25 years ago, on the 24th of March 1999, NATO began bombing Serbia, disintegrating the state of Yugoslavia, and Time magazine authoritatively explained why this was a good thing, under a cover title “Bringing the Serbs to heel. Massive bombing attack opens the door to peace”.
This was a stark example of applying “white gloves to the bloodied hands”, that was so aptly illustrated in a Soviet caricature from 1980 that we showcased yesterday on our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”!
Already several months before the aggression against Yugoslavia started, it was clear what the USA was planning.
This article is comprised of four archival materials that have been waiting in my digital archive for the past 25 years.
- The warning from October 1998.
- “Hey, Joe! – Message to the Troops of NATO”.
- April 24th, 1999 – Stop the War, a small rally in Heidelberg.
- May 1st, 1999 – reportage from the large anti-war campaign throughout Germany.
The first, is a warning that was written by yours truly on the 12th of October 1998 – five months before US-NATO started its act of terrorism – and posted on several forums and message boards. A warning, not dissimilar to the one appearing in this blog in 2014 with regard to the coup in Ukraine: Is the West gearing up to invade Russia once again?.
NATO bombed Yugoslavia on the 50th anniversary of its existence, raining on the country the radioactive democracy of mass destruction (a link to a must-see documentary on the blog!). Today NATO is depopulating Ukraine on its 75th anniversary.
The Warning
The United States are about to start an aggression against an independent state – Serbia. I say the United States, and not NATO because NATO-countries would do exactly what USA tells them to do.
This mindless aggression can bring us to World War III. The USA have learnt nothing from its earlier experiences – Hiroshima and Vietnam. I wish to remind everybody that several years of bombing in Vietnam didn’t break the will of Vietnamese liberation army. Meddling with internal affairs of a state (especially with a case of civil disagreements) brings nothing but misery and destruction to all the nations involved.
The USA and the world are utterly inconsistent in their moves. When Russia had a case of civil war with Chechen republic, the world community (read USA) did not react in any way – more precisely, they did not send bombers to crush Russia. Why? Because Russia could fight back, because Russia had atomic weapon, after all, because Russian territory is so large. Serbia does not have atomic weapon, Serbia, marauded by rebels, cannot fight back, and Serbia is small. Thus it can be attacked without any great fear for being hit back. That’s cowardice! The following quote only confirms it: “The six B-52s that arrived Sunday at a British air based would be used to launch cruise missiles from outside the range of Serb’s air defences.” (from http://www.msnbc.com/news/204272.asp)
So why to launch this assault at all? The answer is: to justify NATO’s existence and to show who is the boss. Since the threat from Soviet Union disappeared NATO was in acute lack of enemies. So the enemies and wars should be created to justify budgets. Iraq was first, Serbia is next.
Why World War III? Russia has newly declared its support to Serbia – diplomatic and military – as to a bother-state. In an utmost case this would mean that any country declaring war on Serbia, declares war on Russia, meaning that Russia can strike back, targeting any European country.
USA behaves now like “the wold’s hooligan”, striking the one who is weaker, but avoiding the one who is equal or stronger. It was not so long ago we saw banners “USA out of Vietnam”. I am afraid that soon we will see banners “NATO (USA) out of Serbia!”
This paragraph is for Americans only in connection with their constant paranoia: No, I am not a communist; I am a person who loves the thing that Americans lost long ago – freedom.
The 12th of October 1998.
Hey Joe! Where ya going with that gun in your hand?
Message to the Troops of NATO
You are being called upon to attack the sovereign country of Yugoslavia.
For American troops it’s the fourth attack against an independent country in the past 9 months."Surgical strikes" in Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq and now Yugoslavia, which were ordered by the so-called “peace candidate” President Clinton. He now has a record of ordering more military actions than any other Commander-In-Chief since Richard Nixon — the “peace with honor” candidate of 1972.
NATO troops, supposedly here to defend Europe, are now on the offensive. You are attacking another European country; unleashing the first war on the continent since WW II. It’s “Blitzkrieg” all over again under the doctrine of “First Strike, First Kill.”
German troops are going into combat for the first time since the NAZI Armies were crushed in 1945. You are being called upon to attack a people who heroically stood up to Hitler’s elite Waffen-SS and the Wehrmacht sixty years ago.
