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YUGOSLAVIA RESISTS!

Mass Action In Serbia * Pictures From June 29th Rally * And A Few Comments
[2 July 2001]

Pictures (finally!) from Friday, June 29th Demonstration in Belgrade. This included people from the Radical Party, the Socialist Party, Serbian Renewal, Serbian Unity as well as other parties plus tens of thousands of people who might have voted for the DOS authorities but are now furious that these leaders have kidnapped the former Yugoslav head of state, Slobodan Milosevic, and shipped him to the discredited Tribunal at The Hague.

This unity is a new feature, something special for Serbia.

Meanwhile, the kidnappers' coalition is in disarray; the Djindjic-Kostunica politicians are trading insults in the 'N.Y. Times.'

The DOS coalition has splintered. The Montenegrin Socialists (SNP) resigned from the Federal government, causing it to collapse. The Serbian and Montenegrin socialists (SPS and SNP) called for a special meeting of the Federal Parliament for today, to vote down the extradition decree. The president of Parliament cancelled the session giving some vague non-reason. The DOS leaders don't know what to do. Terrified of the anger of millions of people, afraid to let the Federal Parliament meet because the SPS, SNP and Radical Party can together constitute a majority and equally afraid that new elections would be a landslide defeat.

The police were put on the rebellious streets in force Thursday and Friday, and threats of mass arrests were made but the DOS leaders shrank back in the face of huge numbers of people spontaneously demonstrating. The regular police sympathized with the thousands in the streets. Only the special police, some of whom are drawn from organized crime, are "reliable."

In the face of these unorganized demonstrations all over Serbia and immense demonstrations in Belgrade Thursday (totally spontaneous) Friday (due to police roadblocks, people could only come from Belgrade itself yet the crowd was somewhere over 100,000 according to the SPS, the largest opposition party in Serbia. Meanwhile another rally which the SPS estimated at more than 20,000 took place in the city of Novi Sad) and Monday (SPS estimated around 200,000) DOS remains frozen, like a deer in the headlights. The forces of national independence have immense strength.

At Monday's rally, the largest yet, police refused to let organizers set up loud speakers, so the vast crowd marched to the Serbian Parliament.

A Note on the Size of the Belgrade Rallies

I attended and spoke at the March 24 rally in Belgrade's Republic Square. Over the years I have taken part in a dozen giant marches and rallies in the U.S., including the famous one where Dr. King made his "I Have a Dream" speech. The point is, I therefore have some idea about crowd size and also some idea of what it takes to fill Republik Square in Belgrade.

The SPS estimated the crowd at the March 24 rally in Belgrade to number about 50,000. That seemed right to me.

The German media said 5,000. In Britain I believe they said 2,000.

Now of course it is possible that the SPS, or I, might estimate high.

But what about the Western media? It routinely lies in the interest of attacking Milosevic and the Serbs.

Consider this example. I would wager you have read in some newspaper or heard on some TV or radio that in June 1989 Milosevich made a speech in Kosovo during which he whipped up Serbian ultra-nationalism.

The truth is, he did make a speech on June 28, but that speech called for ethnic unity.

(If you haven't read the speech, it is well worth the trouble.)

The Western media, anxious to give their readers and viewers the impression that most Yugoslavs are unconcerned by the extradition of Milosevic, have a reason to drastically downplay the numbers involved in these protests. Though the media could easily film panoramic views of the demonstrations they don't because such views would make it impossible to hide the huge numbers of people involved.

The pictures below show a limited part of the June 29th rally. It is clear the demonstration was immense.

Anyway, if the SPS is making all this up, if vast number of people are not in the streets, protesting the extradition, why has the DOS coalition fallen apart? Why are Djindjic and Kostunica at each other's throats? Why are we being treated to the spectacle of these two gentlemen calling each other liars?

--Jared Israel

URGENT APPEAL! 2 JULY

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