ZAGreb INFormation potLATCH

ZAGINFLATCH #29, 10th April 1999

ZAP / ARK
GAJEVA 55
10 000 ZAGREB
CROATIA

zap_zg@geocities.com
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/3707/

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09.04.99, from: Slavenka Drakulic

Day in day out we are watching their photographs on TV and in the newspapers, accompanied by news on how the Serbs are defying the bombing. They are standing on the bridges holding hands or are gathering on the square in the center of Belgrade, where rock-concerts are being held on a daily basis. A paper target is fastened on their chests. The word "target" is written in English, for the message is meant for foreigners, the west, the world that has plotted against them. The same paper targets are being handed out to by their activists to people who participate in demonstrations against the bombing on the streets of German or Italian towns. The journalists are reporting that targets are the newest fashion, big printed on T-shirts or small ones as badges, worn on the buttonhole. In a short period of time the Serbs have imposed the target as their protection sign, the sign under which they unified, courageously and resolutely defy the whole world. Wearing it they are turning into live targets, and are letting everyone know this way that the NATO bombs are meant for people, no matter how much the western politicians are claiming that this is not the case. And therefor, to ease their work, they are putting this sign on themselves so now they can be hit, they, the peaceful and innocent citizens of a small, wrongly attacked country.These people are not even afraid to turn their children into live targets. The magazine Time has published a photograph of a little girl in a red jacket holding a paper with circles in the hands. The little girl has not picked it up by herself, someone put it into her hands.. And that someone, her father, mother, teacher, neighbor, has played with the symbolism of a target in an extraordinary cynical way. To put that sign on child, which in this case really means an innocent human being, and being a citizen of Serbia, means acting extremely cynical. Everyone is still remembering similar photographs from Sarajevo a few years ago, on which there are children as this little girl from Belgrade. But these kids do not have a target on themselves, they are the target. On the photographs and pictures we remember they are either dead or wounded, hit by a sniper or rocket, whatever. Last year CNN has shown a documentary about one such a girl who danced beautifully. In the documentary her mum is showing her dancing dress, her little bag, her shoes. After Sarajevo, when children have presented targets, there is no way that a normal person would use the target this way. Except maybe in a system of disturbed values and twisted meanings, in the autistic Serbian empire. And so, the spring sun is shining in Belgrade while innocent citizens-targets are standing and are listening to a concert, after that are going home. They are having lunch, reading the papers, sleep, watch the news, go to work, have showers, are baking cakes. At night they are disturbed by the explosions of a refinery, factory or ministry, the flame is reaching the sky and the fear that the rockets could fall 500 m to the left or right. But differently from the citizens of Sarajevo, the citizens of Belgrade are not targets, inspite of accidental victims. They are aware of this and this makes the night barable, inspite of the fear. At the same time a few hundred kilometers further, some other citizens are of the same state of Serbia, are standing in the mood for days, in the rain. Be it on the border with Macedonia in a long line of 25 kilometers, at the border Blace where 50.000 people live and dies without food and medical help, or squashed in refugee camps across the border in Albania. They have no place to go back to, no house, no lunch, no news, no concert, no native land. Nothing. They do not need a paper target, they do not need symbols. They know that they are targets, every man, woman, child. One million Albanians has already been depopulated , which is only the nicer word for ethnic cleansing. But they are - Albanians. They are something different. To wit, in this order of matters in which the Serbs experience themselves as live targets and in which the target becomes a symbol of innocence of a nation - in this logical turn it becomes possible to say that the Albanians are deserving this faith. Have they supported the UCK terrorists and the independent Kosovo? Have they invoked a NATO intervention? Well, here they have their independence, here they have NATO...Almost a million of these Serbian citizens driven out of their homes, over 50 destroyed villages in Kosovo, not knowing how many killed