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L-I: ON THE TRIVIALIZATION OF ANTI-SERB, ANTI-ROM RACISM BY SOME PEOPLEON THE LEFT
This past summer, as Germans entered Prizren in Kosovo for the first time
since World War II, an NBC correspondent reported:
"I was at dinner with a kind Kosovo Muslim family the other night when talk
turned to the German NATO troops that rolled into town to make the city the
headquarters of its peacekeeping district. The patriarch of the family, a man
old enough to remember the last time German troops rolled into Prizren, said
they all felt safe now. 'The German soldiers are excellent,' he said. Then he
added, 'I should know, I used to be one.' Then he raised his arm in a Nazi
salute and said, 'Heil,' and laughed merrily. (NBC, June 18, 1999)
***
Dear people,
I'm going to comment on some of what Johannes said, but first let me point
something out. In the real world, a fascist movement, organized by the KLA,
brought into power by NATO, under US and German domination, has taken over
Kosovo. It has inflicted monstrous suffering on literally hundreds of
thousands of people, especially Serbs, Roma and progressive Albanians. The
lucky ones are not imprisoned (Orahovac) or dead (Gracko) but have fled to
inner Serbia to join over a million refugees supported by a half frozen
country - under sanctions as bad as or worse than those imposed on Iraq. And
yet this gentleman's concept of class struggle allows him to make no comment
(at least none that I saw) about this nazi terror. Nothing.
As people may not be aware, Serbs and Roma are traditional targets of racism
in Austria and Germany. We're talking genocide, on a scale equal to that
against the Jews - but unlike the genocide by Austro-Germans against the
Jews, when it comes to the Serbs and Roma, there has been virtually no
discussion, no public apology, no compensation, nothing. And prior to
genocide, there was intense race hate and continuous efforts at colonization.
The German translators for emperors-clothes are Austrian, and they are
extremely clear on this point: the mark of a progressive in Austria is NOT
where they stand on Haider or class struggle - not until one answers the
question: where does one stand on the Serbs and Roma, the blacks of the
Balkans. I am stunned that Johannes could read Thompson's account of the
roots of Albanian fascism and see in it only a way to make a jovial little
attack on my accusation that there has been a Nazi (or, if you prefer,
nazi-like) movement continuously in Kosovo since the start of W.W.II. Oh,
how silly Jared is, and now on to important matters: the Trepca Miners!
1) Responding to my charge that the dominant movement in Kosovo prior to 1989
was secessionist, Johannes says: "I don't know of which area you are
speaking, but before 1989 the demands raised by Kosovo Albanians were to give
Kosovo a status of a republic inside Yugoslavia."
Very cute. The Yugosolav constitution allowed Republics - not provinces - to
secede. So during the pre-1989 period, while the secessionists were still
struggling within the framework of participation in Yugoslavia (that is, they
had not yet adopted the policy of boycotting the autonomous institutions, as
they did beginning in 1989-90) the secessionists demanded Republican status
so that they could then secede. Cute?
Yes, but no cuter than Johannes' attempt to pass this off as anything other
the attempt of a highly organized secessionist movement to employ a legal
trick to get into a position to secede. Everyone in Yugoslavia understood
this was behind the demand for Republican status and everyone understood that
Milosevic's limitation of autonomy was not a racial act, but rather an
attempt to curb the secessionist movement. .
2) The racist-secessionist movement in Kosovo has been quite flexible. It has
had many ways of describing itself, and played with various outside forces,
including Hoxha's Albania. But regardless of the WORDS employed the DEEDS
reflect the existence of a fascist movement in Kosovo since 1941. It
coalesced around fascist ideas because fascism (and particularly, German
nazism) supported its racial stance: hatred of Serbs, "Gypsies" and Jews.
Fascism gave the secessionists their dream: Greater Albania with these
untermenschen unter the boot. It is true that some of the secessionists in
the 60s called themselves Hoxhaists but I think the appeal here was Hoxha's
expansionism, not Mao's socialism which is NOT racist. (Note that China is
Yugoslavia's closest allies.) In any case, the main forces of secessionism
were hardly Maoist. And through all these currents, whatever they called
themselves, anti-Serb racism was very strong.
3) I never said Tito was a Nazi. I referred to "Tito's policy of currying
favor with these fascists" My point about the continuity of a Nazi movement
>from the fascist invasion of Kosovo through the limitation of autonomy is an
essentially accurate description, though I should have made this clearer:
they didn't always call themselves Nazi. . As I said, when the racist
Albanians ruled Kosovo (41-44/45), crushing their racial inferiors, under the
guiding hand of the Italian fascists, but most effectively, the Austrian and
German Nazis - during that period these forces PROCLAIMED themselves to be
Fascists. They lost power when the partisans swept in at the end of the war
but some of them continued fighting until 1950. This was one of the most
diehard Nazi movements in Europe.
