Bombing the Baby with the Bathwater by Palden Jenkins Posted on Internet, 31 March 1999 This is a reply to an e-mail by Serbian independent journalist Veran Matic, editor-in-chief of Radio B92 in Belgrade, at the beginning of the 1999 NATO assault on Serbia. Veran's original posting is below.

Greetings, Veran Matic and colleagues!

I completely understand and resonate with your article and plea to the international community. Thanks for writing it.

I have an observation to make. We now see the consequences of leaving a problem until it is too late! This is a collective problem – it does not, in my opinion, rest with single people or governments. The trouble is that, by leaving resolution of these issues until it was too late, we all, on all 'sides', allowed it to become very complex. This means that there are no simple answers left to us, and that, to some extent, there will probably be no easy solutions. Another consequence, as you point out, is that reasonableness, understanding and proper human relations have already been lost. The problem is that this conflict in Yugoslavia goes back a long way – at least to around 1989, or to the 1940s or 1920s, if not much further back in history, back to medieval times – even before the Ottoman Turks came along. However, this does not make us helpless now, but it does mean that the lesson we all need to learn from this, in all countries, is to come to grips with our historical shadows and current problems at a much earlier stage, instead of leaving it to someone else and some other time!

This is a public duty. Our leaders gain power only because they have been given power by ordinary people who either vote for them or permit them to gain power and define the agenda. This outbreak of madness today in Yugoslavia is an expression of a madness which lies deep within humanity – in all of us. And now that bombings have started in Serbia, the agenda has changed again – and it's very complex. I am very upset that this has fallen on your country (it has fallen on mine at other times). Within the frame of reference of where you stand, what you have written is correct – the bombing needs to stop, and proper dialogue needs to happen. However, the bombing will continue until it has reached some sort of conclusion – whether or not it's the conclusion we might want. I do not know where all this will now lead. However, once it has started, we cannot wave a magic wand to make it disappear. The damage is done.

There is a game-plan to the NATO strikes – though whether it is 'right' or 'wrong' nobody actually knows – and opinions are solidly divided on this. The NATO aim is to bomb Milosevic into submission – whether or not the Serb people support him. Right or wrong, the NATO aim is to stop the atrocities going on in Kosovo. It might well be that this causes Serbs to support Milosevic and fight for their country, but it doesn't remove the fact that Milosevic's men were doing something which they should not do, for any reason. And even if you fought against NATO and won, it would not get rid of the problem in your midst. It's tragic.

To bomb Serbia is the choice which people have made, rightly or wrongly (it's probably a mixture of both) and we cannot know the outcomes until the deed is done. But we do know that different things could have happened if we had made other choices earlier. We all hold responsibility. In a country like Britain, we hold responsibility for our own history, and our involvements in the modern Megamachine and NATO, politics and war, and, without being clear where the boundaries of responsibility lie (they're shifting, perhaps), we've undertaken to get involved in Serbia/Kosovo. This will have its longterm consequences for us, which we shall have to bear. In a country like Serbia, you hold responsibility for your history and your collective, national affairs, and, like us, you as a nation, are responsible for the relationship between your government and your people. Choices have been made in Yugoslavia which you shall have to bear. And while Europeans might agree or disagree over NATO bombings, most of us are agreed that Serb actions in Bosnia and now in Kosovo are not acceptable in Europe. This is why Americans, Canadians, Belgians and South Africans were brought into Northern Ireland to help resolve the problems there. Atrocities within the borders of one country are no longer a private, national matter. This is something which is changing in the modern world, and the threshold between intervention and non-intervention are no longer clear.

