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From: Bill Koehnlein <toplab@mindspring.com>
To: "undisclosed-recipients:;" <undisclosed-recipients:;@post.tele.dk>
Subject: Text of Milosevic Speech
Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 19:39:33 +0200
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From: JaredI@aol.com
Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 01:57:14 EDT
Subject: WHAT MILOSEVICH REALLY SAID AT KOSOVO FIELD - 1st TIME IN PRINT
To: JaredI@aol.com
Dear people,
It is impossible for a society to engage in genocide unless the
population is won to racism because racism is not inborn, not
natural. For racism to take root, the culture and the political
leadership have to support racism in deeds -- and also in words.
We are told this has happened in Serbia. We are told that
Slobodan Milosevich and other Serbian leaders have
indoctrinated the Serbian people in hatred for non-Serbs,
especially ethnic Albanians in Kosovo province. We are told
that Milosevich launched this racist campaign in a speech
at Kosovo Field in 1989.
The charge against Milosevich - that he preaches race hate
- is significant because it supports the charge against the
Serbian people - that they have been won to racism and
therefore practice genocide. Because many Americans believe
these charges they are disposed to believe there must be some
truth to the avalanche of pro-war propaganda demonizing the Serbs.
So. It is important to know exactly what Milosevich said in
his speech at Kosovo Field. Yet nowhere do any of those
who attack Milosevich's speech quote his words. Why not?
Greg Ehlich, a political analyst/investigator, has unearthed a U.S.
government transcript of the Kosovo Field speech. Please
read it and ask: is it a racist diatribe, reminiscent of Hitler?
Or is it something quite different, something really quite different
indeed?
-- jared israel
**********
[Speech by Slobodan Milosevic, delivered to
1 million people at the central celebration marking
the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo,
held at Gazimestan on 28 June, 1989]
Compiled by the National Technical Information
Service of the Department of Commerce of the U.S.
By the force of social circumstances this great 600th
anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo is taking place in a year in
which Serbia, after many years, after many decades, has regained
its state, national, and spiritual integrity. Therefore, it is not difficult
for us to answer today the old question: how are we going to face
Milos [Milos Obilic, legendary hero of the Battle of Kosovo]. Through
the play of history and life, it seems as if Serbia has, precisely in
this year, in 1989, regained its state and its dignity and thus has
celebrated an event of the distant past which has a great historical
and symbolic significance for its future.
Serbian Character -- Liberational
Today, it is difficult to say what is the historical truth about the
Battle of Kosovo and what is legend. Today this is no longer
important. Oppressed by pain and filled with hope, the people
used to remember and to forget, as, after all, all people in the
world do, and it was ashamed of treachery and glorified heroism.
Therefore it is difficult to say today whether the Battle of Kosovo
was a defeat or a victory for the Serbian people, whether thanks
to it we fell into slavery or we survived in this slavery. The
answers to those questions will be constantly sought by science
and the people. What has been certain through all the centuries
until our time today is that disharmony struck Kosovo 600 years
ago? If we lost the battle, then this was not only the result of
social superiority and the armed advantage of the Ottoman
Empire but also of the tragic disunity in the leadership of the
Serbian state at that time. In that distant 1389, the Ottoman
Empire was not only stronger than that of the Serbs but it was
also more fortunate than the Serbian kingdom.
The lack of unity and betrayal in Kosovo will continue to follow
the Serbian people like an evil fate through the whole of its
history. Even in the last war, this lack of unity and betrayal led
the Serbian people and Serbia into agony, the consequences of
which in the historical and moral sense exceeded fascist
aggression.
Even later, when a socialist Yugoslavia was set up, in this new
state the Serbian leadership remained divided, prone to
compromise to the detriment of its own people. The concessions
that many Serbian leaders made at the expense of their people
could not be accepted historically and ethically by any nation in
the world, especially because the Serbs have never in the whole
of their history conquered and exploited others. Their national and
historical being has been liberational throughout the whole of history
and through two world wars, as it is today. They liberated themselves
and when they could they also helped others to liberate themselves.
The fact that in this region they are a major nation is not a Serbian
sin or shame; this is an advantage which they have not used
against others, but I must say that here, in this big, legendary field of
Kosovo, the Serbs have not used the advantage of being great for
their own benefit either.
Thanks to their leaders and politicians and their vassal
mentality they felt guilty before themselves and others. This
situation lasted for decades, it lasted for years and here we are
now at the field of Kosovo to say that this is no longer the case.
