Louis,
Only one goof in this, your claim that the revocation
of Kosovan autonomy reflected a shortage of resources
due to the Slovenian and Croatian secessions. Sorry,
but autonomy was revoked in 1989 well before those
secessions. Indeed, many see that revocaton as a major
motive for the secessions, a point that has been debated
between me and Paul Phillips and some others for a long
time.
Barkley Rosser
-----Original Message-----
From: Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tuesday, April 06, 1999 3:44 PM
Subject: [PEN-L:4881] Kosovo in context
>The coverage on Kosovo in the mainstream press had a completely different
>character before Serbia was turned into an enemy of the US and the rest of
>the "civilized world". What I discovered from a thorough Lexis search on
>"Kosovo" from 1981 until 1988, just prior to the suspension of autonomy,
>was a steady flow of reports on Albanian brutishness directed against the
>Serb minority in Kosovo. One report states that as many as 200,000 Serbs
>fled northward to avoid physical attacks, including beatings and rape.
>Since the central government of Yugoslavia--compared to the rest of
>pro-Moscow Eastern Europe--was considered our ally at that time, there was
>sympathy with its efforts to mollify the Kosovars through economic
>assistance and reorganizing the CP to make it more sensitive.
>
>The gist of the analysis of Albanian nationalism, found in the NY Times and
>Washington Post, is that it was racist, seeking a pure Albanian province.
>So, shortly after Slovenia and Croatia seceded under the encouragement of
>Germany in 1990, resources became much scarcer, thereby increasing Albanian
>discontent. Thus, the Serb decision to suspend Kosovar autonomy did not
>take place in a political vacuum. Here is a brief excerpt from a typical NY
>Times article in 1982:
>
>=========
>
>''You have to love the place where you live to stay on the land here,''
>Marko Krstic, the oldest son, told visitors to the farm at Bec, a few miles
>from the Albanian border. There have been no serious troubles between
>Serbians and Albanians in Bec, but Serbs in some of the neighboring
>villages have reportedly been harassed by Albanians and have packed up and
>left the region.
>
>The exodus of Serbs is admittedly one of the main problems that the
>authorities have to contend with in Kosovo, an autonomous province of
>Yugoslavia inhabited largely by Albanians.
>
>Last year's riots, in which nine people were killed, shocked not only the
>troubled province of Kosovo but also the entire country into an awareness
>of the problems of this most backward part of Yugoslavia, which is made up
>of many ethnic groups.
>
>In June a 43-year-old Serb, Miodrag Saric, was shot and killed by an
>Albanian neighbor, Ded Krasnici, in a village near Djakovica, 40 miles
>southwest of Pristina, according to the official Yugoslav press agency
>Tanyug. It was the second murder of a Serb by an Albanian in Kosovo this
>year. The dispute reportedly started with a quarrel over damage done to a
>field belonging to the Saric family.
>
>The local political and security bodies condemned the murder as ''a grave
>criminal act'' that could have serious repercussions, according to the
>press agency. Five members of the Krasnici family have been arrested and
>investigations are continuing.
>
>The authorities have responded at various levels to the violence in Kosovo,
>clearly trying to avoid antagonizing the Albanian majority. Besides firm
>security measures, action has been taken to speed political, educational
>and economic changes.
>
>
>Louis Proyect
>
>(http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
>
>
