-------- Original Message --------
Oggetto: Report from Sofia, Bulgaria
Data: Mon, 6 Nov 2000 17:51:52 -0500
Da: iacenter@...
Rispondi-a: "International" <iacenter@...>
A: "International" <iacenter@...>
Report from Sofia
BULGARIAN ANTI-FASCISTS HOST TRIBUNAL ON NATO WAR CRIMES
Sofia, Bulgaria, Oct. 2 and 3
Two delegations from Yugoslavia traveled to this ancient Balkan capital
in late September. Neither got much international media coverage, but
for different reasons.
On Sept. 27 leaders of the US-backed "Democratic Opposition of
Serbia" met here quietly with representatives of the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund and NATO officials. They signed a "letter
of intent" pledging that when they came to power they would raise
prices, privatize state industry and dismantle Yugoslavia's free health
care system. That was the price the US and other NATO powers
demanded for the hundreds of millions of dollars they pumped into the
campaign to overturn Yugoslavia's Socialist Party government and for
the promised lifting of Western economic sanctions.
Members of the other group had experienced a different form of
Washington's largesse. They had lost children, parents, spouses and
friends to the hail of NATO bombs and missiles that descended on
Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999. They came to tell an international
tribunal of the price the US and NATO imposed on Yugoslavs for not
accepting the IMF's "economic restructuring" plan.
Yugoslavia and Bulgaria have a lot in common. They are neighbors
closely related by language, culture, history and topography. They both
had socialist revolutions at the end of World War II. And over the past
decade they have both been targets of US-directed wars of
destruction. Against Yugoslavia that war was waged with bombs,
missiles, CIA-backed terrorism and economic sanctions. In Bulgaria it
took the form of IMF dictated "shock therapy" imposed by the same
type of "democrats" the US now backs in Yugoslavia. In 1990 a similar
US-funded movement grabbed power in Bulgaria after a campaign of
"destabilization." Today the average Bulgarian lives on 58 cents a day.
"For the past 10 years, life here has been a catastrophe," says Dr.
Mimi Vitkova, who was Bulgaria's health minister from 1995 to 1997.
"We were never a rich country, but when we had socialism our children
were healthy and well-fed. They all got immunized. Retired people and
the disabled were provided for and got free medicine. Our hospitals
were free.
"Today," she continues, "if a person has no money, they have no right
to be cured. And most people have no money. Our economy was
ruined. We had a lot of industry, but after privatization many plants
shut down. We lost our trade with the Soviet Union, with Africa, Latin
America and, of course, Yugoslavia. Officially unemployment here is 17
percent, but in many parts of the country it is 35 percent or more. At
least 1 million of our most educated people have emigrated abroad.
We were promised if we 'privatized' we would get access to West
European markets, but it never happened. Instead we get are tiny
loans from the International Monetary Fund."
Dr. Vitkova is a member of the Bulgarian Antifascist Union, originally
formed by partisans who fought the Nazis and their collaborators
during World War II. While Bulgaria's monarchy sent troops to aid the
Axis in Yugoslavia and Greece, Bulgarian revolutionaries fought
alongside Yugoslav partisans against Hitler's troops.
"Our organization is made up of people who swore to never allow
fascism to return," Vitkova said of the union. "Bulgaria was one of the
the few countries where all Nazi collaborators were punished. But
today the pro-NATO regime is trying to clean up history, saying that
Bulgaria never had fascism. Our main activities are educational, but
they are not only excursions into the past. We may face the same
forces in the future. Our people will not submit to the economic
dictatorship that now rules our country."
On Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, the Antifascist Union hosted the fifth hearing
of
the East Europe?based International People's Tribunal on NATO War
Crimes in Yugoslavia. Previous hearings had been held in Russia,
Ukraine, Germany and Yugoslavia itself. The tribunal cooperates with
the Commission of inquiry on NATO War Crimes headed by former US
attorney general Ramsey Clark. Judges from Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine,
Georgia, Poland, Burkina Faso, Germany and the United States heard
wrenching testimony from Yugoslav victims of NATO's bombing
campaign. The hearing was opened by Antifascist Union president
Vladimir Velkanov and tribunal president Mikhail Kuznetzov of Russia.
The US antiwar movement was represented by Bill Doares and Lara
Kretskaya of the International Action Center and the US Commision of
Inquiry.
"NATO took everything from me," Olivera Simic of Novi Pazar told the
judges. She described how her husband had gone with their 2-year-old
son to buy parts for their car on May 31, 1999. That was the day
generals at the Pentagon decided to destroy the center of Novi Pazar.
Simic, pregnant, stayed home. She only heard the explosion that
demolished the city's central department store, killing her husband, son
and nine other people.
