U.S. Coup Aims to Install Puppet Regime in Yugoslavia
by Michel Chossudvosky and Jared Israel
www.tenc.net
[Emperor's Clothes]
Yesterday we wrote an article analyzing the situation in Yugoslavia. Before
we could publish it, our analysis has been confirmed by events. We have
confirmed from an unimpeachable source that members of the "democratic"
opposition have been visited Belgrade residents, threatening to murder them
if they voted in the runoff elections. Now there are reports of the burning
of the Yugoslav parliament - where the government has a majority of seats -
and the sacking of sections of Belgrade and murder of citizens who don't
support the opposition. These measure are intended to bring a US puppet
regime to power.
The article follows.
The evidence is mounting that the "Democratic" opposition strategy in
Yugoslavia, worked out under the guidance of Washington and Bonn, is not to
elect Mr. Kostunica President of Yugoslavia.. If it were, why wouldn't they
gladly participate in runoff elections, given that Kostunica has an admitted
10% lead.? One reason they don't want to participate is that most of the
approximately 40% of the electorate which did not vote in round one would
most likely vote against Kostunica in round two.
But apart from that, the main reason is that the president of Yugoslavia has
no power without a parliamentary majority. The elections gave the current
government a clear majority in both houses.
NATO's plan for Yugoslavia is to apply the most severe economic shock
treatment which requires domination of the government. The shock therapy was
admitted by Mr. Dinkic, chief economist for the opposition:
"we are thinking of adopting... a shock therapy in some areas, and mild and
gradual reforms in others," Dinkic told Beta. : Beta news agency, Belgrade,
in Serbo-Croat 1828 gmt 26 Sep 00 posted by BBX Oct. 5, 2000)
The same was stated in law HR1064, passed by the US House of Representatives
a day after the elections. This law granted an additional 105 million to be
shared between the pro-NATO government of Montenegro ($55 million US) and the
leaders of the DOS ($50 million.) That money was released on an emergency
basis - Oct 1. It was immediately wired to the DOS bank accounts in Budapest
and then smuggled across the border in new US bills for immediate use. to
destabilize Yugoslavia.
The law ordered that the most draconian economic "reforms" be imposed on
Yugoslavia, ordered the breakup of Serbia into separate min-states, ordered
the imposition of complete "democratization", that is, adoption all measures
demanded by the US and ordered the hunting down of all people whom NATO
decides to accuse of being war criminals,
The violent economic "adjustment" and political destruction mandated by
HR1064 and outlined in the program of 'democratic" opposition itself are an
attempt to crush Yugoslavia as a force capable of resisting US domination of
the Balkans, to reduce it to an impoverished territory - a colony. .
These measures cannot be implemented unless NATO has full control of the
Yugoslav government including the army and police. (The other alternative,
invading a Yugoslavia run by a hostile government, is politically unfeasible
for NATO) .
Therefore the DOS has used the charge of "election fraud" - endlessly
repeated but never with any evidence - as an excuse to boycott the runoffs.
In contrast, the fraud involved in the US paying hundreds of millions of
dollars to the "democratic" opposition is never mentioned. This bribe money
violates the electoral laws of every country. Using the veneer of protesting
election fraud, the "democrats" are mobilizing all possible forces in an
attempt to seize power by force. These include pro-fascist Croatians and
pro-KLA Albanians who are the hard core supporters of the pro-NATO Djukanovic
government in Montenegro, they include , secessionists from the Serbian
province of Vojvodina and southern Serbia, young people who have never worked
and who are being fed trickles of cash from the several hundred million
dollars the US has pumped into opposition hands, people coerced by superiors
at work or by school headmasters to demonstrate, people bribed by a taste of
the vast sums of money the US has pumped into Yugoslavia especially in the
past two weeks, and people who have been fooled by the massive, US funded
campaign, by "independent" media, public relations firms and election
pollsters, into believing that their falling living standards, caused by
sanctions just as severe as those imposed on Iraq, are the "fault of one man
- Milosevich" and that the US-backed opposition will bring prosperity. In
fact they would bring the prosperity of the grave.
Because the truth is that countries like Bulgaria and Russia which have
swallowed the "democratic " bait are far poorer than Yugoslavia - even though
they are not suffering from sanctions. and were not yet bombed
The scenario is much like what occurred in Chile in 1973.. There was the same
sort of disruption of transportation and essential services including
electricity. There was the same effort to create the appearance of a majority
movement against Chilean Pres. Allende.. Events were staged which a captive
media misdescribed as popular protest, giving ordinary people the impression
that Allende was about to fall. At the same time, the CIA-directed plan
deprived the people of basic necessities, causing real unrest. In Yugoslavia,
the disruption of the supply of essential commodities started before the
election with a US-instigated rise in the price of bread
Under cover of disruption and "popular protest: the CIA overthrew President
Salvador Allende and installed a pro-US military junta headed by General
Augusto Pinochet.
The strikes which crippled transport and food distribution in Chile were
funded by the CIA. The same is being attempted right now in Yugoslavia. Vast
sums of US tax payers money has been poured into opposition coffers in
Serbia. We know of $182 million. But this is only what is officially
admitted. What about CIA money, which the New York Times says is going into
Serbia "in suitcases full of cash"? What about money from the Soros
Foundation and other CIA-connected "charities"? This money is being used to
finance the miners' strike and to lure young people into the Western-created
group Otpor by giving them money and trinkets, like cellular phones. .
Of course, many Yugoslav people are disgruntled. one miner told the 'NY
Times': "I used to make $1500 a month. Now I make $80." Dishonest forces put
the blame for this on the government that is resisting US control. In fact,
the problem started because in 1989 a World Bank plan, overseen by a leading
member of one of the current 'democratic' opposition groups, closed over a
thousand Yugoslav business, devastating the economy. The wars and sanctions,
whose fault lies with the US and Germany, have further hurt the economy. The
Yugoslav government, routinely accused of being dictatorial, has tolerated
the creation of an immense Fifth Column in Serbia by the US government, which
has poured m8llions into the funding and training of what tare falsely called
"civil society" organizations. These organizations, funded through the
National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House, the USIA, the CIA and the
Soros Foundation, among others, pay thousands of people in Serbia and
maintain and entire "alternate" media with the latest equipment and high
salaries. This media then uses the problem caused by the US to sow discontent
among anyone who is susceptible.
The US effort to destroy Yugoslavia goes back to 1984. A U.S. National
Security Decision Directive NSDD133 entitled "United States Policy Toward
Yugoslavia. Labeled SECRET Sensitive has recently been de-classified. It is a
prescription for destroying Yugoslavia as an economic and political entity.
Since the elections on 24 September, the Democratic opposition has met with
NATO officials in Sofia, Bulgaria. NATO Assistant Secretary General Paul
Klaiber was in Sofia and Bucharest for high level discussions on security
issues resulting from the elections. Barely reported in the media, an IMF
donors' conference was held behind closed doors, Two leading "democratic"
representatives presented their so-called "Letter of Intent", a plan for
imposing harsh economic measure on Yugoslavia, to their IMF and World Bank
leaders. And on the 4th of October, the Stability Pact for Southeastern
Europe was meeting under its so-called "Title III" which pertains to
"security issues." The elections and "transition" in Yugoslavia were on the
agenda. The press reports do not confirm that the two "democratic:
representatives stayed for these meetings. We suspect they did..
The ploy being employed now is to create chaos while dangling promises of
money and peace, instigate whatever elements - children ignorant of politics
and lured by money, secessionist elements, fascists, people under compulsion
from superiors - along with infiltrators from NATO armed forces disguised as
rebellious youths, to terrorize Yugoslav loyalists and create the impression
of popular revolt. Already we have learned that DOS activists are going
around Belgrade, threatening death to anyone who votes in the Sunday
elections. Further provocation may occur at any time. These "democrats" aim
to provide Washington and NATO with a pretext to intervene as "peacekeepers"
as they did in Bosnia.
In the meantime, not only are NATO war ships in the Adriatic, but foreign
troops are already on Yugoslav soil. British SAS special forces are training
paramilitary police in Montenegro to assassinate Yugoslav army officer,.
Money is being channeled to finance these groups..
What we are witnessing is nothing less than an attempt to install a
fascist-like government in Yugoslavia, to turn all of Yugoslavia into Kosovo.
Yugoslavia has stood up to the biggest bully in history, the US government.
Now it is time for all who oppose the creation of US/German dominated world
empire to stand up for Yugoslavia.
www.tenc.net
[Emperor's Clothes]
---
>
> Les liaisons dangereuses
> de Monsieur Kostunica
>
>
> �Cette fois, j'ai vot� Kostunica, car il est honn�te. Mais je n'aime pas
> les gens autour de lui, et j'esp�re qu'il saura les ma�triser�, m'a dit
> un vieux professeur, ce dimanche 24 septembre, dans un bureau de vote de
> Belgrade, o� j'�tais invit� comme observateur international. Beaucoup
> m'ont dit la m�me chose. Qui donc est derri�re Kostunica?
