ZAGINFLATCH #15, 25th & 26th March 1999. newsletter published by Zagreb Anarchist Movement ZAP / ARK GAJEVA 55 10 000 ZAGREB CROATIA zap_zg at geocities.com http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/3707/
what follows are translated extracts from mails posted to ex-yu-a-lista at zamir.net which is a mailing list for ex-yu anarchists, and from private emails .
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from: kontra at ptt.yu
Sicko will report to his unit in a few moments. They have left his call for mobilization in his post box (after his mother refused to take it) with a mesage not to kid with them as this is war and not a drill. So, Sicko simply doesn't want to be trialed at some military court for dezerting or something like that. With this I think of Seselj's (Serbian vice president, leader of extreme nationalists and paramilitary forces, mb) maniacs. Seselj has sent a message to all potential dezerters: "We won't have mercy". I have found out that last night from Holland, that 25 journalists from foreign news agencies have been arrested. I wouldn't be surprised that Seselj is behind that as well. I am more or less o.k. - relaxed, so to speak. There were some tensions in my home, we have felt one detonation, although most people in the city thought that this was a joke and not a real bomb. Sicko's wife, Snezana says that this detonation and bomb sound far louder and bigger that the ones she used to listen to while living in Croatia. Fortunately, in the next two strikes they didn't hit Kraljevo. They mostly hit Kosovo. Albanians are also attacking Yugoslav Army(YA), although i doubt that YA didn't respond.
.. The attacks are strong but i don't think that they are as stroong as they were in Iraq. Maybe they are but i wasn't with Sadam so i can't say. Besides, they say that Serbian air defence is stronger than the one in Iraq, so it is not that simple.
.. I fear that Seselj might start a wider war with our neighboring countries, because air space of Croatia, Albania, Hungary and specially Macedonia were used. Last night a news reporter from the national television said that there are some UCK forces in Macedonia waiting to come in Yugoslavia. So if Seselj will remain persistent to his previous statements, it is possible that we could enter a war with our neighbors today. Maybe not. We shall see.
Pop
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from: abozovic at EUnet.yu
The alert ended some half an hour ago, the shops are open, people are in the streets, as last night. Although it seems to me that there were more of them in the shelters during the morning than now. Some started to fled away from the cities. I saw them pack and drive away this morning. Unfortunately, I can't leave the city. I could go only to Crna Gora (Montenegro, mb), and I have heard that it is even worse there. I have also heard that entrance to Crna Gora is banned, because there won't be mobilization there. It seems to me that TV reports are objective (no matter how absurd this may sound), they all say one thing. Officially there are no civilian victims, the have hit barracks and radars. It is interesting that they have also hit police academy. Everybody is fine. I haven't called anyone but i assume everyone is physically well, and probably psychically too.
There is no bread in stores (or was it sold?). They stopped selling petrol, it all goes for "priority vehicles". Don't worry about us, it is almost certain that everybody's fine
Rusha
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from: vicicdra at EUnet.yu
According to the official news from national TV, there are 10 killed soldiers, 38 wounded and one "missing" (deserted if any luck). Sirens are howling all the time, but people are playing basketball. Education, including university is suspended. Elementary and highschool students will have holidays until 2nd April. Fuck it, these sirens are weak, as I haven't heard them a couple of times. When I hear them they are creepy
from: kontra at ptt.yu
There was a report on tv kraljevo - they have destroyed one family house near the military airport. The missile has hit the house and left a crater 10 meters deep! The villager - owner of the house rules! He wasn't excited at all. Just spoke how old his house was, how great his kitchen was
I guess he is happy to be alive.