Unity Will Make Prosperity Possible
Disunity among Serb officials made Serbia lag behind and their
inferiority humiliated Serbia. Therefore, no place in Serbia is better
suited for saying this than the field of Kosovo and no place in
Serbia is better suited than the field of Kosovo for saying that unity
in Serbia will bring prosperity to the Serbian people in Serbia and
each one of its citizens, irrespective of his national or religious
affiliation.
Serbia of today is united and equal to other republics and prepared
to do everything to improve its financial and social position and that
of all its citizens. If there is unity, cooperation, and seriousness, it
will succeed in doing so. This is why the optimism that is now
present in Serbia to a considerable extent regarding the future days
is realistic, also because it is based on freedom, which makes it
possible for all people to express their positive, creative and
humane abilities aimed at furthering social and personal life.
Serbia has never had only Serbs living in it. Today, more
than in the past, members of other peoples and nationalities
also live in it. This is not a disadvantage for Serbia. I am
truly convinced that it is its advantage. National composition
of almost all countries in the world today, particularly
developed ones, has also been changing in this direction.
Citizens of different nationalities, religions, and races have
been living together more and more frequently and more
and more successfully.
Socialism in particular, being a progressive and just democratic
society, should not allow people to be divided in the national and
religious respect. The only differences one can and should allow
in socialism are between hard working people and idlers and
between honest people and dishonest people. Therefore, all people
in Serbia who live from their own work, honestly, respecting
other people and other nations, are in their own republic.
Dramatic National Divisions
After all, our entire country should be set up on the basis of such
principles. Yugoslavia is a multinational community and it can
survive only under the conditions of full equality for all nations that
live in it.
The crisis that hit Yugoslavia has brought about national divisions,
but also social, cultural, religious and many other less important
ones. Among all these divisions, nationalist ones have shown
themselves to be the most dramatic. Resolving them will make
it easier to remove other divisions and mitigate the consequences
they have created.
For as long as multinational communities have existed, their weak
point has always been the relations between different nations.
The threat is that the question of one nation being endangered by
the others can be posed one day -- and this can then start a
wave of suspicions, accusations, and intolerance, a wave that
invariably grows and is difficult to stop. This threat has been
hanging like a sword over our heads all the time. Internal and
external enemies of multi-national communities are aware of
this and therefore they organize their activity against multinational
societies mostly by fomenting national conflicts. At this
moment, we in Yugoslavia are behaving as if we have never
had such an experience and as if in our recent and distant
past we have never experienced the worst tragedy of national
conflicts that a society can experience and still survive.
Equal and harmonious relations among Yugoslav peoples are
a necessary condition for the existence of Yugoslavia and for it
to find its way out of the crisis and, in particular, they are a
necessary condition for its economic and social prosperity.
In this respect Yugoslavia does not stand out from the social
milieu of the contemporary, particularly the developed, world.
This world is more and more marked by national tolerance,
national cooperation, and even national equality. The modern
economic and technological, as well as political and cultural
development, has guided various peoples toward each other,
has made them interdependent and increasingly has made
them equal as well [medjusobno ravnopravni]. Equal and united
people can above all become a part of the civilization toward
which mankind is moving. If we cannot be at the head of the
column leading to such a civilization, there is certainly no
need for us to be at is tail.
At the time when this famous historical battle was fought in
Kosovo, the people were looking at the stars, expecting aid
from them. Now, 6 centuries later, they are looking at the stars
again, waiting to conquer them. On the first occasion, they
could allow themselves to be disunited and to have hatred and
treason because they lived in smaller, weakly interlinked worlds.
Now, as people on this planet, they cannot conquer even their
own planet if they are not united, let alone other planets, unless
they live in mutual harmony and solidarity.
Therefore, words devoted to unity, solidarity, and cooperation
among people have no greater significance anywhere on the soil
of our motherland than they have here in the field of Kosovo, which
is a symbol of disunity and treason.
In the memory of the Serbian people, this disunity was decisive
in causing the loss of the battle and in bringing about the fate
which Serbia suffered for a full 6 centuries.
Even if it were not so, from a historical point of view, it remains
certain that the people regarded disunity as its greatest disaster.
Therefore it is the obligation of the people to remove disunity, so
that they may protect themselves from defeats, failures, and
stagnation in the future.
Unity brings Back Dignity
This year, the Serbian people became aware of the necessity of
their mutual harmony as the indispensable condition for their
present life and further development.
I am convinced that this awareness of harmony and unity will make
it possible for Serbia not only to function as a state but to function
as a successful state. Therefore I think that it makes sense to
say this here in Kosovo, where that disunity once upon a time
tragically pushed back Serbia for centuries and endangered it,
and where renewed unity may advance it and may return dignity
to it. Such an awareness about mutual relations constitutes an
elementary necessity for Yugoslavia, too, for its fate is in the
joined hands of all its peoples.
