Repost from the old site about Kosovo’s independence. This piece is in support of independence for Kosovo. It starts out with a piece by me about the matter, dealing at the same time with separatist rebellions the world over, and whether each one is justified or not. Then it segues into Joachim Martillo’s piece on Kosovo, typical for its extreme erudition. There is a lot here, but you might find it worthwhile to dip into it if you are you into world affairs.
Via Joachim Martillo, we have Backgrounder on Kosovo/Kosova.
This is one of Martillo’s pieces that I am going to support in full.
Almost the entire Western Left, and part of the libertarian Right, seems to be opposed to independence for Kosovo. This is a most sorry state of affairs and has a rather shameless history. I am very happy that Martillo has come out in favor in independence for Kosovo, no matter how problematic it may be. I am afraid he did so only because he is a Muslim, but no matter.
A background in the Balkan Wars of the 1990′s is helpful, if not essential, in understanding the declaration of independence by Kosovo.
It is also important to understand where the Workers’ World Party, of which Sarah Flounders is a member, is coming from. I don’t know a lot about them, but this Wikipedia article is a good primer.
WWP is a Trotskyite split dating from 1958. They split from the Socialist Workers Party, a standard Trotskyite group.
Their reasons were: the candidacy of Henry Wallace for President in 1948, support for Mao’s revolution in China and defense of the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956.
The SWP opposed all of these.
Mao is opposed by all Trotskyites, mostly on human rights grounds but also on the usual ultra-Left basis of not being socialist enough. Wallace’s candidacy, a revolutionary candidacy in the US in that an explicitly socialist candidate actually ran for office and got lots of votes, was probably opposed on ultra-Left reasons that he was not a Communist.
The invasion of Hungary would have been opposed on the basis that the USSR was “Stalinist”.
Trotskyites have always had a reputation of not being very pragmatic. In some ways, they are the ultimate splitters.
The WWP retains some Trotskyite leanings in that they are highly critical of Stalin. However, after Stalin died, they supported the USSR. Many Communist parties chose sides after the Soviet-China split, but the WWP continued to call for a union of all socialist countries, no matter what their ideology. In this sense, they are somewhat unique.
They also started supporting all states that were seen as resisting US imperialism. This led to difficult stances such as supporting Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
It is in this context that they opposed the breakup of Milosevic’s Communist Yugoslavia in the early 1990′s and thereafter supported Milosevic on the basis that he was a Communist. In this they reflected the views of most Communists and Leftists the world over – they supported the fascist Milosevic just because he was a Communist.
WWP is also behind International ANSWER Coalition, which led many antiwar marches. Ramsey Clark has unfortunately been associated with this group. I do not think much of the WWP.
Fascism is a nasty virus, and like many viruses, it can grow in most any human being and certainly can unfold in any society. This is what makes it such a dangerous and deadly enemy. In many ways, Russia is now a fascist state. Even Communist Vietnam has fascist tendencies of various types. It can even be argued that Stalin pursued a fascist policy in his Russification campaign against many ethnic groups.
To this day, almost all Leftist and Communist groups continue to support the rump Serbian state, which still has a horrible fascist problem. At the same time, they care nothing about the equally fascist Croatia or Macedonia. Contempt is showered on the Kosovars and they are labeled fascist. But as Martillo makes clear, Kosova has a right to independence.
Whatever the Serbs did in Kosova, this was in the context of the horrible Serb crimes in Bosnia – Srebrenica, Vuckovar, Sarajevo. With that kind of history, the Serbs were clearly not the good guys. And they did commit plenty of atrocities in Kosovo.
Incredibly, the Left continued to throw its full weight behind Milosevic and his semi-fascist successors, solely because he was a Communist, even in the midst of all of the horrible crimes above. The real problem here is not the leaders of Serbia, but the Serbian people themselves, who are having a love affair with fascism.
Another factor was that the US and NATO joined in on the side of Bosnia and Kosovo. Anything the US supports, right, wrong or indifferent, is opposed by the US Left. The US simply cannot do anything right according to these folks.
Flounders makes some interesting points about the US and NATO’s colonialism of Kosovo and US and NATO’s imperialist goals regarding Yugoslavia in the early 1990′s. This is lamentable, but Kosovo could cease to be a colony anytime its wants to, and if Serbians would act like adults instead of a nation of juvenile delinquents, this colonization would never have been necessary.
This blog takes the perfectly principled position that we support separatism in most cases on the basis of the right to self-determination.
