>The Official Web Presentation of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs > >Yugoslav Daily Survey - Special Issue > >BELGRADE, 2 October 2000 YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC ADDRESSES THE NATION >(Tanjug).- Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic addressed on Monday the >nation over the Serbian radio and television. "Dear citizens, In the >expectation of the second round of the election, I take the opportunity to >explain to you my views on the electoral and political situation in our >country, especially in Serbia. As you know, efforts have been underway for a >whole decade to place the entire Balkan peninsula under the control of some >western powers. A big part of that job was done by establishing puppet >governments in some countries, by transforming them into countries with >limited sovereignty or even deprived of any sovereignty at all. Due to our >resistance to such a fate for our country, we were subjected to all forms of >pressure to which people in the contemporary world can be subjected. The >number and intensity of the pressures multiplied as time went by. All >experience the big powers gained in the second half of the 20th century in >overthrowing governments, causing unrest, instigating civil wars, disparaging >or liquidating national freedom fighters, bringing states and nations to the >brink of poverty - all this was applied to our country and our people. The >developments organized for our elections are also a part of the organized >persecution of our country and our people, because our country and our people >constitute a barrier to the establishment of full domination in the Balkan >peninsula. A grouping has for a long time now been present in our midst which, >under the guise of opposition political parties of democratic orientation, >represents the interests of governments which are the protagonists of >pressures against Yugoslavia, and especially against Serbia. That grouping >appeared in these elections under the name Democratic Opposition of Serbia. >Its true head is not its presidential candidate. Its head for many years has >been the president of the Democratic Party and collaborator of the military >alliance which waged a war against our country. He could not even conceal his >collaboration with that alliance. In fact, our entire public knows of his >appeal to NATO to bomb Serbia for as many weeks as necessary to break its >resistance. The grouping organized in this manner for these elections >therefore represents the armies and governments which recently waged war >against Yugoslavia. In representing their interests, the grouping launched >messages to our public that with them at the head, Yugoslavia would be out of >any danger of war or violence, that economic prosperity would come, the >standard of living would improve visibly and rapidly, that Yugoslavia would >allegedly reintegrate in international institutions, and so forth. >Distinguished citizens, It is my duty to warn you publicly and in time that >such promises are false and that the situation is quite different. It is >precisely our policy which guarantees peace and theirs only lasting conflicts >and violence, and I shall tell you why. With the establishment of an >administration supported or installed by a community of countries gathered >within NATO, Yugoslavia would inevitably become a country whose territory >would quickly be dismembered. These are not only NATO's intentions. These are >the pre-election promises of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia. We have >heard from its representatives that Sandzak would get the autonomy that a >member of its coalition and leader of a separatist Muslim organization >Sulejman Ugljanin has been advocating for ten years, and which would in fact >mean a definite separation of Sandzak from Serbia. Their promises also include >giving to Vojvodina an autonomy that would not only separate it from Serbia >and Yugoslavia but would in fact make it an integral part of neighbouring >Hungary. In a similar manner other areas would be separated from Serbia and >some other border areas. Their annexation by neighbouring states has for a >long time been a hot issue in those states, which keep inciting their >minorities in Yugoslavia to make a contribution to an integration of parts of >our country with neighbouring states. Within this policy of dismembering >Yugoslavia, Kosovo would be the first victim. Its present status would be >proclaimed legal and final. It is the first part of its territory to which >Serbia would have to bid farewell, without even voicing hope that this part of >its land could once be returned to it. The remaining territory that would bear >the name Serbia would be occupied by international, US or some third military >forces, which would treat this territory as their military training ground and >as their property to be controlled in line with the interests of the power >whose army is present there. We have been looking at cases of such control and >consequences thereof for decades, and especially in this decade in many >countries around the world, unfortunately lately even in Europe, for instance >in Kosovo, Republika Srpska and Macedonia, in our immediate neighbourhood. The >people of Serbia would know the fate of the Kurds, with a prospect of being >exterminated more speedily than the Kurds since they are less numerous, and >since their movements would be limited to a much smaller area than the one in >which Kurds have been present for decades. As for Montenegro, its fate would >be left in the hands of the mafia, whose rules of the game should be made well >known to the citizens: any breach of discipline and especially any opposition >to mafia interests is punishable by death without any right to appeal. I have >presented to you the fate of Yugoslavia in case of acceptance of the NATO >option for our country, in order to warn you that, in addition to a loss of >land and humiliation of the people, all would live under ceaseless violence. >The new owners of former Yugoslavia's state territory and occupiers of the >remaining Serbian territory would, as is the nature of things, terrorize the >population whose territory they will have occupied. The Serb people itself >would at the same time fight continuously for the re-establishment of a Serb >state in which it could reassemble. They do not want peace or prosperity in >the Balkans. They want this to be a zone of permanent conflicts and wars which >would provide them with an alibi for their lasting presence. "A puppet >government therefore guarantees violence, possibly many years of war, anything >but peace. Only our own administration guarantees peace. Moreover, all >countries finding themselves with a status of limited sovereignty and with >governments under the influence of foreign powers, have speedily become >impoverished in a manner destroying all hope for more just and humane social >relations. A great division into a poor majority and a rich minority - this >has been the picture of eastern Europe for some years now that we can all see. >That picture would also include us. We, too, would under the command and >control of the owners of our country quickly have a tremendous majority of the >very poor, whose prospects of coming out of their poverty would be very, very >uncertain and far away. The rich minority would be constituted