councilor.org
| Source | Louis Proyect |
| Date | 99/07/04/12:23 |
| AMERICAN BARBARISM AND THE BIG LIE TECHNIQUE ARE THE WINNERS IN KOSOVO* By Barry Lituchy 28 June (Vidovdan) 1999 (*Adapted from his speech at the June 5th Demonstration at the Pentagon) Is there anyone left who still believes that Yugoslavia was destroyed by "ancient ethnic hatreds," and not from without by Western - particularly American - imperialism and covert action? The potency of this big lie diminished greatly as 20,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Yugoslavia over 79 days, exposing the pure bloodsucking savagery that is American imperialism. But not before it served its purpose in providing the necessary diversion for the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department to carve up Yugoslavia once again, detaching Kosovo from Serbia and occupying it, looting its resources. When investigating a crime one must learn both the motive and the modus operandi of the perpetrator. Some of the best evidence of the economic motives driving this war are in the perverted documents of the criminals themselves, such as the infamous "Rambouillet Accords." Chapter 4 of this 85 page Nazi-like ultimatum deals exclusively with what is to be done with the economic assets of Kosovo. At the very top of the list, Article 1 (page 45) calls for the privatization of the whole economy. Since Kosovo's large industry is almost entirely state owned, this document amounts to nothing less than an organized theft of Yugoslav resources by Western corporations. Indeed, as the New York Times admitted in a 1998 article, "below Kosovo, a war's glittering prize" awaits the conqueror. Kosovo's mineral resources are the richest in all of Europe west of Russia. In particular, the N.Y. Times noted, "the sprawling state-owned Trepca mining complex, the most valuable piece of real estate in the Balkans, is worth at least $5 billion," producing gold, silver, pure lead, zinc, cadmium, as well as tens of millions of dollars in profits annually. Trepca was built by the British before World War II, and is now once again back in the hands of British capitalists. Kosovo's mines also possess 17 billion tons of coal reserves, and Kosovo (like Serbia and Albania) also has oil reserves. But these were not the only economic motives driving this war. Serbia itself is also rich in mineral resources, especially oil. And the port of Bar on the Montenegrin coast is the most valuable, cost efficient deep water port in the entire Eastern Mediterranean Sea - the cheapest route for the flow of goods in and out of Eastern Europe and beyond. Also, extremely valuable oil and natural gas pipelines flow through Serbia from Russia to Central Europe. Finally, let's not forget the interests of the military-industrial contractors themselves. Having used up their inventory of certain weapon systems, the Pentagon got Congress to rush through a $15 billion military spending bill for just the first six months following the outbreak of the war. The NY Times reported that Congress is expected to request an additional $120 billion for the next five years and over $250 billion through the year 2010. This is a bonanza for the munitions makers but a looming catastrophe for humanity, for as the criminal American ruling class prepares this vast expansion of military power they are also preparing to plunge humanity into a state of constant war with the rest of the world, a vision of the future not unlike the one portrayed in George Orwell's novel 1984. But the economic prizes are not the only motivation behind the war. Also important is the fact that Yugoslavia represents an alternative to capitalism, and no such alternative can be permitted to exist -- especially not when it is outperforming many of its capitalist neighbors economically. Yugoslavia has the last socialist economy in Europe. 65% of all firms are either state owned or self-managed cooperatives. The combination of private, cooperative and state run enterprises is -- and always has been -- the hallmark of the Yugoslav socialist model. Most heavy industry is state owned, and it was the exclusive focus of the 79 day bombing campaign. The banking and financial system is also state controlled. Only 20% of the workforce is in the private sector. And Milosevic has moved away from privatization in recent years. Despite Western-imposed sanctions Yugoslavia's economy managed to show one of the best growth rates in Eastern Europe last year. Unable to wreck the Yugoslav model through sanctions, the US and its European allies financed mercenary armies in the guise of "democratic opposition movements." When even these proved insufficient, the US and its henchmen resorted to an outright terrorist bombing campaign. The modus operandi of US imperialism in the Balkans follows a pattern that by now should be altogether too familiar: incite ethnic conflict by supporting secessionist movements; invent a new fake history of the region to justify the secessionists; covertly finance and arm the secessionists (using the narcotics trade for financing); exaggerate and misrepresent internal suppression of that rebellion into human rights violations; disseminate cooked stories of atrocities to the media, the human rights groups and Jewish organizations; and then, in the wake of the media clamor, threaten war to "defend human rights. Yugoslavia will serve as the precedent for all future "humanitarian" wars of the 21st century. Soon we shall need to refer to the coming century as "Orwell's Century" (or perhaps Goebbels'?). It is funny to recall that when America blew up the Chinese Embassy, the US corporate media simply could not comprehend what all the fuss was about in China. Of course, having not received their cue from the State Department and the human rights organizations, the American media was puzzled as to what the big deal