Subject: Globe and Mail
To: radical.party@agora.stm.it
This article was published in October 1992 in The Globe and Mail, the most
important Canadian daily newspaper.
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Media Reports from Bosnia: A Mixture of Outright Lies, Staged Events and
Untold Stories
"There can be no peace or coexistence between Islamic faith and non-Islamic
faith and institutions...The Islamic movement must and can take power as
soon as it is morally and numerically strong enough, not only to destroy
the non-Islamic power, but to build up a new Islamic one..." - Current
Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic from his book Muslim Declaration.
"Genocide is a natural phenomenon, in harmony with the societal and
mythologically divine nature. Genocide is not only permitted, it is also
recommended, even commanded by the word of the Almighty, whenever it is
useful for the survival or the restoration of the kingdom of the chosen
nation, or for the preservation and spreading of its one and only correct
faith." - Current Croatian President Franjo Tudjman from his 1989 book
Wastelands of Historical Reality.
"A lie that is repeated frequently becomes the truth", said the Nazi
propaganda expert Josef Goebbels. Many people believe that our democratic
society would never allow Goebbels style propaganda. Yet the media reports
from former Yugoslavia prove just the opposite. Here are five examples of
media lies which gained credibility through frequent repetition.
1. The two most prosperous, most western republics (Slovenia and Croatia)
have declared independence to avoid further domination by Serbia. The media
failed to explain how the alleged Serbian domination resulted in more
prosperity for Croatia and Slovenia. In the period from 1947 to 1981, the
economic growth of Slovenia, relative to the Yugoslav average, was over
190% and of Croatia over 125%, while the average growth of Serbia was close
to Yugoslav average at 99% (see A Short History of the Yugoslav Peoples by
Fred Singleton, page 270). The alleged Serbian domination was justified by
the fact that 70% of the officers of the Yugoslav army were Serbs. Yet
among the top ranking military generals 67% were not Serbs. All leading
politicians in post-war Yugoslavia including Josef Broz Tito were
non-Serbs. They controlled the communist party, the army and the police and
carried out the policies which were detrimental to Serbs in and outside
Serbia.
2. The Croats and Slovenes have a democratic government, while the Serbs
have an oppressive communist government. Not true. The western media
continues to portray the Croatian president Franjo Tudjman as a democrat in
spite of his racist constitution, citizenship and tax laws, historical
revisions and media abuse. The leader of the Bosnian Muslims advocated the
creation of a pure Islamic state in Bosnia in his book Muslim Declaration.
He also agreed with the Iranian vice-premier during his last visit to
Sarajevo that British poet Salman Rushdie deserves a death sentence for
writing his book Satanic Verses. The Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic is
portrayed as a brutal dictator. Yet he was freely elected and he allows an
independent media. The non-Serb residents of Serbia and Montenegro are not
subjected to signing an oath of loyalty, unfair property tax laws,
evictions, refusal of citizenship and other unfair government measures that
are widely practiced in "democratic" Croatia. Establishment of current
civil limitations in the Kosovo region within Serbia is a response to
Albanian nationalists who staged armed uprisings in 1968 and 1981 demanding
secession, and who are preparing to do the same in 1992. They are
encouraged by Croatians and Bosnian Muslims, as well as by Turkey and other
Muslim countries.
3. The Serbs in Bosnia are opposed to Bosnian independence. Not true. The
Serbs respect the right of Croats and Muslims to have their own independent
states. All they want is the same right for themselves. French historian
Edmond Paris wrote in his book Genocide in Satellite Croatia that "The
greatest Genocide in World War II in proportion to a nation's population
took place, not in Nazi Germany, but in the Nazi- created independent state
of Croatia. There, in the years 1941- 1945, some 750,000 Serbs, 60,000 Jews
and 26,000 Gypsies - men, women and children - perished in a gigantic
Holocaust". An additional million people, mostly Serbs, perished in other
parts of Yugoslavia in World War II. Given the still vivid memories of the
Genocide committed by their Croatian and Muslim neighbours, and the
intolerant policies endorsed by the current Croatian and Muslim leaders,
the Serbs have every reason to fear for their safety in independent Croatia
and Bosnia.
4. The conflict in Bosnia was caused by the outside intervention from the
government in Belgrade which wants to create a Greater Serbia. This line is
still prevalent in the media in spite of the UN Secretary General's report
of May 30 which states that the Yugoslav army is not in Bosnia and that the
government in Belgrade is not in command of the Bosnian Serbs. The same
report confirms that there are 35,000 regular Croatian army troops
operating in Bosnia. Why are there no sanctions against Croatia?
