STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Get a low APR NextCard Visa in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 2.99% Intro or 9.99% Ongoing APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/NextCard ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [NOTE: A BBC man on the scene estimated 85,000, soooooo] URL for this article is http://emperors-clothes.com/news/rally26.htm Send this article to a friend! www.tenc.net * [Emperor's Clothes] BELGRADE RALLIES AGAINST EXTRADITION! 100,000-200,000 March to Kostunica's Office. Demand. "TELL US: WHO RULES YUGOSLAVIA?" As I write this I am listening by connection with a friend's cellular phone to the rally in Republic Square in Belgrade. The sound is indescribable. The crowd is immense, the biggest my friend has ever seen. People respond to the speakers with a sound like the roar of lions. The speakers and the crowd are passionately against the decree passed last Saturday by the DOS parties in the Yugoslav Administration, 'authorizing' extradition of Milosevic and other Yugoslav patriots to NATO's war crimes tribunal. Speakers are saying this is treason to the Serbian nation. That the Constitution is the highest legal obligation of any state and that by breaking the constitution one betrays the nation. They are saying that all Serbian people and others loyal to Yugoslavia must unite and take back their government and throw out those who have betrayed the nation to Washington, which dangles false bribes to humiliate the Serbian people. I am told that this crowd, whose passion is so great the phone is vibrating against my ear, includes activists from parties besides the Socialists, including Mr. Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia. The DSS people are outraged that Mr. Kostunica has stifled within his own party criticism of this gross violation of the constitution. Earlier, one of them took the phone from my friend and yelled at me against the roar of the background: "We are now the Serbian Undemocratic Party!'" I had the honor of being one of the speakers at the huge (though smaller) rally March 24th in this same Republic Square, to commemorate the onset of bombing of Yugoslavia on march 24, 1999. Afterwards one of the leaders of Kostunica's party gave me the red beret that he had worn as an officer in the Army of the Republika Srpska. He said, "Our coalition with Djindjic is just temporary." But now Mr. Kostunica and Mr. Djindjic are acting as one. Has Kostunica betrayed his beliefs? Or was he always really a decoy to supply patriots the illusion of a hope that in him they had a defender within DOS? Whatever the case, now the U.S. has made its wishes quite clear and Kostunica has quite clearly obeyed and, say these activists in the DSS, crushed dissent in his party. The noise has died down a little, and my friend is translating what some of the speakers said. "At the rally people were speaking with one voice. They said: Abolish the decree! Serbian and Yugoslav governments should resign! Nobody should be extradited to The Hague! Those who adopted that illegal decree should be criminally charged! There must be general elections on all levels because the government has committed treason and lied and therefore nobody any longer supports them!" MARCH TO KOSTUNICA'S OFFICE The rally is over. I lost the connection with the first Belgrade friend, so I am calling another. (I will refrain from using people's names due to the intensity of the situation in Belgrade.) A column of more 100-200,000 people has left Republic Square. They are moving through Belgrade. There is a truck in front, blaring music, and behind that, a broad line of people with a huge sign FREEDOM FORE SERBIA! EXTRADITE NO ONE TO THE HAGUE! Or words to that effect. The column is without end. At this moment they are passing Djindjic's party headquarters, and the crowd is roaring their disapproval. I have to wait a few minutes for my friend to get far enough from that point for the noise to quiet down enough so he can be heard. My friend says: "We will pass near the Serbian parliament and government and then we will go to Kostunica's office. Our people today sent him a letter reminding him of all his past statements, that he was against the Hague Tribunal, against extradition, that extradition violated the Yugoslav constitution, that it required a Yugoslav law, that he stood for the dignity of Serbia, that he stood for defending sovereignty from NATO and on and on and called on him to appear at the rally today. Now since he has not appeared we are going to his office to demand that he come out and address the people and explain: Who is ruling Yugoslavia?" BASTILLE? Earlier I spoke to an activist who had just been to the Belgrade prison where Mr. Milosevic is being held. Members of the People's Guards, a group of mainly women who were beaten by agents of the government while acting as unarmed witnesses at Mr. Milosevic's residence during the March 28-29th arrest attempt, are holding a vigil there. The activist told me that there is a large contingent of police outside, nervously guarding the gates. This is what the current authorities, these great democrats, have been reduced to. Fearful cops, waiting for the people to storm the Bastille. Jared Israel 26 June 2001 2:500 Eastern U.S. time, 8:50 pm in Belgrade URGENT APPEAL! 26 JUNE TO THOSE WHO HAVE DONATED TO OUR FUNDRAISING APPEAL - THANK YOU! BUT EMPEROR'S CLOTHES STILL URGENTLY NEEDS HELP! The George Soros Foundation does not fund Emperor's Clothes. Our only source of money is people like you. All contributions help. Our work has expanded but our income has not kept pace. We are now several months behind on long distance and international phone bills, and other expenses as well. All but local service has been turned off. We have other big bills too, including for Lexis, our key research tool, and we are presently too strapped for cash to pay for things we need, such as a good laptop computer and some graphics software. We use long distance and overseas calls for interviews (if we need a translator, this involves a three-way call) to consult with writers, to check the accuracy of information and sometimes to discuss articles being translated. We also use international calls to help write and edit articles for media besides Emperor's Clothes. Using international long distance, we were able to stay in constant touch with the unarmed witnesses guarding Mr. Miloshevich's house when it was attacked March 28th and 29th. That is why you could read accurate news on Emperor's Clothes - the only honest reports available anywhere. After the attack, by using international phone calls we were able to talk directly with people involved in the negotiations between Mr. Miloshevich and the current Serbian authorities. So we knew first hand that the 'NY Times' report that Mr. Miloshevich was suicidal during the talks was a lie. Because we need to use the phone so much, our bills are well over a thousand dollars a month. Now our long distance and international service has been turned off because we owe almost $5000. We are in danger of losing phone service altogether. In addition, we owe over $1500 to Lexis, a key research tool, which allows us to check the accuracy of newspaper excerpts and quotes over the past 20 years. If everyone who cares about Emperor's Clothes chips in, we'll be out of trouble in no time. If everyone chips in - $20, $50, $100 or $1000 - we'll be out of danger in no time. Here's how you can help... 1 - The easiest and most reliable way - Call us any time at (USA) 617-916-1705 and we will take your credit card information over the phone. 2 - OR use our secure server at http://emperors-clothes.com/howyour.html#donate 3 - Or mail us a check - to Emperor's Clothes, P.O. Box 610-321, Newton, MA 02461-0321. (USA) If you mail a donation or make one by secure server, please let us know by email at [EMAIL PROTECTED], just to make sure we get it. Thanks! Thank you for reading Emperor's Clothes. To browse articles from the Website, click here. www.tenc.net [Emperor's Clothes] ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
