Tudjman's fascism and web page

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Subject: Re: Tudjman's fascism and web page

Jim:
----
On Thu, 7 Sep 1995, Chris Burford wrote:

> Would anyone who can - Jim??? - like to visit it and report back
> on the findings? Are my financial guesses correct?
>
>        http://www.urpr.hr/

        Maybe someone else has been luckier, but it's really hard to get
into Hrvatski cyberspace these daze -- I'll keep trying, and let you know
when I do get thru...


Chris B:
-------
Thanks for trying. Since then the reports of atrocities by the Croat
soldiers have become more detailed. It is clear that although Susak made
a play of disciplining the trooops responsible for the death of the Danish
UN peacekeeper, he has been slow to pass down instructions to tighten
discipline in general.

There are all sorts of gradations of complicity in atrocities.

It is now clear that the British army that liberated tens of thousands of
sheep on the Malvinas islands a decade ago, killed Argentinian prisoners.

The question of what is the dividing line between a fascist state and a
bourgeois democratic one with fascist tendencies in the end may be as
academic as the debate about whether the Soviet Union was socialist,
degenerated, or capitalist, and when. What matters in the end is the
concrete detail.

We will have to see how vulnerable Tudjman is to bad publicity that might
dent his campaign funds or weaken his claim on the big budget for
reconstruction that is being put together by the European Union.

Meanwhile the United Nations Authorities have gone public in accusing the
Croatian government of failing to halt murders, looting and burning of
homes. The only consolation is that I am able to quote an AP report
printed in the London Guardian Sept 9 by a journalist still writing out of
Zagreb.

I attach below the most telling passages of the latest visit by the
Croatian members of the Balkan peace team, posted on yugo.antiwar, in their
fruitless attempt to investigate what had happened to a mere 16 Serbs who
had sought permission to return to their homes in Krajina.

I suspect that the struggle for the restoration of human rights
in all parts of the former Yugoslavia should be a key feature of
progressive campaigning in the context of the peace plans being
brokered by the great imperialist powers.


Chris B. London



>>>>>>
 O T V O R E N E   O C I --  The Croatian Branch of the Balkan Peace Team

          *Updated Situational Report on Former Sector North*

6 September, 1995 -  Zagreb

On Monday 4 September Otvorene Oci undertook at trip through former
Sector North to Vojnic to ascertain the situation of sixteen displaced
Serbs.

Petrinja, Glina

        We traveled via Sisak to Petrijna and Glina where there are more
and more signs that life is returning to these areas.  Shops are beginning
to open and generally there are more people around, although the vast
majority are still police and soldiers.  There is no longer a checkpoint
at Sisak, and the UN has pulled out of their base between Sisak and
Petrijna.  Looting is still continuing not only by civilians but by HV
troops as well, as was witnessed in the area around Glina.  Some arrivals
are removing the possessions of houses and burning them in the street as
they move in.
        On the road from Glina to Topusko we were met with the strange
sight of a line of "RSK" military uniforms and gear along the side of the
road.  Every half meter was a pile of military gear, as if the Serb
soldiers had disrobed while standing in formation on the side of the road.
However, we could not determine if this had been the case, and further
investigation will be necessary to determine what had happened at this site.

Topusko to Vojnic

        We traveled to Vonjic via Topusko, and south to Stara Selo along
the road which runs close to the Bosnian border.  A few kilometers south of
Topusko we were stopped by a military checkpoint and informed that if we
did not have the correct papers and authorization, we could not enter the
area.  After a bit of friendly conversation, however, the soldiers changed
their minds, let us through, and gave us instructions on how to get to
Vonjic.  Every few kilometers or so were military posts, but we were not
stopped again.  Many of the houses in this area have been destroyed by fire
in recent weeks. We observed a couple of burnt barns with dead horses and
cows in the stalls.  ...... [etc.]



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