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[Emperor's Clothes]
Faces of
the Serbian Enemy
Photo Report with Interviews
by Jared Israel [1 May 2001]
Partial view of Socialist Party rally, 28 April, in Kraguyevatz, Serbia, near the Zastave automobile production complex.
At the rally, women from the 'People's Guards' danced with workers from the Zastave auto plants who have been on strike over two weeks. They are fighting the Belgrade regime's efforts to chop up the plant and sell the pieces to foreign interests. As extensive experience in Bulgaria, Rumania, Albania, Hungary and other countries has shown, once U.S. and European interests buy such a plant, paying pennies on the dollar, they strip it and shut it down. This is exactly what happened in Hungary when General Electric (US) bought the country's large light bulb factory. After GE shut down the plant, Hungarians had to buy imported light bulbs which made up in high price what they lacked in quality.
The 'People's Guards' is comprised mainly of women who were attacked on the 28th and 29th of March while volunteering as unarmed witnesses at Slobodan Miloshevich's home, to prevent the current Belgrade regime from doing harm to the former President of Yugoslavia.
Contrary to Western news reports, the attackers carried no arrest warrant. Indeed, many had no identification. Some were heard speaking English. All the initial attackers and many of the later ones wore women's stockings pulled down over their faces like extras in a horror movie. The 'People's Guards' are suing the Serbian government for injuries inflicted by those thugs, though to be sure, the order to attack the Miloshevich home issued from Washington, which had set a March 31st deadline for arresting the former President. As U.S. Balkans 'specialist' Richard Holbrooke boasted, "The arrest of Mr. Milosevic resulted from American pressure." ('NY Times', 8 April 2001)
Roma Man Chants "Free Miloshevich!"
I spoke to two friends who attended the rally. Gordana is an activist in a nationalist party. Aleksandar is an activist in the Socialist Party (SPS). I asked Gordana about Roma participation:
Jared: I'm making up a photo page and I can see there were a lot of Roma. Whenever I write Roma, I have to add, in quotes, "Gypsies", because people don't know what Roma means. And of course, the Roma quite properly don't want to be called 'Gypsies', which is a slur.
Gordana: The Roma are very good people. You know at these demonstrations I put some writing, like a sign, on my back, to express my thoughts. And today one Roma lady was reading the "newspaper" on my back and she began crying. I had written against Kostunica and about what is going on. Do you know that 126 terrorists, Albanian terrorists, have been set free from our jails? These are convicted murderers. And now 183 soldiers and officers from Yugoslav Army are being accused of doing bad things during the war. So they free the killers and jail the patriots.
Some of our soldiers have even been arrested. I will find out how many. These men are from the Third Army who defended Kosovo during the NATO aggression. They were really very good, very brave boys, all loyal to their country, fighting terrorists, but never civilians. This government we have is using psychological warfare against us, Jared, to break our hearts and make us ashamed, to make us feel dirty, like these Otpor pigs.
Jared: Could you say some more about the Roma people? On Emperor's Clothes an anti-Fascist scholar wrote that the best way to judge different groups in the Balkans is to see how they relate to the Roma.
Gordana: Yes, there were many Roma at the demonstration. The Roma are very loyal to the country. They have had the same fate, they have suffered throughout the history alongside Serbs.
During the war in Croatia, the Croatian government, the Ustashe [Note: in using the term 'Ustashe' Gordana refers to the Clerical Fascists who controlled Croatia during World War II and killed around a million Serbs, Roma and Jews. The Croatian secessionists of 1991 modelled their movement after the Ustashe] drove all Roma people out of Croatia and the Roma came to Serbia as refugees. The same thing happened in parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina controlled by the Ustashe: all the Roma came to Serbia. And when the UCK [Kosovo Liberation Army] started attacking in Kosovo and Metohiya, the Roma come to Serbia because they feel as part of Yugoslavia and they know that in Serbia they are going to be accepted.
Most of the Roma people in Kraguyevatz, they are working in Zastave factory. In the past they got free apartments from the government and they are incorporated in the society and their children are going to the school. For example, in our Army we have officers who are Roma. They have quite better position than in Hungary or in Croatia or Slovenia - or any European countries. These other governments don't want them and they treat them so badly. But I cannot imagine any big thing going on in this country without them. For example when I go to the seaside or when I go to beach here in Belgrade, the main thing is to be close to where they are, because where they are always something is going on. They are very full of life. I like that so much.