In some cases, it should be opposed. Some Ahwaz wish to break away from Iran and take most of Iran’s oil wealth with them. Iran should not be expected to put up with that. A similar situation exists in Angola with Cabinda.
Some movements are being exploited by the most cynical beast romping the planet, US imperialism, and should not be supported. These include the Ahwaz, the Iranian and Pakistani Balochs, the Kurds of Iran and Syria and the Azeris of Iran.
Yet many movements should still be supported. The separatist movements of the Basque Country, Catalonia, Corsica, Brittany, Wales, Scotland, the IRA, and the Turkish Kurds in Europe all deserve support on this basis.
The Sudanese and Burmese governments have lowered themselves below the level of not only humans but also any non-human animal and hence deserve to be smashed into as many pieces as the separatists wish.
Somalia, a nation of terminal adolescents, has shown itself incapable of even forming a government to support the existence of its human residents and hence has no right to exist either.
My argument, in case you didn’t guess it, is that Sudan (separatists here and here), Burma (separatists here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here) and Somalia (separatists here, here, here and here) have all forfeited their right to exist.
Indonesia has no right to its colony in West Papua nor to its rule over Aceh, and its criminal performance in suppressing these rebellions cements those negations.
India never had any right to rule Kashmir and certainly does not now. Palestine at least ought to declare Kosovo-style independence. This blog has always supported the struggle of the Sahrawis in Spanish Sahara. The island of Bougainville deserves support for its separatism from Papua New Guinea.
In Russia, the republics of the Caucasus deserve support in their drive for independence. This includes the Chechens, the Ingush, the Dagestanis, Karachevo-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria. The Tuvans seem to deserve the right to secede also.
The situation of the Mari, Chuvash , Bashkirs , Udmurts and Tatarstan are much more difficult because none of these republics exist on Russia’s borders. States should not be forced to carve out enclaves inside their own borders. All secessionists need to cleave off lands on the borders of existing states or even split existing states. The notion of independent islands wholly surrounded by a single state is preposterous.
In India, the nations of the northeast were never part of India and their secessionist movements should be supported. Nor can India ever be said to have existed at all until 1949, as under the British it was merely a collection of 5,000 separate princely states with ever-shifting borders.
In China, the cause of Taiwan and Tibet is clearly moral and East Turkestan also seems to have a valid cause. Abkhazia and South Ossetia should be allowed to cleave off from Georgia, and they already have anyway, de facto, though Russia is supporting these movements for only the most cynical reasons. The Tamils of Sri Lanka deserve support, despite their terrible tactics.
I have much more of a problem in supporting Islamist separatists in the Philippines and in Thailand. First, their tactics are horrible. In both cases, Islamists, as they always do in wars, are simply massacring non-Muslim civilians in countless numbers.
The Koran provides justification for mass murder of non-Muslims in wartime, so this is typical behavior of most Muslims when they go to war with non-Muslims. The historical antecedents are too painful and numerous to count. Furthermore, the war against the non-Muslims often takes near-genocidal proportions.
There are examples in this century from Indonesia (Muslims massacred animists in West Papua and Christians in East Timor), Bangladesh (Pakistan massacred Hindus), Iraq (Muslims slaughtered Assyrian Christians in the 1930′s) and Turkey (Muslims mass murdered Christian Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks), and Sudan (Muslims massacred South Sudanese Christians and animists).
Earlier, there were examples in Lebanon (Muslims slaughtering Christians in the 1840′s-1860′s) and Iraq (more mass murders of Assyrians in Iraq in the mid-1800′s) and the worst of all in India around 500 years ago, when Muslim invaders murdered up to and possibly more than 50 million Hindus in the worst genocide that the world has ever seen. Quoting Will Durant:
The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precious good, whose delicate complex of order and freedom, culture and peace, can at any moment be overthrown by barbarians invading from without or multiplying within.
This continues a tradition set in the early days of Islam, when invading Muslims often committed massacres of non-Muslims in various places they conquered. Notable examples occurred in Palestine and in Iran. The only conclusion is that when Muslims fight wars with non-Muslims, they are frequently genocidal conflicts, and this genocidalism is sadly sanctioned by language in the Koran itself.
As such, it is difficult to support a bunch of Islamist murderers in the Pattani region of Thailand and in Mindanao in the Philippines. In Mindanao, Muslims are only 25% of the population anyway. How exactly are they going to break away? I guess the plan is to murder enough Christian “colonists” so the rest of them take off back to other islands.
