As the Western media proclaimed a cowardly victory for the US/NATO bombing
campaign in Yugoslavia this past weekend, the stability of "peace
talks" was already beginning to waver, and thousands were turning out to
demonstrate against the war on each coast of the United States, as well as the
UK, Canada, Greece, and other places around the world.
It has been a tense several days for those of us paying close attention to
the war, as we evaluate both the status of so-called "negotiations" in
Europe and that of the anti-war movement here at home.
In Washington, DC, on Saturday the fifth of June, a significant crowd turned
out to bear witness to the continuing ravages of war and demonstrate our
movement’s disbelief in the impending peace process. Even assuming near- total
surrender on the part of Milosevic’s Serbia, it is clear that nothing resembling
true peace will beset Yugoslavia in the near future. And though we may have
wavered a bit while sorting through the myths and realities of this latest phase
of negotiations, it is clear that the anti-war movement here is growing, quite
necessarily.
The DC Action
Estimates of participation in the June 5 demo in DC range from 2,000 (the
Pentagon’s figure, conspicuously settled on by UPI news service), to 10,000, the
number favored by lead organizers, the International Action Center. A trusted
companion of mine counted 4500 heads passing one point during the march from the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial to the Pentagon lawn. This is the most reliable and
believable figure I can convey. Those of us who participated would like to
believe we were more, but the reality is this anti-war movement is still taking
baby steps.
During the march, most activists seemed beleaguered, probably not just from
the heat. Demonstrators appeared to lack committed unity and passion. Chants
were weak in both volume and content, in some cases making misogynist references
to Madeleine Albright, or calling for continued Serbian domination of the
province of Kosovo. While there was some refreshing creativity in the form of
artistic floats, slogans and signs, most people toted stale, mass-produced
placards.
More than 25 speakers addressed the crowd during rallies before and after the
march. The vast majority of these, invited by the International Action Center (IAC),
either failed to mention or outright denied the repression, expulsion and
execution of Kosovar Albanians by Milosevic’s troops — popularly referred to as
"ethnic cleansing."
IAC founder and icon Ramsey Clark summed up the dominant position of his
organization by urging us to remember that Serbs are the main victims of ethnic
cleansing in the Balkans. He passively denied recent history by proclaiming
Serbia a peaceful land prior to 1990, implicitly suggesting that Kosovar
Albanian resistance instigated troubles, instead of Serbia’s annexation of the
once-autonomous Kosovo. Western leaders were repeatedly referred to as "the
real war criminals," thus exonerating Slobodan Milosevic for comparatively
fewer, but no less deplorable crimes against humanity.
One speaker overlooked Serbian atrocities but harped on the (far fewer)
crimes of the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA) against Serbian civilians. He went
still farther, referring to allegations that KLA funding is derived from
smuggling heroine and marijuana (!) which in turn is "destroying this
society," referring to the US. This misdirection, apologetics and
exaggeration were disturbingly common throughout much of the day’s speeches.
Gordon Clark, executive director of Peace Action, and Amy Goodman of Pacifica
Radio’s "Democracy Now," provided rare, refreshing perspectives in a
sea of otherwise largely banal ranting. Clark’s insistence on an appropriate,
reasonable stance was welcome in the midst of bizarre apologetics: "I want
to be very clear here today that I am ADAMANTLY pro- Serbian and ADAMANTLY
anti-Milosevic! That I am ADAMANTLY pro- Kosovo Albanian, and ADAMANTLY
anti-Kosovo [sic] Liberation Army!"
Positive responses to emotional speeches by both Clarks were similarly
intense, leaving some of us confused as to whether people were hearing the
difference.
No matter how hard I tried to get involved in the various elements of the
demonstration, constant reminders of our movement’s schizophrenia, in the form
of counter-productive messages, repeatedly dampened my mood. Marching along side
Serbian nationalists who sported glossy stickers proclaiming "Kosovo is
Serbian" did not exactly inspire an air of solidarity in those of us who
support popular self-determination in the struggling province.
