-Caveat Lector-
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A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
http://www.ainfos.ca/
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Introduction
The sudden appearance of working class resistance to the war effort in
central Serbia in late May should be an inspiration to proletarians in
all the war-affected countries. In the immediate term it probably wonit
be, but we owe it to our class brothers and sisters in this region to
spread the spirit of their struggle as best we can. The conscript
soldiers who deserted, their relatives and other proletarians who have
physically attacked the media and local government (and even the
occasional general!) showed an admirable lack of patriotism, a real
spirit of defeatism - they showed that they literally didnit care if
itheiri country was invaded by foreign troops. They didn't merely
quibble about the rate of killings but stated loudly and clearly that
they wanted the war to end and for all conscripts to return from the
front.
The following chronology takes its information from two main sources.
The first is the Montenegrin daily newspaper Vijesti (iNewsi). This is
the original source of almost all the news stories which have appeared
in the Western press. Like most newspapers these days it has a web site:
http://www.vijesti.cg.yu which contains all the main stories. Itis only
in Serbo-Croat. The second is the web site iFree Serbia - other voices
from Serbiai (http://www.xs4all.nl/cfreeserb/eyewitness/e-30031999.html)
which is produced by Serbian democratic oppositionists. They claim to
have a Krusevac correspondent. Their accounts seem to tally pretty well
with the accounts in Vijesti. The articles are available in Serbo-Croat
and English. Bits of information have also been gleaned from Serbian
newspapers which have web sites, notably Vreme (the well-known
oppositionist weekly magazine from Belgrade) and Nezavisna Svetlost from
Kragujevac. The media record of this movement seems to cease on 25 May.
Does this mean it was completely crushed by state repression? PossiblyO
If anyone has any further information, please let us know. At the moment
there is only information about the repression following the movement.
Three reservists have been sentenced to four years in jail by a military
tribunal in Nis. A further 24 are under investigation.
The movement seemed to be centred on two towns in central Serbia:
Krusevac and the much smaller Aleksandrovac, which are only about 20km
apart. To a lesser extent it seems to have spread over a much wider
region. The other towns definitely affected were: Raska, Prokuplje,
Kraljevo, Baljevac, Vranje, Vrnjacka Banja. We can be sure there were
others. It is hard to say if it had much of an impact on the working
class in the rest of Serbia. Naturally, the official national Serbian
media said very little about the main events of the movement, but could
not avoid mentioning that desertion and anti-war demos had happened. The
main political parties even made press statements about it. Itis certain
that some people in Belgrade heard about it directly - from telephone
calls from relatives and, more importantly, from soldiers returning from
leave - but they were only a small minority of the population.
It must not be forgotten that when the cycle of war began in Yugoslavia
in 1991 central Serbia was a region where there were many collective
revolts by conscript soldiers. The biggest, which involved 7000
reservists refusing to move from their army base, was in Kragujevac
which is about 50km North West of Krusevac. It is also a region where
there have been numerous strikes by industrial workers against the
conditions of austerity brought about by war, including in munitions
factories and other sectors of industry directly involved in war
production.
Throughout the almost continuous state of war which has existed in
Serbia since 1991 there has always been a high level of draft-dodging
and insubordination on the part of conscripts. This partly explains why
Milosevic has had to make so much use of mercenaries, local nationalist
militias and gangster warlords (such as Arkan) for his military
adventures, rather than the regular Yugoslav Army (VJ). It is also a
major reason for the "neutral" position taken by the Montenegrin
government during the NATO assault - according to a parliamentary
resolution of June 1998, the Montenegrin state is obliged to prevent the
use of Montenegrin territory by the VJ in the event of "military actions
by the international community". The level of draft dodging in
Montenegro has been even higher than in Serbia. In Niksic in February
1999 around 600 men were called up over a few days , only 5 or 6
responded! Opposition to the VJ has often taken a very public form. In
February 1999 the family of a soldier killed in Kosovo placed an
announcement in Montenegro's largest circulation daily newspaper Pobjeda
denouncing "failed politics" as "the reason that the Lazarevic household
is paying a bloody tax for the third time since 1991". It has to be
said, though, that the neutrality policy of the Montenegrin state has
been largely successful in neutralising opposition to the army -
creating a situation where demonstrations against the VJ are
simultaneously demonstrations in support of the Montenegrin government
and its police.