I think the underlying lesson here is that the ordinary people of nations need to exert greater intelligence and power, in order to hold their governments in check. Ordinary people also need to re-examine our social values – it is easy to blame governments and politicians, but the responsibility lies with us, and the social attitudes we have to each other. I fear that this conflict in Yugoslavia no longer involves the simple issues about relations between Serbs and Kosovans – it concerns much deeper issues around power in society. The Milosevic's and Clintons of this world exist to teach us to be more aware and actively involved in our governance and national choices, so that leaders may not become as separated from their people as they have been. However, this is a world problem and, sadly, if this is not fought out in Serbia it is fought out somewhere else, until the lesson is learned. In this sense, the people of Serbia and Kosovo are victims of something much larger – even though you started out with a local problem. To some extent, because Yugoslavian people did not assert their power at the time when you had the power to stop these developments, the question has gone out of your hands. This is a cruel reality. The power has gone out of our hands too, in recent weeks, at least in relation to bombing Serbia: once the machinery of war cranks up, it's dificult to crank it down again unless miracles happen, or costs grow excessive or people grow tired of war.

Nevertheless, I think there's one thing that's important. In order for this kind of thing *never to happen again*, we all need to learn some deep lessons. We need to stop these crimes before they start, and deal with our problems at their roots. While Serbs and Kosovans have become 'sacrificial victims' in this bigger learning process, my prayer is that we really, deeply learn from this crisis. We did not learn from Bosnia, and we did not dig down to its roots – we just covered it over – and thus the problem comes out again now. This concerns all Europeans, and all people worldwide.

I honour and support your work in fighting for a free press in Serbia (and the world). I too have been regarded as a criminal and have spent time in jail for 'political crimes', and, thirty years later, I am still unable to have the jobs and money I want, or even to visit my friends in USA (I'm not allowed in), because of my history. I am still working for what I believe in. Theoretically, in my country, we have freedom of expression, but we do not have it really – it's not outright censorship, but it's called 'market economics' and 'business', which chooses information it can sell and suppresses information which questions capitalism and its values, or which does not fit into a marketing slot. I have written three books, which are unpublished in print, even though many publishers' editors say it is the best material they have seen for years. And people actually support this censorship by being 'good consumers', even though they also know better than this and suffer under this system! But they are afraid of losing their lobs and houses and security. It takes a long time to change these things, and we must not give up!

However, we have learned from the history of popular revolutions that 'people power' does not come easily, and that Tsars are easily replaced with Stalins – because of the psychology of the people who give their power to leaders. I encourage you to continue in your work of bringing open information to your people and trying to help people form better judgements about the world and its issues. And I regret the loss of truth which has arisen as a result of war. And I am aware that, even if the war stopped tomorrow, what would happen then? Would people resolve their differences? Possibly not. There's something deeper getting worked out here, and I pray that, amidst the destruction, suffering and sacrifices, we all learn the deeper lesson and say, from the bottom of our hearts, "No more!". We must build a new kind of social understanding and communication which removes the causes of misunderstanding, so that there is no more 'them and us'. There is only 'us together, in the same boat'.

Serbs and Kosovans have fallen into the belief that they are against each other. This happened in Northern Ireland as well, and after 25 years of bombing and terror there, it is taking a long time for people to create real peace on the streets, and real trust for their neighbours. I do a lot of group work to help people work out their emotions in situations like this, and the pain which comes up in such groups is terrible – though it is very real for the people involved. However, although this 'them and us' feeling is common to all of humanity, it is super-concentrated in places like Yugoslavia, Israel-Palestine, Congo and Afghanistan. We who live elsewhere rely to some extent on people in these places resolving their differences. Because if they can do it, we can do it too!

However, treaties and peace agreements between governments deals only with armies and politicians – not with ordinary people and their feelings. It has been demonstrated in South Africa that you can have a change of government, and an ending of apartheid, yet the pain and the psychological illness breaks out in another way, in the form of crime, chaos and disorder. In other words, peace has been officially achieved, but not psychologically achieved for the mass of the people. Similarly, if NATO stopped bombing tomorrow, or even if Milosevic were taken away to the War Crimes Tribunals, this would not heal the wounds which have opened up or bring back the dead children. I encourage you and your friends to step back from your frustration and anger over this terrible situation, and to start planning what you can do when the fighting has stopped. For there needs to be a deep national social process of healing and resolution in Yugoslavia, and this will be much more difficult than stopping a war. The NATO actions have perhaps harmed progress, but they have not caused the problem. The problem exists between Serbs and their neighbours, and they are deeply-rooted and they go back generations.