by the black >marketeering elite, which would be allowed to be rich only on condition that >it be fully loyal to the command which decides the fate of their country. >Public and social property would quickly be transformed into private property, >but its owners, as demonstrated by the experience of our neighbours, would as >a rule be foreigners. Among few exceptions would be only those who would >purchase their right to ownership by their loyalty and submission, which would >lead to the elimination of elementary national and human dignity. The greatest >national assets in such circumstances become the property of foreigners, and >the people who used to manage them would continue to do so in these changed >circumstances but as employees of foreign companies in their own country. >National humiliation, state fragmentation and social poverty would necessarily >lead to many forms of social pathology, of which crime would be the first. >This is not just an assumption, this is the experience of all countries which >have taken the path that we are trying to avoid at any cost. The centres of >European crime are no longer in the west, they were moved to eastern Europe a >decade ago. Our people find it hard to bear already the present crime >incidence, as we lived for a long time - from World War II to the 1990s - in a >society which hardly knew any crime at all. Any large-scale crime, such as >cannot be avoided in a society that we would become with the loss of >sovereignty and a large part of territory, such large-scale crime would be as >dangerous for our small and unused to crime people as war is dangerous for the >society and its citizens. One of the essential tasks of a puppet government in >any country, including ours were we to have such a government, is loss of >identity. Countries under foreign command relatively quickly part with their >history, their past, their tradition, their national symbols, their way of >living, often their own literary language. Invisible at first, but very >efficient and merciless selection of national identity would reduce it to a >few local dishes, a few songs and folk dances, the names of national heroes >used as brand names for food products or cosmetics. One of the really obvious >consequences of the takeover of territories of countries by the big powers in >the 20th century is the annihilation of the identity of the people of those >countries. Experience of other countries shows that people can hardly come to >terms with the speed with which they are starting to use a foreign language as >their own, to identify with foreign historic figures forgetting their own, to >be better acquainted with the literature of their occupiers than their own, to >glorify the history of others while mocking their own, to resemble others >instead of themselves. The loss of a national identity is the greatest defeat >a nation can know, which is inevitable in the contemporary form of >colonization. Besides, that new form of colonization by its very nature rules >out any possibility of free speech or free will, and especially rules out any >creativity of any kind. Countries which are not free deny to the people who >live in them the right to freely express their opinion, as that opinion would >be in collision with the absence of freedom. This is why torture over thought >is the most consistent and essential form of torture in a country that has >lost its freedom. As for exercising free will, it is, naturally, out of the >question. Free will is allowed only as a farce. It is allowed only to the >lackeys of foreign masters, whose simulated free will is used by the occupiers >as a justification for establishing democracy in whose name they have taken >possession of another people's country. I would like to stress particularly >because of young people, intellectuals, scientists, that countries deprived of >sovereignty are as a rule deprived of the right to creative work, and >especially creative work in the field of science. Large centers and large >powers finance scientific work, control its attainments and decide about the >application of its results. Dependent states, if they have scientific >laboratories and scientific institutes, are not independent ones but operate >as branches controlled by one center. Their attainments must remain within >bounds that will not introduce in occupied countries and occupied peoples the >seed of rebellion and emancipation. At this moment ahead of the run-off >elections, because the Democratic Opposition of Serbia doubts it can achieve >the result it needs, leaders of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia with money >introduced into the country are bribing, blackmailing and harassing citizens >and organizing strikes, unrest and violence in order to stop production, all >work and every activity. All that, of course, with the aim of stopping life in >Serbia and with the explanation that life can start again and go on >successfully and well, when it is organized by those who represent here the >intentions, plans and interests of occupiers. Our country is a sovereign >state. It has its laws, its Constitution, its institutions. Serbia is duty >bound, and it deserves to defend itself from invasion which has been prepared >against it through different forms of subversion. And the citizens should >know, that by participating in subversion whose objective is foreign >domination over their country or the occupation of their country, they bear >the historical responsibility of denying to their country the right to exist >and also the responsibility of losing control over their own lives. By giving >up their country to others, to foreign will they also surrender to foreign >will their own life and the life of their children and of many other people. I >considered it my duty, to warn the citizens of our country about the >consequences of the activities financed and supported by the governments of >NATO countries. Citizens can trust me but they do not have to. My wish is only >that they do not realize this when it is too late, that they do not realize >this when it will be difficult to redress mistakes that citizens naively, >superficially or erroneously made, as those mistakes will be difficult to >rectify and some will never be rectified. My motive to express my opinion in >this way is not, at all, of personal nature. I was elected twice President of >Serbia and once President of Yugoslavia. It should be clear to all, after >these ten years, that they are not attacking Serbia because of Milosevic, but >Milosevic because of Serbia. My conscience in that respect is absolutely >clear. My conscience, however, would not at all be clear if I would not tell >my people, after all these years at their head, what I think about their fate >if that fate is imposed by someone else, even if it means to explain to the >people that they have chosen that fate themselves. The misjudgment that they >are choosing what has been chosen by someone else, is the most dangerous >misjudgment and the main reason of my decision to address publicly the >citizens of Yugoslavia. Thank you." > > > >�1999 Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federeal Republic of >Yugoslavia > >Kneza Milosa 24 - 26, Belgrade; phone: 381 11 36 15 055; fax: 381 11 36 18 >366; E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. 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