NYC FORUM ON NATO & KOSOVO
'Break through the propaganda'
By Gary
Wilson
New York
Break through the propaganda on NATO and Kosovo. That was
the theme of a packed meeting of several hundred people in New
York Feb. 18. The meeting was part of a national speaking tour
sponsored by the International Action Center.
The meeting drew a wide audience from New York's
multinational progressive movement, including many whose
families had emigrated from Yugoslavia.
The featured speakers were Ramsey Clark, former U.S.
attorney general; Lenore Foerstel, U.S. director of Women for
Mutual Security; Michel Collon, author of "Liar's Poker: The
Great Powers, Yugoslavia and the Next Wars"--available in
French--and a writer for the Belgian-weekly Solidaire; Nadja
Tesich, author and playwright; and Sara Flounders, co-director
of the International Action Center and a contributing author to
the book "NATO in the Balkans."
All the speakers are opponents of NATO's military threats
against Yugoslavia and NATO's expanding militarism.
Lenore Foerstel chaired the meeting.
The first speaker was Nadja Tesich. She spoke on the crimes
being committed against the people of the Balkans by the U.S.
military threats.
Tesich talked of the terrible destruction that resulted from
the U.S. bombing campaign in 1995 against the people of Bosnia,
and of the debilitating diseases the people have suffered from
because of the depleted-uranium weapons used by the U.S.
military.
Ramsey Clark addressed the lies that are presented by the
U.S. government and the media. The lies depict the people of
the region as monsters or worse.
Clark spoke of his own experience in his many visits to
Yugoslavia. He attributed the civil conflict to the deliberate
breakup of socialist Yugoslavia by outside interests,
particularly the United States and Germany.
Michel Collon spoke of the history of imperialist rivalries
that have been played out in wars over control of the Balkans.
He focused on the role of German imperialism in destablizing
Yugoslavia.
Collon showed a map, taken from his book, of Yugoslavia
before World War II next to a map of Yugoslavia as divided up
by the invading Nazi armies in the 1940s. Under those maps were
a map of socialist Yugoslavia next to a map of the area as
divided today.
The region as divided today is very similar to how it was
when divided by the Nazis.
Excerpts from Flounders talk
Sara Flounders put the events in the context of the struggle
against oppression and imperialism worldwide. Following are
excerpts from her talk:
"As we are meeting here tonight the Pentagon has announced
that it has ordered stealth fighter bombers to U.S. bases in
Europe. Secretary of Defense William Cohen signed an order to
also include 29 aerial tankers, 10 Prowler radar jammers, two
new B-2 long-range bombers--never before used in combat--and
six B-52 bombers.
"They were sent to join the over 400 NATO aircraft already
arrayed in the region as well as ships with cruise missiles and
laser-guided bombs.
"U.S.-led NATO forces claim they will use all this machinery
of death if the Yugoslav government does not allow a NATO army
of occupation within its borders. Is this negotiation? Is this
peace keeping?
"No, this is not negotiation. It is an arrogant demand to
surrender, to allow military occupation or face
destruction.
"If you are trying to figure out this unfolding war the only
thing you would hear from the media is that the United States
is acting in the interests of peace. That the Pentagon wants to
`stop a war.'
"If you know nothing at all about Kosovo, you can use what
you know about past wars where the U.S. government claimed to
have a big interest.
"Whether it is Iraq, Vietnam, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, El
Salvador, or Korea, U.S. troops have never brought peace,
independence or self-determination. ...
"On all the news today is the Turkish capture of the Kurdish
leader Abdullah Ocalan. There are 26 million Kurdish people.
Most live in Turkey.
"What is NATO doing to protect their rights?
"There are 14 U.S./NATO bases in Turkey. The U.S. is part of
the repression of the Kurdish people. The U.S. arms and
finances the Turkish military.
"The Kurds in Turkey are forbidden to even use their
language in public. It is banned in the schools, in the
university. Books in Kurdish as well as Kurdish music and
poetry are banned. CDs and tapes of music are a criminal
offense.
"Compare this to Kosovo. In Kosovo, Albanians--with a
population the size of Brooklyn--have their own newspapers,
radio and TV stations. Streets and public buildings in Kosovo
are all bilingual--in Albanian and Serbian or just in
Albanian.
"The schools, including the university, are taught in
Albanian.
"Not one of the Western countries attacking the Yugoslav
Federation--not the U.S. or France or Germany or Britain--has
any of the same rights for the smaller nationalities that live
within their borders.
"In Kosovo, NATO says that it must bomb because 800 people,
both civilians and military, Serb and Albanian, have died in
the fighting. Compare this to Turkey where the Turkish
government has killed more than 36,000 Kurds.
"The PKK--the Kurdistan Workers Party--has been fighting an
armed struggle for self-determination for 15 years. They have
never received U.S. high-tech
weapons--shoulder-to-air-missiles--or the latest anti-tank
weapons, which the KLA has in such endless supply.
"If you want to help defend self-determination for a
beleaguered, oppressed nationality fighting a heroic struggle
for self-determination without U.S. or German arms or trainers
then I encourage you to support the Kurdish demonstrations
planned outside the United Nations. ..."
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