---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Dengan mengClick banner sponsor anda menyumbang Rp. 1000,- untuk HomePage IndoNews. ---------------------------------------------------------- Precedence: bulk A LETTER FROM BELGRADE Sunday, 1 Apr 1999 00:19:08 Local Time This is an anonymous letter from a woman professor in Serbia. This is probably the first war where we can get real-time communication about what it feels like to be on the other side, and not learn about things from the mass media. ------------------------------- VF has asked me to tell him whatever I can about the situation in Yugoslavia: the are no first hand reports, since the journalists have been expelled from the country. So, he is asked for information. Here is my insiders view of the situation. I think it would be of interest for all Slavists, since the existence of a Slavic people is at stake. Could you disseminate it? On March 20th the Belgrade opposition weekly "Vreme" stated that Milosevic has made it possible for America to strengthen its domination, to NATO to show its force, and to Russia to pretend to be more important than it really is. Yes, Milosevic made it possible for Clinton, Madelene, Blair, NATO to do what they wanted but did not have an excuse to do. NATO is not bombing Milosevic. And the "International Community" (whatever that is) is not saving the Albanian people. They are hitting both Serbs and Albanians. So far, ten soldiers (young 18 year-olds) and two policemen have been killed and more than fifty civilians, both Serbs and Albanians. We hear that five NATO planes have been destroyed (two of them last night on Fruska Gora.) I haven't seen the planes, but I do hope that is true (the pilots have been saved, they say). If there are losses, Clinton and Madelene might be forced to reconsider what they are doing! The major result from the bombing seems to be that fighting in Kosovo is ferocious and all the Serbs have come to hate America, England, France and Germany. People DO enlist. The husbands and sons of many people I know have enlisted voluntarily. The country is invaded. We are doomed anyway. All normal activities have been suspended. Schols and universities are closed. Food stores were emptied. No gas. No transportation. We still have electricity - I do not know for how long. There is no heating; but that we do not need so much: spring has come, and that is the only good thing that has happened to us. During the first night (24th-25th of March) 24 cities or towns in Yugoslavia were bombed. In Belgrade, the alarm was sounded at 7.20 and went off at 11, then was sounded at 3.30 and went off at 7. in the morning, to be sounded again at 8.30 (It went off sometime in the afternoon). Last night we had alarm at 8.30 - it went of at 11. It is quieter since. Most people are in their houses. There are no proper shelters. At this moment I hear on the radio that Fruska Gora is being bombed and that two planes were hit there. I had classes in Novi Sad on Wednesday and at 5 p.m. I drove home to Belgrade passing by the police school in Novi Sad which was hit at 8.30p.m. Several houses around it were destroyed. The people of Novi Sad was taken at a surprise, because it was generally believed that Novi Sad and Podgorica would be spared. So, the population of Novi Sad have spent the whole night and the whole day in shelters (Novi Sad has good shelters; unlike Belgrade). I kept telephoning the whole day yeserday, none of my colleagues was at home. This morning I got on the phone the father of one of my assistants and he told me that they have been sleeping in the shelters. He was indignant. He says that the people in the shelters were indignant. No hope. NATO does whatever they want with us! We are doomed! (Mind you, he is not a Milosevic man; rather, he sympathised with Coalition for Vojvodina, which wants greater autonomy for Vojvodina.). The missiles are not as precise as NATO purports they are. Three schools have been hit in the industrial section of Belgrade, Rakovica. In Kursumlija a missile hit the section of the town where the refugees from Bosnia lived and many were killed. A missile hit and destroyed and Albanian village and a Serbian one. Many TV transmitters and telephone connections have been damaged. The army barracks are vacated, so the result of all the bombing of barracks was that they killed the wives and children of several army officers who withdrew from Bosnia, and whose families were living near the barracks in Pristina. The airport to the north of Belgrade which was the target of the first attack has been displaced. So, all the missiles fell there in vain. The only non-civil targets destroyed are three factories producing plastic material (which is connected with the army). The air-bases have all been displaced. The army changes its position permanently. So, the missiles cannot hit the targets which they have planned to hit. The only way for them to be "successful" is to start bombing without any planning (which I sincerely hope they do not want to do). The prospects are gloomy. Madelene expects Milosevic to give in, but he will not. Now he has the whole people united in the resistance to the NATO attacks. The people know that it is impossible to win a war against such a power. But they are still resolute to fight. This is the beginning of the end of the Serbs. "Striving to save the Kosovo Albanians", NATO is initiating the extermination of the Serbs. As for me, I am trying to work but it is difficult. I spent the past two nights watching the news from all parts of Europe and CNN (I have a satellite television). Yesterday, while they were bombing, I spent the day running around for food. I have food for several weeks now (some of it will go bad if electricity goes off). It is good I did that, since today the shops are empty today. We are completely paralyzed. Will contact you again if I can. Tell people that both Serbs and Albanians are suffering after the bombing. There has to be another way to resolve the Kosovo problem. Not through Milosevic! He does not care for the pressure, He gloats on it. Olga P.S. Three big chemical factories and the most important farmaceutical factory around Belgrade, Galenika, have just been hit. The air is polluted. We get instructions to soak sheets in baking powder and wrap in them. Nobody has a mask. I watch two fires from my kitchen window (the only one which does not have a shutter). The flames are high. A 12th century old church in Kosovo, Gracanica, has also been hit (I see that on TV). The American journalists would not give you the right picture of the situation anyway. The other night I watched the reporting of the journalists on CNN, BBC and two German stations. They were seeing some orange balls in the distance and guessing what that might be. What is the use of this? I am somehow glad they were asked to leave the country. WE FEEL LIKE BEING THROWN IN THE ARENA TO BE EATEN BY THE NATO GLADIATORS TO OFFER PLEASURE TO THE TV WATCHERS IN AMERICA AND WESTERN EUROPE.-- ---------- SiaR WEBSITE: http://apchr.murdoch.edu.au/minihub/siarlist/maillist.html ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 14 Apr 1999 jam 06:16:06 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
