BY BOBBIS MISAILIDES AND NATASHA TERLEXIS
ATHENS, Greece - Thousands of working people, youth,
soldiers, and others have hit the streets in cities and towns
throughout Serbia. They are taking advantage of the first
openings since the U.S./NATO bombardment of Yugoslavia began
March 24 to express their outrage against the Belgrade regime
and its policies. Meanwhile, the U.S.-led NATO forces are
consolidating their occupation of Kosova, reinforcing and
exacerbating the national chauvinism promoted by the regime
of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
The protesters' main demand is the resignation of Milosevic, explained Dusan, a leader of the Student Union of Yugoslavia, in a phone interview from Novi Sad. Other demands include the creation of a provisional government, new elections, and democratic rights.
"The demonstrations are positive," said Dusan, who asked that his last name not be used. "It's the only way to get rid of Milosevic, who is to blame for the war." Dusan and other leaders of the Students Union of Yugoslavia helped lead sustained protests against the Belgrade regime in 1996-97. Last year the group organized canvassing throughout Serbia against the suppression of national rights of Albanians in Kosova.
Dusan said the largest demonstration in Novi Sad so far took place July 2. That protest action of 10,000-15,000 people was called by Zoran Djindjic's Alliance for Change and a coalition of opposition parties, which include the Union of Social Democrats of Vojvodina and the Democratic Reform Alliance. The Party of the Democratic Community of Hungarians of Vojvodina also supported the demonstration. The Alliance for Change also held rallies July 13 in Zrenjanin and Svetozarevo.
Novi Sad is Serbia's third-largest city and the capital of the Vojvodina region, home to a large minority of ethnic Hungarians. The city councils in Novi Sad, Nis, and Sombor have passed resolutions calling for Milosevic's ouster.
Reject nationalism of gov't opposition
"The demonstrations are a good thing," said Dragan Duric,
officer of international relations of the Confederation of
Independent Trade Unions of Montenegro. But "the opposition
parties participating in them present the wrong reason for
getting rid of Milosevic. They are nationalist and say he
should go because he lost the war." The reason Milosevic
should resign, said Duric, "is that his policy led to war. He
is responsible for 10 years of war."
Hundreds of demobilized reservists have been at the forefront of daily demonstrations in the southern towns of Vranje and Krusevac, demanding back pay. On July 13 the reservists, who were activated for duty during the NATO bombing, moved to block the road to Skopje. Many reservists and Serb refugees from Kosova are settled in southern Serbia, an area where Milosevic has enjoyed significant electoral support in the past.
Some 7,000 demonstrators in Valjevo attempted to force their way into City Hall July 12. The previous week a protest that was not organized by any political party drew some 20,000 people, including many reservists, who poured into the streets of Leskovac. They chanted, "Thieves, thieves!" and "Changes, changes!" It was one of the biggest demonstrations to date.
Rallies involving thousands of people have continued there every day since, said Duci Petrovic, a leader of the Students Union of Yugoslavia in Nis, in a July 14 phone interview. They are led by the local Center for Human Rights.
"The demonstration was sparked by the arrest and sentencing to 30 days in jail of a basketball player who made a statement on TV during a game that Milosevic should resign," explained Petrovic. "One of the demands there is to free him."
An alliance of 52 groups has launched a campaign to collect signatures calling for Milosevic's resignation. According to Milan Nikolic, vice president of Nezavisnost, a 300,000 member union federation free from government control, about 32,000 signatures had been collected July 5-12 in 18 towns in Serbia.
On July 12 campaigners began collecting signatures in 20 Belgrade areas. When cops threatened the activists with arrests the effort was suspended. The next day 15,000 signatures were collected without police interference.
Vuk Draskovic, head of the chauvinist Serbian Renewal Movement, who has served in the past as deputy prime minister in the Milosevic government and controls the Belgrade city council, has also called on Milosevic to resign. He announced his own campaign separate from the Alliance for Change and held his first rally in Kragujevac July 18.
Devastation from U.S.-NATO bombing
Working people throughout Yugoslavia are now faced with
the disastrous results of the imperialist bombing campaign.
While electricity and water services are mostly restored, the
massive destruction of the country's infrastructure has left
millions of workers without income or the prospect of one.
"We have not seen any money since April, and are surviving with what an uncle is able to send from abroad," said Christina Ranic, a member of Nezavisnost who worked at the sprawling Zastava auto plant in Kragujevac. "Recently we were given some sacks of flour from the government, but that is all." She reports that only a few workers from the plant have been called in for cleanup.
