Date: Sun, 08 Nov 1992 16:47:00 CET
From: wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de
Reply-To: wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de
Distribution: world
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Subject: Zagreb Diary 3 November 1992
Organization: Zamir = for peace, Zagreb
Content-Length: 7438    
X-Gateway: UC xclhh [UZERCP V3.99]


Zagreb Diary
03/11/1992

Dobar Dan,

When I was walking yesterday afternoon passed the USAmerican 
embassy the was a demonstration (about 10 people), organised by 
the TransNational Radical Party (Transnacionalne Radikalne 
Stranke), a very small left wing group of mainly intellectuals, 
which are linked with other radical parties in Europe (most 
known is of course the Italian one, you probably remember that 
sex-star who was in the Italian parliament for them). The 
demonstration was against the dead penalty in the state 
Columbia in the USA. At first of course you laugh a bit, in a 
country in war, where or by which army, daily people are dying 
it is a little strange to organise a demonstration of this 
kind. But in Croatia, at least, the dead penalty is not 
existing anymore, it is in Serbia, however. 

That doesn't mean that the Croatian law system is perfect, or 
that Croatian police is behaving always according the basic 
rules of humanitarian approached towards criminals. I remember 
a very humiliating picture when I was in Split some days ago. 
With the boat from Rijeka, on which we went, also some 
criminals were send to Split. They had to walk in groups of 
three with their chains around their arms the 500 meter from 
the boat to the police car which was waiting for them. 
Everybody could see and if they want take photos of them. Such 
things would be impossible in my own country. People would 
never been transporting that way. 

Or an other story I heard some days ago, in one of the camps 
were we are working some boys stole some things from one of our 
volunteers. During an informal talk with one of the always 
available police agents in the camp our volunteer told him 
about this. Not in the least with the aim that they should 
undertake actions. But the police agents who like our work act 
on their own responsibility and informed the local police 
station. The next day the camp was raided and the boys who did 
it were found and brought to the police station. Later in the 
day the were brought back to the camp full of brushes and blue 
spots. Of course that is a way to teach them not to do it again 
and since our volunteer didn't want to make an official 
complain against them they couldn't arrest them. But when you 
are working with children and try to get their trust it is hard 
if something like this is happening. Besides the point that we 
all are against violence in this way.  

On the front page a beautiful picture of an old lady today, 
with a small backpack on her back. The stories said that she 
was at least 80 years, but looked it she has put all her years 
in her backpack. She would love to put some fishes in her 
backpack for a change, but the fishes were to expensive. What 
can you do in a country, where people seems to be able to put 
only problems in their backpacks.

And it is true, we have hyper inflation in Croatia, maybe not 
as hyper as in other parts of former Yugoslavia (BiH and 
Serbia, but still day after the day the exchange rate for the 
foreign currencies are changing. On the black market you get 
now about 350 Dinars for a Dem (in the bank it is about 300 
today). The inflation over the last month (October) was 33,8% 
and that means that more and more people haven't the 
possibility to buy any thing else than the most basic things. 
Around the 15th of this month the labour union will organise a 

general strike, they had talks about it with Tudjman. The 
rumour I have heard from somebody who was at that talk was that 
Tudjman offered them any minister in his government, they just 
had to say who and the guy would have been thrown out. But the 
representatives of the unions said that it was not aimed at a 
special person, it will be a principle fight for them and they 
don't want to fight about niccles and dimes. 

The last days we are getting afraid that the big numbers of 
foreign volunteers, who like to work in the camps with the 
children has passed the top. In the last weeks we didn't know 
where to put them, and for Christmas all our camps are full. 
But for the camps which will start at the 15th of November it 
is hard to get enough people. Hopefully this change for the 
better in the coming 12 days, but we really are getting afraid 
that the big fashion is over. Now more and more camps and 
centres are asking us to start camps in their places we have to 
tell them that we can't do it for the moment and that is hard 
for all of us.

On the other hand we get suddenly trucks full of humanitarian 
aid, clothes, food, medicines, but hardly no money of products 
to work with in the camps and centres. We need badly colours, 
paints, paper and other stuff to work with the children, but we 
get tons of clothes. Not bad, and all that stuff will end up in 
a place were it is badly needed, but still from clothes, food 
and medicines alone people wouldn't survive mentally. 
 
We know that it is easier to collect old clothes, food and 
medicines and that people are more willing to collect money for 
this things, but we hope that people abroad start to collect 
money for our work in the camps and centres, or materials from 
big play material firms, since that is also important. Still it 
is hard if you see the pictures and hear the stories about 
people sleeping in the forest around Tvarnik without anything 
and you know that f.e. in the U.K. 150.000 blankets maybe could 
be given to them. The only problem seem to be the transport 
down here.

In the evening Svemir and I drove with a bus to Varazdin, to 
visit the group of German students, who are working in one of 
the refugee centres there. We had such a busdriver which held a 
competition with his friend from another buscompagny, which 
left Zagreb about 10 minutes before him. So at every bump in 
the road we nearly went to the roof of the bus. Around 2 
o'clock in the night we returned to Zagreb, the people in 
Varazdin wanted to bring us back to Zagreb, otherwise we had to 
leave with the last bus back at nine or the earliest at 3 
o'clock in the morning. Poor them they must have returned in 
Varazdin somewhere hours later and had to work the whole next 
day with the children. 

I wasn't in my best mood during the talk I gave in Varazdin, in 
my head turned the news about the so-called "Vietnam Way", the 
over 30.000 people who are on their way from Jajce to Travnik. 
On thier way to another place which is under fire and which is 
not safe, from which they probably have to run away as well 
soon. I wanted to explain those students that the camp, old 
military barracks, was a very good camp, well organised. But 
that took a long time, since they already were totally 
surprised with what they had found, and complained f.e. the 
whole time about the smell of the toilets, in the end however I 
think they understand that every thing is relative around here.

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. It has no 
copyright and may be used in all forms of further distribution 
among all types of media. But please if you use something drop 
me a line. You can reach me via wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de. I 
dedicate Zagreb Diary to Tyche, Pjort and Rik in order that 
they will know what their father was doing all that time in 
Zagreb.