<nettime> Ivogram [Serbia as target practice / Native Protest (Canada)]

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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
To: nettime <nettime-l@desk.nl>
Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1999 07:58:50 +0000
Subject: Serbia as a target practice

When Serbs/Yugoslav Army attacked towns and villages in Croatia and Bosnia,
Croat and Bosnian police and paramilitary units took it out on the Serb
minority living in those towns and villages. The agony of being helpless
against the superior enemy made them particularly brutal to their own victims.
Now Serbs/Yugoslav Army, helpless against NATO attacks, take it out on Kosovo
Albanians. Prishtina is "Albanienrein" by now. Therefore, less innocents would
die should the NATO attack. Also, Serbs/Yugoslav Army tried to attack Americans
elsewhere - first sending MIGs to Tuzla, which were shot down, and then
abducting those three poor loosers from the Macedonian border patrol.

When Milosevic achieves his objectives (that sometimes look very obscure), he
stops. Apparently he got what he wanted out of Kosovo and he declared the
unilateral cease-fire. Against whom? Against NATO? But he is not the one doing
the shooting in the war against NATO. Against Kosovo Albanians? But there is no
more Kosovo Albanians that can fight him. This is like killing a person and
then walking over to him lying dead and promising that you won't shoot.
Milosevic now wants peace talks on his own terms and with whom - with Ibrahim
Rugova. He had ten years time to do the peace talks with Rugova - that is how
long Rugova was trying to get him to do that, in the process completely ruining
his reputation in the eyes of his own people.

NATO targets went well beyond millitary objects and installation.   Serbia
became more valuable test range than Area 51. Cruise missiles hit ministries,
military headquarters, factories, power plants, bridges, etc. There are some
particularly unique targets: like why did they need to destroy two bridges in
Novi Sad? what was the point of destroying the power plant in Novi Beograd? why
destroy the cigarettes factory in Belgrade? Those targets, which in first case
completely severe the traffic of the second largest city in Yugoslavia, in
second case leave hundred thousand households without hot water and in third
case leave millions without cigarettes in the country of heavy smokers, seems
to be aimed primarily to annoy people, hoping they may turn against the regime.
But the regime is stronger than ever. I am surprised that NATO missed that the
spite is the name of the game in the Balkans.

ivo
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
To: nettime <nettime-l@desk.nl>
Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1999 07:58:40 +0000
Subject: Sovereignty Issue and Genocide in the so-called civilized world


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1999 01:12:29 -0500
From: "S.I.S.I.S." <sisis@envirolink.org>
Subject: Svend Robinson: Nato bombing, yes! Gustafsen inquiry, no! 

:-:-:S.I.S.I.S.  Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty:-:-:
Apr. 3, 1999                        No Copyright;  Reproduce Freely

CANADA'S NDP MP ROBINSON SAYS YES TO NATO AND NO TO GUSTAFSEN INQUIRY!

The reputation of one of Canada's supposedly "progressive" members of
Parliament took another hit when it was revealed he supports Nato actions in
the Balkans. A front page story in Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper, March 27,
quotes New Democratic MP Svend Robinson, External Affairs "critic" for the NDP
as saying: "we in the New Democratic Party accept that the use of force is
sometimes necessary in grave humanitarian crises, when all efforts at
diplomatic settlements have failed. We believe this meets that test."

Even a Conservative MP quoted in the same article, noted that Canada may be in
breach of international law. David Rose said that "we have done this without a
declaration of war and without the support of the United Nations.  We as a
country and as an alliance may have broken the codes of international law.
Canadian historian Michael Bliss observed that: We're going against a sovereign
country... this is a huge step back. We are going against everything we stand
for."

But indeed, Mr. Robinson and the governments of Canada and the province of
British Columbia had no problems whatsoever breaking international and
constitutional law when they sent a heavily armed strike force of RCMP and
later Canadian Forces in "Bison" Armoured Personnel Carriers to surround and
besiege a tiny group of Indigenous traditionalist Shuswap at their Ts'peten
Sundance camp near 100 Mile House in the summer of 1995.

