Reply #145: Incorrect The Left was out there in force- u just didn't see it in the MSM

[Tinoire]

This was both domestically and internationally. The Moderates and Centrists however lapped up the media blitz which is why some have such a problem with understanding Ramsey Clark & ANSWER right now.

This is a prime example of the problem I have with Centrists. From asleep, to no facts, to foolish, faulty conclusions. How hard can it possibly be to tell Left from Right when you're standing in the middle of the road?

Yugoslavia was step 1 of the PNAC wars and the Left all over the world was on top of it. The Left in the US was on top of it too and spoke out very strongly which is why certain posters here have a huge problem with Left-leaning sources calling certain candidates collaborators and/or war criminals.

If you need more links and/or pictures, let me know... I'd be HAPPY to oblige.

===============================================


Above photo doesn't show even half of the column of marchers which CNN said accounted for only 5,000. Organizers said there were between 30,000 and 40,000 protesters - the largest anti-war rally since the Vietnam War.


From CNN's Inside Politics, 4/23/99:

-----(Transcript begins)-----

SESNO: And the NATO mission in Yugoslavia has sparked a number of anti-war demonstrations. During the president's visit to San Francisco last week, protesters made it clear they did not support U.S. involvement in Yugoslavia -- similar protests occur with some frequency outside of the White House, here in Washington -- but the numbers are relatively small, despite what the pictures may show you.

Joining us now from New York to talk more about the opposition to the war, Laura Flanders of Pacifica Radio.

(snip)

SESNO: There are those within the pacifist movement who say that the anti-war sentiment has been ignored, swept under the rug, minimized. Do you buy that, or are the numbers relatively small compared to other conflicts?

FLANDERS: Well, I think that's been the, sort of, media drumbeat, that the left has been silent on this war; and I would say it's true, the left, if you look at the mainstream media, has been silent, but it's not been silent, so much as silenced.

I don't know about you, but I've been seeing demonstrations in the thousands from the very first night of the bombing. Today in New York, there's a demonstration called by the War Resistance League, that I'm going to after this. There's another similar demonstration called by, among others, Peace Action, outside of the NATO shindig you mentioned in Washington, tonight. And there's a national demonstration called June 5th. Now I bet that's the first time you're hearing that mentioned on these airwaves.

SESNO: Now, what is it that anti-war protesters are saying, that this war is immoral, that any war is immoral, unjust, unjustified?

FLANDERS: Well, the media tends to -- I think they can have a kind of theme tune of sort of looking for the left in all the wrong places. I mean, if you want to understand what the left position has been on this war, you just need to look at the line that has been consistent since the Vietnam War, that militarism is not the solution to conflict. You have had every major organization that you would expect -- the War Resisters League, Peace Action, Fellowship of Reconciliation, AFSC, MADRE -- many, many other groups, who've all made statements calling for an end to the bombing, an end to the NATO involvement in Yugoslavia, and a negotiated settlement to the problem in Kosovo.

(snip)

FLANDERS: Well, there you go again, looking for the left in all the wrong places. I mean, progressives have never counted any of the people you've mentioned as their leaders. The leaders you could look to are people like the folks from the Catholic Workers -- Daniel Phillip Barrigan, Elizabeth McCallister, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Vivian Stromberg, Lou Walker. There's no shortage of leadership that has held absolutely firm.

But Clinton may be the king of inconsistency -- it's not exactly the left's fault. The left is not responsible for him.

(snip)

http://www.fair.org/activism/cnn2.html


AUSTRALIA





Washington march protests NATO bombing of Yugoslavia



Several thousand people marched to the Pentagon last Saturday to protest the continued US bombing of Yugoslavia. The demonstrators assembled near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Mall in Washington, DC and marched across Memorial Bridge to the headquarters of the US Department of Defense.

(snip)

The march organizers had agreed to have two liberal black Democratic congresswomen, Cynthia McKinney of Georgia and Barbara Lee of California, and one of the most right-wing Republicans, Ron Paul of Texas, address the rally. None of them actually attended or spoke. But one religious pacifist speaker, Thomas Fleming, hailed the prospect of uniting left and right against the bombing of Yugoslavia, which he described as “NATO killing Christians.”