>
> MICHEL COLLON
>
> Face � Milosevic , incarnant la r�sistance � l'Otan, les dirigeants
> habituels de l'opposition auraient certainement perdu s'ils s'�taient
> pr�sent�s. Car Draskovic avait bais� la main de Madeleine Albright (USA)
> en pleine guerre et Djindjic avait fui en Allemagne. Or, la grande
> majorit� des Yougoslaves reste farouchement attach�e � l'ind�pendance du
> pays.
> L'habilet� de la nouvelle strat�gie a consist� � pr�senter un homme
> 'neuf', Kostunica, qui multiplie les d�clarations 'critiques' � l'�gard
> des Etats-Unis et de l'Otan. Mais son programme est celui du G-17 (voir
> page 2), un groupe d'�conomistes yougoslaves tr�s � droite:
> 1. Introduction du deutsche mark comme monnaie nationale! 2. Forte
> r�duction du budget militaire, ce qui priverait le pays des moyens de se
> d�fendre contre de nouvelles agressions. 3. Alignement sur les recettes
> anti-sociales du Fonds Mon�taire International. Apr�s une ann�e de
> sursis, la partie pauvre de la population serait priv�e du 'filet de
> s�curit� sociale' qui lui a permis de survivre jusqu'� pr�sent. Elle
> devrait acheter les marchandises aux prix r�gnant en Europe occidentale
> tout en disposant d'un pouvoir d'achat actuellement proche de bien des
> pays du tiers monde.
>
> Avec Kostunica, Djindjic et le FMI, la population serait-elle soulag�e?
> Ces m�mes r�formes ont d�j� d�vast� des pays comme la Bulgarie,
> l'Albanie ou la Roumanie. Un observateur roumain m'a confi�: �On nous
> avait promis qu'apr�s la chute de Ceaucescu, le capitalisme sans freins
> apporterait la prosp�rit�. Mais, aujourd'hui, l'�conomie est en ruines.
> Nous avons ramass� dix milliards de dollars de dettes, mais on ne voit
> pas un seul investissement. Les b�timents en cours de construction sous
> Ceaucescu ne sont toujours pas achev�s, on ne cr�e pas de nouveaux
> logements, les jeunes sont forc�s d'attendre que leurs parents meurent
> pour obtenir un appartement. Apr�s avoir c�d� � la mode de la
> consommation Coca Cola, McDonalds et Cie, ils se demandent: �O� vais-je
> trouver du travail pour survivre?� Beaucoup devront �migrer.
> L'Allemagne vient d'offrir dix mille visas pour des jeunes qualifi�s en
> informatique. Cet exode des cerveaux privera encore plus le pays de ses
> moyens de d�veloppement.�
> Beaucoup d'�lecteurs ont esp�r� qu'en changeant de dirigeants, ils
> seraient d�barrass�s des sanctions internationales �tranglant leur pays.
> Mais la victoire de Kostunica leur apportera-t-elle r�ellement le
> soulagement et la stabilit�?
> Sans doute de l'argent occidental irait dans certaines poches de ce
> pays. Le vrai chef de l'opposition, Zoran Djindjic - l'homme qui tire
> les ficelles de Kostunica - a re�u des millions de dollars pour faire le
> travail de Washington. Et une nouvelle classe d'hommes d'affaires
> tr�pigne d'impatience. Avec les multinationales, elle exige toutes
> libert�s de mettre fin aux protections sociales. Pour exploiter � fond
> une main d'ouvre qualifi�e et comp�tente. Elle voudrait imposer une
> concurrence impitoyable entre travailleurs, les soumettre � la peur du
> licenciement et du ch�mage , les obliger � travailler sans respecter la
> s�curit� ni le repos de la nuit ou du week-end.
> Comme dans les pays dits 'avanc�s' o� une grande partie des travailleurs
> se cr�ve au boulot, de plus en plus stress�s tandis que l'autre partie
> d�prime au ch�mage. Voil� le sort qui attendrait le peuple yougoslave.
> Sans compter que la d�r�glementation ch�re au 'G-17' leur permettrait
> s�rement de jouir eux aussi de la maladie de la vache folle, de la
> dioxine ou d'autres pollutions...
>
> Dans le club des voleurs, il n'y a plus de place
> Une grande illusion domine actuellement la jeunesse yougoslave, tromp�e
> par les promesses de l'Ouest. A juste titre, elle souhaite vivre mieux.
> Mais elle croit que si elle accepte les volont�s des multinationales et
> des dirigeants occidentaux, la prosp�rit� suivra.
> Mais d'o� provient cette richesse des multinationales occidentales? Du
> fait qu'elles ne paient pratiquement pas les mati�res premi�res prises
> au tiers-monde. Et que dans tous les pays o� elles vont exploiter des
> travailleurs, elles font tout pour maintenir les salaires au plus bas.
> C'est d'ailleurs une r�gle �conomique impos�e par le syst�me de la
> concurrence capitaliste : seul survit, celui qui exploite le plus fort.
> Partout donc, leur int�r�t est de maintenir au plus bas les salaires et
> le niveau de vie g�n�ral . Sinon, elles partent.
> Bref, si les soci�t�s des pays riches sont riches, c'est qu'elles volent
> les pays pauvres. Aussi quand elles promettent � un pays pauvre qu'en se
> soumettant, il pourra rejoindre le club des pays riches, c'est un
> mensonge. Cette promesse ne pourrait �tre tenue: s'il n'y a plus
> d'exploit�s qui se font voler, il n'y aura plus d'exploiteurs qui
> s'enrichissent. La seule solution est un monde sans exploiteurs et sans
> exploit�s, un monde de r�elle coop�ration internationale bas�e sur la
> solidarit�.
>
> Colonisation ne signifie pas stabilit�
> La colonisation de la Yougoslavie et des Balkans par l'Ouest
> n'apporterait pas la stabilit�. Si les in�galit�s sociales et la mis�re
> augmentent, les peuples prendront conscience qu'ils ont �t� tromp�s, ils
> se r�volteront pour regagner leur ind�pendance. Comme d�j� en Mac�doine
> et en Roumanie o� les �lections devraient voir un retour de la gauche.
> Pour d�tourner les r�voltes, les Etats-Unis et leurs amis essayeraient
> certainement � nouveau d'exciter des affrontements entre nationalit�s.
> Et si �a ne suffit pas, on verra alors que les bases militaires de
> l'Otan ont pour fonction non seulement des objectifs strat�giques �
> l'encontre de la Russie, du p�trole du Caucase et du Moyen-Orient, mais
> aussi le r�le de r�primer les peuples des Balkans. L'Otan a soutenu les
> dictateurs fascistes Franco et Salazar, elle a mis en place la dictature
> des colonels grecs en 1967, puis celle des g�n�raux turcs; elle
> n'h�siterait pas � recommencer. Mieux vaut ne pas introduire le loup
> dans la bergerie.
> La r�sistance est donc la seule voie possible pour assurer la paix et le
> d�veloppement social dans les Balkans. Milosevic a d�clar� : "Si nous
> devenions une colonie, nous ne serions jamais lib�r�s des sanctions
> (l'embargo), car �tre une colonie c'est la pire forme de sanctions. Si
> nous devenions une colonie, nous n'aurions aucune chance de
> d�veloppement, ni � court, ni a long terme."
> Sur ce point en tout cas, on ne peut que lui donner raison.
>
>
>
> --
> Les "Editions Democrite" publient un mensuel en francais :
> > "Les dossiers du BIP" avec des traductions d'articles provenant de la
> > presse communiste(grecque, allemande, anglaise, turque, russe,
> espagnole,
> > portugaise...)sur des evenements qui interessent des lecteurs
> communistes.
> > Editions Democrite, 52, bld Roger Salengro, 93190 LIVRY-GARGAN, FRANCE
>
> > e-mail : democrite@...
>
---
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Oct. 12, 2000
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
FACING THREATS AND BRIBES: WILL YUGOSLAVIA RESIST
U.S.-BACKED COUNTER-REVOLUTION?
By Sara Flounders
The corporate media would like everyone to believe that an
authentic, national popular movement independent of the U.S.
and NATO is rising up against the Yugoslav government, and
especially President Slobodan Milosevic. But to believe this
would be a serious mistake.
That's because the media leave out that Washington and its
European allies have subsidized this movement's leadership
with huge sums of money, bolstered them with enormous
political support, exhausted the Yugoslav population with
war threats and sanctions, demonized Milosevic by spreading
lies and false charges, and goaded the opposition to
Milosevic to risk civil war.
The U.S. leaders don't just want to remove Milosevic, they
want to smash Yugoslavia with a counter-revolution that
overthrows whatever remains from the 1945 socialist
revolution.
The opposition, though it led the first round of the
presidential election by 49 percent to 39 percent, has as of
Oct. 4 refused to participate in the runoff election
scheduled for Oct. 8. Instead it is trying to force a
confrontation with the government through strikes and
demonstrations.
WASHINGTON TRIES TO BUY ELECTION
The U.S. government has admitted to authorizing $77 dollars
to bankroll the opposition movement. On Sept. 25 the U.S.
House of Representatives voted another $105 million to fund
the "democracy movement" in Yugoslavia.
