Andreas Broeckmann on Wed, 9 Jun 1999 09:58:35 +0100


[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Syndicate: was: Monday Morning Blues


folks,

the atmosphere is strange after the sudden hope for peace at the end of
last week and the continued fighting and bombing during the ongoing
negotiations now. conflicting news, muddy pictures. i guess that many
people were more than doubtful about the good news on thursday, and less
than surprised about the failure of the talks on sunday.

but they will probably get there somehow, and our meeting in venice in the
next days might be a timely opportunity to talk about what has to happen
next. there is little need for euphoria - the road ahead is not only
stoney, but full of mines. (i am pasting a message below which complements
the story about the recent violence in one of the refugee camps; this is
one of the dimensions of the coming months, maybe years.) it would be good
to hear more from people in bosnia, because i believe that their experience
of the last years might be very useful to understand the possibilities and
the problems.

lets not forget about the possibilities, though. the cultural centre in
tirana, the start-up project in banja luka, the new media lab in sarajevo,
the former scca in skopje - as well as the to-be-reconstructed places in
serbia, and other initiatives in the region - are immediate potential
partners for cooperation projects, and we'll just have to continue the
regular work of organising exhibitions, workshops, residencies, encounters
of all sorts. the syndicate remains in a good position to ignore as much as
possible the borders and divisions of deep europe, and i think it will be
important to set examples of cultural cooperation in the region as soon as
possible. it will also be important to hold a meeting as soon as possible,
to see what can be done on a collective level. the syndicate is too big to
operate with a single voice, but we should try and form smaller action
groups that will work consistently on specific projects - like we already
did in budapest. a critical and consiliatory discourse about the future of
the balkans, and the role that culture and cultural practitioners can play
in it, will be vital.

the ecx programme is now picking up speed. there have been a number of
requests from artists, and i'll relay that pressure to the host
organisations. i would be very happy if somebody could help me with the
coordination of this. i need somebody who is good at liaising with the
organisiations and who has a sense of the complexity of the problem on both
sides. (check http://ecb.t0.or.at/ecx for the concept)

so much for now. worried, but not without hope. (the most uplifting message
i've had in the last days came from belgrade ... ;-)

keep the faith.

-a




From: Saverio_Ciraci@PolimeriEuropa.IT
To: nettime-l@Desk.nl
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1999 14:57:21 +0200
Subject: <nettime> FWD. Does the long dark really begin? We'd cry NOOOOOOOT !

The Long Dark

Barbarians are inside our gates. If Bosnia is any example, the occupation
will be neither kind nor fair.

We can expect a military governor (or civilian administrator, as they are
now called) to arbitrarily decide what kinds of license plates and street
signs we will have. To design our currency and passports. To select which
elected official can take his seat and which cannot. To approve what is to
be aired on the evening news.

To decide which books we can read, what music we can listen to, what films
we can watch. And, what is most important, who gets the aid and how much.

Again, if Bosnia is any example, we can expect Serbs to get about 2% of the
total aid that is to come.

We can expect unemployment, malnutrition, sporadic healthcare, flourishing
black markets, and increased crime.

But we must not despair.

Those who thought they could impose their decaying culture with bombs have
revealed themselves to the world.

New alliances, awakened by our plight, are forming to oppose them.

Six hundred million against ten million.

They have destroyed us but they have not defeated us.

Real resistance begins now.

This battle is for the mind and the soul. We must stay united.

We must continue to preserve our culture, our religion, our uniqueness.

We must not allow ourselves to be assimilated.

Branislav Andjelic

---
#  distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: majordomo@desk.nl and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
#  URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/  contact: nettime-owner@desk.nl


------Syndicate mailinglist--------------------
 Syndicate network for media culture and media art
 information and archive: http://www.v2.nl/syndicate
 to unsubscribe, write to <syndicate-request@aec.at>
 in the body of the msg: unsubscribe your@email.adress