(snip)

Only one speaker actually examined the historical issues underlying the war in the Balkans, former Attorney General Ramsey Clark. He said that Yugoslavia had been founded on the idea that all people of southern Slav descent could live together in peace, and he said that in the period 1945-1989 the region had enjoyed the greatest peace and prosperity in its history.

He denounced US support for ethnic cleansing against the Serbs in the Krajina region of Croatia, citing the recent book by US diplomat Richard Holbrooke which boasts of the expulsion of the Krajina Serbs. He said that US and European support for the breakaway of the constituent republics of Yugoslavia, combined with the policies of the International Monetary Fund, had produced a disaster in the region.

Clark was particularly critical of the 1995 Dayton Accords in Bosnia, which he said imposed an ethnic segregation worse than Jim Crow or apartheid, dividing the country into Serb, Croat and Muslim enclaves that were completely separated. While the United States seemed to be determined that the peoples of the region should not live together, Clark said, there was no alternative but the establishment of a new type of federation in the Balkans.

(snip)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/jun1999/wash-j09.shtml

ŸStop the Fascistic NATO Bombing of Yugoslavia


http://www.jrcl.org/english/yugo.htm

Overseas Appeal for the 37th International Anti-War Assembly in Japan

Oppose NATO States' Military Occupation of Kosovo!
Oppose Imperialist Powers' Military Domination of the World!
Advance International Anti-War Struggles!



http://www.jrcl.org/english/yugo.htm#apeal



Protests as NATO bombs Yugoslavia
Reaction in Scotland to the NATO bombing of Serbia was complicated by the reaction to the refugee situation which itself was accelerated massively by the bombing. Correctly and understandably the humanitarian crisis was to the forefront. Public attention was focused on the need for aid and the refugees arriving in Scotland. Early on Alex Salmond took a clear stand against the bombing campaign and was savaged in the media for doing so. There was reluctance on the part of whole sections of the natural political opposition to take this issue up, because it was a Labour Government doing it in a pre-election period. There was a real pulling back of opposition from the Labour movement, with notable exceptions such as Tam Dalyell, Tony Benn and George Galloway. Meanwhile Tony Blair was widely regarded as the most hawkish leader in Europe.

However in practically every significant centre meetings began to take place within several weeks, in almost all cases there was some CND involvement. Meetings took place in Aberdeen, Cumbernauld, Dumbarton, Dundee, East Kilbride, Paisley and Stirling. Regular vigils have been held at Faslane organised by the Peace Camp (the British submarine which was firing cruise missiles at Belgrade, HMS Splendid, is based at Faslane). In Edinburgh over 200 attended a conference called opposing the bombing. In Glasgow a "Committee against the Bombing of the Balkans" was set up with weekly meetings and several demonstrations. The broad range of participation was reflected in the fact that there were over 10 speakers at the rally on 5th June which was attended by more than 1000 people. The demonstration was addressed by Tam Dalyell MP, Nicola Sturgeon MSP, Tommy Sheridan MSP and Rikki Ross of Deacon Blue. Brian Quail spoke on behalf of Scottish CND and there were also speakers from Justice and Peace Scotland, the United Nations Association, the Iona Community and the Fire Brigades Union.

http://www.banthebomb.org/archives/magazine/nfs997e.htm

Tam Dalyell MP

There is every reason to stop bombing

Kosovo is littered with unexploded cluster bombs dropped by NATO as well as Serb mines and booby traps. The peace agreement stipulates that the Serbs clear away their own devices. This is easier said than done. By our action we have set a precedent for opening the bomb doors whenever required and are opening our cheque books as soon as bombing has stopped, we will come to regret the day that we ever embarked on such folly.
http://www.banthebomb.org/archives/magazine/nfs997e.htm

Alex Falconer

There is a sore need in this country to bring the full facts about this war to the attention of the public. The facts are that the IMF and World Bank loan conditions forced public sector cuts and massive privatisations. As a result, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia saw 1.9 million workers declared redundant (out of a public sector workforce of 2.7 million). GDP, already depressed, was halved.