In comparison George W. Bush has raised $177 million to fund
his presidential bid. Al Gore has raised $126 million.
(Federal Election Commission data compiled by the Center for
Responsive Politics.)
Yugoslavia is about the size of the state of Ohio, with a
population less than 4 percent of the United States. If you
also account for the difference in average income, this
would be comparable here to a $30 billion donation from a
foreign enemy to a U.S. presidential candidate. And this is
in an economy that has been strangled by U.S.-led sanctions.
As in the U.S. election campaign, there are also lots of
soft money donations. The congressional appropriation is
just the tip of the iceberg. Both the Sept. 20 New York
Times and the Sept. 19 Washington Post describe the
suitcases of money handed over at the border. Advisers,
pollsters, TV, radio and newspapers are all paid for by the
U.S. government.
And this sum omits whatever the Soros Foundation or Germany
and other West European powers pumped in.
Despite all this foreign funding, the opposition candidate
Vojislav Kostunica claims that he is an independent who
would refuse to turn over any government official to the
Hague Tribunal. He promises Serbia will remain intact.
Kostunica counts on the U.S. and European Union's promises
to lift sanctions if Milosevic is no longer president. He
seems to have forgotten that the U.S. also promised
Milosevic that if he signed the 1995 Dayton Accords on
Bosnia, the sanctions would be lifted. Milosevic signed. The
sanctions remained.
WASHINGTON CLARIFIES ITS GOAL: COUNTER-REVOLUTION
A new bill before Congress makes Washington's aims in this
election clear. HR 1064, called the Serbian Democratization
Act of 2000, stipulates that sanctions will remain in place
until Yugoslavia agrees to "cooperate fully with The Hague
and hand over anyone charged." A new government must agree
to detach Kosovo, grant "autonomy to Vojvodina"--the region
in the north of Serbia--and "give up any claim to previously
owned property of the Yugoslav Federation, including its
missions, offices and consulates."
U.S. intervention is hardly limited to funding the
opposition and planning for its administration after the
election. Part of Yugoslavia--Kosovo--is under military
occupation by the very forces funding the opposition. The
Pentagon held joint military maneuvers with Croatia--whose
government is hostile to Yugoslavia--and a landing invasion
exercise on an island off shore in the Adriatic Sea during
the Sept. 24 elections.
Washington's goals go far beyond gross interference in an
election campaign against one man, Milosevic. That's why the
U.S. strategists wanted Kostunica to refuse to participate
in the runoff election. They are not satisfied with an
orderly transfer of some government positions if Milosevic's
Socialist Party-led coalition would still command the
Yugoslavia Parliament, whose control it retained in the
Sept. 24 election.
Strikes and shutdowns organized by the opposition show that
Washington's real aim is fomenting a civil war and the
violent overthrow of the whole government apparatus,
replacing it with a weak government completely compliant to
U.S. demands. The U.S. especially wants to destroy the
Yugoslav Army, which has its roots in the socialist
revolution of 1945.
KOSTUNICA AND G17
Why are all the imperialist forces throwing such enormous
support to Kostunica?
Kostunica is backed by a coalition of 18 parties called the
Democratic Opposition of Serbia. DOS embraces the
reconstruction plan of a group of Yugoslav economists called
the Group of 17-Plus. The mission statement of the G17
openly brags that many of the groups' economists work for
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
For anyone who holds illusions that the NATO countries--the
imperialists--might actually be supporting a "democratic
alternative," it would help to review the economic plan of
the G17 to understand the enthusiasm of U.S. and West
European banks and corporations for Kostunica.
Michel Chossudovsky is a professor of economics at the
University of Ottawa and the author of a well-known book on
IMF policies, "The Globalization of Poverty." Chossudovsky
showed that the G17 is funded by the Washington-based
"Center for International Private Enterprise" which is an
affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In an article co-
authored by Jared Israel and available on www.tenc.net, and
developed in depth in the book "NATO in the Balkans,"
Chossudofsky shows the role of the IMF in dismantling
Yugoslavia.
This whole apparatus is directly funded by the National
Endowment for Democracy, which the U.S. Congress created in
order to finance operations that the Central Intelligence
Agency used to fund clandestinely. This is not speculation.
Allen Weinstein, who planned the NED, said, "A lot of what
we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA."
The G17 is wholly committed to capitalism, free markets and
the dismantling of the public sector. They are committed to
doing away with programs that subsidize food, rent or
transportation, along with free medical care. World Bank and
IMF policies in country after country force businesses, both
public and private, into bankruptcy. Then foreign
corporations buy them out at rock bottom prices. A dependent
colonial economy is the result.
IMF EXPERIMENT LED TO BREAKUP
Yugoslavia went through a wrenching experiment with IMF
privatization in 1989. Professor Veselin Vukotic, now elder
statesman of the G17, was then the minister of privatization
under Yugoslav Premier Ante Markovic.
Vukotic worked on a World Bank plan to privatize Yugoslav
industry. Yugoslav companies were selected for bankruptcy or
liquidation. This plan orchestrated the breakup of 50
percent of Yugoslav industry, wiping out 1,100 industrial
firms. Over 614,000 industrial workers were laid off, out of
2.7 million. Industrial output shrank by 21 percent.
As social programs were unraveling, unemployment
skyrocketing and wages plunging, Yugoslavia as a federation
began to unravel. There were strikes and worker actions. But
the economic chaos also gave rise to separatist tendencies
among the six republics that made up the Socialist
Federation of Yugoslavia.
In the 1991 elections Serbia and Montenegro tried to reject
these disastrous economic policies. The regimes in other
republics cast their lots with the plans of the Western
bankers.
In January 1991 U.S. Foreign Appropriations legislation
ordered a cutoff in trade, loans or aid to any republic that
held elections that the State Department did not approve.
The Foreign Appropriations bill each year legislates all
manner of strangulation against the economy of any country
not moving fast enough toward a capitalist market economy.
For attempting some resistance to the plans of the World
Bank, Serbia was targeted.
In the years of economic strangulation caused by the
sanctions that the West imposed on the two remaining
republics of Yugoslavia, many of these economic plans have
been reversed, increasing public ownership. The G17 promises
that Kostunica's election would mean Yugoslavia would
quickly adapt "free market" policies and privatize the
entire economy.
THE MINERS' STRIKE
Reports in the Western media on the Kolubara miners' strike
indicate that the government has lost at least some of the
support it once had in the working class, and that workers
are dissatisfied with the decline in their living standards.
No one sympathetic to the workers' struggle can be pleased
that police have to be sent in against workers. The world
should remember, however, what happened to the Polish
shipyard workers in Gdansk who led the struggle against the
Polish government. The new neo-liberal regime shut the
shipyard as it was no longer profitable on the world market,
and all the workers lost their jobs. Miners in Russia and
Romania faced the same IMF shutdowns.
It would be foolish to believe that the U.S. government,
which has suppressed democracy and overthrown legally
elected popular governments from Guate mala to Iran to
Greece to Chile to Grenada to Haiti, is interested in
democratic process in Yugoslavia. What it wants is to impose
savage capitalism on Serbia and Montenegro.
Kostunica claims Yugoslavia under his administration will
become a "normal Western government." But what does that
mean when there are only two kinds of status for countries
in Europe today?
Yugoslavia can't join the imperialist powers like Germany,
France or even Austria, which held colonial empires and
whose economies today have a global reach. Its only choice
is to share the fate of Bulgaria, Romania, Albania and
Ukraine.
The economy and the standard of living in these countries is
worse than it is in Yugoslavia, even after 78 days of NATO
bombing and eight years of international sanctions. The
people in these countries are the victims of 10 years of
economic restructuring. Colonial subjugation and the
dismantling of industry have been imposed on them. And
that's the choice Kostunica and his U.S. tutors offer
Yugoslavia.
WHAT TO DO
The International Action Center has issued a call directed
to those in the United States who want to show solidarity
with Yugoslavia and its struggle to resist counter-
revolution and a U.S./NATO takeover.
In response to the U.S. and Western Europe's blatant use of
funds to influence the Yugoslav election, the IAC and its
founder, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, have
called for a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the full
extent of U.S. intervention in the Yugoslav elections. It is
seeking evidence of this intervention and hopes to expose it
as a crime, just as it did with the war crimes the U.S. and
other NATO forces committed against Yugoslavia in 1999.
Interested readers can contact the IAC at (212) 633-6646 or
e-mail iacenter@.... Information is also available
on the Web site www.iacenter.org.
- END -
(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
ww@.... For subscription info send message to:
info@.... Web: http://www.workers.org)
---
DOS IMPLEMENTING SCENARIO WHICH NATO FAILED TO REALIZE, MINISTER MATIC
BELGRADE, October 4 (Tanjug) Yugoslav Information Minister Goran
Matic said on Wednesday that he expected a good turnout for the second
round of elections for state president on October 8, and that the
electorate will express their will and vote for the candidate of their
choice in a free and democratic manner, without pressures or interference
from outside or within.
Speaking in a broadcast by YUInfo television, Matic said elections
held in Yugoslavia on September 24 "were overexposed in the international
public from the very beginning of the election campaign."
