa. Noto con
soddisfazione che c’è ancora un posto dove si tiene alla puntualità e
sogno di importarla dalle nostre parti. Infatti alle 15.30 in punto
sono già tutti dietro il grande portone, aperto il quale saliamo tutti
ordinatamente al primo piano. In tutta fretta finisco di allestire la
sala con la bandiera bilingue “pace-mir” e, subito dopo gli interventi
di saluto del Presidente del sindacato Zastava, Delko, e mio, Milija
comincia a chiamare i nomi dei bambini.
Quella che potrebbe sembrare una operazione abbastanza monotona, è
invece per noi che la viviamo direttamente, la parte finale di tutto
il lavoro svolto, un momento di grande tensione. Ognuno di noi immagina
alla propria maniera i sentimenti che albergano negli animi di questi
padri e madri di famiglia.
Io li ho sempre visti costretti, da un giorno all’altro, a
dover tendere la mano per prendere la busta che un lavoratore più
fortunato gli porge. Non ho mai notato in alcuno né un segno di rabbia
( ne avrebbero ben ragione visto che gli abbiamo tolto la speranza nel
futuro ) né di sottomissione. Questo lo abbiamo notato sempre tutti e
per fortuna è così. Veniamo trattati per quello che realmente siamo,
uomini e donne solidali che cercano di mettere in pratica i principi in
cui credono, alla pari, da lavoratori a lavoratori.
Il problema vero è un altro: veniamo spesso assaliti da un senso di
frustrazione in quanto, oltre alla limitatezza dell’ aiuto che
portiamo, ci rendiamo conto che non c’è ancora il minimo segno di
rinascita per questa martoriata terra. E allora ci viene spontaneo
chiederci cosa di tanto grave possono aver compiuto questi lavoratori,
queste madri, questi bellissimi bambini, questi anziani che tanto hanno
lottato, per meritare un castigo così immenso. E allora chiedo a coloro
che hanno preso le decisioni di aggredire la Jugoslavia, distruggendole
i nodi essenziali per la vita, se mai possono dormire sonni tranquilli,
se mai gli compaiono davanti questi occhi tristi di persone che da un
momento all’altro sono passati da una condizione normale di vita ad una
condizione di miseria, quasi sicuramente senza ritorno, almeno nel
tempo del volgere della loro vita.
Quanto tempo è che nelle loro case non si ride spensieratamente,
perché altri pensieri gravano su di loro, la casa non finita, le esose
bollette della luce da pagare, gli oggetti per la scuola da comprare,
la roba da mettere in pentola tutti i giorni e via dicendo; quanto
tempo è che i sorrisi dei bambini si spengono all’improvviso al ricordo
delle nottate passate in rifugi precari, sobbalzando e singhiozzando ad
ogni scoppio di bomba, quanti di loro soffrono oggi di disturbi
nervosi, di asma, e di altre malattie più gravi (derivanti direttamente
dagli effetti dei bombardamenti sulla loro psiche e sul loro fisico),
che si ha paura e pudore a nominarle, soprattutto quando riguardano
delle piccole creature inconsapevoli dei grandi giochi che si stanno
compiendo sopra le loro teste.
E questi pensieri ci accompagnano sempre mentre centinaia di mani
stringono con vigore e con vero piacere le nostre. Arrivano le brutte
notizie, non è vero che anno dopo anno tutto rimanga come prima. Un
bambino muore in un incidente di lavoro nei campi, tragedia a cui
purtroppo siamo abituati anche dalle nostre parti, ma il padre subito
dopo scompare nel nulla, forse perché straziato dal dolore; non se ne
sa più niente da tre mesi, chissà. La madre disperata, rimasta sola con
l’altro figlio, non sa più dove sbattere la testa, lo stato sociale è
stato smantellato, come farà a tirare avanti?
Sento chiamare un nome che mi porta alla memoria una ragazzina
bella, vivace, che voleva sempre mandare i saluti al suo adottante di
Brescia, un bambino. L’aspetto, voglio vederla, fotografarla, ma all’
improvviso, solo per un attimo, mi si presenta una persona che io
stento a riconoscere, tanto l’ha ormai trasformata, in pochissimo
tempo, una tremenda malattia della quale solo adesso vengo a
conoscenza. E gli adulti? Abbiamo già avuto notizia di quella madre che
si è lasciata spegnere dopo una non lunga vita di stenti e che,
presumiamo, non abbia retto all’ennesima tragedia della malattia del
marito; visitiamo la loro casa, incompiuta come migliaia di altre,
disperata come tante altre. Ci accolgono due bambini, stupiti dal
fatto che delle persone venute da lontano possano interessarsi a loro,
il padre col buco in gola si sforza di comunicarci tutta la sua
gratitudine. E domani? Resterà domani qualcosa di quei sentimenti che
abbiamo cercato di trasmettere loro, avrà un valore la nostra presenza
per tutti loro e per i bambini in particolare? Che fine faranno questi
ragazzi che nonostante la condizione di massima disperazione riescono
ad essere bravi a scuola, nella purtroppo non lontana eventualità che
il padre già così gravemente malato dovesse venire a mancare?
E l’ altro caso del timido omino, giovane, con appresso una
bellissima bambina che ci comunica di essere malato di tumore al
cervello nello stesso momento in cui ci porge in regalo una boccia
contenente il miele da lui stesso prodotto: non pressa, non chiede, si
limita a stare lì in attesa di un miracolo che noi non possiamo fare!
E noi, come ci sentiamo? Il cuore continua ad avere sobbalzi e
crolli di fronte a questi fatti e a tutti quelli che sappiamo esistere
pur non avendone diretta conoscenza. La società jugoslava ha
subito uno stop tremendo da questa guerra, dall’embargo e dalle
precedenti guerre contro la Croazia e la Bosnia. Chi colpevolmente
pensa alla guerra come ad un fenomeno passeggero dovrebbe venire con
noi, a sentire, a vedere le conseguenze di decisioni insensate. Sempre
di più ci rendiamo ben conto che nessuna guerra finisca con la fine dei
bombardamenti, e, soprattutto se non stai dalla parte dei potenti,
chissà quanto tempo dovrai aspettare prima di poter dire “è finita“.
La manifestazione si conclude con l’ acquisto di prodotti dell’
artigianato locale, pizzi e ricami, che alcune donne di Kragujevac
hanno esposto nella sala; bei lavori a prezzi molto onesti che noi
venderemo questa estate sulla nostra bancarella. Alla fine un piccolo
gruppo di bambine dietro la bandiera della pace rivolge un saluto - che
io videoregistro - ai bambini che il 16 giugno a Roma parteciperanno
alla prima edizione della manifestazione canora organizzata dall’
Associazione “ NON BOMBE MA SOLO CARAMELLE “ .
In serata per la cena siamo attesi a casa del ragazzo adottato da
Francesca, una famiglia montenegrina numerosa e molto unita che, come
tutte le famiglie in cui siamo stati o andremo, ci fanno mille feste
con tanta allegria. E’ in queste occasioni che noi abbiamo modo di
avvicinarci ad un mondo che, molto simile al nostro di 50 anni fa, non
credevamo esistesse più, in Europa. Non è solo apparenza, ma realmente
l’ ospitalità è considerata sacra, figuriamoci nei confronti di coloro
che si sono presi la briga di aiutarli a non perdere la fiducia nel
genere umano. E non l’ hanno persa!
Apprendiamo così i significati culturali della loro elaborata
cucina, ammiriamo le fotografie esposte nelle loro case, in una al
posto della foto di Tito, fino a pochi anni fa onnipresente, compare la
foto della famiglia di Domenico. Case modeste, fatte come da noi con
tanti sacrifici, non finite nella maggior parte dei casi, perché con la
guerra e con la mancanza di lavoro sono finiti sia i materiali e
soprattutto i soldi, ma case con tanta umanità e, chissà, forse anche
un po’ di speranza di riprendere a palpitare di vita serena, come una
volta.
Lunedì finalmente affrontiamo lo spinoso problema della dogana di
Kragujevac, dove le nostre merci dovranno passare vari controlli prima
di essere consegnate.
Rajka si sta facendo in quattro per cercare di trovare una strada per
evitare che le cose vadano per le lunghe; noi riflettiamo e pensiamo
che se i controlli fossero sempre così accurati chissà quante cose si
scoprirebbero. Ma sappiamo di essere in regola, non abbiamo nulla da
nascondere e le scatole contengono veramente quei prodotti che abbiamo
fretta di consegnare alle varie famiglie: c’è molta Nutella e
cioccolata e dolciumi vari che aiuteranno tanti bambini ad osservare
il mondo con meno amarezza e temiamo che il grande caldo che sta
facendo possa danneggiarli. Rajka trova la strada, ci presenta ad una
responsabile dell’ufficio di sdoganamento, Marija, una bella croata
sposata ad un serbo in tempi in cui questo non era peccato. In
pochissimo tempo abbiamo il controllo alimentare consistente nel
controllare che i prodotti di alcune scatole di alimentari non siano
scaduti. Tutto in ordine, naturalmente. Alla fine però Marija ci
chiederà un piccolo favore, riportare a Brescia un pacchetto di
medicinali scaduti che non sa come scaricare dalla contabilità della
dogana. Noi sappiamo che le medicine sono sempre grane, ma lei ci
assicura che il documento che le accompagnerà sarà sufficiente a
superare tutte le difficoltà e poi, con quegli occhi e il favore che ci
ha fatto, come si fa a dire di no. Finalmente possiamo scaricare i
furgoni presso il magazzino della Zastava dove subiranno altri
controlli e purtroppo qualche stupida manomissione da parte di qualche
controllore zelante e morto nell’anima. Ci comunicano che alle 17
potremo prendere i pacchi di cibi e vestiario, il resto, bici, motorini
e computers resta dove si trova e purtoppo ho appena appreso che a
tutt’oggi, 8 giugno, non è stato ancora sdoganato. Ci riesce difficile
capire quanti e quali appetiti possano aver mosso quelle che per noi
sono delle modeste merci, ma li, per i tanti profittatori, esse hanno
un grande valore economico. No, non così per la nostra gente che
aspetta fiduciosa e speranzosa di avere in dono una bici con cui
percorrere i 10, 20 o più chilometri che la separano dal precario
posto di lavoro: questa ha imparato ad avere la massima fiducia in noi
e in Rajka e Milija che gestiscono correttamente la solidarietà a
Kragujevac.
Si va a conoscere la famiglia del bambino adottato da Ugo e Lory
dove ci fermeremo per il pranzo. Anche qui, come sempre, la stessa
accoglienza festosa; ci sentiamo accuditi senza essere serviti, siamo
come in casa nostra. Alla fine delle visite, di tutte le visite, il
sentimento del distacco si fa vivo, sappiamo che per molto tempo,
minimo sei mesi, non vedremo più queste splendide persone, ma
sicuramente il reciproco ricordo si manterrà molto forte.
Il pomeriggio del lunedì, prima della consegna dei pacchi, riesco
ad avere un breve incontro con la mia famiglia, a casa loro, con
l’aiuto di Dejan che ha imparato l’ italiano andando avanti e indietro
da Bergamo dove il piccolo figlio è stato operato qualche anno fa dopo
essere stato dato per spacciato a Belgrado: doppio trapianto di fegato
e reni, reso possibile dall’ interessamento del gruppo Zastava di Lecco
( quali miracoli non riesce a fare la solidarietà! ). Si parla del più
e del meno, dei problemi del lavoro, di quando si presentano in
fabbrica e vengono rispediti indietro perché non cè nulla da fare, e,
naturalmente, senza paga. Gli ex proprietari della fabbrica - perché
questo erano i lavoratori in Jugoslavia, avendo acquisito negli anni
quote importanti di proprietà delle aziende - costretti quasi a
mendicare il lavoro!
Il lavoro è poco e i soldi ancora meno: alla fine una famiglia
di 5 persone ha a disposizione 5 euro al giorno per tutto l’
occorrente, dal cibo all’ energia. E’ vero che i soldi non contano, ma
quando non ne hai neanche uno da contare ……
Alle 17 accompagnato da parte della mia famiglia, siamo davanti
alla sede del sindacato dove si stanno già distribuendo i pacchi dal
furgone. Si è fatta una piccola folla composta dalle famiglie che sono
state avvertite di venire a ritirare il pacco ed anche da altre venute
a vedere nella speranza che ci sia stata una dimenticanza da parte di
Milija vana speranza perché Milija non sbaglia mai!).
La sera si va dalla famiglia di Domenico; l’ ultima cena del
viaggio è di solito quella in cui ci si rilassa un po’ e comprendiamo
subito che questa è la famiglia giusta, molto affabili tutti, arrivano
a tenerci compagnia anche le sorelle della padrona di casa, due belle
figliole ( una è medico a 300 euro al mese ) che attraggono le nostre
attenzioni, tanti brindisi e fanno scattare tante foto.
L’ indomani mattina, per nulla provati dalla sostanziosa cena e
dalle abbondanti libagioni, alle 8 colazione. Rajka e Vladan, il papà
della mia bambina, si assentano per 10 minuti. Tornano con due
sacchetti pieni di ciliegie che non so dove hanno preso. Rajka si deve
essere ricordata che io le ho detto che quest’ anno non le avevo
ancora assaggiate a causa del prezzo (7 euro ca al kg) ed ha
provveduto. Aspettiamo inutilmente fino alle 10 che qualcuno della
dogana ci porti il pacchetto di medicinali (in cuor nostro speriamo che
non arrivi nessuno) e infatti ci mettiamo in marcia preceduti dalla
macchina di Raiko , Milija e Rajka. Quando siamo sul rettilineo che
porta verso l’ingresso dell’ autostrada, ci salutiamo, baci, abbracci,
ultime foto (le più belle!) e proprio in questo momento siamo raggiunti
dal tipo che ci consegna un pacchetto piombato. Facciamo buon viso a
cattiva sorte, del resto siamo stati rassicurati da un capo ufficio
delle dogana, e poi…. Marija ….non ci farebbe mai un brutto scherzo!
Iniziamo il viaggio di ritorno alle 10.30 di martedì 3 giugno e
subito sbagliamo direzione di marcia: ce ne stiamo andando a Nis, a
sud, altro che Belgrado. Altra ora persa così, per tornare indietro ma
dopo va tutto liscio,….fino alla frontiera tra Croazia e Slovenia. Qui
i finanzieri sloveni non ne vogliono sentire di farci passare con quel
pacchetto di medicinali accompagnato da un documento della dogana
serba, per loro senza valore. Ce ne vuole un altro, di uno
spedizioniere sloveno che ci chiede un sacco di soldi. Siamo disperati,
stramalediciamo tutto il possibile ma alla fine, dopo due ore di tira e
molla, decidiamo di pagare 190 euro sudati e tolti letteralmente di
bocca ai nostri lavoratori serbi per far passare un pacchetto senza
valore. E non è finita, in quanto temiamo che la finanza italiana possa
fare ancora più storie degli sloveni perché in teoria si tratta di far
entrare in Italia dei rifiuti considerati speciali. Non sappiamo se sia
meglio disfarcene oppure nasconderli da qualche parte (dove?). Alla
fine li infiliamo sotto il sedile di Ugo, obbligandolo a non schiodarsi
da li. Alla frontiera italiana, stanchi e tesi, la finanza sente odore
di grappa, letteralmente, perché in viaggio si è rotta una bottiglia
dentro il mio zaino, vuol sapere quanta ne trasportiamo; all’inizio
nicchiamo, non lo sappiamo bene e allora cominciano ad aprire,
squarciandoli, tutti i pacchi dono che trasportiamo per le nostre
famiglie adottanti di Brescia. Alla fine si contano ben 25 bottiglie
di grappa, e non basta. Infatti il maresciallo che sta eseguendo la
visita intima ad Ugo di scendere dal furgone e trova il famoso e
maledetto pacchetto di medicinali. Diamo le nostre spiegazioni, obietta
che non si può trasportare quei prodotti, ma per fortuna non la mette
giù dura. Per la grappa invece temiamo che le cose possano mettersi
male, ma alla fine, dopo una ramanzina che inizia con “pur apprezzando
gli scopi meritevoli delle vostre iniziative …..” ecc. ecc, ci lascia
andare con tutti i pacchetti rotti e qualche ulteriore ora di ritardo.
Anche stavolta siamo riusciti ad arrivare fuori tempo limite, ma dopo
solo 19 ore.
Ah, dimenticavo, voglio dire a tutti gli adottanti che
riceveranno i pacchetti dono che possono stare tranquilli: con un
pomeriggio di certosino lavoro sono riuscito a ricomporre i pezzi,
tutt’al più potrà risultare scambiata qualche bottiglia di preziosa
grappa!


=== 3 ===


ABC Solidarieta' e pace (onlus)

http://www.abconlus.it/index1.htm
info@...

RELAZIONE MAGGIO 2003

Questa volta, invece di soffermarci su quanto fatto, visto e sentito in
ciascuna città, scuola o fabbrica visitata per la consegna delle nostre
“borse di studio”- di nuovo, come al solito, a Backa Topola, Krivaja,
Novi Sad, Belgrado-Rakovica, Kragujevac, Nis, Niska Banja, Rogatica,
Pale, Lukavica -, vogliamo riferire sulla situazione generale che
abbiamo trovato, in Serbia e in Bosnia, durante il nostro ultimo
“giro”, dal 17 al 29 maggio u.s.

