Date: Sun, 04 Apr 1999 19:21:48 -0400
From: roger <pelecat-AT-bellsouth.net>
Subject: Re: The Anarchist Attitude To War




Dave Coull wrote:

<snip>

> I'm not even going to comment on anything
> else Roger says until he apologises.


this is an emotional issue, Dave, and if i've said anything to offend
you, then i do apologize.  i believe that i have said, both in posts to
you and to Nico, that i certainly do not consider you to be anything
other than what you present yourself as:  a class-struggle anarchist.  i
believe i have also commented upon the reasonableness and consistency of
your position and that we share a similar assessment of the
effectiveness and morality of the bombing and the cynical hypocracy of
nato in general and the U$/UK in particular.  ok?

but let us be clear.  where we do differ is on what is going on in
kosovo right now, and maybe on what happened and why during the
Holocaust.  if you have the time, i would be very interested in your
views on what is happening in the balkans (sans the nato/western
connection) and on what we can do as anarchists to help our brothers and
sisters there, regardless of ethnicity and religion.  i can certainly
see how stopping the bombing could help our serbian friends.  i've never
supported strategic bombing as a concept, nor do i support making war
upon any people as such.  i agree that total war is hard to square with
anarchist principles.  but how do we provide our kosovar kindred 'mutual
aid' in their time of trial and tribulation?

Dave, my first experience with this issue was in 1978 in a beograd
railway station.  four serb (i assume) police separated out all the
"turks", a term applied to anyone of albanian/turkish/north african
ancestry, and forced them to kneel in a small, crowded anteroom just off
the main lobby for the entire night.  if one stood up or sat down, a
policeman would casually approach and hit him with a stick until he
returned to a squating position.  the women in the main lobby were
verbally harrassed and leered at.  this went on from about 2 am until 6
or so when the rush hour began.

kosovar/albanians are the poorest people in europe.  much poorer per
capita than the serbs.  they have attacked no one.  they are largely
helpless.  what serb security forces are doing to them is an evil
thing.  full stop.

finally, like carp, i don't have any answers either.


roger