Over 77,000 rounds of ammunition were fired at the 18 women, children, men and
elders in the Gustafsen Lake camp. A land mine was used to blow up a native
vehicle going for water. And the NDP Attorney General amidst shocking and
bellicose demonization of the campers as "terrorists", refused to expedite
their request for third party international adjudication, stating: "there shall
be no alien intervention in the affairs of this state." The BC Attorney General
and Human Rights minister was described as "out for blood" by one of the native
negotiators, lawyer Gordon Sebastian.  Indeed BC's policies towards the
indigenous peoples were aptly termed "ethnic cleansing" by Saul Terry of the
Union of BC Indian Chiefs.

Although worldwide support ranging from ex-US Attorney General Ramsey Clark,
the Green Group of the European Parliament, the Canadian Federation of
Students, the Assembly of First Nations and Indigenous groups and organizations
globally have urged an inquiry, both provincial  and federal governments have
refused. NDP MP Svend Robinson has also refused to support an inquiry, despite
the outrageous and well documented abuses and human rights violations which
occurred, not to mention a "smear and disinformation campaign" mounted against
the camp's occupants and their counsel Dr. Bruce Clark. Clark has demonstrated
that Canada's treatment of Indigenous nations is "fraudulent, treasonous, and
genocidal". Attempts by BC to have him disbarred failed when the Upper Canada
law society found that "the genocide of which Clark speaks is real...we are
sympathetic moreover to his contention the courts have been unwilling to hear
his arguments." (however this ruling has been reversed and Clark was disbarred
for "conduct unbecoming" which means pointing out law that renders Canada's
usurpation criminal and genocidal)

Mr. Robinson supports the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, just as he supported the
armed invasion of sovereign unceded Shuswap territory by the NDP government of
BC and the RCMP and Canadian Forces of Canada. He refuses even to support an
inquiry into the latter. Perhaps its time that Robinson's phony "progressive"
role is unmasked for what it really is.  Demand that he reverse his outrageous
support not only of Nato's bombing of the people of Yugoslavia, but also of the
vicious attack and subsequent coverup by Canada of the largest paramilitary
operation in the country's history, mounted against the Indigenous people at
Gustafsen Lake.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

"The current actions of the BC government and the RCMP toward the Ts'peten
Defenders, as well as the negligence of the Canadian national government to
intervene and put a halt to these actions, unambiguously qualify as genocide."
--  Belgian Human Rights group KOLA, letter to Prime Minister Jean Chretien,
April 25, 1997

"The political terrorism waged against Indigenous Peoples and the manipulation
of the crisis by the Canadian authorities continue to remain as root causes of
the conflict which erupted at Ts'peten. From the beginning, the Canadian
Government and the provincial authorities of British Columbia attempted to
criminalize the Sundance camp defenders without addressing the underlying
issues of sovereign rights on unceded indigenous territories." -- Tonatierra
letter to UNHCR. Sept. 16, 1995

"I have carefully reviewed this issue. While I certainly understand and respect
the position you and others have taken, calling for an independent commission
of inquiry to look into the events at Gustafsen Lake, I am unable to support
this call." -- Svend Robinson MP, February 16, 1999 Email reply to Apecalert's
Jaggi Singh :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
NO TO SVEND'S SUPPORT OF NATO BOMBING AND CANADA'S COLONIALIST COVERUP!

Svend Robinson NDP Member of Parliament -- mailto:Robins@parl.gc.ca
please cc: sisis@envirolink.org

For more information on Canada's ongoing indigenous genocide and to support
the international call for a public inquiry into Gustafsen Lake, please
visit:
  http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/gustmain.html
  http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/GustLake/support.html

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
    S.I.S.I.S.   Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty
        P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2

        EMAIL : <sisis@envirolink.org>
        WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html

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