Recognition of the independence of Slovenia, Croatia and Boznia precipitated further economic crises for the Serbs. The sad thing is that Milosovic then decided to use ethnic cleansing as a scapegoat response to this Western enforced capitalism. We do not support Milosovic. But we also condemn the current NATO campaign.

I know of no debate in Westminister to change NATO's charter, and thus the campaign is illegal. The UN, which NATO has always tried to bypass and usurp, has been denied its legitimate rights to veto (or sanction) military action.

We should also be concerned over the way that a "Labour" Prime Minister has called this war using the Royal prerogative. Consultation only took place in the House of Commons after some good left comrades raised the issue. Democracy as we know it in this country must be protected, and issues such as this need the full attention of the House of Commons - as they did in 1939.

Lastly the so-called "fair" Rambouillet agreement is nothing but a charter for the military occupation of a sovereign state. If comparisons are to be drawn, then they should be drawn fairly. If Milosovic is like Hitler in his ethnic cleansing programme, then the Rambouillet agreement is equivalent to the terms many sovereign states in Europe had to suffer with Nazi occupation.




http://www.banthebomb.org/archives/magazine/nfs997e.htm

Antiwar protests in Prague



A major antiwar demonstration took place Saturday, 6 June, in Prague, Czech Republic. The original demonstration, the so-called "Street Party", was called by various anarchist and environmental groups as a protest against the impact of capitalist globalisation. About 6,000 to 8,000 young people participated. All four Czech radical left groups participated actively, selling their papers and trying to make the former fuzzy meeting more political.

After opening speeches and some music the meeting turned into a march through the city. While many anarchists were ready to just go from one McDonalds to another and throw bricks at their windows the more political part of protesters (influenced by above-mentioned radical left groups) were able to direct it to the American embassy and turn it into a full-scale antiwar protest. Police were taken by surprise and were not able to stop the march. Demonstrators started to chant slogans: "Stop war", "Stop NATO", "American murderers", etc. Seven windows of the embassy were broken. Nobody was injured. This action led to protest of the American ambassador about "lack of protection by police", humble apologies by our politicians and new plans to implement harsher measures against future protests on one hand, but also to a large wave of sympathy from people who think that broken windows are at least an open sign of the attitude of the Czech population to the war in Yugoslavia.


http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/jun1999/read-j09.shtml


Apr. 01 - 14, 2000

COVER STORY

A wave of protests



A NUMBER of political parties and other democratic organisations reacted to the blitz and ballyhoo that surrounded the visit of President Bill Clinton in the language of protest. Going beyond the realm of rhetoric, they questioned the United States' fore ign policy, pegging their dissent on the U.S. role in a unipolar world.

At various forums, leaders of Left parties pointed out instances of military intervention by Washington (in Korea in the 1950s and in Vietnam in the 1960s and the 1970s), its moves to destabilise governments that refused to follow its dictates, and its s upport to coups in Guatemala and Chile. The more recent cases of military aggression they cited included the Gulf war in 1991 and the subsequent military and economic bombardment of Iraq, the economic blockade against Cuba, and the U.S.-led North Atlanti c Treaty Organisation (NATO) bombings in Yugoslavia.

(snip)

PROTESTS were witnessed also in Pakistan and Bangladesh, two other countries Clinton visited. The Labour Party of Pakistan (LPP) held a demonstration on March 22 outside the U.S. Consulate in Lahore despite a ban announced by the Gen. Pervez Musharraf go vernment on political rallies and strikes. Members of the LPP carried placards which read "Clinton go back", "Killer Clinton", and "Killer of Iraqi children" and raised slogans against U.S. imperialism. They pointed out that the visit was a conspiracy ag ainst the working class. They appealed to the trade unions and the working class in the subcontinent to protest against Clinton's visit as it was aimed at pushing the imperialist economic agenda in order to exploit the region.

Although the scale of the protests in India was restricted owing to the Central Government's determination to exaggerate the importance of the visit, one thing emerged loud and clear: that the new world order under the leadership of the U.S. was not acceptable to the Left and democratic forces.

http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1707/17070190.htm


DAILY PROTESTS AGAINST NATO BOMBING SWELL TO THOUSANDS IN BRITAIN

There have been daily protests in Britain against ... designs of NATO against Yugoslavia,
and whose ... Indian Workers Association and other left, peace, progressive ...

