Mid-Hudson residents hear 'what really happened in
Yugoslavia'
Spokespeople for the Independent Commission of Inquiry to
Investigate U.S./NATO War Crimes Against the People of
Yugoslavia have presented their case at hearings Oct. 16 in
Atlanta, on the following weekend in Milwaukee and Madison,
Wis., New Paltz, N.Y., and on Oct. 25 in Paris, France. Former
Attorney General Ramsey Clark and other International Action
Center representatives are speaking Oct. 30 in Berlin and Nov.
1 in Rome. Other committees have held similar hearings in Oslo,
Norway, and Amsterdam, Netherlands. The following report is
from the WW bureau in New Paltz, N.Y.
Some 150 people turned out in the rural college town of New
Paltz, N.Y., Oct. 22 to attend a meeting on the topic, "What
Really Happened in Yugoslavia?" The event was part of the
Independent Commission of Inquiry to Investigate U.S./NATO War
Crimes Against the People of Yugoslavia.
Speakers at the forum, organized by the Mid-Hudson National
People's Campaign and the International Action Center, included
Brian Becker, co-coordinator of the IAC; Pat Chin, journalist
and photographer who just returned from a fact-finding trip to
Yugoslavia; and Jack A. Smith, co-chair of the Mid-Hudson NPC.
A question and answer session followed the talks.
The meeting, held in a lecture hall of the State University
of New York, opened with a showing of "NATO Targets," a new
documentary by videographer Gloria La Riva, which was well
received by the audience. Many of those who attended had
participated in some of the four anti-war actions the
Mid-Hudson NPC organized in the region during the spring.
Smith, the first speaker, focused attention on the
misleading propaganda about the war emanating from the White
House and NATO. He spent time reviewing the War Crimes Tribunal
initiated by former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and the
19-count indictment against President Bill Clinton, British
Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder, drawn up by Clark. He also described the contents of
the Selected Research Findings produced by the Independent
Commission of Inquiry to substantiate the charges in the
indictment.
Chin reported on what she observed during her visit to
Yugoslavia, which included participation in a two-day meeting
called the International Symposium on NATO Aggression Against
Yugoslavia. She shared portions of interviews she conducted
with civilians targeted by the bombings.
Becker, who has spoken numerous times in New Paltz over the
years, focused on the history of imperialist efforts to destroy
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia since the 1980s. He also
discussed how the 78-day bombardment fit within Washington's
strategic designs for exercising hegemony over former socialist
countries and the resource-rich republics of the ex-USSR.
The IAC/Mid-Hudson NPC literature table rang up over $500 in
sales--mostly from purchases of the Indictment, Selected
Research Findings and the "NATO Targets" video.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
HOME :: U.S. NEWS :: WORLD NEWS :: EDITORIALS :: SUBSCRIBE :: DONATE
Email
this article
Printable
page