** Topic: Zagreb Diary **
Response  19  of  67
** Written 12:43 PM  May  7, 1992 by wamkat in gn:yugo.antiwar **
Subject: Zagreb Diary

Zagreb Diary

7 May 1992

Maybe nobody else is interested, but I really would like to know how the concerts for "Peaceful Bosnia"(Mirna Bosna) went in the other towns (Beograd, Ljubljana, Skopje, Novi Sad and Amsterdam). For me it was at least an experiences to find out that sometimes it is possible to organize something rather quick in this country. The idea to organize this concert came Tuesday, last week, from Ljubljana, it hardly have been discussed, but the organization motor started, Friday we designed the posters, in the main time somebody organized amps and bands and Saturday evening the town was full of nice red and green (you known this special hard colors, they seems to give light in the dark) posters, which you could recognize from a long distance. So that part worked. The press conference (two journalists) on last Tuesday was less well prepared, but became more or less a press conference about the use of electronic mail (somehow GreenNet became a lifeline with the outside World, never before the people at ARK realized so clearly there relation with the rest of the World's movement) and the importance of free media, than about Bosnia.

Anyway the stage was ready, the amps came 5 minutes before the start of the concert and the bands came even later, but the whole concert was great. It started with the chorus of the Islamic Center in Zagreb, nicely dressed up in Green outfits, singing the new national hymn of BiH (a very peaceful song), the we had a guy on a guitar, which song one of the best and most intensive version of "all we are saying, is give peace a change" I ever heard (hope that we can raise money to make a cassette with him for the outside world, the emotions in his voice are just real(title of the cassette "Flowers from a WARZONE", cover a picture of a sandbag with a sunflower in it)) and than a Croatian alternative rockband (also great, 2 guys on guitar and a very good drummer, although he had only a snaretrom, 3 tonga's and a very little cymbal, it sounded if the whole bloody drum kit was there, great, with a big smile on his face), from the songs I didn't understood a word, but the seemed to be hard and funny, as far as I could see from the reaction and then again the Islamic Chorus, with some beautiful Islamic songs.

It all looked a little small and improvised, maybe if you think about the big concert which was given in Beograd some weeks ago, but the place is great, about 4-500 people stood still and watched and song along. You could also see that a few elder people specially came for the concert (they stood up from their chairs, when the national hymn from Bosnia was sang and were rather emotional, also Chatrine from Osijek was emotional and started to cry half way "Give peace a chance" (she would love to organize something like this in Osijek, but it can't be done in the shelters)).

We (ARK) will try to get this circle of concerts going again, since it is good for our social outreach (this morning already two guys phoned what to do with the mobilization card, they saw the concert yesterday). Just talk with Marko from Ljubljana, at last there is a line now from GreenNet to Adrianet and it seems to work, they started yesterday (but the phonelines in Slovenia are probebly worst then here since they only can work on 300bps, rather slow, with a lot of noise on the line). Their concert though yesterday evening was a bigger succes, if possible, than here in Zagreb, lots of famous writer (refugees) from Bosnia.

One thing I could not understand is why the app. 45.000 refugees from Bosnia in Zagreb didn't show up (only a few came), but we were lucky since there was no place, in two weeks from now there will be a bigger concert in the main park Maksimir in a weekend, maybe that will be a lot more people, but I was already satisfied with what we established now.

This morning I went with Vladimir to the police station to get my things officially fixed, we thought that wouldn't take much time, since there are not that many foreigners in the town. Forget it, after 4 hour we only had 1 form and 1 stamp yet and had to give up for the day. We forgot that BiH is also a foreign country nowerdays, so we ended up in a line of app. 2500 people waiting, with moving with a speed of app. 3 people per half hour. Next morning we go at 7 in the hope to stand in line first. Knowing what will come to me I think we have 5 forms and 17 stamps to go and app. 3000 croatian dinars on tax, long live burocraty. Or blame it on the war (in 1980 I spend 3 days, app. 4600 old Yugoslav dinars, 165 stamps and app. 23 forms to get 5 kilo of diplomatic mail out of the costumers, so I can be worst).