[Note: Yugoslavia is the only place in Europe where the Roma had decent homes, where they could be government officials and army officers, where racist abuse was a crime, and so on. And they do not suffer abuse only in Eastern Europe. One of the most abusive places is Italy.
The current (pro-U.S.) Yugoslav regime has not continued the polices of the past, regarding the Roma. The current regime's coalition includes Albanian and Hungarian secessionists who appeal to anti-Roma racism among their followers. ]
A Roma family at the outskirts of the rally
The men looking to the right are monitors watching for attacks by Otpor goons who are out of the field of view.
I spoke to Aleksandar, the SPS member. He was a monitor at the rally.
Jared: Did Otpor attack?
Aleksandar: Of course. They tried to provoke us, you know, so that the police could make an incident. But we were prepared for that situation; we were properly organized. And the rally was big - probably as big as the one last week in Novi Sad - I am not good at estimating these things, but thousands.
The media coverage was interesting. The national television, which is essentially a government monopoly, or if private, still it is almost entirely under their political control, said we had a few thousand - maybe they understated our numbers. But with Otpor, they said 1000 came to oppose us, which is not true because we counted under 100. Which means Otpor is having trouble now, mobilizing people for their dirty work.
And, as in Novi Sad last weekend, the Otpor members were reinforced with men who were obviously plain clothes policemen and they also had some little kids - 10 or12 years old - and women. Women too. They put these women in front of them because they know we wouldn't hurt them, and then they stood behind them and threw things at the women attending the rally.
Jared: Nothing like a little misogyny. That's -
Aleksandar: I know what it is. Hatred of women. By the way, the petition was read at the rally, and everyone was quite pleased with it.
Jared: That's great!
I asked Gordana about the Otpor attack.
Gordana: They threw eggs at us, at the women, and they shouted bad words too, saying that we are cheap women, bad words like that. They are really ugly pigs. And they have policemen - can you imagine? Guarding them, not protecting ordinary people. Can you imagine?
Jared: Yeah, I can imagine.
Gordana: They began this yelling and throwing things as soon as a young woman from Kosovo and Metohiya started to speak. Our boys went running to get between them and us.
The same thing happened last Saturday at our rally in Novi Sad. There the Otpor also started their attack when a woman spoke. You see, Jared, they want to intimidate the women. I am not talking about just women in any party, Socialist Party or nationalists, I am talking about ordinary women. Because the people in this government realize women are very sharp and very brave and that they know what is happening in this country. So they know we are dangerous to them, the most dangerous, because when women start to fight against a government it is very serious. Don't you see? When women go into politics it is because they worry what will go on with the future, with their children, that there is a danger to the future - that the nation is without future - that they can no longer offer a decent life to their children. Now the working women, they cannot afford even to buy milk and basic foods that the children need to grow up and be healthy.
All these people who are now in power are full of hate. They hate their own nation. They are always talking about layoffs, about taxes they are going to make on food and clothes and medical costs that are going up. And they know the women are a threat, so they try to frighten us.
So they use these people from Otpor. I don't know what to call them. They are not from normal families. They are not part of life. We Serbian people are very social and we have principles. But these Otpor, they hate their own people. And they will do anything for money. How could we have people like that?
Jared: Everybody has people like that. Richard Hugus was pointing out to me, these Otpor types are precisely the sort of people who provided Mussolini and Hitler with their shock troops. And you know, the U.S. government now admits it started funding Otpor back in August of 1999.
Aleksandar told about the rally:
Aleksandar: Mr. Ivkovic [a Socialist MP] began speaking after Otpor started their little incidents and he told everyone to relax and don't let these people draw us into a brawl. And he said to those members of Otpor that they are nothing more than voyeurs looking in at the honest people, honest workers - whether members of the Socialistic Party or just honest citizens of Serbia. Then he talked about this one member of the government, Chovich, the Vice President, he used to be in SPS but now he is with the American side, and he is in charge of fighting the Albanian terrorists, or rather, of not letting our soldiers fight them properly, in the south, and this Chovich had spoken in a very bad manner about the Serbian police and Serbian people who died in Kosovo - he actually said they were crooks and thieves. Meanwhile, Chovich never mentioned the secessionists who killed civilians with their terrorist attacks. Not a word.
Jared: He's the one who called the Yugoslav Army "dogs of war", right?
