L-I: REGARDING ROMA-SERBIAN RELATIONS

[Borba100@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Dear people,

People may not be aware, but the so-called "Gypsies",appropriately called
Roma ,
are a key indicator for racism in much of Europe.  Dark-skinned people,
apparently originally from India, they embody everything hated by the
intolerant. A fellow in Italy is writing a wonderful tragic account of their
mass expulsion by the National Liberators of Kosovo who may hate them worse
than they hate the untermensch Serbs. My friend Petar Makara, who is a Serb,
says the Serbs call Roma "Rom-Serbs" and the Jews "Moses-Serbs."  The Serbian
national attitude towards Roma is relaxed, tending towards appreciative: they
are considered highly creative.  They drove the Nazi's nuts; it was a short
trip.

Commenting about the chracter of the Serbian government Lou says:
 <<  A much better question would be posed in terms of how national minorities
 have been treated in Serbia itself. I don't recall pogroms directed against
 Roma in Belgrade. >>

Here's a good piece on that question.  It was written by by Paul Kniesel  who
puts out The Internet Anti-Fascist

HOW ROMA VIEW SERBIA AND WHAT IT MEANS

[Note from www.emperors-clothes.com:
One of the difficulties people in the US have thinking about the Balkans is a
lack of historical understanding of the players. If someone said he saw Black
Southerners applauding at a KKK rally, everyone in the US would know he was
making it up. But with the Balkans Americans don't know the map, which allows
the media to tell stories which are largely fictional, stories in which black
becomes white.

One of the best political "indicators" in the Balkans is the Roma, or as most
people know them, the "Gypsies." (The term "Gypsy" has racist overtones; Roma
is the proper name for these folks.) In the following article Paul Kneisel
examines how the Roma view the conflict between the Serbian government and
Albanian secessionists (backed by NATO) in Kosovo.

Feel free to distribute this far and wide but in full, including this note.
Thanks. Emperors-clothes.com]

***
How Roma View Serbia and the Serbs, and what it means
by Paul Kneisel

Yugoslavia was a land of many minorities and remains so despite an
almost total focus on Kosovo by the NATO press.

Hitlerism did not commit genocide only against the Jews; the Nazis endeavored
to physically eliminate many peoples and ethnic groups. Watching CNN on
Kosovo, it is easy to conclude that the constant references to Serbian
"ethnic cleansing" there mark the Serbian government as fascist. What,
though, do we see when we examine other minorities in Yugoslavia?

One thing we see are reports by minorities of oppression from the KLA. I'm
very interested in what the Roma ("Gypsies")say about the Balkan situation.
The group knows what fascism is all about for the Nazis killed them in the
death camps. Roma ("Gypsy") groups have published criticisms of all sides in
the Balkans, charged all governments with harboring people who engaged in
anti-Roma crimes. I am attracted to these reports precisely because of their
all-round criticism.

I am particularly impressed by the Roma support for the Serbian
government in diplomatic disputes.

"In Kosovo, representatives of the Romani community took the side of the
Serbian authorities. Roma and other small Kosovar minorities like Turks,
Gorani and 'Egyptians' were involved in peace negotiations on the initiative
of the Serbian government. The Temporary Executive Council for Kosovo and
Metohija, founded by the Serbian government on October 3 with the aim of
normalizing life in the region, included a Romani Secretary for Information -
Mr. Bajram Haljiti, editor of the Roma program in Radio Television Pristina.
Another instance of the political use of Roma by Serb authorities was the
Draft of the Framework for Political Self-governance in Kosovo. This document
was instantly rejected by the main ethnic Albanian political parties, whilst
supported by minor parties and national associations of various ethnic groups
from Kosovo, in a declaration signed on November 25 in Pristina; one of the
signatories was Mr. Ljuan Koka, representative of the National Community of
Roma in Kosovo."[1]

I find this statement sweeping in the material it presents, particularly
given the source and how it impacts on the notion of Serbian "fascism."
First, they supported the Serbian government. Can one imagine the German Jews
doing such a thing? The report also states that other minorities in Kosovo
negotiated at Serb initiative. Can one imagine the Nazis setting up a
diplomatic initiative for the Roma, Jehovah's Witnesses, disabled, and other
victims of the death camps? Finally, at least one Roma was on the Serbian
negotiating team and another handled the draft document. This is almost
incomprehensible if it was coming from a group of "fascists."