The police controls get more intensive with the days, the are controlling peoples and cars all over the city, the reason is clear now, they are looking for the terrorists who have starting the explosives. I am somehow looking different than the mainstream of the people, so a very clear target for controls, this morning on my way to the policestation twice, keep on the good mood. It is ridiculous, the same stupidity as the German border controls (I life almost at the German borderline in Sittard) who always control me for drug smuggling, if I ever would be a terrorists or a smuggler I am not that crazy to walk around as I do now, and I also didn't use my own passport (it is just a piece of paper, you can buy them on the black market in Amsterdam for a few thousand guilders, so what is really and what isn't. Why are people so stupid that they believe in stamps, official looking papers and identity if ever fool knows that you can falsify them (give me a day and a good computer with colorprinter and I produce the most official looking document you ever have seen)). 

One of the things I did before was smuggling stamps into Eastern Europe, almost everything worked as long as there was a circle around it, even a "Port Paye in Sittard" stamp gave me a free stay in Poland once. I ran out of zlothies and bottles of wodka and had to get myself a document to avoid the 36Dm obligatory exchange per day, I had to save DMs for my trip home (I always had to travel around the DDR (via Sweden or the CSFR (CSSR in those days)), since I had some courtcases against me running there and was afraid that they would keep me there if I passed).  

Why, why, why are people not able to think for themselfs ???

One last thing today, Vesna T. seems to have a radar build in to herself, a radar for uniforms, you can see on her face when there is a uniform around within a radius of 50 meters, and I don't even have to look at her face, since her radiation is so strong that you just feel it. It must be awful for her, since the whole bloody town is full of uniforms. 

Okay some more, since a few days I know that Croatian army has also Mig fighterplanes. A few days ago one Mig came very low over the city and  it made me somehow nervous, knowing that the air-raid alarms mostly started after the bombing was done, or after the planes were spotted above the city. But it was a plane from the Croatian airforce, they have about 10 of them, the stupid pilot probebly want to impress his lover, or so. Vesna J. told me that last year she was walking in the town and heard some explosions, she walk home (app. 15 minutes) and at the moment she reached her house the air-raid alarm started, she turned on her TV and found out that the television tower was blasted away. Those things make me a little nervous when I am sitting at Green Action, across the road there is the gas depot from Zagreb and the building has no shelters, when airplane come over. So I make jokes about them.

Today Peace Media Service came from the Netherlands, nearly the half of it were extracts of this diary, I must thank Jim Forest for his cleaning up of my English and the garbage a write in the sidelines. For the rest it was great to read, didn't know that I was so crazy and above all I felt a little sorry for this guy in Zagreb, it looked if he (I) would have a nervous breakdown any moment, and that is absolutely not true. (by the way Jim, can you send it to NN in Amsterdam and to the HP/De Tijd (attn. Math Dings), they probebly can use it as well).

Love and Peace from Zagreb

Wam :-O Give Peace a Chance

P.s. Something more about JNA. According to official figures, which I can proof, but maybe somebody has better information, 99% of the soldiers is now from Serbian Nationality, but not from Serbia only, the JNA soldiers in f.e. in Bosnia are for more than the half from Serbian nationality, but from Bosnia. Furthermore Serbs were (are) living in Montenegro, Croatia and even in Macedonia, so Serbian soldiers in JNA come from all over the place. JNA is a army without a country, that is more than clear, they are not the Serbian Army and Yugoslavia don't exists anymore (even if JNA was the army of new Yugoslavia (Serbia-Montenegro) it would still contain a lot off soldiers from abroad (from BiH and Croatia). By the way what is the status of Macedonia at the moment, it was part of old Yugoslavia, didn't became independent and is not part of new Yugoslavia, so it is nothing, just Macedonia, or any other name, Greece don't accept the name Macedonia.

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