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abolition-usa-digest      Tuesday, March 30 1999      Volume 01 : Number 100




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 01:49:00 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (abolition-usa) Jan Myrdal calls for a new Peace Front

Subj:     Jan Myrdal calls for a new Peace Front
 Date:    3/29/99 1:38:42 AM Eastern Standard Time
 From:    DavidMcR
 To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
 BCC:    DavidMcR

 I'm most grateful to Jay for "cleaning up" the original post which had lots
of weirdness
 in its spacing. Am happy to send this along.

 Fraternally,
 David McReynolds

 In a message dated 3/28/99 8:30:10 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[e-mail] writes:

 <<
  In line with statements from other individuals and organizations which
  have appeared on the various lists which comprise "Marxism space" on the
  internet, and in line with efforts to spread information about what is
  happening and the options before us, I forward this call by Swedish
  writer Jan Myrdal.  I received it from someone who  received it from
  someone named Hans Isaksson, so I suppose any comments should=20
  properly be directed to Mr. Isaksson at [e-mail].
  - JRF

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
  ---------



      A   C A L L   F O R   A   N E W   P E A C E   F R O N T

                         By Jan Myrdal

  The United States, its allies and its subordinate states have=20
  thoroughly changed the international situation by their war of=20
  aggression against Yugoslavia.

  It is, however, not only up to the United States whether the=20
  United Nations will now become like the League of Nations after=20
  the Japanese aggression back in 1931. Nor is it entirely up to=20
  the United States how the future conflicts will develop - it is=20
  up to us, the people. In order to act intelligently we shall=20
  have to realise this fact and discuss  its implications.

  Even if  WW I was trigged by the shots in Sarajevo it started=20
  with the Balkan wars during the preceding years. It was fore-
  boded by conflicts, possible to discern and to analyse already=20
  in the 1890-ies, between the big powers on the repartition of=20
  the world. The contemporary peace- and labour movement  could=20
  foresee this big war in advent.


  The analysis made by the Basle conference of the Second Interna-
  tional was perfectly clear. However, in the absence of a broadly
  based peace movement, organised by and among the people their=20
  leaders were able to desert the struggle for peace. Instead they
  began to serve the imperialist masters and to drag the peoples=20
  into a sanguinary world war. On our side we have discussed how=20
  this could happen since the autumn of 1914.

  Even if the Second World War, as far as Europe was concerned, =20
  was trigged when Hitlerite Germany attacked Poland in 1939 it=20
  was initiated when Japan occupied Manchuria in 1931 (and it was=20
  continued by the Italian assault on Abessinia   and  by the=20
  fascist coup, supported by Germany and Italy, against the legal=20
  government in Spain in 1936). In this imperialist power game the
  leaders of Great Britain, France and the United States thought =20
  that they might be able to turn Japan and Germany against the=20
  Soviet Union, thus being able keep their own empires for them-
  selves.=20

  In spite of this the contemporary peace movement and the anti-
  fascist forces in the interval between the preludes of the war=20
  and its exacerbation  made a great performance  to unite the=20
  peoples on the broadest possible foundation against the fascists
  and the war. In doing this they contributed to the future defeat
  of the fascists. Even if they were not strong enough to prevent=20
  the war they had learnt from the events in 1914.

  It is granted that the third  World war was initiated by the=20
  bomb over Hiroshima - which was not necessary in order to defeat
  Japan but was needed in order to secure the  world hegemony de-
  sired by the United States - and later by the iron curtain=20
  speech by Winston Churchill, the Truman doctrine and NATO. How-
  ever the war never broke out. We succeeded in the fifties where=20
  we failed back in 1914 and 1939. We were able to resist the for-
  ces of war.