"Practically, they were given importance which elections in other
countries do not have according to the nature of things. It is evident that
a large deposit had been made for these elections," he said.
Through these elections, the countries which committed the
aggression on Yugoslavia had wanted to secure amnesty for the crimes they
committed against the civilian population in Yugoslavia and, generally, for
that entire shameful, uncivilized and illegal aggression for which there
was no basis in any legal act or international document, Matic said.
The Minister singled out as especially interesting that foreign
correspondents of media such as the BBC, Sky News, NTV, ARD, CDF, did not
hide their disappointment that no conflicts had broken out already on the
day of elections, even bloodshed, in the streets of Belgrade and other
places in Yugoslavia, and that the elections had passed in a peaceful and
democratic atmosphere.
"This was a great disappointment for them and they invested
everything to provoke this in other ways," Matic said, illustrating this
with a statement by wellknown British reporter John Simpson who, when asked
from his BBC headquarters to give the actual figures for the first round of
presidential elections, replied that figures were naturally important, but
that the possibility to paralyse the country was far more important.
Returning to the subject of the second round of presidential
elections, Matic asked: "What is the secret behind (DOS presidential
candidate Vojislav) Kostunica's fear to participate in a runoff" if he had
an advantage of 600,000 votes in the first round, in which case the second
round would be a mere formality for him.
"Perhaps the secret is that DOS (Democratic Opposition of Serbia)
stole votes and manipulated the elections by substituting boxes with
presidential candidate ballots. Therefore, let us see who is the actual
forger in these elections, and not believe it when they cry wolf, because
that story is familiar," Matic said.
Speaking about activities by home media in the present situation,
Matic said the papers Vijesti, Glas javnosti, Blic, Danas, and some others
"have become DOS's political pamphlets whose objective is to realize the
scenario which Simpson had clearly announced as the homework of the BBC,
which is a British state company and reflects the positions of Britains's
state policy."
---
----- Original Message -----
From: SLP National Office
To: SLP YOUTH
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2000 2:10 PM
Subject: [slp-youth] Statement on Yugoslav elections from SLP delegation
For information to comrades and friends: a statement on the Yugoslav
elections
from Socialist Labour Party members who comprised the only British
delegation
in Yugoslavia as observers.
Best wishes from Socialist Labour
To Post a message, send it to: slp-youth@...
To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to:
slp-youth-unsubscribe@...
YUGOSLAV ELECTIONS -
A LESSON IN OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE
At the invitation of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Britain's Socialist Labour Party sent a three-person delegation to participate in international monitoring of the Yugoslav elections held on 24 September. We were the only British representatives among 250 observers invited from around the world.
Our delegation travelled extensively throughout the country, was able to talk to officials and voters and visited numerous polling stations, gaining first-hand experience of what was actually taking place during an election which was being misreported in many parts of the world.
From what we saw, the Federal Electoral Commission, an elected all-party body, did everything in its power to ensure that people were able to cast their votes without intimidation and in an orderly manner - and certainly in accordance with procedures which we would expect in a democratic, free election.
In Serbia, we visited the Muslim areas of Kraljevo and Novi Pazar as well as observing polling in the capital, Belgrade.
It was only in Montenegro that we observed the following irregularities:
1. the so-called Democratic Opposition which boycotted the elections in Montenegro nevertheless gathered outside polling stations there in clear violation of election procedures, using intimidating behaviour towards prospective voters;
2. we received many first-hand reports from people who stated they had been threatened with the loss of their jobs if they turned out to vote;
3. we were in no doubt that countless refugees from Kosovo had been deliberately excluded from the electoral lists in Montenegro despite the fact that their identity cards, issued in 1999, gave them the right to vote, and were thus also prevented from voting.
We could only conclude that these tactics of intimidation and disenfranchisement were designed to benefit the so-called Democratic Opposition.
We were also appalled at the blatant outside interference in the procedures from Western governments which are obviously seeking to influence the outcome of these elections by promising economic aid and the lifting of sanctions if the Yugoslav people vote in accordance with the wishes of these governments and the European Union.
Mick Appleyard Liz Screen Ian Johnson
---
Press release 22 / 09/ 2000
========================
CANADIAN OBSERVERS IN YUGOSLAVIA
Marjaleena Repo
BELGRADE. The international observers of the Yugoslavian presidential and
parliamentary elections have arrived in Belgrade - some 200 of them from
(so far) 54 countries. Contrary to the reports that "they have not been
allowed in," there are registered observers from the following Western
European countries. Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Germany, Portugal, Sweden and UK. (The so far single American
observer is an active senior participant in the Gore presidential
campaign.) Among the observers are parlamentarians, delegates from
political parties and organizations, as well as independents like the two
participants from Canada.
The Canadian delegates have attended political rallies of the three major
presidential candidates, in Belgrade and Novi Sad. These events were noisy
and lively affairs, without any observable disturbances and any noticeable
police presence. Literature was freely distributed and received at these
events, in a way no different from political rallies in Canada.
One of us (Marjaleena Repo) has paid particular attention to election
posters as she has been involved in the long-standing and not-yet-finished
fight for the right to poster in Canada - and she can report that posters
are everywhere in the street scene, accompanied by graffiti and the
defacing of each others posters even-steven fashion, it seems. She has seen
posterers at work in downtown Belgrade with posters urging women to vote,
while postering on top of other election messages! She had a chance to
discuss this contradiction with five English-speaking Yugoslavian youth
with their buckets and sponges. Unlike in Canadian cities, the posters
appear not to be scraped down by city workers but live to suffer the
indignities from competeing political parties. In addition, there are huge
billboards advertising the three major presidential candidates all around
the cityscape. All in all, the appearance of democracy in action.
The other Canadian delegate, Professor Dimitri Kitsikis, has a long-time
experience of national elections, having systematically studied and
observed them in many countries, notably in France, Greece and Turkey. His
observations are therefore particularly valid and he has been unshaken by
Western insistence that Yugoslav elections could be rigged. On the
contrary, he is observing that these elections do not differ
from those in any other democratic countries, particularly from France, of
which Dr. Kitsikis is an expert.
The delegates have attended an information session on the electoral process
in Yugoslavia and have been provided with background information and
documentation on how the system works and how it makes an effort to
guarantee an equal, free and transparent voting method leading to reliable
results. Questions
were invited and responded to. We were informed that the delegates will be
able to attend any and all polling stations on voting day, Sept. 24, and
officials at the polls have been instructed to welcome foreign observers
with full access to the actual voting situation, while respecting the
citizens' right to privacy.
While in Belgrade, disturbing news reached the observers. The International
Herald Tribune of Sept. 20 has a front page story, titled "U.S. aids
Milosevic foes: Millions allocated to a democracy program." The article
states that U.S. officials have acknowledged $77 million financial
"contribution" to opposition groups in Yugoslavia, from students to labour,
from so-called independent media to political rock bands, and the newspaper
states that "There is nothing secret or even particularly unusual about the
U.S. democracy-building program in Serbia, which is closely co-ordinated
with European allies and is similar to previous campaigns in pre-democratic
Chile, South Africa and Eastern Europe, among other places."
Washington Post (Sept. 21) further reveals that U.S. officials and
corporations are also "providing a sophisticated opinion survey system,
engaging for the purpose the New York firm that has done the job for Bill
Clinton [Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates]" which explains the many
polls that "prove" that an
opposition candidate is ahead of President Milosevic and suggest vigorously
that Mr. Milosevic will only win by fraud.
While the Canadian and other Western media have alredy declared the
election to be "rigged" (without any evidence, of course), we believe that
the actual evidence for rigging and distorting the Yugoslavian election
results has been found in the pre-democratic countries of U.S. and the
European Union who in an wholly illegal and undemocratic fashion are
interfering in the domestic affairs of a sovereign country. This, of
course, must be condemned by all true democrats, be they individuals,
organizations or nations. - 30-
MARJALEENA REPO is a social justice activist and a long-standing member of
Canada's "democracy movement," with hands-on experience on how Canada's
democracy does and does not work. In April '99, she was a founding member
of The Ad Hoc Committee to Stop Canada's Participation in the War Against
Yugoslavia. She lives in Saskatoon, Sask.
DR. DIMITRI KITSIKIS is a professor of International Relations at the
University of Ottawa since 1970 and a fellow of the Royal Society of
Canada. He is a specialist of the Balkans and Turkey and has written many
books on the area.
Professor Kitsikis is multi-lingual and can give interviews in French and
Greek as well as in English.
Back in Canada on September 29, Ms. Repo can be reached at (416)466-6533 or
(306)244-9724.
Professor Kitsikis will be back in Ottawa on October 2, and can be reached
at University of Ottawa, tel: (613)562-5735 or at his home tel: (613)834-4634.
===
Bollettino di controinformazione del
Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'"
> http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono il Coordinamento, ma vengono
fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al solo scopo di
segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only")
Per contributi e segnalazioni: jugocoord@...
*** QUESTO SERVIZIO E' ANCORA IN FASE SPERIMENTALE ***
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Una newsletter personale,
un forum web personale,
una mailing list personale, ...?