was in China. "What are they getting so worked up about," they asked? So much for a free press. Likewise, the faces and names of hundreds of thousands of Serbian and other Yugoslav victims of the NATO bombings were rarely seen by the American public and the destruction of the country of Yugoslavia was obscured by blanket coverage of "the plight w as Albanians rape, murder and pillage their way back into Kosovo against the half million Serbs, Gypsies, Turks, Goranies and other nationalities in Kosovo, the human rights "watchers" have all gone on holiday. This in the end is the "Kosovo autonomy" that all of these human rights fakers (and not a few "leftists") clamored for. So much for human rights. In reality, the conflict in Kosovo that supposedly compelled NATO to intervene was never really about Serbs versus Albanians -- except in the Western imperialists' imagination. It was a struggle between Western sponsored Albanian fascism that went by the name of the KLA versus Yugoslavism. And when the Yugoslav army smashed the KLA, the West intervened directly. We supported Yugoslavia in this struggle, not merely because it was the right thing to do, but because of what it stands for: the last multi-national state in Europe, the last socialist society in Europe, the last free people in Europe. This is why Yugoslavia proved to be such a powerful obstacle to IMF and NATO domination of southeastern Europe. And this is why it was so savagely demonized, slandered and slaughtered. Since the truth would be unpopular, the US foreign policy establishment had to cast about for lies to justify their aggression. The lies took the form of a virulent racist diatribe against the Serbs. The "enemy" was always "the Serbs" -- never the Yugoslavs. Although Serbs make up a majority of present day Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia consists of 27 nationalities, so the bombs were falling on lots of non-Serbs. But the main purpose of the anti-Serb propaganda was to misrepresent the history of Yugoslavia as some sort of "Greater Serbian nationalist state." However, rather than advocating "greater Serbian nationalism" and ethnic cleansing, the Serbs have always -- both before and after the initial dismemberment of Yugoslavia in 1991 -- supported a multinational, socialist and independent Yugoslavia. It was for this "crime" against global capitalism and US corporate power, and this "crime" alone, that they were demonized. Indeed, the fierce anti-colonial and revolutionary traditions of the Serbs were well known long before this crisis ever began, for the Serbs have a long tradition of resistance to imperialism. It was known in 1804 when the Serbs led the first uprising against the Ottoman Turks in the Balkans. It was known in 1878 when the Serbs forced the Turks to retreat from much of the Balkans and completely in 1913. It was known in World War I when a million Serbs died to throw the Habsburg Germans out of the Balkans. And it was known again after World War II when Serbian anti-fascists played the leading role in stopping 33 Nazi Wehrmacht divisions. Most importantly, it was known by the US, British and West German governments throughout the Cold War which harbored and supported the former Croatian, Albanian and Bosnian Muslim fascists for fifty years until they could give birth to neo-fascist movements which once again could destroy Yugoslavia and come to power in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo as they had back in 1941 at the behest of Il Duce and Der Fuhrer. It has always been known by would-be conquers, that in order to conquer the Balkans you must first conquer the Serbs. During this war the Serbs held out for an ideal they believed in and for their independence. They hoped their struggle would resonate with other forces in the world. They waited and listened as their cities were blown up and burned, as their electricity and water supplies were destroyed, as their children and people were poisoned and murdered. But in the end they stood alone -- there was no response. The big lie triumphed. The defeat of the Serbs leaves us all with a much more dangerous world. It has fully exposed the dark, criminal nature of William Jefferson Clinton - a rapist, a murderer, a gangster and a fascist -- and his entire government. But we should not compare Clinton to Hitler; it does not do justice to the full range of Clinton's social pathology. He's best compared to a Ted Bundy or John Wayne Gacy: sexual predators who murder the weak. But this is not the first time that the Serbian people have been subjugated, nor the last time that they shall rise up in struggle against a bloody dictator and empire. The Serbs must plan for their day of liberation today. They must make a record of every person murdered by American pilots and sailors, a record of every person crippled or injured, of every piece of property damaged, destroyed or stolen, of every bridge, car and school bombed. The total cost to the American and Western European taxpayers for these crimes will be around one trillion dollars. Americans especially must pay up, since well over 90% of the damage was done by American forces. We must promise ourselves to do better this time than after Jasenovac. We must promise ourselves that there will be a reckoning for the crimes committed by American fascism, and that there will be a punishment extracted - in blood if need be - from those who committed these atrocities and crimes against humanity. There can be no justice for the peoples of the Balkans without justice for Yugoslavia and for the Serbian people. That is our central demand. And there can be no peace as long as Western colonial troops occupy the Balkans. NATO imperialists out of the Balkans! Long live Yugoslavia! (Barry Lituchy teaches European history at Kingsborough Community College, CUNY) |
Copyright (c) 1998, Joongpil Cho