Hawaii deserves to go free, but the movement has no support except among Hawaiians, about 22% of the population. All colonies and pseudo-colonies, or as many as possible, of the US, France, Netherlands and the UK, should immediately be set free or incorporated into the state.
In most cases, like baby birds from the nest, these colonies need to be tossed out on their own. Most are welfare cases anyway that take in far more from the Western state they are umbilically attached to than they donate in services. In other words, to the colonizer, they are a gigantic money drain.
This begs the question then of why these colonies even exist, since the logic of colonialism, which is all about the loot, demands that money-losing colonies be cut adrift. In some cases, there are imperial reasons, in others, there is simply the logic of colonialism. Once a nation becomes a colonist, the power rush is as addicting as crack. It’s a tough habit to break.
Two essential rights are at stake here.
First is the right to self-determination. This has even been ratified by the UN.
The other is a totally phony “right of a state to be secure within its borders”, which was dreamed up by states after World War 2 in their paranoia over national secessionism. This principle has no standing, as state borders have been shifting forever, and many states have only the most dubious standing for drawing their borders wherever they did.
It’s clear that the only progressive stand worth taking is in favor of self-determination. However, we should make exceptions in certain cases as above, and only real nations should have the right to secede. The right to secede should not be granted on economic or purely political grounds (such as the rightwing state of Zulia in Venezuela the rightwing Santa Cruz region in Bolivia threatening secession).
Imperialism of all types has always been sleazy, dirty and vile about separatism, as it is about most everything, trying to break up its enemies under the rubric of self-determination while arming its allies to fight horrific wars and invoking the right of nations to be secure in their borders. This kind of hypocritical crap is the sort of depravity that the right loves, as the Right has always championed hypocrisy.
We should be better than that.
Sarah Flounders’ article below entitled Washington Gets a New Colony in the Balkans is fairly typical of the criticism of the Kosovo declaration of independence.
While the USA does a lot of evil in the world, the breakup of Yugoslavia may at least initially have been a project of the German government, which for historical reasons was much more interested in an independent Slovenia than the USA was.
Neocons like Joshua Muravchik fairly quickly saw a possible opportunity to cultivate a pro-Israel Muslim population (either Slavic or Albanian) in a divided Yugoslavia. Finding such a Muslim population has been a holy grail of Zionism since Herzl created the character of Reshid Bey in Old New Land ( Altneuland).
Sorting out the various claims about Kosovo requires awareness of the changing boundaries of the region. Here are two maps of the Ottoman Vilayet of Kosovo:
The first map of the Ottoman vilayet (province) of Kosovo, from 1875-1878. Kosovo is now much reduced in size from this vilayet.
The second map of the vilayet of Kosovo, from 1881-1912, shows shifting boundaries once again. Kosovo today is much smaller than this vilayet.
Claiming that Kosovo is the historical center of Serb culture is somewhat tendentious. The Ottoman Vilayet of Kosovo was larger than present-day Kosovo, and its borders shifted during the 19th and early 20th century.
Territory that had been Ottoman Kosovo is today divided among Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Greece. Kosovo regions that were in some sense the historically important Serb centers have for the most part been incorporated into Serbia, Montenegro or Macedonia. Here is a current map of Kosovo:
A current map of Kosovo, much shrunken from its former vilayet. When Serbs scream about Kosovo, you really need to ask which one they are talking about.Ethnic Albanian Kosovars could probably legitimately argue that they rebelled from the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 in order to achieve independence or union with Albania, whose independence European Great Powers endorsed in 1913, but the Serbian government opportunistically used to rebellion to expand Serbia at their expense.
The Serb obsession with controlling all of Kosovo results from the development of a nationalist mythology that focuses on the Battle of Kosovo (Косовски бој, Kosova Savaşı, Bitka na Kosovu, Beteja e Kosovës, or Schlacht auf dem Amselfeld).
The mythology has little connection to the facts. Lazar’s army (the “Serb” side) included Croats, ethnic Albanians (who were mostly Orthodox at that time period) and probably Bosnians. Murad’s army (the “Turkish” side) included a large contingent of Serbs.
The population composition of Kosovo/Kosova in the 14th century and later is disputed. It was not unusual for a close relative of someone with a Serb name to bear an Albanian name. Later Serb literature refers to Albanized Serb populations, but the description is dubious. Bilingualism was simply common, and the ethnic boundaries that exist today really only came into existence in the 19th century.
