Din li gejja hi email ta' Nada Korac, psikologa Serba. Din giet ippubblikata minn Immanuel Mifsud f' The Sunday Times ta' nhar il-Hadd 28 ta Marzu.
Date: Thursday, March 25, 1999.
Subject: good news, bad news and a question
Dear friend,
First, the good news:
1. It's a beautiful early spring day, 16 degrees C and the skies sunny
and blue as can be.
2. The spring break for schools and universities suddenly started today,
two weeks ahead of time, so I don't have to go to work.
Unfortunately there is some bad news as well:
1. As I am writing this message, the air raid alarm is on (it's the
fourth one since last night, second one since this morning). I don't suppose
you think the sound of sirens is music to our ears and that worrying about
our friend who live in the zones closer to military objectives is pleasant
- and I assure you it isn't. The atmosphere in Belgrade, a very lively
and noisy place, is unusually quiet and not without tension, but also somewhat
calmer than one would expect in such situations. Perhaps it's the kind
of resignation that comes with historical experience.
In case you didn't know, the last two times Belgrade was bombed was
ib World War II: the first time by the NAzi planes in April 1941, when
it was devastated and many civilians were killed; ironically enough, the
job was finished off by the American and British planes in spring 1944,
in an attempt ot hitthe German occupying forces stationed in Belgrade -
all they accomplished was to kill hundreds of civilians in their homes,
gardens and churches on Easter Sunday. My generation was told of the horrors
of bombing by our parents but we never dreamt that something like this
would happen to us and our children.
2. In Kosovo, the fighting has intensified, the KLA sees the air strikes
as support for its cause and is encouraged to attack the government forces;
the government forces see the same thing as an excuse to strike back as
strongly as they can.
3. A state of war was decreed last night, meaning that all civilian
rights guaranteed by the Constitution are revoked and the independent media
are in great danger (Radio B92, the only reliable radio station in the
Belgrade area, was closed early yesterday morning, even before the NATO
air strikes began). This, of course, makes it practically impossible to
publiclu question and criticise the disastrous Yugoslav government policy
on Kosovo that actually provoked the NATO action. Moreover, as could have
been easily expected, the popularity of out 'Fuhrer' is now sky-high -
no wonder, the NATO attacks gave him a fantastic chance to resume the role
of national saviour and brave and resolute defender of the country's independence
(the role he almost lost due to the disastrouseffects of both his internal
and external policies during the past years, especially after the civil
protests in 1996/97). In sum, the present NATO attacks are something he
could have only wished for. Which brings us to the crucial question:
Is that what the US, the Eu and NATO are trying to accomplish? If it
is - I have no comment. If it isn't, I am asking our other friends whose
governments are involved in this stupid and disastrous operation to ask
their government representatives to think of smarter ways to deal with
this complicated and disastrous situation before more innocent civilians
are killed (not only Serbs - Serbs make up just over 60% of the population
in Yugoslavia, all others belong to over 20 different nations and ethnic
groups). If they are unable to find such ways, I'm afraid we all have to
question their ethics, or their intelligence, or both.
Hoping that we'll be able to stay in touch, I am sending you my best
regards.
NADA