Your officers, your commanders-in-chiefs, your politicians, your “free” press and even maybe your friends and relatives are all
telling you that your mission is in the service of humanity. You are ordered to take lives in order to save lives. As one general in Vietnam termed it, “We must destroy the village in order to save it.”
What can be so humanitarian about massive air strikes. Cruise missiles, A-6’s, B-2’s B-52’s, Tornadoes, F-16’s F-15’s, and 2,000 pound bombs raining down on a country no larger than the State of Tennessee? Your leaders tell you that there will be “collateral damage” — a nice military term for civilian (that is, men, woman and children) casualties. They also say that some of you will just have to die. For what?
For the people of Kosovo? Not!! Read between the lines of all their propaganda and you will see that the Kosovars are being used as pawns in a large chess game of power politics — just as the Slovenians, Bosnians and Croatians were a few years ago. There is no intention to set up an independent “Republic of Kosova”. The plan calls for continued Serbian domination of the region with foreign monitoring of Albanian rights.
If NATO is so concerned about humanitarian rights why have they done nothing to stop the “ethnic cleansing” of the Kurdish people in Turkey for the past 15 years? What about the “ethnic cleansing” of Native Americans in U.S. history? What about the present “ethnic cleansing” of Black people, who are being murdered or imprisoned on a grand scale by the authorities in Amerikkka today?
Germany set out to break up Yugoslavia in 1989, much to the disdain of Britain, France and the U.S. who needed a strong Serbian state for their “New World Order”. Today the U.S. is calling the shots, and have united its allies around a program to keep Serbia as the strongest Balkan country, where they can best focus their interests. Their key interest in the area is to prevent a spread of instability–particularly to prevent the heightening tensions between Greece and Turkey, two NATO allies in the region. The U.S. and its Allies act as “global police” in order to strengthen their control to serve their overall interest–to be able to exploit and plunder the peoples and countries of the world for their almighty god Profit$. The Stakes are High! They are even risking a nuclear confrontation with Russia –World War III– in their power drive to control the Balkans.
DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE! We, veterans of past wars and reservists and soldiers of today’s wars, call on the troops of all NATO countries not to go along with the program. To kill, die or watch your buddies die for “your country” has nothing to do with “honor” but has a lot to do with profit. “Your countries” are owned and controlled by a handful of parasites who live off of the blood, sweat and tears of millions the world over. Our military experience has taught us that soldiers are nothing more
than cannon fodder in the power play for world domination.
RESIST! We also learned that we can resist these plans even while in the military. Soldiers have an active role to play to put an end to war. Link up with us and other anti-war groups in your area to oppose this unjust war.
Stop the War in Europe!
Refuse to Support This New Wave of Aggression! Just Say No!
The People of the Balkans Are Not Our Enemies —
They Are Our Brothers and Sisters!
Support Resistance in the Military!
As of March 25, 1999 signed by:
Darnell S. Summers Vietnam Veteran, U.S.Army, 1966-70, VVAWAI, Germany
David Blalock Vietnam Veteran, U.S.Army, 1967-71, VVAWAI, Germany
Peter Gunn Editor of "FighT bAck–The Revolutionary Voice of GIs in
Europe"
Scotty Cade facilitator of VVAWAI Hawaii Chapter
Patrick Carkin US Army Intelligence Analyst 1989-1990,
STOP THE WAR BRIGADE
Release: April 24, 1999
Dear Friends in Struggle,
NATO is 50 years old, and they reject peace and continue the bombings. While NATO leaders dine and celebrate in Washington, D.C., antiwar activists around the world are out in the streets, facing all odds to demand: STOP THE WAR.
A major demonstration of 400 people took place in Heidelberg, Germany on April 24, 1999 at the Headquarters of the U.S. Army. Europe. If ground troops go in, it will be planned and coordinated right here.
Dave Blalock, a Vietnam Veteran, presented a speech to the troops of NATO and to the people of the world. We relay this speech to all of the antiwar activists. You can pass it around and read it at the demos. (If the speech is translated into other languages, please send them to us — see address below).
