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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Subject: INDEPENDENT RADIO BREAK-IN AS MEDIA REPRESSION STEPS UP From: Vladislav Bjelic <wlad@xs4all.nl> Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 03:14:04 +0200 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ANEM press release INDEPENDENT RADIO BREAK-IN AS MEDIA REPRESSION STEPS UP BELGRADE, September 13 -- The Association of Independent Electronic Media in Yugoslavia (ANEM) protests sternly at the theft of equipment from Radio GLOBUS in Kraljevo. The equipment was taken from this ANEM member station during a break-in on September 11. ANEM believes that this was intended to hinder the independent work of the station and to deny local citizens access to objective information in the coming period. Radio GLOBUS was broken into early in the morning of September 11. More than five thousand Deutschmarks' worth of equipment was stolen. This is only the latest in a series of attacks, threats, thefts and sabotage suffered by the station since October 1998 when the government intensified its campaign against independent media. These have included damage to equipment, several bomb threats and frequent personal threats to journalists employed by the station. The political motive is underlined by the fact that nothing was stolen from Radio PLUS, which is owned by the same company and located on the same premises, but does not carry news programs. It is also pertinent that the attack occurred immediately after the launch of a media campaign by local NGOs related to demands for the manager of Radio Kraljevo to be replaced. In addition to the direct damage caused by the loss of equipment, the collateral damage includes loss of income while Radio GLOBUS is off the air, and the enormous harm caused by depriving the citizens of Kraljevo and the surrounding area of a reliable source of accurate and unbiased information. Despite difficult circumstances, ANEM will give Radio GLOBUS every assistance possible in resuming broadcasting. ANEM also demands that those responsible for this attack are identified and dealt with according to the law and that Radio GLOBUS receives compensation for the damage suffered. Veran Matic, Chairman, ANEM - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Subject: [kcc-news] Albright Remarks to Kosovar Albanians at Peace Conference From: Kosova Crisis Center News and Information <mentor@alb-net.com> Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 10:37:11 -0400 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> READ & DISTRIBUTE FURTHER <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosova Crisis Center (KCC) News Network: http://www.alb-net..com --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosovapress http://www.kosovapress.com/ Kosova Information Center http://www.kosova.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- *********************************************************** KOSOVO - Official U.S. Government Documents For more information regarding the latest policy statements and other materials related to the Kosovo crisis, visit http://www.usia.gov/regional/eur/balkans/kosovo/ *********************************************************** 14 September 1999 Transcript: Albright Remarks to Kosovar Albanians at State Dept. Sept. 14 Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says almost 800,000 Kosovar Albanian refugees have returned to their homes. In remarks September 14 in the State Department's Ben Franklin Room to Kosovar Albanians who are in the Washington area attending a U.S. Institute of Peace Conference at Lansdowne, Virginia, she said that "UNMIK and KFOR are revising upward their estimates of Serbs and other minorities choosing to remain in Kosovo." "We hope many more will be able to return," she said. Following is the transcript, as delivered: (begin transcript) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman September 14, 1999 As Delivered REMARKS BY SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT TO KOSOVAR ALBANIANS AT U.S. INSTITUTE OF PEACE CONFERENCE WASHINGTON, DC SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Thank you very much, Chet. Chet and I were colleagues for a long time at Georgetown University and it's very nice to be colleagues in this enterprise also. Good morning to everybody and I'm so very, very pleased to be able to welcome you to the Department of State. As you may know, I have just come back from a rather long trip to the Middle East and to Asia and I came back especially early because I did not want to miss the chance to meet with all of you and to talk to you - the mothers and fathers of a democratic Kosovo. I thank you all for changing your schedule to make my participation possible. And I also want to thank Dick Solomon and the United States Institute of Peace for organizing this conference -- and for your dedication to the cause of peace in Kosovo, throughout the Balkans, and around the world. I want to congratulate Vjosa Dobruna, Xheraldina Vula, Muhamet Mustafa, and everyone -- every one of you -- for the encouraging reports you have just presented. After all that has happened, there is no better feeling than to see the people of Kosovo at peace, hard at work, and planning for the future of what will always be your rightful home. I think it really is quite appropriate that you should