Serbia – Dopo l’assassinio del premier Zoran Djindjic, avvenuto il 12
marzo, lo ha sostituito il suo vice Zoran Zivkovic e si è decretato lo
stato di emergenza, che è durato fino a poco prima del nostro viaggio.
Noi di ABC ci siamo sempre astenuti - e continueremo a farlo – da
giudizi politici che non ci riguardano; non però dal dare quelle
informazioni, anche politiche, che sono necessarie per mettere in grado
i nostri soci e sostenitori di rendersi meglio conto del clima in cui
vivono i bambini e ragazzi affidati, con le loro famiglie.
L’atmosfera che si respira attualmente in Serbia è pesante. Lo stato di
emergenza non è servito soltanto ad emarginare personalità sgradite, a
liquidare bande “politico-mafiose” (ad es. quella di Zemun, roccaforte
dei radicali-nazionalisti intransigenti alla periferia di Belgrado) e
formazioni politico-militari (ad es. i “Berretti rossi”) sospettate di
residui legami col “vecchio regime”. E’ servito anche – quel che più
importa – a sottoporre la popolazione a misure economiche ancor più
restrittive ed onerose, reprimendo le proteste e cercando quasi di
mettere il bavaglio alla gente.
Malgrado ciò, i nostri amici sindacalisti di Kragujevac e di Nis ci
hanno parlato fuori dai denti, permettendoci di intravedere un quadro
aggiornato della situazione economico-sociale. Cercheremo di
comunicarvela meglio che possiamo, dandovene almeno qualche
significativa “pennellata”.
Secondo le statistiche, su dieci milioni di cittadini i disoccupati, in
Serbia, sono quasi un milione, cioè un decimo non della popolazione
“attiva”, ma di quella totale. Ma che cosa s’intende per disoccupato e
che cosa, di conseguenza, per occupato? Alla “Zastava” di Kragujevac
lavoravano, prima, 36.000 operai, provenienti in parte dalle campagne
della Sumadia, la grande regione agricola di cui appunto Kragujevac è
capoluogo, in parte dal resto della Serbia meridionale e specialmente
dal non lontano Kosovo. Adesso i dipendenti della “Zastava” sono
ridotti a meno della metà, tanto è vero che, considerando l’insieme
della città di Kragujevac, che conta 172.000 residenti, i disoccupati
“ufficiali” sono 19.000. Ma vi vanno aggiunti i 7.000 che sono
comunque usciti anche loro, di fatto, dalla “Zastava”, in quanto hanno
accettato - secondo la “Legge sul lavoro” precedente a quella emanata
durante la “emergenza” – o un magro sussidio per due anni al massimo
(da 58 a 62 euro mensili a seconda della qualifica), ovvero un compenso
“una tantum” pari a 100 euro per ogni anno di lavoro effettivamente
prestato. Gli uni e gli altri sono ancora in lista per un ipotetico
nuovo impiego e perciò non sono considerati come disoccupati, ma solo
“in mobilità”. Vanno aggiunti inoltre 4.000 lavoratori “stagionali”,
adibiti alla raccolta della frutta e simili, che possono esser definiti
come occupati solo in maniera impropria, per non dire beffarda. Tirando
le somme, i non realmente occupati sono, a Kragujevac, ben più di un
decimo della popolazione complessiva: sono tra un quinto e un sesto. Se
poi si aggiungono ancora 30.000 profughi “registrati” e un numero
imprecisabile di non registrati, arrivati nella città e dintorni
fuggendo dalle varie guerre jugoslave degli anni 1992-95, nonché quelli
dal Kosovo nel 1999, si può concludere che a Kragujevac la situazione
occupazionale effettiva è da due a tre volte peggiore di quella, già di
per sé disastrosa, indicata dalle statistiche nazionali.
A Nis, peraltro, le cose non sono migliori. Alla “Mascinska Industria”
(MIN), su 15.000 dipendenti soltanto 5.000 sono rimasti in servizio e
scenderanno presto a 3.500 in seguito alla più che probabile chiusura
di 10 delle 36 imprese riunite nella holding. Ma come, in che senso si
parla, alla MIN, di operai rimasti in servizio? Se ne parla nello
stesso senso in cui lo si fa, sempre nella città di Nis, alla
“Elektronska Industria” (EI). Qui c’erano 12.800 operai; ne sono
rimasti 4.800. Ma – abbiamo chiesto ai sindacalisti – almeno questi
lavorano regolarmente, cioè a tempo pieno, otto ore al giorno per tutti
i giorni dell’anno, escluse ferie e festività? Risposta negativa. A
tempo pieno sono soltanto 500. Gli altri stanno in servizio per modo di
dire, cioè in un senso che potremmo definire “ridotto”, anzi, il più
delle volte, addirittura nominale: vengono a lavorare saltuariamente,
quando serve, quando li chiamano, vengono insomma più che altro per
fare atto di presenza, per timbrare ogni tanto il cartellino, cosicchè
il loro nome continui a figurare negli elenchi della fabbrica. Per
questa cosiddetta “prestazione lavorativa” ricevono compensi che si
aggirano, nei casi migliori, intorno ai 100 euro annuali. In tal
modo, comunque, nell’eventualità (per ora remota) di qualche ingresso
di capitale estero che consenta una certa ripresa produttiva, questi
operai “per finta” potranno tornare ad essere operai veri. Le
direzioni aziendali possono intanto far figurare un numero di
dipendenti ridotto ma non proprio – come è nei fatti – al lumicino, e
dalle statistiche possono risultare cifre di disoccupazione certo
gravissime ma molto inferiori alle realtà.
Dobbiamo dire ancora una cosa. Durante lo stato di emergenza la “Legge
sul lavoro” nazionale è stata modificata in peggio, e fortemente. Chi
oggi è considerato in eccesso, viene semplicemente licenziato e può
scegliere tra due tipi di “ammortizzatori sociali”, ambedue ridotti al
minimo: o nove mesi di sussidio (anziché due anni) con 70 euro mensili,
ovvero una liquidazione pari, mediamente, a 1.650 euro.
Si conserva comunque il diritto all’assistenza medica, ma è un
principio giuridico che trova poco riscontro nella pratica, date le
condizioni attuali della sanità in Serbia. A Kragujevac, per esempio,
l’ospedale c’è, gli ambulatori ci sono, ma il più delle attrezzature
diagnostiche e terapeutiche o non funziona o è troppo obsoleto, dagli
apparecchi per le ecografie a quelli per la chemioterapia (dei quali,
dopo i bombardamenti all’uranio del 1999, è aumentato il bisogno). Chi
ne necessita deve andare a Belgrado, dove pagherà tutto, più le spese
di viaggio.
Da questa situazione in due grandi città industriali serbe, si può
agevolmente desumere quale sia lo stato delle cose a livello nazionale.
E c’è da dire ancora del rincaro delle tariffe per elettricità, acqua
ecc., del rigore ormai inesorabile nell’esigerne il pagamento, pena non
solo lo “stacco”, ma in certi casi perfino il tribunale. La nostra
amica Vesna – se si vuole un altro esempio –, segretaria amministrativa
del sindacato della MIN, si è vista intimare il pagamento di arretrati
dell’elettricità per 150.000 dinari, cioè 2.300 euro. Glieli hanno
rateizzati lungo alcuni anni, ma non potrà mai farcela, lei che non
raggiunge 100 euro al mese di stipendio! Si capisce allora come la
maggior parte di coloro che, estromessi dal lavoro, hanno ricevuto i
magri compensi di cui sopra, ben lontani dal poterli utilizzare – come
suggerito dalla propaganda ufficiale – per qualche “nuova attività”,
per “mettersi in proprio”, semplicemente ci pagano appunto gli
arretrati delle varie bollette.
Parliamo adesso di salari, stipendi e prezzi. Il salario medio di un
operaio a tempo pieno – uno dei pochi – equivale al massimo a 100 euro
mensili; lo stipendio di un insegnante di scuola elementare a 150, di
scuola superiore a 200, quello di un medico a 500. Vanno però detratte
le trattenute. Sui salari lordi – ci hanno precisato a Kragujevac – il
14% va per tasse governative, il 9,8% per pensione e invalidità, il
5,95% per la sanità (funzionante come sopra accennato), infine lo 0,55%
per …. solidarietà con i disoccupati (!). Totale: 30,3%.
Quanto ai prezzi, possiamo riferire che attualmente in Serbia un kg. di
pane costa 35 dinari, di zucchero 45, di farina 35. Un litro di olio di
mais 65, di latte 25. Un hg di caffè 25, di thè 40. Un kg di carne di
pollo 120, di maiale 250, di vitello 270, di formaggio bovino 150,
ovino 220. Patate, pomodori e altri ortaggi costano 100 dinari in
media, la frutta “normale” 50. I detersivi 120-150. Un tailleur per
donna 3000-4000, scarpe donna minimo 1200. Per uomo: giacca e pantaloni
minimo 4500, camicia 1500, scarpe da 2000 a 4000, giaccone 5000,
maglione da 1500 a 3000. Ce lo hanno detto le massaie e lo abbiamo
visto nei negozi, vuoti o semivuoti. L’affitto di un piccolo
appartamento è di 10.000-15.000 dinari al mese, l’acqua costa 600
dinari, l’elettricità 2500-3000, anche perché serve non solo
all’illuminazione, ma, generalmente, per cucina e riscaldamento Posto
che un euro si scambia attualmente con 66-67 dinari e presto, perciò,
si scambierà con 70, fate voi il conto di quanto costa l’essenziale per
vivere, espresso nella nostra moneta.
E per la scuola? Solo i libri di testo costano l’equivalente di 25-30
euro per ogni classe da frequentare, e per lo più vanno cambiati ogni
anno. Uno zainetto costa 6-8 euro. Si aggiungano quaderni, penne,
matite, colori e quant’altro. In totale – ci ha detto una direttrice
didattica – occorrono 50-60 euro solo per le cose strettamente
scolatiche. Ma bambini e ragazzi non possono andare a scuola vestiti da
straccioni, e poi per sei mesi all’anno fa freddo: quindi, dati i
prezzi dell’abbigliamento poco sopra esemplificati, la spesa quanto
meno si raddoppia. Bisogna inoltre tener conto del fatto che nella
maggior parte delle scuole serbe si svolgono anche attività
post-scolastiche, come corsi di danza, di canto, di ginnastica, sport
vari dal calcio al basket alla palla a volo, perfino gli scacchi. Sono
cose facoltative, ma sarebbe ben triste per un alunno dover restarne
fuori.. Ora, per queste attività non può non occorrere qualche spesa
aggiuntiva. Tutto sommato, le borse di studio di ABC sono
provvidenziali, per chi le riceve: bastano per la scuola e ne può
avanzare per altre necessità familiari.
A conclusione di questa breve ma angosciante “carrellata”, resta da
domandarsi come facciano i serbi a sopravvivere. E’ quel che abbiamo
chiesto ai nostri amici sindacalisti, con riferimento ai loro operai o
ex operai. La risposta è stata che una parte di loro si arrangia con
lavoretti occasionali, ovviamente “al nero”, o con traffici vari, dalla
compra-vendita di roba usata ad altre attività magari al limite del
lecito. Ma la maggior parte beneficia del fatto di aver conservato
qualche pezzo di terra al villaggio di provenienza, o comunque di avere
lì parenti e amici: può dunque andarvi a coltivare l’orto, ad allevare
il maiale, i polli e simili, onde risparmiarsi di comprare molta roba
al mercato cittadino. Alla MIN, per esempio, gli operai si vantano di
essere più adatti al lavoro particolarmente pesante che vi si svolge (o
vi si svolgeva), proprio per la loro origine contadina, che li aveva
abituati alla fatica della zappa e della vanga, e sfottono quelli della
EI, le cui lavorazioni sarebbero più leggere e quasi, al confronto,
“da signorini”.
Ecco dunque la grande risorsa del popolo serbo: il ritorno, almeno
parziale e temporaneo, all’agricoltura! E non manca chi teorizza invece
un ritorno definitivo, come la vera strada per un futuro migliore. Solo
che non tutta la Serbia è come la Vojvodina, con le sue pianure
sterminate e le sue coltivazioni a livello tecnico relativamente
progredito. Bisognerebbe estendere la meccanizzazione dell’agricoltura,
e le altre misure per la sua modernizzazione, anche alle regioni del
Centro e del Sud: non è certo cosa di un giorno.
Tutt’altra è comunque, la strada scelta dagli attuali dirigenti della
politica economica serba, per il risollevamento del Paese. Si fa
affidamento, piuttosto, su una ripresa industriale, dipendente però
essenzialmente da massicci investimenti esteri. E’ per favorirli che,
nell’attesa, le fabbriche vengono in parte de-strutturate, in parte
vendute all’asta (generalmente a strani acquirenti serbi), e si manda
via un così forte numero di operai. Ma di tali investimenti, per
adesso, se ne vedono ben pochi, e di fronte a episodi come l’assassinio
di Djindjic, è logico ritenere che qualsiasi “multinazionale”, grande o
piccola che sia, ci pensi su non due ma tre volte. Intanto, e malgrado
tutto, anche il nuovo premier va ribadendo la certezza dello staff
dirigente in una prossima entrata della Serbia nell’Unione Europea.
Sarà…; anzi speriamo tutti che così sia, ma ci vuole ben altro.

Bosnia – Qui ciò che possiamo riferire è più breve e più semplice,
anche se – dal punto di vista politico e da quello umano – ancora più
triste. Gli accordi di Dayton, ratificati a Parigi nel dicembre del
1995, prevedevano la reintegrazione inter-etnica e una progressiva
riunificazione della Bosnia-Erzegovina, solo provvisoriamente suddivisa
tra le due “entità” serba e croato-musulmana. A ormai oltre sette anni
di distanza, nulla di ciò è stato realizzato. Alla nostra domanda su
chi comandi effettivamente sull’insieme del Paese, la risposta – nelle
scuole dove continuiamo a recarci – è la stessa: comanda la “Comunità
internazionale”, vale a dire l’Alto Commissario dell’ONU preposto
appunto (e la cosa comincia ormai a essere amaramente comica)
all’applicazione dei trattati di Dayton-Parigi. Ma allora quale
soluzione è possibile, se non a breve almeno a medio termine? Anche
qui, la risposta unanime e costante è: i serbi con Belgrado, i croati
con Zagabria e i musulmani sotto uno statuto speciale che li garantisca
in qualche modo.
Quanto alla situazione economica, si nota una certa ripresa di attività
produttive (a Pale, per esempio, è ben visibile nel campo edilizio). Ma
essa è dovuta essenzialmente agli aiuti internazionali, più cospicui,
peraltro, sul versante croato-musulmano che su quello serbo. Di questa
sperequazione qualche governo dei Paesi “avanzati” comincia ad
accorgersi: quello giapponese, ad esempio, ha deciso di costruire due
nuovi edifici scolatici nel primo versante e tre nell’altro. Di questi
tre, uno è andato proprio alla “Sveti Sava”, cioè all’elementare di
Lukavica dove consegnamo le nostre borse di studio. Il direttore ci ha
portati a visitarlo: effettivamente è una meraviglia, manca solo la
palestra, perché i giapponesi nelle loro scuole non ce l’hanno.
C’è da aggiungere che comunque, quel tanto di ripresa economica che c’è
anche sul versante serbo, sta determinando bensì aumenti degli stipendi
(un ruolo trainante hanno quelli dati alle numerose persone impiegate
direttamente dai vari organismi internazionali - politici, militari,
umanitari), ma anche aumenti dei prezzi. Non a caso i serbo-bosniaci si
recano spesso ad acquistare viveri al di là della Drina, cioè del
confine che li separa dai “cugini” delle vicine città serbe, intasando
le dogane coi loro autobus.

From: http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org

1. TWO SECRET WITNESSES ALLEGE THAT THEY SURVIVED EXECUTION ATTEMPT
(June 2nd)
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg060203.htm
2. SYNOPSIS FOR THE MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" JUNE  03 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg060303.htm
3. MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS FOR JUNE 04 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg060403.htm
4. MILOSEVIC TRIAL SYNOPSIS FOR JUNE 05 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg060503.htm
5. SYNOPSIS FOR THE MILOSEVIC “TRIAL” JUNE 10 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg061003.htm
6. SYNOPSIS OF THE MILOSEVIC “TRIAL” JUNE 11 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg061103.htm
7. SYNOPSIS OF THE MILOSEVIC TRIAL JUNE 12 - 16
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg061603.htm


=== 1 ===

TWO SECRET WITNESSES ALLEGE THAT THEY SURVIVED EXECUTION ATTEMPT

June 2, 2003 - www.slobodan-milosevic.org
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

Monday at the Hague Tribunal the prosecution called 2 more irrelevant
witnesses at the Milosevic trial. The two secret witnesses testified
under the pseudonyms "B-1455" and "B-1098." Neither of these witnesses
had anything to do with Milosevic.

Both men were Muslims who claimed to have survived execution by firing
squad in the vicinity of Zvornik in 1992. The only problem was that
they couldn't identify their would-be executioners. They tried to say
that it was the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) who was trying to execute
them, but at the time they were testifying about the JNA had already
vacated Bosnia. Therefore, whoever was trying to kill them was not the
JNA because the JNA wasn't there to do it. So now we have a situation
at The Hague where unknown persons are the victims of crimes at the
hands of unknown criminals. How can one even allege that Milosevic
could be guilty of anything here? We don't even know who was
perpetrating the crimes, and so you certainly can't allege that the
unknown criminals were acting on orders from Milosevic.

In the case of "B-1098" there was no forensic evidence to prove that
any execution had taken place at all.

"B-1455" might have been telling what he thought was the truth, but
"B-1098" was obviously lying. "B-1098" claimed that himself and 63
other men were taken to a meat processing facility where they were
shot. How did they get there? All 64 men got there on a 2 TON TRUCK
the witness said. The only problem is that it is impossible to fit 64
men on a 2 ton truck. The witness fell into a very common trap for
people who tell lies. He gave a lot of details to prove that he was
telling the truth, and then he couldn't remember all of the details
later, so he said something that was quite impossible.

In a case related to the Milosevic trial. The former JSO commander,
Franko "Frenki" Simatovic, plead innocent to all five counts that the
Tribunal accused him on. Frenki is jointly indicted with Jovica
Stanisic. Both men are accused of being a member of the so-called
"joint criminal enterprise." Frenki's innocent plea should put an end
to the media speculation that he would testify against Milosevic in
exchange for a lighter sentence.

Meanwhile, Jovica Stanisic is undergoing medical treatment in
Belgrade. A decision on his extradition is possible this week.

=== 2 ===

SYNOPSIS FOR THE MILOSEVIC "TRIAL"
FOR JUNE  03 2003

www.slobodan-milosevic.org - June 3, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

Today at the Milosevic trial, President Milosevic concluded the
cross-examination of the secret witness “B-1098.”

In an attempt to be dramatic Mr. “B-1098” said that he was taken
prisoner along with 700 other Muslims and that “none of those people
were ever seen again.”

President Milosevic asked “B-1098” how many of those 700 people could
he identify. The witness responded that he could identify only 4 of
them.

President Milosevic then asked the next logical question. He asked the
witness how it was that he could say that these people were “never
seen again” when he didn’t even know who the people were to begin
with. How could the witness possibly know if the other people, whom he
couldn’t identify, were seen again or not?

Seeing that President Milosevic had captured this witness in a lie,
“Judge” May intervened to save the witness. Mr. May became indignant,
asking President Milosevic in a rather rude manner how he could
possibly think that this witness was making up stories. Then he accused
President Milosevic of attempting to provoke the witness and demanded
that he move on to another topic.

Following the conclusion of the cross-examination by President
Milosevic; the Amicus Curiae, Mr. Tapuskovic cross-examined the
witness. In his cross-examination Mr. Tapuskovic established a useful
fact. This witness had given two written statements he gave one
statement to the authorities in Tuzla on June 17, 1992 and he gave
another statement to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of The Hague
Tribunal on November 24, 1996.

In the first statement of June 17, 1992, just days after the alleged
executions by the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) had allegedly taken
place; the witness never mentioned the JNA at all. Not once in his
1992 statement was the JNA even mentioned at all. It wasn’t until he
gave his statement to the OTP in 1996 that the JNA suddenly appeared.

Upon the conclusion of Mr. “B-1098’s” testimony another secret witness
was called by the prosecution. Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff called the secret
witness testifying under the pseudonym “C-47.”

Mr. “C-47” was examined by Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff until the hearing
adjourned for the day. Mr. “C-47’s” examination in chief is expected
to take another hour, and conclude early in the day on June 4th.
Following his examination in chief, he will be cross-examined by
President Milosevic.

Mr. “C-47” professes to be a former member of the Serbian Radical
Party (SRS). He says that he was a policeman in Serbia, and he claims
to have been a Chetnik volunteer.

After the trial was adjourned for the day, a motion hearing was held.
President Milosevic was not present at the motion hearing.

At the motion hearing, the Prosecutor, Mr. Nice complained that the
government of Serbia-Montenegro (formerly known as FR Yugoslavia) was
not cooperating. Mr. Nice claimed that they were not providing the
documents, and the access to documents that was requested by the OTP.

Lawyers for the Serbia-Montenegro (SCG) government were present at the
hearing. The SCG’s lawyers denied the prosecutor’s allegations that
the government was not cooperating.

The SCG lawyers accused the prosecutor of wanting to go on a “grand
fishing expedition” through the state archives of Yugoslavia.

In my opinion, if the prosecution is granted unrestricted access to
the archives of FR Yugoslavia, then President Milosevic and his
associates should be granted the same unrestricted access to state
archives, not only in Belgrade and Podgorica, but also in Zagreb,
Sarajevo, Pristina, Skopje, and Ljubljana.

“If it’s good for the goose it’s good for the gander”

In my opinion, If the Tribunal should rule that access to the archives
of a state should be unrestricted and that a party should have
unfettered access to them, then that should apply equally to the
prosecution and the defense, and it should apply equally to all of the
states that this illegal Tribunal considers to be under it’s so-called
“jurisdiction.”