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DAVE BLALOCK’S SPEECH:
Everyday for the past month NATO has been bombing Yugoslavia with weapons of mass destruction. And everyday and every hour of the past month the NATO controlled media has been bombing the people of the world with images of Kosovo refugees and stories of the “ethnic cleansing” being done by the Serbs.
For sure, people everywhere are horrified by the plight of the Kosovo People. But it makes me sick when I see the crocodile tears being shed by people like Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Chirac, Joscka Fischer, Schroeder, Sharping, General Clark and all the other Imperialist NATO leaders — who today are trying to portray themselves, as the new “Mother Theresas” of the world. . Believe me, there is nothing worse than seeing a crocodile cry while it is devouring its victim.
They claim to want to help the Kosovo people against “ethnic cleansing”, but they are liars and hypocrites! They don’t give a damn about the people of Kosovo. They are using them as pawns at the moment to justify their crimes against all the people of the Balkans. How do I know? Just look at reality:
Where were the NATO “Mother Theresas” last year when the US rocketed Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical factory in Somalia?? No where….they were silent!
What are the NATO “Mother Theresas” doing today about the huge humanitarian crisis in Iraq?? I mean check it out. Since the end of the Gulf War eight years ago, 1,000,000 people including 700,000 children have died. They didn’t die natural deaths. They were killed by the US/UN sanctions which have denied them basic medicine and quality food. In May of 1996, on a TV program about the US/UN sanctions against Iraq, the US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was asked and I quote: “Half a million children have died…more children then Hiroshima. Is the price worth it??” In a cold deadly voice she responded: “Yes , we think the price is worth it.” Today this hypocrite cries crocodile tears for the plight of the Kosovo people and vows to bomb Serbia into submission. NATO doesn’t give a damn about “humanitarian” crises. If they did, they’d break the US-UN sanctions on Iraq.
Why aren’t the NATO “Mother Theresas” calling on the Turkish government to stop the brutal ethnic cleansing campaign against the Kurdish minority in their country that has been going on for many years. A campaign which has killed close to 40,000 thousand people and driven 1 million Kurds from their homelands in Turkey.
Why aren’t the NATO “Mother Theresas” forcing the US backed Israeli government to stop the massive ethnic cleansing campaign against the Palestinians, that has been going on for the past 50 years?? 750,000 Palestinians are still living in refugee camps throughout the Middle East. The NATO hypocrites are silent on this point!
Why aren’t the NATO “Mother Theresas” directing their attention towards London?? The British government has been militarily occupying and brutally suppressing the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland for years. Ireland is England’s oldest colony and they still occupy part of it. One of the first mass ethnic cleansings and genocides of a people in Europe in modern times was the “Great Starvation” of the Irish people in the 1840s by the British empire. What do they say about that’?
Speaking of the British government. Recently their courts ruled that General Pinochet can be extradited to Spain to be tried in court for the torture and murder of prisoners held by him while he was dictator of Chile. The Irony of it all is that it was the USA that financed and directed Pinochet’s rise to power in 1972 when he overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende. Thousands of people were imprisoned and tortured and tens of thousands were killed. What did NATO leaders at the time say or do about this ? They praised Pinochet for “saving democracy”!!!
Why aren’t the NATO “Mother Theresas” talking about the police stations in major cities in the US?? Everyday the U.S. police and SWAT teams brutalize and kill Blacks, minorities, and poor people. Wouldn’t you call it “ethnic cleansing” when the Clinton government’s war on the poor cuts off social help for millions of people and then uses this money to build prisons?? In fact, according to Amnesty International, the US has doubled it’s number of people imprisoned over the past four years. The USA now has the largest percentage of its population in prison then any other country in the world. America also has the largest number of people (3,500) waiting for execution then any other country in the world, including the political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. I would like to point out to everyone here, that today is also “Million For Mumia” Day, so lets not forget about saving this brother from execution.
Why aren’t the NATO “Mother Theresas” targeting the Immigration and Naturalization Service building in Washington, D.C.? After all the I.N.S. maintains a large para-military police force that brutalizes, terrorizes and deports over 100,000 people from the U.S. every year. Wouldn’t you call this “ethnic cleansing”???
