** Topic: Zagreb Diary **
Response  25  of  67
** Written  9:11 PM  May 15, 1992 by ark in gn:yugo.antiwar **
Subject: Zagreb Diary

Zagreb Diary
Friday, May 15, 1992

Band on the run!!!!!

It is even clear in western Europe now that UNPROFOR is moving out of BiH, they leave Banja Luka and Sarajevo, my mother phoned and told me that on Dutch television it was shown how the Dutch HQ was shot at and that they had to run for their lives. And I must admit that we are mostly laughing loudly about those informations. UNPROFOR, the United Nations, the big Peace keeping forces, how they came 4 weeks ago with their whole promotion circus and image that they would stop the problems, is now on the run. If one thing became clear from this UNPROFOR operation it is that it was badly, badly organized, who else would have put their HQ in an area where it was likely to exploded. If the factfinders had done their job a little more precise they would have known, now many hopes, and time and money is spend and UNPROFOR made itself like stupid clowns.

Since a few days they are not allowed to wear their uniforms in the town, after the fights between Croatian soldiers and with Croatian boys that is no stopped. As well as their active involvement with Croatian girls, only the MP from UNPROFOR still is in uniform. For the rest you see them running around the time in groups of 6 or 7 playing the average tourists. It is nice to hear them speak, especially those languages which I can or nearly can understand are feeling save here and are talking loudly, so I hear nice macho stories, how they have been active in different zones and complains how badly organized the operation is. 

Bad it is to be ashamed, UNPROFOR, Red Cross, Medicines without Frontiers and others running as hell out of Sarajevo, leaving 500.000 people behind. By the way our estimation at ARK is that only app. 200.000 persons in the whole of former Yugoslavia are really interesting in fighting, the for the power top, but the rest of the 22.000.000 would love to live in peace which each other. That is less then 1% all those other people now have to pay the bill. Rumors are also that UNHC for refugees will stop their operation, since he couldn't get the money together. Really guys I am going to drill for oil tomorrow and I am going to find it, or diamants or something. 

Former Yugoslavia is in no way less democratic or aggressive as the leadership of Kuwait, so the arguments which are used in that direction are just bullshit. It is also bullshit to talk any longer about Yugoslavia and her internal borders, we have officially an international war going on, between sovereign states. Only when new Yugoslavia withdraw all their soldiers, JNA and Serbian Chetniks equally from BiH and Croatia, when can speak again from civil wars. But it is obvious that that isn't the case at this moment. 

Where is that solidair feeling of the international opinion with the 22.000.000 people here which are becoming the victims of bad management of their leaders. Okay the are elected somehow democratically, what is democratic if people own the whole media. Democracy in Croatia is dictated by the west, discussion about human rights are no initiate of Croatian parliament, but are happening under pressure from the west. This country would slip into a total dictatorship if you leave it outside the international pressure. Where possible the social and political life is under control of the state. The warlaws make it easy to order and forbid almost everything what looks like opposition. Under the header that the safety of the participants are endangered since some elements (ultra right) things are easily forbidden. 

The only reason that oppositional activities can take place is the fact that the state is too much occupied with fighting their war and getting their economy somehow back together again and that therefore the police has other priorities. But when that pressure was gone I would give a dinar for the opposition. They are simply not strong enough and too much busy to survive financially to be a block of serious influences.

Yes, my friends, I am surprised that the UN or similar organization are not investing a part of their money to build up democracy and the forming of undepended social movements in countries under war. 1% of the UNPROFOR budget would make a different for the work of most of the groups here, and there for their influence in the public media.

I can't find any excuses anymore for myself for not being here, every bloody day I am facing the cruelty of war and the machinery which creates it. It is a killer virus, it totally dismantle a healthy mechanism and makes it running around like a chicken without a head as we say in Dutch. If I could turn it of for two days and spend that two days thinking and writing fund applications I would love those moments. Time is however not on our side around here.

The project on Vis is an example how we have to fight time, on this moment for us in Zagreb the priority lays in getting our movement off the ground and taking the Vis project of the ground now means a lot of energy and people, we simply need them here. But we feel guilty of not being there since they are waiting on the Island for peace activists to come. nevertheless a small group of activists started an enormous public scandal around here, even the President mentioned it some weeks ago in his press conference. 

One of the biggest problems we have to face is that the international press writes only about the fightings and the most obvious problems, but they don't tell about the life, the machinery around it. They form a picture if everybody in those country went mad and are doing nothing else than fighting each other and that is absolutely untrue. We know that there is hunger in Africa on this moment and that they should be helped, we also now that over 500.000 persons in BiH are in acute hunger danger. And that the food supplies for Croatia are just enough to come through summer and there is no way anymore to change that, the fields are laying useless in the sun. And ofcourse the problems in the rest of the world are greater and more important, but please 22.000.000 people here are also endangered, from which over 2.000.000 acute.

Tonight we will have another open air concert, it is the world day of CO's today and a start for a more intents campaign for promoting the law on CO in Croatia, not that that will stop a war, but only to tell that it is possible without getting abroad or in the underground. The fight to idiocy that people are send to the front when they are waiting for their decision to be approved as CO.

I must honestly commit that I have run a little bit out of lies towards Sarajevo, when I have to explain them why the rest of the world is not really helping them. It that's time, they will react, just wait, wait for bloody what, until the outside world can start remembering action on the day that Sarajevo falls. Why do they not receive enormous amount of support faxes, or Beograd to bring them to Sarajevo, if the lines are out. They bloody need it. They in Sarajevo are doing all they can do, even bringing out WHY?, when the bombs are falling on their heads. Nada goes on, even after they have destroyed their office and threatening here for betraying the Serbian case (she is from Serbian nationality, who said that all the Serbs are fighting or feeling threaten by Croats and Muslims (maybe those in Zagreb, and they have a reason (but not all reasons are always true (if somebody is refused for a job, that is not always because of nationality, but it is easily been said so)))).

I feel a lot like UNPROFOR, promising golden mountains, but am not able to even deliver a tiny little pebble. maybe it would be better to go home and start fundraising from there, maybe that would have more effect. I don't know, I often feel so isolated, so like Don Quichotte, fighting for windmills in an area without wind. Not that I am depresses or anything and I have a strong believe that you are coming out somehow. 

Now I will try again to finish my fundraising proposal for Nives Mi Za Mir, she is waiting for it.

Love and Peace from Zagreb,

Wam:-)

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