|
|
|
From the Demonstration ...,
Thinking Regionally ...,
Peacekeeping ...,
Kosovo...,
Technologist ...,
Jewish Music...
I have been visiting the demonstrators before the American consulate almost every day. Unfortunately not there when the windows in the consulate were broken. Imagine, the windows in this fortress were of breakable glass!!! Today I will be distributing two flyers. One is headed, DECANI, 14th c. Serbian Heritage and the other PEC, 14th c. Serbian Heritage. Each have a image from the respective churches, accompanied by "Ora pro nobis." The images are depictions of singers looking out at the onlookers as they sing, so the "ora pro nobis" can be read two ways. Either join with us in singing, or as a prayer for the monuments. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Neil
m6045758@hotmail.com
Attending the demonstration in front of the U.S. Embassy. A tall stocky man burdened with briefcase and bags of books is standing near me in the warm sun. We start to talk. He has a comfortable looking face. I ask him if the Serbs have a demonstration planned. "I don't know anything about it. Anyway, I'm a Yugoslav and not a Serb. I'm here because of THEM (pointing to the embassy behind barricades across University Avenue.)
I saw how these Police here beat our guys and I wont forget it. I was at the demonstrations in 68 (Yugoslavia) and I saw the police then. They called our Communist Police 'well-fed' -- look at those Canadian Police there!
I'm from Sarajevo. I was grazed by bullets -- here, here, and here in the back. My trousers came entirely away. I was in the hospital. I wont forget 1992 when I was released from the hospital. They told me, go down that road. It was the only road to take but I was warned that I could be shot 'like that.' There was a small ditch beside the road. I tried to duck down so I wouldn't be a target but you know, I'm a big guy. It is even more suspicious to see a big guy running, crouched down. I ran the whole way, 5 kilometers, like that. I will not forgive the Serbs for shelling Sarajevo. They are guilty of many things. I hate and despise Milosevic, still, I have to change the way I look at him in this situation.
Canadians don't understand what a miserable situation they are in. They are totally brainwashed. I am so disappointed in them. They are lovely people but they are a satellite. Believe me I will write a book about this. I will not stay here. There is no spring, no fall. Who can bear it. In Sarajevo the weather is more varied.
I will go back to Sarajevo. I have my Mother there. She's 88 and has only her 82 year old sister to take care of her. I can't send her much to help; life is hard here and I need to save so I can go. I don't care about having a lot of money. Life was so good there. Under socialism I never ever worried about what would happen to my job, whether I would be working next week. I would rather live and have friends and not so much money. Life is about the human relations. in Sarajevo there were so many events, social events. I'm 53. I don't want to stay here and work under my level. I speak 8 languages. I had a good job, a managerial job. There you are paid by how many people are under you. It's a good system -- oh it's not a PERECT system of course."
I gave him General McKenzie's article from the Ottawa citizen.
"He's alright but I would like to know the truth of this statement about the women."
I reacted, horrified -- it's baloney.
"Of course, but you know the Canadians were not so pure. There was a lot of buying and (exploitation) going on. I could have shot them several times. I could have but I didn't. They didn't see me. I was hidden."
He spoke about the American violence against civilians and asked how Canadians could participate in such a crime. He was very disappointed in them he said. He asked why he has never read or heard discussed anywhere the reason for the Albanians' great majority in Kosovo -- their high birthrate. Also noone discusses their criminal and drug activities. I asked him if he'd be interested in going to a socialist meeting I'd seen advertised at the Queen of Sheba restaurant -- "Stop the Bombing."
"Right now I don't have too much time. I have too much studying to do."
For the book you will write?
"I don't have to study for that. I have everything right here (pointing to his head)."
Nikole
William:
The amazing thing is how the western media have branded Ocalan a "terrorist who is responsible for the deaths of 30,000 people." We automatons will nod our heads and say "good show," if the authorities have their way. Personally, I know very little about Ocalan or the Kurds, therefore I'm not about to accept what the media, US government, or the Turks are saying. Israel cozies up to Turkey because of their shared enemies, namely, Shia Muslims, Syria, and Iran. Iran and Iraq, historic enemies, are drawn together by a mutual hatred of Israel and, by default, Turkey. The Kurds, meanwhile, twist in the wind. And our tacit support of Israel and Turkey means we condemn the Serbs, prop up the Kosovar Albanians and decry the alleged human rights abuses that they are subjected to at the hands of the evil Milosevic while turning a blind eye to the sufferings of Kurds at the hands of the Turks, all the while ignoring the protests of the Greeks, who are NATO members, enemies of the Turks, and religious brethren of the Serbs all at once. As you suggested, the Serbs and Greeks should band together and fight themselves free of all these ridiculous entanglements. And the US should do more than pay lip service to the concept of self-determination and actually start honoring it.