Where were the NATO “Mother Theresas” back in 1989 when the US launched a military invasion of 25,000 troops into Panama where their bombs killed 7,000 civilians and they kidnapped THEIR president, Manuel Noreiga??? I say “THEIR president” because that’s what he was, THEIR MAN, but he made the mistake to refuse a U.S. order to support the U.S. plans to invade Nicaragua and they told him straight out, “You are finished.” Can you see the parallels to the RAMBO-llet dictation and the demonizing of Melosevic?
Where were the NATO “Mother Theresas” in the 1980’s when US-sponsored death squads were killing hundreds of thousands of people in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala??? Or what about Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Columbia, Mexico and every other South American country that the U.S. “polices”.
Where were the NATO “Mother Theresas” back in the 1960’s and 70’s ? Why didn’t they put 3 American presidents and high ranking military officers on trial for war crimes?? After all, the US was waging one of the most extensive brutal “ethnic cleansing” operations since the Third Reich. 2,500,000 people in S.E. Asia were exterminated by American bombs, poison chemicals and ground troops on “search and destroy” missions. I know, I was there. And people are still dying there today from their unexploded mine, bombs and chemical agents.
And Africa? Should we talk about Talk about NATO’s support for Apartheid in South Africa for most of its 50 year history. Talk about Somalia, Nigeria, Rwanda, the Congo. Talk about slavery, the ethnic cleansing. Talk about genocide of a whole continent and a whole race of people for 500 years, that helped build the wealth of all the nations that are part of NATO today. If we talk about this, we would be here for days!!
Yes, it would take days, even weeks, months, years to talk about all the crimes and atrocities of the U.S. and its NATO allies. But to make it brief, since the end of World War 2 the US alone has carried out over 200 overt and 6,000 covert military interventions. As a result, tens of millions of people have been killed. Whole countries, families and cultures have been destroyed. What do the NATO “Mother Theresa’s” say about this?? Of course these hypocrites say nothing!!
Today US led NATO operations in Yugoslavia is not about saving lives. It’s not about defending the rights of the oppressed people of Kosovo for self determination! It’s about what it has always been. It’s about the big powers moving to dominate — militarily — economically — and politically — another region of the world they want to control. If they occupy Kosovo and Yugoslavia it will someday be a region where the financial overlords, who NATO really defends, will set up cheap labor sweatshops, large agricultural muli-national run plantations, and high-profit Zinc mines. The people of the Balkans will sweat, and they will sweat good, they will sweat blood, and they will be sweated right down to the bone, so that some billionare in New York, or Paris or Frankfurt or London or Tokyo, will rack up another couple of million of Dollars or Francs or DMarks or Pounds or Yen in their yearly budget report. This is really THEIR INTEREST — THEIR INVESTMENT in this war.
To end, I have two last messages to the PEOPLE OF KOSOVO and to the TROOPS OF NATO.
TO THE PEOPLE OF KOSOVO: Ask yourselves this, what would have happened if the government of Yugoslavia had signed the RAMBO-llet agreement and the Albanian population of Kosovo had refused it and decided to fight for their own liberation?. I’ll tell you what would have happened. YOU would now be the targets of NATO BOMBS. You would be facing the same counterinsurgency operations that the U.S. and it’s allies have applied around the world for the past 50 years. Your plight as refugees would be ignored by CNN and all the other Goebbels-type propaganda schemes of the press. And if they did report about it, they would be yelling about how correct it is for NATO to bomb you, to burn your villages, to “cleanse” you from your lands because, in their eyes, you would be supporters of “terrorism”. This is a plain fact. It has happened to millions of people the world over since this Birthday Monster was born. I call on you, the people of Kosovo and the people of the world: Never forget this!!!!
TO THE TROOPS: If you think, that NATO is really out there to help the people of the Balkans, you are in for a big surprise. As a Vietnam Vet, I know how they used me and millions of other young American men and woman when they sent us of off “in the name of humanity” to oppress the peoples of Indochina. I know how they used the plight of the Vietnamese people during the Vietnam War, a human catastrophe that the U.S. themselves unleashed — as they are doing now in Yugoslavia. They used this plight to get us all riled up to go to Vietnam — I myself believed their propaganda and even volunteered to go there. The present commander-and-chief of NATO, General Clark, know’s this too, for he began his career in Vietnam. Yet he will not hesitate to order you off to kill and die for NATO interests, that are definitely not OUR interests.