Gratis sotto
http://www.ecircle.de/ad171764/www.ecircle.it
by Michel Chossudvosky and Jared Israel
www.tenc.net
[Emperor's Clothes]
Yesterday we wrote an article analyzing the situation in Yugoslavia. Before
we could publish it, our analysis has been confirmed by events. We have
confirmed from an unimpeachable source that members of the "democratic"
opposition have been visited Belgrade residents, threatening to murder them
if they voted in the runoff elections. Now there are reports of the burning
of the Yugoslav parliament - where the government has a majority of seats -
and the sacking of sections of Belgrade and murder of citizens who don't
support the opposition. These measure are intended to bring a US puppet
regime to power.
The article follows.
The evidence is mounting that the "Democratic" opposition strategy in
Yugoslavia, worked out under the guidance of Washington and Bonn, is not to
elect Mr. Kostunica President of Yugoslavia.. If it were, why wouldn't they
gladly participate in runoff elections, given that Kostunica has an admitted
10% lead.? One reason they don't want to participate is that most of the
approximately 40% of the electorate which did not vote in round one would
most likely vote against Kostunica in round two.
But apart from that, the main reason is that the president of Yugoslavia has
no power without a parliamentary majority. The elections gave the current
government a clear majority in both houses.
NATO's plan for Yugoslavia is to apply the most severe economic shock
treatment which requires domination of the government. The shock therapy was
admitted by Mr. Dinkic, chief economist for the opposition:
"we are thinking of adopting... a shock therapy in some areas, and mild and
gradual reforms in others," Dinkic told Beta. : Beta news agency, Belgrade,
in Serbo-Croat 1828 gmt 26 Sep 00 posted by BBX Oct. 5, 2000)
The same was stated in law HR1064, passed by the US House of Representatives
a day after the elections. This law granted an additional 105 million to be
shared between the pro-NATO government of Montenegro ($55 million US) and the
leaders of the DOS ($50 million.) That money was released on an emergency
basis - Oct 1. It was immediately wired to the DOS bank accounts in Budapest
and then smuggled across the border in new US bills for immediate use. to
destabilize Yugoslavia.
The law ordered that the most draconian economic "reforms" be imposed on
Yugoslavia, ordered the breakup of Serbia into separate min-states, ordered
the imposition of complete "democratization", that is, adoption all measures
demanded by the US and ordered the hunting down of all people whom NATO
decides to accuse of being war criminals,
The violent economic "adjustment" and political destruction mandated by
HR1064 and outlined in the program of 'democratic" opposition itself are an
attempt to crush Yugoslavia as a force capable of resisting US domination of
the Balkans, to reduce it to an impoverished territory - a colony. .
These measures cannot be implemented unless NATO has full control of the
Yugoslav government including the army and police. (The other alternative,
invading a Yugoslavia run by a hostile government, is politically unfeasible
for NATO) .
Therefore the DOS has used the charge of "election fraud" - endlessly
repeated but never with any evidence - as an excuse to boycott the runoffs.
In contrast, the fraud involved in the US paying hundreds of millions of
dollars to the "democratic" opposition is never mentioned. This bribe money
violates the electoral laws of every country. Using the veneer of protesting
election fraud, the "democrats" are mobilizing all possible forces in an
attempt to seize power by force. These include pro-fascist Croatians and
pro-KLA Albanians who are the hard core supporters of the pro-NATO Djukanovic
government in Montenegro, they include , secessionists from the Serbian
province of Vojvodina and southern Serbia, young people who have never worked
and who are being fed trickles of cash from the several hundred million
dollars the US has pumped into opposition hands, people coerced by superiors
at work or by school headmasters to demonstrate, people bribed by a taste of
the vast sums of money the US has pumped into Yugoslavia especially in the
past two weeks, and people who have been fooled by the massive, US funded
campaign, by "independent" media, public relations firms and election
pollsters, into believing that their falling living standards, caused by
sanctions just as severe as those imposed on Iraq, are the "fault of one man
- Milosevich" and that the US-backed opposition will bring prosperity. In
fact they would bring the prosperity of the grave.
Because the truth is that countries like Bulgaria and Russia which have
swallowed the "democratic " bait are far poorer than Yugoslavia - even though
they are not suffering from sanctions. and were not yet bombed
The scenario is much like what occurred in Chile in 1973.. There was the same
sort of disruption of transportation and essential services including
electricity. There was the same effort to create the appearance of a majority
movement against Chilean Pres. Allende.. Events were staged which a captive
media misdescribed as popular protest, giving ordinary people the impression
that Allende was about to fall. At the same time, the CIA-directed plan
deprived the people of basic necessities, causing real unrest. In Yugoslavia,
the disruption of the supply of essential commodities started before the
election with a US-instigated rise in the price of bread
Under cover of disruption and "popular protest: the CIA overthrew President
Salvador Allende and installed a pro-US military junta headed by General
Augusto Pinochet.
The strikes which crippled transport and food distribution in Chile were
funded by the CIA. The same is being attempted right now in Yugoslavia. Vast
sums of US tax payers money has been poured into opposition coffers in
Serbia. We know of $182 million. But this is only what is officially
admitted. What about CIA money, which the New York Times says is going into
Serbia "in suitcases full of cash"? What about money from the Soros
Foundation and other CIA-connected "charities"? This money is being used to
finance the miners' strike and to lure young people into the Western-created
group Otpor by giving them money and trinkets, like cellular phones. .
Of course, many Yugoslav people are disgruntled. one miner told the 'NY
Times': "I used to make $1500 a month. Now I make $80." Dishonest forces put
the blame for this on the government that is resisting US control. In fact,
the problem started because in 1989 a World Bank plan, overseen by a leading
member of one of the current 'democratic' opposition groups, closed over a
thousand Yugoslav business, devastating the economy. The wars and sanctions,
whose fault lies with the US and Germany, have further hurt the economy. The
Yugoslav government, routinely accused of being dictatorial, has tolerated
the creation of an immense Fifth Column in Serbia by the US government, which
has poured m8llions into the funding and training of what tare falsely called
"civil society" organizations. These organizations, funded through the
National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House, the USIA, the CIA and the
Soros Foundation, among others, pay thousands of people in Serbia and
maintain and entire "alternate" media with the latest equipment and high
salaries. This media then uses the problem caused by the US to sow discontent
among anyone who is susceptible.
The US effort to destroy Yugoslavia goes back to 1984. A U.S. National
Security Decision Directive NSDD133 entitled "United States Policy Toward
Yugoslavia. Labeled SECRET Sensitive has recently been de-classified. It is a
prescription for destroying Yugoslavia as an economic and political entity.
Since the elections on 24 September, the Democratic opposition has met with
NATO officials in Sofia, Bulgaria. NATO Assistant Secretary General Paul
Klaiber was in Sofia and Bucharest for high level discussions on security
issues resulting from the elections. Barely reported in the media, an IMF
donors' conference was held behind closed doors, Two leading "democratic"
representatives presented their so-called "Letter of Intent", a plan for
imposing harsh economic measure on Yugoslavia, to their IMF and World Bank
leaders. And on the 4th of October, the Stability Pact for Southeastern
Europe was meeting under its so-called "Title III" which pertains to
"security issues." The elections and "transition" in Yugoslavia were on the
agenda. The press reports do not confirm that the two "democratic:
representatives stayed for these meetings. We suspect they did..
The ploy being employed now is to create chaos while dangling promises of
money and peace, instigate whatever elements - children ignorant of politics
and lured by money, secessionist elements, fascists, people under compulsion
from superiors - along with infiltrators from NATO armed forces disguised as
rebellious youths, to terrorize Yugoslav loyalists and create the impression
of popular revolt. Already we have learned that DOS activists are going
around Belgrade, threatening death to anyone who votes in the Sunday
elections. Further provocation may occur at any time. These "democrats" aim
to provide Washington and NATO with a pretext to intervene as "peacekeepers"
as they did in Bosnia.
In the meantime, not only are NATO war ships in the Adriatic, but foreign
troops are already on Yugoslav soil. British SAS special forces are training
paramilitary police in Montenegro to assassinate Yugoslav army officer,.
Money is being channeled to finance these groups..
What we are witnessing is nothing less than an attempt to install a
fascist-like government in Yugoslavia, to turn all of Yugoslavia into Kosovo.
Yugoslavia has stood up to the biggest bully in history, the US government.
Now it is time for all who oppose the creation of US/German dominated world
empire to stand up for Yugoslavia.
www.tenc.net
[Emperor's Clothes]
---
>
> Les liaisons dangereuses
> de Monsieur Kostunica
>
>
> �Cette fois, j'ai vot� Kostunica, car il est honn�te. Mais je n'aime pas
> les gens autour de lui, et j'esp�re qu'il saura les ma�triser�, m'a dit
> un vieux professeur, ce dimanche 24 septembre, dans un bureau de vote de
> Belgrade, o� j'�tais invit� comme observateur international. Beaucoup
> m'ont dit la m�me chose. Qui donc est derri�re Kostunica?
