|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well i feel it's about time we go deeper into
the Problem which spawned the problems that caused more unsettlment in Yugoslavia
. - It's Nato.
Nick Vacic 01
|
|
|
The Forgotten Background of the Serb/Albanian Conflict
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In times of war, thereis always intense pressure for media outlets to serve
as propagandists ratherthan journalists. While the role of the journalist
is to present the worldin all its complexity, giving the public as much information
as possibleso as to facilitate a democratic debate, the propagandist simplifies
theworld in order to mobilize the populace behind a common goal.
One of propaganda's most basic simplifications is to divide participantsin
a conflict into neat categories of victim and villain, with no qualification
allowed for either role.
In the real world, of course, responsibility cannot always be assigned so
neatly.
Both sides often have legitimate grievances and plausible claims, and too
often genuine atrocities are used to justify a new round of abuses against
the other side.
In presenting the background to the Kosovo conflict, U.S. news outlets have
focused overwhelmingly on the very real crimes committed by Yugoslavian and
Serbian forces against ethnic Albanians. In the process, they have downplayed
or ignored the ways that Albanian nationalists have contributed to ethnic
tensions in the region.
These one-sided accounts have reduced a complex dynamic that calls for careful
mediation to a cartoon battle of good vs. evil, with bombing the bad guys
as the obvious solution.
In order to eliminate any moral ambiguity from the NATO intervention, media
attempts to provide "context" to Kosovo generally start the modern history
of the conflict in 1987, when Slobodan Milosevic began using Serb/Albanian
tensions for his own political ends. A New York Times backgrounder (4/4/99)
by Michael Kaufman basically skips from World War II until "1987, when Slobodan
Milosevic, now the Yugoslav president, first began exploiting and inflaming
the historical rivalries of Albanians and Serbs." In Kaufman's account, "the
conflict was relatively dormant until Mr. Milosevic stirred up hostilities
in 1989 by revoking the autonomous status that Kosovo had enjoyed in Serbia."
The revocation of autonomy was a crucial decision, one which greatly destabilized
the multi-ethnic Yugoslavian system and contributed to the country's breakup.
The loss of autonomy was a grievance that helped pave the way for the rise
of an armed separatist movement, in the form of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
But the decision to end Kosovo's autonomous status did not come out of nowhere,
or out of a simple Serbian desire to oppress Albanians. To get a more complicated
picture of the situation in Kosovo in the '80s, Kaufman would only have had
to look up his own paper's coverage from the era.
Origins of "ethnic cleansing"?
New York Times correspondent David Binder filed a report in 1982 (11/28/92):
"In violence growing out of the Pristina University riots of March 1981,a
score of people have been killed and hundreds injured. There have beenalmost
weekly incidents of rape, arson, pillage and industrial sabotage,most seemingly
designed to drive Kosovo's remaining indigenous Slavs--Serbsand Montenegrins--out
of the province."
Describing an attempt to set fire to a 12-year-old Serbian boy, Binder reported
(11/9/82): "Such incidents have prompted many of Kosovo's Slavic inhabitants
to flee the province, thereby helping to fulfill a nationalist demand for
an ethnically 'pure' Albanian Kosovo. The latest Belgrade estimate is that
20,000 Serbs and Montenegrins have left Kosovo for good since the 1981 riots."
"Ethnically pure," of course, is another way to translate the phrase "ethnically
clean"--as in "ethnic cleansing." The first use of this concept to appear
in Nexis was in relation to the Albanian nationalists' program for Kosovo:
"The nationalists have a two-point platform," the Times' Marvine Howe quotes
a Communist (and ethnically Albanian) official in Kosovo (7/12/82), "first
to establish what they call an ethnically clean Albanian republic and then
the merger with Albania to form a greater Albania." All of the half-dozen
references in Nexis to "ethnically clean" or "ethnic cleansing" over thenext
seven years attribute the phrase to Albanian nationalists.
The New York Times returned to the Kosovo issue in 1986, when the paper's
Henry Kamm (4/28/86) reported that Slavic Yugoslavians "blame ethnic Albanians…for
continuing assaults, rape and vandalism. They believe their aim is to drive
non-Albanians out of the province." He reported suspicions by Slavs thatthe
autonomous Communist authorities in Kosovo were covering up anti-Slaviccrimes,
including arson at a nunnery and the brutal mutilation of a Serbianfarmer.
