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Connie Fogal wrote: > > Dear Friends > I am sending this message (received from Milica Dedijer) because I thought > you should know about people in Serbia who have been working for peace, are > continuing to work for peace -- but are being disrupted and marginalized by > the U.S. and NATO bombing. > Georgia > One of the more disheartening features of the events in Kosovo, in addition to the death and destruction, is the simplistic terms in which this complex issue is being discussed here in North America by both sides. I, for one, feel a great deal of anguish. If an international force is able to intervene to stop the Milosovic sponsored genocide I would support such an intervention 100%. If the European powers who are attempting to create a European union are developing a sense of international law and international morality which they have historically lacked then it is not useful to argue against setting new and higher precedents by saying they ought not to intervene now because they did not intervene in earlier genocides. At the same time, a force led by the United States, a country long famous for its genocidal activity and which has currently refused to ratify the convention against torture and genocide is no more trustworthy than putting Manitoba (a state which deported 15,000 Native infants in pursuit of its state policy) in charge of Native child welfare. The only thing good to be said about the U.S. record on these issues is that the NATO intervention is being opposed primarily by Russia and China. I do take notice of the conference last week at which Sen. Roche, Prof. Bliss and others opposed the NATO intervention. I scan the Senate Debates almost every day. I do not recall Sen. Roche opposing the ethnic cleansing of Milosovic. To my mind, this makes him as suspect as those supposed Liberals who opposed intervening in German expansionism, or even providing refuge to Jews in the late 1930s. Only those who can see that neither side in this conflict is entirely trustworthy and that both sides are largely blameworthy, and that the U.S. while not being a reputable police person to the world at least compares favourably with the post-Stalinist state of Yeltsin or the post-Maoist state of China, can recognize the possibility of anguish. The dishonesty of the NATO political leadership in arguing that the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo can be stopped without ground troops -- an argument advanced by Air Marshalls since WWI but never yet demonstrated -- needs to be examined. Also suspect is the idea of welcoming the refugees to Canada on a permanent basis as suggested by the Minister of Immigration if it is also planned to "liberate" their land and return it to them. We should however take note that there was a debate in the House of Commons and that no opposition party seriously challenged Canada's participation in the NATO intervention. For parliamentary debate raising such questions see the Debates of the Senate. But do not limit yourself to Sen. Roche. See also the Conservative leaders, Sen. Lynch-Staunton and Sen. Kinsella in daily statements and question period. If those with scholarly and egalitarian pretensions in Canada can not return to a serious level of inquiry, and if we can not consider that there is a complex of long festering problems in which some intervention by a reliable and trustworthy body might be appropriate, then the prospects of learning much from these events is particularly dim. Michael Posluns. Michael Posluns. > Subject: Fw: The Greens from Belgrade > http://beograd.rockbridge.net/greens_from_belgrade.htm > Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999 08:05:52 -0500 > > Beograd 31.03.1999. > > Dear friends, > > This is the first time that I am not addressing you just as a member of > INES, but also as an anti-nuclear movements activist and a signatory of all > the significant appeals of these movements, as a co-establisher of the > Greens > branch of the in Nurnberg, as a president of the Cancel of New Green > Party in > Belgrade and the honorary president of the Ecological Party from Tirana, > as a > member of The Movement for Peace of the Muslims and Serbs, the > participant of > the "German-Serbian-Muslim-Croat Dialogue in Munich", the co-organizer of > the > first Caravan of Peace of the Greens in Kosovo and in the end, as a > mother of > a child born in a mixed marriage. I am doing this only because I want to > point out the depth of my wish and need for co-operation, agreement among > peoples of different nations and faiths and the mutual planning of their > future. > > There is no time to begin this appeal with a discussion on the causes and > mechanisms of the outbreak of this crisis, about the unknowing diplomatic > interventions, about the lack of will for peace both in my country and your > countries, which brought about the destruction of a significant multi-ethnic > country in Europe, the former Yugoslavia. I will only shortly note that the > clash in Kosovo and Metohija is just a phase of this dishonouring work, in > which no one wishes to begin responsible talks; only that would show > transparency in the mechanism of the clashes aggravation and make the > conditions for its de-aggravation and responsible dialogue. > > I directly urge you to do everything to stop the NATO intervention against > the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, because it will not bring peace and > because now it has already brought about the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo - > not > only aimed at Albanians, but at Serbs as well. At the end of all > aggressions, > there is peace. I am afraid that NATO diplomacy is making prerequisite for > long-lasting hatred and lack of confidence which will disable all future > discussion between the Serbs, Albanians and other national communities about > the political solutions in the limits of existing European documents. > > I wish to point out a special side-effect of the bombing of which little > has > been said: the actions of NATO Pact are so wide, that in the first phase > they > can already be characterised as absolute war which means the destruction > preconceptions - cultural, spiritual and natural lives of millions of people > of all our country. > > The toxic nature of the 19 200 tons of explosives (equal to the amount used > in the Nagasaki bombing) used is well known to you - we warn you that Serbia > is one of the greatest sources of underground waters in Europe and that the > contamination will be felt in the whole surrounding area all the way to the > Black Sea. NATO Pact is bombing factories, the workers in the greater > part of > our great industrial complexes have decided to make a "living wall" around > their working places, they are not doing this because they are only > defending > their country, but also because they have become so impoverished by the > years > of sanctions, that the destruction of factories would mean the condemnation > to the unequalled poverty equal to execution. Such poverty will soon cause > the long lasting crisis in this area, and will become the center of > potential > terrorism. > > NATO chooses the targets in the vicinity of the extremely dangerous > machineries. On the very first day, the municipality of Grocka has been > hit - > on the territory of which the nuclear reactor Vinca is situated, > containing a > great storage of nuclear waste; the municipality of Pancevo has been hit, on > which the petrol-chemical factory and the factory for the artificial > fertilizers are situated; the municipality of Baric has also been > hit with the great complex for the production of chloride, which is using > Bopal technology. It is not necessary for me to explain what the blowing up > of one of such factories would represent. Not only Belgrade which is > situated > at a 10 km distance, would be endangered, but the rest of Europe too. On the > second day, in the Belgrade suburb of Sremcica a factory for the chemical > production and a rocket fuel storage was hit causing a milder > intoxication of the surrounding area. > > I am pointing out that four national parks were hit - all members of the > International association of the national reservations - you have to realise > that FR Yugoslavia is among 13 of the world's richest bio-diversity > countries. On the third day, the Avala area was aimed at, where the > psychiatric division of the neuro-psychiatric clinic of Belgrade is > situated. > The Yugoslav Cinematheque was also put in danger - one of the > richest film archives in the world, listed among the world cultural > heritage > The village of Gracanica was also shelled: there is situated one of the > most important monasteries of the medieval orthodox culture and the > candidate > for the UNESCO heritage list. Numerous civil targets in other cities were > hit > - schools, hospitals, the sites considered as the cultural monuments. > > Especially worrying are the latest news saying that, in the next > phases of their bombing, NATO will use the airplanes B1 and A10 which are > carrying missiles with depleted uranium previously used in Iraq and Bosnia > Herzegovina. The use of these will bring about the vast dangerous > consequences to the health not only of the soldiers, but also of the whole > population, and you know that the toxins and the radioactivity know no > nationality or borders. > > Of course it is not necessary for me to point out the shocks that children > and old people unable to hide in shelters are experiencing, the worsening of > the situation in the hospitals. If the aim of this intervention was the > prevention of the humanitarian catastrophe, its result will be a far greater > humanitarian catastrophe with far more severe consequences to the > generations > of people living in this country. > > I am deeply convinced that I am speaking in the name of all the citizens of > Yugoslavia when I say that we have the capabilities and the political > will to > find a solution for the Kosovo and Metohija problem, if we are allowed to > seek this solution together with the Albanians, and if we take into > consideration the fact that all of us have the right to participate in this > solution. All one-sidedness and media manipulation are a part of > the mechanism bringing suffering, destruction and death. > > Infinite Peace and Love, > > paul > > After the year 2000 we will not ask ourselves why we missed investing our > savings in some Y2K compliant stock. In the spirit of Oscar Schindler, we > will reflect and wonder why we failed to help more people and more > communities.-- Anonymous > > paul kawika martin Phone: 202.548.0535 Email: paulm@igc.org > Board Chair, EarthCulture, Participant, The President's Council on Year > 2000 Conversion (Nonprofit and Civic Preparedness Sector) and Coalition > 2000 and Special Advisor on Y2K for the DC Green Party > 320 Independence Ave, SE > Washington, DC 20003-1044 > Coalition 2000 Page: http://www.coalition2000.org > > EarthCulture Page: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/3294 > Hatred is never ended by hatred but by love--Buddha -- Michael W. Posluns, The StillWaters Group, First Nations Relations & Public Policy. Please note new address: mposluns@accglobal.net Phone 416 656-8613 Fax 416 656-2715 36 Lauder Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M6H 3E3. We offer Canadian parliamentary debates by topics and bills.
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