  We were millions all around the world working for the Stockholm=20
  call for peace. Our slogans were simple and seemingly self-evi-
  dent: Prohibition and destruction of nuclear arms under interna-
  tional control - any state, deploying nuclear arms by this fact=20
  was to be considered a war criminal. The press and our official=20
  politicians were raging.=20

  Whoever remembers the witch-hunt won=B4t forget it. The Daily News
  (the leading Swedish daily newspaper) slandered us as "Russian=20
  agents". Our Prime Minister was very upset. On the initiative of
  the United States here in Sweden 20000 informers were organised=20
  to spy on all those among their fellow countrymen  who worked in
  favour of  "the peace of Moscow" - and to annihilate them so-
  cially and politically. But we simply were too many millions all
  over the world organising to resist the US warmongers. They
  could not realise their dream - exposed on the cover of Col-
  lier=B4s Magazine in November 1951 with its atomic mushroom over=20
  Moscow. Their war machine was defeated in Korea. They were co-
  erced into keeping peace.

  In Sweden powerful forces among  Big Business , the military ap-
  paratus and their friends in the bourgeois parties as well as=20
  parts of the social democratic leadership tried to make us join=20
  the NATO and its war. But the peace movement was on its guard=20
  and the public opinion was against NATO. The peace movement=20
  grew. Certain generals and politicians were in the service of=20
  the United States. They had to act illegaly and secretly.=20

  With the support of the public opinion we made Sweden officially
  stick to the very same political line that it had adhered to
  since 1834: Freedom of alliance in peacetime, aiming to neutra-
  lity in wartime. This fact constituted a severe defeat for the=20
  diplomacy of the United States and  for the pro-NATO forces in=20
  our country.

  Among the political/military leadership a program for the deve-
  lopment of Swedish arms was prepared, however. Even Olof Palme=20
  was in favour of that program. Here, also, the military and the=20
  politicians had to yield to the pressure of the public opinion,=20
  organised by the peace movement. So Olof Palme switched his opi-
  nion, being a shrewd politician.

  You may remember how our work against the US war of aggression=20
  in South East Asia was organised? Then official Sweden was on=20
  the side of the United States. We had good reasons to call, as=20
  we did, our Prime Minister and the head of the National TUC "the
  flunkeys of Lyndon".

  There are several us remembering  how they got beaten up when=20
  the government deployed their mounted police force on the 20th=20
  of December 1967. By sticking to the mass line, by reasoning,=20
  spreading information and by sticking to the simple principles=20
  which conformed to the interests of the Swedish people we made=20
  the government yield. At least in words, if not in its deeds it=20
  had to oppose the US war. Olof Palme himself ended up heading =20
  demonstrations. For this we ought to respect him and hail him.=20
  We should not be sectarian or self-righteous.

  As many of  us know our work for peace and solidarity continued  with
  the struggle for the rights of the Palestinian People, it went=20
  on to oppose the Brezhnev doctrine, used by Moscow in order to=20
  establish and expand its hegemony.

  In this moment for  economical and power political motives the
  leadership of the United States and their followers are striving to
  enforce the world hegemony of Globalisation. This is done by
  deliberately by-passing the UN, by exploiting internal ethnical/
  religious conflicts. All means, political and military, are in-
  strumental to this end. Thus, our struggle for peace must be
  continued.

  We shall work broadly, without condideration for old contradic-
  tions. In different ways we shall organise a public opinion. We=20
  shall raise simple political demands in the interest of the=20
  broad majority of the people.

  In Sweden, for instance:=20

  Return to our political guidelines in foreign policy  valid=20
  since 1834:

  Freedom of alliance in peacetime, aiming to neutrality in war-
  time. Return to the line of foreign policy, enforced by the=20
  peace movement and the people in the sixties.

  In favour of the UN, against the self-imposed "right" of super-
  powers (the Truman doctrine, the Brezhnev doctrine or the cur-
  rent Clinton doctrine) to intervene by military force in the in-
  ternal affairs of other states.

  Solidarity with the demands of the Third World ("the South") for
  an egalitarian distribution of the wordly goods, against plun-
  dering and neo-colonialism, in favour of mutual respect and un-
  derstanding as a foundation for the international intercourse.

  It is of paramount importance to counter the ever more uniform=20
  news media by spreading an objective information about world af-
  fairs.=20

  Another central task is to reveal the methods of propaganda de-
  ployed by imperialism and neo-colonialism. You=B4ll notice that=20
  Washington is now talking about "human rights" in the same man-
  ner as the Victorian British talked of "Christian Values", the=20
  Tsar of  "the freedom of small nations", the warring Japan of=20
  "freedom from colonial masters and common welfare", Mussolini of
   "liberating the Abessinians from slavery", Hitler of "new,=20
  brotherly Europe". You can demonstrate this by quotations and=20
  examples!