===

Madeleine Albright protest at University of Arizona

In Tucson’s largest anti-war demonstration since the 1991 Gulf War Against Iraq, nearly 300 people turned out Saturday afternoon May 15, to protest Madeleine Albright’s appearance at the University of Arizona. The Secretary of State had been invited to address the graduates. The award of an honorary law degree to the alleged war criminal and notorious international scofflaw was portrayed by speakers at the rally as an insult to the honest and reputable academic achievements of more than 4,000 other new degree holders. Demonstrators included University students and other Tucsonans called out by the Tucson Peace Action Coalition (Students Against Sweatshops, Pueblo por la Paz, Veterans for Peace, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, The Nuclear Resister, Raytheon Peacemakers, Jobs with Justice and others); several score of Serbian emigres and other peace activists from the metropolitan Phoenix area; and a large group of "spontaneous and self-organized" Chinese students and faculty demanding justice after the NATO bombing of China’s Belgrade embassy and the murder of journalists there.

Speakers at an open mike challenged Albright’s leadership in NATO’s war against Yugoslavia and the U.S. policy of bombing and starving Iraq through economic sanctions. The protest outside was seen, heard, and often supported by long lines of graduates, their families, and friends waiting to clear metal detectors and bag searches before entering McKale Center arena for the commencement exercises.

(snip)
http://www.iacenter.org/albrt_ua.htm

Here's a LLLLLLOOOOOOOONNNNNG list of the protest actions ANSWER alone led against that war with
http://www.iacenter.org/yugdemos.htm#ARIZONA
http://www.iacenter.org/yugdem3.htm
http://www.iacenter.org/yugdemo2.htm




The Nino Pasti Foundation reports that in Italy, some 20,000 people surrounded the U.S. air base at Aviano on June 6. Flying kites and children’s balloons around the periphery of the base, they stopped bombing runs for over two hours.

This was the biggest of all the demonstrations held at Aviano, which is the major base from which the Pentagon launches bombing raids against Yugoslavia. All sectors of the anti-war and pacifist movement in Italy participated, including the Communist Refoundation Party, Pax Christi, the autonomous unions known as Cobas and unionists from the General Confederation of Labor (CGIL).

http://www.iacenter.org/yug6999.htm

GREECE

Greek Communists pelt US troops
United Press International - March 19, 2000 08:22
By CARLA CAPUANO
ATHENS, Greece, March 19 (UPI) -- Hundreds of Greek communists on Sunday
hurled sticks and stones against U.S. Marines who docked at a northern
Greek port and moved to war-torn Kosovo for a NATO military exercise.
Holding red flags and chanting "American killers," some 600 protesters
lined a main highway near the port of Litohoro, in northern Greece,
where 300 Marines and 80 heavy vehicles bound for Kosovo arrived in two
U.S. helicopter carriers. An additional 800 U.S. Marines were due to
disembark at Salonika, the country's second-largest port, which NATO
forces used last June to move more than 50,000 peacekeepers to Kosovo.
Live television footage showed the communist protesters hurling sticks
and stones as the U.S. troops were making their way through the region.
A local prosecutor subsequently intervened, ordering protesters to clear
the passage. Security personnel guarded the Marines as Greek police
ensured their passage to the border.

http://www.fortunecity.com/business/bussix/1496/antinatodem.html

Greeks Demonstrate against NATO Presence in Balkans
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewGlobal.asp?Page=\Global\archive\GLO20000324c.html

By Louis Economopoulos
CNS Correspondent
24 March, 2000

Athens, Greece (CNSNews.com) - Thousands of Greeks
demonstrated outside the American Embassy in central
Athens Thursday night, demanding that NATO pull its
troops out of the Balkans.

Protestors, led by the Greek Communist Party and its
leader Aleka Papariga, burned U.S. flags during the
peaceful, mostly left-wing demonstration.

A large riot-trained police force kept the
demonstrators from approaching the embassy compound.

