***** A Call to Lift the Arms Embargo Against Bosnia-Herzegovina
To: United Nations Security Council, General Assembly, Secretary-General
To: President Bill Clinton, U.S. Congress
We are peace and human rights advocates who have long urged a progressive U.S. foreign policy, and a just and democratic international order. We recognize that a lasting peace in the Balkans ultimately requires regional demilitarization. Yet this recognition must not stop us from responding now to the genocide taking place in Bosnia-Herzegovina. An immediate first step should be to lift the cruel arms embargo imposed against Bosnia.
For the past 15 months, the embargo has locked in place the unequal and unjust distribution of force that has all but destroyed Bosnia. When Yugoslavia broke up into independent states, its army, the fifth largest in Europe, did not break up with it, but remained almost entirely in Serb hands. The embargo has had little effect on the ability of the Yugoslav Army and the Serb militias to wage war in Bosnia, but has made it virtually impossible for Bosnian democratic forces to defend themselves.
In effect, the embargo has constituted an intervention on the side of the aggressor. Therefore we call for an immediate lifting of the ban on arms to the Muslim-led government of Bosnia, which has repeatedly stated its commitment to uphold a democratic, multi-ethnic society.
We respect the concerns of citizens committed to peace who argue that lifting the arms embargo would only serve to further escalate the level of violence in the region and prolong the war, but we are not persuaded by them. On the contrary, we believe there are three compelling reasons to lift the embargo now.
First, lifting the embargo would not only permit the Bosnian victims of aggression to defend themselves, but could help shorten the war by letting the Serb forces know that their assaults will be met with resistance. Second, effective resistance now could help deter the spread of aggression to Macedonia and Kosovo, by all reports the next intended victims in the Serbian expansionist program. Finally, ending the embargo would free the Bosnians from exclusive dependence for arms on the few suppliers so far willing to circumvent the embargo. Some of these Islamic sources may subject the Bosnians to unwelcome pressure to retreat from their goal of a democratic, secular and multicultural state.
Simple justice demands the right of self-defense for the Bosnians, but an international peace effort could and should proceed simultaneously. This would include insistence that the Croats cease their aggression in Bosnia; support for the democratic opposition in Serbia, particularly anti-war media and organizations; vigorous prosecution of war criminals (of whom the vast majority but not all are on the Serbian side); and air-lifting humanitarian aid, under military protection, to all civilians in need.
The United Nations, the United States, and the European Community bear a heavy responsibility for pursuing a policy of pseudo-evenhandednesss that has in fact strengthened the side of aggressive Serb expansionism. It is time to admit the terrible failure of this policy, to lift the arms embargo, and give the Bosnian government a chance to survive.
Alenka Arko
Shlomo Avineri--Professor of Political Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel)
Fatima Basic--President, Bosnian Children Relief (Canada)
Saban Basic--Relief Coordinator, Bosnian Children Relief (Canada)
Richard Caplan--Institute for War & Peace Reporting (England)
Daniel Cohn-Bendit--Frankfurt City Ministry for Multicultural Affairs (Germany)
Bogdan Denitch--Michael Harrington Professor of Social Science, Queens College and Graduate School, CUNY
Manuela Dobos--College of Staten Island, City University of New York
Ariel Dorfman--writer
Sam Farber--editorial board, Against the Current
Jonathan Fine
Michael Foot--British Labour Party
Elinor Fuchs--School of the Arts, Columbia University
Todd Gitlin--Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley
Thomas Harrison--Campaign for Peace and Democracy
Adrian Hastings--Department of Theology, University of Leeds (England)
Judith Hempfling--peace activist
Christopher Hitchens
Quintin Hoare--New Left Review (London)
Adam Hochschild--writer
Marko Hren--former director, Ljubljana Peace Institute
Andrea Imredy--peace activist
Julius Jacobson--New Politics
Phyllis Jacobson--New Politics
Vlasta Jalusic--director, Ljubljana Peace Institute (Slovenia)
Vlasta Jesenicnik
Dr. Lynne Jones--former chairperson, European Nuclear Disarmament (Britain)
Kasumi--writer and artist
Joe Kraus
Tonci Kuzmanic--University of Ljubljana
Joanne Landy--Campaign for Peace and Democracy
Michael Lerner--editor, Tikkun
Paul Levine--Professor of American Literature, University of Copenhagen
Robert Jay Lifton--Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, City University of New York
Steven Lukes--European University Institute, Florence (Italy)
Branka Magas--New Left Review (London)
Tomaz Mastnak--Senior Fellow, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Erika Munk--Yale School of Drama
Marlene Nadle--journalist
Nigel Osborne--Faculty of Music, Edinburgh University (Scotland)
Eva Quistorp--member of the European Parliament; chairperson, Women for Peace (Germany)
Rudi Risman--Department of Sociology, University of Ljubljana
Dr. Alfred Saah--Johns Hopkins University
Edward Said--Columbia University
Charles Scarlott
Jennifer Scarlott--Campaign for Peace and Democracy
Kerry Scarlott
Nadia Tazi
Arthur Waskow
Peter Weiss
Cornel West--Afro-American Studies Program, Princeton University
Margaret Willig-Crane--former director, New Initiatives for Full Employment
Kenton Worcester--Social Science Research Council
Partial Listing: Affiliations for identification purposes only Boston Review <http://bostonreview.mit.edu/BR18.2/forum.html> *****