  Further, you should fight the ideologies about "the war between
  civilisations" and  "obsoleteness of the national states" that=20
  are now being produced by the "think-tanks" of the United States
  and by their parroters in our countries. You should fight them=20
  thoroughly, hard and by means of arguments.

  These are great tasks confronting us.

  (Translation from the Swedish, authorized by the author:=20
  Hans Isaksson)

  >>

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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 02:43:18 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: Kosovo Crisis Links

I am glad Ross sent this on - it is urgent at this time that we try to hear as
many "sides" as possible, since the truth doesn't rest in any of them.

In light of this appeal from the KLA, I do want to quote from the Sunday New
York Times News of the Week section, the lead story under the title: Coping
with the Truth About Friend and Foe and a sub-head "Victims Not Quite
Innocent"

"In the catalogue of horrors that have befallen Yugoslavia, the Kosovo
Liberation Army is one of the lesser plagues. The danger to stability
presented by President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia is far greater than
anythin within its power.

"But the fact this group has emerged to speak for Kosovo's Albanians, and the
bombing by NATO of Serbian targets on their behalf, reveal a great deal about
the moral ambiguities confronting outsiders who wade into the Balkans to halt
the killing and ethnic cleansing begun a decade ago by Mr. Milosevic.

"The K.L.A. began on the radical fringe of Kosovar Albanian politics,
originally made up of diehard Marxist-Leninists (who were bankrolled in the
old days by the Stalinist dictatorship next door in Albania) as well as by
descendants of the fascist militias raised by the Italians in World War II.
It has no ideology behond a drive to liberate Kosovo from Serb rule, but its
leaders have long championed the Quixotic goal of a 'Greater Albania' reaching
into Albania, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro.

"Though its atrocities pale next to the rampage of the Serbs, it has shown
little tolerance for its ethnic rivals, carrying out random kidnappings and
excutions and burning Serb villages."

Peace,
David McReynolds

<< From:    [e-mail] (Ross Wilcock)
 Sender:    [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail] (Abolition-Caucus-L)

 Rather than sending out updates to Kosovo Crisis Links, these can be
 conveniently reviewed at http://www.pgs.ca/pages/war/kosovo.htm

 Ross Wilcock
 [e-mail]

 ***
 The following appeal was forwarded, dated: Sun 99/03/28 7:15 PM:

 KLA Appeal
 Drenica, 26 March (Kosovapress)  We appeal to the journalists and the
 reporters throughout the world who are interested in what is happening
 within the territory of Kosova to come to the zones controlled by the Kosova
 Liberation Army.  We assure them safety in their work as well as of the
 sincere and full support on the part of the KLA superiors and fighters
 including that of the people of Kosova in these zones.  Your contribution
 towards a fair and accurate information about the events will enable the
 world to learn of the inhuman massacres committed by the paramilitary and
 terrorist army of the Belgrade regime in revenge to the NATO strikes.




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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 10:55:30 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Kosovo

>Date: Sat, 27 Mar 1999 23:07:01 -0500
>Subject: Kosovo
>Priority: non-urgent
>X-FC-MachineGenerated: true
>To: [e-mail], [e-mail]
>Cc: [e-mail], [e-mail],
> [e-mail], [e-mail],
> [e-mail], [e-mail]
>From: [e-mail] ([e-mail])
>
>Dear Freinds,
>I understand and support all negative feeling connected wiyth NATO actions
>against serbs. But I think that your hight intellectual communities have to
>add some special - Nuclear - aspect into general picture. It never happened
>before that a war start so close to Nuclear Power Plant (about 200 km to
>Koslodui, Bulgaria; 400- to Paks, Hungary, and near the same distance - to
>NPP in Slovenia). In 1980 and 1984  Prof.Bennet Ramberg have published the
>book "Nuclear Power Plants as Weapons for the Enemy. An Unrecognized
>Military Peril" ( University California Press, XXXV+193p.). My advise - to
>look through this book carefully for the better understanding why Balcan
>Conflict so unacceptable dangerous with one side, and why it real madneass
>to continuing construct NPP in India, Iran, etc.
>Alexey Yablokov
>
Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty
to eliminate nuclear weapons.

