MESSAGE TO THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT
Why putting NATO on trial will make history
By Brian
Becker
Becker is a co-coordinator of the Independent Commissioin
of Inquiry to Investigate U.S./NATO War Crimes Against the
Peoples of Yugoslavia.
The Commission of Inquiry to investigate U.S./NATO war
crimes has a great and historic task. Ramsey Clark and other
expert witnesses will present testimony on July 31 in New York
accusing Bill Clinton, General Wesley Clark and others with war
crimes against the people of Yugoslavia.
The Commission of Inquiry is not simply trying to reveal the
truth about U.S./NATO war crimes before, during, and after the
war. It is also trying to educate and mobilize broad public
opinion to oppose imperialism. The war is not over.
The U.S./NATO occupation of Kosovo and the cessation of the
bombing campaign are not signs that peace has arrived in the
Balkans. Thousands of U.S. and NATO troops now occupy not only
Kosovo but also Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Croatia and
Slovenia.
These countries used to be part of the Socialist Federation
of Yugoslavia. They are now individual states but they are
neither free countries nor free people.
Washington's goal is to destroy all of Yugoslavia and to
continue its march through Central and Eastern Europe, into the
Caucuses, and into the former southern republics of the Soviet
Union.
Two very different meetings
Even as Clinton is being indicted for war crimes at the July
31 hearing in New York, all of NATO's political leaders will be
meeting. Where is the meeting? In the capital of "independent"
Bosnia--Sarajevo--once one of the premier cities of a unified
Yugoslavia.
Clinton will attend the Sarajevo meeting. He will be a
leading presence in the creation of a new "Balkan Security
Pact." The pact's goal is to shore up the stability of
capitalism in these countries now that imperialism has ripped
apart Yugoslavia.
"We and our allies will help with reforms, speed their
integration into the world trading system and encourage our
private sectors to play a strong role in their development,"
Clinton's National Security Advisor Sandy Berger said this
week.
That's all diplomatic language for an ugly reality. By
"reforms" Berger means to privatize publicly-owned factories
and enterprises. By "integration into the world trading
system," he means that capitalist bosses will decide which
workers will remain employed.
The reference to the strong role of "our private sectors"
only means that Clinton wants to make sure that U.S.
corporations and banks get the first shot at exploiting the
land and labor of the people of the Balkans.
Building a worldwide movement against war crimes
The Commission of Inquiry is holding hearings in cities
throughout the United States, in every NATO country, in Russia
and around the world. It is heartening that this call for an
independent War Crimes Tribunal is resonating on all
continents.
All who have suffered the ravages of colonialism, racism,
and imperialism are finding a way to establish a new
international network of coordinated activity in this field.
Exploratory committees for Commission of Inquiry hearings have
been formed in several European countries, in Canada, and in
India.
The Commission of Inquiry was initiated by the International
Action Center, which played a major role in initiating and
organizing protest activities and demonstrations between March
24 and June 5.
More than 10,000 people marched on the Pentagon on June 5.
The three-hour rally was broadcast live on C-SPAN and then
rebroadcast. A similar mass demonstration was held in San
Francisco on June 5, as well as in cities around the world.
The building of a grassroots anti-war movement--on a
worldwide scale--is the foundation for the struggle against
imperialism, racism and injustice.
The Commission of Inquiry to investigate U.S./NATO war
crimes can play an important role in sustaining and building
this international movement. To be a powerful movement, the
commission must be able to assess and analyze the system that
is promoting war.
It must at the same time develop effective literature and
outreach resources that connect the issue of war with the
growing problems of poverty, racism, and oppression.
For example, the Pentagon used the Yugoslavia war to push
through an expansion of the U.S. military budget by another
$147 billion over the next six years. This increase comes on
top of the already bloated $300-billion-per-year "defense"
budget. This is a 20-30 percent increase in spending that will
lead to further cuts in education, job training, housing,
health care, child care and veterans' benefits.
What a cruel hoax! The United States government spends
limitless amounts of money to bomb working-class and poor
people abroad. But instead of spending money for programs that
alleviate poverty at home, the politicians choose instead to
build an ever-greater prison-industrial complex to incarcerate
the growing numbers of poor people. Almost two million will be
imprisoned by the year 2000.
The danger of a new war
The Commission of Inquiry will chronicle how the U.S. and
NATO deliberately targeted civilians and civilian
infrastructure, destroyed the economic foundations of
society--especially the state-owned sector of the economy, used
cluster bombs and other prohibited weapons, ruined the
environment, used radioactive depleted uranium weapons and
committed numerous other crimes.
The commission will also deal with the "why" of the war. Why
did it really happen? How did the U.S. and NATO conspire to
dismember Yugoslavia? What did Washington seek to accomplish
with the expansion of NATO after the collapse of the USSR? What
are the economic and political goals behind U.S. strategy, not
just in Yugoslavia, but in all of Central and Eastern Europe,
the Caucasus and the southern republics of the former USSR?
A careful examination of all of these facts will reveal that
the occupation of Kosovo is simply one part of a larger
military/political strategy of the United States and other
western imperialist governments. And that the danger of a new
war has not diminished. It is all the more likely in the coming
years
The war in Yugoslavia has created unspeakable human
suffering. Today, thousands of Serb, Roma, and other peoples
are being driven out of Kosovo by fascist thugs operating under
NATO's protection. Ethnic Albanians who stood with Yugoslavia
instead of the fascist KLA are also being driven out or
killed.
While Clinton promises $500 million for Kosovo, the U.S.
insists that there will not be "not one cent" to rebuild
Yugoslavia--a country that was ripped apart by 23,000 missiles
and bombs. Only if the CIA succeeds in toppling the elected
government of Slobodan Milosevic will the crippling economic
sanctions on Yugoslavia be lifted, according to Clinton.
Clinton represents an imperialist establishment. The people
of the world must have a different message. In addition to
indicting NATO's leaders for war crimes there must be a demand
raised for the payment of billions of dollars as reparations to
the people of Yugoslavia.
The workers and youth of Yugoslavia are not simply the
victims of imperialism. They are also resistance fighters who
have fought heroically--both against the fascists in World War
II and against NATO today.
Working people in the United States and throughout Europe
must come together to say: We have more in common with these
struggling people than we do with the NATO war criminals who
speak in our name.
This means reviving the spirit and activity of authentic
internationalism. That must be the bedrock of a new anti-war
movement.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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