-----Original Message----- From: J. Barkley Rosser, Jr. <rosserjb at jmu.edu> To: pen-l at galaxy.csuchico.edu <pen-l at galaxy.csuchico.edu> Date: Friday, April 23, 1999 2:24 PM Subject: [PEN-L:5843] Re: FWD: [Fwd: Alive and well for now]
> I appreciate William's forwarding of this
>message from Belgrade. It certainly speaks
>eloquently to the insanity of the bombing and
>what it is doing.
> OTOH, it also reveals the kind of deluded
>thinking that lies behind Serbian nationalism.
>We discover a Serbian state that has allegedly
>existed for "thousands of years." At most a few
>hundred. They supposedly have "owned" Kosovo-
>Metohija for 900 years. Well for the majority of
>that time it was under Ottoman control and in
>1913 it was given to Serbia only on the insistence
>of Russia against the wills of Austria-Hungary,
>Italy, and Turkey. And before those 900 years
>it was inhabitated by the ancestors of the Albanians,
>who, incidentally, have always lived there if not always
>as the majority.
> And finally we have this "heart of Serbia" stuff. Ugh.
>The giveaway is the argument that by gosh Jerusalem
>is a holy city of the Christians as well as the Jews. Well,
>gee. Sounds like an argument for reviving the Christian
>crusades to make sure the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
>is in an area controlled by Christians. In case anyone is
>unaware, when the Crusaders first conquered Jerusalem,
>they killed ALL of the Jews who were then living there.
> The evidence is strong that the UCK/KLA is a nasty
>bunch who until recently were even recognized to be so by
>Madeleine Albright of all people. Nevertheless, I have yet
>to hear any claims that the Serbian Orthodox religious sites
>in Kosovo-Metohija were ever attacked by any Albanians
>of whatever religious persuasion or that their control by
>Orthodox Serbs was ever challenged during the period of
>autonomy in 1974-1989 or even under the rule of the
>Ottomans. This "heart of Serbia" argument is just the
>worst sort of pathetic drivel. I am very sorry that these
>suffering people are so fixated on such deluded garbage.
> Of course worse than any of this is the fact that it is
>NATO bombs that have finally attacked the Serbian
>Orthodox religious sites. I don't know if this is worse than
>hitting schools and hospitals, but it is utterly indefensible.
>Barkley Rosser
>-----Original Message-----
>From: William S. Lear <rael at zopyra.com>
>To: pen-l at galaxy.csuchico.edu <pen-l at galaxy.csuchico.edu>
>Cc: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
>Date: Thursday, April 22, 1999 7:44 PM
>Subject: [PEN-L:5803] FWD: [Fwd: Alive and well for now]
>
>
>>The following is an e-mail my brother-in-law received earlier this
>>month from a former exchange student from Yugoslavia who stayed with
>>his family about 10 years ago. I thought it might be of interest.
>>
>>
>>Bill
>>------- start of forwarded message -------
>>
>>Subject: Alive and well for now
>>Date: Fri, 2 Apr 1999 14:03:30 +0300
>>
>>Dear Tim,
>>
>>Just to let you know that I'm alive and well. You know that I was
>>never much into politics but this is gone too far. I just need to
>>explain to my friends the situation here. This is my way of letting
>>the anger go and if I could tell you the truth - well, this is the
>>only way I can contribute to the peace.