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from milos:
i wont talk about the details and the effect of bombing. that changes every minute. i have read some observations of military and political experts through the net. i want to talk about that. since 23rd march in serbia exists only one party and one direction. nobody cares about politics anymore. on the tv i can see the faces of people i don't like, but their word is absolutely respected and put in action. everybody expects russia to help, quickly and efectively. on the tv the atmosphere is: the russians will jump in any moment now, and then nato will see....
everybody's frightened but i doubt that anybody even thought that milosevic should sign the agreement. so, western military analisysts have made a bad mistake. i don't know about western politicians, as i doubt that they wanted the signature at all.
this decade has thought me to trust only to deeds and not to words. i think they wanted to give more power to milosevic and they succseeded. so, there is no more insecurity about who should rule this country. besides, all their frauds west has supported with deeds.
i expect that first civilian victims should come any moment now. both sides need that. every blown building or old radar gives another year of power to milosevic. it seems that the russians also like this. great. everybody wins! everybody who has drawn their plans over my streets, forcing my generation to die, be humiliated.
does anybody remember why all this has started? there are more dead albanians (like other nations, like it matters which nationality the body was) and this will continue. those who have defended albanians in belgrade can now sit down read books and wait for their missile to come. nobody will listen to them anymore-today the wind blows from the north. so, if a tomahawk "accidentaly" lands in the gas factory, you will probably have to find a new source of information. if the wind changes direction to the west.... never mind, there is a factory there as well. (you will hear about it through cnn)
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Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 11:21:18 -0800
Dear friends,
First of all, we would like to thank you for all your support and measures you took in order to inform people about things happening in Yugoslavia. You already know that Mr. Veran Matic has been released after 8 hours being arrested. But still, radio B92 is off air.
The first night of bombing was dramatic and frightening especially since we can not understand what will be achieved by destruction. We are sending you our public announcement. Do with it what you find most useful.
Love, Dubravka & Miljenko
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The incredible events that have happened in Europe, more precisely in Serbia and Montenegro, will change our lives in many aspects. The decision "to use violence for humanitarian reasons" is a sign of impatience, incompetence and impotence of political elite.
The bomb attacks in an undeclared war have destroyed human lives, army installations and all chances for Serbia to engage in a process of democratization in near future. Ten years of hard work of groups of courageous people in the opposition and the NGO sector, which tried to develop institutions of civil society, to promote modern European values, to teach about "non violent conflict resolution", has been erased in one night.
The emerging democracy in Montenegro will be hard to maintain now. Milosevic regime will be stronger than ever, and the Kosovo problem will be unsolved.
These are the long term results of bombing. It is difficult to estimate which of the following is less depressing: 1. the politicians knew the above mentioned consequences of their decisions or 2. they were incapable of foreseeing the impact of heir decisions. We hope that all involved will come to their senses and try to resolve problems by negotiations without further violence.
Miljenko Dereta and Dubravka Velat Civil Initiatives
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From: KONTRAPUNKT <kontra at ptt.yu>
According to the news, 24 missiles were fired at Kraljevo. It lasted between 20:50 until 21:20. I stayed at my home and watched from the window what is going on. I can say that there were quite a few detonations. There were 2 kinds of them. Some were noisy with a strong detonations others were more silent but "inflamable". After them the sky would literally BURN . Occasionally you could hear airplanes above the city.....
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air raid is still on. radio and tv report that additional strikes are possible. also, there was a note in the media asking for blood donors. Arkan (paramilitary and gang leader, mb) has reformed his voluntary units. Seselj wants the end of diplomatic relations with all nato members who participated in the war, and not just with usa, gb, d and f. He has also sent a message to all serbs worldwide that soldiers in nato uniform are their enemies, wherever they are, and that they should do all they can to eliminate them. in macedonia some cars were burned in front of the american embassy....
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From:
The refugees who live in belgrade are also happy because of the intervention. At last Yugoslav people can experience how is it to be in shelters. Milos made me sit in our yellow hallway. We are getting stoned with the national television....