Kamm quoted a prescient "Western diplomat" who described Kosovo as"Yugoslavia's
single greatest problem."
By 1987, the Times was portraying a dire situation in Kosovo. David Binder
reported (11/1/87):
Ethnic Albanians in the Government have manipulated public funds and regulations
to take over land belonging to Serbs…. Slavic Orthodox churches have
beenattacked, and flags have been torn down. Wells have been poisoned and
cropsburned. Slavic boys have been knifed, and some young ethnic Albanians
havebeen told by their elders to rape Serbian girls….
As Slavs flee the protracted violence, Kosovo is becoming what ethnic Albanian
nationalists have been demanding for years, and especially strongly since
the bloody rioting by ethnic Albanians in Pristina in 1981--an ''ethnically
pure'' Albanian region, a ''Republic of Kosovo" in all but name.
This is the situation--at least as perceived by Serbs--that led to Milosevic's
infamous 1987 speech promising protection of Serbs, and later resulted in
the revocation of Kosovo's autonomy. Despite being easily available on Nexis,
virtually none of this material has found its way into contemporary coverage
of Kosovo, in the New York Times or anywhere else.
Consistent skepticism
It may be, of course, that some of the charges levied against Albanian nationalists
during the '80s were exaggerated or even fabricated by politically motivated
Serbs. Those who are tempted to dismiss these accounts based on this possibility,
however, should be careful to apply the same critical standards to mediacoverage
of anti-Albanian atrocities in the '90s. The current coverage ofSerbian crimes,
if anything, should be viewed with even greater skepticism,since Yugoslavia
has now become an official enemy of the U.S., and establishmentreportinggenerally
shows a strong bias against such countries. (See ManufacturingConsent,Herman
and Chomsky.)
And if one suggests that the New York Times had a peculiar anti-Albanianbias
in the '80s, one still has to explain why similar reports of proto-ethnic
cleansing appeared in the Washington Post (11/29/86) and the Financial Times
(7/20/82, 7/22/86).
It would not be responsible journalism, of course, to imply that crimes against
ethnic Slavs justify assaults of even greater magnitude against ethnic Albanians.
The challenge of reporting on a cycle of violence is to make sure that the
wounds nursed by each side are not presented as if they vindicate further
violence. The Times' Binder makes an attempt at this in his November 1, 1987
piece:
Many Yugoslavs blame the troubles on the ethnic Albanians, but the matter
is more complex in a country with as many nationalities and religions asYugoslavia's
and involves economic development, law, politics, families andflags. As recently
as 20 years ago, the Slavic majority treated ethnic Albaniansas inferiors
to be employed as hewers of wood and carriers of heating coal.The ethnicAlbanians,
who now number 2 million, were officially deemed aminority, nota constituent
nationality, as they are today.
Of course, it's not always the case that both sides are equally or even partially
at fault in an ethnic conflict: The Holocaust was not a response to historic
crimes committed by German Jews against German Christians, and the people
of East Timor did not provoke an Indonesian invasion by anti-Javanese pogroms.
The question of historical responsibility is one that must be answered through
careful research and reporting. Overwhelmingly, the U.S. media have failed
to do that research, instead relying on a simplified, truncated officialhistory
that serves NATO's propaganda purposes more than it serves the citizenry's
need for a complete and accurate context.
|
CHRONOLOGY OF AGGRESSION
24 March: Bombardment
of Yugoslavia begins.
26 March: Fuel storage
facilities in Lipovica destroyed, causing an extensivefire in the Lipovica
forest. Electrical Power Supply in Batajnica damaged.
29 March: NATO bombs
two refugee centres in Nis, managed by CARE Australiaon behalf of the UNHigh
Commissioner for Refugees. 9 refugees are killed.NATO subsequently apologises
to CARE Australia.
30 March: Slobodafactory
in Cacak, a large manufacturer of household appliances,hit after03:00 when
7 cruise missiles are fired at it.
31 March: At 01:30,
Belgrade suburbs were attacked; targets around Pristina.
1 April: The Varadin
Bridge over the Danube was destroyed. The bridge overthe Danube along the
Beograd-Novi Sad road, near Beska, Indjija municipality,was damaged.
2 April: 02:13 targeting
of area around Klina.
