(I.A.C.) Life in Yugoslavia (including Kosovo) one year after

["glr" <glr_y@iol.it>]

Report from Yugoslavia - International Action Center 

" This whole trip to Kosovo and the rest of Yugoslavia was a moving  experience. It was interesting to see the country for myself and to talk to  people who are living through these hardships imposed by NATO. 
It made me angry to see what my tax dollars are going to. To think that they  rob our education and health care systems to pay for the destruction of the  education and health care services of another country. 
It is infuriating. 
We, the youth of this trip and the organizations we represented have already  started to plan actions in solidarity with the Yugoslavian people. 
We will have a medical aid campaign and a world wide weekend of action  October 20-22. 
Italian solidarity organizations are planning to send a ship loaded with  medicines to Yugoslavia to break the blockade. 
Thank you and please stay in touch with the International Action Center for  information and actions in solidarity with all the peoples of Yugoslavia. " 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: iacenter@iacenter.org 
To: Yugoslavia list 
Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2000 10:04 PM
Subject: Life in Yugoslavia (including Kosovo) one year after the 
bombing ended

IAC note: Josina Dunkel represented the IAC at the
International Campus of Friendship and traveled around
Yugoslavia, including Kosovo, in July and early August. She
presented this report August 14 to a New York meeting of the
IAC. This report should be considered as background o the
fact sheet on the NATO/KFOR seizure of the Trepca mines we
sent out yesterday. We are working on documenting the U.S.
funding (and control) of the "opposition" candidate in
September's presidential elections in Yugoslavia..

===============================================
LIFE IN YUGOSLAVIA ONE YEAR AFTER THE BOMBING
-- a report by Josina Dunkel

Last year, for 78 days, NATO bombed Yugoslavia.
They used the usual catch words, saving small nations,
defending democracy, and the ultimate oxymoron, the
"humanitarian war." But it was not a war for ideals, it was
a war to control the Yugoslavian economy and to eliminate the
sovereignty of this Balkan country. Having watched the war
develop and having visited the country this summer, I am
firmly convinced that neither the US nor Germany nor any of
the other 19 countries who make up NATO were ever interested
in protecting minorities. They were interested in securing
markets to expand capitalism in this region.

When people asked who will control the planned Balkan oil
pipelines or transportation systems, NATO did not want the
answer to be Yugoslavia but rather, NATO.  The US is not alone
in its desire to dominate the Balkans; Germany and England
played large roles. Germany's role, in particular, should
not be overlooked in this war. Germany is trying to become
the strongest imperialist force in Europe. It had been
running money and arms to the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA,
for years. Germany promised the KLA political power. Why?
For the same reasons I just mentioned, control.

There has been no evidence to support the wild claims that
the Yugoslavians committed the mass slaughter, genocide, or
holocaust they were charged with. Thousands of people were
killed during this war, but from the NATO BOMBS which all
along were aimed at destroying civilian targets. I went to
Yugoslavian a few weeks ago, representing the International
Action Center at the International Campus of Friendship. The
Campus brought together youth activists from around the
world to witness the Yugoslavian situation as it really
exists, not through the western media's portrayal of the
country. We came from many different countries, Russia, the
Ukraine, Vietnam, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Jordan, Belgium,
England, Romania, thee Netherlands, Bulgaria, and more and
of course the US. We were hosted by the Patriotic Union of
Yugoslavia.

We traveled around Yugoslavia and we saw people--
reconstructing-- out of jobs-- suffering from Shortages--
dealing with problems from the damage of schools and
cultural centers.

Did you know that: Throughout the war, in 78 days of bombing
only 14 tanks were destroyed. BUT 328 schools, 33 hospitals,
the heating plant for Belgrade, electrical grids in many
parts of the country and over 100 churches/monastaries were
damaged or destroyed by NATO bombs. ALSO, numerous
residential neighborhoods, bridges, museums and factories
were destroyed or heavily damaged. This means that the
Yugoslav peoples' churches, homes, workplaces and the
preservation of their history were not only damaged, or
destroyed, but INTENTIONALLY targeted.

At the Zastava car factory which made Yugo cars for the
world market, the assembly line, the iron forge and the
computer center with irreplaceable information were all
destroyed. (When this report is posted on the
http://www.iacenter.org , we will include a picture of
this.) The destruction of Zastava meant that hundreds,
thousands of workers have lost their jobs. What is so
interesting, however, is that the factory had an arms
manufacturing part but this was NOT bombed.

In this case there was a clear military target but it was
avoided in order to attack civilian parts of the extensive
plant.

Much of the damage can still be seen. You can walk around
Belgrade and come across the remnants of government
buildings or even hotels which were deemed military targets.

Reconstruction is paid for entirely by the Yugoslavians.
They have not received compensation AND Foreign bank
accounts have been frozen so they can receive no
international loans. The economy is suffering. People with
jobs often don't have much work to do because of shortages.
There are no more export or import industries because of
sanctions.

In Novi Sad NATO bombed all three bridges which connected
one side of the city to the other. I live in New York City
and I can picturewhat that means; imagine if the tunnels and
all of the bridges were bombed by an outside force. No
Triboro, no Williamsburg, no Brooklyn bridge. Could we get
across? Yes but taking barges takes a while and the
interdependencies between say Brooklyn and Manhattan mean
that it is not just an inconvenient traffic jam, it couldbe
life and death. In Novi Sad, a city which had three bridges,
now has one and a half. One of the bridges withstood 5
direct hits before it succumbed to the final 6th. In its
place is a bridge which was built in three months, andgoes
only one way at a time and has a railroad track on it.
Another bridge has been replaced with a bridge built on
barges. (There will be pictures of this on
http://www.iacenter.org .)