Where do the Serbian Muslims fit? Accurate information is also difficult to
come by. But one source was an interview with Hamdiha Effendi Jusefspahic,
the Mufti of Serbia. It was conducted by Robert Fisk and printed in the
Independent newspaper.[2] The Mufti appears critical of the NATO bombing and
as someone opposed to earlier U.S. efforts to create a base among Balkan
Albanians. He also speaks of a Serbian tolerance for the Islamic minority,
marked by "good relations" but also "neglect." The Mufti's wife Nabila is
also critical of certain anti-Islamic elements in Serbia but maintains that
the Serbian government itself is hostile to these forces. She concludes by
saying that "We believe Serbia will help us and protect us."

We also see a different picture of Serbian actions toward the Albanians in
Kosovo. "Mr. Milosevic and senior Serbian officials have met with the ethnic
Albanian leader, Ibrahim Rugova, who has long advocated a nonviolent path to
real political autonomy and, ultimately,independence. Mr. Rugova was regarded
by Washington as the most important Kosovar leader until the emergence of the
KLA as a military and political player a year ago."-- Steven Erlanger,
"Milosevic's New Version of Reality Will beHarder for NATO to Dismiss," NY
Times, 8 Apr 99

[Jared's note: In the current atmosphere in which some people on this list
grab for "points" much may be made of this quote; underwstand this reflects
the NY TIMES speaking.  In my opinion, the Yugoslav government was wise to
try to work with Rugova, in the context of the bombing.  I also think Rugova
played a very bad role in the past - note Erlanger's statement that he used
to be Washington's man: "the most important Kosovar leader until the
emergence of the KLA "  Bacak to Kniesel.]

Where is the reality? Is it a Serbia utterly hostile to the entire Albanian
community? Or is it a Serbia understandably hostile to the KLA that the
Western press has portrayed as the representative of the Albanian people? The
Times report indicates the latter is more likely true.

The Times' Erlanger also noted that "In a resolution of the Serbian
Parliament just before the bombing, when that body rejected NATO troops in
Kosovo, it also supported the idea of United Nations forces to monitor a
political settlement there."

What picture is painted by these different sources? None change the view of
the Balkans as troublespot nor of Yugoslavia having deep difficulties with
national, religious, and ethnic minorities.

But is also a picture of a country negotiating the solution to these
differences in a peaceful fashion. It is a picture where the Serbian
diplomacy is supported by the Roma and other ethnic/national groups and with
considerable support from the Yugoslavian followers of Islam. It is the
picture of a Serbia negotiating with Albanians until the drug dealers of the
KLA got NATO support.

What then is the likely reason for the NATO bombing? It could not be a
Serbian push to eliminate minorities within Greater Serbia. Nor could it be
to bring the Serbs to the negotiating table. It couldn't even be to create a
non-Serbian international peacekeeping force in Kosovo since the Serbian
Parliament agreed to a UN force. But the UN and the U.S.-led military forces
are different organizations, reflecting different values, and ultimately
different interests. The UN may have created peace in Kosovo but it would not
have produced the same level of profit and influence as a NATO victory.

The Balkans remain an enormously troubled area, with a high likelihood that
individuals from all nationalities have committed crimes against humanity.
But the current anti-Serb juggernaut in the Western press does not adequately
describe this complex reality.

Nor will NATO bombs solve the problems.

FOOTNOTES

[1] European Roma Rights Center (news report), "Roma from Kosovo victimized
in the Serb-Albanian ethnic conflict," Dec 98, in The Internet Anti-Fascist
(INAF)#251.

[2] Robert Fisk, (Independent [London]), "God will not forgive the
Americans for this," 4 Apr 99, in TINAF #248.

Paul Kneisel's article on the Roma first appeared in the newsleter which he
sends out by email, the Internet Anti-Fascist If you'd like to read an issue
or subscribe, write to tallpaul@xxxxxxxx .

For more on the Roma, check out these two web sites:
http://www.unionromani.org/ and  http://errc.org/

For an article on how the Roma have been treated since KFOR (that is, NATO)
and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) took over Kosovo, click on A Slaughter
of Roma or go to http://www.emperors-clothes.com/A%20slaughter%20of%20roma.htm

Also see THE ROMA AND RACISM IN THE BALKANS, at
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/analysis/burial.htm

Best regards,
Jared ISrael



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