AIM Podgorica,
10 April, 1999
On Good Saturday,
on the eve of the great religious holiday, Easter, Belgraders have given up on
singing and dancing in the squares, but not on gathering. Known and unknown
stars of "turbo-folk" music were replaced by actors, church choirs
and chanters. It is hard to believe that in this country with 50 years of
socialism and blasphemy of God and the church people should know for sure why
on this holy day they are not supposed to rejoice and dance. They were simply
told not to do it. Not because of bombs but because Good Saturday was declared
a day of mourning by all the electronic media in Serbia. The error of dancing
and singing occurred only in those parts of the Republic where the destruction
of transmitters made the reception of state television impossible.
Last night, on 9
April, Belgrade was spared by NATO bombs, at least the downtown and its
outskirts. As state television reported, surroundings of Valjevo were bombed,
and targets in Kosovo, including the railway station in Kosovo polje near
Pristina - what else, it will become known here later on. News about the number
of human victims are slow in reaching the public, except through friends and
acquaintances of those who have lost their dearest ones or those who are
announcing the death of their relatives, children or friends in the obituaries.
The tragedy of
the small and poor Serbian town of Aleksinac mostly populated by miners on
whose civilian houses several days ago bombs fell still dominate the feelings
of the people. Evidently, the bombs of world power wielders can miss their
targets. Those that fell on Aleksinac tore 16 houses down to the ground, and
made another 400 unfit for living. The exact number of victims has not been
stated. Bombing of Crvena zastava factory in Kragujevac caused no less emotions.
Pictures of
complete destroyed Pristina have reached Belgraders with a few-day delay. And
that is the only thing from Kosovo that can be seen in the media in Serbia.
There is a lack of TV pictures even from the demolished outskirts of Belgrade.
War laws are in force in Belgrade and Serbia, people are concerned how to save
their heads, they are getting paler and more nervous every day. Serbia is
nowadays completely homogenised, insulted, humiliated and devastated. Every
expression of support coming from the world is run on all television stations
for days, and hatred agaisnt NATO member countries, especially America, has
reached its climax. All the eyes are turned towards Russia which is attributed
enormous power and force and it is the only hope for salvation.
In the third week
of the war, an open media war has started between the world and the Serbian
media. It was marked by the moment when a NATO officer threatened that due to
"lies for propaganda purposes, the building of state television will be
bombed if it does not agree to broadcast program of foreign stations" or
perhaps of NATO itself...
Therefore, a
country which is attacked and almost destroyed is expected to publish what those
who are bombing it are broadcasting. The information did not pass without
reactions here, primarily of state television which reacted with sharp
commentaries. Even the sharpest critics of the regime who are mostly the ones
who excpress a wish to hear information from the world, were shocked with the
arrogance of those who are bombing. During all these days of the war, those who
are watching satellite programs, and who are just a small part of the
population in Serbia, were appalled with the propaganda and semi-truth on
bombing and developments in Yugoslavia. Some journalists in Serbia established
that in terms of truth manipulation Serbia's state TV was a pure amateur in
comparison with CNN.
What is western
propaganda exactly reproached for?
From Serbia, only
singing and dancing is shown to the world as opposed to the pictures of Kosovo
Albanian and Serbian refugees. Ethnic cleansing and banishments are attributed
solely to Milosevic's regime. The bombing of Kosovo as a reason of the terrible
exodus of the Albanians is not even mentioned in western propaganda, nor the
departure of verifiers from Kosovo as the only bulwark to mutual killing of the
Serbs and the Albanians.
Certain
commentators even concluded that the bombs were agreeable for the Serbs, since
they were not moving or fleeing. If they had just bothered to look into bus and
railway stations in Belgrade they would have seen people leaving, seeking
refuge in neighburing countries or in villages. Nobody even bothered to recall
to mind that the Serbs had nowhere to go. They need a visa for every country
but Hungary where there are already about twenty thousand registered refugees.
Many families are moving to Subotica as a "safer" place. Men cannot
cross the border, and according to the new decree of the government, even
children over 14 are required to have identity cards. There is
no answer to the question why the multi-ethnic Voivodina, especially Novi Sad,
is destroyed to such an extent. Why are the bridges in this city torn down, and
why is this province paying so dearly for what the other province is
experiencing.
Caught in the
midst of two propagandist machineries, with state TV affecting majority of the
population as opium, the completely frantic, disoriented and bewildered people
are living a double life every day. During the day they must go to work
although there is mostly nothing to do there, and at night they go to the
basements. There is no explanation for bombs which
fall immediately next to maternity hospital or downtown Belgrade, on civilians
inside Serbia. When that happens, all the "merits" of the NATO
"peacemakers" go up in smoke. To expect from an attacked country to
defend those who are throwing bombs at it is indeed unprecedented cynism.
To expect
condemnation of the exodus of the Albanian population from those who have not
even seen the horrible sights of refugees, except for a few who can receive
satellite programs, is also pure nonsense. Organised singing in the squares and
slogans which can be seen and which are dominated by obscene presentation of
western leaders and outcries in which territory is more important than lives
are nothing but a propagandist picture of Serbia and gathering energy for
another night under bombs. At twilight already Belgrade becomes a ghost city.
There is heroism, boasting and patriotism only on television then. Until the
next rally at the Square of the Republic. The only evident effect of propaganda
is homogenisation of the people, the feeling of injustice done by the world to
the Serbs. Everything else, including everything that had been happening in
Serbia and former Yugoslavia for years has been forgotten.
Spomenka Lazic