Topic: Zagreb Diary 
Response  60  of  67
 Written 11:52 PM  Jun 27, 1992 by wamkat in gn:yugo.antiwar 
Subject: Zagreb Diary

Zagreb Diary
27-06-1992

Dobre Dan,

I just saw on Slikom na sliku (Picture on Pictures, a type of newsprogram what HTV broadcast every evening around eleven and I am taping, since Rainer brought me enough video tapes (so if somebody wants to have copies, pleas say so)) a part from Beograd TV about a court where 3 Croatian soldiers who defended Vukovar got the dead penalty. It is impossible to describe their faces. They were already dead, empty faces, without the slidest emotion other than pure fear. The reason that they got the dead penalty (which is not existing by the way in Croatia) was the fact that they had committed war crimes. If that is true is unclear ofcourse, the question is not important at this moment. 

I don't know otherwise than asking you out there to do your utmost best to put pressure on the Serbian government, via your own, to stop this dead penalties from put into practice and stop all court cases involving warcrimes until some International arrangements are made. This is the high point of hypocritism. Especially if you know that yesterday more mass graves were found outside Mostar (which was under artillery attack today again, by the way, so my trip have to wait a while, Joel wants to go with me, but if I tell him that there was an attack again, he won't go with me) where Muslims were found who dead under the most terrible pain and their bodies were cut in many pieces (Know that I have got this knowledge via HTV, I haven't seen it, nor those I know anybody in my direct surrounding who has seen it, we only saw it on television). So what is the worth of punishing only the warcrimes of the enemy and let your own criminals (sorry I go over the line here, it is not clear if those who committed that crime in Mostar were Serbs, or let say Serbs from Serbia) go on with doing their dirty work. Put I think you have got the point.

Also the prince of Serbia (or king or what ever) arrived today from London in Beograd. The first reaction from my friends here was that he has to learn Serbian, since even the short speech he made, which was written down phonetic sound like Serbian, but wasn't. He announced that tomorrow their will be a big demonstration tomorrow (Sunday) in Beograd, so watch the news.

But maybe more important is the fact that Mitterand (if I wrote his name wrong, sorry) was in Split today and goes to Sarajevo tomorrow. He is a hero, honestly. And he have to honour to be the first foreign leader of a country who is going to visit BiH. It is very important since it will give a message towards Serbia, which was somehow always very close with France. Really I didn't expected this and I respect the guy a lot, at last somebody had the nerves to go down and does something about this madhouse. Viva la France. No honest if he really goes it would be marvellous. Let's hope he manage to get the airport open, so this new ultimatums from UN and EC are not necessary anymore. In many ways Mitterand is a socialist and shows it ones more. By the way this trip surprised Croatia as it surprise you maybe, since it was absolute not know before he arrived, nothing was really plan. I like this kind of spontanic actions. Even Tudjman heard about it after Mitterand arrived in Split.

Joel and Nick went to Osijek early this morning, I am looking forwards to Monday when they come back. For Nick it will be a big change to go back to Osijek after a month, for Joel it will be a totally new experience. 

The attacks on Dubrovnik and Slavonski Brod went on, the fight in and around Derventa are more heavy than before. Jesus, let it stop. If you could hear the stories like us every day you would stop working and just pray that this stop.

It makes me often angry (I don't know a better word) when I see how decadent Zagreb is. Just a few 100 kilometres away cities are bombed and here people go to a fair, have a party and see fair number I don't know. Today there was this special festival in Maksimir to collect money for the rebuilding of Croatia. In reality it was a big campaign for the Croatian Business Centre and not much more than the thousand local year fairs we have in Limburg in all the small cities and village, music, market with cheap clothes and other useless things. The stand which was visited the best was the stand of HV (Croatian Army), were the showed land mines and grenades throwers from Croatian firms (proudly stood on the grenades and the throwers "MADE IN CROATIA").

Today ones more it became clear to me that the only town in the world were you see so much European flags and symbols must be Zagreb. Somehow this 12 stars became a symbol of hope and trust. I bed that if I show the flag of EC in my home town about 60% of the people wouldn't know from which country it came, but here nearly every shops has it at least something.

Something else what made me near to angry today was the fact that I found in some shops again Dutch products, around five days before the deadline that they could be sold. I really got the feeling somehow that some big firm from the west (and in this case Dutch firms) try to dump on the Croatian market those produces which are not been sold at home.

I have also to ask you if some of you have got good relation with official humanitarian aid organisations. We still need some big organisation backing us up with our planned work camp in the refugees camp, some officials are giving us a hard time.

Last but not least I like you to ask today to look for some good (street) musicians and theatre player in your town and country. My brother, who is (street) juggler is planning a tour around Croatia, but he would like to have some others joining him and his 2 friends on this tour. You may think it is nothing, but when you have to stay in a camp, far away from the living world every type of entertainment is welcome.

With Love from Za-mir-greb,

Wam:-)

P.s. If you like this diary, please help me paying my telephone bills, since after I leave my country I have no income what so ever and this giant telephone bills I can pay anymore. So please send some money to the postgiro on the postbank in Arnhem (Netherlands), accountnumber 0900093 on the name of Deborah Heberlet, Sittard, Netherlands.

By the way if some people would like to help us and I mean serious it would be good if we got some money to send some people from ARK and the Center to the doctor and dentist, since that is absolute neccesary. We need some money for it, otherwise they would go.

The newest "Hello, Here Zagreb" is out, our fax bulletin especially for none E-mail users, you can get it by sending a fax to +31-46-516460 (EYFA).

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