Date: 3/26/99 2:54 PM From: KLyons For Immediate Release: March 26, 1999
For Further Information: Gregory King, AFT, 202 393-6387 Kathleen Lyons, NEA, 202 822-7213
AFT, NEA Deplore Murder of Teachers in Kosovo
Washington, D.C. -- Bob Chase, president of the National Education Association, and Sandra Feldman, president of the American Federation of Teachers, today sent the following letter to President Clinton deploring the murders of teachers in Kosovo. NEA and AFT represent more than 3 million
teachers and other education employees in the United States and in Department of Defense schools around the world.
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March 26, 1999
The Honorable William J. Clinton The White House Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
On behalf of the more than 3 million American teachers, we thank you for the strong action you have taken to stop the bloodletting by Serbian forces in Kosovo.
Our colleague, Agim Hyseni, President of the Union of Education, Science and Culture of Kosova (SBASHK), informs us that teachers have been singled out for massacre by Serb forces and in recent months more than 53 ethnic-Albanian
teachers have been murdered by Serb soldiers and police. Yesterday, several teachers and a headmaster were among 20 people slaughtered near the village of Goden in southwest Kosovo. The teachers, Mr. Hyseni tells us, were murdered in front of their horrified students.
The world cannot stand by and allow these atrocities to continue before our eyes. We fully support the action taken by NATO and we want to express our appreciation for your leadership. Again, and on behalf of the NEA, AFT and the Kosovan teachers' union, SBASHK, we urge you to continue steps to end the
ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.
Sincerely,
Bob Chase President National Education Association
Sandra Feldman President American Federation of Teachers
Rich Gibson Program Coordinator of Social Studies Wayne State University College of Education Detroit MI 48202
http://www.pipeline.com/~rgibson/index.html http://www.pipeline.com/~rgibson/meap.html
Life travels upward in spirals.
Those who take pains to search the shadows
of the past below us, then, can better judge the
tiny arc up which they climb,
more surely guess the dim
curves of the future above them.