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------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 13:49:23 -0800
From: "David Crockett Williams" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Holy Field of Kosovo (The Serbian/Christian Alamo)

[following is forwarded for background on current conflict]

This background on Yugoslavia was written by Anthony Wayne, and now has been
passed on to me by several friends.

http://iresist.com/nbn/weekly.html

===

The Holy Field of Kosovo

Date: Sun, 28 Mar 1999 22:44:36 -0500

Because of the control of the news media most people do not
understand the real battle being waged inside the borders
of Yugoslavia. Let me then tell you about it. 600 years ago
Islamic hordes invaded Christian Europe. They destroyed
everything in their path. Those who refused to convert to
Mohammedism suffered horrible fates. The Serbian women were
first raped and then sold along with their children into
slavery. Serbian men not killed on the battle field were
castrated and blinded to make them docile slaves for their
Turkish masters. Whole cities became a single funeral pyre
with their flames reaching toward heaven for the thousands
who lived in them as they were burned by the invaders. At
one point in their advance into Serbia the Turks nailed
some 12,000 Serbians to crosses mocking the death of Christ
and the Faith of the Serbs. The Turkish invasion of Europe
seemed unstoppable as they swept over everything in their
path with fire and sword. Until they reached the Kosovo
Plain.

For it was there that in 1389 some 77,000 Christian knights
and soldiers met the Turks. All of them pledging to each
other and to Christ that they would die rather than convert
to Mohammedism and lose their liberty. With prayer and
fasting and the Cross of Christ before them, 77,000
Christian men led by Serbian Prince Lazar engaged in a gory
battle to the death. Giving their life's blood not just to
save the freedom of SerbiaCbut of all Europe from the
advance of Mohammed's enslaving hordes. When the battle was
over the cream of Serbian manhood lay dead in great heaps
on the blood drenched field along with their Prince. But
their death did not come easy for the Muslims. These
martyrs for their faith fought so heroically, exacting such
a tremendous toll upon the Islamic soldiers, that the
advance into the heart of Europe was halted. During the
battle a group of knights having heard that their Prince
was dead, raced headlong through the enemy lines charging
into the very center of the enemy camp where they slew in
his tent the Turkish leader Emir Murad I. There they too
died in desperate hand to hand combat outnumbered two
hundred to one.


Thenceforth Kosovo Field became to the Serbian people
Acampo santo, The Holy Field. It is considered by many
historians of the Christian Church to be the single
greatest tomb of Christian martyrs killed in a single day.
No other single larger sacrifice of Christians is know.
Rome had it's glory. But Serbia has Kosovo! Each year on St
Vitus' Day the Serbs honour the holy martyrs of Kosovo
Plain and commemorate that epic sacrifice to freedom and
the Faith of Christ with prayer and fasting.

Such is the history of the Alamo like stand of Serbian
manhood against the invading foes of Western Christian
Civilization. Kosovo province is the heart and soul of
Serbia and they will not yield it to today's Albanian
Muslim terrorists backed by American cruise missiles and B2
bombers. The United States' aggression against the Serbs
will be valiantly opposed by the descendants of those who
died upon Kosovo Plain. The attempt to break it away from
the Serbian nation will fail and America will reap more
shame and condemnation for it's cowardly bombing of the
Yugoslavian people. Like the Mexican commander Santa Anna
who called for the Texans to surrender before his troops
stormed the walls of the Alamo, Clinton has called for the
surrender of Kosovo. He will not get it. And he will make
martyrs of those he kills. Liberty and Faith still has
it's defenders.