In Serbia too there was widespread opposition to conscription during the
build-up to the start of NATO bombing. In interviews with opposition
newspapers and radio stations many parents of reservists expressed their
disgust for the mobilisation which was taking place. A parent from
Kragujevac said: "Don't let Vuk Draskovic, Vojislav Seselj and the
others incite war, we've had enough war, we are orphans. I call on all
parents to revolt" (Radio B92, 18.3.99). In Leskovac (30km south of Nis)
there was even some kind of protest by around 100 reservists refusing to
go to war. Discontent was far more intense in central and southern
Serbia for the simple reason that the military authorities knew that it
was hard to conscript people in Belgrade and so weren't really trying.
It is not possible to say if (or how much) draft-dodging declined when
the NATO bombing started. There are conflicting reports and rumours, but
it is clear that a significant percentage of the male population had no
intention of answering the call-up. There was certainly desertion on an
individual level. In an interview with Western journalists, a reservist
described how he deserted from the Yugoslav Army in late April by
swimming across a river into Bosnia. He said that when he was called up
iI was surprised to learn that there were no more than two or three
people in my unit who thought we should be fightingi (Guardian, 3.6.99).
Despite the high level of resistance to the army over the last eight
years it has mostly taken the form of a lifestyle choice rather than an
organised movement and recent resistance seems to have been carried on
in much the same way. The sustained collective refusals of conscripted
soldiers and their families in central Serbia, however, express a real
qualitative advance on this.
At this point it is important to make a distinction between the
proletarians who have taken direct action against the war effort and the
attempt by some fraction of the bourgeoisie (Local? National?
International? We canit say for sureO) to recuperate the struggle by
rallying the liberal petty bourgeoisie into the so-called Citizenis
Parliament created in Cacak (where there doesnit seem to have been any
real mobilisation against the war). Some of the Western Press (notably
the Independent in the UK) have given a relatively large amount of space
to coverage of this group. It is quite possible that if Serbia continues
to be at war in some form and an anti-war movement develops again, or
there is some kind of insurrectionary movement against the regime,
groups like the Citizenis Parliament will be presented as the
semi-official leadership of the movement who express what it's really
about. In this way the Western media, the Serbian liberal opposition,
and the forces of the bourgeoisie in general, will try to divert this
movement from its real proletarian terrain of direct action onto the
bourgeois political path of demands for more democracy, less corruption,
Draskovic instead of Milosevic etc. According to Vijesti, none of the
opposition political parties were involved in the protests in Krusevac.
Certainly none of them officially backed the movement. The nearest that
the main opposition party, the SPO (Serbian Movement of Renewal), came
to supporting it was a statement by their district committee in Krusevac
that "Citizens of Krusevac are not protesting because their sons are
defending Serbia but against the local politicians and profiteers". Just
to make things clearer their leader Vuk Draskovic later said: "We are
not in opposition to Serbia; we are fighting for Serbia. Today we are
fighters against NATO. Tomorrow we will be fighting against Milosevic".
Similarly, the liberal magazine Vreme, which everybody normally expects
to take a very anti-Milosevic line, condemned the Krusevac protesters
for undermining national defence. But this doesnit mean that the
movement was inherently too radical to be recuperated. Even the most
subversive actions of the proletariat, even armed insurrection and the
mass slaughter of policemen (like in Hungary in 1956 or Iraq in 1991),
can be claimed by the bourgeoisie as their own.
We have to be clear that the kind of liberal democratic politics put
forward by the Citizenis Parliament has nothing in common with the
proletarian direct action which has taken place in Krusevac and
Aleksandrovac and, as always, is just as much its enemy as the air
forces of Clinton and Blair and the military police of Milosevic. While
the respectable middle class citizens of the Citizenis Parliament were
writing a letter to Milosevic calling on him to isave the lives of all
citizens of Yugoslaviai, proletarians were saving their own lives by
deserting from the front! The Citizenis Parliament was created by the
mayor of Cacak, while in Aleksandrovac the mayor was hospitalised by
angry proletarians! Most of the conscripts and reservists from Cacak are
serving in Montenegro and the Citizenis Parliament called on them to
obey military law. This has a double meaning: one the one hand, donit
get involved in an illegal coup on behalf of Milosevic; on the other,
donit desert!
