** Topic: Zagreb Diary **

Response  14  of  67

** Written  9:36 PM  May  1, 1992 by ark in gn:yugo.antiwar **

Subject: Zagreb Diary

  Zagreb Diary 1 May

Today the whole country lays still, at least let hope for the people from Zvornik, Mostar and Sarajevo, this one of the last remaining socialistic holiday. I always could drive friends from Moscow mad by saying that it was an American (Yankeeland) invention, this whole day of labour

It was a quiet night. The nice wheather from a few days ago went as suddenly as it came, just if the sun looked at this countries for a day and said to himself, no, not here, let them have what they deserve, rain

The discussion of yesterday and the day before about economical or other sanctions against Serbia is another reason why we should have a good and permanent contact with Beograd and the peace movement there

I really think that we have to come some how out of this black empty space on our eastern side. Somebody wrote somewhere in a message that Serbs are more lazy than Americans, but that were we have to deal with (Croats are not better than Serbs, by the way, and I wonder if it is lazyness, it is there culture). Up to the moment I came here there was standing an unused modem already since January and now more and more people here in Ark start to use it and start to see that it can work

It is a little expensive though, telephone price also went up like a rocket and the minute price to London, our connection point to APC is about 200 dinar, 2 Dem, but I choice to keep using APC directly rather than all kind of untrustable fido and other networks, even when it is cheaper to phone f.e. to Munchen to log in in one of the Comlink node, which is also is part of APC I still think we should keep using London, messages from us to Eric on a Comlink node are travelling for at least 2 till 3 days before he has them and so an answer takes a week. That's not why we use e-mail. The adventage of Email is that it is fast, simple and well spread, from which fast is probably one of the most usefull features (imagine the messages I get from Semra in Sarajevo had to travel 3 till 4 days before they even reach London and than 2-3 days before they are spread around Germany, than the news would be still bloody, but also bloody old)

And I think it is not good to keep the discusions on e-mail within this countries, like the first plan of some people, thaty Zagreb, Ljubljana and Beograd could communicate via BBS systems within former Yugoslavia, so called AdriaNet (which works, but is not relyable if you like to get through to Beograd and most of the node are nearly always occupied), thats good for internal communication, like we have with Osijek, but in many ways this war is already hidden behind closed doors and have to come out in the open

People around the globe should get involved, give their ideas and visions, their advices and help. We around the globe and especially in Europe are all in one way ore another more or less coresponsible for this war and they way it continued, our governments and export companies used Yugoslavia for a long time for their money making in the eastern country, introduced a realative high consumming and living standard here, by given big amounts of money and than they dropped it

And moreover why does German activists don't react on that stupid law that only Croats with a Croatian pasport get a permission to stay in Germany and not all other refugess from former Yugoslavia. If there are actions of any kind please let us know

Why and that is a qeustion we really would like to have an answer on, so if soembody has an idea, why does Germany have so good relationship with Croatia, from the beginning of the tentions Germany is helping Croatia and not in same degree the other republics, what does Croatia have what the others doesn't have. Are this left overs from the second world war or are their other things which play a role here. Really if somebody reads this and has the idea that he or she knows somebody who may knows more please let us know

In anyway we think that such decisions from the German state are not helpful for the Peace proces in these countries. Why discriminating refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, or even Croats who didn't want to have a Croatian pasport, since they feel more Yugoslav than Croat

And why now asylium for Serbs who leave there country, if all of the Serbs who are disagree with the war would leave there country there was not much war anymore. I think that like here most people are against the war, but were to go to and what to do

The need to discuse these things not only with the west (you out there) but also with our friends in Beograd is high, how are they reacting on such steps as from Germany, what do they think would be the best move at this moment, and on the other hand I would like them to ask why there appeal from last week (we know where to find you, you can't even hide in the smallest mousehole, you destroyers of cultures....) was so aggressive, at least in my (western) eyes

It is clear that Chetniks, Serbian Extremists and since a week openly also JNA are misbehaving themselves in a most crual way in Bosnia Herzegovina, if only 10% of the stories and rumours are true the World will be totally without words, especially that something like that happened in civilized Europe (the red Kmers in Cambodia were ofcourse worst, but still, if Bijelina is true and it looks like it the intentions of the killers was nearly the same, grazy violence against...). On the other hand there are maybe rapports on Utachis, Croatian extrimist, Muslim fighters and maybe even the Croatian army (which is also openly present on the battlefields in BiH. I wrote before some days back, who have created this fighting and killing machines, which structure can make humans doing this to eachother

But it is hypocrete in my eyes to make every individual personnal responsible for this, if an atmosphere is created in which such things can happen openly, it is in my eyes not human to blame it on the guys who were on that spot on that moment. The NAZI killers (soldiers) got as major excuses "orders are orders" (except in modern Germany, were even two Vopos are putted in jail for shooting on Wallbreakers just before it came down, also for them "order is order" should be an excuses, otherwise you measure with two different form of justices)

Punishing them all gives me the feeling that the tentions will stay for ever and the threat that something will happen again will stay forever. It is up to use peace activist around this country and around the globe to come up with new, modern and civilized (human) solutions what to do when this war cools down and even how to cool it down

Within ARK (and as far as I know also within the group in Beograd) there has been talks about positive punishments. In many ways war and economy are linked (in a rich country, with a strong economy, the possibility, the chance that war will war, or even violent uprise will take place is much lower, and you see everywhere in Europe how Nationalistic and racist feelings are growing as mushrooms on economical depressions or threatnings of depression, the last elections in France and Germany, where FN and the Republicans have won a lot shows it). We don't yet what positive punishments are, in the past ecologist in the Netherlands collected many to give to seal hunters, see then didn't need to kill for their bread (that isn't the way)

It should be in my eyes the creation of an atmosphere in which hope is in the air. Something in which people feel that they can take initiatives to build up there own lives together. When Milosovic says that when Serbs can't work, they at least can fight, he is appealing the same feelings, but with negative energy. Everybody needs to have a future to believe in, a goal to live for. The fighting machine at the front have only one goal, keep this war going, since otherwise we are unemployed (again) and get punished. As long as the wheels of this machine gets rolling they can hide themselves in the groups

And the world they react the way they should react in old fashion thinking, they see that one of there children is not behaving like it should and start to punish him or her. Rather than they try to find out what the reason is behind all of this, what with other words the virus is, which is the beginning of the conflict. They go thousands years back to find the solutions in vague statelines which ones excisted and take the nowardays reality not for real

Love and Peace from a quiet Zagreb Wam :-* - I don't know so much anymore, from what I thought I knew when I came here

p.s. the fights in San Francisco were here on television, it were about the first pictures on the news from the outside world, which were not direct or indirect connected with the war here. The feeling which it gives is a bit like, see even in a civilized state as the USA things like here are happening, so we are not so uncivilized as the World thinks we are

** End of text from gn:yugo.antiwar **