====

Below are some links that will provide a better
understanding of the issue at hand:

http://kosovo.serbhost.org/

http://www.beograd.com/radioyu/

http://kosovo.serbhost.org/elbooks.html

http://www.computec-int.com/bsc/linkkoso.htm

http://www.srpska-mreza.com/mlad/index.htm





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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 11:02:34 -0500
From: Stephen Young <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) BASIC's updated website

Dear colleagues,

BASIC has just improved its new website (yes, both new and improved!) on
the upcoming NATO summit and NPT PrepCom. It includes news and analysis
on a variety of issues in nuclear policy, non-proliferation, and
disarmament. The site will be continuous updated up to and though both
events.

Please visit it at:

http://www.basicint.org

Comments, questions, and criticisms are welcome.

Yours,

Stephen Young
Senior Analyst
BASIC


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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 11:53:30 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (abolition-usa) KOSOVO: PACIFISTS IN BELGRADE/RFY

In a message dated 3/30/99 3:24:44 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[e-mail] writes:

<< Subj:     KOSOVO: PACIFISTS IN BELGRADE/RFY
 Date:    3/30/99 3:24:44 AM Eastern Standard Time
 From:    [e-mail] (sbiesemans)
 To:    [e-mail] (BPI), [e-mail] ([e-mail]),
[e-mail] (pgahrton), [e-mail]
(IFOR), [e-mail] ([e-mail]), [e-mail] (ISIS-Europe),
[e-mail] (Jim Forest), [e-mail] (Koen Moens),
[e-mail] (Nanni SALIO)
 CC:    [e-mail] (BOUMANS Etienne), [e-mail]
(CUNNINGHAM T., M.E.P.), [e-mail] (MEYER Sabine),
[e-mail] (TELKAMPER Wilfried),
[e-mail] (VECCHI m.e.p./ALBERTO CORSINI), [e-mail]
(WOOD Michael)

 -- [ From: Biesemans Sam * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --


 Dear Friends,

 You will find herewith some news from our friend Bojan, who was a founder
 of the Yougoslav Bureau for Conscientious Objection in Belgrade. He also
 participated to different EBCO activities (for example: last seminar in
 Strasbourg or in Linz/Mauthausen last year).
 He is now student in Budapest, but he is still strongly linked with the
 pacifist friends in his country.
 Therefore we asked him some news about them. His short answer said a lot.

 Best whishes,

 Sam Biesemans,
 Chair of the Board of the
 European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (E.B.C.O.),
 Brussels


 --------------- Forwarded Message ---------------

 From:   "Bojan Aleksov", INTERNET:[e-mail]
 To:     Samuel BIESEMANS, 106707,1246
 Date:   Lun 29 Mars 1999, 15:48

 Dear Sam,

 our only concern at the moment is for the well being of our friends. It  is
 extremely difficult to get through. Yesterday night the last foreign
 volunteers got out and came with very bad news. They will not tell  anything
 to the public, in order not to bring our remaining friends in  danger. Women
 in Black will not issue any statements. The bombs have  silenced them and
 there is no chance for any activity in these  conditions.  However, there
 are some of our friends who still write reports and send  them via e-mail,
 which is the only remaining communication. One of them  is Pancevo
 (Vojvodina) M Peace group. Their e-mail is >[e-mail]< and if
 you write to them, they might put you  on their mailing list, although they
 write mostly in Serbian. The same  is with Otpor (resistance)the Student
 Network. You can get into their  mailing list but it is on Serbian and they
 are now also concerned for  their safety.  I don't even have to mention the
 situation in Kosovo and the civilian  victims.  I can't believe this is
 happening in 1999 and that the governments of  all European countries and US
 are so ignorant, stupid and criminal. We can only pray at the moment,

 Bojan


 >From: Samuel BIESEMANS <[e-mail]>
 >To: BOJAN/BELGRADE <[e-mail]>
 >Subject: NEWS FROM OUR PACIFISTS FRIENDS IN BELGRADO/RFY ?
 >Date: Sun, 28 Mar 1999 14:37:22 -0500
 >
 >Dear Bojan,
 >
 >Do you have news from our pacifist friends in your country ? Is it  still
 possible for you to be in contact with them or has the technical  censorship
 avoid that you phone, fax or e-mail to them ?
 >
 >Do you have from them or did you write yourself an analysis of the
 present war situation ?
 >Which message should you give to the pacifists in the NATO countries ?
 >
 >Thank you very much to give me an answer.
 >
 >Best whishes,
 >
 >Sam
 >
 >Brussels
 >
 >E-MAIL HOME: [e-mail]  (please sent only text files)
 >E-MAIL OFFICE: [e-mail]
 >
 >TEL/FAX HOME: 00322 6604737
 >TEL OFFICE: 00322 7438785

