** Topic: Zagreb Diary **
Response  22  of  67
** Written  3:51 AM  May 11, 1992 by wamkat in gn:yugo.antiwar **
Subject: Zagreb Diary

Zagreb Diary
10 May 1992

Tonight I was for one second or even more really afraid Vesna T. and I were sitting at the tram station next to the railway station, waiting for Vesna's tram to come (it didn't came by the way since they have changed the tram way, since the street were the bank was exploded last week is still closed, and there were no signs at the tramstation saying that the route was different now. we waited for 1 hour) at 2 in the night. And some policemen were fooling around with a girl. Then a group of 6 other police men cam from the direction of the HOS HQ, just about 150 meters away from the tramstation, in their company some drunken HOS soldiers in half black (those SS alike black horse riding pants and camouflage t-shirts), some heavy revolver hanging on their belt. 

They joint the other two cops and started to really talk angry to the girl, one of the HOS soldier slam her in the face and cried something in Croatian. The police agents check her pass and then this soldier hit her again and went further to a Burac eating place, which is open all night. Vesna told me that he shouted "When she is a Serb kill her !". A few minute later they, this soldiers came back and went in a black fiat, drive to were we where standing and stopped and went further again. They went around the block and passed us again and that happened 3 times in a row.

Strange how illegal armed people can just walk and joke together with the official police, everybody knows that the HOS army is illegal and that their members should be arrested. But time after time you see this happening. And there guns are not water pistols, but bloody real and they are knowing how to use them, and with a lot less patient that the police in the Netherlands. 

Since the fact that they were obvious looking for trouble and we were they only ones standing there and I really felt uncomfortable,

Yesterday, 9 of May was the European day for remembering the victims of fascism, which was remember at the square of the big Croats, former square of Victims of fascism, rename 1.5 year ago. The ground was that the victims or fascism were killed by Croats mainly (Utachi, during the war) and that the name remembered a black day out of Croatian history. The museum of victims of fascism in the middle of the square was also closed and still not used.

There were about 150 people at the meeting in front of the building, inclusive a police cop which nicely wrote down what was been said. Among the people a lot of old partisans (members of former communists party), which ofcourse held speeches about partisans, anti fascism, Tito and comrades (at least that were the words I could follow). Only Vesna T. said something about modern fascism. 

Furthermore there was a telefax from Simon Wiesenthal, from which I quote: "I believe that the Croatian government has already realized that the renaming of this square and of the buildings and streets was a mistake. I also believe that all of renamings undertaken in the last two years and involving names honoring the victims of fascism should be made undone and the names they received after the war again be adopted"

At the same morning that this was said a meeting from the Social Democratic alliance was forbidden by the police, since they were so-called threathning the state, things can always be forbidden without any real argument, we are living under warlaws here. What is fascism ?

Afterwards we went for a coffee at somebody flat, at least we thought so, we ended up in the nice old party offices of the former communist party (with Tito still on the wall), now called SDP (Party for Democratic Changes) and I was back in the old days. They are one off the smallest party around and still have the best places in town and are still discussing like hell about next to nothing. 

Not more then two years ago they had the absolute power and meetings like that where organized by the state, with big celebrations and long speeches done from good equipped speaking places and not with a half empty megaphone which was just powerful enough to be understandable within a 5 meter range. Their police was controlling the actions from those who are now in power and not vice versa like now. How fragile is power.

Sometimes you forget it but suddenly it is clear like glass again, how this state is one big war machine, who every part of social life somehow is infected and what a total anarchy we are living in here. 

Later that evening (yesterday) we went for a drink, we past a kiosk in which a daily was laying with big fat letters on the cover "2000 Chetniks arrested". I bought the newspaper and ask Aida to translate it. Short and good it in a place in BiH 2000 Serbs were arrested from which territorial defense thought that they maybe could get arms from JNA, when they are leaving. At least that was the messages (10 lines) after our translation from official state Croatian into plain honest English. The machine is everywhere.The newspaper was full of this type of messages by the way, another was f.e. that Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Germany closed their borders and no Yugoslav can enter the place without visa. And ofcourse the normal crap about west Europe, who clever we are and that the average European at least speaks 3 languages beside their own one, I am capable to speak and understand at least 4 languages (and read some more), but I have not that many friends who speak so many, and I am continue together with people which are working international. 

Sometimes I really start to ask myself what is true from everything I hear and see, is there anyway any possibility for a normal Croat, who speak no foreign languages to find out what is really going on.

In is now 4.23 in the morning, I am still working since I want to clean up some work which have been laying around and I have to get up at 6.00 anyway to stand in line at the foreign police station, we will see how far we are coming. Afterwards Dominique from Ljubljana comes (also a long term volunteer) to discuss the cooperation in the making of Intruder (the English Peace magazine which Ljubljana makes) and International Workcamps which we want to organize in Croatia, among other things a workcamp in the Osijek region to reconstructuct community buildings together with architect without borders.

Then a woman from Beograd comes and I have to explain her in short how Email works, fastly afterwards we have to open another account on GreenNet for Beograd because I really hopes that we will communicating soon. And then.... I still have to finish the fundraising application for Nives from Mi Za Mir, explain to Vesna J. that I can better stay in Zagreb and not go with her on Vis, since I can't work there without good equipment (and my dream that a good laptop would come some day didn't work out yet), have to write for Toni a project proposal about alternative energy. And than I must serious think about starting to write fundraising application for myself, since I have spend far to much this weekend to help some people out of acute money problems (paying doctor bills for some unemployed friends). 

I is going to be a busy day tomorrow I think I hit the sack for the last two hours of the night, birds starts singing out side, Vesna T. is already sleeping (she sleeps in this house since her tram was another hour waiting) and Vesna J. who normally should be here is working on ARKzin, it has to be finished tonight. Before the birds started to sing I hear some gun shots in the relative quiet city (there is always noise), maybe those drunken soldiers I met before this evening.

Love and Peace from Zagreb

Wam [:-@ tired and not shaved for some weeks

. P.s. It start to becom elight outside, a new day begin, and according to my phone call just a moment ago with Salavonski Brod it is also quiet ther at thismoment, but for how long....Sorry once more for w my article I wrote during last night, I was just a little pissed off by some reactions.** End of text from gn:yugo.antiwar **