Opposition the media tries to deny

Growing protests against the war

Picture: Colin Wilson Over 1,500 marched through Manchester last Saturday against the war

MASS PROTESTS against NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia are happening across Europe, despite the media blackout of opposition to the war. Western governments say anyone who opposes the bombing is playing into the hands of Slobodan Milosevic. But here we reprint the text of a letter from trade unionists, students and other campaigning bodies in Belgrade calling for the bombing to end.

DEEPLY SHOCKED by NATO's devastation of our country and the plight of the Kosovo Albanians, we, the representatives of non-governmental organisations and the Nezavisnost Trade Union Confederation, energetically demand that those who have created this tragedy immediately take all necessary steps to create conditions for the resumption of the peace process. The most powerful military, political and economic countries in the world have been killing people, and destroying military and civilian facilities, bridges, railway lines, factories, heating plants, storage facilities and fuel tanks. This has produced an exodus of unprecedented proportions.

Hundreds of thousands of Yugoslavs, primarily ethnic Albanians, are forced to leave their devastated homes to escape the bombing and military actions of the regime and the KLA, in the hope that they will find salvation in the tragic status of refugees. It is obvious that all this leads to catastrophe, and that a negotiated and peaceful solution to the Kosovo problem, which we have urged for years, is now further away than ever. We have courageously and consistently fought against every warmongering and nationalistic policy, and for the respect of human rights, and particularly against the repression of the Kosovo Albanians.

We have always insisted on the respect of their human rights and freedoms, and on the restoration of autonomy for Kosovo. Faced with the current tragic situation, we put forward the following demands in the name of humanity and the values and ideas that have been guiding our activities:

• We demand an immediate cessation of bombing and all armed operations.

• We demand the resumption of the peace process with international mediation.

• We demand that the European Union and Russia take their share of the responsibility for finding a peaceful solution to the crisis.

• We demand an end to the practice of ethnic cleansing and repatriation of refugees.

• We demand support for peace, stability, and democratisation of Montenegro.

• We demand the Serbian and international media report professionally and impartially about current developments and refrain from fanning inter-ethnic hatred, hysteria and glorification of force as the only way out of the crisis.

We are unable to achieve this on our own and ask for your support.

• Association of Citizens for Democracy, Social Justice and Support for Trade Unions; Belgrade Circle; Students Union of Serbia; Yugoslav Lawyers Committee for Human Rights; Nezavisnost Trade Union Federation; and 12 other organisations.

If your organisation would like to endorse this statement, contact Ken Coates at the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, Gamble Street, Nottingham NG7 4ET.

Speak out

ABOUT 700 people attended an anti-war rally at the Friends Meeting House in central London on Wednesday of last week. They heard an eyewitness report of the bombing's impact from left wing Labour MP Alice Mahon who visited the area the previous weekend. Socialist journalists Jeremy Hardy and Mark Steel won huge applause as they exposed the hypocrisy of Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, George Robertson and Clare Short. Veteran peace campaigner Bruce Kent rounded the rally off with a call for everyone present to organise discussions at work and college, and build further anti-war protests.

• OVER 350 students attended a teach-in about the war at Leeds University last Friday. Labour MP Dennis McShane and a local lecturer defended the war. Alex Callinicos from Socialist Worker and Tariq Ali, among others, were opposed to it.

• AROUND 80 students attended a debate about the war at Sunderland University.

• 30 STUDENTS listened to Jeremy Corbyn MP speak against the war at London Guildhall University.

• SOME 50 people attended an anti-war meeting in Swansea last week.

• 45 PEOPLE attended a lively public meeting in Hull.

• IN SCOTLAND 25 people attended a Stop the War meeting in Clydebank College and 36 attended a meeting in Dundee.

• 50 PEOPLE came to the setting up of Ealing Stop the War group.

• OVER 80 people attended an anti-war meeting in Cambridge last week.

• UCAC, THE national association of teachers of Wales, voted for an end to the NATO bombing at its annual conference last week and to support the anti-war demonstration in Cardiff on 1 May.