have had your meeting in Virginia - a state which for all Americans is deeply identified with the creation of an American democracy and so it's very nice that you met at Lansdowne. I'm only sorry that I wasn't here so that you could meet at my farm so that this could be called the Hillsborough declaration. You have heard new voices and different views. And with the Lansdowne Declaration you have drafted, you have taken responsibility for building Kosovo's institutions -- and with them, a better future. What is more, I see that you have achieved a new appreciation for the importance of women's full participation in political life -- and I understand that several wives in Pristina are going to be pleasantly surprised when their newly-enlightened husbands return. You have done an inspiring job at Lansdowne of bridging differences and creating the common ground upon which a democratic Kosovo may be built. And already, you have accomplished much in Kosovo as well. Almost 800,000 Kosovar Albanian refugees have returned to their homes. UNMIK and KFOR are revising upward their estimates of Serbs and other minorities choosing to remain in Kosovo. We hope many more will be able to return. Great progress has been made toward rebuilding homes and preparing for the winter. The economy is rapidly reviving, as factories reopen and new businesses appear daily. Schools have opened, and ethnic Albanian children are receiving the public Albanian-language education they were so long denied. Judges and prosecutors appointed by the UN Mission in Kosovo have begun to hear cases, laying the foundation for a system of justice administered for Kosovars by Kosovars. The Kosovar Police Academy opened last week with its first class of 168 students. And Kosovo's independent media are vigorous and expanding, thanks in no small part to the efforts of many in this room. This remarkable progress is a testament to the determination of the people of Kosovo to build lives better than what they have known before - and to the desire of the international community to support all of you in doing that. After months of violence, ten years of Belgrade's repression, and more than fifty years of Communist centralization, it would be wrong and foolish to expect one summer to cure all of Kosovo's troubles and problems. I believe that most Kosovars are trying, as fast as you can, to tackle their difficulties honestly. In short, I believe in you. But after all that the people of Kosovo have suffered and lost, they -- and you -- should not accept anything less than true democracy and lasting peace. And neither democracy nor peace is sustainable without respect for human rights. If everyone is not safe in Kosovo, ultimately no one will be safe; and if all are not equal under the law, ultimately no one will be able to count on the law for protection. And that is why, as your friend, I will say plainly that you must combat the temptations of revenge, corruption and criminality. Evidence of unchecked criminality would lose you the support of the international community, and the trust of your people. And you must do everything you can to prevent the killing, terrorizing and expulsion of Serbs and other minorities. Acts of terror harm your own interests. They discourage international humanitarian support and investment, and they give aid and comfort to your enemies. They are seen by some to validate Milosevic's claim that Serbs cannot be safe where ethnic Albanians have power. And by teaching Kosovo's children to hate, they prepare not peace, but discord. Already, some in the international community have concluded that you cannot build a peaceful, multi-ethnic democracy. And they expect you to fail -- and, as Senator Dole told you, they are waiting to be proven right. You have heard the stories. You have been described as prisoners of Balkan history, interested only in doing to the Serbs what they have already done to you. I can't tell you how to feel. No one can. But I hope and believe that you will aim higher and achieve more than the cynics and bigots expect. And I pledge that the United States will stand with you in those efforts. Today I can announce three steps the United States is taking to do our part to support peace, democracy and renewal in Kosovo. First, after consultations with Congress, the United States has officially opened the U.S. Office in Pristina, to represent American interests and serve as a platform for all our efforts in Kosovo. The head of the office, Larry Rossin, is a distinguished Foreign Service Officer -- and he is with us today. And we are all very grateful to him and he's a great friend. Larry, thanks for already doing a great job. Second, we have begun consultations with Congress toward amending our budget request for fiscal year 2000 -- which begins next month -- to provide substantial additional support for Kosovo and Southeast Europe. These new resources will promote Kosovo's democratic development, including the holding of elections, the development of a free media, and the rule of law. And they will help stand up a Kosovo police force. And they will sustain our own commitment to KFOR. Third, the United States will support the development of a new civil emergency response organization -- the Kosovo Corps. The Kosovo Corps will deal with floods, fires, land mines and unexploded munitions, as well as assisting with Kosovo's reconstruction. We