Elitza Yovanovic was at home on April 5, 1999, the day the US Air
Force bombed the town of Aleksinac. "Aleksinac was my Hiroshima,"
she says. She was not in the house when the missiles hit, but her aunt
and uncle, her husband's parents and most of her friends died that day.
She tried to dig her aunt out of the rubble but it was too late. Her
mother, a doctor, was wounded and died a few months later.
Yovanovic's 6-year-old daughter survived the bombing but still asks
when her left leg will grow back.
Branko Brudaro recalled how he and his wife had decided to send their
9-year-old daughter to stay with his in-laws in rural Montenegro, far
from any roads or military or industrial targets. They could not escape
the Pentagon reach. On April 13, Brudaro's daughter, his wife's sister
and her daughter were killed by NATO bombs.
Milos Markovic is a journalist in the cultural section of Serbian
television. He was working late the night of April 23 when US missiles
destroyed the TV station. "We stumbled outside through smoke and fire
only to see our colleagues' heads and arms lying on top of cars and in
the streets." Markovic noted that Western correspondents often worked
overnight at Serbian TV facilities but none were there the night the
missile hit.
Stoyanc Petrovic's grandson was killed in the bombing. He himself was
hospitalized with a fractured leg when NATO missiles hit the hospital.
20 patients and medical workers died.
A representative of Iraq told of the 9 years of destruction inflicted on
his country by US-directed war and sanctions, which have taken the
lives of hundreds of thousands of children.
The tribunal also heard testimony about the murder and persecution of
Serbs, Romas, Gorans, Turks and other minorities in Kosovo inthe 13
months of NATO-KFOR occupation. The judges unanimously found the
leaders and military commanders of NATO guilty of war crimes against
the people of Yugoslavia. The final verdict called for the abolition of
NATO as a "criminal organization," an end to the occupation of Kosovo
and for reparations to the Yugoslav people from the NATO powers.
IAC representative Doares closed the tribunal with a denunciation of US-
NATO interference in the Yugoslav elections, which he called a
"continuation of the war." He compared the IMF's destruction of the
Bulgarian economy to the devastation of Yugoslavia by NATO bombs
and missiles and drew applause when he called NATO and the IMF
"two arms of the same monster."
Judges from other East European and former Soviet republics were
familiar with the role of NATO and the IMF. One of them was
Pantaleymun Georgadze, general secretary of the Communist party of
the former Soviet republic of Georgia. He told IAC representatives that
while most Georgians now live on the edge of starvation, the US-
backed Shevardnadze wants turn Georgia into a NATO base. "They
want to make the Caucasus a zone of war like the Balkans," he said.
Georgadze's son, once the republic's minister of security, has been
froced into hiding for opposing the Shevardnadze regime.
Representatives from Ukraine told how the NATO-backed "democratic"
regime in their country has also destroyed their country's industry
while
dragging Ukraine into NATO's "Partnership for Peace." NATO held
maneuvers in Ukraine last summer.
Among the Bulgarians attending the hearing was Blagovesta Doncheva, a
former
schoolteacher who was once an anticommunist "dissident. Now an anti-NATO
activist, she was arrested for protesting Clinton's visit to Bulgaria in
1999.
She was deeply concerned about Western intervention in the Yugoslav
elections. "They did exactly the same thing in 10 years ago in
Bulgaria," Doncheva says. "The Bulgarian 'Union of Democratic Forces'
was flooded with money, cars, trucks, computers from the CIA and the
Soros Foundation. They made big promises, and we believed them.
Then the IMF and World Bank destroyed the very fabric of our society.
Our industry was shut down, our pensions were taken away. Earlier
women could retire at 55 and men at 60; now no one can retire. Our
seniors are eating out of garbage bins, children are dying in the
streets
from drugs and malnutrition. The last 10 years have been the most
awful of my life. For us, stopping NATO and the IMF is a matter of
survival."
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@...
web: http://www.iacenter.org
CHECK OUT SITE http://www.mumia2000.org
phone: 212 633-6646
fax: 212 633-2889
*To make a tax-deductible donation,
go to http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org
---
A cura del Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'".
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").
Archivio:
> http://www.ecircle.it/an_ecircle/articles?ecircleid%c2%91979
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/messages
Sito WEB:
> http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
Per iscriversi al bollettino: <jugoinfo-subscribe@...>
Per cancellarsi: <jugoinfo-unsubscribe@...>
Per inviare materiali e commenti: <jugocoord@...>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Una newsletter personale,
un forum web personale,
una mailing list personale, ...?