Many of you will die in battle, and believe me, it won’t be pretty and glorious. Those of you who survive, may wish afterwards that you died in combat. Because otherwise you will have to live with the memories of what you did and what you saw. I dream everyday about the horrors I experienced in Vietnam. I can understand why over 75,000 Vietnam Vets have committed suicide since the end of the war — that’s 75,000 more than the 58,000 U.S. troops who died in combat!
I began to resist the war in Vietnam, I THANK the antiwar movement of that time (and today) which helped me clean up my brain and find out what this system is all about. I survive today because I use THAT what I had to go through, and THAT what I leaned from the war, to try to influence new generations of brainwashed youth, not to believe their hype; not to fight for their imperialist cause. As Frederick the Great once had to admit,
“If my solders were to begin to think, not one would remain in the ranks.”
UNITE WITH US, THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT, TO STOP THE WAR!
UNITE WITH US, THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD, TO TRULY FIGHT FOR HUMANITY.
THE RESISTERS ARE THE REAL HEROES!
DAVE BLALOCK
U.S.Army, 1968-71, 1st Aviation Brigade in Vietnam, 1969-70,
Member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Anti-Imperialist and the STOP THE WAR BRIGADE
April 24, 1999, U.S. Army Headquarters, European Command, Heidelberg, Germany
For more information and interviews, contact:
STOP THE WAR BRIGADE
Gaustrasse 36, 67547 WORMS, GERMANY
Tel: 0177-4816128 / Fax: an: STWB 06221 – 164489
email: STOPTHEWARBGDE@hotmail.com
ACRIMPROD@aol.com
web: http://www.oz.net/~vvawai
2024 Web address: http://www.vvawai.org/
STOP THE WAR BRIGADE – Demo Report
Release: May 2, 1999
The “Barricades of Berlin” — May 1st, 1999
Tens of thousands of people hit the streets in Berlin this year, turning the May 1st celebrations and demonstrations into loud protests against the war in Yugoslavia. The Day began with the tradtional May 1st demonstration and rally organized by the German Union Confederation. In the past, this rally has always been dominated by very pro-sytem union and Social-Democratic hacks and leaders who make their pleas for more “moderate” reforms for better conditions for the working class. However, this year, the 10,000 workers and union activists at the event overwhelmingly demanded the end to the war in Yugoslavia. The National Chairman of the IG Medien (Journalist Union) demanded that the Air Strikes against Yugoslavia had to stop. He went on to say that the purpose of the attacks, to prevent violence, the expulsions, and human rights violations in Kosovo, have been put off into some never-never land even after six weeks of severe bombings by NATO.
The Party of Democratic Socialists (PDS) — the one party in
parliament which has countered the war from the start — held an anti-war rally at Alexander Square in the middle of the city.
The chairman of the party spoke to over 1,000 people present and pointed out that the human catastrophe in Kosovo was not prevented but increased by the bomb attacks.
Another First of May event in Kreuzberg, organised bv a broad coaltion of grass root forces, orientated the whole festival against the war. This is also a traditional event held every year in a park. This year, the sign over the stage where various music groups performed for thousands read “Against the War”.
The highlights of the day however were two major internationalist and anti-war demonstrations held in Kreuzberg. One was organized at 13 p.m. by a broad coalition of forces under the motto: International Struggle Against Exploitation and Oppression! No Liberation Without Revolution!” The STOP THE WAR BRIGADE was invited to speak at this demonstration of approximately 3,000 people. Darnell Summers addressed the rally that concluded this very internationalist event and also sang the “Just Say No” Rap with other members of the Brigade, “When They Tell You To Go, Just Say No! When They Tell You To Go, Fuck NATO!” (see Speech and Message Download-Send for it).