CHRONOLOGY
Sunday 16.5.99
Around a hundred people (mostly parents of soldiers in Kosovo)
demonstrate in front of the town hall in Krusevac. They demand to know
what has happened to their sons. Demo sparked off by the arrival of 7
dead soldiers on Friday 14.5.99. In accordance with emergency military
laws, the names of dead soldiers are not being published.
Monday 17.5.99
Two thousand people (mostly relatives of soldiers) demonstrate in
Krusevac. They demanded to meet the municipal and military officials to
find out about casualties in Kosovo. Some were carrying the death
certificates of their soldier relatives. The mayor, Miloje Mihajlovic, a
member of the SPS (Serbian Socialist Party, Milosevicis party), was
booed when he told the crowd he couldnit help them. The crowd the
smashed windows in the local TV station although it was protected by a
strong squad of police.
A thousand people were at the bus station in Aleksandrovac seeing off
reservists who had just been home on leave before returning to Kosovo.
iSomeone spontaneously demanded that the soldiers shouldnit go back
therei (Vijesti) and the crowd stopped the bus from leaving. The mayor
tried to appeal to the crowd but was knocked to the ground and kicked.
The boss of the local SPS arrived but was also beaten despite having
body guards. They were saved by a squad of military police who had
arrived from Krusevac. The mayor was forced to hide in a shop toilet and
ended up in hospital in Nis. The reservists eventually returned to
Kosovo.
Tuesday 18.5.99
Five thousand, mostly women, demonstrate in Krusevac. Windows smashed in
municipal and military buildings, eggs thrown. Crowd break into local TV
station.
That night, more than a thousand reservists from Aleksandrovac and
Krusevac desert from Kosovo.
Commander of the VJ garrison in Krusevac accuses the protest organisers
of iundermining the defence of the countryi and idirect collaboration
with the enemyi. When they say things like that about us we must be
doing something right!
iCitizenis Parliamenti created in Cacak by the mayor, Velimir Ilic. A
hundred people (ieducated and professionali) meet and call for an end to
the bombing and the return of all refugees.
Wednesday 19.5.99
Early morning, 1000 reservists camp in villages near Krusevac and
Aleksandrovac.
Noon, 400 reservists arrive in Aleksandrovac and say they will not go
back to Kosovo. They parade along the main road iwith automatic weapons
raisedi and then split up and go to their homes.
Reservists from Krusevac still camped out. Commander of the Third Army,
Nebojsa Pavkovic, offers a compromise: absence from the front will be
treated as a short holiday. The troops refuse, demanding an end to the
war.
Two busloads of reservists are supposed to go to Kosovo after being in
Krusevac on leave. Only one bus goes.
Reservists tell Vijesti reporters that the two-day demos in Krusevac
were the main reason they deserted. They heard about them from other
reservists returning from leave. They were particularly irritated by
threats from the army command to prosecute civilians organising demos.
A reservist told an AIM (Alternative Information Network) correspondent
in Belgrade:
"We managed to get home. There were many problems along the way. They
even used water hoses to prevent us from going home. They demanded that
we lay down our arms. We refused to obey. It was not enough that we were
killed by bombs, now they are beating our parents. I shall not go back
there. This is not a war, this is frenzy in which it is both difficult
to survive and to remain sane. I want to keep my senses. I don't want to
kill anyone, nor do I want to be killed..."
In Krusevac and Aleksandrovac the police arrested a large number of
demonstrators (many of whom were women) A few were charged with public
order offences and sentenced to 20-30 days prison with immediate effect.
Police raid the home of the mayor of Cacak. He is not in and goes into
hiding.
Thursday 20.5.99
No protests in Krusevac.
Reservists have accepted the deal that their absence from the front is
official leave. They hand in their arms to the military authorities
(always a serious mistake!) and go to their homes.
Friday 21.5.99
Protest in Krusevac by 300 reservists stationed near Krusevac for the
last two months who are now told to go to Kosovo. They decide to refuse
to go to Kosovo and demand that all remaining soldiers return. They
demand that SPS members should feel the burden of the war, not just
common people. General Pavkovic offers to give reservists permits
allowing them to go home.
Second meeting of Citizenis Parliament in Cacak: 100 people meet in bomb
shelter. Meeting approves a letter to Milosevic calling on him to isave
the lives of all citizens of Yugoslaviai. Most of the conscripts from
the area are serving in Montenegro. The Citizenis Parliament calls on
them to obey military law.