At the end of the motion hearing the so-called “Judges” announced that
they would rule in due course, and then the motion hearing was
adjourned.

---
Chronology of events:
1. Milosevic finished the cross-examination of secret witness
“B-1098”
2. The Amicus Curiae, Mr. Tapuskovic cross-examined secret witness
“B-1098”
3. The Prosecutor, Mr. Nice briefly re-examined secret witness
“B-1098”
4. The Prosecutor, Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff called the secret witness
“C-47” his examination in chief is expected to last for another hour
on June 4th.
5. The trial adjourned at 1:45 PM (Hague Time).
6. A Motion Hearing was held at 3:00 PM and lasted until
approximately 4:30 PM

=== 3 ===

MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS FOR JUNE 04 2003

www.slobodan-milosevic.org - June 4, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

It seems to me that Mr. “C-47” is a secret witness simply because he
is not who and what he professes to be. He is one of many false
witnesses who have testified against Milosevic. As I said yesterday,
this secret witness claimed to be a member of the Serbian Radical
Party (SRS) and a Chetnik volunteer.

The first thing that Slobodan Milosevic did in the cross-examination
was set the record straight regarding the treatment of Croats and
Hungarians by the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). This “C-47” person
tried to say that the SPS was collaborating with the SRS to intimidate
Croats and Hungarians in Vojovodina. Milosevic explained that this was
nonsense because the SPS had hundreds of Croat and Hungarian members
in Vojovodina and that the SPS chairperson in Vojovodina was a
Hungarian woman. It is quite illogical that the SPS would want to
threaten its own members.

For a member of the SRS this “C-47” seemed to know remarkably little
about the party. For example this so-called “C-47” claimed that he had
joined the SRS in 1990, and that he had even spoken with Vojislav
Seselj in the autumn of 1990 about matters pertaining to the party on
an occasion when Mr. Seselj came to his village.

As Slobodan Milosevic pointed out there are 2 problems here. The first
problem is that the SRS was not founded until 1991, and so there was
no Serbian Radical Party for the witness to join in 1990. The second
problem is that Vojislav Seselj was in jail when this secret witness
claims to have talked to him about the still nonexistent SRS.

When President Milosevic confronted the witness on these points this
secret witness asked to go into closed session.

The next point is that the witness spoke about the SRS presidency in
Vojovodina. President Milosevic pointed out that the problem here was
that there is no SRS presidency in Vojovodina, because (unlike the
SPS) the SRS opposes the existence of provinces and favors one unified
Serbia with no provinces. Therefore, the SRS has only one presidency
for all of Serbia. So it is impossible for this witness to have had
anything to do with the SRS Presidency in Vojovodina because that is
something that doesn’t exist.

Another false claim from this secret witness was that the SUP
controlled the SRS. The witness arrived at this conclusion, because he
said that certain members of the SUP were members of the SRS.
Milosevic pointed out that a problem here was that all of the people
whom this secret witness had enumerated in the SUP were not members of
the SRS at all. Another problem is that it doesn’t matter what the
political orientation that some members of the SUP had was. Just
because one holds a position and at the same time has a political
leaning doesn’t mean that one is using their position to control their
political party. That is an absurdity. Upon being confronted with this
information the secret witness asked to go into closed session again.

Another falsehood was when the witness claimed that he had seen
Vojislav Seselj at a rally, on September 13, 1991, in which 5,000
people took part, where Mr. Seselj was allegedly threatening to “gouge
out the eyes of Croats with rusty spoons.”

Milosevic began to explain that Seselj had never said this. Milosevic
was explaining that this so-called “quote from Seselj” came from a
parody done on a Minimax comedy TV show -- at that point for some
unknown reason the Tribunal abruptly cut off the audio/video feed.

As far as the Chetniks were concerned “C-47” said that one of their
aims was to overthrow Milosevic. It is interesting to note here that
many witnesses have testified at Milosevic’s trial about crimes
committed by so-called "Chetniks." Does it seem logical that Slobodan
Milosevic would be in command of this group whose stated purpose was to
overthrow him?

In fact, as far as the command of volunteers is concerned it was all
done by the local commanders in the combat theatre. If for example,
the Army of Republika Srpska, or the Army of the Republic of Serbian
Krajina, or if some units of the TO needed help; they would call on
these groups of volunteers, and these volunteers would go to the
combat theatre, where they would receive their weapons, and their
orders from the local commanders in the field.

Whatever some volunteer unit did or didn’t do has absolutely nothing
at all to do with Slobodan Milosevic. He had nothing to do with any of
that – he didn’t issue any orders, and he didn’t issue any weapons.
Those volunteers went to the combat front on their own free will, and
helped the local Serb units in the field.

Even this secret witness testified when he left the theatre of combat
that him and all of the volunteers were searched at the border by the
Serbian authorities of Bosnia and Croatia to ensure that they weren’t
keeping any of the weapons that they had been given.

A number of manipulations were perpetrated by the Tribunal today. The
use of closed sessions was abused. The majority of the
cross-examination took place in closed session in spite of the
objections made by President Milosevic.

Because President Milosevic is innocent, and therefore has nothing to
hide, he wants this so-called “trial” to be held out in the open for
the public to see. The Tribunal, on the other hand knows full well
that this is a show trial, and therefore it wants to hold the “trial”
in secret.

The prosecutor changed the order of witnesses around again today,
which makes it difficult for Milosevic to prepare for
cross-examinations. Then the prosecutor requested that the hearing for
tomorrow be extended. The problem here is that President Milosevic can
only meet with his associates from 3 PM until 4:45 PM after the
hearings, and as it stands now even with the hearings adjourning at
1:45 PM he still can’t always get to the prison by 3 PM. His
associates do his research for him and when his access to them is
limited his defense is hampered.

---
Sequence of events for 4 June 2003:
1. The Prosecutor, MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF - Concluded the examination in
chief of the secret witness “C-47”
2. President, SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC - Cross-examined the secret witness
“C-47” NOTE: “C-47’s” cross-examination is not yet complete.

=== 4 ===

MILOSEVIC TRIAL SYNOPSIS FOR JUNE 05 2003

www.slobodan-milosevic.org - June 5, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

The secret witness “B-24” claimed to have been a member of the crisis
staff in the Serb Municipality of Zvornik from the inception of the
crisis staff until 12 April 1992, while serving in the crisis staff
“B-24” says that he was the commander of the police station. “B-24”
also claimed that he was a member of the SDS, and president of the
local government in Zvornik (i.e. he was the Mayor) from February 1993
until September 1993.

"B-24" provided some useful information, but it was also apparent that
he was testifying under threat.

We will start with the useful information that Mr. “B-24” provided.
First and foremost, under cross-examination from President Milosevic,
“B-24” explained the sequence of events that lead up to the Serbian
counterinsurgency operation that took place on 8 April 1992 in Zvornik.

“B-24” explained that the Muslims began to form armed paramilitary
formations of the so-called “Patriotic League” in 1991 before the
outbreak of any hostilities in Bosnia. He said that the Muslims had
substantial man power, and that they were well armed.

“B-24” explained how the Muslim paramilitaries would recruit
criminals, arm the criminals, and then make the criminals into the
police, and that they did this with a view to intimidating the Serbs.

“B-24” explained how the Serb population fled from Zvornik and how the
counterinsurgency operation of 8 April 1992 enabled them to return,
along with some 15,000 Serb refugees who had fled from central Bosnia.

“B-24” explained that the Muslim paramilitaries seized control of
Zvornik on 5 April 1992.

“B-24” explained that on 6 April 1992 five soldiers of the Yugoslav
People’s Army (JNA) were massacred in Zvornik by the Muslim armed
extremists. 6 April 1992 was the 2nd day of Muslim control over
Zvornik. 6 April 1992 was also the day that Bosnia was recognized as
an independent state, and in addition to that 6 April is the
anniversary of Hitler’s first attacks on Yugoslavia.

On 8 April 1992 the Territorial Defense (T.O.) of the Serb
Municipality of Zvornik, along with, various volunteers, and Arkan’s
Serbian Volunteer Guard (SDG) launched a counterinsurgency operation
and took control of Zvornik away from the Muslim paramilitaries.

“B-24” explained that no JNA personnel and no government personnel
from Serbia took part in the counterinsurgency operation.

“B-24” explained that the Serbian authorities in Zvornik did all they
could to protect the Muslim civilian population of Zvornik, but as the
war raged on they couldn’t maintain control over the municipality, and
illegal paramilitaries, criminals out to exploit the situation, and
civilians angry at the whole situation made it so there was virtually
no government in Zvornik from roughly May to June of 1992. And that in
this chaotic situation Muslims were victimized, their mosques were
destroyed, and they fled.

Contrast this with the situation in just across the Drina River in
Mali Zvornik (in Serbia). As President Milosevic pointed out, passions
were high there too, but the authorities of Serbia managed to keep
order and nobody harmed that town’s 20% Muslim population, or laid a
finger on their Mosque, which was being guarded around the clock by
the MUP of Serbia.  

It was also noted by Milosevic, and confirmed by “B-24” that members
of an illegal paramilitary formation that victimized Muslims at the
Chelopek Cultural Center were arrested and prosecuted by the
Government of Serbia on the basis of information provided by the
authorities of the Republika Srpska.

In spite of these useful things that “B-24” explained it was apparent
that he was at the Tribunal under threat of an indictment against
himself.

As I stated above “B-24” was a member of the crisis staff and served
as the commander of the police station in the Serb Municipality of
Zvornik. He held this position during the counterinsurgency operation.

“B-24’s” story about how the counterinsurgency operation came about is
a little odd. “B-24” claimed that Arkan and 24 of his men beat-up the
members of the Zvornik crisis staff and forced the T.O., which
numbered over 500, to launch the operation against their will. So are
we are to believe that Arkan and 24 members of the SDG were able to
force the 500 member T.O. to do something that it didn’t want to do?

“B-24” systematically avoided taking any responsibility even though he
was in a command position. Instead he blamed Arkan, in an effort to
remove command responsibility from himself.

“B-24’s” story doesn’t make sense here, because he told Milosevic in
the cross-examination that he was the one who personally went and got
Arkan and his men, brought them back, and arranged for their
accommodations. So it looks as if the plan was already made when Arkan
was brought in.

“B-24” tried to link Arkan to Milosevic by saying that he saw Arkan
getting out of a vehicle that had a license plate that indicated that
it belonged to the federal SUP, and that he had acquired Arkan’s
services on the advice of * a friend of his * who just happened to be
a member of the Serbian MUP.

The part about Arkan using the federal SUP’s vehicle is as much of a
lie as the part about Arkan and his 24 men beating-up the whole crisis
staff and forcing the 500 man T.O. to launch an operation against
their will. Arkan had his own vehicles, why on Earth would he use the
vehicle of the federal SUP? It doesn’t make sense.

I believe that “B-24” said this stuff about Arkan because the Tribunal
made a deal with him. I think that they sat “B-24” down and said,
“Testify against Milosevic or else we will slap a war crimes
indictment on you.”

The last question Mr. Groome asked “B-24” in his examination in chief
was: “Are you getting anything in exchange for your testimony?” To
which B-24 said, “No.” The real question is what B-24 was * not *
getting in exchange for his testimony? Was he * not * getting indicted
for war crimes perhaps?

---
SEQUENCE OF EVENTS FOR 5 JUNE 2003:
1. Prosecutor Mr. Groome finished the examination in chief of the
secret witness testifying under the pseudonym “B-24”
2. Slobodan Milosevic cross-examined the secret witness testifying
under the pseudonym “B-24”
3. The Amicus Curiae Mr. Kay cross-examined the secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym “B-24”
4. The secret witness testifying under the pseudonym “B-1098” was
recalled and gave secret testimony in a closed session.

===
There were no proceedings scheduled between June 6 and June 9.
Proceedings resumed on June 10.

=== 5 ===

SYNOPSIS FOR THE MILOSEVIC “TRIAL” JUNE 10 2003

www.slobodan-milosevic.org – June 10, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

After a four day weekend the so-called “trial” of Slobodan Milosevic
resumed at The Hague Tribunal. President Milosevic finished the
cross-examination of the secret witness testifying under the pseudonym
of “C-47.” Then the prosecution called another secret witness who
testified under the pseudonym of “C-17.”

“C-47” continued to make an ass of himself. It is no wonder that he is
a secret witness. If I was saying the things that he was saying I’d be
embarrassed to show my face too.

“C-47” explained that nobody ordered the Chetnik volunteers to kill
and loot, but that they allegedly did simply because they didn’t have
anything better to do. “C-47” went on to say that his unit didn’t do
such things, but that he saw others doing it.

President Milosevic asked “C-47” if he ever reported any of the crimes
that he says the Chetniks were committing, and “C-47” replied that he
didn’t report anything to anybody.

After “C-47” finished, the prosecutor called another secret witness.
They call this one “C-17.” “C-17” testified about events around
Mostar. In particular “C-17” was talking about a camp that was being
used as a base for Chetnik volunteer units and the Krajina Red Berets.

The prosecutor kept on referring to a volunteer unit from the SAO
Krajina, known as the Krajina Red Berets as simply the “Red Berets.”
It is obvious that the prosecutor was attempting to confuse people
into thinking that the Serbian JSO (also known as the Red Berets) was
at this camp in Mostar.

The commander of the Krajina Red Berets, one Dragan Vasiljkovic, has
already come to the Hague Tribunal and testified that they were not
under the command of Slobodan Milosevic, and that the Serbian JSO had
nothing to with the Krajina Red Berets – these two totally separate
units just had the same name that’s all.

“C-17’s” testimony consisted of what the Krajina Red Berets and the
Chetniks, based at this camp, allegedly did around Mostar.

Seeing as how “C-47” testified that the Chetniks wanted to overthrow
Milosevic, and seeing as how the commander of the Krajina Red Berets
has already denied that they were under Milosevic’s command; I fail to
see what either one of these witnesses has to do with Milosevic.

The Tribunal recently gave the prosecution an additional 100 days to
present its case against Milosevic, because the original deadline for
them to finish their case had expired. Seeing such worthless witnesses
makes me wonder what the point of giving them more time was.

The only thing that the prosecution has proven beyond any doubt is
that they don’t have a case.

After the indictment against him was read-out at the beginning of the
“trial” President Milosevic said that it was written at the
intellectual level of a “retarded seven-year-old child.” After seeing
the prosecution, for nearly 2 years now, trying to prove this false
indictment, I’m afraid that I have to disagree with President
Milosevic. I think that a retarded seven-year-old could have done
better than the prosecution.

---
Sequence of Events for June 10, 2003
1. Judge Kwon was late because he got stuck in traffic.
2. Slobodan Milosevic concluded the cross-examination of the secret
witness testifying under the pseudonym “C-47.”
3. The prosecutor, Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff examined the secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym “C-17.” 

=== 6 ===

SYNOPSIS OF THE MILOSEVIC “TRIAL” FOR 11 JUNE 2003

www.slobodan-milosevic.org – June 11, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

Today at the Hague Tribunal the secret witness testifying under the
pseudonym of “C-17” concluded his testimony.

During the conclusion of his examination-in-chief this so-called
“C-17” told Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff about an incident where a Canadian
volunteer took members of UNPROFOR hostage, and attempted to use them
as human shields during the NATO bombing.

The secret witness, together with that woman from the other side,
proceeded to present that shameful taking of hostages as some sort of
act organized by Slobodan Milosevic’s envoy, Jovica Stanisic. They
explained that Jovica Stanisic came to Bosnia and wanted to take over
the hostages, but they didn’t explain why.

In the cross-examination Slobodan Milosevic cleared this whole thing
up. It was explained that the Government of Serbia had actually
negotiated the release of the hostages, and that Jovica Stanisic was
sent to Bosnia by President Milosevic in order to take over the
hostages so that they could be brought back to Serbia and set free.

This typical for that so-called “prosecution.” They took a
humanitarian act where the Government of Serbia secured the release of
hostages, and then tried to make it look like evidence of some sort of
crime.

This secret witness gave a statement to the tribunal consisting almost
exclusively of things that he says he heard from other people. A
typical example was when he said that the Government of Serbia was
providing weapons to the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS).

The witness said that he saw civilian trucks from Serbia and that
somebody told him that the trucks contained weapons. “C-17” never
actually saw the weapons, he only heard about them from other people.

There was so much hearsay in “C-17’s” statement that President
Milosevic came right out and asked him what the point of his so-called
“evidence” was. “C-17” explained that he couldn’t answer that question
because didn’t work for the tribunal, and that he was only testifying
because they asked him to. In other words, this secret witness was so
useless that he didn’t even know what the point of his own testimony
was.

This witness was so ill-informed that it was pathetic. Yesterday I
accused the prosecution of trying to manipulate public perception by
calling the Krajina Red Berets, simply the “Red Berets.” I thought
that they were trying to create a misleading perception that the
Serbian JSO was involved in Bosnia.

Apparently, the witness really was talking about the Serbian JSO. The
problem here, as President Milosevic pointed out, is that the Serbian
JSO didn’t even exist during the time that the witness was talking
about, so the witness couldn’t have seen the Serbian JSO in Mostar or
anywhere else, because they didn’t exist.

More evidence that this secret witness was ill-informed came when he
was speaking about the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) being in Mostar as
late as the middle of June 1992.

As President Milosevic pointed out, the JNA didn’t exist in Bosnia
after May 19, 1992. The JNA was ordered to withdraw from Bosnia,
however Bosnian-Serb JNA members remained on their homeland, and the
JNA equipment which they had in their possession remained in Bosnia
with them and that is how the VRS was formed. So it is obvious that
“C-17” was either lying or seeing things that weren’t there when he
says that he saw the JNA in the middle of June. Either way whether he
was hallucinating or lying; the repeated references that this secret
witness made to the JNA being in Mostar in June of 1992 calls his
credibility into question.

All in all this was just another worthless witness in this shameful
political circus that they call a “trial.”

---
SEQUENCE OF EVENTS FOR THE MILOSEVIC “TRIAL” FOR 11 JUNE 2003
1. The Prosecutor, Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff concluded the examination in
chief of the secret witness testifying under the pseudonym of “C-17.”
2. President Slobodan Milosevic cross-examined the secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym of “C-17”
3. The Amicus Curiae, Mr. Tapuskovic cross-examined the secret
witness testifying under the pseudonym of “C-17”
4. The Prosecutor, Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff re-examined the secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym of “C-17”

=== 7 ===

SYNOPSIS OF THE MILOSEVIC TRIAL JUNE 12 - 16

www.slobodan-milosevic.org - June 16, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

The prosecution called Osman Selak. Selak tried to say that the VJ
(FRY Army) was in direct command over the VRS (Army of Republika
Srpska).

During cross-examination, President Milosevic asked Mr. Selak if he
could cite any order that the VJ ever issued to the VRS. Selak
couldn't produce any orders or examples or anything like that, but he
did have a diagram that he drew where he drew a line between a box
marked "VJ" and another box marked "VRS." I guess that this line drawn
between the 2 boxes is what passes for "evidence" at the Hague
Tribunal.

To top off the absurdity of this whole thing, Mr. Selak hates Serbs.
Mr. Kay was talking about the history of the JNA, and he mentioned the
Second World War. Mr. Selak couldn't restrain himself he had to take a
shot at the Serbs and so he lied and said that the Chetniks supported
the Nazis.

Serb Chetniks saved the lives of more than 500 U.S. Airmen during the
2nd world war. Those Americans were saved from the Nazis by the
Chetniks. Draza Mihailovich is a hero in the fight against fascism and
this witness tried to call those honorable men Nazis! As an American I
am deeply offended by that remark.