The following paragraphs are propagandistic:
Yugoslavia was born with a heritage of antagonisms that had been endlessly exploited by the Ottoman Turks, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and interference by British and French imperialism, followed by Nazi German and Italian Fascist occupation in World War II.
The Jewish and Serbian peoples suffered the greatest losses in that war. A powerful communist-led resistance movement made up of all the nationalities, which had suffered in different ways, was forged against Nazi occupation and all outside intervention. After the liberation, all the nationalities cooperated and compromised in building the new socialist federation.
There simply is not much evidence of Ottoman exploitation of ethnic or religious antagonism either from Ottoman or non-Ottoman sources. The Ottoman rulers generally tried to discourage local Balkan hostilities because they were administratively costly and interfered with tax collection.
The omission of any mention of Czarist Russian imperial interference shows bias.
Terminology like Jewish and Serbian peoples is questionable. Yugoslavia contained Jewish populations of Ashkenazi ethnicity and of Ibero-Berber refugee ethnicity. The term “Jewish people” comes from Zionist propaganda. While there is a Serb ethnicity, there is no Serbian ethnicity because people of many different ethnicities live within the territory of Serbia.
The implicit attempt to connect Jewish and Serb losses during WW2 is misleading. Serb politics in the lead-up to WW2 had clear fascist and Nazi currents.
While many Serb political leaders wanted to work with Germany, the German government rebuffed them because too many Germans and Austrians blamed Serbs for WW1 and the subsequent dismantlement of the pre-WW1 German and Austrian Empires.
German and Austrian hostility toward Serbs increased during WW2 and probably influenced German policy toward Serbia during the 1990s.
The situation of Kosovo before NATO intervention was a mess. It has remained a mess, and there is no particular reason to believe that independence will lead to improvement.
Kosovo’s ‘independence’
Washington gets a new colony in the Balkans
By Sara Flounders
Published Feb 21, 2008 8:13 PM
In evaluating the recent “declaration of independence” by Kosovo, a province of Serbia, and its immediate recognition as a state by the U.S., Germany, Britain and France, it is important to know three things.
First, Kosovo is not gaining independence or even minimal self-government. It will be run by an appointed High Representative and bodies appointed by the U.S., European Union and NATO. An old-style colonial viceroy and imperialist administrators will have control over foreign and domestic policy. U.S. imperialism has merely consolidated its direct control of a totally dependent colony in the heart of the Balkans.
Second, Washington’s immediate recognition of Kosovo confirms once again that U.S. imperialism will break any and every treaty or international agreement it has ever signed, including agreements it drafted and imposed by force and violence on others.
The recognition of Kosovo is in direct violation of such law – specifically U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244, which the leaders of Yugoslavia were forced to sign to end the 78 days of NATO bombing of their country in 1999. Even this imposed agreement affirmed the “commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Serbia, a republic of Yugoslavia.
This week’s illegal recognition of Kosovo was condemned by Serbia, Russia, China and Spain.
Thirdly, U.S. imperialist domination does not benefit the occupied people. Kosovo after nine years of direct NATO military occupation has a staggering 60 percent unemployment rate. It has become a center of the international drug trade and of prostitution rings in Europe.
The once humming mines, mills, smelters, refining centers and railroads of this small resource-rich industrial area all sit silent. The resources of Kosovo under NATO occupation were forcibly privatized and sold to giant Western multinational corporations. Now almost the only employment is working for the U.S./NATO army of occupation or U.N. agencies.
The only major construction in Kosovo is of Camp Bondsteel, the largest U.S. base built in Europe in a generation.Halliburton, of course, got the contract. Camp Bondsteel guards the strategic oil and transportation lines of the entire region.
Over 250,000 Serbian, Romani and other nationalities have been driven out of this Serbian province since it came under U.S./NATO control. Almost a quarter of the Albanian population has been forced to leave in order to find work.
Establishing a colonial administration
Consider the plan under which Kosovo’s “independence” is to happen. Not only does it violate U.N. resolutions but it is also a total colonial structure. It is similar to the absolute power held by L. Paul Bremer in the first two years of the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
How did this colonial plan come about? It was proposed by the same forces responsible for the breakup of Yugoslavia and the NATO bombing and occupation of Kosovo.