Anti-war marches

Britain

• SOME 1,500 people joined an angry march through Manchester last Saturday chanting, "Stop the bombing, NATO out." The march stopped outside the BBC to express solidarity with the television workers bombed in Serbia and to protest against the media blackout of opposition to the war. At the rally in St Peter's Square speakers included Alice Mahon MP, Colin Barker from the SWP, Bob Pounder from Greater Manchester Fire Brigades Union and representatives from the Kurdish Solidarity Campaign and from CND.

• OVER 1,000 people joined a protest outside the BBC in central London last Saturday in protest at its pro-NATO coverage of the war. The protesters applauded Jeremy Corbyn MP and Tony Benn's anger at NATO's bombing of the Serbian tv station. Benn said it "showed it is an absolute lie for NATO to say it is only aiming at military targets. The opinion polls show 30 percent of the population oppose the war. They are entitled to have their views reflected and their activities reported." There were also speakers from broadcasting unions BECTU and the NUJ, from CND and from the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom.

• In Oxford last Saturday around 350 people marched against the bombing. A TGWU member from the Rover car plant at Cowley said, "There is a large minority of people against the war, and there were even more after NATO bombed the Zastava car factory. Even the people who are for the war are not at all jingoistic."

• UP TO 400 people marched through Sheffield last Saturday. Tariq Ali, who played a leading role in the campaign against the Vietnam War, got an excellent reception at the rally.

• AROUND 70 people protested outside the BBC in Birmingham last Friday night in opposition to its coverage of the war.

• SOME 100 protesters in Lancaster lobbied a meeting where Tony Lloyd, Labour's Home Office minister, was invited to speak in support of the war by local MP Hilton Dawson.

• OVER 120 joined an anti-war protest in Nottingham city centre last Saturday.

• IN SOUTHAMPTON around 200 people marched through the city in protest at the war .

• AROUND 40 to 50 people held an anti-war protest in Brighton last Saturday.

Europe

Thousands of demonstrators attacked the NATO headquarters in Naples, Italy, on Saturday of last week. Over 6,000 people marched in the Spanish city of Barcelona, on Sunday. Another 4,000 joined an earlier protest in Seville. Thousands of protesters also took to the streets in over 40 German cities at the weekend. Over 2,000 marched in Hamburg, 1,500 in Erfurt and over 1,000 in Frankfurt. About 8,000 people joined a trade union march in Athens against the war on Thursday of last week. In the Czech Republic opinion polls show 48 percent are against the war. Anti-war demonstrations have also taken place around the country, including 5,000 people in Wenceslas Square in the capital, Prague.

BACK THIS STATEMENT

A GROWING number of prominent academics are backing a statement against the war by Pierre Bourdieu, a leading left wing French intellectual. It first appeared as a letter in the French newspaper Le Monde. It says, "It is not true that the NATO air strikes are going to prevent a regional flareup. It is not true that NATO is protecting the Kosovan population."

It states that the NATO bombing has "facilitated and not prevented a ground offensive by Serb paramilitary forces" and has consolidated "the dictatorial power of Slobodan Milosevic". Amongst those backing the statement are Edward Said, Noam Chomsky, Sheila Rowbotham, Robin Blackburn, Mike Davis, Peter Linebaugh and Robert Brenner.

• For copies of the statement against the war contact: Kirsty.Reid@bristol.ac.uk

'Call an end to bombing'

THE LABOUR supporting weekly newspaper Tribune is in favour of the war. But in last week's edition the veteran left wing economist Michael Barratt Brown hit back. Barratt Brown says, "So, after all these years of struggle against US foreign policy and military intervention the world over, you have decided that in the case of Kosovo 'this is a war worth fighting'. Would it not be so much better for you to join others all over the world in calling for a ceasefire to end the bombing?"

Socialist Review

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• No to NATO's war

• International protests

• The resistible rise of Milosevic

• plus much more

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