It's my day to get called a ultra-leftist purist! ;-) (I usually get called a social imperialist running dog, woof, woof!)
A red diaper baby I've known for yrs., who was very active in the Peace and Freedom Party in the late 60's and 70's, just back from a Global Exchange tour of Cuba, in response to this, http://ito.gn.apc.org/WC13_NIC.HTM < Trotskyism and the Defense of Nicaraguan Revolution, and and Stuart Elliott's list of URL's on Cuba, http://www.geocities.com/stuart323_99/cuba.htm said I was being utopian in my expectations of third world revolutionary processes.
On Milosevic, I see that the Socialist Party of Serbia just kicked him out of formal leadership responsibilities. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? file=/news/archive/2002/06/23/international1957EDT0571.DTL
Serbia's Socialist party chooses new leader, but Milosevic loyalists reject result ALEKSANDAR VASOVIC, Associated Press Writer Sunday, June 23, 2002 ©2002 Associated Press
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/06/23/ international1957EDT0571.DTL
(06-23) 16:57 PDT BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) --
Moderates in Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist party voted to remove the former Yugoslav president as party leader on Sunday, a year after he was extradited on war crimes charges.
The moderates replaced him with a reform-minded official from their ranks, although they did give Milosevic the title of honorary president. The future of the Socialist Party of Serbia remained unclear despite the vote; Milosevic supporters did not attend its congress and dismissed the results.
The moderates chose Branislav Ivkovic as the new party leader. Ivkovic had been a close ally of Milosevic before he turned reformist after the former president was ousted two years ago. A year ago, Milosevic was extradited to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands
However, he remained the party's official leader and controlled party affairs by phone from his detention cell in the Netherlands, where he is on trial for atrocities committed in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.
Zivorad Igic, a key Milosevic loyalist, called the decisions at the congress in Belgrade Sunday "outrageous and illegal." Igic said he and others loyal to Milosevic would not recognize those elected and would continue to act as the "legal" Socialist party.
Ivkovic had been a target of intra-party feuding that has shaken the party over the past months. He was attacked earlier this year by Milosevic for attempting to carve out a new party from the Socialists.
Milosevic loyalists tried to oust Ivkovic in April, but he resisted, calling for a special party meeting -- Sunday's congress -- to settle the issue.
About 1,500 delegates of some 2,000 present at the party congress voted for Ivkovic. Some 500 party members -- those most loyal to Milosevic -- were not present.
In what amounts to the day's most serious blow for Milosevic, moderates also filled the party's top posts with reform-minded officials.
After being sent to the U.N. court in June 2001, Milosevic nominated another party member, Mirko Marjanovic, to act as his deputy. Marjanovic's position within the party remained unclear after Sunday's vote.
Mihajlo Markovic, a party official who pushed for the change in leadership, opened the convention earlier in the day with harsh words for Milosevic.
"The Socialist party has lost its way," Markovic said. "It was overwhelmed by dictatorial and authoritarian policies and corruption."
After the vote, however, he struck a more conciliatory tone.
"He united people and the country," Markovic said. "And now he defends them at The Hague."
Milosevic helped found the Socialist Party of Serbia in 1990 from the remnants of Serbia's branch of the communist party, which had ruled Yugoslav for nearly five decades.
©2002 Associated Press
Michael Pugliese, Left In Form, Right In Essence! "I Found That Essence, Rare It's What I Look For I Know I'd Get What I Asked For..." Gang of Four...not the Chinese Go4!