The prosecutor must be scraping the bottom of the barrel, because
after calling the racist Selak to testify, they resorted to calling
Dr. Budimir Babovic, a political scientist from Montenegro, to testify
about the Serbian police.

This guy's claim to fame was that he wrote a book, which was paid for
by the Soros Foundation. In the book he talks about how Milosevic
"abused the police." He gets all of his information in his book from
"the international and domestic media" and through his own "personal
analysis of the laws and constitution of Serbia," even though he isn't
a lawyer or anything like that. He's just, as Mr. Kwon put it, "a
layman."

Dr. Babovic had no direct knowledge of anything. The only thing that
the so-called "expert witness" managed to prove was his own ignorance
of the Serbian Constitution and the Serbian penal code. President
Milosevic would ask the so-called "expert" questions about the law and
this dummy didn't have a clue what he was talking about. If it wasn't
so funny to watch it would be sad.

Following Babovic was "B-1047." Allegedly, Arkan's men unsuccessfully
tried to execute "B-1047."

After the alleged attempted execution, "B-1047" made his way to a VRS
base and the VRS arranged for him to be transported to a hospital in
Banja Luka for medical treatment. It is important to note that Banja
Luka was always held by the Serbs.

"B-1047" is an invalid because of his wounds, and he tells a very
harrowing story, but he has nothing to do with Milosevic. I would
really like to see the prosecution explain why he should be brought in
to testify against Milosevic.

What does "B-1047's" plight prove against Milosevic? They aren't
saying that Milosevic ordered that "B-1047" should be shot, and so I
really don't see what the point here is.

This isn't unique. Witnesses who aren't relevant to anything Milosevic
is accused of testify against him all the time. All I can see is that
the prosecution is wasting time.

The prosecution doesn't need extra time for presenting their case.
They don't have a case. The more they try to prove their false
indictment the dumber it makes them look.

Anyway, tomorrow should be interesting. The Former Yugoslav President,
Zoran Lilic will be testifying.

---
ORDER OF WITNESSES
1. Former JNA colonel / Logistics Base Commander, Osman Selak
2. Political scientist from Montenegro, Dr. Budimir Babovic
3. A secret witness testifying under the pseudonym of "B-1047"
All witnesses were examined by the Prosecution, cross-examined by
President Milosevic, cross-examined by  the Amicus Curiae, and finally
re-examined by the Prosecution.

From: http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/

1. ZORAN LILIC TESTIFIES AT THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg061903.htm
2. MICHAEL WILLIAMS TESTIFIES AT MILOSEVIC "TRIAL"
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg062403.htm
3. SPS HOLDS VIDOVDAN DEMONSTRATION AT REPUBLIC SQUARE IN BELGRADE, 28
June 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/sps/news/sps062803.htm
4. BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HAGUE WITNESSES: 30 JUNE - 11 JULY 2003
5. THE CIRCUS CONTINUES AT THE HAGUE, July 11, 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg071103.htm


=== 1 ===

ZORAN LILIC TESTIFIES AT THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL

www.slobodan-milosevic.org – June 19, 2003
Written By: Andy Wilcoxson

On Tuesday, June 17, 2003 Zoran Lilic began to give his testimony at
the so-called “trial” of Slobodan Milosevic. 

Zoran Lilic has held the highest offices in Serbia and Yugoslavia. Mr.
Lilic was the President of the Serbian National Assembly, the
President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the Deputy Prime
Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The testimony of Zoran Lilic is certainly the most important testimony
that the Milosevic “trial” has seen.

Two things were apparent from watching Lilic. The first obvious fact
is that Slobodan Milosevic is not a war criminal. The 2 nd obvious
fact, contrary to media reports, is that Mr. Lilic was not and is not
“in the hip pocket” of President Milosevic.

Indeed, Mr. Lilic was critical of Milosevic on some matters. First of
all, Lilic believed that Milosevic, as the SPS President, allowed the
JUL to have too much influence during the time that the SPS-JUL-ND
coalition was formed.

Lilic was also critical of the Kumanovo Agreement. Mr. Lilic favored a
different plan that had been put forward by Helmut Kohl.

It is therefore incorrect that the media should portray Mr. Lilic as
“Milosevic’s puppet.” Zoran Lilic is his own man, with his own
opinions, which as we see above do not always coincide Slobodan
Milosevic’s views.

When it comes to the subject of war crimes it was apparent that the
prosecution had made a mistake in bringing Lilic to testify. Lilic
proved to be a much better witness for the defense than for the
prosecution.

From the outset of his examination-in-chief it could be seen that
Preident Lilic’s statements were not what the prosecutor was looking
for. For example, Mr. Nice was trying to get Lilic to explain the
phrase “all Serbs in one state.” Mr. Nice obviously wanted Lilic to
say that this referred to some “greater Serbia plan,” instead Lilic
explained that the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)
allowed all Serbs to live in one state and that the statement, “all
Serbs in one state” meant that the SFRY should be preserved at all
costs.

Mr. Nice also unsuccessfully attempted to get Lilic to say that
Milosevic “controlled” the leadership and the military forces of the
SAO Krajina and Republika Srpska. Lilic explained that Milosevic did
not control anybody over there, and when he did try to exercise
influence over them it was always to try and get them to accept peace
agreements.

At this point, in spite of efforts by Mr. Nice to change the topic,
Lilic went into the events in Srebrenica. Lilic explained that nobody
from the authorities of either Serbia or the FRY could have had
anything to do with what happened there.

Lilic explained that Milosevic’s reaction to Srebrenica was that of
shock and extreme anger when he heard what had happened there. Lilic
said that it was obvious that there was no possibility that Milosevic
could have had anything at all to do with Srebrenica, or any other
wartime event in Bosnia and Croatia.

On the subject of Srebrenica, it should be noted that it is the
“sweetest plum” in the prosecution’s false indictment. Srebrenica is
where the genocide charge emanates from.

When Milosevic cross-examined Lilic on the subject of Srebrenica, Lilic
further explained that when the FRY authorities inquired about
Srebrenica the Republika Srpska leadership was just as surprised as
anybody to hear about what had happened there. Lilic explained that
this meant that individual criminals, and not any government controlled
forces, had perpetrated the crimes that occurred in Srebrenica. Not
only does this testimony jive with the claims that Milosevic made in
his opening statement, but it also jives with the report of the Dutch
Government.

When Milosevic opened the cross-examination he began by asking Lilic
about Kosovo. Zoran Lilic is probably the best suited person to talk
about Kosovo and the position of the FRY government there. As the
Deputy Prime Minister of the time Lilic took numerous fact finding
missions to Kosovo. As a high official in the Government of Yugoslavia
Mr. Lilic was privy to all manner of intelligence reports.

During cross-examination Lilic explained that the Yugoslav and Serbian
authorities took exceptional care to protect Kosovo’s civilian
population. In fact so much care was taken that the Albanian
terrorists knew that by mingling themselves with civilians that they
would be able to flee from the authorities without being touched,
because the authorities were under orders never to fire on the
terrorists if doing so would endanger civilians.

Mr. Lilic explained Slobodan Milosevic’s position was that all
citizens and ethnic groups should be equal. Lilic stated that it was
President Milosevic’s firm conviction that nobody in Yugoslavia should
live as a second class citizen because of their ethnicity.

Mr. Lilic went on to explain that the Serbian and Yugoslav authorities
always differentiated between Albanian terrorists, and regular
Albanian civilians. He explained that orders were issued that human
rights need to be respected, and that all soldiers and police were
given copies of the Geneva Conventions to ensure that this happened.

Mr. Lilic explained that the V.J. and MUP protected Albanian civilians
precisely from the Albanian terrorists who were seeking to break
Kosovo away from Serbia. Lilic explained how both Albanians, and
non-Albanians were under threat from the KLA terrorists. Lilic stated
that normal Albanian civilians who wished to live as peaceful law
abiding citizens of Yugoslavia were under the greatest danger from the
KLA terrorists.

Lilic dismissed as an absurdity that Serbia or Yugoslavia could have
had any plan to expel Albanians from Kosovo. Lilic explained that the
Serb and Yugoslav authorities had a great desire, and made great
efforts to try to engage the Kosovo Albanians so that a peaceful
political solution could be found. 

Being Yugoslavia’s Deputy Prime Minister at the time Mr. Lilic had
access to all manner of intelligence information regarding the
Albanian terrorists that were operating in Kosovo at the time.

On the basis of the intelligence information that he had received as
the Deputy Prime Minster, Mr. Lilic explained that the United States,
and in particular the American ambassador Hill, prepared the KLA
terrorists for their “spring offensive” and that this was done with a
view to provoke a conflict that would create a pretext for the illegal
NATO aggression and the eventual occupation of Kosovo and Metohija.

Lilic went on to explain how the Milosevic-Holbrooke agreement had
been abused. Lilic explained how the Kosovo Verification Mission of
the OSCE was being used as a cover to further arm the Albanian
terrorists. He explained that during that time the Albanian terrorists
had received East German weapons, and other high-tech weaponry that
could only come to them with the cooperation of foreign governments.

Lilic began to explain about how the KLA would force Albanians to flee
from Kosovo to create the false illusion that Albanians were being
expelled by Serbs, but at this point the so-called “Judge” May didn’t
want to hear anymore.

This same “Judge,” who is so deeply interested in hearing all about
what some local yokel says he heard second hand, from God only knows
who, off in some village in Bosnia, refused to hear what a high
government official knew from the intelligence documents that he was
privy to. The so-called “Judge” ruled the information as irrelevant
since the Deputy PM didn’t go out into the battlefield and gather the
information personally.

This so-called “Judge” must be smoking some good crack to be able to
say something as stupid as that. How could any government function if
the highest officials always have to gather the intelligence in
person? Does George W. Bush know that Osama bin Laden blew up the
World Trade Center because he was personally hiding in the cave in
Afghanistan listening to bin Laden make the plans? Of course not, but
he has the relevant intelligence information, and so he is perfectly
competent to say that bin Laden did it.

At any rate, after Kosovo was discussed, Milosevic began to ask Lilic
about Bosnia and Croatia. Mr. Lilic explained in no uncertain terms
that neither Serbia, nor the FRY, nor any official from Serbia or the
FRY had any command or control over the Bosnian Serbs or the Krajina
Serbs, and Lilic in view of the positions he held, is in a better
position than anybody to know that.

Mr. Lilic proceeded to explain how the conflicts in Bosnia and Croatia
evolved and the manner in which the governments of Serbia and the FRY
were involved.

First of all Lilic, explained that all of the efforts of Serbia and
the FRY were directed towards humanitarian assistance and negotiating
an end to the armed conflicts.

Lilic explained that in Croatia the Serbian population was in jeopardy
from the Croatian government, and that the Krajina Serbs did not
launch aggression on Croatia, but simply defended their own land that
they had been living on for centuries.

Lilic explained how Serbia, the FRY, and Milosevic in particular
worked tirelessly to achieve the Vance Plan, and that all of
Milosevic’s efforts in respect to the Krajina, and the war in Croatia
were directed exclusively towards achieving peace.

As for the civil war in Bosnia, Lilic explained in no ambiguous terms
that neither Serbia nor the FRY had anything to do with that, and that
it was in fact a civil war in Bosnia and, not some sort of aggression
by Serbia or Yugoslavia.

Lilic explained that Serbia, even under sanctions, extended
humanitarian assistance to the people in Bosnia and to all of the
refugees who came to Serbia, irrespective of their ethnicity.

In fact, Serbia even allowed Muslim soldiers from the Army of B-H to
come to Serbia as refugees as long as they didn’t bring their weapons.
In this case both the R.S. and the Muslim authorities wanted these
soldiers handed over to them, but Milosevic steadfastly refused their
demands, and insisted that these soldiers be allowed to control their
own fate.

Lilic explained that the war in Bosnia broke out when independence was
declared on the basis of and illegal and unconstitutional referendum.
Lilic said that the first armed attacks of the Bosnian war came from
Muslim extremists who were attacking the Serb population in Bosnia.

Lilic explained how prior to the all out warfare that tore through
Bosnia that a peace plan had been reached. He told about how the
Serbs, the Croats, and the Muslims all negotiated and signed a peace
agreement in Lisbon called the Cutilero Plan. Lilic explained that
after the agreement was signed that the Muslim President, Alija
Izetbegovic reneged on the agreement, withdrew his signature, and the
war began in earnest.

Lilic explained that after the war began the Muslim side began to
bring in Mujahideens and Islamic fundamentalists from the Middle East
to fight against the Serbs.

During the examination in chief, Fikret Abdic was mentioned, because
he had traveled to Belgrade and met with President Milosevic. The
prosecution had tried to present this like some sort of secret meeting
even though it was reported quite openly in the Media, and Lilic
confirmed in the cross-examination that this meeting was no secret.

For those of you who don’t know who Fikret Abdic is I would encourage
you to research him. Fikret Abdic was the winner of the 1990 elections
in Bosnia, but unfortunately Alija Izetbegovic (who lost the
elections) managed to take over power from him.

Fikret Abdic is a Muslim of the Croatian ethnicity. He has dual
Croat/Bosnian citizenship. Unlike Alija Izetbegovic, Mr. Abdic got
along splendidly with the Serbs, and for a time with the Croats until
they allied with Izetbegovic.

Fikret Abdic and his Muslim followers in western Bosnia declared
independence from Bosnia, signed peace agreements with the Serbs and
Croats, and were able to escape the war, until Alija Izetbegovic sent
in the 5 th Corps of the Army of B-H to attack the Muslim population
there, killing them, looting their homes, and forcing the survivors to
flee to the Krajina where they lived with the Serbs until the Croats
committed genocide with Operation Storm and Operation Flash eliminating
nearly all of the Serb population from the Krajina.

Lilic confirmed Milosevic’s claim that Serbia and the FRY’s policy
towards Bosnia was exclusively a policy of peace aimed at ending the
bloodshed.

Lilic explained that nobody worked harder to bring peace to Bosnia
than Slobodan Milosevic. The Government of Serbia, the Government of
the FRY, and Slobodan Milosevic personally endorsed the Vance-Owen
Plan, the Owen-Stoltenberg Plan, the Contact Group Plan, the Action
Plan of the European Union, and the Dayton Accords.

Lilic testified about how hard Milosevic worked to negotiate the
Vance-Owen plan, and how hard Milosevic tried to convince the
Republika Srpska Assembly to accept the plan. Slobodan Milosevic
addressed the R.S. Assembly on 2 occasions to try to convince them to
accept the plan.

When the R.S. assembly refused to adopt the Vance-Owen Plan Milosevic
was furious. President Milosevic insisted that the Serbia/FRY
delegation leave immediately, even though it was a great risk to his
own personal safety since it was late at night, and a Muslim attack
was feared.

It was precisely the refusal of the R.S. to adopt the Vance-Owen plan
that strained relations between Belgrade and Pale, and that lead to
the decision of Serbia and the FRY to blockade the Drina River.

Lilic explained how, at Dayton, Slobodan Milosevic saved the Republika
Srpska from certain destruction. At the time NATO air strikes were
rapidly diminishing the R.S. territory and a failure to reach an
agreement at that point would have definitely meant the end of the
Republika Srpska.

Through the efforts of Slobodan Milosevic at Dayton the Republika
Srpska was recognized, and territory that had been lost over the
course of the NATO air strikes was even returned to Republika Srpska.

As the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Zoran Lilic
served on the Supreme Defense Council together with Slobodan Milosevic
(while Milosevic was the President of Serbia). Therefore, Mr. Lilic is
in a unique position to be able to see how decisions were taken.

The prosecution has tried to allege that Slobodan Milosevic behaved
like some sort of dictator in the Supreme Defense Council. But the
testimony of Lilic proves otherwise. Lilic testified that the
decisions of the SDC were reached by consensus and that Milosevic
didn’t have any more power than any of the other members of the SDC.

The prosecution also alleges that the Serbia and FRY authorities
formed and supported paramilitaries and sent them to Bosnia and
Croatia, and that Milosevic is responsible for this. Lilic’s testimony
again proves otherwise. Lilic stated, and he produced the documents to
prove it that the SDC (which Milosevic served on) took a decision that
paramilitaries should be disarmed and abolished.

Lilic explained that some opposition parties were forming units, but
that the SPS never had any sort of units, nor did the SPS engage in
any sort of cooperation with the SDS. Lilic not only being the former
head of state, but also being a former member of the SPS himself,
would certainly be in a position to know about this.

Slobodan Milosevic asked Lilic point-blank if he knew of any order or
any de-facto policy emanating from the Government of Serbia or
Yugoslavia, or any officials of those governments that the Army or
Police personnel should commit any crimes against anybody. Lilic said
that there was absolutely not any such policy, and that the Army and
the police were under the strictest orders to combat crime regardless
of who the perpetrator was, even if the perpetrator was a soldier or a
police officer.

President Lilic’s testimony is the most important testimony that this
farce of a “trial” has seen. Historians will be able to read his
testimony and see quite clearly that Slobodan Milosevic is innocent.
In spite of the best efforts of this illegal tribunal, history will
never be able to successfully record the lie that Slobodan Milosevic is
a war criminal.

Lilic’s testimony is not yet complete. He will return at a later date
to complete his cross-examination, be cross-examined by the Amicus,
and be re-examined by the prosecution. No hearing is scheduled on
Friday. The next hearing will be on Monday, but other witnesses have
been scheduled.

---
Sequence of Events:
1. JUNE 17, 2003 – Lilic is examined by the Prosecutor, Mr. Nice.
2. JUNE 18, 2003 – Mr. Nice concludes his examination of Lilic.
3. JUNE 18, 2003 – Slobodan Milosevic begins his cross-examination
of Lilic.
4. JUNE 19, 2003 – Slobodan Milosevic continues his
cross-examination of Lilic.  

=== 2 ===

MICHAEL WILLIAMS TESTIFIES AT MILOSEVIC "TRIAL"

www.slobodan-milosevic.org - June 24, 2003

Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

Michael Williams, the former advisor and spokesman of the former chief
of the UN Mission to Bosnia Jasusi Akasi, testified at the so-called
"trial" of Slobodan Milosevic on Tuesday.

The main point of Mr. Williams's testimony seemed to be to bad mouth
the VRS and the Bosnian-Serb leadership. None of that has anything to
do with Milosevic, but this is the Hague Tribunal, and propaganda is
the main order of the day.

Mr. Williams's "evidence" against Milosevic was practically
non-existent. Williams doubted the veracity of the blockade that
Yugoslavia placed on the Republika Srpska, over their refusal to accept
various peace plans, but he didn't have any evidence that the Yugoslav
side was violating the blockade. All he had was his suspicions.

Williams did however confirm that Milosevic's policy from the
beginning was that the war in Bosnia should be stopped. He also
confirmed that Milosevic endorsed various peace plans aimed at ending
the war.

In other news, much has been made in the media recently over a
document produced by the prosecution last week which purports to
"link" Milosevic to the alleged events at Srebrenica.

The document in question is allegedly an order from a Bosnian-Serb
police commander where the MUP of Serbia mentioned as participating in
counter-insurgency operations in Srebrenica.

The document has some major problems. The problems indicate that the
document is quite probably a forgery:

1. The document is typewritten, but no Serbian type characters appear
in the typewritten text.
2. The document is typed on a blank piece of paper. It is not typed on
official letterhead.
3. The document isn't signed.
4. The document isn't stamped with the seal of the relevant government
organ.
5. The document contains typographical errors.
6. The words "very urgent" are typed in the English language on the
top of this alleged "Serbian document."