5. The Serbs are aggressors in Bosnia since they occupy two-thirds of
Bosnia. The Serbs are indigenous people of Bosnia. According to a 1981
census, there were 32% Serbs, 8% Yugoslavs (who are mainly Serbian converts
to a new ethnic group promoted by Tito), 39% Muslims (who are mainly Serbs
and some Croats that converted to Islam during 400 years of Turkish
occupation, and were also promoted as an ethnic group by Tito in the
1970s), and 18% Croats. As farmers, Serbs and Yugoslavs own close to 60% of
the land, which is what they claim, so the "land grab" charges by the media
are totally unfounded. The Muslims want to control all of Bosnia without
any compromise. Since they cannot win the war, they continue to murder
civilians and UN troops in front of the cameras and blame Serbs in the hope
that the UN will eventually intervene on their behalf. A recent UN
classified report reviewed in the London weekly Independent on August 22,
1992 -- but never reprinted anywhere in North America -- confirmed that the
infamous 'breadline massacre' and the attack on the orphan's funeral were
staged by Muslims as a public relations ploy to win support from the world.
WHY IS THE MEDIA SO ANTI-SERB?
Because powerful financial backing from the Vatican, Germany and the
Islamic world allows Croatians and Muslims to influence the western media
and politicians in their favour. The Vatican and Iran were the first
countries to call for military intervention in Bosnia.
Powerful Washington public relations firms were hired by the Croatian
and Muslim side, including Rudder Finn and Hill & Knowlton. The latter is
responsible for the phoney story about Iraq's soldiers killing incubator
babies in Kuwait. That influenced US politicians to pressure the UN to go
to war against Iraq. The staged bombing of Dubrovnik on May 30 and the
alleged death camps reports also coincided with important UN Security
Council decisions to impose one-sided sanctions against Serbia and
authorize the use of force in Bosnia. These stories have likely been
circulated by the PR firms.
Canadian media are biased. For unknown reasons, the CBC's Journal
producer Mark Starowitz and his anchor Bill Cameron have never interviewed
anybody since the beginning of the Yugoslav crisis who could provide a
Serbian point of view. No reporter has yet explained to the Canadian public
that foreign journalists can end up in Croatian jails for up to five years
if they do not submit their reports to the Croatian government for
approval. The Independent Federation of Journalists stated that one out of
four journalists killed worldwide while on duty in 1991 were killed in
Croatia and that particular targets were those who did not report in favour
of Croatia. The situation is stable now since Croatia is filled with 'good'
reporters who blame the Serbs for everything, like the CBC's Pierre Vicary.
Some of the journalists are genuine hate mongers. Many published `facts' do
not undergo even the most basic scrutiny. For example, in his recent
editorial Serbian Atrocities published in the Calgary Sun, columnist Eric
Margolis claims that there are 2.3-million Muslims refugees from Bosnia. An
obvious lie, since there have never existed more than 1.9 million Bosnian
Muslims.
HOW CAN THIS WAR BE STOPPED?
It's easy. Just recognize that:
1. Western support for the unilateral secession of the former Yugoslav
republics without allowing any changes to their borders is the root cause
of the conflict in Yugoslavia. Unilateral secession is an act of aggression
which no country would tolerate within its own borders. Western powers have
first violated the Helsinki Accord when they recognized Croatia and
Slovenia, and then invoked it to declare that the borders of the new states
were inviolable. The Serbs in Bosnia and Croatia had no other option but
military struggle in an effort to establish control over territories where
they are the majority. With the death of Tito's Yugoslavia in 1992, the
internal borders which he arbitrarily created are also dead and new borders
must be negotiated.
2. The recognition of Bosnia and Croatia was a mistake. These two countries
should have been forced to first reach a territorial settlement with the
local Serb population. The right of more than 2 million Serbs in Bosnia and
Croatia to self- determination is not inferior to 1.9 million Muslims, 1.8
million Slovenes, 1.3 million Macedonians and 4 million Croats.
3. The Muslims do not want to negotiate. Since they live largely in the
cities and they own only about 25% of the land, their dream to control all
of Bosnia would perish at the negotiating table. They must be forced to
negotiate. This was also stated by Canadian General Lewis MacKenzie. UN
troops must be pulled out of Bosnia, or recognition as a sovereign state
must be withdrawn until new borders are negotiated.
If it were not for complacent and biased media and politicians, the
U.S. and Canada could have stood up to Germany, the Vatican and the Islamic
countries in their zealous effort to spread their influence in the Balkans,
and this civil war could have been avoided. All that is needed is fair
international arbitration with equal treatment for all sides.