expect that many members of the KLA will join the Kosovo Corps. Others have joined the new Kosovo police. With other donors, the United States will support programs for vocational training, scholarships and other assistance for KLA veterans. Their energy, skills and resources are needed to build the peace. It is vital that the KLA carry out fully and faithfully its undertaking to demilitarize by next Sunday, September 19. Your courage sustained you through times of bitter suffering and hardship. Your courage won you the support of NATO and many others around the world. And now, your courage is needed to win the peace. Over the past four days, you have shown not only courage, but also initiative and wisdom. You have taken the initiative to move Kosovo's political process forward - by acknowledging problems with the transition and by establishing a forum for political leaders to meet regularly in Pristina. You have identified economic priorities and the need for transparent and reliable economic structures. And you have already built the foundations for a strong civil society, from a vibrant free press to women's groups to the Mother Teresa Society. As a former professor, I can tell you that there are as many different ways to run a democracy as there are democracies; and as a long-time resident of one, I can tell you that they are always and everywhere a work in progress. As someone whose family fled Central Europe in search of freedom, I can tell you that your institutions must be strong enough to protect the twin foundations of democracy -- individual liberties and the rule of law. And as someone who believes in you, I can tell you that your work will put you on track toward a Kosovo that will be admired for the justice it extends to all its people, not only some; for the peace it maintains by settling differences through laws, not force; and for the freedom it preserves by choosing leaders with ballots, and not guns. It will be my privilege to stand with you as you work to put the vision you have melded here into practice -- and secure the blessings of liberty for the people of Kosovo. Thank you. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list send a message to majordomo@alb-net.com In the body of the message include: UNSUBSCRIBE KCC-NEWS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Subject: CYBERREX NA ZIVO 6 // CYBERREX IN VIVO 6 From: Sinisa & Katarina <shile@infosky.net> Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 11:41:29 +0200 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CYBERREX NA ZIVO 6 // CYBERREX IN VIVO 6 FreeB92 vas poziva na // FreeB92 invites you to the Predstavljanje ASOCIJACIJE NEZAVISNIH TEATARA // Promotion of the ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT THEATRES 13/09 16:00 - 18:30, Atelje 212 "Strategije opstanka - " RAZGOVOR SA EUDJENIJOM BARBOM // Conversation with Eugenio Barba, ODIN Teatret, Denmark - THE STRATEGY OF SURVIVAL 22/09 20:00, Bitef teatar - "Putovanje - Journey" ISTER TEATAR 23/09 20:00, Bitef teatar - "Under The Sky - Ispod neba" BORIS CAKSIRAN 24/09 20:00, Narodni muzej - "Dokumenti vremena - Documents of Time" DAH TEATAR 25/09 20:00, Bitef teatar - "Neverovatni duel - The Incredible Duel" PLAVO POZORISTE 26/09 20:00, Bitef teatar - "Prica o mladicu i hiljadu andjela - Story about a Young Man and a Thousand Angels" OMEN 27/09 20:00, Bitef teatar - Tribina: "Razliciti aspekti rada i postojanja nezavisne pozori{ne scene u Beogradu" http://www.cyberrex.org/asocijacija http://www.cyberrex.org - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Subject: NetAid 5 - the final NetAid From: Gordan Paunovic <gordan@residence.aec.at> Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 11:49:09 +0200 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Free B92 announces the final Net Aid event Net Aid 5 15 September 1999, 00.00-24.00h CET (GMT+2) http://www.freeb92.net/netaid/index.html The First Net Aid event took place on May 15, 1999. It was a 24-hour Internet party organised by the original B92 team from Belgrade, with the assistance of friends all over the world. This event was held during the war in Yugoslavia in order to draw the attention of international music lovers to the Free B92 campaign and to raise voices against violence as a tool for solving political problems anytime and anywhere. Participants in the project have donated music - live recordings, DJ mixes and other original material. Net Aid thus became a monthly gathering place for friends of the original B92, the musicians, DJs and media activists who together created a virtual B92 at the time it was banned. The Free B92 team announces the Net Aid cycle has now been completed and that Net Radio Free B92 will begin by the end of this month. Net Aid 5 will recall some of the high points of previous events as well as presenting some exclusive new musical donations. The complete Net Aid Archives, including all the original music material, will soon be available at the Free B92 Music Department Web site. http://www.freeb92.net/jukebox.html Please continue to send music contributions to our address (Susanne Simon, Net Aid, Rakoczi Ut. 8b/111/8, 1072 Budapest, Hungary). Stay tuned for the latest Net events and the latest adventures of your radio and music heroes on www.freeb92.net. We thank all of you for making Net Aid possible. The Free B92 Team, Belgrade September 