Movement Implications
One major lesson of the day was entirely predictable: the International
Action Center, a front group of the notorious marxist-leninist, state terror
apologist Workers World Party, doesn’t have the integrity required to build and
lead a mass movement. Though the IAC isn’t short on organizational capability
and energy, it does lack respectable leadership. Carrying the notion of
"the enemy of my enemy is my friend" to a disturbing extreme is
dangerously counter-productive. Workers World/IAC have not only downplayed the
crimes of Milosevic and Saddam Hussein against ethnic populations, but even
rationalized and lauded Beijing’s contemptible 1989 massacre of dissidents at
Tienanmen Square. An article on the IAC web site refers to criticism of
Milosevic for ordering atrocities against ethnic Albanians as
"victim-blaming." ("Message to the Anti-War Movement: Don’t Blame
the Victim," Deirdre Griswold, http://iacenter.org/blamvict.htm)
IAC relies on trumped up self-adulation methods including the inflation of
demonstration sizes — their pattern seems to be doubling numbers, having
reported a wishful but preposterous 25,000 at the April 24 Millions for Mumia
demo in Philadelphia. In their own report, they are disproportionately
self-referential of their own group, as well as Workers World — especially for
an effort that was supposedly organized by a coalition of organizations,
including Peace Action and War Resisters League, among others. ("Ten
Thousand March…," http://iacenter.org/65tentho.htm)
Still, it is argued, at least the IAC is actively "doing something"
against the NATO war. I can’t count how many times I heard well-meaning
activists say this in the weeks leading up to the June 5 mobilization. But
doesn’t that logic sound eerily familiar? Have most of us lost our initiative to
organize alternatives to these types of awkwardly-formulated demos because
someone else is "doing something"? Is the only other option to
"do nothing"? What if the "something" we fall back on is
actually impeding the growth of active resistance to US policy by turning off
people who rightly acknowledge the prerogative of Kosovar Albanians to
self-determination?
An important element was lacking throughout the day’s talks. Rare were
reflections on the strength and potential of the growing peace movement.
Essentially non-existent was analysis of strategy and program, or even
suggestions for future activism. In light of the near-total media blackout with
regard to the demonstration (see "Media Ignores Major Anti-War March,"
FAIR, http://www.fair.org/activism/march.html), this passing over of internal
movement assessment was an enormous mistake. Speaker after speaker criticized
NATO and Pentagon policy, preaching to a fatigued choir, but none discussed
specifics of how we could be expected to actually make gains as a movement.
Nevertheless, these are the key questions with which we are faced. As ever,
impediments within the movement are equally as debilitating as those set in
place by our establishment adversaries. There are plenty of leaders with
abundant integrity. Hopefully, in the near future, they will emerge more
clearly, and those less reliable will not be relied upon to "do
something," which is too close to "do anything." Our message has
to be clear:
(1) we support Kosovar democracy and independence;
(2) we oppose NATO involvement in the region’s affairs;
(3) we oppose KLA dominance of an interim government, prefering the actual
elected government of Kosova;
(4) we support the rebuilding of democratic, grassroots resistance in Serbia
and here at home.
Only by taking a consistent, humanist stance on this crisis, like all others,
can we hope to build an authentic anti-war movement. We must rely on truthful
reason, not sloganeering and distortions, to garner sympathy toward and
participation in continued resistance.
What Next?
For several reasons, now that the perception of victory has been successfully
spun by the US State Department and their corporate media cohorts, a very
dangerous precedent has been set. First of all, the bombing campaign has been
rendered a sensible strategy, which means the public will likely have even fewer
reservations about its employment in the future.
Second, the mainstream media has demonstrated a willingness to regurgitate
establishment stances more so than any time in recent memory. Officials can rest
assured that the real causes and effects of war will not be portrayed, much less
questioned, in the public sphere by "respectable" institutions.
For these reasons, anti-militarist organizing must not relax but rather
accelerate in the immediate future. We need to be better prepared to identify
crises, disseminate crucial facts, and popularize anti-interventionist
sentiment. We should be looking toward Iraq, Turkey, Indonesia/East Timor,
Korea, Colombia, and Chiapas, Mexico, as well as other regions where Western
interests are at stake.
Finally, while the conflict in Yugoslavia has taken a new turn, it is by no
means over. We now have the opportunity to take a more pro- active stance on the
situation. While continuing to resist NATO involvement in Yugoslav affairs, we
should demand that the Democratic League of Kosova be given a predominant role
in the reestablishment of society in the battered province as refugees return.
The democratically-elected government of Kosovo should replace the KLA — the
alternative is top-down administration of reconstruction. Only through continued
vigilance can we educate the public as to what just occurred in the Balkans and
what needs to happen presently, hopefully garnering still more support in the
process.
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RealAudio broadcasts of speeches by both Ramsey Clark and Gordon Clark can
found at Democracy Now, http://www.webactive.com/webactive
/pacifica/demnow/dn990604.ht
ml
The original version of Gordon Clark’s speech, highly recommended, is
posted at http://www.peace-action.org/rally_speech.html
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Brian Dominick is an organizer and journalist. He is a member of On the
Ground, a collective presently distributing a variety of anti-war materials
and activist aids, including a self-titled newspaper. http://kosovo.rootmedia.org;
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ON the GROUND — KOSOVO CRISIS A newly formed collective in Syracuse, NY,
of which I am a member, has published a newspaper and is producing an activist
kit regarding the current crisis in the Balkans. We are calling it, and
ourselves, "On the Ground." For more info go to http://kosovo.rootmedia.org/otg
or write [email protected]. We very much need your support, and you
really need to see this project.