NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #18/NN_1992_18.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/5755

Text File | 1992-08-12 | 8.9 KB | 185 lines

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Subject: REPORT:Peace Work in Balkans
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Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 17:55:41 GMT
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I thought people who have been reading Joel Gazis-Sax's reports from the
Balkans (MIRacles Nos. 1-7) would be interested in this general report
he made about his activities to Pacific Yearly Meeting. Some
explanations to non-Quakers: Quakers (formally, The Religious Society of
Friends) are quite non-hierarchical, but the local entities (called
Monthly Meetings because they have a Monthly Meeting for Business in
addition to regular Meetings for Worship) join together in various
geographical entities called Yearly Meetings (because they have a yearly
Meeting for Business!). Joel's "local" is the Palo Alto (California)
Monthly Meeting of Friends, which is apparently a member of the Pacific
Yearly Meeting.
           Peace, Cathy Flick
--------------------------------------------------------

/* Written  4:51 pm  Jul 31, 1992 by gn:jsax in cdp:gen.quaker */


/* ---------- "Report to PYM" ---------- */
Subject: Report to PYM
To:  Pacific Yearly Meeting
Subject:  Report on Joel GAzis-SAx's Sojourn in Croatia and Slovenia

Dear Friends:

I am writing to you from the heart of a difficult situation here in
Croatia and I ask your support and your prayers.  You have been
following part of the story from your homes in America.  You have seen
the horrific pictures of Sarajevo and you have heard talk of
intervention.  You do not, however, see what I can see:  that the
conflict is much broader and the conflict much greater than CNN is able
or willing to report.

The Croatian peace movement is demoralized.  Many activists openly
declare that they support intervention and some have gone to fight on
the front.  It is not easy to be a Friend under these circumstances.
George Fox's advice about being an example to all the nations is good,
though hard to follow in all counts under the strain.  To justify their
own ambivalence, some here take pains to point out my every imperfection
and the imperfections of my country.  Regular and personal communion
with God helps me through these difficulties and often, as I sit in
worship by myself, I find refreshment in the thought that somewhere
there are Friends sitting with me.

Idolatry is rampant in this country.  A medical student aptly diagnosed
the problem as being that the people still look to the politicians to
tell them what to do.  In the marketplace you see emblems of German and
American political movements for sale.  An American eagle, bearing the
Croatian emblem instead of the Stars and Stripes, is a popular item.
The transition to capitalism been hard.  A woman told me "We are hungry
now.  We have not been hungry before."  They do not dare return to
Communism, but I have often heard people say that they were "better off
under Tito".

In the peace movement, too, I have seen activists seize upon "peace
shields", astrology, and other magics.  They want to end this war, but
they are powerless to do so and that, I think, is why military solutions
have become more and more attractive to them.  I should add that these
sorts of idols are most attractive to those who live in Zagreb, which
has been mostly untouched in this war.  The situation is different in
Osijek where many activists suffered through months of intense bombing,
shelling, and street fighting.  Here I have heard the most intelligent
criticisms of the jingoism which is leading this country to extremism.
The activists of Osijek have gone through the fire and it is in this
place of danger that I find the truest pacifists in Croatia.

The peace movement in Slovenia deserves a place of affection in our
hearts, too.  Activists in both Osijek and Ljubljana reach out to the
authorities in an effect to inculcate the seeds of nonviolence in the
widest possible audience. Slovenia's short struggle for independence can
be attributed, in part, to the government's willingness to employ
civilian-based defense.  This created a situation where opponents were
able to talk to one another and President Milan Kuchan worked tirelessly
for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. Many members of the peace and
human rights movements hold places in the Slovenian cabinet.  This
country truly wanted peace and it got it.

The continuing Bosnian conflict is having a terrible effect on the
attitudes of the people of both Slovenia and Croatia.  Both countries
are swamped with refugees and displaced people, more than either can
feed by itself. The UN can only provide small amounts of assistance
since many member states, including the United States, are behind on
their dues.  The flood of refugees is bankrupting these new states and
anger towards the people fleeing from Bosnia will remain for generations
if more humanitarian assistance does not arrive soon.

I am saddened by recurrent talk of intervention and by the sanctions.  I
support arms sanctions and I support technological sanctions, but I
oppose cultural sanctions.  If the Croats, the Bosnians, and the Serbs
cannot talk to one another,  there will be no peace without slaughter.

We should mind what is happening in our own country as well.  We should
not think ourselves better than the Croats, the Bosnians, and the Serbs.
Recent events in Los Angeles and New York show once more that we have
our own, albeit more complex, racial problem.   We should work for
economic conversion and inter-racial justice.  I am not saying that we
should neglect what is happening here in former Yugoslavia to mind our
own problems.  Our witness, as we declared to James II, is to the whole
world.  That world begins in our own neighborhoods and extends far
beyond our immediate vision.  Wherever there are wars and violent
strifes, Friends should be working to end them and to treat their
victims.

***
ACTIVITIES TO DATE

1.  MIRacles, my weekly reports to Friends everywhere has been published
six times since my arrival.  [see attachments]  These have described my
encounters with the Croatian, Slovenian, and Bosnian people.  I have
distributed them both by mail and via the Association for Progressive
Communications Networks (PeaceNet and ConflictNet in the United States),
Quaker-L, EcuNet, and UseNet..
2.  Two trips to Osijek.  Meetings with the local peace movement, local
officials, social workers, soldiers, University of Osijek faculty,
relief  agencies and ordinary people.  Photographs of war damage.
3.  Two trips to Ljubljana.  Meetings with local peace movement and
human rights organizations.  Working with Slovenia Section Office of
Amnesty International to help start a Croatia Section Office based in
Zagreb.
4.  Working with local social workers and special education experts to
prepare a Croatian translation of the Hesperian Foundation book DISABLED
VILLAGE CHILDREN.
5.  English language assistant for the Center for Peace, Nonviolence,
and Human Rights.  Providing many hours of listening and moral support
for demoralized peace staff.  Working to articulate the needs of foreign
volunteers and of Center staff.
6.  Communication with American relief agencies, describing specific
needs for the people of Osijek.
7.  Provided travel expenses and scholarships for activists from Osijek
and Zagreb to attend an international peace gathering in Kopar,
Slovenia.  I will provide other such scholarships as my finances allow.
8.  Set up the tentative adoption of an Osijek refugee shelter.  Now
raising money to buy toys for the children.  I can arrange for the
adoption of other shelters and camps if this is requested by Meetings,
Churches, and organizations.

PLANNED ACTIVITIES

1.  A visit to Split to help local activists get online and to learn
what I can about the local refugee situation.  I may also go to
Dubrovnik.
2.  A possible visit to secure areas of Bosnia with a Croatian war
reporter.
3.  A possible visit to Beograd to lend moral support to the local peace
movement.
4.  A possible visit to Mohacs, Hungary, to visit camps where refugees
of the Slavonian front have lived for a year.
5.  A visit to Greece and Macedonia to seek the seeds of peace in this
potentially explosive region.


NEEDS


1.  The Osijek Peace Center needs $700 to install its phone and fax
lines!
2.  At least $2000 to cover additional travel, phone, and other personal
expenses.

***
POLITICAL ACTION

I urge the Friends to lobby their members of Congress and the State
Department to work, through international agencies, for the following:

1.  Creation of an effective framework for dialogue between Serbs,
Croats, and Bosnians.
2.  Immediate humanitarian aid to Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia to take
care of the needs of refugees.  Aid to Serbia can be channeled either
through the Orthodox Church or the International Red Cross.