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Subject: NATO, Yugoslavia and not so blue Danube From: Ivo Skoric <ivo@reporters.net> Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 16:14:46 -0400 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ROMANIA'S DANUBE RIVER PROTEST Romanian shippers blockaded the Danube last week in protest against trade losses incurred as a result of the war in Kosovo. By Marian Chiriac in Bucharest Last week the Danube attracted the attention of the world's media after Romanian shippers blockaded the river. Four tugs and several barges were moored across the Danube near Calarasi, a port opposite Bulgaria, and river traffic brought to a halt in protest against at trade losses incurred as a result of the war in Kosovo. "This is a fight for survival", said Nicolae Tutuianu, unshaven and bleary-eyed after three days of protest. Tutuianu is the manager of the Romanian Shippers' Association which is demanding the resumption of international traffic on the Danube. "We have lost up to $50 million in trade and from the oil embargo against Yugoslavia, "he says. "More than 3,500 people working on the river have lost their jobs this year." Romanian shipping companies also want the government to help repatriate some 174 vessels marooned in Austrian and Hungarian ports. The shippers, who were later joined by their Bulgarian colleagues, also demand that the Yugoslav authorities remove all obstacles to traffic on the Danube. At present, Belgrade only allows Russian and Ukrainian ships to use the river in its territory, navigating around the wreckage of bombed bridges, via an old canal that, before the war, had not been used for many years. Yugoslavia is insisting that neighbouring states with an interest in the reopening of the Danube help pay an estimated $100 million bill required for clearing debris, caused by the NATO bombing campaign, out of the river. Some of the planes that bombed and destroyed the Danube bridges entered Yugoslavia from Bulgarian and Romanian airspace. In retaliation for Belgrade's restrictions on Danube shipping, Bucharest decided to ban Yugoslav ships from Romanian rivers and maritime waters, the day after the shippers' protests. However, Bucharest also feels let down by the West and is almost as resentful of NATO and the European Union as it is of Belgrade. "Romania fulfilled its obligations 100 per cent, in terms of the oil embargo as well as other factors, including the list of undesirable persons, established by the European Union," Prime Minister Radu Vasile says. "Despite this, Romania has not yet experienced any benefits." The Transport and Trade and Industry Ministers also lent their weight to the shippers' protest, insisting that the international community must ensure resumption of traffic on the Danube and lift the oil embargo against Yugoslavia. Although the bombing campaign has ended, the Romanian economy remains dazed by the war in Yugoslavia. According to official estimates, direct losses from the Kosovo conflict will amount to $915 million by the end of the year. Hence Romania's dilemma. Although the country aspires to membership of NATO and the European Union, it is disappointed that it has nothing to show for its pro-Western stance, and fears that unless it can come to some sort of rapprochement with Belgrade it faces further economic and political losses. ** The World Wide Fund for Nature, which sent a six-strong team to Yugoslavia for three days at the end of July called reported on September 14 that toxic pollutants released close to places hit by NATO bombing may now be spreading into surrounding areas via the Danube. Soil and water samples it took "showed the presence of notable quantities of mercury, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), ethylene dichloride (EDC), and other highly toxic substances, including dioxins". The WWF says the pollution is now "threatening groundwater drinking supplies and natural resources in several countries of the area". And Pekka Haavisto, the chairman of the United Nations Balkan Task Force, said this week that there was a possibility that rising water levels could push mercury, dioxins and petrochemical waste into the Danube. Marian Chiriac is news editor of the MediaFax News Agency in Bucharest and editor of Foreign Policy, a quarterly published by the Romanian Academic Society. IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, NO. 75 http://www.iwpr.net - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Subject: Adona From: Ivo Skoric <ivo@reporters.net> Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 02:47:31 -0400 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The high school student that used internet to communicate with her pen-pal in California from Prishtina while NATO was bombing and Serbs were looting - bringing unique and unforgettable angle, that was later aired by NPR and CNN, is now in the U.S. along with three friends from the Postpessimist organization. The Postpessimists are a Post-Yugoslav fenomenon: youth that moved beyond pessimism. They had members in all new countries (check: http://galeb.etf.bg.ac.yu/~becha/Bijela/report.html). The foursome are helped to graduate high school in the U.S. (i.e. putting them on the fast track) by the Kosovo/a Refugee Student Support Project (http://home.earthlink.net/~zinman/). ivo # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net