Gratis sotto
http://www.ecircle.it/ad889131/www.ecircle.it
Oggetto: Report from Sofia, Bulgaria
Data: Mon, 6 Nov 2000 17:51:52 -0500
Da: iacenter@...
Rispondi-a: "International" <iacenter@...>
A: "International" <iacenter@...>
Report from Sofia
BULGARIAN ANTI-FASCISTS HOST TRIBUNAL ON NATO WAR CRIMES
Sofia, Bulgaria, Oct. 2 and 3
Two delegations from Yugoslavia traveled to this ancient Balkan capital
in late September. Neither got much international media coverage, but
for different reasons.
On Sept. 27 leaders of the US-backed "Democratic Opposition of
Serbia" met here quietly with representatives of the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund and NATO officials. They signed a "letter
of intent" pledging that when they came to power they would raise
prices, privatize state industry and dismantle Yugoslavia's free health
care system. That was the price the US and other NATO powers
demanded for the hundreds of millions of dollars they pumped into the
campaign to overturn Yugoslavia's Socialist Party government and for
the promised lifting of Western economic sanctions.
Members of the other group had experienced a different form of
Washington's largesse. They had lost children, parents, spouses and
friends to the hail of NATO bombs and missiles that descended on
Yugoslavia in the spring of 1999. They came to tell an international
tribunal of the price the US and NATO imposed on Yugoslavs for not
accepting the IMF's "economic restructuring" plan.
Yugoslavia and Bulgaria have a lot in common. They are neighbors
closely related by language, culture, history and topography. They both
had socialist revolutions at the end of World War II. And over the past
decade they have both been targets of US-directed wars of
destruction. Against Yugoslavia that war was waged with bombs,
missiles, CIA-backed terrorism and economic sanctions. In Bulgaria it
took the form of IMF dictated "shock therapy" imposed by the same
type of "democrats" the US now backs in Yugoslavia. In 1990 a similar
US-funded movement grabbed power in Bulgaria after a campaign of
"destabilization." Today the average Bulgarian lives on 58 cents a day.
"For the past 10 years, life here has been a catastrophe," says Dr.
Mimi Vitkova, who was Bulgaria's health minister from 1995 to 1997.
"We were never a rich country, but when we had socialism our children
were healthy and well-fed. They all got immunized. Retired people and
the disabled were provided for and got free medicine. Our hospitals
were free.
"Today," she continues, "if a person has no money, they have no right
to be cured. And most people have no money. Our economy was
ruined. We had a lot of industry, but after privatization many plants
shut down. We lost our trade with the Soviet Union, with Africa, Latin
America and, of course, Yugoslavia. Officially unemployment here is 17
percent, but in many parts of the country it is 35 percent or more. At
least 1 million of our most educated people have emigrated abroad.
We were promised if we 'privatized' we would get access to West
European markets, but it never happened. Instead we get are tiny
loans from the International Monetary Fund."
Dr. Vitkova is a member of the Bulgarian Antifascist Union, originally
formed by partisans who fought the Nazis and their collaborators
during World War II. While Bulgaria's monarchy sent troops to aid the
Axis in Yugoslavia and Greece, Bulgarian revolutionaries fought
alongside Yugoslav partisans against Hitler's troops.
"Our organization is made up of people who swore to never allow
fascism to return," Vitkova said of the union. "Bulgaria was one of the
the few countries where all Nazi collaborators were punished. But
today the pro-NATO regime is trying to clean up history, saying that
Bulgaria never had fascism. Our main activities are educational, but
they are not only excursions into the past. We may face the same
forces in the future. Our people will not submit to the economic
dictatorship that now rules our country."
On Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, the Antifascist Union hosted the fifth hearing
of
the East Europe?based International People's Tribunal on NATO War
Crimes in Yugoslavia. Previous hearings had been held in Russia,
Ukraine, Germany and Yugoslavia itself. The tribunal cooperates with
the Commission of inquiry on NATO War Crimes headed by former US
attorney general Ramsey Clark. Judges from Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine,
Georgia, Poland, Burkina Faso, Germany and the United States heard
wrenching testimony from Yugoslav victims of NATO's bombing
campaign. The hearing was opened by Antifascist Union president
Vladimir Velkanov and tribunal president Mikhail Kuznetzov of Russia.
The US antiwar movement was represented by Bill Doares and Lara
Kretskaya of the International Action Center and the US Commision of
Inquiry.
"NATO took everything from me," Olivera Simic of Novi Pazar told the
judges. She described how her husband had gone with their 2-year-old
son to buy parts for their car on May 31, 1999. That was the day
generals at the Pentagon decided to destroy the center of Novi Pazar.
Simic, pregnant, stayed home. She only heard the explosion that
demolished the city's central department store, killing her husband, son
and nine other people.
