WORKERS WORLD PARTY CONFERENCE
'The truth about U.S.-NATO aggression against
Yugoslavia
Excerpts from a talk by Pat Chin
I was in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, last month to attend
the International Symposium on NATO Aggression on the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, which condemned the vicious bombardment
of that country led by the United States.
While there, we also toured the many bridges and facilities
bombed in Novi Sad, located in the autonomous region of
Vojvodina.
The U.S. has been trying to instigate the secession of this
province, citing phony charges of human rights violations
against the Hungarian minority there who--by the way--enjoy
more rights than the so-called minorities of this country.
Yugoslavia damaged
but rebuilding
Novi Sad was repeatedly bombed during the 78-day air war.
All the bridges spanning the Danube River were demolished. So
was the Novi Sad oil refinery, the television station, schools,
museums, churches and more. All commerce connected to the river
has been effectively stopped.
This affects the economy not just of Yugoslavia, but of all
other countries through which the Danube flows.
The imperialist aggression has caused billions of dollars in
damage and plunged the country into even greater poverty. But
Yugoslavia is slowly beginning to rebuild, and shouldn't face a
winter without heat.
The Yugoslavs have arranged to get natural gas from Russia.
According to reports the government is negotiating with Iraq to
secure oil. Russia and China are giving reconstruction aid, as
well as private groups within even some NATO countries. One
bridge was recently rebuilt with donations from Serbs in the
Diaspora.
The Yugoslav government has dismissed Washington's recent
proposal for a partial suspension of sanctions in return for
early elections. It knows that the U.S. would recognize only a
vote that the government lost.
Is the U.S. the greatest democracy in the world? The shining
example that every country must now follow or be mercilessly
crushed? Let's take a look.
U.S. `democracy' full of holes
With a $7-trillion economy, this is the richest country in
the world. Yet there are tens of thousands of homeless
people.
Over 40 million people have no health insurance coverage.
This number grew after Washington destroyed the welfare system
for the needy, led by the great "I-feel-your-pain" Democratic
President Bill Clinton, who also championed the savage bombing
of Yugoslavia.
Racist attacks continue against communities of color, as
does bigotry against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans
people. Police brutality and killings abound. Women's
reproductive freedom is under attack, including the bombing of
women's clinics and the murder of staff.
Attacks against immigrants have also grown, following
passage of new laws that intensify discrimination.
The U.S. has the biggest prison population in the world.
Millions are behind bars, a disproportionate number being Black
and Latino people.
The United States also has the biggest gap between rich and
poor, and Bill Clinton has outdone the Republicans since he
came to office in causing the spread.
For more than three centuries U.S. capitalism grew largely
from the trade in enslaved African people. The huge sums made
from their unpaid labor led to a massive accumulation of
capital and wealth. It is estimated that Africa lost between 50
to 70 million people in connection to the slave trade.
The U.S. rulers speak hypocritically about the rights of
national minorities. While backing the separatist so-called
Kosovo Liberation Army, they used the refugee crisis they
themselves created to justify bombing Yugoslavia--a sovereign
country that had every right to defend its territory from the
violent incursions of the KLA terrorists.
The imperialists never talk about how so much of the wealth
of the U.S. ruling class was derived from slavery, the theft of
half of Mexico and the genocidal ethnic cleansing of millions
of Native Indian peoples.
Images of Kosovo Albanians were used to justify and win
broad support for the bombing. They were used to obscure the
real crime of the brutal NATO aggression against
Yugoslavia.
Haitian and African refugees have never received such
favorable attention. This shows that racist Washington feigns
sympathy for displaced persons only when it suits its economic
interests.
KLA attacks on minorities
Where is the mighty NATO today with Serbs, Roma people,
Turks, Gorancis, Croats, Montenegrins and progressive Albanians
being attacked? Since KFOR troops replaced the Yugoslav army in
Kosovo, over 500 people have been killed and 348 injured. Over
250,000 mostly Serb people have been forced from the
province.
Among those slaughtered by the KLA have been 243 progressive
Albanians, including Dzafer Djuka, a top leader of the Yugoslav
Left Party.
Workers World Party intervened and gave leadership to the
struggle against the U.S./NATO war on Yugoslavia. This flows
from our orientation, which is to put the struggle against
imperialism at the center of our political program inside this
country.
As we fight against cutbacks and low wages, union busting,
racism, sexism, homophobia and all the other oppressions, we
have and will continue to show--in the spirit of
internationalism--that there's really just one struggle, though
it has many fronts.
The working class in the U.S. must become a conscious and
active force in the anti-imperialist movement. We hope that all
our branches, members and friends will join us in the work of
the International War Crimes Tribunal that tells the truth
about the aggression, that exposes the war crimes of the
Pentagon and the White House, and that forges authentic
solidarity between the struggling working people of the U.S.
and our dear sisters and brothers in Yugoslavia.
Jhivela Yugoslavia--Yugoslavia lives! NATO out of
Kosovo.
Together we shall win.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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