As independent thinkers who have bravely chosen to stay in Serbia, it might be that the best tactic is to 'keep your heads down' while these terrible things happen, because you are in danger for what you believe in and stand for. It is important that you are still alive and available when the crisis ends. This is a chance to discuss between yourselves what you can do next, and what your basic principles are. Because the bombing will end some day, and a new situation will arise. And this is where your people will need you – because you probably have more answers, solutions and ways forward than most other Yugoslavs have. And you have an attitude of balance and independent thinking which can help people resolve their differences. The issue is that, when Milosevic goes (which I think might be soon, within a year), he must not be replaced by someone like him – there needs to be a more fundamental change than this. When the war ends, good relations between Albanian and Serbian peoples must return – there is no alternative, and you are neighbours. When this nightmare is over, it will be time to reconstruct your society – not just to return it to where it was before these conflicts, but to make an enormous step forward and *to teach the rest of us how to turn tragedy into healing*. This will be difficult, yet the whole world is faced with this question, and you hold a key which can open this door. So do Irish people, Basques, Palestinians, Timorese and Guatemalans.

Your appeal to the world was correct and good, Veran, but I believe it is too late. Most of the world cannot hear or change anything at present. We need to know that Serbs will stop what they have been doing to Bosnians and Kosovans – whether it's the Arkans or the more thoughtful Serbs who currently feel they cannot stop the Arkans. This is what will stop the bombing. This is what the bombing is for – to force Serb nation to decide.

You, Veran, sound like a good man, and there's probably not much you can do right now for your people. But there is a lot you can do in the longer term – and your people rely on folks like you to come out after this crisis is over, to help them understand what really happened and what they can do to move forward. Keep up the good work, but while you are in danger, be careful. Because we all need you to be alive and ready when the situation changes. And I hope that it changes soon. But I don't think anyone knows when that will be. We're all 'in the dark', and God only knows where this leads. Yet your time will come. So start preparing for it!

Here's an interesting quotation: "You never change anything by fighting the existing. To change something, build a new model and make the existing obsolete." ~ Buckminster Fuller.

I shall circulate your email to a large network of people internationally, because I respect your work and your courage and I look forward to the day when I can see you writing good news too! As one who has worked for three decades in the 'underground' in the West (I was one of the students in revolt in London in 1968, and I haven't stopped since – though I've grown a little wiser about tactics!) I offer you the solidarity of my heart, and I wish you and your friends support and safety. Don't give up on telling people truth and reality as you see it! But stay alive until your truth can be better heard!

Bombing the Baby with the Bathwater

by Veran Matic
Belgrade, March 30, 1999

The air strikes against Yugoslavia were supposed to stop the Milosevic war machine. The ultimate goal is ostensibly to support the people of Kosovo, as well as those of Serbia, who are equally victims of the Milosevic regime.

In fact the bombing has jeopardised the lives of 10.5 million people and unleashed an attack on the fledgling forces of democracy in Kosovo and Serbia. It has undermined the work of reformists in Montenegro and the Serbian entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina and their efforts to promote peace.

The bombing of Yugoslavia demonstrates the political impotence of US President Bill Clinton and the Western alliance in averting a human catastrophe in Kosovo. The protection of a population under threat is a noble duty, but it requires a clear strategy and a coherent end game. As the situation unfolds on the ground and in the air day by day, it is becoming more apparent that there is no such strategy. Instead, NATO is fulfilling the prophecy of its own doomsaying: each missile that hits the ground exacerbates the humanitarian disaster that NATO is supposed to be preventing.

It's not easy to stop the war machine once its power has been unleashed. But I urge the members of NATO to pause for a moment and consider the consequences of what they are doing. Analysts are already asking whether the air strikes are still really about saving Kosovo Albanians. Just how far are NATO members prepared to go? What comes next after the "military" targets? What happens if the war spreads? All of these terrifying questions must be answered, although I suspect that few will want to live with the historical burden of having answered them.