Aleksandar: Yes that's right. The speeches at the rally were very good. We sang at the rally too, you know.
Jared: I didn't know.
Aleksandar: Yes, we did. We sang a song about how America will never ever again elect our President.
Jared: Sounds good to me..
Aleksandar: Yes. It was a good rally.
Student Speaker, from Kraguyevatz University
Roma Man and Child - Applauding Together?
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Further Reading...
1) For more on the intensely destructive reality behind Western "economic medicine" as imposed on Slavic, African, Asian and Latin American countries, see "The IMF and the Yugoslav Elections" at http://emperor.vwh.net/analysis/1.htm Also, you might want to browse through the writings of Prof. Michel Chossudovsky, many of which can be read at http://emperor.vwh.net/artbyauth.html - just click on "C" and scroll down to "Chossudovsky." It's a feast of research and analysis.
2) On "The Roma and Racism in the Balkans" see http://www.emperors-clothes.com/analysis/burial.htm and http://emperor.vwh.net/articles/kneisel/RomaView.html
3) ON OTPOR: The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a U.S. government agency, was created to take over certain functions of the CIA. (For documentation of this fact see: "U.S. Arrogance and Yugoslav Elections" at http://emperor.vwh.net/engl.htm ).
According to its Spring 2001 newsletter, the NED funds Otpor. The newsletter reports on Otpor's "recent visit to Washington, D.C. organized by NED (which has provided support to Otpor since August 1999)."
Isn't it amazing that Washington's interference in the internal affairs of a foreign country is mention in parenthesis? Says the NED:
"Posters, leaflets and T-shirts with the slogans, "it’s time" and "he is finished" helped to galvanize public opinion against Slobodan Milosevic. Otpor’s enormous get-out-the-vote campaign made a critical difference in helping Vojislav Kostunica defeat Milosevic at the ballot box on September 24, 2000. Subsequently, Otpor’s activists played a crucial role in the street demonstrations that followed the elections and led to Milosevic’s ultimate downfall on October 5. "
Translation: the U.S. lavished money on unemployed kids who were perhaps not the most stable, supplying them with all manner of material assistance (t-shirts, posters, leaflets, and, as the 'NY Times' said, computers, paper, even "suitcases full of cash") for the express purpose of interfering in Yugoslav elections.
How much money did Washington spend on the Yugoslav Presidential election? The 'Washington Post' estimates $77 million, which is almost surely low. We will probably never know the real figure.
For one thing, money spent by the CIA is classified. For another, money spent by private sources that work with Washington, for example the Soros Foundation, may not be fully counted. Thirdly, money spent on training, management of Yugoslav personnel by outside agencies and money spent on anti-Milosevic TV broadcasts by CNN, the BBC and so on, broadcasts that reach millions of Yugoslavs - in other words, money spent on overthrowing the Yugoslav government but that did not go directly to Yugoslav individuals - surely this money is not being counted by the 'Washington Post.'
Nevertheless, let us accept the 'Washington Post's' probably-low figure of $77 million. What impact would $77 million have on Yugoslavia?
To get an idea, let us pretend that the target country was not Yugoslavia but the U.S. For this to make sense, the U.S. would have to be having terrible economic problems. There would have to be a total embargo (as was the case in Yugoslavia) so that outside goods had to be smuggled in. There would have to be very high unemployment, something like the level during the U.S. depression of the 1930s.
Now let us adjust for population. The population of Yugoslavia is about 10 million. The population of the U.S. is about 280 million. So let us multiply by 28. That gives us $2 billion, 156 million (US).
In addition we must adjust for buying power. A U.S. dollar buys much more in Yugoslavia than it does in the U.S. For example, rents are easily ten or fifteen times higher.
At the time of the Yugoslav Presidential elections, a relatively good wage in Yugoslavia was $150 a month (US), comparable to about $2000 a month in the U.S. So let us multiply by 13. That means $77 million spent in Yugoslavia would have an effect roughly comparable to $28 BILLION spent in an economically devastated USA.
Imagine if Russia or China cut off the U.S. economically for ten years and then pumped $28 billion into a U.S. Presidential election, justifying this "aid" on the grounds that it was intended to "effect democratic change" by "leveling the playing field" and thereby "help Kostunica win the election" against the ruling government. What would be the U.S. government's response? Wouldn't groups that accepted this money be arrested? Wouldn't such a gross attack on U.S. sovereignty lead to war?