The demonstration marked the first anniversary of the
start of the 78-day NATO bombing campaign against
Yugoslavia, an event strongly opposed by a great
majority of Greeks and supported only minimally by the
socialist government.

Addressing the demonstrators, the leader of the "peace
movement" in Greece, Costas Macheras, called on Greece
not to support further NATO action in the Balkans and
to withdraw the more than 1,000 Greek troops from the
NATO-led Kosovo peacekeeping force, KFOR.

"We ask European leaders not to be dragged into
further military action by the United States and NATO
in Yugoslavia," the social democratic party DIKKI said
in a statement read out at the event. "We also call on
the Greek government not to allow NATO to use Greece
as a stepping stone for military action against our
neighbor."

http://www.fortunecity.com/business/bussix/1496/antinatodem.html

Greek Protesters Delay NATO Convoy
http://www.newsday.com/ap/topnews/ap463.htm

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) -- Left-wing demonstrators
stopped a convoy of NATO military trucks early Tuesday
as they tried to head to Kosovo, spray painting
slogans on the vehicles and smashing one window,
authorities said.

A group of about 80 protesters rushed the British,
French and Italian vehicles as they were leaving this
northern Greek city's main port and heading to Kosovo
to resupply the NATO-led peacekeeping force there.

The incident, which delayed the convoy for about 2{
hours, reflected deep opposition in Greece to the NATO
air campaign against Yugoslavia.

The demonstrators clambered over the 65-vehicle
convoy, which mainly carried supply containers, and
smashed the windshield of an Italian vehicle with a
rock. No injuries were reported.

(snip)

The vast majority of Greeks vehemently opposed NATO's
78-day airstrikes against fellow Christian Orthodox
Serbs last year, and held almost daily protest
rallies, some of which turned violent.

(snip)

http://www.fortunecity.com/business/bussix/1496/antinatodem.html
====

The Rational Destruction of Yugoslavia
Michael Parenti
November 1999

In 1999, the U.S. national security state -- which has been involved throughout the world in subversion, sabotage, terrorism, torture, drug trafficking, and death squads -- launched round-the-clock aerial attacks against Yugoslavia for 78 days, dropping 20,000 tons of bombs and killing thousands of women, children, and men. All this was done out of humanitarian concern for Albanians in Kosovo. Or so we were asked to believe. In the span of a few months, President Clinton bombed four countries: Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq repeatedly, and Yugoslavia massively. At the same time, the U.S. was involved in proxy wars in Angola, Mexico (Chiapas), Colombia, East Timor, and various other places. And U.S. forces are deployed on every continent and ocean, with some 300 major overseas support bases -- all in the name of peace, democracy, national security, and humanitarianism.

While showing themselves ready and willing to bomb Yugoslavia on behalf of an ostensibly oppressed minority in Kosovo, U.S. leaders have made no moves against the Czech Republic for its mistreatment of the Romany people (gypsies), or Britain for oppressing the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland, or the Hutu for the mass murder of a half million Tutsi in Rwanda -- not to mention the French who were complicit in that massacre. Nor have U.S. leaders considered launching "humanitarian bombings" against the Turkish people for what their leaders have done to the Kurds, or the Indonesian people because their generals killed over 200,000 East Timorese and were continuing such slaughter through the summer of 1999, or the Guatemalans for the Guatemalan military's systematic extermination of tens of thousands of Mayan villagers. In such cases, U.S. leaders not only tolerated such atrocities but were actively complicit with the perpetrators -- who usually happened to be faithful client-state allies dedicated to helping Washington make the world safe for the Fortune 500.

(snip)

http://michaelparenti.org/yugoslavia.html

====
The LEFT was out there. The SAME photos you see about Iraq were passed around in progressive circles. THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT TO THE LEFT, THE REAL LEFT, IT DID NOT MATTER WHETHER IT WAS DEMOCRATS OR REPUBLICANS WAR-MONGERING. EMBARRASSED DEMOCRATS CONTROLLED THE MEDIA BACK THEN JUST AS BUSH IS DOING IT NOW. The difference is that we did not have the internet or progressive forums in the same format as we do now.