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What the U.S. government was not able to impose on Yugoslavia through 11 weeks of bombardment -- the complete surrender of its people and government -- it is attempting to win through its promotion of the opposition grouping called "The Alliance for Change."
As was previously reported in Workers World, President Bill Clinton announced the last week of July during his victor's ride through the Balkans that $10 million has been turned over to the "Serb opposition." Funds are also being passed semi-covertly through the Soros Foundation as well as the U.S. Congress' Institute for Peace, headed by Max Kampleman, a former Reagan administration official and promoter of death squads in Central America. This is what's behind the Serbian Alliance for Change.
In case there was any doubt about this alliance of Euro democrats, ultra-nationalists and the Serbian Orthodox Church hierarchy, their pronouncements in preparation for the Aug. 19 rally showed that they wanted to be nothing more than lackeys for the U.S. and NATO imperialists. It may also explain why the turnout for their rally was less than half of what they had predicted.
The Alliance for Change announced that they want to replace Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic with central bank governor Dragoslav Avramovic. Avramovic was made the head of the central bank at the insistence of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the two top imperialist banking institutions, before they would release loans to the government. Avramovic has since been at constant loggerheads with Milosevic and the Yugoslav government, demanding that all remnants of the socialist economy be privatized.
At a news conference announcing the Aug. 19 opposition rally, Avramovic spoke in "fluent English"--as the Reuter news agency noted--when he declared that the goal of the Alliance is "much greater freedom of markets" and "freedom of ownership." These are like the devastating capitalist changes imposed on the former Soviet Union, which have ravaged its economy.
The Alliance for Change did not stop there. They also suggested that the Yugoslav currency, the dinar, would be replaced with the German Mark, as has been done in the former Yugoslav republics of Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia.
Anyone who supports peace and justice for the people of Yugoslavia will be among the first to denounce the Alliance for Change and their pro-imperialist agenda. None of the opponents of the Yugoslav government that are hailed so widely in the U.S. and European media has anything to offer the people of Yugoslavia. This is nothing but a road show bought and paid for by Washington, London and Bonn.