In June of 2005, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed former Finnish President Marti Ahtisaari as his special envoy to lead the negotiations on Kosovo’s final status. Ahtisaari is hardly a neutral arbitrator when it comes to U.S. intervention in Kosovo.
He is chairman emeritus of the International Crisis Group (ICG), an organization funded by multibillionaire George Soros that promotes NATO expansion and intervention along with open markets for U.S. and E.U. investment.
The board of the ICG includes two key U.S. officials responsible for the bombing of Kosovo: Gen. Wesley Clark and Zbigniew Brzezinski. In March 2007, Ahtisaari gave his Comprehensive Proposal for Kosovo Status Settlement to the new U.N. Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon.
The documents setting out the new government for Kosovo are available here. A summary is available on the U.S. State Department’s Web site. An International Civilian Representative (ICR) will be appointed by U.S. and E.U. officials to oversee Kosovo.
This appointed official can overrule any measures, annul any laws and remove anyone from office in Kosovo. The ICR will have full and final control over the departments of Customs, Taxation, Treasury and Banking.
The E.U. will establish a European Security and Defense Policy Mission (ESDP) and NATO will establish an International Military Presence. Both these appointed bodies will have control over foreign policy, security, police, judiciary, all courts and prisons. They are guaranteed immediate and complete access to any activity, proceeding or document in Kosovo.
These bodies and the ICR will have final say over what crimes can be prosecuted and against whom; they can reverse or annul any decision made. The largest prison in Kosovo is at the U.S. base, Camp Bondsteel, where prisoners are held without charges, judicial overview or representation.
The recognition of Kosovo’s “independence” is just the latest step in a U.S. war of reconquest that has been relentlessly pursued for decades.
Divide and rule
The Balkans has been a vibrant patchwork of many oppressed nationalities, cultures and religions. The Socialist Federation of Yugoslavia, formed after World War II, contained six republics, none of which had a majority.
Yugoslavia was born with a heritage of antagonisms that had been endlessly exploited by the Ottoman Turks, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and interference by British and French imperialism, followed by Nazi German and Italian Fascist occupation in World War II.
The Jewish and Serbian peoples suffered the greatest losses in that war. A powerful communist-led resistance movement made up of all the nationalities, which had suffered in different ways, was forged against Nazi occupation and all outside intervention. After the liberation, all the nationalities cooperated and compromised in building the new socialist federation.
In 45 years the Socialist Federation of Yugoslavia developed from an impoverished, underdeveloped, feuding region into a stable country with an industrial base, full literacy and health care for the whole population.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the Pentagon immediately laid plans for the aggressive expansion of NATO into the East. Divide and rule became U.S. policy throughout the entire region. Everywhere right-wing, pro-capitalist forces were financed and encouraged.
As the Soviet Union was broken up into separate, weakened, unstable and feuding republics, the Socialist Federation of Yugoslavia tried to resist this reactionary wave.
In 1991, while world attention was focused on the devastating U.S. bombing of Iraq, Washington encouraged, financed and armed right-wing separatist movements in the Croatian, Slovenian and Bosnian republics of the Yugoslav Federation. In violation of international agreements Germany and the U.S. gave quick recognition to these secessionist movements and approved the creation of several capitalist mini-states.
At the same time U.S. finance capital imposed severe economic sanctions on Yugoslavia to bankrupt its economy. Washington then promoted NATO as the only force able to bring stability to the region.
The arming and financing of the right-wing UCK movement in the Serbian province of Kosovo began in this same period. Kosovo was not a distinct republic within the Yugoslav Federation but a province in the Serbian Republic. Historically, it had been a center of Serbian national identity, but with a growing Albanian population.
Washington initiated a wild propaganda campaign claiming that Serbia was carrying out a campaign of massive genocide against the Albanian majority in Kosovo. The Western media was full of stories of mass graves and brutal rapes. U.S. officials claimed that from 100,000 up to 500,000 Albanians had been massacred.
U.S./NATO officials under the Clinton administration issued an outrageous ultimatum that Serbia immediately accept military occupation and surrender all sovereignty or face NATO bombardment of its cities, towns and infrastructure. When, at a negotiation session in Rambouillet, France, the Serbian Parliament voted to refuse NATO’s demands, the bombing began.
In 78 days the Pentagon dropped 35,000 cluster bombs, used thousands of rounds of radioactive depleted-uranium rounds, along with bunker busters and cruise missiles.