>
> MICHEL COLLON
>
> Face � Milosevic , incarnant la r�sistance � l'Otan, les dirigeants
> habituels de l'opposition auraient certainement perdu s'ils s'�taient
> pr�sent�s. Car Draskovic avait bais� la main de Madeleine Albright (USA)
> en pleine guerre et Djindjic avait fui en Allemagne. Or, la grande
> majorit� des Yougoslaves reste farouchement attach�e � l'ind�pendance du
> pays.
> L'habilet� de la nouvelle strat�gie a consist� � pr�senter un homme
> 'neuf', Kostunica, qui multiplie les d�clarations 'critiques' � l'�gard
> des Etats-Unis et de l'Otan. Mais son programme est celui du G-17 (voir
> page 2), un groupe d'�conomistes yougoslaves tr�s � droite:
> 1. Introduction du deutsche mark comme monnaie nationale! 2. Forte
> r�duction du budget militaire, ce qui priverait le pays des moyens de se
> d�fendre contre de nouvelles agressions. 3. Alignement sur les recettes
> anti-sociales du Fonds Mon�taire International. Apr�s une ann�e de
> sursis, la partie pauvre de la population serait priv�e du 'filet de
> s�curit� sociale' qui lui a permis de survivre jusqu'� pr�sent. Elle
> devrait acheter les marchandises aux prix r�gnant en Europe occidentale
> tout en disposant d'un pouvoir d'achat actuellement proche de bien des
> pays du tiers monde.
>
> Avec Kostunica, Djindjic et le FMI, la population serait-elle soulag�e?
> Ces m�mes r�formes ont d�j� d�vast� des pays comme la Bulgarie,
> l'Albanie ou la Roumanie. Un observateur roumain m'a confi�: �On nous
> avait promis qu'apr�s la chute de Ceaucescu, le capitalisme sans freins
> apporterait la prosp�rit�. Mais, aujourd'hui, l'�conomie est en ruines.
> Nous avons ramass� dix milliards de dollars de dettes, mais on ne voit
> pas un seul investissement. Les b�timents en cours de construction sous
> Ceaucescu ne sont toujours pas achev�s, on ne cr�e pas de nouveaux
> logements, les jeunes sont forc�s d'attendre que leurs parents meurent
> pour obtenir un appartement. Apr�s avoir c�d� � la mode de la
> consommation Coca Cola, McDonalds et Cie, ils se demandent: �O� vais-je
> trouver du travail pour survivre?� Beaucoup devront �migrer.
> L'Allemagne vient d'offrir dix mille visas pour des jeunes qualifi�s en
> informatique. Cet exode des cerveaux privera encore plus le pays de ses
> moyens de d�veloppement.�
> Beaucoup d'�lecteurs ont esp�r� qu'en changeant de dirigeants, ils
> seraient d�barrass�s des sanctions internationales �tranglant leur pays.
> Mais la victoire de Kostunica leur apportera-t-elle r�ellement le
> soulagement et la stabilit�?
> Sans doute de l'argent occidental irait dans certaines poches de ce
> pays. Le vrai chef de l'opposition, Zoran Djindjic - l'homme qui tire
> les ficelles de Kostunica - a re�u des millions de dollars pour faire le
> travail de Washington. Et une nouvelle classe d'hommes d'affaires
> tr�pigne d'impatience. Avec les multinationales, elle exige toutes
> libert�s de mettre fin aux protections sociales. Pour exploiter � fond
> une main d'ouvre qualifi�e et comp�tente. Elle voudrait imposer une
> concurrence impitoyable entre travailleurs, les soumettre � la peur du
> licenciement et du ch�mage , les obliger � travailler sans respecter la
> s�curit� ni le repos de la nuit ou du week-end.
> Comme dans les pays dits 'avanc�s' o� une grande partie des travailleurs
> se cr�ve au boulot, de plus en plus stress�s tandis que l'autre partie
> d�prime au ch�mage. Voil� le sort qui attendrait le peuple yougoslave.
> Sans compter que la d�r�glementation ch�re au 'G-17' leur permettrait
> s�rement de jouir eux aussi de la maladie de la vache folle, de la
> dioxine ou d'autres pollutions...
>
> Dans le club des voleurs, il n'y a plus de place
> Une grande illusion domine actuellement la jeunesse yougoslave, tromp�e
> par les promesses de l'Ouest. A juste titre, elle souhaite vivre mieux.
> Mais elle croit que si elle accepte les volont�s des multinationales et
> des dirigeants occidentaux, la prosp�rit� suivra.
> Mais d'o� provient cette richesse des multinationales occidentales? Du
> fait qu'elles ne paient pratiquement pas les mati�res premi�res prises
> au tiers-monde. Et que dans tous les pays o� elles vont exploiter des
> travailleurs, elles font tout pour maintenir les salaires au plus bas.
> C'est d'ailleurs une r�gle �conomique impos�e par le syst�me de la
> concurrence capitaliste : seul survit, celui qui exploite le plus fort.
> Partout donc, leur int�r�t est de maintenir au plus bas les salaires et
> le niveau de vie g�n�ral . Sinon, elles partent.
> Bref, si les soci�t�s des pays riches sont riches, c'est qu'elles volent
> les pays pauvres. Aussi quand elles promettent � un pays pauvre qu'en se
> soumettant, il pourra rejoindre le club des pays riches, c'est un
> mensonge. Cette promesse ne pourrait �tre tenue: s'il n'y a plus
> d'exploit�s qui se font voler, il n'y aura plus d'exploiteurs qui
> s'enrichissent. La seule solution est un monde sans exploiteurs et sans
> exploit�s, un monde de r�elle coop�ration internationale bas�e sur la
> solidarit�.
>
> Colonisation ne signifie pas stabilit�
> La colonisation de la Yougoslavie et des Balkans par l'Ouest
> n'apporterait pas la stabilit�. Si les in�galit�s sociales et la mis�re
> augmentent, les peuples prendront conscience qu'ils ont �t� tromp�s, ils
> se r�volteront pour regagner leur ind�pendance. Comme d�j� en Mac�doine
> et en Roumanie o� les �lections devraient voir un retour de la gauche.
> Pour d�tourner les r�voltes, les Etats-Unis et leurs amis essayeraient
> certainement � nouveau d'exciter des affrontements entre nationalit�s.
> Et si �a ne suffit pas, on verra alors que les bases militaires de
> l'Otan ont pour fonction non seulement des objectifs strat�giques �
> l'encontre de la Russie, du p�trole du Caucase et du Moyen-Orient, mais
> aussi le r�le de r�primer les peuples des Balkans. L'Otan a soutenu les
> dictateurs fascistes Franco et Salazar, elle a mis en place la dictature
> des colonels grecs en 1967, puis celle des g�n�raux turcs; elle
> n'h�siterait pas � recommencer. Mieux vaut ne pas introduire le loup
> dans la bergerie.
> La r�sistance est donc la seule voie possible pour assurer la paix et le
> d�veloppement social dans les Balkans. Milosevic a d�clar� : "Si nous
> devenions une colonie, nous ne serions jamais lib�r�s des sanctions
> (l'embargo), car �tre une colonie c'est la pire forme de sanctions. Si
> nous devenions une colonie, nous n'aurions aucune chance de
> d�veloppement, ni � court, ni a long terme."
> Sur ce point en tout cas, on ne peut que lui donner raison.
>
>
>
> --
> Les "Editions Democrite" publient un mensuel en francais :
> > "Les dossiers du BIP" avec des traductions d'articles provenant de la
> > presse communiste(grecque, allemande, anglaise, turque, russe,
> espagnole,
> > portugaise...)sur des evenements qui interessent des lecteurs
> communistes.
> > Editions Democrite, 52, bld Roger Salengro, 93190 LIVRY-GARGAN, FRANCE
>
> > e-mail : democrite@...
>
---
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Oct. 12, 2000
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
FACING THREATS AND BRIBES: WILL YUGOSLAVIA RESIST
U.S.-BACKED COUNTER-REVOLUTION?
By Sara Flounders
The corporate media would like everyone to believe that an
authentic, national popular movement independent of the U.S.
and NATO is rising up against the Yugoslav government, and
especially President Slobodan Milosevic. But to believe this
would be a serious mistake.
That's because the media leave out that Washington and its
European allies have subsidized this movement's leadership
with huge sums of money, bolstered them with enormous
political support, exhausted the Yugoslav population with
war threats and sanctions, demonized Milosevic by spreading
lies and false charges, and goaded the opposition to
Milosevic to risk civil war.
The U.S. leaders don't just want to remove Milosevic, they
want to smash Yugoslavia with a counter-revolution that
overthrows whatever remains from the 1945 socialist
revolution.
The opposition, though it led the first round of the
presidential election by 49 percent to 39 percent, has as of
Oct. 4 refused to participate in the runoff election
scheduled for Oct. 8. Instead it is trying to force a
confrontation with the government through strikes and
demonstrations.
WASHINGTON TRIES TO BUY ELECTION
The U.S. government has admitted to authorizing $77 dollars
to bankroll the opposition movement. On Sept. 25 the U.S.
House of Representatives voted another $105 million to fund
the "democracy movement" in Yugoslavia.
In comparison George W. Bush has raised $177 million to fund
his presidential bid. Al Gore has raised $126 million.