 ------- FORWARD, End of original message -------


 --
 _____________________________________________
 Sam BIESEMANS
 Press and European Parliament Relations
 Liaison Committee of Development NGOs to the EU
 square Ambiorix 10
 1000 Brussels
 tel.: 0032 -2 - 7438785 (direct)
 tel. sec.: 0032 - 2 - 7438760
 GSM (Mobile phone): 0032  (0) 477268893
 fax. :[phone]
 E-Mail: [e-mail]
 Web site: http:/www.oneworld.org/liaison
 _____________________________________________
  >>

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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 14:47:07 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: jhurd_newparty: Robert Fisk on the bombing in the Independent

In a message dated 3/30/99 12:13:58 PM Eastern Standard Time,
[e-mail] writes:

<< ---
 >The Independent
 >March 28, 1999
 >
 >The night the sky caught fire
 >
 >Even Milosevic's opponents are outraged and defiant as the Nato bombing
 >of
 >their city gathers force
 >
 >By Robert Fisk in Belgrade
 >
 >BY their graffiti, thou shalt know them. Just round the corner from the
 >Skoljka restaurant, high above the Danube, someone has written "French
 >murderer" on the wall of the French embassy in carefully painted capital
 >letters.
 >
 >In the Kalemegdan Park, the great statue of a woman by Ivan Mestrovic -
 >a
 >Croat, but no enemy of the Serbs - commemorating Serbia's military
 >alliance
 >with France in the 1914-18 war, has been draped in black cloth. "French
 >murderer" it says again on a banner attached to the drapery.
 >
 >Close to the Slavija roundabout in Belgrade, some tough, cynical humour
 >manifests itself. Spray-painted beside a building are the words: "Either
 >you bomb it as soon as possible or I'm going to have to paint my house."
 >Given the events of the last 24 hours, the owner had better wait another
 >few days before he makes a final decision on renovation. Even as dawn
 >slunk
 >over the city yesterday, the smoke still drifted through the streets all
 >the way from Avala, 11 miles out of town, a grey fog that penetrated
 >doors
 >and bedrooms.
 >
 >I knew the cause. Not long before midnight on Friday, there was a flat,
 >hollow explosion, a surprisingly short but powerful clap of sound that
 >banged all the windows in our hotel, slamming shut the open windows,
 >rattling the others on their hinges. Then a strange, almost unearthly
 >wind
 >billowed up the curtains. Like ghosts, they rose swiftly to the ceiling
 >and
 >stayed there, fluttering against the roof. There was no blast, just this
 >warm wind which rushed through our hotel near the Danube; the cooks and
 >the
 >receptionists and the chef in his white jacket all ran to the lobby, two
 >of
 >the kitchen girls holding hands in fear.
 >
 >>From the sixth floor, we could see a crimson glow creeping along the
 >horizon, a great mass of fire that illuminated an entire hillside. Nato
 >had
 >struck an arms depot and the missiles there soared into the night's sky,
 >gold and bright red, a pall of smoke drifting away in the light of the
 >fires. We have heard jets, although some said the whistling sound
 >represented missiles. For minutes we watched the fires, the window
 >occasionally shaking gently from the explosions. Then we crept
 >downstairs
 >in the darkness.
 >
 >A military target, Belgrade radio announced. Casualties unknown. By
 >mid-day
 >yesterday, the Serbs were talking of gravely wounded civilians - a
 >government minister said the same an hour later, although there were no
 >figures. Then came the sort of grim rumour all wars can do without; that
 >some form of chemical store had been hit, that poisonous chemicals may
 >have
 >been set alight in the bombing, that the wounded had been near
 >suffocation.
 >In several bomb shelters in south-west Belgrade, residents were told to
 >wear gas masks. Everyone had smelt the smoke; it had a strange smell,
 >one
 >young woman told us in an echoing government ministry yesterday
 >afternoon.
 >
 >In a land which still honours the language of communism - of soldiers
 >fighting honourably for the fatherland and courageously "performing
 >national duties" - news is a jealously guarded commodity. "Nato last
