From: wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Subject: Zagreb Diary
Date: 6 Oct 92 06:14:27 +0100
Article-I.D.: ZAMIR-ZG.4nGK_W7JtC
Distribution: soc


  

Zagreb Diary
01-10-1992

Dobar Dan,

Now I have got my own bike, all the Croatians are explaining 
me that I have to be careful with this bike, they tell me how 
to drive, how to protect it from stealing and than I answer 
them laughing that I come from a country with maybe more 
bikes than people and eat, drink and sleep on their bikes. 
But I have to admit that it is a new experience to be back on 
a bike in Zagreb. A lot more cars in the center than in the 
summer and I always have the feeling that the center of 
Zagreb is full of wrong one-way streets and no-biking street 
(which are obvious the best route you can take by bike). 

In the afternoon I visit Zoric. the head of the governmental 
office for refugees again in the hope that he could help us 
with some letters to convince some organisation in Zagreb 
that our volunteers are all right. We still have no sleeping 
place for the group which comes this weekend. Svemir has 
visit the commander of the army barracks, which his group (a 
religious group) use for storing their relief materials and 
that commander said it was no problem, if he could get a 
letter from his commander. So Svemir went to the General in 
Chief office and got the reaction that if he could get a 
letter from Zoric we could use the army barracks. 

I rather would get a whole army complex and turn it into a 
nice grassroots center or for that matter the barracks near 
the airport, which just to be used for the working brigades 
(and from nobody knows to whom they below today, some say the 
Youth parliament of Zagreb, some say Youth Television, it 
would be a good place). But it looks if we can only get some 
sleeping rooms. An offer from a catholic organisation hasn't 
come yet, but some organisations say they were looking for 
space for us. It is a little strange to let volunteers life 
in barracks which are in use by Croatian Army, who come from 
pacifist and peace groups and are going to work in a refugee 
camp. which is illegal according to Croatian government.

It took of course hours before he had time for me, since a 
load of official international delegations was passing by. 
Beside the letters which he promised to make as soon as 
possible, we shortly discussed the possibility to get a room 
in the building where they are having there office. But he 
said that the situation has changed so much that there are no 
free rooms anymore. The EC monitors took a lot of space and 
some other organisations moved in as well. Further on is it 
in that part of the town nearly impossible to get new 
telephone lines. For the whole office of his staff they have 
only 3 lines and those are always in use.

I was a little honoured when he, Zoric, directly knew where 
our report was in those piles of paper on and around his 
desk. It was funny to see the drawing of a sunflower, which 
we use as front cover and is made by a 12 year refugee in 
Gasinci from BiH was laying between all those official grey 
documents.

 
But maybe there was some place free at the addict of the 
building next door, but than we should agree on office hours 
from 7 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon. He would see 
if he could arrange it.

When I went the wrong way into a one-way, cars only street 
which is the shortest way from Zoric's office to the town 
centre I heard that sound from USAmericans police cars, which 
is also used in Croatian since it become undepended. But it 
was obvious not for me, only some cars which came from the 
other side flashed their lights, but the two Police cops 
which were standing at the corner return my greetings and 
didn't say a word. 

We visit Hug, a Croatian volunteer who lives in Studenski Dom 
(Student House) at the square of the Big Croats. This student 
rooms are still pigeon holes, with rooms for 2, 3 or 4 
students, filled with student from all over the "socialist" 
third world countries. Hug lives with a militant Albanian 
from Kosovo together. The fightings in Kosovo are just a 
matter of time, he said, we have all the weapons to defend 
ourselves, they can come.

Hug learn enough English during this summer to pass his exams 
and he choose at least a profession for which their will be a 
lot of work, social work. Vesna J. is still busy to finish 
her last part of the study of philosophy, specialist in 
Marxism, very handy today. She is sure that there would be 
much jobs for her profession.

In the evening we had a meeting from the Center for Peace, 
Nonviolence and Human Rights and we decided to keep the 
building in Tkalciceva, even when it is expensive, but turn 
it into a more training oriented Center. Starting on Monday 
already we, Suncokret, will use it as training center for our 
foreign volunteers. In the evening a member of Vietnam Vets 
against War will have an open meeting there and we hope to 
organise more activities in the Peace Garden like that. 

In the late evening when I came back two volunteers who 
worked in Gasinci just came back and told me that the had 
seen in Gasinci a Dutch guy who worked for International Red 
Cross and I should know since he was the neighbour of my EX. 
After some thinking I was sure that it should by Marjolein, 
the mother of Tyche, who lives in Utrecht, but her neighbour 
I never met (a new that my high school love was living in the 
same street). Anyway I have to wait till tomorrow to find out 
if I can find that Dutch guy which is working there.

For the rest is the Gasinci camp, nevertheless the cold again 
a success, even it seems that some people as always have more 
time for other things then the thing they came for, but 
that's life.

Still no relief flights to Sarajevo today

With Love from ZA-mir-GREB,


                            Wam :-)
--------------------------------------------------------
Zagreb Diary can be found on a lot of different computer
Networks. If you can port it to another, please do.
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But please if you use something drop me a line.
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I dedicate Zagreb Diary to Tyche, Pjort and Rik
to know what their father was doing all that time