Tuesday, May 25th, 1999

Serbs are not the victims here, Serbian army is a bunch of murderers

    Q: You always talk about the NATO-bombings, so what about the massacres in Kosovo? Serbs are not the victims here, the serbian army is a bunch of murderers!!
I respect your work and your hope for peace but if you could see those horrible pictures in television of massacres in kosovo you would change your mind and stop whining about NATO-bombings. They are the only way to prevent a bastard like Milosevic to kill every single child man and woman in Kosovo!!!

    Philip, we can see pictures of massacres in Kosovo, and we've been seeing them for more than a year. Although Serbian TV (RTS) never broadcasted those pictures, and denies that any massacres ever happened, we have access to Internet, and there's a great deal of sites about atrocities committed by Yugoslav army and police. We are also aware of what's Serbian police capable of doing, because we felt it on our own backs. Milosevic's special police forces were the one that started with massacres in Kosovo. During massive anti-government protests in Serbia in winter 96/97, when two millions of people protested against Milosevic on the streets of Serbia every day for entire three months, we learned of the first victim of Milosevic's terror in Kosovo. One albanian teacher was beaten to death by Milosevic's police. At the protest, one of opposition leaders asked for moment of silence in respect for that teacher. 500,000 people gathered in a Belgrade city square, mourning for a albanian victim in Kosovo isn't exactly regular nation of ethnical cleansers. The very same police forces were brought from Kosovo to crush demonstrations in Serbia. They did it by beating protesters without mercy - including women and children. Several people got killed, and hundreds were injured. Later on, when first of the massacres, in village of Drenica happened, outrage over it in Belgrade was enormous. Only one street protest was held then - Milosevic police received order to kill anyone who appeared at the protest. So, we know perfectly well that Milosevic's forces are 'bunch of murderers', because we've seen those murderers in action.

    Current situation in Serbia is so much different compared to what's happening to Albanians in Kosovo. Army and police is not looting and burning our homes, they are not forcing us to leave our houses, they are not burning our villages, they are not killing our children. We are not forced to walk hundreds of kilometers and then to starve in stuffed refugee camps. But, we wished that you could see horrible pictures from Serbia on your TV, not only pictures of massacres in Kosovo. Maybe then it would be clear why do we spend so much time "whining" about NATO bombings. We can not possibly to stop "whining" because somehow, many of us are always heartbroken when we see a child that got killed. Picture of brother and sister, age 4 and 8, that got killed in Belgrade bombing yesterday hurt us as much as picture of a pregnant woman that got killed by police in Kosovo.

    We are heartbroken when we see Albanian families torn apart, burnt villages and refugee camps. We are also heartbroken when we see people that were killed in bombings, ones that lost their homes, people that have to stand in line for water, or the ones that have no food. In our hometowns, not only in Kosovo. Those are the people that have no right to be called "victims" just because their ordeal is a result of NATO bombings, and not Milosevic's army. Isn't it a bit case of double standards and reversed fascism? You probably don't know that our men also are taken by army in the night, that entire villages in Serbia are destroyed by bombings, that many people were forced to their homes because of them as well. NATO is killing citizens of our country, forcing us to live without electricity and water, making our lives worth not a dime, destroying the country's economy and creating thousands of refugees. It is taking away our chance to survive, while doing no or little harm to Milosevic himself. That's why we can not stop "whining" and support NATO's campaign. Killing nine millions of people and destroying whole country just to stop one indicted war criminal and dictator from committing crimes is hardly the solution. Personally, I would really like to see Milosevic in Hague and all refugees back home, but I doubt I will live to see that.

Philip from cinecom.ch