But this is exactly what the U.S. government did do in Yugoslavia. Washington created up an army of "civil society" groups and "independent" (!) media in Yugoslavia. This army was paid, trained and coached by US operatives. Yet the U.S. press describes this Fifth Column apparatus as "independent."
Here's a point worth considering. It would have been perfectly reasonable, and legal, for the Yugoslav government to round up every last one of the U.S.-paid Fifth Columnists, close all their media, bust all their organizations. After all, they were being trained, equipped and bribed with vast sums by the same people who a few months earlier bombed Yugoslavia with bombs encased in uranium. But the Yugoslav government did not suppress these organizations. There were no mass arrests. Does this fit the image which we in the NATO countries have been sold, of a violent, dictatorial regime? We have been lied to.
For documentation concerning the above see "U.S. Arrogance and Yugoslav Elections" at http://emperor.vwh.net/engl.htm and "Kostunica Says Some Backers 'Work for American Imperial Goals'" at http://emperor.vwh.net/news/erlang.htm
The "Imperial Goals" article includes the 'NY Times' report that that "suitcases full of cash" were shipped into Serbia from Hungary and Montenegro and that the "independent" opposition was told "'not to worry about how much they're spending now,' that plenty more is in the pipeline..."
If you would like to read the NED newsletter that casually refers to U.S. funding of Otpor (as well as U.S. government interference in countries around the world!) go to http://www.ned.org/publications/democracy_newsletter/D-Spring_Final_01.pdf
For Jared Israel's Interview on Serbian TV, which deals with Washington's combined cultural assault on Yugoslavia and the creation of a Fifth Column through bribery, see http://emperor.vwh.net/articles/jared/tv.htm
4) For details on the attack on Milosevic's house, which attack resembled a cross between a weird gangster movie and a bad farce, see: "Possible Attack on Milosevic" at http://emperor.vwh.net/docs/mil2.htm and 'Civilian Defenders of Miloshevich Break Through Police Lines' at http://emperor.vwh.net/docs/civilian.htm
Free Slobo Petition Read at the Rally
This Petition is being ciruclated worldwide. To sign, send your name and country to freeslobo.@aol.com
URL for petition is http://emperor.vwh.net/petition/petition.htm
To add your name(s) to this petition, please click here or
write to freeslobo@aol.com
FREE PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC NOW! HANDS OFF YUGOSLAVIA!
We the undersigned demand that the Serbian authorities immediately release Slobodan Milosevic and all other Serbian patriots from jail.
The arrest of Mr. Milosevic is an attempt by NATO leaders to blame the Serbian people for crimes against Yugoslavia committed by NATO.
We demand that Mr. Milosevic immediately be given proper medical treatment, in the hospital of his choice, with doctors of his choice, for a heart condition that appeared only after he was jailed.
We demand that neither Slobodan Milosevic, nor any other Yugoslav, be sent to the Hague Tribunal.
We demand an end to the arbitrary kidnapping, arrest, harassment and persecution of Yugoslav leaders and soldiers and ordinary people whose crime was to set an example to the world by resisting NATO aggression.
Free Slobodan Milosevic at once!
End persecution of Mr. Milosevic and all Yugoslav patriots and soldiers at once!
Jail the real war criminals: the NATO leaders who committed crimes against humanity and against Yugoslav sovereignty and who continue to commit those crimes today.
Petition is being circulated by the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic, or ICDSM at icdsm@aol.com To sign petition, please click here or go to http://emperor.vwh.net/petition/sign.htm
SIGNED BY:
1. Professor Velko Vlkanov, Member of Parliament, President of the Bulgarian Antifascist Union, Chairman ICDSM
2. Professor Mihail N. Kuznecov, Russian Federation, Vice-Chairman ICDSM
3. Jared Israel, Editor, Emperor's Clothes, USA, Vice-Chairman ICDSM,
4. Harold Pinter, Playwright, England
5. George Szamuely, Journalist, USA
6. Sergey Kiyashko, Deputy of Parliament, Ukraine
7. Nikos Fotiadis, Vice-President, Peace Committee of Greece
8. A. M. Archipov, MP, Head of Parliamentary Legislative Commission, Belarus
And many others. Please add your name and by doing so oppose this attempted murder of Yugoslavia's former President, this latest attack on Yugoslav sovereignty. Send your name and country to freeslobo@aol.com
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