Meanwhile, Washington has made it clear that no "aid" will go to Yugoslavia while Milosevic is in power, cynically dangling the possibility of reconstruction funds. Clinton administration officials, aiming to influence future political developments, have stated they may only release some funds to cities where mayors are part of the opposition forces.
"Clinton said he will not give a penny until Milosevic goes," said Dusan. "But our experience as well as Iraq show that sanctions only hurt working people. They don't help the fight for democratic rights, since working people's energy goes to find a way to survive and not fight for a change in government.
"The U.S. government is hypocritical," he continued. "It is responsible for war crimes from Vietnam to the bombing of Yugoslavia. It is as criminal as Milosevic: NATO killed working people with its bombs in Yugoslavia, and Milosevic killed Albanians in Kosova."
"The aid to be sent is just words, only promises" said Duric. "Only we can help ourselves. We don't expect the U.S. government or other countries to solve our problems."
Despite its calls for the ouster of Milosevic, Washington appears concerned about the forces that are coming to the fore with these protests. According to a July 12 New York Times article by Jane Perlez, "The Clinton administration is finding it difficult to capitalize on the opportunity presented by the opposition protests.... They are disillusioned with the leaders who galvanized crowds in Belgrade against Mr. Milosevic in the winter of 1996-97."
NATO expands occupation
The US-led NATO forces are consolidating their hold on
Kosova with a force now numbering 34,000 troops. They plan to
deploy at least 50,000 soldiers there. This massive
occupation force has carved Kosova into five sectors, each
under U.S., British, French, German, or Italian command.
The deployment began after the murderous 78-day bombing campaign of Yugoslavia, which totally devastated most of the country's infrastructure and industry. During that assault an intense campaign of "ethnic cleansing" carried out largely by paramilitary forces loyal to Milosevic, as well as his regime's special military forces, led to the expulsion of more than one-half of Kosova's Albanian population. Thousands of Kosova Serbs who disagreed with Belgrade's brutal campaign fled as well. Most of the Albanians are now returning to bombed-out villages and homes.
The NATO occupation has provoked an exodus of Serbs and provided cover for forces identified with the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) to persecute Serb residents in Kosova. Fourteen Serbian farmers were killed July 23, apparently by UCK gunmen.
The UCK had waged an armed struggle for an independent Kosova. By the start of the bombing campaign, however, it had become an instrument of NATO, despite the firm position of the intervening imperialist powers against independence. UCK leaders signed an agreement to demilitarize by September 19 and to form a police force as an auxiliary to NATO. An estimated 5,000 UCK members remain armed.
"The relatives of a friend of mine are among the Serb refugees from Kosova," relates Dusan. They were held for two days at the border with Kosova by Serbian police because the Belgrade regime is trying to force Serbs to stay in Kosova.
"They were forced to flee by UCK thugs and gangs from Albania," Dusan continued. The UCK is "doing the same thing paramilitary troops and other Serbian criminal elements did to the Albanians in Kosova. Eighty percent of Serbs have left. NATO troops stand by - they don't care."
Sonja Podrotovic, a representative of Women in Black, addressed the question of Serb refugees from Kosova speaking in Athens July 10. "They receive no assistance in putting their lives back together again. They are kept isolated from local people. Like previous waves of Serb refugees - from Croatia and Bosnia - this policy has led each time to them being used by the most extreme nationalists to fuel the next phase of the war." Women in Black has organized since the early 1990s throughout the formerly federated Yugoslavia against nationalism and ethnic cleansing.
More attacks on Yugoslav federation
The Montenegrin regime of Milo Djuganovic, a former ally
of Serbia's Milosevic, has hitched its star to NATO in hopes
of getting a better deal from imperialism. Washington and the
European Union are holding out a carrot of loans and
investments to spur the process of secession from the
Yugoslav federation, which is now composed of Serbia and
Montenegro. Nevertheless, mass demonstrations were organized
in Montenegro against the NATO bombing. The regime has plans
for a referendum on independence and has floated proposals
for issuing passports and a new currency tied to the German
mark.
Belgrade maintains an estimated 25,000 troops in Montenegro. The republic's 15,000-strong police force is loyal to the local regime. Duric said Milosevic has stated plans to reform the Yugoslav Army in Montenegro into a Federal Police Force. "If this happens it will increase tensions further with the possibility of civil war," he said.
Duric reports that tensions have decreased since the end of the NATO bombing and there are no longer army checkpoints in the streets. "Everyone is afraid of holding a referendum," said the unionist. "If it is held now it will increase tensions."
When asked about a separate deal with imperialism to benefit Montenegro, he replied, "The destruction of factories in Serbia by NATO has affected working people in Montenegro through massive unemployment, since Montenegro's economy is integrated with Yugoslavia."