Naturally, after 1950 they were careful not to call themselves Nazi's.
Tito took some extraordinarily wrong steps after W.W.II. His government
banned the return of the Serbs driven from Kosovo by the Albanian fascists.
It allowed the return of Albanian fascists who had fled the partisans and it
allowed the Albanians, brought into Kosovo by the conquering Italian Fascist
army to stay. This had a big impact on the balance of power in the province.
It set the stage for a continued fascist movement.
The problem of the penetration of racist ideas among the Albanian population
was never faced by the Titoists, just as it is not being faced by the
champions of the oppressed (sic!) Albanians today. Though the armed component
of the Nazi movement was beaten by 1950, the bulk of the movement was alive
and well. It had deap roots, among the deepest in Europe. (It was strongest
in the Drenica region, which was the early stronghold of the KLA) Realizing
that they had to adapt to new conditions, the fascists organized in a secret
and semi-secret basis to gain influence over all aspects of Kosovo life. A
terror against Serbs and Roma people developed and was pronounced enough
during the 1980s to be reported by the Western press before the media started
bashing the Serbs (in the late 80s). So before the late 80s we can read many
reports of anti-Slav/anti-Roma terror in Kosovo. (go to tenc.net, enter WORKS
int he search engine to go to a collection of articles from the 80s on this
subject)
4) Johannes advises me that Marxists use class analysis.Thanks for the tip
and now here's one for him: Marx says class conflict can assume national
forms. For instance he strongly backed the very bourgeois Mr. Lincoln
against the racist-secessionists of the time. You know, come to think of it,
I bet those racist-secessionists included some workers.
The clash of classes is found in seemingly national struggles most especially
when a racist group, linked to whatever Imperialism is prominent at the time,
tries to break up a country and hitch it to parts of several other countries
- which has been the consistent goal of the racist-secessionists in Kosovo,
however they might cloak themselves..
Life is not easy. Deeds count; words can be deceptive. In 1989-90, the
demand for autonomy in Kosovo, whether raised by workers, store keepers or
kangaroos meant secessionism and the right to persecute inferior races. It
even meant that if you added WORKERS CONTROL. It also meant that in 1941 and
it means the same thing today.
Perhaps I shouldn't have called this movement Nazi - and yet isn't it amazing
that 50 years after the crushing of the OFFICIAL Nazi movement we see the KLA
- with Nazi SS-style uniforms and insignia (skenderberg SS division) a Nazi
slaute (til they were advised to alter it) Nazi heroes (See the quotes at the
start of Roots of Kosovo Fascism which I posted yesterday) Nazi hatreds
(Serbs, Roma, Jews, Slavic Muslims - is there no originality among these
scum?) the old Nazi goal for the region (Greater Albania) that amazing Nazi
mixture of gangsterism and love of order - what do they have to do? Say Heil
Hitler? (Actually there were news reports of KLA supporters baiting Serbs
with that particular chant...)
5) The notion that the US had no influence in Kosovo in the 80s is IMHO nuts.
Under Dole's leadership Congress endorsed the secessionist cause as early as
86. He and DioGuardi made it clear what Congress was voting for: DioGuardi
spelled it out - he wanted the Albanians to secede from the evil commite
Yugoslav regime - and this at a time when Serbs were in the position of black
people in NEw York.
The Army manual on the region recognized Albanian secessionism as the key
weakness in Yugoslav society as early as '83; do you seriously think that
while the Congress was endorsing that movement, and the Army wrote about it
being the way to split Yugoslav society, covert agencies were not also
developing ties with the secessionists? And isn't it obvious that once US
backing was clear - and it was made abundantly clear - the secessionists
could use this, as the Rugova-types did, to sweep away non-secessionist
influence among Albanians?.
5) Johannes says "So lets have a look at the forces who were using socialist
slogans in Yugoslavia: Actually it was Milosevic and his cronies (who are
calling
themselves socialists today) who were actively promoting privatisation of
socially owned industries."
Huh? Compared to what? Of all the former socialist countries, privatization
is least advanced in Yugoslavia. Greg Elich, who spent some time
interviewing people in local governments in serbia about economic structures
thinks it is primarily a socialist economy. In any case, the local officials
want to believe it is - and when you consider it, that is in itself quite a
stunning thing to want in this current world. The secessionists sure aren't
talking socialism.
This could well be the reason the West has singled out the Serbs to be the
focal point of their assault on the Balkans, that and the Serbs' history of
resistance to colonization. They are viewed as troublesome diehards: a bad
example.