The same questions crowded my mind as I sat in a Belgrade prison on the first day of the NATO attack on my country. Whiling away the hours in the cell I shared with a murder suspect, I asked myself what the West's aim was for "the morning after". The image of NATO taking its finger off the trigger kept coming to mind. I've seen no indication so far that there is a clear plan to follow up the Western military resolve.

My friends in the West keep asking me why there is no rebellion. Where are the people who poured onto the streets every day for three months in 1996 to demand democracy and human rights? Zoran Zivkovic, the opposition mayor of the city of Nis answered that last week: "Twenty minutes ago my city was bombed. The people who live here are the same people who voted for democracy in 1996, the same people who protested for a hundred days after the authorities tried to deny them their victory in the elections. They voted for the same democracy that exists in Europe and the US. Today my city was bombed by the democratic states of the USA, Britain, France, Germany and Canada! Is there any sense in this?"

Most of these people feel betrayed by the countries which were their models. Only today a missile landed in the yard of our correspondent in Sombor. It didn't explode, fortunately, but many others have in many other people's yards. These people are now compelled to take up arms and join their sons who are already serving in the army. With the bombs falling all around them nobody can persuade them – though some have tried – that this is only an attack on their government and not their country.

It may seem cynical that I am writing this from the security of my office in Belgrade – secure, that is, compared to Pristina, Djakovica, Podujevo and other places in Kosovo. But I can't help asking one question: How can F16s stop people in the street killing one another? Only days before the NATO aggression began, Secretary-General Solana suggested establishing a "Partnership for Democracy" in Serbia and the other countries of the former Yugoslavia to promote stability throughout the region. Then, in a rapid U-turn, he gave the order to attack Yugoslavia.

With these attacks, it seems to me, the West has washed its hands of the people, Albanians, Serbs and others, living in the region. Thus the sins of the government have been visited on the people. Is this just? There are many more factors in the choice of a nation's government than merely the will of the voters on election day. If a stable, democratic rule is to be established, and the rise of populists, demagogues and other impostors avoided, the public must first of all be enlightened. In other words there must be free media. NATO's bombs have blasted the germinating seeds of democracy out of the soil of Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro and ensured that they will not sprout again for a very long time. The pro-democratic forces in Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb entity, have been jeopardised and with them the Dayton Peace Accords. NATO's intervention has also given the green light for a local war against Montenegro's pro-democracy president, Milo Djukanovic.

The free media in Serbia has for years opposed nationalism, hatred and war. As a representative of those media, and as a man who has more than once faced the consequences of my political beliefs, I call on President Bill Clinton to put a stop to NATO's attack on my country. I call on him to begin negotiations which aim at securing the right to a peaceful life and democracy for all the people in Yugoslavia, regardless of their ethnic background.

As a representative of the free media I know too well the need for people on all sides of the conflict to have information. Those inside the country need to be aware of international debate as well as what is happening throughout this country. The international public needs the truth about what is happening here. But in place of an unfettered flow of accurate information, all of us hear only war propaganda – Western rhetoric included. Of course truth is always the first casualty in wartime. Here and now, journalists are also being murdered.

Radio B92 is continuing its work as much as the circumstances of war permit. It is continuing to broadcast news on the Internet at http://www.b92.net, via satellite and through a large number of radio stations around the world which continue to carry its programs out of solidarity.

VERAN MATIC is editor-in-chief of Belgrade's banned Radio B92 and a leading peace activist. He has won many international awards for media and democracy, the latest being last year's MTV Europe "Free Your Mind" award. Early this year he was named one of this year's hundred Global Leaders for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum.

Veran Matic, Editor in Chief tel: +381-11-322-9109
Radio B92, Belgrade, Yugoslavia fax: +381-11-322-4378
Radio B92 Official Web Site --- http://www.b92.net/

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