 >night
 >systematically and blindly bombarded our country," Milan Komnenic, the
 >Federal Yugoslav information minister, announced at mid-day. "The
 >greatest
 >victim of that attack was the capital of Yugoslavia which from its
 >outskirts to its centre was systematically bombarded with shells and
 >bombs." From such nuggets of Comintern prose are we supposed to extract
 >diamonds.
 >
 >But the bombing is indeed systematic - and many were the Serbs of
 >Belgrade
 >who wondered whether Nato disturbed their night in revenge for the sight
 >of
 >two MiG-29s over Bosnia, shot down according to Nato but very much
 >undestroyed (and not even flying over Bosnia) according to the Yugoslav
 >military. And from Avala to the centre of Belgrade, there was not a soul
 >who did not wonder what this massive explosion portended. By yesterday
 >afternoon, the anxiety was palpable. The blast of another explosion tore
 >over the city, followed - too late - by an air raid siren, and I found
 >men
 >and women running in panic through the city streets. Not a plane could
 >be
 >heard. Was it a missile?
 >
 >I remember, while watching those explosions rippling along the skyline
 >on
 >Friday night, asking myself if there was any response to technology; if
 >its
 >possession - in the shape of computer-guided rockets and 3,000- mile
 >range
 >bomber missions - had not created an unstoppable power. The Yugoslavs
 >have
 >stood up better to the American attacks than did the Iraqis. But then,
 >Nato
 >has not attacked bridges and electricity stations and sewage plants. Not
 >yet.
 >
 >Down by the Danube, just before the afternoon air raid, we had lunched
 >with
 >old Serb friends, Jelena and her daughter, both English teachers, both
 >normally level-headed, serious, intellectual, tough people. We tucked
 >into
 >Montenegro fish and Calamari over cold Niksicko beers but I hadn't
 >expected
 >to find such venom for the country whose culture they had studied for so
 >long.
 >
 >"Nato is helping Milosevic," Jelena said. "Like Iraq, the Americans have
 >closed our borders and isolated us and made even people who were against
 >the President stand with him. Religious people here feel we are being
 >punished for what has happened to us which is because of communism. And
 >are
 >remembering that the man who brought us communism through his support
 >for
 >Tito was your leader, Winston Churchill."
 >
 >In the air raid shelters the previous night, Jelena's daughter had been
 >astonished to hear a middle-aged woman quote from a 20th century Serbian
 >Nostradamus, Dedamilojel, a prophet supposed to have been born in 1914,
 >though no one knows if he is still alive - or ever lived - but who will
 >die, if he is alive, at the beginning of the Third World War.
 >"Grandfather
 >Deda," believed President Milosevic was going to be the saviour of
 >Serbia,
 >the lady told the people in the shelter. "Nowadays," Jelena said, "I am
 >ashamed I taught English for so long." The terrible stories of
 >atrocities
 >in Kosovo were not received well at our luncheon. Jelena did not know
 >the
 >truth of them, she repeated over and over again.
 >
 >Yes, prophets can be believed these days in Belgrade. Mr Komnenic told
 >us
 >yesterday that Belgrade would be a symbol of resistance as Madrid was in
 >the Spanish Civil war. Minutes later another official claimed that
 >Belgrade
 >would achieve the same unity as Prague during the Soviet invasion of
 >1968.
 >How easily history is embraced in Serbia these days. How easy it is to
 >bomb.
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >    This is the New York Free Media Email List
 >
 >  To unsubscribe send email to [e-mail]
 >  He'll ignore the subject, and if you're confused, just say help
  >>

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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 16:02:20 -0500
From: War Resisters League <[e-mail]>
Subject: [none]

 =20

  Stop the bombings in Kosovo                  =20
         Join the Protest

Women in Black: One hour silent vigil to stand for peace in Kosovo.=20
5:30 to 6:30 pm =95 Wed., March 31=20
NY Public Library, 5th Ave. & 42nd St.
Please wear black.