Along these lines, note that Milosevic's Socialist Party just invited a slew
of communist and left-socialist parties from all over the world to their
convention. Including the Cubans. They work closely with the Chinese. They
defend the Iraqis. Most important, they have not folded before the demands
of the West while the secessionists are the military proxies of the US. The
former "Hoxhaists" and others in the KLA are a) the enforcers for the new
foreign-capital-controlled economy and b) conducting war against the classic
targets of fascism: Roma, Serbs, Slavic Muslims and Jews. As I've said
before, take a look at the home page of the Yugoslav foreign ministry.
Articles by the WSWS (world socialist web site) Chossudvosky, Diana
Johnstone, me , elsewhere Parenti, Nibojsa Malic, (from Emperors Clothes)
Mandel, a progressive Canadian lawyer and so on. This motley crew sure aint
been posted on the foreign ministries of the Czech Republic, Bulgaria,
Poland, etc. (I interviewed the Cultural Atache of the Bulgarian Embassy at
some length about political matters - it will be posted on tenc.net soon.
She sure wasn't advocating socialism.)
A Jan. 1, 1993 Chicago Tribune cartoon depicts two broken-down outhouses
(outdoor toilets). One is marked "Russia" and one is marked "Yugoslavia."
Out of one has come a pig marked COMMUNISM and out of the other a pig marked
SERBS and the two pigs are shown swooning over each other, with little hearts
filling the air: it's love.
The Croatian and German government propaganda against Serbia featured the
charge: these are the last communists. So maybe Johannes thinks Milosevich
is the great privatiser, but the West was never convinced.
Just a little thought on US involvement. By 1990 it was far advanced. Check
out this article from AP.
ARTICLE BEGINS HERE
Here's the AP:
The Associated Press
August 29, 1990, Wednesday, PM cycle
Visit By U.S. Delegation Causes Clash With Police [CAUSES!!??]
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia
Riot police swinging batons and firing tear gas today dispersed thousands
of ethnic Albanians awaiting a U.S. congressional delegation to complain
about alleged human rights abuses.
About 10,000 people chanting "freedom, freedom" and "U.S.A, U.S.A" gathered
in front of a downtown hotel where the delegation of seven Republican
senators was expected to hold talks with leaders of the ethnic Albanian
majority in the southern Kosovo province.
A radio report said six people were injured and six arrested.
The delegation, headed by Sen. Robert Dole of Kansas, arrived in Pristina
three hours after the clash and was driven under heavy police escort to a
hotel for a meeting with leaders of dissident Albanian groups. Another
meeting with the leaders of the rival Serbian community also was planned.
"We will talk to the senators about the unbearable conditions for Albanians
in Kosovo and about the fact that our political parties are still illegal,"
said Ibrahim Rugova, head of the 500,000-member Democratic Union, the largest
ethnic Albanian political party in the region.
"The senators will see for themselves what kind of police repression we live
under," Rugova said.
Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 1.9 million people, are
protesting last month's decision by the Communist authorities of Serbia to
reduce Kosovo's autonomy. Kosovo is an administrative district of Serbia,
Yugoslavia's largest republic.
Kosovo has been the site of tension between ethnic Albanians and Slavs since
Serbia began to restrict the province's self-government last year.
The crowd waiting for the Dole delegation thinned when speakers announced
that it would not arrive until early afternoon. But a group of several
thousand people refused to disperse and continued to chant until police
charged.
Within a few minutes the entire downtown area had been cleared of protesters,
who had pelted police with stones and bottles. Police patroled the streets
with amored vehicles after the clash and ordered groups of more than five
people to disperse.
Several Yugoslav and international human rights organizations, including
Amnesty International and the Vienna-based Helsinki Watch, earlier this year
criticized Serbia for its treatment of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians.
The region's sole Albanian-language daily newspaper was banned in July, and
several activists from Kosovo's independent trade union have been jailed for
calling for a general strike on Sept. 3.
Serbian authorities in Kosovo have said they would not allow ethnic Albanian
political parties to take part in the state's multiparty elections, expected
to be held by the end of the year.
Dole's delegation, which arrived in Yugoslavia on Tuesday, met early today in
Belgrade with Yugoslav President Borisav Jovic and other senior officials.
The national news agency Tanjug said Jovic, an ethnic Serb, denied claims of
human rights abuses in Kosovo.
Accompanying Dole on the trip are Sens. John Warner of Virginia, Jake Garn of
Utah, Don Nickels of Oklahoma, Alfonse D'Amato of New York, Steven Symms of
Idaho and Connie Mack of Florida.
LANGUAGE
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