The Kosovo heroism has been inspiring our creativity for 6
centuries, and has been feeding our pride and does not allow us
to forget that at one time we were an army great, brave, and proud,
one of the few that remained undefeated when losing.
Six centuries later, now, we are being again engaged in battles
and are facing battles. They are not armed battles, although
such things cannot be excluded yet. However, regardless of what
kind of battles they are, they cannot be won without resolve,
bravery, and sacrifice, without the noble qualities that were
present here in the field of Kosovo in the days past. Our
chief battle now concerns implementing the economic, political,
cultural, and general social prosperity, finding a quicker and
more successful approach to a civilization in which people will
live in the 21st century. For this battle, we certainly need heroism,
of course of a somewhat different kind, but that courage without
which nothing serious and great can be achieved remains
unchanged and remains urgently necessary.
Six centuries ago, Serbia heroically defended itself in the field of
Kosovo, but it also defended Europe. Serbia was at that time
the bastion that defended the European culture, religion, and
European society in general. Therefore today it appears not only
unjust but even unhistorical and completely absurd to talk about
Serbia's belonging to Europe. Serbia has been a part of Europe
incessantly, now just as much as it was in the past, of course,
in its own way, but in a way that in the historical sense never
deprived it of dignity. In this spirit we now endeavor to build
a society, rich and democratic, and thus to contribute to the
prosperity of this beautiful country, this unjustly suffering country,
but also to contribute to the efforts of all the progressive people of
our age that they make for a better and happier world.
Let the memory of Kosovo heroism live forever!
Long live Serbia!
Long live Yugoslavia!
Long live peace and brotherhood among peoples!
* * * * * * * * *
Historical note:
This speech came at the culmination of a struggle in which
millions of Serbs, Gypsies, Hungarians, Jews, Turks and other
ethnic groups opposed the racist policies of the secessionist
movement among Kosovo Albanians. For years the fascistic
secessionists had dominated Kosovo; their persecution of
other ethnic groups, especially Serbs and Romas ("Gypsies")
is well documented; so is the multi-ethnic character of the
mass movement against that persecution.
What is so amazing about Milosevich's speech is he does not
use the occasion of addressing a MILLION people in Kosovo
to advance a narrow ethnic agenda. He does not at any point
attack ethnic Albanians. Instead he calls for
reconciliation and mutual respect, citing the presence of
different ethnic groups as Serbia's strength. Of course
the speech does celebrate the existence of Serbia as a nation.
But don't ALL national leaders celebrate the existence of
their nations? The important point is he celebrates it as a
multi-ethnic entity and that he never calls for attacks on non-
Serbian territory. Indeed, his point about the Kosovo Field
battle of 1389 is that the Serbian army was morally superior
and therefore victorious even in defeat, a rather
sophisticated if melancholy viewpoint definitely over the
head of the one-time Rhodes Scholar who is now
Hustler-in-Chief of our own poor (though all-powerful) country.
By the way, if you know someone you'd like me to add to the list
of people to whom I send documents and analyses please send the
email address to jaredi@aol.com. Thanks.
--jared israel
PS Below is a letter I just sent the Independent, a
British paper:
Dear editor:
In his May 3 letter Stuart Russell presents NATO's claims of
massive Serbian atrocities as proven and asserts government
complicity because "We have yet to hear any mention of Milosevic
condemning, or even distancing himself from the atrocities."
Milosevich told UPI on April 30th:
"We are not angels. Nor are we the devils you have made us
out to be. Our regular forces are highly disciplined. The
paramilitary irregular forces are a different story. Bad things
happened... We have arrested those irregular self-appointed leaders.
Some have already been tried and sentenced to 20 years in prison."
Proving innocence is harder than charging guilt. But consider:
NATO and the media have been exposed over 50 times lying
and fabricating evidence (E.g., Jamie Rubin said on 3/30 that
Pristina Stadium was being used to intern tens of thousands;
but when Agence France Presse reported the stadium had
been unused in weeks, Rubin simply denied having made the
charge; NATO presented a tape of a pilot bombing a refugee
caravan only later to explain it was AN EXAMPLE of such a
tape (?!), Agence France Presse reported (4/24) an Amsterdam
reconnaissance expert's finding that NATO had doctored
"mass grave" pictures, etc., etc.) If the prosecution is caught
systematically lying and creating evidence, shouldn't it be the
one on trial?
Jared Israel
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