[PEN-L:7809] Re: The Serbian crisis grows

[Rosser Jr, John Barkley]

     This is really a reply to Paul Phillips' very 
informative earlier remarks on this situation, based on 
further informaton that has come out.
     1)  It is clear that Together (Opposition) is a very 
mixed bag with several factions acting in tandem, but so 
divided that they are often not even demonstrating at the 
same time.  The major factions are an ultranationalist one, 
as Paul noted, and one that opposes the Serbian role in the 
Bosnian war.  Unclear which is dominant.  There are others 
as well, and may be more if serious numbers of workers get 
involved in this.
     2)  Paul's argument that the US is supporting Together 
is now clearly true.  However, it was not so at first and 
it is unlikely that the US was/is "behind" all this.  One 
piece of evidence is that in the first days of the protests 
the demonstraters (or some of them) marched past the US 
embassy shouting anti-US slogans and even burned American 
flags, protesting what they saw as US support of Milosevic.
     In any case, this remains a very fluid and difficult 
to figure out situation, but one of considerable potential 
importance.
Barkley Rosser
On Mon, 9 Dec 1996 21:16:18 -0800 (PST) D Shniad 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


> The San Jose Mercury News                         7 Dec 1996
> 
> UNIONS THREATEN TO JOIN PROTEST, UP PRESSURE ON
> MILOSEVIC
> 
>      By JULIJANA MOJSILOVIC
>      Associated Press Writer
> 
> BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Trade unions threatened
> Saturday to go on strike, escalating the three-week
> protest against Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic
> that brought 150,000 people onto the streets of
> Belgrade in the biggest demonstration so far.
> 
> Leaders of two independent unions said their members
> were ready to strike next week if Milosevic did not
> reinstate the opposition's Nogement and inefficiency.
> Milosevic has shown little interest in breaking up the
> state-run economy and privatizing the factories.
> Average wages are often no more than the equivalent of
> $100 per month.
> 
> Milosevic has tried to outlast the protests. But if
> workers join in an organized fashion, he may find it
> hard to stay in power without cracking down or giving
> in.
> 
> In the past, Serbia's labor movement has been
> disinclined to mount serious strikes. But some union
> leaders indicated Saturday they were finding common
> cause with opposition coalition.
> 
> "Workers are aware that without a state of law no
> economic reform is possible," Milan Nikolic, one of the
> leaders of the Independents union federation, told the
> daily Nasa Borba.
> 
> Federation officials said six factories were ready to
> strike next Wednesday, including machinery and aluminum
> works.
> 
> Dragan Milovanovic, president of the Association of
> Free and Independent Trade Unions, said it also planned
> to start organized protests, probably on Monday. The
> association claims 600,000 members throughout Serbia.
> 
> Local officials of a Belgrade engine and tractor
> factory that belong to Milovanovic's association, also
> said they would be on the streets Monday.
> 
> "We will go in front of the Serbian government
> building," Radisa Ristic, a vice president of the local
> union, told the Nasa Borba newspaper. "If no one talks
> to us there, and as long as our demands are not met, we
> plan to protest daily in the same manner."
> 
> Ristic said that in addition to economic demands, "we
> will express our support for students and citizens ...
> because our votes were stolen in the local elections."
> 
> All sides awaited a ruling by the Serbian Supreme Court
> on an appeal that could reinstate the opposition's
> victory in Belgrade.
> 
> It seemed likely Milosevic would try to use the court
> to take the steam out of the protests before the
> workers joined in. But the opposition said it wanted to
> make sure their victories in other cities are returned.
> 
> Kati Marton, chairwoman of the New York-based Committee
> to Protect Journalists, told Associated Press
> Television that she had a "very good" 2 1/2-hour
> conversation Saturday with Milosevic.
> 
> Marton said that Milosevic "promised that he would
> uphold the rights of a free press, and keep his hands
> off Radio B 92," one of two independent radio stations
> he temporarily banned last week.
> 
> Marton is the wife of Richard Holbrooke, the former
> U.S. diplomat who negotiated with Milosevic on the
> Dayton peace agreement for Bosnia.
> 
> In the streets of Belgrade, demonstrators aimed paper
> airplanes and fireworks at state TV. One banner read
> "Better Dead than Red." Another portrayed Milosevic as
> a pig. Residents of the capital watched the procession
> from their windows and waved.
> 
> Some 120 members of an independent bus drivers' union
> joined the protest in Belgrade for the first time
> Saturday, carrying their flags.
> 
> In Novi Sad, to the northwest, 10,000 students
> protested for the fifth day.
> 
> 
> This material is copyrighted and may not be republished
> without permission of the originating newspaper or wire
> service. NewsHound is a service of the San Jose Mercury
> News. For more information call 1-888-344-6863.

-- 
Rosser Jr, John Barkley
[EMAIL PROTECTED]