The bombing destroyed more than 480 schools, 33 hospitals, numerous health clinics, 60 bridges, along with industrial, chemical and heating plants, and the electrical grid. Kosovo, the region that Washington was supposedly determined to liberate, received the greatest destruction.
Finally on June 3, 1999, Yugoslavia was forced to agree to a ceasefire and the occupation of Kosovo.
Expecting to find bodies everywhere, forensic teams from 17 NATO countries organized by the Hague Tribunal on War Crimes searched occupied Kosovo all summer of 1999 but found a total of only 2,108 bodies, of all nationalities.
Some had been killed by NATO bombing and some in the war between the UCK and the Serbian police and military. They found not one mass grave and could produce no evidence of massacres or of “genocide.”
This stunning rebuttal of the imperialist propaganda comes from a report released by the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte. It was covered, but without fanfare, in the New York Times of Nov. 11, 1999.
The wild propaganda of genocide and tales of mass graves were as false as the later claims that Iraq had and was preparing to use “weapons of mass destruction.”
Through war, assassinations, coups and economic strangulation, Washington has succeeded for now in imposing neoliberal economic policies on all of the six former Yugoslav republics and breaking them into unstable and impoverished mini-states.
The very instability and wrenching poverty that imperialism has brought to the region will in the long run be the seeds of its undoing. The history of the achievements made when Yugoslavia enjoyed real independence and sovereignty through unity and socialist development will assert itself in the future.
Sara Flounders, co-director of the International Action Center, traveled to Yugoslavia during the 1999 U.S. bombing and reported on the extent of the U.S. attacks on civilian targets. She is a co-author and editor of the books: Hidden Agenda – U.S./NATO Takeover of Yugoslavia and NATO in the Balkans.
Articles copyright 1995-2007 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
References
- Durant, Will. (1972). Story of Civilization, Vol.1, Our Oriental Heritage, p.459. New York.
This is a real blindspot for you; not the ‘independence’ for Kosovo bit, which has some merits, but the ‘fascist Serbia’ and ‘Milosevic the fascist’. It makes me sad to read you joining in the NATO genocide against the Serbs, and joining the rest of the pseudo-left – yes!- when you’re usually much more astute than them. Yes, joining them! Where did you get the idea that ‘the left’ supported Serbia? The liberal and social democratic left did what they always do – fell in behind the right. The communists (in name only now) did what they always do – pandered to the right-wing trade-unionist and mainstream social-democrat opportunist politicos, and gave mumbled assent – though to be fair the UK communist party of Britain’s daily paper gave space to Neil Clark and the campaign to defend Slobodan Milosevic, and took much flak for doing so. But their editorials just echoed the MSM propaganda. The Trots were the best – they were vocally against NATO interference, but they still did what they always do – while making a show of opposing imperialism, they re-assert the propaganda the imperialists use to justify it. The ‘left’ that were ‘there for us’ when the chips were down i.e. when the bombers start getting close to home, bombing a modern European nation instead of far-off darkies – were a handful like Neil Clark, Harold Pinter, Ed Herman, Chomsky, Diane Johnstone. Don’t look to the organised ‘left’ for support if the UK gets a socialist government and NATO sends the bombers in, or if California enacts some progressive legislation and federal troops get sent in! There have been some articles in all the left places recently about the poll tax riots which brought Thatcher down, because it’s the 20th anniversary – all the pieces tell of how the organised left ( except for the Socialist Party/Militant) tried to put a damper on the non-payment campaign. Beware – they ain’t got your back, as they say.
As to Kosovan independence. Yes, in theory fine, as long as the Serbian areas ( which are receiving much harassment though they’re supposed to be protected by the NATO overseers) are allowed to detach. Of course the idea the Serbia has a claim to the place because of its historical importance has no real validity, not much more than the jews claim to Israel. But then – and this is the nub of it- there’s the mines! You said it yourself that an area of vital economic importance should not be allowed to detach – the mines were exploited with the resources of the Yugoslav state, and so it’s inappropriate to say that they belong to Kosovo, anymore than North Sea oil belongs to Scotland (and I’m Scottish). And again, as that woman pointed out, Kosovan independence was never on the table – the place has become a US colony and military base, a useful staging post in the CIA’s international trade in Afghan heroin and white slaves. Please read Ed Herman’s articles on the Yugoslav wars, Michael Parenti’s ‘to Kill a Nation’, Kate Hudson’s ‘Breaking the South Slav Dream’, and most importantly Diana Johnstone’s ‘Fool’s Crusade’ and REALLY read them! No shortcuts!
