From: wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de (Wam Kat)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Followup-To: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Subject: Zagreb Diary
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 92 09:05:00 MET
Organization: ComLink-Network Germany - For Peace Zagreb
X-Z-Path: ZAMIR-ZG!LINK-ATU!LINK-HH!SHLINK
X-Gateway: US SHLINK [shgate V1.91]

Zagreb Diary
05-09-1992

Dobar Dan,

"How is it down there, pitty bad isn't ?" in a kind of 
Southern American accent came out the hook at 5.30 in the 
morning, when Bicky took up half a sleep the telephone, which 
kept on ringing. "This is Doctor So and So from San Fran, 
somebody told us to phone you and tell you about our plans.". 
The story was that they, from the states want to organise on 
the 15th of November a popconcert in, don't laugh, Sarajevo. 
"We will bring down the best, we have satellite link ups and 
all, that's right mam". After a month in EX-YU Bicky is used 
to a lot of things, so she stay cool and said yes and amen. 

What can you do, a popconcert in Sarajevo, that is about the 
last thing we are thinking about at this moment, okay, when 
the shelling is over, but time and date fixed as this guy 
said, that is hard to imagine if you see the shells coming 
down day after day. She was as polite as could be, but this 
afternoon when we talked about it we couldn't think about 
anything else than "And a free light show, with special 
effect from the fighting groups". Of course this is no attack 
and we are sure that this people in the state were of very 
goodwill, but at this moment as well as on 5.30 in the 
morning, we are thinking about other things.

One of those things are the refugees of Gasinci, which went 
to the Netherlands. Somehow, don't ask me how, we have no 
influence on the lists of names (even when some people in the 
Netherlands thought we had), in the train to the  Netherlands 
a lot of soldiers from Bosnia were driving with their 
families up North. Not to stay their but just to bring thier 
wives and children away. 

They were brought to a refugee center in the south of the 
Netherlands were a lot of Serbian refugees are also placed. 
Somehow the rumour was spread in that center that busloads 
full of Bosnia soldiers with arms and everything where 
coming, what make the Serbian refugees totally in panic. All 
in all this whole operation is a big chaos, badly planned and 
badly worked out. 

On top of that somewhere in Germany they had to make a huge 
detour , since there was a rumour that neo-nazis where 
planning an attack on the convoy. We wonder if the Dutch will 
do any second transport after this debacle. What we have 
heard is that the Dutch ministry of Welfare, Health and 
Culture, which is responsible, is very embarrassed with it 
and probably will concentrated their effort on the refugees 
whom already are in the Netherlands. 

When I hear about this fights in Germany against refugees 
homes, which started about two weeks ago in Rostock and 
spreaded all over the country (it seems to be a little quiet 
at this moment) I have the feeling that refugees in Croatia 
are somehow better at least safer. For the time being all the 
Nazis which could attack them are fighting on the front. No, 

honest this revieval of rasicm and discrimination, mixed with 
heavy nationalistic sentiments and based on some never died 
facistic tendencies are becoming biggere and bigger all the 
time, due bad economical situation. You can't blame the 
Balkans, even when they will excuse them seves for it,  for 
it only, look around fascism is also in your own country,

Two green cans are standing on my table, one contains 
"Instant dried skimmed milk" and the other "cheese 
processed". They should have stand on the table of some 
UNPROFOR soldiers, but they ended up in the stock pile of 
some humanitarian organisation in Zagreb. It means literally 
that some soldiers take conserves out there stockpiles and 
bring them to different relief organisation to be given to 
the poor. When I was visiting some addresses around Zagreb to 
find a place to life, one of the ladies thought that I was 
very skinny and she didn't let me refuse her gifts.

Suddenly I was back in the old Balkan, the Balkan of friendly 
people who like to share everything with you. Where ever I 
travelled at the Balkan before, in Beograd, Skopje, on the 
country side of BiH, Dalmatia or Zagoria always when I visit 
people at home I left the place with small presents, home 
made brandy, some cherry marmalade or what ever. I realised 
that I haven't been much together with "normal" people from 
these countries the last 5 months, always with young people 
who are more or less used to foreigners. And when I came 
somewhere and mothers or grand mothers started to run in 
order to serve all what they thought were my wishes they were 
told by the children or grandchildren that it was not 
necessary.
  
Proud people they are on the Balkan, proud on the culture and 
country. They always show you all the good things of their 
home region. The specialities, the nice snacks, the wine and 
the home made brandies. You have to taste it all. But now 
they will excuse them selves more then ever before, sorry for 
the war, we can't let you taste this or that, since it comes 
from their and that is occupied or since we don't have money 
for it to buy it. I even found out that people didn't invited 
me at their home, since they were ashamed of the fact that 
they couldn't serve me all their special things.

In many ways this looking up to the west, may not be so 
strong within the people I normally work with, but it is 
there. It was one of the problems when we had to find 
sleeping places for the workcamps, you can't let Western 
people sleep on the floor, can you. This is a good room, but 
more for a Croatian student, not something for somebody from 
the west, this I heard when I was looking for a room.

It was today a real Saturday, with trainloads full of 
soldiers coming back from the front for a few days off in 
Zagreb at the station, Thousands of boys and girls on the 
main square checking each other out. Shooting in the night 
from drunken partying people (mostly marriages). And new 
coming volunteers for our center.

With Love from ZA-mir-GREB,


Wam:-)

  

Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia,soc.culture.greek,eunet.politics