Now it takes much longer to get from one side of Novi Sad to
the other. There are tremendous traffic jams on a regular
basis. Sometimes cars, buses filled without air
conditioning, and ambulances have to wait 2 hours to get
from one side to another. What was really shocking was to
see the civilian targets. The TV and radio buildings in
Belgrade as well as in Novi Sad were completely destroyed.
It was really an attempt to silence what was happening in
the country and to disrupt people's lives not because they
posed a military threat.

A children's village near Novi Sad which is an orphanage and
foster home suffered heavily even though it was not directly
targeted. Sheets of glass were broken as were roofs, and
walls. Children were thrown into the air, on one occasion,
12 yards.

Some of the Yugoslavian students told us about what it was
like to live during the bombing. They never got enough sleep
since most of the bombs fell at night. The air raid sirens
and the need to go into shelters, which meant going into
subway stations, interrupted people's sleep and left them
sleep deprived as well as emotionally drained from seeing
the wreckage and death.

During the day people tried to keep normal schedules but the
elementary and high schools were mostly closed. We met with
the organizers of the daily concerts, Music for Peace. All
different types of music were included. People would gather
sometimes on the bridges to form human protection and dare
the planes to drop the bombs. There is a post card which
shows a massive target symbol being carried during a
demonstration in Belgrade, which will also be available on
http://www.iacenter.org . Belgrade was a cool city and had a
large degree of wry humor which helped them get through the
war. There are clubs and night life, a lot of people on the
street at all hours.

KOSOVO It was in stark contrast to the atmosphere we found
in Kosovo.

We all heard a lot about Kosovo in the media during and
after the war last year. What was rarely reported, however,
was the place of Kosovo in the Serbian mentality. It is seen
as the cradle of the Serbian civilization. All of the most
important Serbian cultural shrinesand monasteries are
located in Kosovo.

Crossing from Serbia into Kosovo, you immediately feel a
difference. The border is controlled by Belgium KFOR troops,
NATO's soldiers. Now when you go into Hungary on a bus, your
bus is boarded by a Hungarian soldier who works at customs
and immigration. When you go into Kosovo, still a part of
Yugoslavia but occupied by foreign troops, your bus is
boarded by Belgium troops.

Throughout the trip we were accompanied by many Yugoslavian
students who found this trip to Kosovo particularly hard.
The Serbs still living in Kosovo feel very vulnerable. If
they had lived insections now under Albanian control, they
were forced to leave their homes. We met some refugees in
Serbia who were given 24 hours notice and whose house is now
occupied by someone who had never even lived in Kosovo
before. Serbia has 1.5 million refugees and many of them are
Albanian.

People told us how any Serbian can be arrested if an
Albanian claims that that Serb committed genocide. The
Serb's cases are never heard in courts and they are held,
without real charges against them, without any investigation
into the case and without meeting a judge for months. We met
three such prisoners in a hospital in Kosovo-Mitrovica who
had been held for 13, 9, and 8 months respectively. They had
had close friendships with Albanians and were trusted
neighbors but now they were imprisoned and guarded by KFOR
troops. And after I came back to NYC I received an email
that said that these men have since disappeared and no one
has heard a word of their whereabouts.

Kosovo is suffering. There is no law and this situation is
being exploited by the KLA and by the Albanian Mafia. Serbs
live in fear that they will be randomly accused of a war
crime or indiscriminately beaten.

In the city Kosovo-Mitrovica, French KFOR troops guard a
bridge dividing the Albanian section of the city from the
rest. The other sideincludes mainly Serbs but is a mixed
neighborhood. The Albanian side has been ethnically cleansed
of all others. The Romani people who had a settlement in the
south side of the city were bombed and then burned out of
their homes by the KLA. A few months ago they were forced to
move and now live in tents which we visited. (There will be
a picture of this in the web version.) They told us that it
wasfine for the time being when the weather was warm but
when it turned cold there were going to be serious problems.

We toured a hospital in this city which has running water
and electricity for only a few hours a day. The water and
electricity plantsare in the Albanian section of the town.
The signs in the hospital are still in Albanian first and
then Serbian.

This whole trip to Kosovo and the rest of Yugoslavia was a
moving experience. It was interesting to see the country for
myself and to talkto people who are living through these
hardships imposed by NATO. It made me angry to see what my
tax dollars are going to. To think that they rob our
education and health care systems to pay for the destruction
of the education and health care services of another
country. It is infuriating. We, the youth of this trip and
the organizations we represented have already started to
plan actions in solidarity with the Yugoslavian people. We
will have a medical aid campaign and a world wide weekend of
action October 20-22. Italian solidarity organizations are
planning to send a ship loaded with medicines to Yugoslavia
to break the blockade.

Thank you and please stay in touch with the International
Action Center for information and actions in solidarity with
all the peoples of Yugoslavia.

International Action 
Center 39 West 14th Street, Room 206 New York, NY 10011 
email: iacenter@iacenter.org 
web: www.iacenter.org 
CHECK OUT THE NEW SITE 
www.mumia2000.org 
phone: 212 633-6646 
fax: 212 633-2889

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FROM: 

Coordinamento Nazionale "LA JUGOSLAVIA VIVRA'"
Italijanska Mreza "ZIVJET'CE JUGOSLAVIJA"

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