Macedonia is “equally fascist” to whom? “Equally fascist” in having a “fascist” “problem” as, allegedly, Serbia does currently? There was an ultra-nationalist Macedonian politician who has served significant time in jail in the past 15 or so years. Can’t name him offhand, but he never got close to power.
I do like the new Hungarian pro-Russian “right populist” party the Zionists are worried about these days.
http://www.jobbik.com/
Here’s one take on the Bangsamoro of Mindanao. So some Spaniards sail over to the Asia Pacific and corral an archipelago for colonial use. They call it las Filipinas. After some time, everybody who was there decides they can live with the arrangement … except for a handful of Moslem tribes in the south. The Spaniards keep trying but fail to bring them around. Finally the estadounidenses kick the Spanish out on a false pretext and turn the Philippines into their colony. Using scientific military technology, they become the first Europeans to quell the Moro rebellion long-term. But the Moros haven’t changed their mind, not all of them. They’re just waiting.
In the mid 20th century, the tide turns. An independent nation, the Philippines, is built–BASED ON THE SPANISH AND THEN U.S. COLONY. True to its colonial Spanish underpinnings, this nation soon proves itself incapable of doing anything fairly or efficiently. Soon, faced with new unrest in the Moro south, the decision makers of this nation kick off massive resettlement programs moving pro-Philippine populations to Mindanao.
Fast forward to 2010. How does a nation like Pilipinas have the right to govern the Bangsamoro of Mindanao?
I can’t understand why you think the Kurds in Turkey should be supported while those in Iran and Syria should not. The Iranian regime is no better than the Kamalist regime in Turkey. Iran has always tried to Persianize all the enthnicities living there. I saw an Iranian dictionary defining Kurdish and Pashto as dialects of the Persian language which is really laughable and as a linguist you can understand that better than every one else. Kurds and Balochis in Iran were subjected to ethnic discrimination before the Revolution but afterwards a relgious discrimination was also added to that as both Kurds and Balochis are Sunnis. Iranian facists equates the word ‘Iranian’ to ‘Persian’ and hence think that all ethnic groups of Iranian or to be precise ‘Iranic’ origin should be persianized (a thought shared by both secular Persians and Shia facists) as well as converted to Shia religion (a thought held only by the religious facists). Amongst the Iranians I’ve found only the communists who think rationally and support the right of existance and self-determination of all the ethnic and religious minorities within the current and historical boundaries of Iran.Thousands of Kurdish activists are these days tortured in Iranian jails.
Pakistan is even worse in terms of dealing with its minorities. It denies any linguistic rights to its minorities. The Pashtuns (as well as the Balochis) have to no right to have education even upto primary level in thier mother language. The Balochis despite having all the mineral wealth on their land live in utter poverty. Pashtuns on the other hand have no province of their name and are divided into severl segments within Pakistan. Here in Quetta where I live, you have a much higher chance to be stopped by the polic (most of whom are ethnic Punjbis) if you are an ethnic Pashtun or Balochi. Besides, there are areas in Quetta cantonment where local Pashtuns and Balochis would hardly be allowed in.
It is also equally wondering for me that you support the struggle of the Kashmiris for secession while oppose that of the Balochis simply becuase they might be supported by the US government. I myself support the independece movements in Kashmir provided that it also acknowledges the right of the Kashmiris to be independent from both India and Pakistan and supporters of the Pakistan funded insurgency are deeply opposed to that. Though many ordinary Kashmiris want that and the secular parties like the JKLF (The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front) advocate it.
Now to your remarks about Islam and the Quran. With full respect to you please clarify, if Islam preaches forceful conversion,how is it possible that Muslims form only less than 10% of the population of India after being ruled by them for more than 800 years? Why are there significant non-muslim minorities in so many muslim countries after 1400 years: Coptics in Egypt, Jews in Iran, Syria and other Arab countries, Assyrians in Iraq, Yazidis in Kurdistan, Christians in Lebanon, Tamils and chinese in Malaysia are just a few examples. Back down the history lane, how were the non-muslims treated in the Muslim ruled Spain and what treatment the Christians and Jews of Jerusalem recieved from Saladin after he took back the city? Remember, the radicalization of the tiny minority in the Muslim world started as late as 1960′s while the Quran is there for 14 centuries. The Al-qaida, the Taliban and other similar groups represent these radical thoughts. This minority makes headlines becuase they are so vocal, active and destructive in thier own nature. Destructive phenomenon always make the news. The callapse or catching fire of a building will make the news but its construction will hardly be noticed. The killing of say five people in an accident will be the headline in a local newspaper but the survival of ten more in the same accident will hardly be given any coverage. Similarly, the actions of a few militants will always make the headlines but this in no way reflect the overall attitude of the Muslim public or of Islamic itself.