(Federal Election Commission data compiled by the Center for
Responsive Politics.)
Yugoslavia is about the size of the state of Ohio, with a
population less than 4 percent of the United States. If you
also account for the difference in average income, this
would be comparable here to a $30 billion donation from a
foreign enemy to a U.S. presidential candidate. And this is
in an economy that has been strangled by U.S.-led sanctions.
As in the U.S. election campaign, there are also lots of
soft money donations. The congressional appropriation is
just the tip of the iceberg. Both the Sept. 20 New York
Times and the Sept. 19 Washington Post describe the
suitcases of money handed over at the border. Advisers,
pollsters, TV, radio and newspapers are all paid for by the
U.S. government.
And this sum omits whatever the Soros Foundation or Germany
and other West European powers pumped in.
Despite all this foreign funding, the opposition candidate
Vojislav Kostunica claims that he is an independent who
would refuse to turn over any government official to the
Hague Tribunal. He promises Serbia will remain intact.
Kostunica counts on the U.S. and European Union's promises
to lift sanctions if Milosevic is no longer president. He
seems to have forgotten that the U.S. also promised
Milosevic that if he signed the 1995 Dayton Accords on
Bosnia, the sanctions would be lifted. Milosevic signed. The
sanctions remained.
WASHINGTON CLARIFIES ITS GOAL: COUNTER-REVOLUTION
A new bill before Congress makes Washington's aims in this
election clear. HR 1064, called the Serbian Democratization
Act of 2000, stipulates that sanctions will remain in place
until Yugoslavia agrees to "cooperate fully with The Hague
and hand over anyone charged." A new government must agree
to detach Kosovo, grant "autonomy to Vojvodina"--the region
in the north of Serbia--and "give up any claim to previously
owned property of the Yugoslav Federation, including its
missions, offices and consulates."
U.S. intervention is hardly limited to funding the
opposition and planning for its administration after the
election. Part of Yugoslavia--Kosovo--is under military
occupation by the very forces funding the opposition. The
Pentagon held joint military maneuvers with Croatia--whose
government is hostile to Yugoslavia--and a landing invasion
exercise on an island off shore in the Adriatic Sea during
the Sept. 24 elections.
Washington's goals go far beyond gross interference in an
election campaign against one man, Milosevic. That's why the
U.S. strategists wanted Kostunica to refuse to participate
in the runoff election. They are not satisfied with an
orderly transfer of some government positions if Milosevic's
Socialist Party-led coalition would still command the
Yugoslavia Parliament, whose control it retained in the
Sept. 24 election.
Strikes and shutdowns organized by the opposition show that
Washington's real aim is fomenting a civil war and the
violent overthrow of the whole government apparatus,
replacing it with a weak government completely compliant to
U.S. demands. The U.S. especially wants to destroy the
Yugoslav Army, which has its roots in the socialist
revolution of 1945.
KOSTUNICA AND G17
Why are all the imperialist forces throwing such enormous
support to Kostunica?
Kostunica is backed by a coalition of 18 parties called the
Democratic Opposition of Serbia. DOS embraces the
reconstruction plan of a group of Yugoslav economists called
the Group of 17-Plus. The mission statement of the G17
openly brags that many of the groups' economists work for
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
For anyone who holds illusions that the NATO countries--the
imperialists--might actually be supporting a "democratic
alternative," it would help to review the economic plan of
the G17 to understand the enthusiasm of U.S. and West
European banks and corporations for Kostunica.
Michel Chossudovsky is a professor of economics at the
University of Ottawa and the author of a well-known book on
IMF policies, "The Globalization of Poverty." Chossudovsky
showed that the G17 is funded by the Washington-based
"Center for International Private Enterprise" which is an
affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In an article co-
authored by Jared Israel and available on www.tenc.net, and
developed in depth in the book "NATO in the Balkans,"
Chossudofsky shows the role of the IMF in dismantling
Yugoslavia.
This whole apparatus is directly funded by the National
Endowment for Democracy, which the U.S. Congress created in
order to finance operations that the Central Intelligence
Agency used to fund clandestinely. This is not speculation.
Allen Weinstein, who planned the NED, said, "A lot of what
we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA."
The G17 is wholly committed to capitalism, free markets and
the dismantling of the public sector. They are committed to
doing away with programs that subsidize food, rent or
transportation, along with free medical care. World Bank and
IMF policies in country after country force businesses, both
public and private, into bankruptcy. Then foreign
corporations buy them out at rock bottom prices. A dependent
colonial economy is the result.
IMF EXPERIMENT LED TO BREAKUP
Yugoslavia went through a wrenching experiment with IMF
privatization in 1989. Professor Veselin Vukotic, now elder
statesman of the G17, was then the minister of privatization
under Yugoslav Premier Ante Markovic.
Vukotic worked on a World Bank plan to privatize Yugoslav
industry. Yugoslav companies were selected for bankruptcy or
liquidation. This plan orchestrated the breakup of 50
percent of Yugoslav industry, wiping out 1,100 industrial
firms. Over 614,000 industrial workers were laid off, out of
2.7 million. Industrial output shrank by 21 percent.
As social programs were unraveling, unemployment
skyrocketing and wages plunging, Yugoslavia as a federation
began to unravel. There were strikes and worker actions. But
the economic chaos also gave rise to separatist tendencies
among the six republics that made up the Socialist
Federation of Yugoslavia.
In the 1991 elections Serbia and Montenegro tried to reject
these disastrous economic policies. The regimes in other
republics cast their lots with the plans of the Western
bankers.
In January 1991 U.S. Foreign Appropriations legislation
ordered a cutoff in trade, loans or aid to any republic that
held elections that the State Department did not approve.
The Foreign Appropriations bill each year legislates all
manner of strangulation against the economy of any country
not moving fast enough toward a capitalist market economy.
For attempting some resistance to the plans of the World
Bank, Serbia was targeted.
In the years of economic strangulation caused by the
sanctions that the West imposed on the two remaining
republics of Yugoslavia, many of these economic plans have
been reversed, increasing public ownership. The G17 promises
that Kostunica's election would mean Yugoslavia would
quickly adapt "free market" policies and privatize the
entire economy.
THE MINERS' STRIKE
Reports in the Western media on the Kolubara miners' strike
indicate that the government has lost at least some of the
support it once had in the working class, and that workers
are dissatisfied with the decline in their living standards.
No one sympathetic to the workers' struggle can be pleased
that police have to be sent in against workers. The world
should remember, however, what happened to the Polish
shipyard workers in Gdansk who led the struggle against the
Polish government. The new neo-liberal regime shut the
shipyard as it was no longer profitable on the world market,
and all the workers lost their jobs. Miners in Russia and
Romania faced the same IMF shutdowns.
It would be foolish to believe that the U.S. government,
which has suppressed democracy and overthrown legally
elected popular governments from Guate mala to Iran to
Greece to Chile to Grenada to Haiti, is interested in
democratic process in Yugoslavia. What it wants is to impose
savage capitalism on Serbia and Montenegro.
Kostunica claims Yugoslavia under his administration will
become a "normal Western government." But what does that
mean when there are only two kinds of status for countries
in Europe today?
Yugoslavia can't join the imperialist powers like Germany,
France or even Austria, which held colonial empires and
whose economies today have a global reach. Its only choice
is to share the fate of Bulgaria, Romania, Albania and
Ukraine.
The economy and the standard of living in these countries is
worse than it is in Yugoslavia, even after 78 days of NATO
bombing and eight years of international sanctions. The
people in these countries are the victims of 10 years of
economic restructuring. Colonial subjugation and the
dismantling of industry have been imposed on them. And
that's the choice Kostunica and his U.S. tutors offer
Yugoslavia.
WHAT TO DO
The International Action Center has issued a call directed
to those in the United States who want to show solidarity
with Yugoslavia and its struggle to resist counter-
revolution and a U.S./NATO takeover.
In response to the U.S. and Western Europe's blatant use of
funds to influence the Yugoslav election, the IAC and its
founder, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, have
called for a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the full
extent of U.S. intervention in the Yugoslav elections. It is
seeking evidence of this intervention and hopes to expose it
as a crime, just as it did with the war crimes the U.S. and
other NATO forces committed against Yugoslavia in 1999.
Interested readers can contact the IAC at (212) 633-6646 or
e-mail iacenter@.... Information is also available
on the Web site www.iacenter.org.
- END -
(Copyleft Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
ww@.... For subscription info send message to:
info@.... Web: http://www.workers.org)
---
DOS IMPLEMENTING SCENARIO WHICH NATO FAILED TO REALIZE, MINISTER MATIC
BELGRADE, October 4 (Tanjug) Yugoslav Information Minister Goran
Matic said on Wednesday that he expected a good turnout for the second
round of elections for state president on October 8, and that the
electorate will express their will and vote for the candidate of their
choice in a free and democratic manner, without pressures or interference
from outside or within.
Speaking in a broadcast by YUInfo television, Matic said elections
held in Yugoslavia on September 24 "were overexposed in the international
public from the very beginning of the election campaign."