>>
>>First of all, we are under constant bombing of your airplanes and
>>constantly in shelters. And without any sleep it's kind of hard to
>>laugh in this situation. We are not spared of bombings even if we are
>>hundreds of kilometers away from Kosovo. The sign for air raid lasted
>>yesterday for 26 hours. People are literally sleeping for 2 hours if
>>they can. Can you imagine sitting in a cold shelter for that long and
>>listening to the bombings?! Lots of people got sick and little
>>children too. I know that you think that we are killing those bloody
>>Albanians but believe me, it's not that simple as your television is
>>trying to present. Yesterday, American planes bombarded the bridge in
>>Novi Sad, town in the northern part of our country, some 600
>>kilometers from Kosovo, and it's a historical monument. How that
>>bridge has anything to do with the Kosovo refugees? And do you
>>honestly believe that only one nation suffer in this as your
>>government is trying to portray? The planes are bombing all Kosovo,
>>and as they say, bombs do not make a difference who is Serb and who is
>>Albanian. The same number of Serbs fled from Kosovo because of bombing
>>of NATO and Albanians too. Speaking of Albanians (I did not want to
>>try to explain the situation but I see I have to and to explain why I
>>was so bitter in my last e-mail), They want an independence and part
>>of our territory that has been ours for 900 years. The soul and
>>everything connected to our culture and us as a nation is
>>there. Monasteries from 12-13th century are there. They are part of
>>world's heritage and protected by international law. And yet, one of
>>it (so far) has been severely damaged by bombing and there is no
>>military troops around that village. It's not by an accident that this
>>happened. They bombed that region couple of times. I cannot understand
>>(whatever the cause is) how someone can do that. And constant threats
>>of your President and government. there must be something wrong with
>>the picture if one nation is satanised as we are from your media?
>>There is an American organisation for Human Rights that did a study on
>>this problem and said, too, that NATO did not use all the means,
>>political and peaceful, to bring to terms both sides. And Albanians,
>>who are actually terrorists trying to gain something that does not
>>belong to them, by force, are using NATO attacks to attack our army
>>from ground. So it looks like their action is simultaneous.
>>
>>I know that you can't see on your television all the protests around
>>the world that are held in our support and against NATO, but believe
>>me there are many of them and lots of famous people are saying that
>>what NATO is doing is insane.
>>
>>Another thing - even if they think that bombing could stop war in
>>Kosovo (though none is ever heard that it did, by additional bombing
>>and escalating the conflict), why do they bomb the capital, Belgrade?
>>Is it not hypocrisy to say that they don't have anything against the
>>Serbian people, just our President? Can just one man cause all these
>>sufferings?
>>
>>The prime target is for NATO to settle here and there is no question
>>about it. It is well known that one who holds the path of Budapest
>>(Hungary) - Belgrade - Thesaloniki (Greece), controls the Balkan. And
>>we've seen what will happen to us if will allow it. It's in Bosnia and
>>the people in part of Bosnia that is under control of Serbs, they
>>elected they president by legal voting. Now, West doesn't like him and
>>they removed him from his position (since the troops and some monitors
>>who are overlooking the situation are still there). How can someone
>>overthrow a legally elected president? We do not want to happen in our
>>country. And it is the right question to ask - how West did not take
>>any action when 300,000 Serbs fled from Croatia couple of years ago?
>>We have around 850,000 refugees from the war in Croatia and Bosnia and
>>no one is talking about that.
>>
>>You say that we kill innocent people. I'm sorry but I have to say -
>>it's a big, big lie. The only one we are killing that are "innocent"
>>are terrorists that attack us. They are entering from Albania, your
>>commanders train them and some "dogs of war" are on Kosovo too. They
>>just like killing, I guess. We are just defending our country and our
>>lives. I can go on and on but I think that this gives you the rough
>>idea of what's been going on here. Just another thing - the spokesman
>>of White House, James Rubin, is constantly trying to place the lies in
>>public. The last one was that we formed something like a Nazi camp in
>>stadium in Pristina, the biggest town in Kosovo, holding 100,000
>>Albanians there. Associated Press (or it was French, I forgot)
>>reporter let him say that and asked him who told him that. He said
>>that he heard it directly from one of the Albanian leaders (terrorist
>>already convicted for his prior terrorist activities but wasn't in YU
>>to serve the sentence). Then, the reporter said, in front of everyone
>>at the conference meeting, that he was there personally and that no
>>one entered the football stadium for months let alone 100,000 people
>>being there. He also asked him how can he not be ashamed of placing
>>constant lies to public. James Rubin was so nervous and speechless
>>and abruptly finished the conference. And this is not the first time
>>NATO and White House being caught in lying in this war
>>propaganda. It's all money game. New weapons should be made, the one
>>that are close to expire should be dropped somewhere and to control
>>whole world if possible. Next one is Russia. We are just a place where
>>they can practice how it would be with Russia. Now, Russians entered
>>the Mediterranean and who knows what will happen. I sincerely hope
>>everything will settle.