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE SCANNED IMAGE OF THE DOCUMENT:
http://www.iwpr.net/images/tribunal/tri_317_1_rs_order_ser.gif

From looking at the document it is quite obvious that anybody with
access to a typewriter and a blank piece of paper could have produced
it.

=== 3 ===

SPS HOLDS VIDOVDAN DEMONSTRATION AT REPUBLIC SQUARE IN BELGRADE
28 June 2003

On June 28, 2003 the Socialist Party of Serbia circulated a petition
around Serbia calling for the abolition of the Hague Tribunal, and an
end to the selling out of the country to Western capitalists.

Over the period of only a couple of hours the SPS managed to gather
more than 3,000 signatures at their desk at Republic Square in
Belgrade, and the SPS gathered more than 60,000 signatures for the
whole of Serbia.

The police in "democratic" Serbia were unhappy that the flag of the
SPS was displayed publicly and so they "invited" the organizer of the
demonstration to come to the police station with them.

Below are photos of the police, the demonstrators, and the citizens
queuing to sign the petition at Republic Square.

(see:
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/sps/news/sps062803.htm )

=== 4 ===

BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HAGUE WITNESSES: 30 JUNE - 11 JULY 2003

Written by: Vera Martinovic - July 14, 2003

Here's a brief summary of the last 12 witnesses, 5 of which were known
by numbers instead of names, with blurred faces and distorted voices,
and 1 not even that (he was nameless and numberless, and it was simply
announced that his whole testimony would be given in a private
session).

B-1244, a Bosnian Serb civil official during the war, first confirmed
that 30 Frenki Simatovic's men [Commander of the Serbian Special
Police unit] participated in the military takeover of his town (being
asked about it by the Prosecutor Groome in a highly suggestive and
confusing manner]. Then, when Milosevic asked about these men in
detail, he clarified that they were in fact members of the Serbian
Radical Party who arrived in the municipality as volunteers with no
link to Simatovic or to the State Security Department of the Police of
Serbia whatsoever.

C-0006 seemed totally unreliable, claiming to be a Croat who was first
arrested by the local Serbs, and then forced to become a member of the
Serb Territorial Defence in Vukovar. As a shanghaied soldier, he was
somehow at liberty to be miraculously present at all the key moments
and places during these two critical days, seeing all of the important
players in action at least three times a day, listening to their
conversations, coming and going not once but twice to Ovcara Farm,
doing nothing, just puttering about.

He even claimed to have seen Major Sljivancanin in person at Ovcara.
Such a bold thing has never claimed by anybody so far. He even said
hello to the Major, but the latter failed to reply. To boot, he gave
his testimony in English. Yet, with all his alleged hovering presence
(like a Victorian novelist, he was even able to read minds of his
characters), his testimony boiled to already well-known general things
that could be told by anybody watching TV at that time.

Witness "X", testifying in a private session, probably gave crucial
relevant evidence based on his personal gut feeling about how
"Milosevic was a thief who was too much in love with his overweight
wife."

Vlado Vukovic, a former Croatian policeman who fought against the JNA
[Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija = Yugoslav National Army] in Krajina,
became POW and was exchanged later on, claimed that the JNA was in
fact attacking this defenseless Croatian village with no reason at all.
I repeat, he was captured while attacking a JNA facility near the said
village, together with the rest of Croatian policemen and irregulars.

C-1230 testified that how he was the only one who survived an alleged
execution by JNA soldiers in Krajina. The problem is that in his
previous 3 written statements given to the OTP he never mentioned JNA
soldiers, only some local Serb irregulars. Perhaps his memory got
better after several years.

Andreas Riedlemayer, a Harvard expert on Islamic architecture, was
again commissioned by the OTP (after his testimony about Kosovo) to
talk about the destruction of not only the Islamic, but also the
Catholic monuments in Bosnia (as an expert on the Islamic architecture,
of course, and not on destruction nor on Catholicism).

Riedlemayer was not tasked with researching the destruction of the
Catholic monuments destroyed by the Muslims, nor the destruction of
the Muslim monuments destroyed by the Catholics - only the destruction
of the Muslim and Catholic monuments destroyed by the Serbs.

While not being an expert on arms and explosives (by his own
admission), Mr. Riedlemayer somehow managed to know how, and under
what circumstances, all of those monuments were destroyed. Although he
had never bothered to investigate the destruction of Serb monuments,
he somehow knew their destruction was not substantial.

Riedelmayer, was even bold enough to claim that the fact he wrote a
letter to Clinton demanding the UN arms embargo against Bosnian
Muslims should cease to be respected by the US, did not affect his
professional objectivity in the least.

Zoran Lilic, former Yugoslav President, was summoned again, one month
after his previous appearance, to testify about some important
documents recently received by the OTP from the Yugoslav authorities,
namely the transcripts of the meetings of the Supreme Defence Council,
as well as some intercepted highly confidential phone calls.

It turned out to be an anticlimactic, the Council transcripts merely
demonstrated that Milosevic had even less influence, let alone direct
authority over Bosnian Serbs, who opposed him bitterly at every
meeting.

The intercepts (most probably made by the Croatian Security Services)
were useless due to the poor technical quality, so their written
transcripts had been used instead. Nevertheless, they were completely
uninteresting, except one: a phone call between Lilic and General
Perisic (the YU Army Chief of Staff), where Lilic said it had been
agreed that a written guarantee would be provided to General Mladic to
assure him he will not be delivered to the ICTY, in exchange for the
return of two captured French pilots [downed by the Bosnian Serbs
while their Mirage fighter participated in the NATO bombing of the
Serb positions near Pale].

The juicy detail was when Lilic said to Perisic he should explain to
Mladic when negotiating the release of the pilots that both French
President Jacques Chirac and Milosevic had agreed to give that same
guarantee [in order not to spoil the upcoming signing of the Dayton
Accords in Paris].

Another interesting intercept (or, alleged intercept, since there was
no tape at all, just the transcript) was the one in which Milosevic's
wife spoke to the Chef de Cabinet of Karadzic about those French
pilots. The alleged conversation contains no damning details at all, it
could only give a general impression of Milosevic's wife being
influential and meddling into her husband's business. The problem was
that in this transcript Mrs. Markovic called her interlocutor "Rajko"
and referred to her husband as "President Milosevic".

Milosevic claimed his wife never knew any of these people, let alone
on a first-name basis, and expressed surprise that she should refer to
him as "President Milosevic", after spending her whole life with him.
He expressed his concern that the evidence might be forged. He said he
would love to hear the tape of this conversation be played in the
courtroom. It turned out that Mr. Nice couldn't produce any tape, and
so he withdrew this particular piece of "evidence".

Edin Pasic, former translator for Arabic and Turkish in the
ex-Yugoslav federal bodies and the current Ambassador of Bosnia &
Herzegovina to Kuwait, stated that, while passing the corridors of the
Presidential palace on his way to his task of interpreting the
telephone conversation between Muammar el Gaddafi of Libya and the
Yugoslav President Dobrica Cosic in 1992. He saw men in mudded
uniforms who were talking of the killings and throat-cutting they had
done in Bosnia. He must've passing those clean corridors real slow to
be able to hear all the colorful details by those mudded fighters.

Pasic said that the Belgrade mosque on Knez Mihailova street, which he
said he attended regularly, was attacked by a hand grenade. When
Milosevic pointed out that the mosque (repaired and guarded by the
police after that) was not on that street, and when Tapuskovic showed
some interest in how come a Communist like Mr Pasic was attending a
mosque at all, Mr Pasic explained that the mosque must've been
somewhere in the general vicinity of the park (the man had lived in
Belgrade for 16 years, mind you), and that he was not a Communist, but
merely a member of the League of Communists.

Pasic expressed his disdain for the Belgrade Mufti [the head of the
Muslim community], who was regularly seeing Milosevic, or, as the
witness put it "flirted with Milosevic".

Pasic claimed that the Muslims in Belgrade lived under terror, feeling
as if they were wearing "yellow arm-bands" (used by Nazis to identify
Jews), and that the ethnic cleansing had in fact started from
Belgrade. To strengthen such a claim he used his own "horrifying
experience:" President Cosic allegedly offered him to be his adviser
for Islamic countries, but he proudly refused, not wanting to become a
puppet to Milosevic, which Cosic already was (the hapless Cosic
allegedly admitted as much in desperate whispers to his
interpreter/wannabe adviser, who fell down on his knees, begging Cosic
to protect the Bosnian Muslims).

After that, Pasic felt as if he had been followed and his apartment
entered. The terror was such that full 4 years later Pasic calmly left
with his whole family to Hungary, and thence to Egypt, regularly using
his passport to do so. Milosevic didn't appreciate the kneeling
melodrama in the Presidential cabinet and reminded the witness that
Cosic was alive and could testify that nothing similar had happened
and voiced his disgust that such a story came from the witness in the
worst of taste.

May said the bad taste is unimportant, only the sterling quality of
the evidence this witness is providing. Mr Pasic had to say something
damning about the Colonel Sljivancanin, too: apparently, during an
official reception, the Colonel's face literally "lit up when Milosevic
entered the room."

Safet Avdic, a Muslim from Foca who had been a POW in a Bosnian Serb
detention facility and who was subsequently exchanged, described his
prison days, complaining that he has lost a lot of weight there. Oddly
enough, he has never been maltreated, but he heard that some other POWs
had.

Jusuf Taranin, was another Muslim from the same municipality, who
described how 7 Muslims were killed by a bunch of irregulars in a
warehouse that used to belong to the JNA (that must've been the reason
the Prosecution summoned this particular witness - the JNA had been
somehow mentioned in his testimony). He also stated that 10 days
before the clashes began, the JNA came and distributed guns to local
Serbs. When Milosevic asked whether this could have been local
Territorial Defence guys who came and distributed guns, the reliable
witness said: "I don't know, could be."

B-1120 was in the same detention facility in Foca as Safet Avdic, and
he also claimed that the local Muslims were unarmed when attacked by
the vicious Serbs, and that they never fired at all towards the Serb
positions. He had trouble answering how come the battle for Foca lasted
for full 8 days, then.

C-1171 was a member of the ZNG [Zbor Narodne Garde = Croatian National
Guard Corps] in Vukovar, who saw the end was near and with hundreds of
other zenge came to Vukovar Hospital, pretending to be wounded or a
staff member, to be able to come out of the town in a humanitarian
convoy. Along with the others, he was arrested and taken to the Ovcara
Farm. He managed to jump out of the truck, but was caught again.
Strangely enough, he was not executed as could have been expected from
the Serbs on a killing spree, but was shipped to the Belgrade Military
Prison, where he had not been maltreated and where it was established
he was a suspect war criminal (a member of the ZNG explosives unit,
who demolished private Serb property in Vukovar, killing civilians).

C-1171 was subsequently exchanged. His damning testimony re the Ovcara
case was that he, unlike the omnipresent earlier witness C-0006, never
saw Colonel Sljivancanin at the Ovcara Farm at all. He did see some
uniformed men there who had parts of the JNA uniforms on plus fur hats
and various insignia, so sometimes he referred to them as the JNA
soldiers and sometimes as the local irregulars.

When directly asked by Milosevic whether he could confirm these people
were the JNA soldiers, the witness said he didn't know and playfully
added that Milosevic should answer that instead. Witty, but not
evidence. There was an interesting moment when Milosevic produced and
tendered into evidence the original Vukovar Hospital register [taken
away by the JNA after they took over the Hospital], showing that only
45 wounded persons in all (both civilians and military) had been
admitted during the fiercest final battle between 2 and 18 November
1991, a far cry from that horrifying picture that the Hospital
Director Dr Bosanac had painted of overcrowded facility with hundreds
and hundreds of wounded.

The problem with this legal procedure is that it needs some relevant
and hard evidence to build up the case against the defendant. So far,
it was as described above, or even worse. May I suggest to May & Co.
to explain their final sentence by the damning testimony of that
secret witness "X"?

Vera Martinovic is an independent writer based in Belgrade Yugoslavia.
Article Posted For Fair Use Only

=== 5 ===

THE CIRCUS CONTINUES AT THE HAGUE

www.slobodan-milosevic.org - July 11, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

After over 10 days of not watching I found that the so-called "trial"
at the Hague to be as much of a joke as ever.

Today there were 2 secret witnesses who testified, B-1120 and C-1171.

B-1120 was a 92-bis witness for Foca, and his testimony was downright
comical.

B-1120 was a member of the main board of the SDA in Foca virtually
since the inception of the party in 1990.

B-1120 initially claimed that Muslims in Foca armed themselves and
formed armed night patrols before the war began. However, as is often
the case at this so-called "trial," he changed this story 5 minutes
later and claimed that the Muslims had no weapons.

B-1120 explained the deaths of 1,100 Serbs and the burning of Serb
houses and the mass-exodus of Serbs from Foca to Montenegro was all
done by the Serbs themselves!

According to B-1120 the Serbs were killing themselves, expelling
themselves, and burning down their own houses. Only at the Hague
Tribunal could a cock and bull story like that make sense.

The next witness to testify was another secret witness called C-1171.

C-1171 was a member of the ZNG in Vukovar.

Apparently, C-1171 is some sort of war criminal himself, but the
details of his crimes were dealt with in closed session.

At any rate C-1171's testimony had nothing to do with Milosevic. The
only thing that could possibly be connected to Milosevic was the time
that C-1171 spent in the JNA's military prison in Belgrade, and C-1171
testified that nobody mistreated him there.

Between those 2 secret witnesses the so-called "trial chamber" dealt
with the testimony of 6 other secret witnesses who gave mostly secret
evidence in other "trials".

So what we have here is secret witnesses testifying about
God-knows-what with no opportunity for President Milosevic to ask
these secret witnesses about their secret evidence.

This circus in The Hague puts Barnum and Bailey to shame.

Tre modelli a confronto

Breve relazione sulle forme storiche
della regolazione socialista dell’economia

di Gianmarco Pisa, Federazione Prc Napoli
(ringraziamo l'autore per avere messo il testo a disposizione)


1. Sull’economia socialista di piano

All’interno di un sistema socialista a direzione pianificata centrale,
il piano si pone innanzitutto come “metodo”, criterio generale di
determinazione politica delle linee generali della produzione,
orientato all'individuazione delle produzioni strategiche, mediante un
sistema di controllo e direzione, che si articola in due momenti: il
primo quello della definizione politica degli obiettivi generali della
produzione, il secondo quello della partecipazione all'elaborazione del
piano da parte dei singoli responsabili della produzione.
Il piano punta alla determinazione degli obiettivi generali della
crescita economica, della produzione settoriale, e degli assetti
strategici della produzione, secondo una definizione contenuta nel
piano (tipicamente quinquennale, più raramente settennale) definito
appunto ‘prospettico’, in quanto finalizzato a stabilire l'obiettivo
generale di produzione di medio-periodo; e definisce le ricadute
effettive del piano prospettico, che diventa operativo nella forma
di‘piano annuale’ (con i suoi articolati trimestrali o semestrali),
atto a fornire le linee guida delle operazioni economiche da compiere,
le direttive della produzione, le forme dell'interazione tra i vari
comparti produttivi. Qui si inserisce un terzo tipo di piano, che va
sotto il nome di ‘piano degli investimenti’, che fissa gli orientamenti
rispetto alla destinazione degli investimenti produttivi, in ordine
alla quota di pil da destinare all'investimento generale, alla quota di
capitale preventivato da destinare tra i vari settori produttivi, e
infine alla quota di investimento all'interno di ciascun settore. Il
primo orientamento spetta alla dirigenza politica e attiene
strettamente agli obiettivi fissati nel piano prospettico, il secondo
viene preso dai ministeri ed uffici preposti (l'Ufficio Centrale della
Pianificazione stabilisce le coordinate generali del piano e attraverso
i suoi dipartimenti, uffici e ministeri economici le ricadute
particolari) sulla base delle indicazioni emergenti dai dati raccolti
dalla base aziendale, mentre il terzo consta delle decisioni operative
sulla base di un calcolo generale del tasso di interesse e dei tempi di
ammortamento, in un quadro complessivo di gestione a più livelli
dell’intero sistema produttivo.
In questo panorama generale emerge il problema storico dell’economia
sovietica, quello del mantenimento di una forma di mercato ‘socialista’
sotto forma di mantenimento della forma monetaria dello scambio, dovuto
alla permanenza della contraddizione città-campagna e,
conseguentemente, del problema degli approvvigionamenti. Questo
problema determinò la consapevolezza della inopportunità di spingere la
lotta di classe nelle campagne fino alle sue estreme conseguenze
cosicché la collettivizzazione delle campagne non fu resa integrale, ed
accanto al sistema dei sovchoz (le aziende agricole statali, in cui i
contadini lavoravano alle dirette dipendenze dello Stato su una terra
integralmente statalizzata), si affermò quello della cooperazione
contadina nei kolchoz (aziende cooperative non statali, in cui i
contadini cooperatori lavoravano direttamente la terra collettivizzata
con strumenti di produzione di proprietà dello Stato al quale dovevano
poi vendere i loro prodotti).
Il sistema sovietico corrisponde, quindi, alla formulazione socialista
di un sistema economico mediato tra forme statali e cooperative, il che
non traduce in effetti il programma di socializzazione integrale dei
mezzi di produzione (anche in virtù del limite della statalizzazione),
ma risponde alla campagna antikulaki e di conseguenza alla necessità di
assicurare all'egemonia operaia una base salda di collaborazione con il
mondo delle campagne e le fonti di approvvigionamento. Rimaneva
pertanto, di conseguenza, all'interno della pianificazione sovietica,
la validità della legge del valore e la formalizzazione del valore nei
prezzi dei beni, sulla base del lavoro astratto oggettivato contenuto
in essi.
Tale contraddizione all'interno del sistema generale dell'economia di
piano non valse comunque ad inficiare l'impianto generale, appunto per
il carattere non autoregolativo della forma monetaria dello scambio
introdotto nell'Unione e nel sistema delle relazioni tra macrostrutture
distinte (agricoltura, industria, servizi). Se è vero che i prodotti si
scambiano su base mercantile, è anche vero che i prezzi che esprimono
il rapporto di valore all'interno di quella forma di scambio non
esprimono alcun valore aggiunto al bene-merce, come accade nelle
economie capitalistiche, ma semplicemente il valore in sé del
bene-merce sulla base del lavoro sociale oggettivato in esso contenuto
sotto forma di costi diretti della produzione, senza alcuna eccedenza
di valore diversamente capitalizzabile (per esempio sotto forma di
acquisto della forza-lavoro o dei mezzi della produzione, forma
dell’accumulazione capitalistica).
Dal punto di vista strutturale, si può dire che nel sistema economico
sovietico la pianificazione si pone come criterio generale di
regolazione dell’applicazione della legge del valore, in virtù del
quale quest'ultima, pur permanendo come dato all'interno del sistema
della produzione, non assume valore condizionante, nel senso che non
assume alcuna funzione generale di regolazione sociale. Ciò è
dimostrato dalla sostanziale scomparsa delle forme tipicamente
capitalistiche dello “scambio ineguale”, sia nel senso dell'allocazione
sulmercato della forza-lavoro, dal momento che nell'economia sovietica
questa allocazione non esisteva (in quanto il lavoratore non vendeva
privatamente la sua forza-lavoro al capitalista, ma la massa
complessiva di forza-lavoro era allocata nei vari comparti della
produzione sulla base della decisione politica), sia nel senso della
compravendita dei prodotti-merci (in quanto il sistema dello scambio si
fondava non sulla compravendita finalizzata al profitto mediante
accumulazione di quote di valore eccedentarie contenute nel prezzo,
bensì sulla compravendita regolata in sede politica, finalizzata
all'approvvigionamento reciproco mediante una forma monetaria sancita
dal prezzo imposto, uguale ai costi diretti della produzione, sulla
base di una valutazione politica generale orientata all'annullamento
della quota-capitale). .
Ne derivano due conseguenze: la forza-lavoro come valore-lavoro non ha
carattere salariale, dal momento che essa si esprime mediante
aggregazioni salariali su tutti i comparti della vita sociale (l’intero
sistema dei servizi sociali nella struttura sovietica è gratuito) e
come lavoro-vivo non entra all'interno delle quote di capitale
accumulabile dal momento che non esiste proprietà privata dei mezzi di
produzione. Inoltre, l'assenza di unaproprietà privata degli strumenti
della produzione e il sistema della regolazione generale dei prezzi
impedisce la formazione di qualunque profitto aggiuntivo a quello che è
considerato “profitto minimo” (quantità di valore arbitrariamente
fissata in sede politica nell'ambito del computo dei prezzi come
determinazione del valore contenuto nel bene-merce sulla base del
lavoro socialmente necessario), e il sistema stesso della proprietà
statale dei mezzi di produzione fa sì che tutte le quotazioni in conto
capitale (quota del profitto minimo, quote di ammortamento del capitale
fisso, quota generale delle imposte) pertengano al controllo e alla
disponibilità dello Stato e rifluiscano (in quote politicamente
determinate) al sistema delle aziende solo sotto forma di
quote-capitale non capitalizzabili ma investibili unicamente nella
produzione.
La conseguenza del sistema è quella di agire direttamente su tutti i
versanti della composizione sociale del meccanismo della riproduzione,
cioè a dire sui rapporti sociali di produzione: su quello della
forza-lavoro, in quanto ne garantisce la riproducibilità in forme non
capitalistiche, e su quello dei dirigenti delle aziende in quanto
impedisce la maturazione di un plusprofitto e quindi la accumulazione
di capitale. Ciò garantisce il sistema dalla riproduzione della prassi
dell’accumulazione, ma al tempo stesso lo espone al limite della
determinazione simultanea di tutti i singoli fattori della produzione,
compito sostanzialmente inespletabile dal pianificatore in maniera
compiuta, specie se si considerano i limiti della tecnologia sovietica
del software e del calcolo automatico, necessari per questo genere di
operazioni di computo a molteplici livelli.