15,000 people, mainly anti-fascist and anti-war Youth marched in the evening through Kreuzberg under the motto “War Against Imperialist War! For Proletarian Internationalism!”. The STOP THE WAR BRIGADE participated in this demonstration too, passing out the “Message to the Troops of NATO”, which drew a lot of interest from many of the youth who particpated in the march. Jutta Dittfurth, a founder of the Green Party, who was forced out of the
Pary in the 90’s (because of her demand that the Greens should hold up their oringinal principles) held a major speech against the war at the rally before the demonstration. The STOP THE WAR BRIGADE intended to speak at the final rally, but this never took place because the police attacked the demonstration before it could officially end.
The viscious attacks by the police sent thousands of bold youth into all sections of Kruezberg. Under the motto, “German POLICE protect the Fascists” (“Deutsche Polizisten, Schützen den Faschisten”)
barricades were set up, molotov cocktails and cobblestones were thrown, and the First of May elebration against the war in Yugoslavia, against NATO, and against all forms of oppression in the world went on into the early morning hours of the
next day.
German authorities had to admit at a press conference on Sunday that they have not seen such “violence” for years in the city. They did not want to draw a connection between the war in Yugoslavia and the militant demonstrations and street fighting on May 1st, but for all of us present, it was there, loud and clear.
Reports from GJames and Peter Gunn
Major demonstrations against the war in Yugoslavia were the highlights of the First of May demonstrations and festivities throughout Germany this year. At just about every major union rally in the country, people demonstrated against the war. Most Union officials were forced to say something against the war. Those who suported the war were hooted or booed almost off the
stages. Many were hardly able to finish their speeches.
The following is a short sum-up of the most important demonstrations (it should be noted, that May First is a national holiday in Germany. The Unions, various political parties and progressive people throughout the country celebrate this day with many rallies and demonstrations. This years’ events were overwhemlingly orientated against the War in Yugoslavia)
Saarbruecken: 10,000 people came out to the demonstration in this city. Oskar Lafontaine, one of the leaders of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) made a major speech at the rally. This was the first time Lafontaine appeared in public after stepping down as Finance Minister two months ago. His resignation has been clouded with mystery, since he has refused to talk to
the press about why he left the government. Lafontaine called on the German Government to stop the attacks against Yugoslavia and return to peace negotiations.
Ludwigshafen is the home of the multinational chemical firm, “BASF”. Once part of the massive “IG Farben” Chemical Monopoly in World War II, this firm helped produce the gas for the death chambers of Ausschwitz, Dachau and other NAZI concentration camps. Thus, it was quite an appropiate place for the present Social Democratic Defense Minister of the country to hold his May 1st speech. especially since he is leading the German Military into its first war since World War II. Rank and file union members have tried to force the German Unions’ Federation to take back its invitation to Scharping ever since the war began. They refused, and all chaos broke out in the Friedrich-Ebert-Hall (named after another pro-war Social Democratic lobbyist in WW I) when the Minister began to speak. 150 anti-war demonstrators managed to sneek into the hall (6 were arrested by the police outside the hall before the event began) and disrupted Scharpings speech with loud whistles and choruses of “Murderer, Murderer!”. The Minister shrugged it all off, however, defending Germany’s participation in the war, as various protestors were forced out of the hall by security guards.
Schwerin: 40,000 people participated in the German Unions’ Federation (DGB) national rally here. This was supposed to be a grand march “for employment” but it was turned into a giant protest against the war, as many of the participants carried banners and posters denouncing the War in Yugoslavia. Various union hacks had to speak out against the war at the rally.
Berlin: “We are now going over to attack” announced a police loudpeaker wagon, as it gave gas and almost ran over a bunch of peaceful demonstrators who were standing in the street, protesting the war in Yugoslavia. Riot police charged into the mass of people who had gathered in front of the police lines, clubbing everyone in sight, knocking over tables and customers at a sidewalk cafe.
15,000 anti-fascists and anti-war youth were just getting ready to hold their final rally at 8:30 p.m when the police attacked this huge mass of protestors. One of the organisers of the event said afterwards that there “was no reason for them to attack us”; up until then, the march had been peaceful. But, war is what the authorities undoubtedly wanted, and war was what they got.