>>
>>Thing is, we are in Europe, we are not some minor country in
>>god-forgotten part of this globe. We are sovereign country, having our
>>state for thousands of years and this is our inward problem and nobody
>>else's (no one even thinks to enter in conflict and tell England what
>>to do with Ireland). We didn't attack anyone. NATO attacked sovereign
>>country, neglecting UN and all international laws. This is the
>>precedent, and it will leave serious damages in the world's
>>relations. Clinton says we will be responsible if NATO and UN fall
>>apart. Well, we didn't invite them (NATO) to this conflict and we
>>surely didn't ask them to bomb us. Albanians are not innocent as they
>>are trying to portray them. Over the years they killed hundreds of
>>Serbs there. We were giving them all the autonomy they could get. We
>>did not put them in reservation camps like you did with Indians and
>>they are settlers. Albanians are not settlers here. They came after
>>the Second World War from Albania here and have numerous families (12
>>children in family). But they don't want that. They want their
>>country. Well, they have it - Albania. Kosovo is our sacred land (like
>>Jerusalem for Christians, not just Jews) and that's all. We never, in
>>our history, invaded another country nor plan to do so. We are just
>>defending our territory.
>>
>>I hope that you'll understand this and starting to see it through a
>>different light. There is no democracy in what your government and
>>NATO are doing. I see CNN and BBC and see what they are placing to
>>you. It's sad and it's a shame and it's a big, big LIE. You should see
>>little babies in shelters that are cold and dump; 2-3 months old!!!
>>They didn't deserve this. And media (Western televisions) do not show
>>that. All Yugoslavia is under attacks and lots of people are suffering
>>from this. But we are united because we know we are fighting for truth
>>and we'll survive this. History will reveal the truth. I just hope
>>we'll live to see it. I know that this is unfamiliar to you and that
>>a lot of information I gave you in this letter but I've just tried to
>>explain it to. Lots of bad feelings get into your hart in situations
>>like this and we need all the support we can get. I just want to cry
>>because of politicians and their greed for power that we are all
>>suffering. I just prey they come to their senses before it's too late.
>>Emotions are running high these days over here and it is sometime hard
>>to control them and think rationally. I'll keep you posted. For now
>>on, everything is quiet. I came from shelter at 4 AM this morning and
>>got up at nine. It's quiet now so I'll go to take some sleep to endure
>>trough another sleepless night.
>>
>>The concerts that we are holding every day in the centre of the town
>>under the title "Song kept us alive", where more than 50,000 people
>>gather, really ease us a little bit and even that air raid is going on
>>we still are there. The spirit and the humour of the people - they
>>can't destroy that. Some of the best paroles we've seen these days are
>>- "Sorry, we didn't know it was invisible"; "I've seen him too -
>>Homer"; "NATO - New American Terrorist Organisation"; "Bil, come and
>>blow at our "saxophone" a little"; "From Monica oral, from Serbia
>>anal"; "CNN reported that Hitler was cloned successfully. For the
>>moment he is living in US. People call him Bill"; Hope I didn't offend
>>you with this. If I did, sorry. This is just toward those idiotic
>>politicians.
>>
>>Hope they'll come to their senses.
>>For now I think it's more than enough. I'll keep you posted.
>>Over and out.
>>Love, Ivana
>>Lots of love from shattered Belgrade,
>>Ivana
>>------- end of forwarded message -------
>>
>>
>
>