civilians, all this in a perspective of a man who is listening to a concert in the center of Belgrade has no connection with him, the same way the bombing hasn't. The same way as there's no connection with the citizen of Aleksinac who's house hit by accident and with his wife who's lying wounded in the hospital. They are desperate. Why is this happening to them? What have they doe wrong? They are ordinary people who do their work, teachers, pensioners, students but not politicians. I do not know why we are being bombed, says a woman who' house has been destroyed. And now, these same citizens of Serbia who are not Albanians, for Albanians have been excluded not only from the civil, but also the human status a long time ago - the same people that were not concerned by Sarajevo or Srebrenica, nor Dubrovnik or Vukovar, not even Drenica and Racak - they dare to parade around with a target on their chest. For years they have been rejecting the understanding that they are at war. The war did not concern them, the war was happening somewhere else. But now suddenly, they have become victims and that is why they are wearing targets, probably utterly unaware of the unbearable symbolic of this idea. Their hands are clean and their conscience at peace, at the same time as their sons are in Kosovo, who of course are defending from the terrorists. Calm citizens that are protesting under the spring sun or at night under the light of lit candles (another perverse symbol of peace) still refusing to understand that this is their war all the way from 1987, 1991, 1992, as much as they experience themselves as victims not protagonists.No-one of these citizens is expected to be happy with the bombing of their own country. But the autism which they demonstrate is utterly horrible, uncomprehensive. Along with it, to put a target on a child and imagine that this why one is sending a message to the world about one's innocence is a grotesque lie. For the Serbs are not the victims - the Albanians are their victims. Their fascinating autism is reflecting just in their refusing to understand it even when they are punished, when they are being bombed.They are still not asking themselves: what have we done? Have we really done wrong somewhere? This lack of every possible doubt, every possible question over their actions is staggering and frightening. And the answer they do not want to hear is quite simple. Yes they, citizens of Serbia, alone are responsible for the situation in which they have found themselves, they alone are responsible for the bombing, as they are responsible for the sufferings of the Albanian people and all the sufferings they have caused earlier ( the same way as, BTW, the Croatians are responsible for Dretelj and Kajina). Their responsibility lies of the fact that they have been keeping one and the same man on power for the last ten years, and now through the third war - Slobodan Milosevic.This political responsibility is deminished a little through the influence of historic circumstances (getting out of communism, the lack of democratic tradition and a clear political alternative), but not the moral responsibility as well.However, the citizens of Serbia are not even to this day connecting the bombing with the regime of Milosevic, and Milosevic's regime with their responsibility. No government, not even a dictatorship, cannot sustain without even the tacitly support of the citizens. Even today, even if they dare to say something against Milosevic, the Serbian intellectuals and the opposition do not mention the Albanians and their sufferings. They are able to lament over the issue how the West did not help them, how nobody understands them, and at the same time ignore completely the suffering of their fellow citizens, as if they don't exist. That is why no-one of the can be deprived of the responsibility of keeping Milosevic in authority, even if they are not aware of this responsibility. They did not know about the suffering of the Albanians? A real pity. They could have heard and find out about it if they had only wanted to. But they are this time again, as before, in unison and homogeneous keeping on lying to the worlds face. Inspite of testimonies, reports, recordings - facts. Even more important is the fact that they are continue to lie to themselves, living in a closed system which they have created themselves. This is why we are witnessing that two parallel tragedies are in progress. The first is the suffering of the Albanian people, their exodus which is already been called genocide by some people. There is no use in reminding now (but it should not be forgotten) that their faith is being shared by the Croatians and Bosnians but also Serbs from the Krajina.
The second tragedy is the autism of the Serbian people, who is not aware of it's politic