3 April: Severe damage
to the facilities of the Republican and Federal Ministryof the Interior in
Belgrade. Damage to the building of the Institute forSecurityof the Ministry
of the Interior in Banjica.
4 April: The “Sloboda”
(Freedom) Bridge, over the Danube nearNovi Sad, onthe main civilian interstate
highway on the Belgrade - Novi Sad- Budapestroute, was destroyed. The “Mladosti”
(Youth) Bridgeover the Danube, connectingBacka Palanka with Ilok, and 30miles
west ofNoviSad near the border withCroatia, was damaged. “Beopetrol”storages
in Belgrade and Bogutovac damaged.Fuel storage of the boiler plantin Novi
Beograd hit. The “Zezeljev” railroadbridge in Novi Sadwas damaged.
Oil refineries in Belgrade attacked, as wellas the Slatina airfieldnear Pristina.
5 April: The new railway
bridge over the Danube connecting Bogojevo and Erdutwas damaged. The road
bridge over the Danube, connecting Bogojevo with Erdutwas damaged. The bridge
over the Vrbaska river near Jezgrovac was destroyed.The “Lozno”
railway bridge near Usce was destroyed. The roadbridgeon theroad leadingto
Brvenik, near Usce, was destroyed. The bridgealongtheNis-Pristinaprimaryroad,
near Kursumlija, suffered extensive damage.Thebridge nearZubin Potokwas destroyed.
Thermo electric power station/boilerplant inNovi Sad hit.Oil Refinery inNovi
Sad, with storage of bitumen hit.Fuelstorage “Naftagaspromet”
which is located 10 km from Sombor,damaged. Damageto watersupply system in
Zemun. Belgrade’s main airportattacked.
6 April: Block offlats
hit by NATO missiles in Aleksinac, near Nis, at 00:30.6 reported deadimmediately;
later reports of 24 killed and at least 30 wounded.NATO acknowledgesthatits
weapons caused this damage.
7 April: “Jugopetrol”
storage in Sombor damaged. Central Pristinais extensivelybombed:two bombs
landed in a residential area, 200-300 metresaway from thetelephone exchange,
killing more than 10 people; the post office,telephoneexchange and a refugee
centre are destroyed, and a “Beopetrol”fuel storagefacility is
damaged. NATO acknowledges that its bombs hit theresidentialzone on 9 April.
Garages and a warehouse at an oil refinery inNovi Sad aredestroyed.
8 April: Former army
building in the centre of Belgrade is bombed at 00:30.Kraljevo, Ladjevci,
and a fuel depot in Vitanovci are attacked. Bombing at04:10 of “Tornik”,
a ski resort on Mount Zlatibor, south of Belgrade:atrainingfacility of the
Medical Institute, “Cigota”, incorporatinga children’srecreationcentre
and an outpatients clinic, is hit anddestroyed; site visitedshortlyafterwards
by Judge Momcilo Krivokapic andDeputy Attorney-GeneralStevanZrnic, who observe
3 fatalities:Nedjo SretenaUrosevic, a guard, b.1968;RadojeSlavka Marjanavic,
also a guard, b.1965;and Milenko Radojice Savic,a villager,b.1974. Town of
Chubria is bombed:onewoman killed, five injuredand 400 residentialhomes either
flattened or badlydamaged (witnessed byAlice Mahon, a UK Memberof Parliament).
In the towncentre, a school ofnursing, a department storeand the sports hall
-- 500m from where the sevenbombs fell -- were badlydamaged. NATO threaten
tobombYugoslavian TV andRadio stations unless theyagree to allow for 6 hoursofbroadcasts
to bedetermined by NATO.
9 April: Oil refinery
in Smederevo hit. RTS transmitter on Mount Goles, nearPristina, is destroyed.
10 April: Damage to
a power station in Bogutovac. Telephone lines cut offin Bogutovac. Bombing
of Pristina and its airport, Nis, and Kraljevo.
11 April: “Divcibare”
mountain resort damaged. A Novi Sad residentialarea is hit.
12 April: Train bombing
at the Leskovac bridge over the Grdelica gorge:atleast 10 killed, 16 injured.