Mr. Markiewicz.
Can you possibly explain to me why the world should allow the slaughter of innocent women and children by any one for any reason? I am the average American that you read about. Convince me, if you can.
Gene Clark
GClark@advancedtech.com
A Canadian talk show host, Jane Hawtin, repeated several times during her program that "hundreds of thousands" of ethnic Albanians had been killed by Serbs. As far as I know the highest casualty estimates confirmed by UN sources at the time of her show (when bombing began), mention 2,000 deaths, about 500 of them Serbs. Considering that Serbs are less than 10 per cent of the population their number of victims is disproportionate. A few days ago, the estimated number of ethnic Albanian refugees dropped from half a million to 100.000. This shows how easily the media juggles numbers. For the rest, look at "Bombing for the Sake of Albanians" in this issue. WM
In light of the activities in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Georgia and Tajikistan (to name only a representative lot), is the term 'Peacekeeping' becoming lost and misused to the point that the results may be more dangerous than useful?
Dave
ddavis@osf1.gmu.edu
I read your article about the situation in Kosovo and I strongly agree with your opinions. Keep on writing. Too bad they bombed Kosovo. Russia and China will help.
Radovan
radovan@eudoramail.com
Perhaps you know of someone?
BENEVOLENT TECHNOLOGIST NEEDED
Earth Island has received the sad news that our long-time and very talented and very helpful Benevolent Technologist Ken Yarborough is leaving us, initially to Hawaii in search of a great new bigger-networks job there. This will be a big loss for us, since we have gained so much from Ken taking us through so many plateaus of technological "progress." The problem is, of course, that we've become addicted to all these great tools, and we now need someone or perhaps a number of someones to keep our computer and other systems thriving.
CAN YOU HELP? Perhaps you can think of some great person with both technical credentials and the kind of commitment to our kind of work who would be a good Earth Island team candidate. We are not able to pay the "top drawer" wages for a properly credentialed tech person that such a person could get in today's very competitive market, so we need someone who is in it for much more than the money. We also think that it's fun to work at Earth Island, in addition to all the meaningfulness.
Ken is leaving for Hawaii on April 3rd, so we're pressed in our search. We often depend on ads in Opportunity NOCs, but somehow they lost our ad order, so we won't appear there until next week. We have received a number of resumes from last Sunday's ad in the Chronicle.
Here's what our Opportunity NOCs ad will say:
Computer systems specialist for Windows NT network (Macs, some PCs) and Internet server, starting April 1st or sooner. Raiser's Edge experience desirable. International environmental organization with great causes & people, informal office. Send résumé ASAP to Executive Director, Earth Island Institute, 300 Broadway, #28, SF 94133.
If someone comes to mind, we can supply more detail about all the bases that we need to have covered. Thanks for taking the time to think about this for us.
JOHN A. KNOX, Executive Director
Earth Island Institute
300 Broadway, Suite 28
San Francisco, CA 94133 USA
johnknox@earthisland.org
http://www.earthisland.org
Dear Friends,
Shalom. My name is Ariel Ben Yaakov. I am a musician and music producer living in Jerusalem, Israel and would like a donation for a Jewish music production studio and performance center on Mount Zion in Israel dedicated to develop, nurture and produce music that strenthens a healthy positive Jewish Identitiy here in Israel.
My goal is too produce high quality Jewish musical art of high production quality which is spiritually uplifting and strenghtening to Jewish people in a healthy positve way. This music will act as a postive culural influence here in Israel which will strengthen the Jewish peoples Identity as Jews from our core inside. This will help us Jews make our Tikuun and will thus also help the world. I also have plans on the back burner to eventually produce ancient Temple music. I am an accomplished musician /writer / producer and have a track record of writing popular music hit song hooks in the US and work with my father who is a classical music professor of music.
I need a donation from you to help make this great endeavor a reality. Please reply to me with names and emails of contacts who can contribute money or with whom I may discuss this project further.
Thank you kindly for your time and assistance in this matter. Shabbath Shalom. God Bless.
Sincerely,
Ariel Ben Yaakov
arielbenyaakov1@hotmail.com
House of David Records
Mount Zion POB 32097
Jerusalem Israel 91320
I assume that anyone interested in helping would want more details concerning the writer's projects and credentials. WM
Back to the index of the Vagabond
William Markiewicz