2. Sull’economia socialista di mercato

La Cina, nella III sessione plenaria dell'XI congresso del Pcc del
1978, ha compiuto una svolta storica, ridislocando il concetto di lotta
di classe, intesa non più come punto centrale del programma del
partito, sostituendolo con quello di “costruzione economica”. Di
conseguenza, la distinzione marxista tra forze produttive e rapporti
sociali di produzione, sebbene rimanga rilevante, viene rivista in
termini diversi da quelli tradizionali, il mercato viene utilizzato
come elemento di dinamizzazione per le forze produttive socialiste e la
nuova condizione del ‘socialismo di mercato’ è finalizzata alla
innovazione economica. Attualmente il sistema produttivo cinese è
ripartito in modo equanime tra il settore pubblico, quello cooperativo
e quello privato, con una leggera preponderanza del primo e all’interno
di un orientamento generale fissato dal piano generale della produzione
sotto la direzione politica del partito. Il risultato di questa
evoluzione si misura nei tassi di crescita dell'economia cinese (10%
circa annuo in tutti gli anni Novanta), un tasso di crescita che
consentirà nel giro di un decennio alla Cina di superare il prodotto
interno lordo Usa. Non stupisce quindi il grado dell’integrazione
dell’economia cinese con la maggiore economia mondiale, quella Usa:
tale integrazione economica si spiega anche con i dati degli scambi: la
Cina esporta 32.4 b$ negli Usa (35% export cinese) e importa 8.8 b$
dagli Usa (2% export statunitense, dati 1999). La Cina rappresenta la
fonte del 7.5% dell'import statunitense, mentre viene dagli Usa il 5%
dell'import Cinese. Si ritiene valutabile in 200.000 posti di lavoro
negli Usa il costo sociale di un taglio dei rapporti con la Cina.
Il XXI secolo si apre per la Cina all'insegna della necessità di
mantenere una propria egemonia strategica nella regione e un proprio
primato rispetto alle economia delle altre ‘tigri asiatiche’, in modo
da confermarle lo status di potenza regionale - e nel medio periodo non
solo regionale - che attualmente le compete, nonostante il
rallentamento dell'ultimo biennio, che comunque non le ha impedito di
mantenere la media di incremento del proprio pil su valori stabilmente
ancorati attorno all'8% annuo in media, e di registrare nel 1999 un
aumento su base annua del valore degli scambi borsistici pari al 50%
superando la media giornaliera dei 13 mld di yuan, un valore di
crescita assolutamente strabiliante. La forza dell'economia cinese si
basa su due pilastri: il sistema misto integrato che caratterizza la
struttura economica, nel quadro del modello socialista di mercato, e le
‘regioni economiche speciali’, con la funzione dinamizzante
dell’economia di mercato a spingere la crescita e il sistema regolativo
centrale, guidato dall’impresa pubblica e dalla forte spinta agli
investimenti, attualmente concentrati nelle regioni dell’interno, ad
assicurare il controllo governativo e a fare da calmiere nei periodi di
recessione. Ciò significa che il modello cinese misto, controllato
dallo Stato ma aperto al libero mercato e in grado di cogliere ogni
occasione di crescita, è percepito come una garanzia di mantenimento di
un tasso di crescita costantemente superiore a quello della stragrande
maggioranza degli altri paesi del mondo, tanto è vero che la bilancia
commerciale ha fatto segnare per il 1999 un surplus di 30 mld di
dollari, con riserve straniere che ammontano a quasi 150 mld di
dollari, parzialmente convertiti in euro.
Dopo aver viaggiato agli inizi degli anni Novanta su punte massime
addirittura superiori al 14% nei casi record, attualmente il pil
viaggia intorno a valori più regolari e stabili del 7-8% annuo, con un
tasso di crescita delle esportazioni introno al 6-8%, arrivando a circa
200 mld $ nell'insieme nel 2000. Se a ciò si aggiunge che il volume
degli scambi negli ultimi 25 anni è passato da 20 a 450 mld $, cioè si
è moltiplicato di ben 25 volte (quello americano di appena 8.5 volte)
si può affermare che la Cina è destinata a giocare un ruolo chiave
nell'economia mondiale già a partire da questa generazione. Questo,
però, non significa per la Cina la soluzione di tutti i problemi, anzi:
la crescita della domanda interna, che pure viaggia a ritmi assai
sostenuti, tra il 6 e l'8% annuo, non è in grado da sola di fare da
traino ad una ripresa così vigorosa dell'economia. In particolare, il
sistema bancario è in difficoltà: tra sofferenze (3%) e crediti
dichiarati inesigibili (9%) i problemi finanziari delle banche hanno
raggiunto una dimensione tale che si è reso necessario l'intervento
della banca centrale per garantire la tenuta dell'intero sistema. La
prevista riconversione di una parte delle aree destinate alla
coltivazione del cotone, del riso e dello zucchero, con l'obiettivo di
migliorarne la qualità, aumentarne le quotazioni sul mercato, favorire
una maggiore diversificazione della produzione agricola, incoraggiando
anche colture più remunerative, ha ricevuto un forte impulso, ma
procede ancora lentamente, rivelandosi ancora una volta l’agricoltura
l'anello debole della catena produttiva cinese - come del resto è
sempre stato storicamente per tutti i sistemi a guida
grande-industriale. Una peculiarità del sistema cinese del socialismo
di mercato è la non armonicità del sistema creditizio: il 75% del pil
proviene dai settori privati, che però hanno accesso soltanto al 35%
dell'ammontare dei crediti bancari, laddove il restante 25% della quota
pil dovuta al settore pubblico è finanziato ancora per il 65% dal
credito bancario. E’ una caratteristica significativa, perché rende
ragione della centralità pubblica della direzione del meccanismo della
riproduzione economica in Cina. E’ noto che l'economia cinese del
resto, prova a evolvere sul duplice binario del mercato e della
direzione socialista dell’economia, puntando da una parte a chiudere le
imprese di Stato improduttive e dall'altra a mantenere in piedi e
cercare anzi di potenziare quelle redditizie, secondo un progetto di
integrazione competitiva tra le due economie, che potrebbe
rappresentare una sintesi originale delle esperienze storiche
precedenti ed anche un modo di tenere insieme l'esigenza di una
maggiore competitività sui mercati finanziari mondiali e quella di
garantire un livello di protezione sociale, adeguato agli standard
socialisti, alla luce di un’esigenza resa impellente dalla complessità
della struttura sociale interna della Cina.
In questo quadro è da interpretarsi il progetto degli investimenti per
infrastrutture strategiche messo in cantiere dal governo cinese per
l'ammodernamento di tutto il sistema-paese in un arco di tempo
decennale a partire dal 1999, nonché altri provvedimenti significativi:
l'entrata in vigore della nuova legge che elimina il monopolio statale
sui movimenti del mercato del lavoro (assunzioni e licenziamenti),
affidandoli anche a enti parastatali o privati sotto controllo
pubblico, ed il lancio del software “red flag linus” per
l'informatizzazione dell'apparato amministrativo. La vera forza
dell'ammodernamento della Cina è probabilmente il settore delle
comunicazioni: in questo ambito si inseriscono il piano di
razionalizzazione delle 27 compagnie aeree del paese, che hanno
determinato nel 1999 un volume d'affari di 1mld $ di profitti per 65
mln di passeggeri, attorno ai tre poli dell'Air China su Pechino, la
China Eastern su Shanghai, e la China Southern a Guangdong; il piano
commerciale di interscambio con l'Ue (la Cina con il10% del volume
totale è già oggi il terzo fornitore del nostro paese dopo Francia e
Germania e punta ad una vera e propria egemonia dei mercati mondiali,
grazie soprattutto alla competitività dei suoi prodotti, in virtù del
basso costo del lavoro); il piano Internet (su cui il governo cinese
esercita un rigoroso controllo ma che ha già aperto a decine di mln di
abbonati); ed infine, la conquista più recente, l'ingresso ufficiale
della Cina nel Wto del 2002. L'ingresso formale della Cina nel Wto è
stato assicurato a Ginevra il 17/9/2001, e ufficializzato durante il
Wto round in Quatar: l'ingresso ripropone la questione della
competitività del sistema cinese, ma anche il suo ruolo di regolatore
degli scambi nell’area Asean (di cui diede prova già al tempo della
crisi del Sudest asiatico, recuperata proprio grazie alla politica
valutaria decisa dal governo cinese e alla non svalutazione della sua
moneta). Del resto la Cina punta a essere competitiva per determinati
comparti produttivi e a battere la concorrenzadi altri paesi in via di
sviluppo e che figurano tra i 146 membri del Wto. In particolare, il
documento sottoscritto a Ginevra, che è la piattaforma dell'ingresso
della Cina, contiene un capitolo, che è la grande vittoria politica di
Pechino, in cui, a dispetto del fatto che a partire dal 2010 il pil
della Cina raggiungerà quello americano, è stato stabilito che sino al
2008 i cinesi pagheranno per ben 1600 prodotti dazi inferiori all'1%,
in virtù dello status di “nazione povera” ad essa concesso, il che le
ha già provocato l'accusa di fare una politica di vero e proprio
dumping sociale.


3. Sull’autogestione

Il sistema dell’autogestione corrisponde alla formazione economica
adottata in Jugoslavia a partire dal 1950, anno in cui, a seguito dei
limiti del sistema di pianificazione centrale adottato precedentemente
(bassa accumulazione causata dalla mancata decentralizzazione
produttiva, scarsa diversificazione qualitativa dei prodotti, carente
formazione di quadri nelle diverse specializzazioni
tecnico-produttive), è stata assunta le decisione di passare alla forma
dell’autogestione. Questa si basa sulla struttura del consiglio
operaio, che è un organismo sociale, formalmente non collocato sotto il
controllo del partito, incaricato della direzione della produzione e
delle relazioni industriali. Il modello ha consentito, attraverso il
controllo diretto della produzione e la riduzione degli addetti
dell’apparato, una maggiore aderenza al mercato, la regolazione della
produzione sulla base della legge della domanda e dell’offerta (con
conseguente diversificazione produttiva), ma anche, d’altra parte, una
certa sperequazione tra le diverse imprese, quanto alla
compartecipazione del reddito complessivo prodotto, e tra le diverse
regioni della Federazione, dovuta aldiverso ritmo di sviluppo e alla
non omogenea industrializzazione del Paese. Non a caso a seguito
dell’adozione dell’autogestione, che ha finito con il migliorare la
produzione, ma anche con l’accrescere simili disparità, si è imposta
una modalità nuova di intervento dello Stato centrale, che regola la
compartecipazione al reddito agendo soprattutto mediante la leva degli
investimenti e attraverso l’imposizione di barriere doganali volte a
difendere la produzione industriale.
Lo Stato acquisisce all’interno del sistema la funzione di orientamento
e riequilibrio attraverso la leva dei fondi di investimento, che
mediamente raccolgono circa il 50% dei profitti della Federazione;
viceversa, il Partito non detiene un ruolo centrale, se non quello
della definizione ideologica della funzione della autogestione e
dell’autogoverno e, conseguentemente, quello della regolazione sociale
del consenso, attraverso gli organismi sociali di massa. In altre
parole, il partito agisce tra le masse attraverso i suoi quadri che
sostengono le posizioni generali negli organismi, ma senza esercita una
direzione politica impositiva all’interno dei consigli: non a caso,
esso possiede un funzionariato piuttosto ridotto e ha un funzionamento
interno decisamente snello, specialmente se comparato con gli organismi
dei partiti al potere nelle altre democrazie popolari. Il partito, ha,
invece, un ruolo cruciale al di fuori dei luoghi della produzione, dove
funge da organizzatore sociale, attraverso le assemblee, nei suoi vari
gradi, e svolge questo ruolo di concerto con i consigli dei produttori,
pur esercitando in questo caso una funzione dirigente più esplicita:
formalmente, comunque, le assemblee di partito e i consigli dei
produttori hanno diritti uguali per i problemi di rispettiva competenza
e possono tenere sedute comuni per problemi comuni.
All’interno del quadro economico generale, tutte le attività produttive
sono autogestite e le forze produttive fondamentali, di proprietà
sociale, sono controllate dai consigli dei lavoratori, eccezion fatta
per la terra (di proprietà statale) e per alcuni settori
dell’artigianato (che hanno una regolazione diversa e privatistica). Il
consiglio operaio è una struttura assembleare elettiva (è eletto dalle
maestranze): i suoi membri non sono remunerati e tutti i membri devono
essere attivi all’interno della produzione. Pur essendo una struttura
sostanzialmente leggera, e comunque poco burocratizzata, in ragione
della gran mole di ambiti sui quali interviene (sostanzialmente, tutte
le questioni del lavoro, della produzione e delle relazioni
industriali), esso si struttura in commissioni interne, di cui possono
far parte anche operai non membri del consiglio (democrazia interna).
Il consiglio operaio detiene il potere formale ed effettivo nella
produzione e le sue decisioni, oltre ad essere vincolanti, non possono
essere annullate se non dal consiglio medesimo. Il reddito netto delle
aziende viene diviso in base ad una legge apposita (definita ‘legge dei
salari’) e ripartito nei diversi fondi di investimento per la quota
destinata allo Stato; il salario viene invece garantito dall’unità
produttiva per l’80% e per il restante 20% compartecipato dallo Stato,
che detiene il controllo di un fondo, da cui si estrae una quota
eccedentaria corrisposta al lavoratore in premio (qualcosa di simile,
per intenderci, alla nostra 13a). Il reddito nel sistema jugoslavoè
diviso tra salari per i lavoratori, quota destinata alla comune, quota
destinata all’accumulazione o al consumo (questa è una voce variabile,
a seconda della decisione del consiglio di fabbrica). Il sindacato
svolge una funzione importante: partecipa alla fissazione dei salari,
si occupa della previdenza, gestisce le funzioni ricreative e,
parzialmente, associative.
Il vantaggio principale dell’autogestione è indubbiamente connesso con
la possibilità di associare direttamente alla direzione del sistema
produttivo la classe operaia: da questo punto di vista, in effetti, vi
è una divisione delle mansioni di responsabilità, dal momento che,
all’interno della fabbrica, la responsabilità tecnica e legale è del
direttore, ma la responsabilità generale di direzione ed organizzazione
della produzione è del consiglio di fabbrica; il suo svantaggio
probabilmente è quello di non garantire necessariamente uno sviluppo
armonico della produzione e di non poter impedire un ruolo socialmente
regolativo della legge del valore e della funzione di mercato
(permanenza della validità della legge della domanda e dell’offerta).
Non a caso, lo Stato, anche in regime di autogestione, interviene con
diversi mezzi per riequilibrare gli scompensi: non solo gli
investimenti, ma anche, ad esempio, gli incentivi materiali, il
controllo del commercio estero della valuta, la predisposizione di
fondi speciali di sostegno per le regioni arretrate.
Pur garantendo uno sviluppo dell’economia in senso socialista, grazie
soprattutto alla funzione dello Stato, il sistema economico resta
duale, e può essere definito come un sistema a economia pianificata di
mercato. In questo sistema un ruolo centrale rivestono le cooperative,
il cui sviluppo è stato storicamente condizionato dallo sviluppo della
meccanica e dell’industrializzazione del paese (macchine e
fertilizzanti) e la cui funzione è quella dell’organizzazione della
produzione contadina sulla base di un modello
solidaristico-collettivistico (vicino a quello del kolchoz sovietico);
il sistema delle cooperative costituisce, in effetti, nel sistema
economico jugoslavo, la funzione di controllo dell’intero lavoro dei
contadini, non esistendo un sistema di aziende agricole di Stato
sufficientemente esteso.
L’assenza di direzione politica effettiva del partito all’interno dei
luoghi della produzione fa sì che si registri una singolare
non-omogeneità politica tra i lavoratori medesimi rispetto alle grandi
questioni teorico-politiche ed ideologiche: erano, ad esempio, diffuse
tra i lavoratori jugoslavi, posizioni che sostenevano che
l’autogestione consentisse una trasformazione delle basi materiali del
sistema capitalistico, rendendolo,di conseguenza, accettabile, oppure
che ritenevano non vi fosse una frontiera geografica ed economica tra i
Paesi del blocco socialista e quelli capitalisti, segno, questo,
probabilmente, della notevole apertura al mercato internazionale da
parte della Jugoslavia, in rapporto agli altri Paesi del blocco
socialista, e della sua mancata adesione al Comecon.
Si registrano, inoltre, interventi attivi, sebbene sporadici, dello
Stato all’interno del sistema di fabbrica per fermare il
corporativismo, altra minaccia al sistema dell’autogestione; in ogni
caso, anche in circostanze di questo genere, non è il partito che
interviene. Del resto i meccanismi del controllo, nella realtà
produttiva jugoslava, risultano essere decisamente ridotti,
riguardando, in prevalenza, controlli di legittimità e di rispetto
della legge, anche in virtù della sostanziale assenza di conflitti
interni al sistema delle relazioni di fabbrica. Lo stesso apparato
ispettivo della Federazione, nonché le commissioni di controllo del
partito sono relativamente modeste e impegnate in circostanze
specifiche generalmente non concernenti conflitti di lavoro; da questo
punto di vista si può dire che il risultato più importante conseguito
dal modello dell’autogestione è proprio quello di aver coniugato in
maniera più efficace di altri sistemi storicamente sviluppati le
esigenze della produzione con quelli di un’effettiva democrazia
socialista in generale, e, in particolare, sui luoghi di lavoro.

http://www.srp.hr/

---

Novi list 25.05.2003.