People like people, greet each other with "Bombardan" (play of words. you greet with dobardan. bombardovan means to be bombed. bombardan is a mixture of these two expressions, mb) and make jokes like: when you get out in the street, you first look to the left, then to the right, then up. It is fortunate that a normal person can't understand this situation. Not even while you're surrounded with water tanks and news... my subconscious reacts through my belly, and all my friends have the same problem. I only fear of general mobilization. I am even afraid to think about that, or i will have to take some medicaments. I hope morons won't cut us off from the internet....
from: vladan vukovic
i just came from the city and i can tell you that the city if terribly empty. street lights are off, the only light comes from comercials and traffic lights. the alert is still on. It seems that belgrade was hit today. 3 missiles fell somewhere in the direction of Borca. just after that i saw a convoi of vehicles which came from Pancevo to Belgrade. armed security is standing in front of the national television's building. ... after b92, tonight radio 021 in Novi Sad was banned. ...
SITUATION IN CROATIA
First news were heard just after main news, few minutes after main day news on a national tv - it was expected, but still, it was a shock for all of us. When i say us, i mean anarchist and other close political circles. That's what i saw first - just few friends and news that people heard from somone - we didn't really know what's going on. Then we went to a friends car and listened radio. Maja (a friend from Yugoslavia who is visiting us) was crying. After all these years we have a war in a neighbourhood again. Then i deceided to do this text - kind of summary of what's going on in Croatia since NATO strikes started. As i said, first attack was a shock for almost everyone, although, reactions were different. We were sad and concerned about our friends in Yugoslavia, and nationalists were happy. Yes, happy, because after four years of war here they hardly waited to see people in Yugoslavia suffer. It's so strange to see someone being happy cause of destruction. Maybe i would be right if i say that majority of people are satisfied with NATO attacks, if not happy. That's what you can hear in this last two days on the streets and when people get a chance to say how they feel about it in the media. At the other hand, i would expect from most of the media to be very subjective, to join verbal attacks on Yugoslavia, especially from national tv (HTV), but that's not the case this time. HTV is more or less objective, as much as one tv station can be. They cover everything that happens in Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Albania and other countries connected with the situation. Also, they broadcast news from almost all relevant stations, like CNN, Sky News, Serbian national tv, and others, so you get more or less all versions of what's going on there. And, as i said before, they try not to criticise, they just bring news. At the other hand, there are some so called "independant" media, like Radio 101, that we mentioned in previous issues of Zaginflatch, who is also bringing lots of news, but they (beside news) bring all the nationalistic comments, stupid jokes connected with the attacks and shit like that. Also, they interviewed people on the streets of Zagreb and it was terrible to listen all that hatred. Official stand of Croatian politicans is that attacks are not the best solution, but that they are only solution right now. Mainly, that means that they want to keep more or less good relations with Yugoslav government, but also support NATO, cause their big desire is to become part of the NATO. Also, on the news we heard that Clinton offered Tudjman (Croatian president) strategic partnership for Croatia, whatever that means. It sounds like Clinton wants to use Croatia for placing more NATO troops in the area. I'm not sure how offical this information is, but it was broadcasted on national tv. All at all, every political party in Croatia, including so called "very democratic oposition" is supporting attacks. NGO's are also following situation in the area - Anti-War Campaing Croatia reacted, although, those kinds of reactions are more or less symbolic and doesn't help a lot, but they can't do any damage either, so it's just one small step further.
markoS.
SHORT NEWS FROM MACEDONIA
It's hard to say what's really going on in Macedonia, as we don't have direct news from our Macedonian friends, but what we can see through different news from here, there are demonstrations happening. From what we saw on a tv, demonstrators have Macedonian, Serbian and old Yugoslav (socialist ones) flags, so it's hard to say who is demnstrating and for what reasons. Beside demonstrating in front of the embassys, people burned cars, throwed fire bombs, and some detonations were heard around the town of Skopje (capitol of Macedonia), but no one really knows what that was. Officaly, Macedonia is member of NATO during this action, and what is heard from Macedonian diplomatic circles, they want to become full member of NATO.
markoS.