Hola Mac,
I 've got electricity again but I don't know for how long, so I am going to
be rather brief. And you'll have to cope with my imperfect English:-)
As far as I can see, from your mail, you are making a few serious
mistakes.I can understand it entirely, because I know that it is very
difficult to have a whole picture about a situation in a country which is so
specific by it's history and mentality, and so distant , not only because of
geography but because of ideological and media distortions too. That's why I
was reproaching Noam and Jared, both of them, for their attitude towards
Yugoslavia: Noam wrote a book, New Military Humanism, without being in
contact with all the facts necessary for such an endeavor, so he made couple
of mistakes; nevertheless, I think that he brought more good than bad to YU
progressives facing neoliberal, nationalist and statist challenges- but this
is another story. Jared and IAC, and some other Marxist and progressive
publications are repeating this mistake, but with other motives, I suppose.
I tend to think that their line of reasoning is more dangerous because
simplicity it is offering, trough category of "support", is only making our
anti-imperialist cause more weaker. That is the reason why our Resistance
community went back to Resistance vs. Support idea, and that's why we are
finding our inspiration in international grassroots initiatives ( like the
one in Prague, INPEG, you are mentioning) and not in ideological isolation.
That is why I am on this list. I believe that only trough trans-ideological
solidarity and resistance we can make this world a better place. In order to
build a real anti-imperialist movement, we must concentrate on the
Resistance towards imperial perils we are all confronting .........I am sure
that you are familiar with the words of one famous intellectual and radical,
M.Foucault:
" I admit to not being
able to define, nor for even stronger reasons to
propose, an ideal social model for the functioning of
our scientific or technological society.... It seems to me
that the real political task in a society such as ours is to
criticize the workings of institutions, which appear to be
both neutral and independent; to criticize and attack
them in such a manner that the political violence which
has always exercised itself obscurely through them will
be unmasked, so that one can fight against them".
I think that they are more important now than in 1968....For a movement
postulated on resistance it is utterly important to avoid mistakes which
well
minded but old-fashioned radicals are making, and to confront ideological
exclusivity. It is- perhaps even more- important to stick only to the facts
and
to refrain from providing "finished truths"and giving advises to people
who are facing very uncertain and unpleasant present and future.
Chomsky recently wrote this, related with Yugoslav situation: "Needless to
say, I don't have the impudence to suggest anything to people facing hard
and maybe terrible choices about what
they should do". This is my advice to all radicals who are trying to help
Yugoslavs right now. Let us concentrate on our own fights, and try to help
us not
by interfering in our internal maters but trough resistance towards your
governments and their genocidal politics.
This is my general warning to all of you who are trying to help people in
Yugoslavia.
More practical warnings and mistakes which I deduced, perhaps wrongly, from
your text, are the following:
1. Because of your scarce knowledge of Yugoslav inside situation, you don't
know, I suppose, that Milosevic and his oligarchy had already made the
project- we are calling it "inside colonization"- because of which all of
Yugoslavs progressives ( communists, Marxists, anarchists) are against them:
they have privatized all the capital in their hands; so, you have JUL as a
syndicate of privileged businessmen who represent "new class" of most well
to do citizens of Yugoslavia. Yugoslav workers do hate JUL with a good
reason. Workers voted against Milosevic and his party, election showed; no
one was surprised. My father is working for a 70 dmarks ( 35 $) for a month,
my mother is receiving her pension in the amount of 50 dmarks ( 25$)...
Because Milosevic privatized state economy, destroyed public welfare
(with the help of sanctions) and he had impoverished working and all other
classes except his own. So you have a president of parliament who has three
biggest companies in the south of the country. Just to name one example.
Milosevic family is perhaps the richest one in the country: after he was
elected, 13 years ago,
his son became an owner of three ex state enterprises + numerous bakeries,
discotheques, and his doughtier has become an owner of TV station, Radio
station,
Recording Company and so on and so forth.
So, this is the reason why YU workers and progressives are of the opinion
that "inside colonization" is not better than "outside colonization"; I went
to all countries you are mentioning: YU is still the poorest one.
We are poorer than Hungary, Bulgaria, Chech Republic and Romania. Much
poorer that Poland, Croatia and Slovenia. Been there, talked to progressives
of all stripes over there. Colonization a la Milosevic or colonization a la
US Empire: well , frankly, there is no difference when it comes to ordinary
lives. We are not going to be poorer after US colonization; how can one be
poorer when he earns , as an University professor, 20$? And if he is a
worker sometimes the same and sometimes much less?
2. We are , progressives from YU, not only anarchists, very well aware of
neoliberal danger; we have participated in organization of protests in
Eastern Europe, Western Europe, even in the US; some of us are now in
Prague. But mere existence of this danger is not a justification for
Milosevic; we are against him because of different reasons: impoverishing
the country and getting himself and his surrounding excessively rich,
behaving like a dictator, forbidding papers, free speech , molesting
people...
You have to abandon the myth of "Milosevc the anti-imperialist" if you want
to see things more clearly. To feel the "inside context".
My father is telling me right now: Parliament has introduced semi- formal
state of emergency. You see?
3. I don't like Kostunica; to be honest, I don't despise the fellow, just
don't like him. Neoliberal opposition? I hate them-they are much worse than
Kostunica's party which is nationalistic and right wing. I am in constant
fights with their cultural managers from B92, VREME, SOROSH and others. But,
4. Kostunica really had won the fuckin elections! We are not plentiful, but
our progressive network organized a control of the elections and he really
had won. If you are a democrat, and anti-imperialist, you have to respect
this, this is a will of the people. Even if you don't like it. I was
fervently against all attempts to call Milosevic a dictator when he was
legally elected. He really had support of the people few years ago. Now, he
had lost it. If someone from the outside doesn't like this, think that
people are seduced and manipulated, it is Ok, but he must be aware that he
is behaving imperialistically himself, against the will of Yugoslav people.
5. You have a rather old fashioned picture about anarchist movement.
I am sending to you, after this mail. one good text about contemporary
anarchism.
In struggle,
Andrej
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