"Practically, they were given importance which elections in other
countries do not have according to the nature of things. It is evident that
a large deposit had been made for these elections," he said.
Through these elections, the countries which committed the
aggression on Yugoslavia had wanted to secure amnesty for the crimes they
committed against the civilian population in Yugoslavia and, generally, for
that entire shameful, uncivilized and illegal aggression for which there
was no basis in any legal act or international document, Matic said.
The Minister singled out as especially interesting that foreign
correspondents of media such as the BBC, Sky News, NTV, ARD, CDF, did not
hide their disappointment that no conflicts had broken out already on the
day of elections, even bloodshed, in the streets of Belgrade and other
places in Yugoslavia, and that the elections had passed in a peaceful and
democratic atmosphere.
"This was a great disappointment for them and they invested
everything to provoke this in other ways," Matic said, illustrating this
with a statement by wellknown British reporter John Simpson who, when asked
from his BBC headquarters to give the actual figures for the first round of
presidential elections, replied that figures were naturally important, but
that the possibility to paralyse the country was far more important.
Returning to the subject of the second round of presidential
elections, Matic asked: "What is the secret behind (DOS presidential
candidate Vojislav) Kostunica's fear to participate in a runoff" if he had
an advantage of 600,000 votes in the first round, in which case the second
round would be a mere formality for him.
"Perhaps the secret is that DOS (Democratic Opposition of Serbia)
stole votes and manipulated the elections by substituting boxes with
presidential candidate ballots. Therefore, let us see who is the actual
forger in these elections, and not believe it when they cry wolf, because
that story is familiar," Matic said.
Speaking about activities by home media in the present situation,
Matic said the papers Vijesti, Glas javnosti, Blic, Danas, and some others
"have become DOS's political pamphlets whose objective is to realize the
scenario which Simpson had clearly announced as the homework of the BBC,
which is a British state company and reflects the positions of Britains's
state policy."
---
----- Original Message -----
From: SLP National Office
To: SLP YOUTH
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2000 2:10 PM
Subject: [slp-youth] Statement on Yugoslav elections from SLP delegation
For information to comrades and friends: a statement on the Yugoslav
elections
from Socialist Labour Party members who comprised the only British
delegation
in Yugoslavia as observers.
Best wishes from Socialist Labour
To Post a message, send it to: slp-youth@...
To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to:
slp-youth-unsubscribe@...
YUGOSLAV ELECTIONS -
A LESSON IN OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE
At the invitation of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Britain's Socialist Labour Party sent a three-person delegation to participate in international monitoring of the Yugoslav elections held on 24 September. We were the only British representatives among 250 observers invited from around the world.
Our delegation travelled extensively throughout the country, was able to talk to officials and voters and visited numerous polling stations, gaining first-hand experience of what was actually taking place during an election which was being misreported in many parts of the world.
From what we saw, the Federal Electoral Commission, an elected all-party body, did everything in its power to ensure that people were able to cast their votes without intimidation and in an orderly manner - and certainly in accordance with procedures which we would expect in a democratic, free election.
In Serbia, we visited the Muslim areas of Kraljevo and Novi Pazar as well as observing polling in the capital, Belgrade.
It was only in Montenegro that we observed the following irregularities:
1. the so-called Democratic Opposition which boycotted the elections in Montenegro nevertheless gathered outside polling stations there in clear violation of election procedures, using intimidating behaviour towards prospective voters;
2. we received many first-hand reports from people who stated they had been threatened with the loss of their jobs if they turned out to vote;
3. we were in no doubt that countless refugees from Kosovo had been deliberately excluded from the electoral lists in Montenegro despite the fact that their identity cards, issued in 1999, gave them the right to vote, and were thus also prevented from voting.
We could only conclude that these tactics of intimidation and disenfranchisement were designed to benefit the so-called Democratic Opposition.
We were also appalled at the blatant outside interference in the procedures from Western governments which are obviously seeking to influence the outcome of these elections by promising economic aid and the lifting of sanctions if the Yugoslav people vote in accordance with the wishes of these governments and the European Union.
Mick Appleyard Liz Screen Ian Johnson
---
Press release 22 / 09/ 2000
========================
CANADIAN OBSERVERS IN YUGOSLAVIA
Marjaleena Repo
BELGRADE. The international observers of the Yugoslavian presidential and
parliamentary elections have arrived in Belgrade - some 200 of them from
(so far) 54 countries. Contrary to the reports that "they have not been
allowed in," there are registered observers from the following Western
European countries. Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Germany, Portugal, Sweden and UK. (The so far single American
observer is an active senior participant in the Gore presidential
campaign.) Among the observers are parlamentarians, delegates from
political parties and organizations, as well as independents like the two
participants from Canada.
The Canadian delegates have attended political rallies of the three major
presidential candidates, in Belgrade and Novi Sad. These events were noisy
and lively affairs, without any observable disturbances and any noticeable
police presence. Literature was freely distributed and received at these
events, in a way no different from political rallies in Canada.
One of us (Marjaleena Repo) has paid particular attention to election
posters as she has been involved in the long-standing and not-yet-finished
fight for the right to poster in Canada - and she can report that posters
are everywhere in the street scene, accompanied by graffiti and the
defacing of each others posters even-steven fashion, it seems. She has seen
posterers at work in downtown Belgrade with posters urging women to vote,
while postering on top of other election messages! She had a chance to
discuss this contradiction with five English-speaking Yugoslavian youth
with their buckets and sponges. Unlike in Canadian cities, the posters
appear not to be scraped down by city workers but live to suffer the
indignities from competeing political parties. In addition, there are huge
billboards advertising the three major presidential candidates all around
the cityscape. All in all, the appearance of democracy in action.
The other Canadian delegate, Professor Dimitri Kitsikis, has a long-time
experience of national elections, having systematically studied and
observed them in many countries, notably in France, Greece and Turkey. His
observations are therefore particularly valid and he has been unshaken by
Western insistence that Yugoslav elections could be rigged. On the
contrary, he is observing that these elections do not differ
from those in any other democratic countries, particularly from France, of
which Dr. Kitsikis is an expert.
The delegates have attended an information session on the electoral process
in Yugoslavia and have been provided with background information and
documentation on how the system works and how it makes an effort to
guarantee an equal, free and transparent voting method leading to reliable
results. Questions
were invited and responded to. We were informed that the delegates will be
able to attend any and all polling stations on voting day, Sept. 24, and
officials at the polls have been instructed to welcome foreign observers
with full access to the actual voting situation, while respecting the
citizens' right to privacy.
While in Belgrade, disturbing news reached the observers. The International
Herald Tribune of Sept. 20 has a front page story, titled "U.S. aids
Milosevic foes: Millions allocated to a democracy program." The article
states that U.S. officials have acknowledged $77 million financial
"contribution" to opposition groups in Yugoslavia, from students to labour,
from so-called independent media to political rock bands, and the newspaper
states that "There is nothing secret or even particularly unusual about the
U.S. democracy-building program in Serbia, which is closely co-ordinated
with European allies and is similar to previous campaigns in pre-democratic
Chile, South Africa and Eastern Europe, among other places."
Washington Post (Sept. 21) further reveals that U.S. officials and
corporations are also "providing a sophisticated opinion survey system,
engaging for the purpose the New York firm that has done the job for Bill
Clinton [Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates]" which explains the many
polls that "prove" that an
opposition candidate is ahead of President Milosevic and suggest vigorously
that Mr. Milosevic will only win by fraud.
While the Canadian and other Western media have alredy declared the
election to be "rigged" (without any evidence, of course), we believe that
the actual evidence for rigging and distorting the Yugoslavian election
results has been found in the pre-democratic countries of U.S. and the
European Union who in an wholly illegal and undemocratic fashion are
interfering in the domestic affairs of a sovereign country. This, of
course, must be condemned by all true democrats, be they individuals,
organizations or nations. - 30-
MARJALEENA REPO is a social justice activist and a long-standing member of
Canada's "democracy movement," with hands-on experience on how Canada's
democracy does and does not work. In April '99, she was a founding member
of The Ad Hoc Committee to Stop Canada's Participation in the War Against
Yugoslavia. She lives in Saskatoon, Sask.
DR. DIMITRI KITSIKIS is a professor of International Relations at the
University of Ottawa since 1970 and a fellow of the Royal Society of
Canada. He is a specialist of the Balkans and Turkey and has written many
books on the area.
Professor Kitsikis is multi-lingual and can give interviews in French and
Greek as well as in English.
Back in Canada on September 29, Ms. Repo can be reached at (416)466-6533 or
(306)244-9724.
Professor Kitsikis will be back in Ottawa on October 2, and can be reached
at University of Ottawa, tel: (613)562-5735 or at his home tel: (613)834-4634.
===
Bollettino di controinformazione del
Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'"
> http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono il Coordinamento, ma vengono
fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al solo scopo di
segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only")
Per contributi e segnalazioni: jugocoord@...
*** QUESTO SERVIZIO E' ANCORA IN FASE SPERIMENTALE ***
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Una newsletter personale,
un forum web personale,
una mailing list personale, ...?
Gratis sotto
http://www.ecircle.de/ad171764/www.ecircle.it