RAZGOVOR: DR. STIPE ŠUVAR, PREDSJEDNIK SRP-a I AUTOR KNJIGE »HRVATSKI
KARUSEL«

Hrvatska je na ringišpilu koji neće tako skoro stati

S čela skupine od 28 tranzicijskih zemalja Hrvatska je došla na
začelje. Pa, sada smatramo uspjehom ako nas Europa tretira da smo
jednako zreli za EU kao Rumunjska i Bugarska

Razgovarao Neven ŠANTIĆ

Sredinom lipnja dr. Stipe Šuvar, sveučilišni profesor, predsjednik
Spcijalističke radničke partije (SRP) te vlasnik i urednik časopisa
»Hrvatska ljevica«, objavit će, nakon pauze od 14 godina, svoju 20.
knjigu. Na više od 500 stranica sakupio je svoje tekstove pisane u
posljednjih 13 godina, naslovivši knjigu »Hrvatski karusel« (prilozi
političkoj sociologiji hrvatskog društva).
   
Bez obzira na to što su tekstovi u knjizi dosad već objavljeni u
novinama, časopisima, znanstvenim, stručnim i političkim
skupovima, očekujete li i da ovako skupljeni nekoga ponukaju na
razmišljanje a ponekog i na polemiku s Vama?
   
– Ovi tekstovi neće ponukati na razmišljanje one koji su ih i dosad
imali priliku čitati, a ti se uglavnom slažu sa mnom. Nisam siguran da
će ih čitati oni drugi koji misle različito od mene, ali knjigu
i dajem na uvid široj javnosti da bi ih eventualno zaintrigirao i
polemizirao s njima. Kroz cijeli život nisam bježao od polemike,
štoviše volim je. Inače, kroz posljednjih petnaest godina ispisao sam
mnogo toga i ako bude vremena i mogućnosti pojavit će se još dvije moje
knjige. Jedna bi se zvala »Historija tragikomika«, a druga »Pogledi o
tranziciji i globalizaciji«.
   
Zašto baš »Hrvatski karusel«?
   
– Karusel je internacionalna riječ koja znači vrtuljak, ringišpil. Htio
sam poručiti da je Hrvatska cijelo to vrijeme od 1990. godine, od kada
se kao država osamostalila, na vrtuljku i da to stanje neće u dogledno
vrijeme prestati.
   
»Kolonije od Triglava do Vardara«

Samo letimičan pogled na jedanaest poglavlja i naslove tekstove
izazivaju dojam katastrofičnosti. Smatrate li sebe katastrofičarem?
   
– Ako sam katastrofičar onda bih sam sebi tepao da sam katastrofičar
sui generis. U Hrvatskoj je malo ljudi koji danas nisu
katastrofičari. Uzmite hadezeovce i sve te stranke koje su se iščilile
iz HDZ-a kada se on danas raspada kao svenarodni pokret. Vidite da
svaki dan kada zinu oglašavaju se kao katastrofičari. Kažu da je
postojeća vlast dovela Hrvatsku u katastrofu i da jedini izlaz njihov
povratak na vlast. Ako pak gledate ove koji su sada na vlasti, oni su
isto katastrofičari. Kažu da je stanje bilo katastrofalno i da oni sada
kola izvlače iz blata, pa traže još vremena da bude bolje. Ja sam
katastrofičar u tom smislu što na stvari gledam tako da se s Hrvatskom
dogodilo to što se dogodilo i da u nečemu dijeli sudbinu svih 28
tranzicijskih zemalja, s tim što je ona kroz ovo vrijeme s čela,
ekonomski i civilizacijski, zemalja te skupine došla na začelje. Pa,
sada smatramo uspjehom ako nas Europa tretira da smo jednako zreli za
EU kao Rumunjska i Bugarska, koje su 1990. godine bile daleko iza
Hrvatske.
   
Pa i to je nešto.
   
– Hrvatska je sada mala, periferna europska zemlja koja nikome nije
zanimljiva, ali će je EU uzeti u svoje okrilje jer mora uzeti
cijeli jugoistok Europe. Uzet će nas možda ipak zajedno sa Srbijom,
BiH, Makedonijom i Albanijom, onako uđuture, a ako nas uzmu četiri ili
dvije godine ranije opet je to ista sudbina. Katastrofičar sam u tom
smislu kako sagledavam stvari ne samo u odnosu na Hrvatsku nego na
cijeli ovaj prostor koji je bio u granicama bivše Jugoslavije. Zato i
zadnje poglavlje knjige nosi naslov »Kolonije od Triglava do
Vardara«
   
Ne do Đevđelije?
   
– To je bio prvi naslov koji ću vjerojatno promijeniti, iako bi
efektniji naslov bio »Od Triglava do Đevđelije, kolonija do kolonije«.
Dakle, Hrvatsku promatram u jednom geostrateškom okruženju, a
to mora činiti svaki ozbiljan analitičar.
   
Nema planova razvoja

Je li moglo biti drukčije?
   
– Svakako da je moglo. Uzmite samo usporedbu Slovenije i Hrvatske. U
Sloveniji se štošta ispod žita događa što je također onespokojavajuće.
Podsjećam samo na bezobzirno brisanje »južnjaka« iz popisa postojećih
građana. Ali Slovenija je iskoristila priliku raspada Jugoslavije i
izlaska iz nje na puno pametniji i racionalniji način. Ona je početkom
devedesetih bila 30 posto razvijenija od Hrvatske, a sada je sto posto.
Nije bezobzirno rasprodavala svoju društvenu imovinu, sačuvala je mnoga
socijalna i radna prava, standard njenih građana je mnogo veći.
   
Vrijedi li i sredinom 2003. godine ona Vaša pozanta izreka da je
račanizam nastavak tuđmanizma?
   
– Vaša kolegica Jelena Lovrić, s čijim se kolumnama uglavnom slažem,
upozorava na bit Račanove politike i njegove stranke. U jednoj
od posljednjih kolumni napisala je da nema nijedne stranke koja
zagovara interese rada, a da i Račanova stranka zagovara interese
kapitala. Postoji, međutim, stranka kojoj sam ja na čelu, SRP, koja
zagovara interese rada samo što je nema u Saboru. Niti je mogla ući u
Sabor jer se 2000. godine za nju gotovo nije ni znalo. A svi su tada
išli na izbore samo s željom da HDZ siđe s vlasti i glasali za
koaliciju Račan-Budiša. No, SDP nije više, to ljudi trebaju shvatiti,
stranka socijaldemokracije. Socijaldemokracija je na strani
rada, a kroz ove tri i pol godine mandata koalicije u kojoj je SDP
najutjecajniji pokazalo se da ta stranka nije na strani rada.
   
I birači sazrijevaju

Gdje je onda uopće izlaz iz situacije u kojoj jesmo?
   
– Moramo imati koncept razvoja, a sve smo to razradili u programu
SRP-a, u kojem moramo polaziti od svojih komparativnih resursa,
od obrazovne razine svog stanovništva, od prirodne radišnosti,
nadarenosti i sposobnosti, da i ja kažem to patetično, hrvatskog
čovjeka bez obzira na etničku pripadnost, od optimalnog uklapanja u
najbliže regionalno, europsko i svjetsko tržište. Sada toga nema. Nitko
ne radi na planovima razvoja, mi smo jedina država u Europi koja nema
resor planiranja.
   
Tvrdite, dakle, da Vaša stranka nudi izlaz, ali što to vrijedi kada
vas birači ne prepoznaju?
   
– Naša stranka koja je pod staklenim zvonom, prešućuju nas,
nemamo novca, logistike, ima više pristaša i dobit će na
izborima više glasova nego Liberalna stranka, čak više nego IDS i mnoge
stranke koje su sada u parlamentu. Ali, nas neće u koaliciju, kao što
ni mi nećemo s nekima. Realnost je da imamo dvije stranke, SDP i HDZ,
koje se hrvu za vlast i treću između njih, HSS, koja će se prodati
onome od koga više dobije. HSS je sada dobro jer ima 10 posto birača i
bar 40 posto vlasti u Hrvatskoj. No, da se vratim SRP-u, da u Hrvatskoj
ljudi ne rezoniraju po sistemu »vi ste mali i nemoćni, ne
prihvaća vas šira javnost, ako damo vama glas onda je to izgubljen glas
pa je bolje dati glas SDP-u«, mi bismo mirne duše mogli reći da bi
dobili desetak posto glasova, iako sam i sada optimist i smatram da
ćemo ući u parlament. A kada bi ušli u Sabor sve bi bilo drukčije. Ali
promijenit će se i to, SRP neće uvijek biti na margini. Ne moram ja to
dočekati. Za pet, šest godina u Hrvatskoj će biti drukčiji tokovi,
treba puno očekivati od političkog osvješćivanja mlađeg naraštaja koji
sada glumi apolitičnost, prilike će nas sve zajedno prisiliti na neke
rezove i preokrete. I birači polako ali sigurno sazrijevaju.

Novi list 17.07.2003.

---

BOGOMIL KARLAVARIS, KASTAV: TEKSTOVI ROBERTA FRANKA UZ DAN
ANTIFAŠISTIČKE BORBE

Treba objediniti sve pokrete koji vode k slobodi i demokraciji

Zanemarena je važna činjenica da u Rijeci djeluju još najmanje
dvije antifašističke grupacije i to – mladi socijalisti SRP-a i
mladi SDP-a. Njihova antifašistička ishodišta sigurno nisu
potpuno neovisna o idealima NOB-a

Osjećam potrebu da svoje reagiranje otpočnem priznanjem »Novom
listu« što je i ove godine obilježio 22. lipnja, Dan
antifašističke borbe. Isto tako pohvalu zaslužuje Robert Frank
koji je nastojao otkriti neke manje poznate pojave o novom
antifašizmu. On naglašava, što ističe i u naslovu svoga teksta,
da novi antifašizam ne koketira ni s Titom ni s NOB-om. Motivi
antifašizma zaista mogu biti različiti, ali suština ostaje
uvijek ista borba protiv autoritarizma, ideološke
jednostranosti, ugrožavanja ljudskih sloboda, uskih interesa nacionalne
buržoazije, itd. Upravo zbog mogućih dilema, uprkos izrečenoj
pohvali, smatram da treba reagirati na spomenuti tekst i malo
šire procjenjivati pojave.
    U svom tekstu Robert Frank navodi nekoliko grupa
mladih antifašista (RAF – riječki antifašistički front, AFF –
antifašistički front, AFA – antifašističke akcija, RAI – riječki
anarhisti te grupe trockista), a njihova ishodišta vidi u pokretu
pankera i antiglobalista, koji imaju sve veći utjecaj na mlade u
Hrvatskoj. Iz teksta se vidi da su ove grupe još malobrojne i
daleko ispod snaga neofašističkih grupacija, koje uglavnom
djeluju javno noseći ustaška znamenja, kukasti križ i sliku
Ante Pavelića. Iako vjerujem da utjecaj NOB-a nije presudan,
treba imati u vidu da antiglobalizam, kao otpor dominaciji
interesa krupnog kapitala, u suštini ima sličnu reakciju kao
nekada antifašizam u vrijeme postojanja nasilja i rata fašističkih
država ili, u današnje vrijeme, nasilja i agresivnosti neofašizma.
Bliskost fašističkih metoda i današnjih centara moći u interesu
male grupacije ljudi otkrio je i prošlogodišnji razgovor o
fašizmu i antifašizmu u »Novom listu« eminentnih stručnjaka.
Sličan otpor oblicima moći dvaju blokova pružao je svojedobno i
Tito osnivanjem pokreta nesvrstanih. Otuda je prividna
neovisnost današnjih mladih antifašista od Tita i NOB-a.
    Međutim, u zaključku Roberta Franka o neovisnosti
novih antifašista, zanemarena je važna činjenica da u Rijeci djeluju
još najmanje dvije antifašističke grupacije i to – mladi
socijalisti SRP-a i mladi SDP-a. Njihova antifašistička ishodišta
sigurno nisu potpuno neovisna o idealima NOB-a, iako je danas postao
aktualniji otpor fašizma s pozicija novih shvaćanja o
demokratskom socijalizmu. Kao i zreli građani i mladi osjećaju
svu izopačenost ne samo neofašizma, već i manjkavost današnjih
normi građanske i parlamentarne demokracije. To neminovno vodi
do traženja modela novog, boljeg svijeta, a on se može naći
samo u potpunom oslobađanju čovjeka od ovisnosti, dakle u
ljudskoj slobodi, njegovom utjecaju na sve tokove života u
punoj demokratskoj proceduri.
    Demokracija se, dakle, može samo širiti na nova
područja života od sadašnjeg političkog, preko ekonomskog do društvenog
područja. Tome se uzaludno suprotstavljaju fašisti. I u tome je
i suština borbe antifašista, koji će slabljenjem fašizma,
izgubiti veće društvene značenje, nažalost, danas još moraju
imati. Vjerujem u objedinjavanje svih pokreta koji vode slobodi
i demokraciji, reagira Bogomil Karlavaris, Kastav.

(english / italiano)

La eliminazione dei serbi dalla Croazia

1: Il ruolo attivo degli USA

A. Coverup at The Hague Tribunal - Mercenary Outfit on Contract to the
Pentagon behind 1995 Ethnic Massacres in the Krajina region of Croatia
(M. Chossudovski / Centre for Research on Globalisation / CBC Canada)
SULLO SPORCO LAVORO DELLA AGENZIA DI MERCENARI MPRI, AL SOLDO DEL
PENTAGONO, E SULLO SPORCHISSIMO LAVORO DI COPERTURA DA PARTE DEL
"TRIBUNALE" DELL'AIA

B. Was the US behind the single greatest act of ethnic cleansing in
Yugoslavia? (By Stephen Gowans)
ANALISI DEL RUOLO DEGLI USA NELLA EPURAZIONE ETNICA DELLA CROAZIA

C. U.S., Clinton accused of war atrocities (J.T. Kuhner, The Washington
Times 4/22/2002)
IL GENERALE GOTOVINA CHIAMA IN CORREITA' CLINTON PER LA EPURAZIONE
ETNICA DELLA CROAZIA


=== A ===

http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO307D.html
 
www.globalresearch.ca
Centre for Research on Globalisation
Centre de recherche sur la mondialisation
 
Coverup at The Hague Tribunal

Mercenary Outfit on Contract to the Pentagon behind 1995 Ethnic
Massacres in the Krajina region of Croatia

www.globalresearch.ca   July 2003
The URL of this article is:
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO307D.html
 
The Hague Tribunal (ICTY) has asked:

"to interview retired [Croatian] general Mirko Norac as a suspect over
two military operations during the 1991-95 war, a government statement
said.
Norac, 34, was sentenced in March by a Croatian court to a 12 years in
jail for organizing the executions of at least 50 ethnic Serbs
civilians in October 1991 near the central town of Gospic.
He is the highest ranking Croatian officer to be sentenced by a local
court for war crimes committed during the 1991-95 war with
Belgrade-backed rebel Serbs, who opposed Croatia's independence from
the former Yugoslavia.
The International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) wants
to interview Norac about a 1993 operation in the so-called Medak
pocket, in central Croatia, and a 1995 operation -- dubbed Storm --
which practically ended the  conflict." AFP, 19 July, 2003).

On 21 July,  the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) acknowledged
the role of MPRI, a US mercenary Outfit on contract to the Pentagon in
Operation Storm,  the 1995 ethnic massacres in the Krajina region of
Serbia. Since the 1990s, both the ICTY and the media have been involved
in a coverup of the role of the US military in the 1993 Medak pocket 
and 1995 Operation Storm ethnic massacres.

Below you will find  the following texts:

1. Transcript of CBS New Story: Croatian Atrocities being forgotten:
http://www.cbc.ca/MRL/clips/ram-audio/dyer1_wr030721.ram

2. Part of a text by Michel Chossudovsky on the role of MPRI, in
Krajina first published in 1999 as part of a larger study entitled NATO
has Installed a Reign of Terror in Kosovo, (
http://www.iacenter.org/warcrime/chossu.htm or
http://www.softmakers.com/fry/docs/chossudovsky.htm )
 
--- Croatian Atrocities being forgotten ---

CBC Report
21 Jul 2003 9:32:11 OTTAWA

Canadian officers say they are frustrated by inaction over a 1995
ethnic cleansing operation by Croatians against Serbs – one in which
the Croats may have had western help.
They documented numerous atrocities during Operation Storm, which was a
four-day campaign by the Croats to recover land held in central and
southern Croatia for four years by Serbian militias.
However, not one person has been arrested and brought before the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
More than 200,000 Serbs were expelled, and thousands were killed.
"Just amazing. You can see the holes in the back of the head," said
Capt. Gerry Carron, showing pictures he took to document the killings.
"We found people in wells," he said. "There was an old lady we found
head-first in a well. Why did they do that?"
Some top military officers said the expertise required to plan and
execute Operation Storm meant it couldn't have been done by the Croats
alone.

Croatia's American consultant

Fingers have been pointed at Military Professional Resources Inc.
(MPRI), a U.S. consulting company based in Alexandria, Virginia.
The company's Web site points to an article in which the Croatian
government praised the job MPRI has done for it – although MPRI has
denied involvement in Operation Storm.
"I don't think it was the Croats themselves that did that," said
Maj.-Gen. Alain Fourand, who commanded UN forces in the area of
Operation Storm, adding he suspected it was MPRI.
Maj.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, who will be going to Afghanistan to command
Canadian troops, also said he doubts the Croats themselves pulled off
Operation Storm.
"That was done by people who really knew what they were doing," he
said, adding he didn't think the Croats had the expertise.
Croatia was getting assistance in other ways. Argentina supplied
artillery used in Operation Storm – despite a UN ban and even though
their own soldiers were working there as peacekeepers.
Looking back, Carron said peacekeepers may have made things worse by
disarming the Serbs while the Croats re-armed.
Canadian officers say the involvement of the West could explain the
foot-dragging on prosecution, although the tribunal said the case is
largely circumstantial.
The Canadians also believe the Croatian commander of Operation Storm is
being protected by supporters in Croatia's government, and that not
enough diplomatic pressure is being exerted.

