Re: URGENT belgrade->budapest meeting / APEX news

["lisa haskel" <lisa@lisa.demon.co.uk>]

Dear friends,

Perhaps like  a few others, I have been unfairly burdening 
andreas with private mail about the proposed meeting in Budapest. So 
here is what I sent to him yesterday, and a futher note on my 
concerns.

My personal view is one of a few misgivings about the timing of this 
meeting.  For some reason it brought to mind some principles for 
dealing with mental illness !!!:(( ...  when in an acute, crisis 
situation you have to manage day by day. Later you can evaluate and 
plan for the future.

The past couple of weeks or so on the syndicate has revealed more 
fissures than common purpose and this is not surprising under the 
circumstances.  Some people have been hurt and upset by the 
communication patterns and dynamics of the list.  This is also just a 
tiny reflection of the situation we find ourselves in and therefore 
also perhaps inevitable.  Meanwhile like many others I find that 
syndicate and personal correspondence has been feeding local 
activity in ways that have been very useful.  (I will write a london 
report to the list later today).

The principle of the Belgrade meeting was to support our friends who 
have remained in Yugoslavia and worked there these past few difficult 
years.  I am not convinced that on  April 22nd these people will be 
able to be with us, or even will want to.  If they are not with us, I 
am not convinced that our meeting then will be able to address their 
problems  much.

I have no idea how this current situation will play out over the 
next weeks but I do know that, maybe in less acute form, it will be 
with us for a very long time.  Our few friends will still be in 
yugoslavia and the situation will not be pretty.  There will still be 
many thousands of displaced people. I hope for chances when we can 
work together again and even expand our activity -but  right now 
even communication is difficult and in constant jeapody.  I wonder if 
an April meeting is hasty and reactive rather than pro-active.  I 
wonder if a meeting at this point might even be damaging.  However, a 
little later -  june? -  I think that a syndicate gathering  will be 
very, very useful. Could the funding be postponed?

As I said in my mail to Andreas, I do not want to criticise or 
jeapodise others' wish to meet or Adele's and her colleagues best 
efforts. Mine is a personal view and I would like to be told I am 
wrong.  Maybe anyway it comes mostly from my sense of being stuck out 
here on an island where a trip to Budapest feels like a big deal.

With very best wishes to all,

Lisa 


From:                 Self <Single-user mode>
To:               Andreas Broeckmann <abroeck@v2.nl>
Subject:          Re: URGENT - RESPOND NOW! belgrade->budapest meeting
Send reply to:    lisa@lisa.demon.co.uk Date sent:        Wed, 7 Apr
1999 17:25:12

Dear andreas,

a quick response as requested.  my feelings are very mixed. is it
realistic that friends from YU will be able to come.  I doubt it very
much.

we will be better i think at cleaning up than  in crisis 
situation...if we could get a postponement on the money I can't help
thinking that would be better.  Something will come after this and
that is when I think our skills and connections will be most useful,
when we can really put them to work.

i am indeed worried for the list but wonder if a little time might
work better than a very hasty response.

I don't want to post this to the whole list as i have been quiet these
last few days and don't want to weigh in heavy on adele's excellent
efforts.

anyway: i can come anytime and maybe have anyway to go to vienna. so
put me low priority as I am very undecided.

very best
lisa