The five carriage train was crossing a railwaybridge; first hit in the rear
as it crossed the bridge spanning the YuzhnaMorava river. Train was travelling
from Belgrade to Ristovac (on the Macedonianborder). Jugopetrol warehouse
in Pristina hit. “Baciste” Hotelon Mount Kopaonikdamaged. Damage
to a power station in Pristina. Bombingoftown of Krusevac:citypower plant
and the major October 14 plant, whichproducedbulldozers, excavatorsand other
heavy machinery, is destroyed. Oilrefineriesnorth of Belgradeand in Pancevo
struck. 3 killed at 21:00 afteran attackona civilian caron the road fromPristina
to Kosovo Polje.
13 April: The road
bridge over the Kosanica river near Kursumlija was damaged.The old bridge
on the river Rasina in the town of Krusevac damaged. The Krusevac-Pojatebridge
on the river Zapadna Morava, at the village of Jasika, was destroyed.“Jugopetrol”
installations in Smederevo damaged. Jugopetrol petrolstationin Pristina hit.
Meteorological Station on Mount Kopaonik damaged.Damageto Bistrica hydroelectric
power station in Polinje.
14 April: Refugeeconvoy
hit, killing an estimated 74 individuals in fourseparate locationsalong a
12 mile stretch of the road which runs from Prizrento Djakovica;after initial
denials, NATO confirms that it mistook the refugeecolumn fora tank formation.
The road bridge on the river Toplica, on theNis-Pristinaroad near the town
of Kursumlija, was heavily damaged.
15 April: The railway bridge on the river Lim, between Priboj and Prijepolje,
near hydroelectric power station Bistrica was destroyed. The bridge on the
river Ibar, at the village of Biljanovac near Raska, sustained heavy damages.
Petrochemical industry, DP HIP PETROHEMIJA, in Pancevo totally demolished.
Fertilizer plant, DP HIP AZOTARA, in Pancevo also totally destroyed. Reports
of attack at 13:20 on a refugee centre in Paracin.
16 April: The bridge between Smederevo and Kovin has been destroyed. OilRefinery
in Pancevo totally demolished after numerous strikes.
17 April: Novi Sad attacked again at 23:00.
18 April: The railway bridge on the river Kostajnica, near Kursumlija, has
sustained heavy damages and is out of service. The bridge on the river Kosanica,
at the village of Selo Visoko, has sustained heavy damages and is out ofservice.
Extensive attacks on Pristina including the nearby Slatina airport.
19 April: Subotica, NW Serbia, attacked at 00:35. Novi Sad city hall hiton
at 01:30. The road bridge on the river Toplica, on the Nis-Pristina roadnear
the town of Kursumlija, was again heavily damaged. Chemical plant “Prva
Iskra” in Baric hit - destruction of the production line. At 08:55,
the communicationstransmitter near Pristina was hit.
20 April: Belacevac mines west of Pristina are hit at 18:00. Pristina government
building reported hit, and Novi Sad oil refinery struck, at 21:00.
21 April: 23-storey “Usce business centre” in Belgrade is targeted
and hitat 03:30. The 10th & 11th floors host the headquarters of theSocialistParty
of Serbia. A TV station, “Pink TV”, was basedon the 18th floor.
Thebuilding also includes Metadata, a software company;BK Telecom, a privateTV
Station; Channel SOS, a sport TV station; ImperialChemical Industries(ICI)
International central offices; and approximately20 other private companies,mostly
import-export firms. Djukovica refugeecamp is hit, with reports of16 individuals
killed.
22 April: Krusik factory in Valjevo attacked at 02:00. One of President Milosevic’s
residences bombed at 03:00. Afternoon attacks on Pristina and Novi Sad.
23 April: 02:06 bombing of Radio Televizija Srbija (RTS) Studio, in central
Belgrade, causing at least 10 deaths. About 100 journalists and technicians
were working when the explosion occurred. Two missiles land near Pristina.
Zezelj’s bridge in Novi Sad attacked again. Sabac, Svemska Mitrovitca,
andSmederevo hit.
24 April: “Milan Blagojevic”, the largest factory in Lucani with
3000 workers,is extensively damaged. Reports of five boys being killed in
Doganovic, 10miles south of Urosevac, when they pick up an unexploded NATO
cluster bomb.
25 April: 02:00 extensive attack on the industrial area in Nis. 05:00 strike
at an oil refinery in Novi Sad, and an oil refinery near Pristina. At 15:00
the town of Velika Dobranja was attacked. Slatina airport attacked againat
23:55.