Protests calling for return of troops in Kraljevo, Raska and Baljevac.
In Baljevac people carried placards saying iWhile one Serbia is in pain
the other is singingi. The mayor organised a petition calling for the
return of all soldiers in the next 48 hours.
Saturday 22.5.99
Reservists in Krusevac who deserted from Kosovo are called to assemble
at the mobilisation point to rejoin their units - after the deal made
with General Pavkovic they are being drafted again! The order is
broadcast by the local TV station.
A few hundred reservists based in villages around Krusevac have refused
to replace those who deserted in Kosovo. Some of them hold a protest
meeting in Krusevac and repeat that they wonit go.
Sunday 23.5.99
More than a thousand protest in Krusevac (mostly reservists and their
relatives), demanding an end to the war and the immediate return of all
troops from Kosovo. According to some people on the demo there are 1000
reservists camped out in the hills of Kopaonik who have deserted from
Kosovo. Deserters first gathered at the mobilisation point at 7 a.m.
Others joined them. Their were military police road blocks but no
serious conflicts. Slogans: iBring back our sonsi, iWe wonit go to
Kosovoi, iWe want peacei, iYou wonit fool us anymorei. Police roadblocks
prevent participation by reservists from villages outside Krusevac.
Nobody from the local authority tried to speak to the crowd but a top
army officer, igeneral Stojimirovic from Nisi, appeared with a strong
bodyguard around him. When the physically threatened him (dragging him
and his guards down a side street) he said he agreed with their demands
but that they should disperse and go home.
There was a proposal to remain in the centre of Krusevac until the war
is over and all soldiers have returned. People sit down next to the
monument to the Kosovo heroes (of 1389) and waited for further news.
Some people in Krusevac went to the military district HQ. An officer
said that the order to return to Kosovo only applied to volunteers. The
crowd shouted ienough liesi and ired banditsi.
Despite all the protests there were also a lot of loyal troops and cops
on the streets.
Reservists from Aleksandrovac who had refused to go to Kosovo tried to
go to Krusevac but were blocked by military police and loyal troops.
They returned to Aleksandrovac and took part in a demonstration of more
than a thousand people demanding the end of the war.
Demos of some kind in Raska and Prokuplje.
Police stop protest rally in Cacak. Citizenis Parliament send letter to
the president of Montenegro supporting his stand against Milosevic and a
letter to Milosevic denouncing the governmentis iadventurist policy
based on the ideology of collective suicidei.
Monday 24.5.99
A hundred people, mostly relatives of soldiers in Kosovo, demonstrate in
Krusevac.
Local military commander announces on local TV that reservists who carry
on refusing to go can be prosecuted by the military courts. Any kind of
gathering in a public place is banned for the duration of the bombing,
violators of this ban will be prosecuted by the military courts.
Some kind of demo in Prokuplje.
Cacak: Seven members of Citizenis Parliament arrested. Large group of
people gathered in front of the court to applaud the accused. The class
composition of the Citizenis Parliament can clearly be seen from the
professions of those arrested: 1 doctor, 2 university lecturers, 1
lawyer, 1 journalist, 2 entrepreneurs.
A statement by the Citizenis Parliament said the kind of thing you would
expect it to say: iNo kind of repressive measure and force which the
current regime uses towards the citizens will smother or crush the
democratic consciousness and the citizenis desire for freedomi. Nothing
is known about the whereabouts of the mayor, who founded the group.
Tuesday 25.5.99
Krusevac sealed off by both military and civil police, not just the
roads but also river barges and ferries.
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This article was first published in the 'NO WAR BUT THE CLASS WAR'
DISCUSSION BULLETIN which can be found at
http://www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk/guest/radical/ESKOSOVO.HTM
([EMAIL PROTECTED]).
INTERESTING WEB PAGES ON THE BALKANS CONFLICT:
eYugoslavia: from wage cuts to wari at
http://www.webcom.com/wildcat/Yugoslavia.html
eYugoslavia unravelledi (from Aufheben) at
http://lists.village.virginia.edu/~spoons/aut_html/Aufheben/yugo.html
Z Magazine website at http://zmag.org/ZMag/Kosovo.htm
Wildcat website at http://www.webcom.com/wildcat/kosovo.html
A-infos news service at http://www.ainfos.ca/
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