Elitza Yovanovic was at home on April 5, 1999, the day the US Air
Force bombed the town of Aleksinac. "Aleksinac was my Hiroshima,"
she says. She was not in the house when the missiles hit, but her aunt
and uncle, her husband's parents and most of her friends died that day.
She tried to dig her aunt out of the rubble but it was too late. Her
mother, a doctor, was wounded and died a few months later.
Yovanovic's 6-year-old daughter survived the bombing but still asks
when her left leg will grow back.
Branko Brudaro recalled how he and his wife had decided to send their
9-year-old daughter to stay with his in-laws in rural Montenegro, far
from any roads or military or industrial targets. They could not escape
the Pentagon reach. On April 13, Brudaro's daughter, his wife's sister
and her daughter were killed by NATO bombs.
Milos Markovic is a journalist in the cultural section of Serbian
television. He was working late the night of April 23 when US missiles
destroyed the TV station. "We stumbled outside through smoke and fire
only to see our colleagues' heads and arms lying on top of cars and in
the streets." Markovic noted that Western correspondents often worked
overnight at Serbian TV facilities but none were there the night the
missile hit.
Stoyanc Petrovic's grandson was killed in the bombing. He himself was
hospitalized with a fractured leg when NATO missiles hit the hospital.
20 patients and medical workers died.
A representative of Iraq told of the 9 years of destruction inflicted on
his country by US-directed war and sanctions, which have taken the
lives of hundreds of thousands of children.
The tribunal also heard testimony about the murder and persecution of
Serbs, Romas, Gorans, Turks and other minorities in Kosovo inthe 13
months of NATO-KFOR occupation. The judges unanimously found the
leaders and military commanders of NATO guilty of war crimes against
the people of Yugoslavia. The final verdict called for the abolition of
NATO as a "criminal organization," an end to the occupation of Kosovo
and for reparations to the Yugoslav people from the NATO powers.
IAC representative Doares closed the tribunal with a denunciation of US-
NATO interference in the Yugoslav elections, which he called a
"continuation of the war." He compared the IMF's destruction of the
Bulgarian economy to the devastation of Yugoslavia by NATO bombs
and missiles and drew applause when he called NATO and the IMF
"two arms of the same monster."
Judges from other East European and former Soviet republics were
familiar with the role of NATO and the IMF. One of them was
Pantaleymun Georgadze, general secretary of the Communist party of
the former Soviet republic of Georgia. He told IAC representatives that
while most Georgians now live on the edge of starvation, the US-
backed Shevardnadze wants turn Georgia into a NATO base. "They
want to make the Caucasus a zone of war like the Balkans," he said.
Georgadze's son, once the republic's minister of security, has been
froced into hiding for opposing the Shevardnadze regime.
Representatives from Ukraine told how the NATO-backed "democratic"
regime in their country has also destroyed their country's industry
while
dragging Ukraine into NATO's "Partnership for Peace." NATO held
maneuvers in Ukraine last summer.
Among the Bulgarians attending the hearing was Blagovesta Doncheva, a
former
schoolteacher who was once an anticommunist "dissident. Now an anti-NATO
activist, she was arrested for protesting Clinton's visit to Bulgaria in
1999.
She was deeply concerned about Western intervention in the Yugoslav
elections. "They did exactly the same thing in 10 years ago in
Bulgaria," Doncheva says. "The Bulgarian 'Union of Democratic Forces'
was flooded with money, cars, trucks, computers from the CIA and the
Soros Foundation. They made big promises, and we believed them.
Then the IMF and World Bank destroyed the very fabric of our society.
Our industry was shut down, our pensions were taken away. Earlier
women could retire at 55 and men at 60; now no one can retire. Our
seniors are eating out of garbage bins, children are dying in the
streets
from drugs and malnutrition. The last 10 years have been the most
awful of my life. For us, stopping NATO and the IMF is a matter of
survival."
International Action Center
39 West 14th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@...
web: http://www.iacenter.org
CHECK OUT SITE http://www.mumia2000.org
phone: 212 633-6646
fax: 212 633-2889
*To make a tax-deductible donation,
go to http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org
---
A cura del Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'".
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").
Archivio:
> http://www.ecircle.it/an_ecircle/articles?ecircleid%c2%91979
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/messages
Sito WEB:
> http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
Per iscriversi al bollettino: <jugoinfo-subscribe@...>
Per cancellarsi: <jugoinfo-unsubscribe@...>
Per inviare materiali e commenti: <jugocoord@...>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Una newsletter personale,
un forum web personale,
una mailing list personale, ...?
Gratis sotto
http://www.ecircle.it/ad889131/www.ecircle.it