Topic: Zagreb Diary 
Response  56  of  67
 Written  4:20 PM  Jun 21, 1992 by wamkat in gn:yugo.antiwar 
Subject: Zagreb Diary

Zagreb Diary
21-06-1992

Dear Friends,

The officer from the UNPROFOR troops in Sarajevo has given yesterday another interview for France television, what he said was clear: "We as UNPROFOR are only here to monitor the cease-fire, and today there was no cease-fire to monitor" Indeed yesterday in Sarajevo 29 people died (in BiH as a whole more then 50), according BiH television, and another humanitarian transport was shoot at. 

"And today there was no cease-fire to monitor" it could have been a title of a book. There is a cease-fire in Croatia since the 3th of January, the 15th cease-fire agreement, made up in Sarajevo. We know what that means, yesterday 50 grenades hit Dubrovnik again. The attacks on Osijek in the beginning of last month were the hardest since the beginning of the war. On Slavonski Brod bombs are still doing their destructive job, still it is a cease-fire in Croatia.

UNPROFOR will take over the control in sector West of Croatia, JNA will have to move out this region before the end of next week, the remaining sectors South and North will come under UNPROFOR's control before the end of the month. But in the sector East, which is under full UNPROFOR control now, it may be quiet in Osijek and Vinkovci, but in their surroundings there is still fightings going on, "So is there a cease-fire to monitor".

"And today there was no cease-fire to monitor" it means that UNPROFOR will stay put in their shelters in Sarajevo until all parties will keep their fire for at least 48 hours in order for UNPROFOR to take position at the airport. Already 2 weeks ago humanitarian aid transport were hold since they airport could be open soon. Two weeks later we have officially WAR in BiH and still no major relief for the starving citizens of Sarajevo.

Mostar, which is "liberated" by Croatian forces some day ago is now a big part of the news with fill the screens, but from all the television pictures I have seen so far a five minute shot I have seen in Djakovo on Beograd television was the most horrible one. It was a report from a massacre done by "Utachi" in a small town north of Sarajevo. I will keep the details away, but it remind me a lot on my previous occupation in the meat-factory.

It reminds me on a story of a friend from us who went the other day to the Islamic centre in Zagreb to get photomaterial in order to put up a help action in the CSFR. She went their and the only pictures they had were from castrated Moslem man. According for here opinion much too hard to show in the rest of the world. "And today there was no cease-fire to monitor".

The Islamic centre has stopped their activities to collect and spread news from BiH and we lost a major source of information that way. The relief the have to give to refugees from BiH and the organisation of relief transports is on the other hand on this moment more important. They are the right channel, since a lot of the relief from abroad comes out the Islamic world. 

Public Enemy's concert seems to be indeed cancelled because of the fact that they were afraid for war after seeing the picture of Sarajevo on television. It had a much harder influence on some friends than I thought in the first place. Some are already down for some days, not understanding that those guys in which they could recognise so much were afraid of something were they went through. I think it would be good when Public Enemy dedicate the profits of one of there upcoming concerts totally for rebuilding youth project in former Yugoslavia, otherwise they really destroyed the hope of some people. Nevertheless "No more heroes anymore" from the Stranglers there are still some heroes left. 

One of these upcoming heroes in Croatia is still Paraga, he is also becoming more and more popular around the main-stream of the population, now most of his soldiers within Croatia are not wearing their uniforms on the street and the others are fighting in BiH and some other frontlines he gets more the imagine of a respected politicians. Still surrounding by an uniformed group of body-guards, but still so is Tudjman and some others. He claims to be the only politicians which says what he thinks and does what he says. 

People from who you think that they are intellectuals and able to see beyond cheap propaganda surprise me by saying that they think of voting Paraga next time. He is so extreme, so that will makes things clear. And the opposition is so divided, they are powerless. This is really alarming, since Tudjman may be right wing, he is not a dictator, he is under much pressure ofcourse from western Europe, but still in many way moderate. If you compare it with the simplicity of Paraga, who is a much more clever talker and a catalisator of unsaid feelings of a huge amount of the Croats. Even when that don't means that they are fully agree with all his opinions and operations. 

Other politicians are too much fighting in words and about commas and after nearly a year of war and years of economical decrease people are fed up with words and difficult answers. They want strong politicians who has make up their mind and say what they are going to do and do it. It would also mean that ARK must have a strong priority on fighting against upcoming neo-nazism.

Vesna J. and I had a long talk yesterday evening and this morning about the future of ARK and the place peace-activists have in Croatia. When the whole world is looking at Sarajevo and Beograd as middle points of the war a lot of things are also happening beyond the frontlines in the politics of e.g. Croatia. It is easy to become nationalistic in Croatia, and so build up a lot of excuses for things which are happening. Half of the world is in fever of a military intervention, but Croatia already is involved in the fights in Croatia for a long time now (if all those soldiers come back with all the new experiences they made, who knows).

What makes it more complex is that a lot of the HOS soldiers, even those who are fighting in Croatian army, and only member of the HSP (the political party), are for a big deal Croatian immigrants from Hercegovina. In many stories from BiH and from Slavonia you will hear that those were the first who came to fights and can always be found in the frontlines. Those people were colonised in the fifties from the poor areas of Hercegovina to the big cities in Croatia and Slavonia. They took the places of the German minority which was through out of the country by the partisans in and after the second world war. 

"A train without timeschedule" (a film made some ten years ago as I can recall him) that is symbolic for this part of Europe. It is if you have a big part of the population who never had any time to build roots in the area they lived. Generation after generation they were moved around in these regions. And that goes on for ages. 

But we have to keep our eyes open in Croatia, in this cocktail I wrote in the first week fascism can be grow out to something really big, and it seems it is happening. Stopping the war is maybe one priority, but warning and "fighting" against fascism is another thing, what should stand high on our agenda. Even when Croatia already has the name that it is fascistic, it should not prevent us from expressing that reality to the world, even when Croats here and abroad feel offended by it and think we spread the wrong picture from Croatia. 

Maybe we somehow paint the picture a little to big, then let's be glad it is not the reality.    "And today there was no cease-fire to monitor"

With Love and Peace from Zagreb,

Wam:-)


p.s. please don't forget our refugees.
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