Written by CBC News Online staff
 
--- The Role of the MPRI in the Krajina Massacres ---

by Michel Chossudovsky
31 July 1999

This following excerpt was part of a text presented to the Independent
Commission of Inquiry to Investigate U.S./NATO War Crimes Against The
People of Yugoslavia, International Action Center, New York, July 31,
1999. The full text entitled: NATO has installed a Reign of Terror in
Kosovo, can be consulted at
http://www.iacenter.org/warcrime/chossu.htm or
http://www.softmakers.com/fry/docs/chossudovsky.htm
 
According to the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights,
Operation Storm resulted in the massacre of at least 410 civilians in
the course of a three day operation (4 to 7 August 1995).22 An internal
report of The Hague War Crimes Tribunal (leaked to the New York Times),
confirmed that the Croatian Army had been responsible for carrying out:

"summary executions, indiscriminate shelling of civilian populations
and "ethnic cleansing" in the Krajina region of Croatia...."23

In a section of the report entitled "The Indictment. Operation Storm, A
Prima Facie Case.", the ICTY report confirms that:

"During the course of the military offensive, the Croatian armed forces
and special police committed numerous violations of international
humanitarian law, including but not limited to, shelling of Knin and
other cities... During, and in the 100 days following the military
offensive, at least 150 Serb civilians were summarily executed, and
many hundreds disappeared. ...In a widespread and systematic manner,
Croatian troops committed murder and other inhumane acts upon and
against Croatian Serbs." 24

US `GENERALS FOR HIRE'

The internal 150 page report concluded that it has "sufficient material
to establish that the three [Croatian] generals who commanded the
military operation" could be held accountable under international
law.25 The individuals named had been directly involved in the military
operation "in theatre". Those involved in "the planning of Operation
Storm" were not mentioned:

"The identity of the "American general" referred to by Fenrick [a
Tribunal staff member] is not known. The tribunal would not allow
Williamson or Fenrick to be interviewed. But Ms. Arbour, the tribunal's
chief prosecutor, suggested in a telephone interview last week that
Fenrick's comment had been `a joking observation'. Ms. Arbour had not
been present during the meeting, and that is not how it was viewed by
some who were there. Several people who were at the meeting assumed
that Fenrick was referring to one of the retired U.S. generals who
worked for Military Professional Resources Inc. ... Questions remain
about the full extent of U.S. involvement. In the course of the three
yearinvestigation into the assault, the United States has failed to
provide critical evidence requested by the tribunal, according to
tribunal documents and officials, adding to suspicion among some there
that Washington is uneasy about the investigation...
The Pentagon, however, has argued through U.S. lawyers at the tribunal
that the shelling was a legitimate military activity, according to
tribunal documents and officials".26

The Tribunal was attempting to hide what had already been revealed in
several press reports published in the wake of Operation Storm.
According to a US State Department spokesman, MPRI had been helping the
Croatians "avoid excesses or atrocities in military operations."27
Fifteen senior US military advisers headed by retired two star General
Richard Griffitts had been dispatched to Croatia barely seven months
before Operation Storm. 28 According to one report, MPRI executive
director General Carl E. Vuono: "held a secret top-level meeting at
Brioni Island, off the coast of Croatia, with Gen. Varimar Cervenko,
the architect of the Krajina campaign. In the five days preceding the
attack, at least ten meetings were held between General Vuono and
officers  involved in the campaign..."29

According to Ed Soyster, a senior MPRI executive and former head of the
Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA):

"MPRI's role in Croatia is limited to classroom instruction on
military-civil relations and doesn't involve training in tactics or
weapons. Other U.S. military men say whatever MPRI did for the Croats
and many suspect more than classroom instruction was involved it was
worth every penny." Carl Vuono and Butch [Crosbie] Saint are hired guns
and in it for the money," says Charles Boyd, a recently retired four
star Air Force general who was the Pentagon's No. 2 man in Europe until
July [1995]. "They did a very good job for the Croats, and I have no
doubt they'll do a good job in Bosnia."30

THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL'S COVER UP

The untimely leaking of the ICTY's internal report on the Krajina
massacres barely a few days before the onslaught of NATO's air raids on
Yugoslavia was the source of some embarrassment to the Tribunal's Chief
Prosecutor Louise Arbour. The Tribunal (ICTY) attempted to cover up the
matter and trivialise the report's findings (including the alleged role
of the US military officers on contract with the Croatian Armed
Forces). Several Tribunal officials including American Lawyer Clint
Williamson sought to discredit the Canadian Peacekeeping officers'
testimony who witnessed the Krajina massacres in 1995.31
Williamson, who described the shelling of Knin as a "minor incident,"
said that the Pentagon had told him that Knin was a legitimate military
target... The [Tribunal's] review concluded by voting not to include
the shelling of Knin in any indictment, a conclusion that stunned and
angered many at the tribunal"...32
The findings of the Tribunal contained in the leaked ICTY documents
were downplayed, their relevance was casually dismissed as
"expressions of opinion, arguments and hypotheses from various staff
members of the OTP during the investigative process".33
According to the Tribunal's spokesperson "the documents do not
represent in any way the concluded decisions of the Prosecutor." 34
The internal 150 page report has not been released. The staff member
who had leaked the documents is (according to a Croatian TV report) no
longer working for the Tribunal. During the press Conference, the
Tribunal's spokesman was asked: "about the consequences for the person
who leaked the information", Blewitt [the ICTY spokesman] replied that
he did not want to go into that.
He said that the OTP would strengthen the existing procedures to
prevent this from happening again, however he added that you could not
stop people from talking".35

THE USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS IN CROATIA

The massacres conducted under Operation Storm "set the stage" for the
"ethnic cleansing" of at least 180,000 Krajina Serbs (according to
estimates of the Croatian Helsinki Committee and Amnesty
International). According to other sources, the number of victims of
ethnic cleansing in Krajina was much larger.
Moreover, there are indications that chemical weapons may have been
used in the Yugoslav civil war (1991-95).36 Although there is no firm
evidence of the use of chemical weapons against Croatian Serbs, an
ongoing enquiry by the Canadian Minister of Defence (launched in July
1999) points to the possibility of toxic poisoning of Canadian
Peacekeepers while on service in Croatia between 1993 and 1995:

"There was a smell of blood in the air during the past week as the
media sensed they had a major scandal unfolding within the Department
of National Defense over the medical files of those Canadians who
served in Croatia in 1993.  Allegations of destroyed documents, a
coverup, and a defensive minister and senior officers..."37

The official release of the Department of National Defence (DND) refers
to possibility of toxic "soil contamination" in Medak Pocket in 1993
(see below). Was it "soil contamination" or something far more serious?
The criminal investigation by the Royal Canadian  Mounted Police (RCMP)
refers to the shredding of medical files of former Canadian
peacekeepers by the DND. In other words did the DND have something to
hide? The issue remains as to what types of shells and ammunitions were
used by the Croatian Armed Forces ie. were chemical weapons used
against Serb civilians?

OPERATION STORM: THE ACCOUNT OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN REGIMENT

Prior to the onslaught, Croatian radio had previously broadcasted a
message by president Franjo Tudjman, calling upon "Croatian citizens of
Serbian ethnicity... to remain in their homes and not to fear the
Croatian authorities, which will respect their minority rights."38
Canadian peacekeepers of the Second Battalion of the Royal 22nd
Regiment witnessed the atrocities committed by Croatian troops in the
Krajina offensive in September 1995:

"Any Serb who had failed to evacuate their property were systematically
"cleansed" by roving death squads. Every abandoned animal was
slaughtered and any Serb household was ransacked and torched".39

Also confirmed by Canadian peacekeepers was the participation of German
mercenaries in Operation Storm:

"Immediately behind the frontline Croatian combat troops and German
mercenaries, a large number of hardline extremists had pushed into the
Krajina. ...Many of these atrocities were carried out within the
Canadian Sector, but as the peacekeepers were soon informed by the
Croat authorities, the UN no longer had any formal authority in the
region."40

How the Germans mercenaries were recruited was never officially
revealed. An investigation by the United Nations Human Rights
Commission (UNHRC) confirmed the that foreign mercenaries in Croatia
had in some cases "been paid [and presumably recruited] outside Croatia
and by third parties."41

THE 1993 MEDAK POCKET MASSACRE

According to Jane Defence Weekly (10 June 1999), Brigadier General Agim
Ceku (now in charge of the KLA) also "masterminded the successful HV
[Croatian Army] offensive at Medak" in September 1993. In Medak, the
combat operation was entitled "Scorched Earth" resulting in the total
destruction of the Serbian villages of Divoselo, Pocitelj and Citluk,
and the massacre of over 100 civilians.42

These massacres were also witnessed by Canadian peacekeepers under UN
mandate:

"As the sun rose over the horizon, it revealed a Medak Valley engulfed
in smoke and flames. As the frustrated soldiers of 2PPCLI waited for
the order to move forward into the pocket, shots and screams still rang
out as the ethnic cleansing continued. ...About 20 members of the
international press had tagged along, anxious to see the Medak
battleground. Calvin [a Canadian officer] called an informal press
conference at the head of the column and loudly accused the Croats of
trying to hide war crimes against the Serb inhabitants. The Croats
started withdrawing back to their old lines, taking with them whatever
loot they hadn't destroyed. All livestock had been killed and houses
torched. French reconnaissance troops and the Canadian command element
pushed up the valley and soon began to find bodies of Serb civilians,
some already decomposing, others freshly slaughtered. ...Finally, on
the drizzly morning of Sept. 17, teams of UN civilian police arrived to
probe the smouldering ruins for murder victims. Rotting corpses lying
out in the open were catalogued, then turned over to the peacekeepers
for burial."43

The massacres were reported to the Canadian Minister of Defence and to
the United Nations:

"Senior defence bureaucrats back in Ottawa had no way of predicting the
outcome of the engagement in terms of political fallout. To them, there
was no point in calling media attention to a situation that might
easily backfire. ...So  Medak was relegated to the memory hole no
publicity, no recriminations, no official record. Except for those
soldiers involved, Canada's most lively military action since the
Korean War simply never happened."44
 
Notes

23. Quoted in Raymond Bonner, War Crimes Panel Finds Croat Troops
Cleansed the Serbs, New York Times, 21 March 1999).
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Raymond Bonner, op cit.
27. Ken Silverstein, "Privatizing War", The Nation, New York, 27 July
1997.
28. See Mark Thompson et al, "Generals for Hire", Time Magazine, 15
January 1996, p. 34.
29. Quoted in Silverstein, op cit.
30. Mark Thompson et al, op cit.
31. Raymond Bonner, op cit.
32. Ibid.
33. ICTY Weekly Press Briefing, 24 March 1999).
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.
36. See inter alia Reuters dispatch, 21 October 1993 on the use of
chemical grenades, a New York Times report on 31 October 1992 on the
use of poisoned gas).
37. Lewis MacKenzie, "Giving our soldiers the benefit of the doubt",
National Post, 2 August 1999.
38. Slobodna Dalmacija, Split, Croatia, August 5 1996.
39. Scott Taylor and Brian Nolan, The Sunday Sun, Toronto, 2 November
1998.
40. Ibid.
41. United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Fifty-first session,
Item 9 of the provisional agenda, Geneva, 21 December 1994).
42. (See Memorandum on the Violation of the Human and Civil Rights of
the Serbian People in the Republic of Croatia,
http://serbianlinks.freehosting.net/memorandum.htm
43. Excerpts from the book of Scott Taylor and Brian Nolan published in
the Toronto Sun, 1 November 1998.
44. Ibid.

© Copyright CBC 2003  For fair use only/ pour usage équitable seulement
.
 

=== B ===

What's Left
July 21, 2003

Was the US behind the single greatest act of ethnic cleansing in
Yugoslavia?

By Stephen Gowans

It was one of those peeks into what really happened that are
occasionally glimpsed long after anyone cares, like finding out after
the invasion of Iraq that the US and Britain had already begun aerial
operations to pick apart Iraq's defenses long before the invasion had
begun, at a time both countries were denying they had already made a
decision to go to war ("U.S.
Moved Early for Air Supremacy: Airstrips on Iraqi Defenses Began Long
Before Invasion, General Says," The Washington Post, July 20, 2003).
Those who saw the news reports may have raised their eyebrows, but the
reports were too obscure to have flitted, even briefly, across the
consciousness of most (even ardent) newspaper readers. The secret,
though technically out, remained a secret, lost in the deluge of other
news, bereft of any urgency for being about an event that had happened
months before.

So who's going to care about something that happened almost eight years
ago?

"In early August 1995," writes researcher Gregory Elich, "the Croatian
invasion of Serbian Krajina precipitated the worst refugee crisis of
the Yugoslav civil war. Within days, more than two hundred thousand
Serbs, virtually the entire population of Krajina, fled their homes,
and 14,000 Serbian civilians lost their lives." ("The invasion of
Serbian Krajina," NATO in the Balkans: Voices of Opposition,
International Action Center, New York, 1998.)

This was Operation Storm, "the largest single act of ethnic cleansing
of the Yugoslav civil war," according to Even Dyer, a journalist with
CBC Radio. "And yet not one person has been arrested and brought before
the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia"
("Croatian atrocities being forgotten: Cdn. Officers," CBC News, July
21, 2003.)

The popular mythology about the Yugoslav civil war is that it was the
Serbs, led by Slobodan Milosevic, who embarked on a program of ethnic
cleansing to create a greater Serbia. Milosevic is on trial at the
Hague Tribunal, facing genocide charges.

So it should strike a dissonant chord that:
the single greatest act of ethnic cleansing does not have the Serb's
signature on it (they were the victims); and the Hague Tribunal, which
professes to be impartial, has done nothing to
bring the authors of the atrocity to book.
The Tribunal says the evidence is circumstantial, but senior Canadian
soldiers, including a general who commanded peacekeeping forces in the
area of Operation Storm, say they suspect the real reason for the
Tribunal's inaction is that Western governments were in the background
pulling the strings.
For example, Argentina provided artillery to the Croats, despite a UN
embargo on supplying materiel and even though their own troops were in
Croatia as peacekeepers.
And a private US military contractor, Military Professional Resources
Inc (MPRI), headed by a former US Army Chief of Staff, likely planned
the operation.

Canada's Major-General Andrew Leslie says he doubts the Croats could
have pulled off Operation Storm themselves. "That was done by people
who really knew what they were doing."
Leslie's colleague, Major-General Alain Fourand, agrees. He says he
suspects it was MPRI that was behind the operation.
The MPRI Web site, according to CBC news, "points to an article in
which the Croatian government praised the job MPRI has done for it."

There is much that is misunderstood about the Yugoslav civil war, and
the Hague Tribunal.
For one, the Croats were a lot closer to the image of Nazis than the
Serbs were, though it was Serbs who were portrayed, for propaganda
reasons, as successors of Hitler's fascists. After the breakaway Croat
republic violently seceded from Yugoslavia in 1991, Franjo Tudjman, the
country's president, began to resurrect symbols of Croatia's Nazi
puppet state past.
According to Elich, "the Croatian fascist(s) murdered as many as one
million Serbs, Jews and Romani" during WWII.

And the Tribunal is funded in part by billionaire financier George
Soros, who has a long history of underwriting programs to destabilize
countries whose markets are closed, or partly closed, to Western
investment. Once a renitent government is ousted, and a Western
friendly regime is installed, Soros swoops in to buy up state assets at
fire sale prices. Soros is said to have his eyes on the massive Trepca
mining complex in Kosovo, worth an estimated $5 billion. The Hungarian
émigré spent $100 million to oust Milosevic, who presided over a
largely socially owned economy ("The billionaire trader has become
Eastern Europe's uncrowned king and the prophet of an 'open society."
But open to what?" New Statesman, June 2, 2003.)

The US and Germany began supporting secessionist forces in Yugoslavia
after the collapse of Communism in the former Soviet Union, when the
Yugoslav federation refused to be brought wholly into the Western
orbit. Former Communist countries were undergoing a spate of
privatization. But, according to Neil Clark, "Over 700,000 Yugoslav
enterprises remained in social ownership and most were still controlled
by employee-management committees, with only 5% of capital privately
owned." ("The quisling of Belgrade," The Guardian (UK), March 14,
2003.) The West aligned itself with Alija
Izetbegovic in Bosnia, who wanted to makeover the multi-ethnic republic
as an Islamic religious state, though Bosnia had a large non-Muslim,
including Serb, population. And Tudjman, the West's favorite in
Croatia, reeked to heaven of fascism and anti-Serb fanaticism. But both
were useful as instruments to tear apart the federation and deliver it,
piece by piece, into the hands of the West, and its corporate sector.
Later, secessionist in Kosovo would be encouraged, trained, and
bankrolled by the West, sparking a civil war that furnished NATO with a
pretext to launch a "humanitarian" war, and ultimately, the ouster of
Milosevic, working through its proxy, the Democratic Opposition of
Serbia.

The atrocities of August 1995 are now largely forgotten in the West,
and while they seem to be old news, they do shed light of recurrent
patterns that can be glimpsed today. The West's penchant for
precipitating crises that can be used as pretexts for intervention in
countries that seek to pursue an independent course hasn't abated. And
it's all too common for victims of Western-backed aggressions to be
portrayed as the aggressors themselves. North Korea, for example, is
now widely understood to be a hostile nation, even though it is the US
that shows every indication of being hell-bent on resuming a war with
the impoverished country it has never entirely renounced. Cuba,
Belarus, Zimbabwe, part of a complement of nations George W. Bush has
designated "captive nations," along with North Korea ("Bush blacklists
Zimbabwe, Cuba," news24.com, July 19, 2003) are portrayed as brutal,
repressive, regimes, though the reason they're demonized has
everything to do with their inhospitable orientation to the global
capitalist economy dominated by the United States.

That too was the Serb's offense, in the eyes of the West, which is why
there ever was an Operation Storm, why there's a Star Chamber at the
Hague, and why MPRI won't soon be facing war crimes charges.

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world/20020422-7801660.htm+operation+storm+croatia+us&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

U.S., Clinton accused of war atrocities

Jeffrey T. Kuhner
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published 4/22/2002

The lawyer for a Croatian general indicted by the
war crimes tribunal in The Hague says his client's
case opens the possibility that former President
Clinton will be charged with crimes against humanity
for authorizing a Croatian military offensive in 1995
that recaptured territory from rebel Serbs.
"According to the unjust indictment brought
against my client, there is a basis for an
investigation and indictment of high-ranking Clinton
administration officials who oversaw Operation Storm,"
said Luka Misetic, the defense attorney for Gen. Ante
Gotovina.
The high-ranking Croatian general was indicted in
June 2001 by the prosecutor's office at the U.N. War
Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague
on charges that he exercised "command responsibility"
over the military campaign in which 150 Serbian
civilians were killed.
Secretly supported by the Clinton
administration, Croatian forces launched a three-day
massive military offensive — known as "Operation
Storm" — on Aug. 5, 1995 in which Croatia recovered
territories occupied by rebel Serbs following
Croatia's bloody drive for independence from
Yugoslavia in 1991.
Gen. Gotovina was the military commander of
Sector South of the operation, which was responsible
for the capture of the rebel-held city of Knin. He is
also accused of overseeing the ethnic cleansing of
150,000 Serbs who fled from Croatia during the
military offensive.
The United States provided military and technical
assistance to Operation Storm in order to block
then-Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's goal of
forging an ethnically pure "Greater Serbia."
The Clinton administration viewed Croatia's
military campaign as pivotal to tilting the strategic
balance of power in the region against Serbian forces,
paving the way for the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords that
ended the war in neighboring Bosnia.
However, Mr. Misetic said U.S. support and
approval for the military offensive means the
indictment against Gen. Gotovina could lead to the
prosecution by The Hague tribunal of Mr. Clinton and
other high-ranking U.S. officials on charges of having
command responsibility for war crimes that were
committed during the operation.
"The theory against Gotovina can now be brought
against Clinton, [Assistant Secretary of State
Richard] Holbrooke and all the way down the U.S. chain
of command. On the prosecution's logic, they should be
indicted as well. They knew the attack was coming and
gave it the green light," Mr. Misetic said.
"The prosecutor's office is punting on an issue
that is clearly there. They are claiming that ethnic
cleansing took place during this operation. They are
claiming that by virtue of his position, Gotovina had
knowledge of war crimes. His knowledge was shared and
given to him by the Pentagon," he said.
Florence Hartmann, spokeswoman for chief
prosecutor Carla del Ponte, said the tribunal is not
challenging the legitimacy of Croatia's military
offensive but individual atrocities carried out by
Croatian soldiers whose actions fell under the
responsibility of Gen. Gotovina.
"It is not Operation Storm that is being
indicted, but the crimes that were committed during
and afterward," Mrs. Hartmann said.
U.S. support for the operation "has to be
established," she said. "I don't know that the
[Clinton] administration was involved."
Asked whether the prosecutor's office was
planning to issue indictments against either Mr.
Clinton or other administation officials, Mrs.
Hartmann said: "We have no comment because there is no
evidence to substantiate the charges of Gen.
Gotovina's lawyers. They can make their case with
evidence to the court."
Mr. Misetic dismissed Mrs. Hartmann's comments as
"blatant hypocrisy."