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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ukma!mont!pencil.cs.missouri.edu!rich
- From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
- Subject: ZAGREB DIARY
- Message-ID: <1992Sep9.082306.10617@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
- Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Sender: news@mont.cs.missouri.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Organization: PACH
- Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 08:23:06 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 87
-
- The ACTivist, Volume 8 #9, September 1992.
-
- The ACTivist, Ontario's peace monthly, is published by ACT for
- Disarmament, 736 Bathurst St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 2R4,
- phone 416-531-6154, fax 416-531-5850, e-mail web:act. Hard copy
- subscriptions are $10 for a year ($25 for institutions and funded
- agencies).
-
- Reprint freely, but please credit us (and send us a copy!)
-
- /** gen.newsletter: 138.9 **/
- ** Written 8:56 pm Aug 31, 1992 by web:act in cdp:gen.newsletter **
- ZAGREB DIARY
-
- By Wam Kat
-
- August 14
- Something that worries me at this moment is the game Serbian
- authorities in northern Bosnia are playing with the United Nations
- High Commission for Refugees. I wonder if you can put the life of
- 20,000 people at stake for a principle.
-
- UNHCR received a list of 20,000 names of mostly Muslim people
- who want to leave the Serbian (mark the word Serbian, not Serbia)
- controlled region of Bosnia-Herzegovina for Croatia. The Serbian
- authorities said that these people are refugees and that their lives
- are endangered if they stay in that region. UNHCR refused to do this
- operation, since they see this as doing the ethnic cleansing for the
- Serbians.
-
- And of course this principle of not being co-responsible for ethnic
- cleaning is a good principle, but the situation in northern Bosnia is
- real, people are getting killed, houses looted and burned. And the
- reports from UNHCR monitors also stated that they found clear signs
- of violence against people on the basis of ethnic differences, so they
- know that they are playing a very high-stakes game. It is a difficult
- decision to take.
-
- August 15
- Another reality is the phrase books, or let's say the more or less
- touristic war guide-books which cities make for tourists. Today I
- found another from Nova Gradiska , which is published by the 121
- brigade of HV. The interesting part is the second part of this booklet,
- which contains around 30 pages of phrases. Under the header "some
- useful phrases", you will find:
-
- I am exile - Ja sam prognanik
- I am refugee - Ja sam izbjeglica
- My house has been demolished - Kuca mi je srusena
- My son is a prisoner of war - Moj sin je ratni zarobljenik
- He is dead - On je mrtav
- I am afraid - Bojim se
- Please, call the police - Molim Vas, zovite policiju
-
- I doubt if that last thing would be helpful. They probably
- will answer you, "It is war, what can we do?"
-
- Some of the volunteers from our Savudrija camp came back
- yesterday and went straight to Osijek in order to help the peace
- group there clean and build up their office.
-
- Very slowly my dream are getting realised, our Center is like
- an international mad house where journalists, hitch-hikers, peace
- groups, etc. run in and out. It took some time and we all are deadly
- tired but it starts to become hopeful for the near future. Around
- the globe a network of supporters grows and that gives dreams
- back to the people of ARK (Anti-War Campaign) and the Center.
-
- August 21
- Last night was the hardest nights in many months in Sarajevo,
- Bihac, Goradze and Slavonski Brod, the shelling was heavy and the
- damage was great. It reminds me on a quote of Lewis Mackenzie
- (Commander of UNPROFOR in Sarajevo) "God, protect us from all
- those peace treaties, every time when such thing are signed or
- going to be signed the war gets worse". Next week the peace
- conference starts in London -- maybe this is the reason the war
- has become heavier the last few days.
-
- Like in so many wars civilians get the hardest blows in this war.
- I am trying to think peace, but more often I have this feeling that
- if armies like to fight, let them fight, but let them fight on the north
- pole or whenever there are no civilians around.
-
-
-
- ** End of text from cdp:gen.newsletter **
-
-