CB
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Fraternally, David McReynolds NYC
<<
> The Socialist Party of Illinois and the Chicago Socialist Party
> (affiliates of the Socialist Party USA) issue the following
> resolution regarding the bombing of Yugoslavia. Exactly 82
> years ago, on April 7, 1917, the Socialist Party USA
> denounced the United States government's decision to enter
> World War I. We add our voices to our party's legacy of
> unwavering opposition to war and militarism.
> -------------------------
>
> STOP THE BOMBING OF SERBIA! NO TO NATO!
>
> April 7, 1999
>
> The Socialist Party of Illinois (SPI) and the Chicago Socialist
> Party (CSP) are vehemently opposed to the U.S.-led NATO
> bombing of Serbia. The action only serves to strengthen the
> hand of the right-wing nationalist Serbian military government,
> heightens the chance for expanding military conflict to other
> Balkan countries, and puts hundreds of thousands of innocent
> civilians in harms way. We oppose the U.S. government's all
> but unilateral decision to initiate this foray into senseless
> militarism. We call for the capture and trial of Milosevic and
> his cronies before an international tribunal for war crimes
> and crimes against humanity. We call for a multinational,
> secular Yugoslavian federation, governed democratically
> by farmers, students and workers of all ethnicities, so that
> the right to self-determination for all peace-loving peoples
> may be guaranteed.
>
> 1. Stop the bombing immediately. All further military action
> only strengthens the hand of the right wing nationalists and
> the Milosevic dictatorship. The NATO bombing has clearly
> provided the motivation for intensified persecution of
> Albanians and other groups.
>
> 2. The NATO attack has made it impossible for those within
> Serbia who oppose the dictatorship--farmers' unions, labor
> unions, students, and others--to make their voices heard.
> The Milosevic regime has never received the support of the
> majority of the citizenry--however, now those forces in
> opposition have even less political and economic resources
> to overcome the dictatorship and re-institute democratic
> structures.
>
> 3. SPI/CSP supports all those democratic forces who struggle peacefully
> and democratically for the right to self-determination,
> and who oppose the destructive nationalism that the NATO
> bombings will only prolong.
>
> 4. NATO must be disbanded. It's legacy--ostensibly as a
> counterweight to the Warsaw Pact alliance--served only to
> escalate the arms race, prolong the Cold War, and put
> millions of Europeans in danger of nuclear destruction. NATO's
> role today--a full decade after the Warsaw Pact was peacefully
> disbanded--is to make Eastern Europe safe for economic
> policies that only benefit big corporations. Towards this end,
> the U.S. government and its allies among the Western European
> conservative and liberal administrations have pampered and
> funded those like Milosevic (re: the Dayton Accords) in
> exchange for the implementation of neoliberal economic
> and social legislation that promotes profits and depresses
> wages and living conditions for the majority of working
> women and men.
>
> 5. We oppose the economic polices of the IMF and
> World Bank because they impose hardship and suffering
> by destroying the hard-won gains of social legislation in
> the areas of job creation, health care, education, and
> guaranteed standards of living.
>
> 6. All international financial debts must be unilaterally forgiven.
> Monies that go to service such debts only detract from the
> critical social and material resources that will be required to
> rebuild Yugoslavia. Indeed, a removal of such debts would
> accelerate economic and social development in all
> impoverished areas of the world.
>
> 7. SPI/CSP is fearful that the NATO bombings will heighten
> the probability of military conflict by intensifying nationalist
> and xenophobic tendencies among the unstable governments
> in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Russia and
> elsewhere. The NATO course of action sets a dangerous
> precedent, not only in its adherence to military might, but
> in its criminal favoritism of Turkey while disregarding the
> Turkish governments' oppression of the Kurdish minority.
>
> 8. We believe the NATO bombing only reinforces the cynical
> worldview that certain groups and countries are necessarily undemocratic,
> dangerous and unable to govern themselves.
> Those who defended Apartheid in South Africa or the
> Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia put forth similar
> justifications. Such ideas are nonsense.
>
> 9. We believe an end to the conflicts in the Balkans requires
> the support of democratic groups of all ethnicities of that
> region. If they so desire, they must be able to call on outside
> support on their own terms. Such support--preferably from
> non-aligned, non-NATO countries--must be granted with no
> strings attached. Towards this end, we call for equal
> representation for all non-aligned nations in all international
> decision-making bodies.
>
> 10. SPI/CSP calls for an end to the international arms trade,
> and supports the Socialist Party USA resolution which
> demands an immediate and unilateral 50 percent cut in
> the U.S. military budget. We believe that the billions now
> spent on military goods only furthers the aims of the
> Milosevic's of the world, and that such resources should
> instead be used to increase the living standards of all our
> communities, and so decrease the potential for ethnic and
> nationalist tensions and war.
> --------------------------------------
> Socialist Party of Illinois: <spiegv at worldnet.att.net>
> Chicago Socialist Party: <iwch at juno.com>