Thousands of youth dug up cobblestones, overturned construction wagons, and pulled cars out into the streets to erect barricades to hold the police intact. In some places, the police had to face such a barrage of bottles and stones,
that other units were rushed into the area to save their buddies. The chant “Deutsche Polizisten, schützen den Faschisten!” (German Police, Protect the Fascists) became the battle cry, as demonstrators were chased from one area and appeared in another to set up new barricades. The fighting went on late into the night throughout the Berlin city sections of Neu-Koeln and Kreuzberg.
The next day it was reported that 160 police had been wounded, hundreds of demonstrators had to be treated for serious injuries , 122 protestors had been arrested, 42 shop windows were smashed and over 30 cars damaged. Authorities had to admit that they had not seen such “visciousness” in the annual May First street fights of Kruezberg for years. The War in Yugoslavia came home to the streets of the capital for a few hours on May 1st,1999.
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Darnell S. Summers Speech, May 1st, Kreuzberg/Berlin, Germany
The Current Situation:
Part of NATO’s strategy since the collapse of the Soviet Union has been to isolate those governments which have designs of their own for hegemony and dominance in the Balkans. The breakup of Yugoslavia has served to realize this policy. The acceptance of Hungary, The Czech Republic and Poland into the alliance, underlines NATO’s necessity to go directly to the borders of their adversaries, inching up on their enemy looking to deliver the sucker-punch.
Isolate, annihilate, and control = “First Strike, First Kill”.
Romania and Bulgaria have opened their airspace in exchange for the spoils, a piece of the pie. Estonia, Lettland, and Lithuania are certain to be swept up in the undertow. Any dreams of opposition to the Western Capitalists plans of Globalization will be met with an Iron Fist.
For weeks Nato has been waging a relentless campaign of agression. The Bombing has been continuous and without mercy. The expected outcome, for NATO, is that the resulting onslaught should pressure Milosevic(code word for the Yugoslavian Ruling Class), to step down and allow forces more inclined to follow the policies of NATO. That’s Gangster Logic. Make the masses suffer enough and maybe their leader will be held responsible and he’ll just go away. This is their strategy and their military commanders say it every day.
A Similar Strategy was followed in WWII. Dresden is just now recovering from that criminal attack. The population centers of Germany were torched from the air.
The infrastructure was purposely destroyed to terrorize the civilian population. Let’s not forget the treachery of the Nazi regime for bombing Guernica, Coventry, London, Warsaw, and countless other Metropoles. Now these war-mongers are comparing notes on their attacks on each other, to see how best they can make the yugoslavians knuckle under. What nerve they have, how stupid they think we are. This same strategy is being employed today, right now, at this very moment.
What will be the outcome? Even if a deal is cut to end hostilities for the moment, instability will still reign in the region and throughout the world. We must remain diligent and on guard. The anti-war movement has no time for a vacation. We can’t allow our movement to be yo-yoed from crisis to crisis, adventure to adventure. The battle is on. We are the vanguard of the
movement to save the world from their madness and mutual destruction.
This is an attack on the Yugoslavian people under the guise of going after the reactionary Milosevic and his clique. The Yugoslavian people must rise up and throw off all the bloodsuckers, foreign and domestic. The ‘Stop The War Brigade’ has been consistent in its opposition to wars of aggression and domination. My very own experience is clear proof of the need for the work that the Brigade performs. As a young soldier in the US Army I was inspired by the VVAW and its opposition to the muderous policies of the US goverment and how that policy manifested itself in the Viet Nam War. I was inspired by the anti-war protests. Vets organizing and politically educating other soldiers and vets. It gave me strength. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of soldiers in the pigs’ own Army resisted. This resistance took many forms, most of which spelled mutiny. The heroic armed-resistance of the vietnamese People, the actions of U.S. soldiers inside the belly of the
beast , together with the mass protests around the world played a decisive role and allowed us to defeat the reactionaries. We exposed their crimes. Murder on a grand scale. Rape, the order of the day. Discrimination and National oppression part and parcel of their program for world domination. We know it’s true and that’s why these killers are trying to silence all voices of resistance, trying to turn back the hands of time. Trying to submerge the truth.
I remember the words of one viet nam vet who participated in the March on Washington dubbed Dewey Canyon III. Thousands of vets were present, passing in review and heaving their decorations at the Capitol and as he threw his medals over the barrier and onto the steps of Capitol he shouted” I don’t want to fight again but the next time I do, it’ll be to take these steps”.