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from: Igor, (reply to S. Drakulic's article)

I absolutely agree that citizens of Serbia should have trown down the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, but one very important fact is missing in the article, and that is that this system survived for so long also because of Albanians. They refused to participate in the elections, so SPS (the rulling party of S. Milosevic) would win 35 parliament seats in Kosovo. If Albanians had participated in the elections, they'd get at least 30 of those 35 seats and SPS could be out of power.

I also think that it's not correct that Serbians don't consider Albanians as humans. This is rubbish. I, as every Serb buy bread every day, and it is known that most bakeries are Albanian owned. I buy icecream from Albanians, I exchange money with them. That's why I don't like when somebody accuses all citizens of Serbia (including me) that we consider Albanians as second class citizens. There are many more things in the article for which I think that they were wrongly put, but that is possibly because as much as we try to cross our (national and other) differences, we're allways under influence of different (often opposing) informations, and it is not likely that we can agree on this topic.

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from: bojan, Studentska federacija

Now, every attack is an adventure, because attacks on Belgrade became more intensive, and targets are closer to the center. Everything starts at evening. First you can hear siren. After 30-40 minutes one can hear sound of air defense on the entrances of the city (they finally remembered that cruising missiles can be turned down), eventually some far explosion (that means that one is down), Then, scary silence... Did any pass? Then you can hear a sound of a motor of cruising rocket, now flying every night near me - and that sound frizzes me, it gets worse if it is closer, it means that it would strike somewhere near by. Missiles are flying 30-100 meters high; often one can see them passing by. When it passes, than waiting for explosion begins; if more times passes you feel easier because it means that it would strike somewhere not so near. Then you forget about all those people who are close to the place of explosion, only thing that meters is that it is far from you. And then, dull tender, often more than one explosion tided together. Than looking around starts - where is the fire? What was hit? I can not see because of the houses, so right away I go to chat room on Sezam. Localization of the place starts. What did you hear? Above whose head did it fly? There is no time to read everything. Someone shouts that just now there is one missile above his place, in a panic he forgets to say where he lives, suddenly chat stops, and everyone waits to hear where it would explode... Cursing, swearing, pretending to be strong to hide fear. After chat I usually go out, to the river, to see where the sky is red.

Mine are totally nuts, they still didn't get used to sounds (meaning that they are still healthy, normal people can not get used on that), and they know that it never ends with just one attack. On the lawn beside river Sava, where I used to walk my dog, now there are military trucks with pontoon bridge. Usually, around soldiers there is a group of elderly people, who are trying to find out where is the fire, and to save the fear. I am fully equipped, with orange jacket, with binocular and a battery lamp, in boots. I take documents and some money always, and sometimes little backpack with necessary things - very clearly I can hear planes somewhere in the air, who knows, maybe one would drop a bomb, it happens... When I come back I search through TV channels, but of course none is saying anything. Censorshipp is terrible, and "news" are empty. They look like statements of BAAS party from the time of dessert storm, with short parts of KPJ from '43. On the Internet I could find something in the afternoon... and then there comes dawn, and my eyes start close. I changed day and night, going to bad at 7, 8 in the morning, and getting up at 2 or 3 p.m. University is closed, of course. I don't feel like going to the city, I forgot to buy gas before the war. During the day, around the city hang out Pink-figures drown by those sad concerts on the square, and to them it is all a big joke and fun (while people are dying across Serbia, or wait in some whole or tent waiting for a bomb to drop on their head), and I am going crazy when I see someone wearing "target" sign. Now, even RTS started to invite people on the concert. Internet link was broken for a while, drowned together with a bridge in Novi Sad. You can see where we used to live past ten years, people started to spread story that Main commandant ordered to turn off Internet. The Commandant, by the way, cleans everything - B-92 is closed, every day one radio and TV station - member of ANEM is closed; newspapers are all alike. I will make a compilation of all phrases from "news", it is totally veered, and what is the worst, afterwards you can hear people on the street using those phrases. Same as 55 years ago, government is building its future on other people's blood. Here, we are more or less ok. Everyone who was not from Belgrade went home, we hear each other from time to time...

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from: Dusan Kovacevic

I thought that I would never experience something like this. Around 11 p.m. after hearing sounds of planes whole my family and me are running to the terrace to see what is happening. Below us (where the shelter is) around 30 people came out. On the terrace of buildings around us, there are 50 more people. Ours start to shoot. And instead of running away and going to the shelter, as shooting came closer, people started to cheer "turn it down", "lets go" and so on. And suddenly bright light is on the sky. Spontaneously, applause starts, drumming on containers, terraces, cheering and happiness. AS WE WERE ON THE FOOTBALL GAME, and as ours scored in Zagreb!!! Unbelievable. Now, it is clear, this is totally crazy nation. After that, there were two more (orange) explosions in the sky (I saw it for the first time today). Does it mean that we hit something, or it can be our PVO? I think those explosions were to big for defense cannon, but on the other hand, it is impossible to hit 3 planes in one hour just in Novi Sad. Maybe we started to use SAMs.

