Red Green Alliance
(Denmark) on the War against Yugoslavia and the Kosova Crisis
1. Stop NATO’s war
In our view this war is about the new
role of NATO. Another action without a UN mandate, meant to succeed in
a few days, and to lay the ground for legitimacy for the new strategical
concept of the alliance. A concept that will probably be adopted at the
NATO conference in Washington this Friday. NATO wants the right to intervene
whenever it suits the alliance. In this plan the UN will be invited to
hail the plans of NATO -if this does not happen, NATO will carry on without
hesitation.
Such an enhanced role of NATO is a major
threat. The situation in Yugoslavia is the proof. NATO has set a war in
motion that could lead to an even bigger disaster in the region and elsewhere.
Regarding the alleged humanitarian nature
of the operation: Had this been true, the intervention of NATO would have
had a different character.
Already back in October, one of our MP’s
stated in parliament during a debate on possible bombings of Yugoslavia:
Since there is no plan in case bombings doesn’t succeed, the Serb repressive
forces will be given free play, and the Kosovo-albanians will be abandoned
to the reaction from the Serb nationalists. And if we recall Srebrenica,
Gorazde and Sarajevo, we will know that the reaction will not be nice.
Besides the victims of the bombs of NATO,
the bombs has indirectly made the situation much much worse for the ones
that NATO claims to be protecting.
2. Support the right to
self-determination
The Red Green Alliance supports the right
to self-determination of Kosova. The decision to support the demand for
self-determination stemmed from an analysis we made back in January-February
1998. In our view from the beginning of last year, the huge majority of
Kosova-albanians lost faith in the policy of Ibrahim Rugova; negotiations
with the Serb authorities in order to obtain autonomy more or less along
the lines of the autonomy granted by Tito in 1974 and annulled by Milosevic
in 1989. From then on nothing less than self-determination will be accepted
by the majority of Kosova-albanians.
Neither the European Union nor NATO has
been willing to support such a demand. For instance at the Cardiff summit
last year it was repeated that the EU is vigorously against the thought
of self-determination. At the same event it was decided to cut all lines
of supplies of the UCK.
3. Support the democratic
opposition in Serbia
Another sad outcome of the bombings is
the consequences they have had for the opposition in Serbia itself. The
democratic opposition has lost on two fronts. On the one hand many have
simply left the ranks of the opposition. The logic is that Yugoslavia
is under attack, people are being killed by NATO-bombs...so we must stand
together to confront the aggression. Others have gone more or less underground
thanks to increased repression and lack of support in the population. Nationalism
is the great victor.
On the Danish left there has been some
discussion on the question of supporting the Serb opposition -however small
it may be right now. Some seem to think that the best way to fight NATO
is to give a show of solidarity with the Serb regime. Others prefer to
keep the question of the internal affairs of Yugoslavia entirely out of
the struggle against the bombings.
Most activists and organisations -among
them the Red Green Alliance- find it absolutely necessary to stress the
effect that the bombings is having on the democratic forces in Serbia.
You will never find us supporting the Serb
regime in any way. Nor will we demonstrate with people carrying pictures
of Milosevic or Seselj.
4. On humanitarian interventions
In the course of this war a number of
important principles and important elements of international law has been
broken.
This is the case for instance on the question
of the neutrality of humanitarian aid -including of humanitarian organisations.
The deployment of NATO troops in Albania is a case in point. Certain problems
regarding provision of humanitarian aid was used as a pretext to start
the build up of a NATO force in Albania.
In the first phase no one really seemed
to think twice. Later on many organisations in the region -humanitarian
organisations- started realising that their neutrality had been compromised.
A fact that could have an effect on their future operations, say in Montenegro
or elsewhere.
This problem is another danger of the ideology
of humanitarian interventions. Interventions that conceal the real issues
at stake behind a smokescreen of compassion.
5. Offering a way out
The core problem for the left is to put
forward an immediate alternative - a proposal on how to end the conflict.
Just saying stop the war won’t do the trick. In our view, public opinion
demands an approach that addresses more issues. The following are some
of our answers to this question:
* Demand an immediate cease-fire, if necessary
a unilateral NATO cease-fire
* Negotiations under the auspices of the
UN
* Return of all refugees
* UN peacekeeping forces in Kosova, not
NATO forces
* Right to self-determination of Kosova
* An international conference on the Balkans
Kenneth Haar (International secretary
for the Red Green Alliance)
Tel. +45 - 33 37 50 69, fax +45
- 33 37 50 70, e-mail:
elkeha@ft.dk