One thing is certain. Support for this War against Yugoslavia is support for the War against the Vietnamese people.
American Generals are now telling the press about what they learned during the Viet Nam conflict and that they intend to apply those lessons to thewar on Yugoslavia.
Now, I think it’s an understatement to say that many honest people are confused about this war. In fact, one of my dearest friends has come out(privately, that is) in support of this war under the banner of “we have to stop the killing and support the governments policies”, or as one Green Party spokesman(Christian S.) put it, “we must choose between the lesser of two evils”. I would say to my friend as I would to the enemy, If evil is all that you have on your program, the only alternative, then you must suffer the consequences of that bankrupt policy.
No, my friend is not the enemy but he runs the risk, as many before him here in Germany, of selling his soul to the Devil for relative security, calm, and German national Interests. While the rest of the world suffers, he will be relieved to know that the stores’ shelves are well stocked and the trains are running on time.
Hard decisions must be met. The handwriting is on the wall. Resistance to their war plans and the struggle ultimately on to their removal from influence and power will take on many forms. How can we fight these monsters
of laser-guided death? They possess weapons of mass destruction and intimidation. No dialog is possible and that is clear for everyone to see.
NATO, Capitalisms’ military arm, clearly stated its intention at their pitiful birthday celebration. They intend to intervene in any and all conflicts which go against their interests. That means that no one is allowed to oppose them.
If you have been watching TV you’ll know that a number of programs have been aired glorifying the military, preparing people for a higher military profile. Earlier this week on ARTE, ‘The History of the German Navy aired.
The point of that program was to explain that today the German Navy serves the interests of the Free World and belongs to NATO, the guarantor of Germany’s Prosperity and World Leadership.
A propaganda war is being conducted to justify and solidify the military’s resurgence on the world stage. Japan’s parliament, with U.S. blessing, will shortly ‘consider’ legislation to expand its influence in Asia. Sound familiar?
What about ethnic cleansing? I say that anyone who promotes such a program should be condemned. It just occurred to me that the Black Ghettoes of the United States are a sort of permanent form of ethnic cleansing, not to mention the forced acceptance of a scrap of land by the Indians for the Genocide perpetrated against them. Ethnic cleansing has been a cornerstone of all of the western regimes for over 500 years. Who are they trying to deceive?
Now let’s talk about the 16 journalists, who were murdered by NATO pilots just a few days ago. US-led NATO pact talk about the Free Press and what do they do? They start to take out television, radio and print media to force their opinion without rebuttal on the whole world. NATO is imposing ‘gun to your head’ censorship . What right to do they have to extinguish an opposing view. The ‘Right of Might’ to put it simply. They cry about how Milosevic is controlling the media, only to cover their own plans to cancel out all information on the war except for their ‘no-speak’ reports. We can’t even watch the pictures of total destruction and suffering.
Too much exposure of NATOs war-machine.
NATO is showing its real face.
The Mad Bomber.
They are even waging war on the internet. Our email was sabotaged recently, six hours after one of our spokesman addressed GI’s at a demonstration at Spangdahlem Airbase. Now, all of a sudden, GI’s can’t send or receive email on the US military server.
NATO is waging war on all fronts, with no holds barred. Today, May 1 1999, on the eve of the millenium, Europe is at war. NATO has marshalled its military forces against a tiny, defenseless nation. While they talk of saving humanity their actions speak to the contrary.
Their history is full of many examples of Genocide and Oppression. They never were, and will never be, the answer to the problems of the world. They and their system are the problem. We’re now getting our act together. Organizing, discussing, acting out our plan. The stakes are high.
I know that in many cities across the world, and yes, even in Yugoslavia, there are people with a vision, coming together, on this day, looking to other countries, knowing that they’re not alone. We have a job to do, and remember,
“They are trying to destroy the world, we want to save it”.
May 1st, 1999
Darnell S. Summers
Vietnam Veteran, U.S.Army 1966-
STOP THE WAR BRIGADE
Vietnam Veterans Against The War/ Anti-Imperialist, Germany