Pax Christi: Good Friday walk with Stations of the Cross protesting
violence & promoting peace & justice. Ending with action at the Intrepid
with Kairos Community.=20
Begins 9:00 am =95 Fri., April 2
Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 1st Ave. & 42nd.
Intrepid action is at approx. 2:00 pm with vigil & leafleting about
militarism, bombing in Kosovo, and sanctions against Iraq, Hudson River at
43rd St.

Kairos Ploughshares: Intrepid Museum Teach-In with connections to current
war.=20
5:00 to 7:30 pm =95 Wed., March 31
Fordham University at Lincoln Center, Lowenstein Building Faculty Lounge,
12th fl., 113 W. 60th St.=20
    For information on Teach-In: [phone]

For more info call the War Resisters League [phone]

**********
War Resisters League
339 Lafayette St.
New York, NY 10012
212-228-0450
212-228-6193 (fax)
1-800-975-9688 (YouthPeace and A Day Without the Pentagon)
[e-mail]
web address: http://www.nonviolence.org/wrl

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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 18:36:20 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: (abolition-usa) NY Times / 3/30/31

In a message dated 3/30/99 6:30:01 PM Eastern Standard Time, DavidMcR writes:

<< ubj:    NY Times / 3/30/31
 Date:    3/30/99 6:30:01 PM Eastern Standard Time
 From:    DavidMcR
 To:    JDCoffin, [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail], Epank, [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail], Zefalcon, RBLepley
 To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
 To:    VOBARON, [e-mail], Lthurston8
 To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail]
 To:    [e-mail]
 BCC:    DavidMcR

 Having just watched the talking heads on the "News Hour", I am stunned again
at how dissenting views are being excluded from the dialogue. We need Chomsky
on TV to take on these guys who so foolishly, so lightly, talk of the need to
send in troops.

 On the bright side, Thomas Friedman, no radical pacifist, has an excellent
column in today's NY Times, suggesting a possible way out and stressing that
NATO will in fact have to back down (as will Milosevic).

 If you have the Times or can get it on line, check the OP ED page.

 Peace,
 David McReynolds >>

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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 18:43:29 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) NY Times / 3/30/31

Hi David and Friends,
I happened to watch C-Span early this morning and saw the Russian, Serbian,
and
French daily news shows.  Quite a different perspective.  The best part, aside
from the new insights and differing points of view (not from France) was that
no one was salivating over the high tech killer boy toys that we see endlessly
on commercial US tv.  Regards, Alice

At 06:36 PM 3/30/99 -0500, [e-mail] wrote:
>In a message dated 3/30/99 6:30:01 PM Eastern Standard Time, DavidMcR
>writes:
>
><< ubj: NY Times / 3/30/31
> Date:  3/30/99 6:30:01 PM Eastern Standard Time
> From:  DavidMcR
> To:    JDCoffin, [e-mail]
> To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
> To:    [e-mail], Epank, [e-mail]
> To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
> To:    [e-mail], Zefalcon, RBLepley
> To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
> To:    VOBARON, [e-mail], Lthurston8
> To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
> To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
> To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
> To:    [e-mail], [e-mail]
> To:    [e-mail]
> To:    [e-mail]
> To:    [e-mail]
> BCC:   DavidMcR
>
> Having just watched the talking heads on the "News Hour", I am stunned
>again
>at how dissenting views are being excluded from the dialogue. We need
>Chomsky
>on TV to take on these guys who so foolishly, so lightly, talk of the need
>to
>send in troops.
>
> On the bright side, Thomas Friedman, no radical pacifist, has an excellent
>column in today's NY Times, suggesting a possible way out and stressing
>that
>NATO will in fact have to back down (as will Milosevic).
>
> If you have the Times or can get it on line, check the OP ED page.
>
> Peace,
> David McReynolds >>
>
>-
> To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
> with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
> For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send
> "help" to the same address.  Do not use quotes in your message.
>
Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty
to eliminate nuclear weapons.

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------------------------------

End of abolition-usa-digest V1 #100
***********************************

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