Please read the Quran once more but this time without any biassed mind or pre-conclusions about its contents. You’ll find that it never advocates the killing of all non-muslims as you understand it. Those verses telling muslims to fight against others are often quoted without thier proper context. And this is done so by both the anti-Islamic fanatics and the Al-qaida minded radicals. Every verse in the Quran has to be seen within its proper context or the interpretation might be something entirely different. To clarify a matter, one also needs to refer to the Hadith (sayings of the Prophet) and Fiqh (the Islamic Jurisprudence). Reading about the life of the Prophet will also clarify a lot of issues in your mind.
Just consider the following points and the picture may get clear. And these examples are for those radical ‘Muslims’ too who kill innocent people just becuase they do not share thier religion.
1. Islam is the first religion that not only called for the kind treatment of women but also gave them a share in inheritance and the right to own property and wealth. (See the address by the Prophet on his last pilgrimage or Haj). Quran condemns those people who celeberate the birth of thier sons but are unhappy on the birth of daughters in thier family.
2. Islam is the first religion that encouraged poeple to free slaves and treat them kindly. Freeing slaves is considered an act of great reward from God.
3. Islam is the first religion that called for a complete equality and said that no white is superior to black and vice versa and no Arab is superior to a non-Arab and vice versa. (Again refer to the address of the Prophet on his last pilgrimage. This address can rightly be called “The First Charter of Human Rights”)
4. War prisoners were often offered better food and clothing by the Prphet Mohammad than what he and his companions themselves used. This was so common that some of the Prophet’s companions who did not have enough to eat wished that they were in the place of those war prisoners. Not only this but these war prisoners would be set free on condition that they teach a certain number of Muslims to read and write or do some other petty service.
5. The book Quran calls on all faiths especially the Jews and the Christians or “people of scripture” as it calls them, to come together on those issues that they share with Muslims like Monotheism.
6. Muslims are allowed to eat the meat of those animals slaughtered by Jews or Christians.
7. The Prophet has strictly called against any disrespect of religous dieties and symbols of any faith.
8. Quran says that saving one human life is like saving the entire humanity.
9. A woman in Makkah often used to throw rubbish on the Prophet or would speard thorns in his way in order to show her hate. Once, this thing stopped for a few days. When asked about the reason, the Prophet was told that the woman had got ill. The Prophet went to see that woman and prayed for her to get well soon.
10. When the Muslims took back Makkah, all the Makkans were forgiven and given amnesty despite the fact that most of them were blood thirsty enemies of the Muslims.
There are countless of other examples but I am afraid it has already got too lengthy.
Thanks and wish you all the best Robert.
Well said, Barai! The Medieval Islamic civilisation was the longest period of peace in recorded history, and over a huge area. I note that Robert quotes Will Durant on ” 50 million killed in the muslim invasion of India, the greatest slaughter in history”. I’ve noticed this quote cropping up wherever zionists are heavily active on threads – it’s a stock part of the hasbara. Will Durant wasn’t even a historian. He was a compiler of a multi-volume ‘Story of Civilisation’ aimed at the ‘average Joe. I owned most of them for a while, but they took up too much space. A reasonably charming and accessible style, but built on a bedrock of very conventional mainstream American/ Eurocentric assumptions; he claims to have checked all his facts and had everything scrutinised by the expert in each period. But he wrote in a time when the range of permitted opinion in academic scholarship was even more restricted than now – and these days Alan Dershowitz and Bernard Lewis can pass as experts. I’m sure that by now there will be a whole cottage industry of zionist historians churning out bullshit about the ‘muslims perpetrating the greatest genocide of all time ‘ in India, so I would be very suspicious of any new works that claim to prove this. I just checked in Arnold Toynbee’s ‘Mankind and Mother Earth’ (the ONLY readable history of the world); he IS a distinguished historian, but he doesn’t seem to feel the need to mention this exceptional genocide in his brief coverage of the Islamic takeover of India. I don’t believe it – some Islamophobe fed Durant bullshit; and if there were better sources for this story I’m sure the zionists would have been shouting about them.