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From: Marta Drury

Dear Friends:
With the TV, newspapers and radio full of the war over Kosova, I'd like to share one way we as individuals can help the ethnic Albanians.

The war has particular immediacy for me because of my friendship with Igballe (Igo) Rogova. I met Igo almost a year and a half ago at a Global Fund for Women lunch at which she and her partner, Rachel Wareham, talked about their work in Kosova. I'd like to tell you a little about her story.

Igo is an ethnic Albanian who used to do technical work at a TV station. When Milosevich came to power in Serbia, she and her sister, Safete Rogova, a well-known actress, were among the many ethnic Albanians who lost their jobs. Under Milosovich's rule, ethnic Albanians were systematically stripped of their rights to language, education, culture, and freedom of movement and speech. (Igo was stripped of her passport for four years at one time.)

Despite these hardships and the Serbian police monitoring their movements, Igo and Safete founded Motrat Qiriazi, a non-govermental organization, that works to rebuild civil society and preserve Albanian culture. They have focused their efforts on educating and empowering women and children living in rural villages in Kosova. Drawing on their talents and understanding of the culture, the two sisters have succeeded winning the support of entire villages without alienating the male leaders.

Igo and Safete were two of the winners of the 1998 Resourceful Women Awards. Last October, I traveled to the Balkans to spend a week with Igo. While deepening our relationship, I was also able to witness Igo at work with ethnic Albanians and Roma women. She is a brilliant communicator, a careful listener, and operates from the largest well of generosity I have ever seen.

Two weeks ago, Igo and 31 family members gathered in her mother's house in Pristina, the capital of Kosova. Once NATO bombing began,the Serbs brutally retaliated against the ethnic Albanians, killing people, cutting off food supplies, and dropping their bombs on the city.

They now join the hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanian refugees stranded in neighboring countries, not knowing when, if, or under what circumstances they will be allowed to return to their homes. The conditions at the borders are horrific but, true to character, Igo chose to stay longer in the Neutral Zone to help other people rather than cross the border to friends, food and a warm shower.

As we know from past experience, projects that support women and children are the last to be funded in times of crisis. Igo will not wait until this war is over to go to work. She will soon return to her life's work of helping women and their families improve their lives. Motrat Qiriazi has close working connections with American Friends Service Committee and UNICEF. Other Kosovar women activists (Igo has trained over 20 herself) will join with Igo and women activists from surrounding Balkan countries to continue the work. Because of the new circumstances, however, they will need more help than ever before.

I have established the Heart and Hand Fund that can fund internationally. I am asking you to join me in supporting the future work of Igo Rogova and other like minded activists. Please give at whatever level you can manage. Contributions are tax deductible and all monies donated will go directly to women activists. Stock transfers are also possible.

Feel free to share this letter.

Please make out your check to the Agape Foundation. Add a note that the money is for the Heart and Hand Fund/Kosova and mail to:

The Agape Foundation/Heart and Hand Fund
1095 Market Street #304
San Francisco, Ca 94103

Thank you.
Peace

Marta Drury

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Dear friends,

Info about Zaginflatch is available on request.

Basically, with this newsletter we want to inform the international community (this is you) on how antiauthoritarians in Yugoslavia and ex-Yugoslavia feel in these moments. Also, as people who have experienced air raids and general alerts, we want to support our friends in Yugoslavia who are experiencing this today. We don't want to prejudice any political solutions to Kosovo and other ex-yu problems, we just want to help our friends, and support them in this way. All opinions published in Zaginflatch will be just personal ones. There is no joint platform. Zaginflatch will bring you hardly any news in the way mainstream media does it. For this kind of info we suggest you try cnn, bbc or some other services. They are available to you anyway.. This is meant to come from inside... Also, if you're into alternative news sources, we suggest you try at www.b92.net ... Zagreb Anarchist Movement (ZAP)