26 April: The final bridge in Novi Sad over the Danube destroyed at 01:15
in an attack lasting 30 minutes. Sombor in NW Serbia, Novi Sad, Nis, Kragujevac,
Slatina airport and the Valjevo fuel depot attacked. Grmija picnic grounds
north east of Pristina bombed at 01:20.
27 April: Heavy bombardment of Belgrade, with renewed attack at 01:15 onthe
Usce business centre hit on 21 April, destroying the transmitter on thebuilding’s
top. At 04:00, the Lipljan region south of Pristina was attacked;Slatinaairport
near Pristina also attacked. At 05:45, three cluster bombsland nearthe agricultural
school on the outskirts of Pristina; Decani andPec alsoattacked. 16 missiles
fired at town of Surdulica (a small southernSerbiantown near the Bulgarian
border) at midday, with two missiles hittinga civilianresidential area, killing
20 people including at least 9 children.NATO acknowledgesits own mistake.
At 04:00, Mount Goles, near Lipljana insouth Kosovo, wasattacked. Severedamage
to the “25 Maj” bridge connectingSremand Ilok.
28 April: Attack at 00:15 on the fuel dump of the state oil company (Jugopetrol)
near the town of Pozega. 12 noon attacks on Kosovska Mitrovica; Pristina,
Mount Mokra; and coal mines in Stari Trg. 00:30 bombardment of the oil refinery
in Novi Sad, again.
30 April: Intense bombardment of Belgrade, with strikes on three airfields,
radio relay stations and the Avala television and radio transmitter, on top
of Avala mountain on the outskirts of Belgrade. One missile hit a residential
zone.
1 May: “Nis express” passenger bus was hit on a bridge at 13:00,
near thevillage of Luzane, 12 miles north of Pristina. Between 34 and 47people
killedwhen the bus is cut in half by the missile, and then plungedoff the
bridge.
3 May: 5 major electricity transformer substations are bombed by NATO overnight,
leaving 70% of the population - at a NATO spokesperson’s estimate -
withoutelectricity until the stations were mended, the following day. A NATO
missilehit another bus in Kosova, this time in Western Kosova, near the town
ofPec, killing 17 people. Fuel depots at Pristina and near Obrenovac arehit.The
RTS television building and the oil refinery in Novi Sad are hitagain.
7 May: Extensive bombardment of Nis, both in the early morning and againduring
the daytime. Cluster bombs dropped in the market square kill 15 people.The
main hospital is hit. The bridge leading to Romania is hit and destroyed.
8 May: Further bombardment of Belgrade, again shutting down the major electricity
transformer substations serving the city. The Chinese embassy, set in a park
with no other buildings within 200 metres, is hit by two missiles. 3 Chinese
citizens are killed, and 15 are injured. A residential zone in Belgrade is
also bombed.
14 May: A refugee camp on the Pristina-Prizren highway, near the villageof
Korisa, is bombed with 15 missiles. At least 81 corpses are identified,but
estimates are that approximately 100 individuals were killed.
20 May: The Dragisa Misovic hospital in the Dedinje suburb of Belgrade is
bombed. 3 people in the cardiovascular section of the hospital are killed;
two women in the process of giving birth and one new born baby are also injured.
Damage is also caused to the residence of the Swiss and Swedish ambassadors.
21 May: Prison bombed in Istok, Kosova, killing 15 people. NATO continueto
claim that this was a legitimate military target.
22 May: Electricity transformer substations again hit, cutting off electricity
to Belgrade and various other areas of Yugoslavia.
30 May: A bridge in Varvarin, 160km south of Belgrade, hit at 13:00, killing
11 people and injuring 40 people. At midnight, NATO airstrikes hit a sanitorium
in Surdulica, south-eastern Serbia, killing at least 20 people and seriously
wounding 40 others. A journalists' convoy in Kosova is also hit, killinga
translator and injuring 3 international journalists.
7 June: Large scale attacks on Belgrade, with 2 missiles hitting civilian
homes, but, by chance, failing to explode.
10 June: Bombing is suspended with agreements between the parties reached
and the adoption by the U.N. Security Council of Resolution 1244.
|
|
|
|
Uprising over Former
