Soros

After the slogan "Serbia will never bow down" the slogan "There is no alternative to peace" has taken over. Much has changed among the patriotic media, but the attitude towards the Soros Foundation of Yugoslavia has remained unchanged - this organization still ranks as the "enemy of all that is Serbian and Orthodox". (That this is true of the Foundation's founder George Soros, goes without saying). There is an impression that the anti-Soros campaign is being stepped up. Judging by a recently broadcast supplement to the ZIP program on television, the Foundation's work on the exchange of students and scholarships for studying abroad is on the agenda now. Until recently medical and humanitarian aid had never been mentioned.

"From June 1992 to July 1994 we distributed aid totalling 9,330,000 dollars to medical institutions in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, while the distribution of a five million dollars' worth contingent is under way", said coordinator of the Soros Fund of Yugoslavia medical team Dr. Vuk Stambolovic. "The matter concerns medicine, equipment and material, and in the above mentioned sum we have not included our educational programs (courses on innovations), the organization of seminars, aid for the participation of our doctors at specialized congresses abroad, or health-educational seminars for educators."

The scope of the Soros Foundation's medical activities seem to have attracted attention, so that Revija 92 of 24 February brought a text "Gives in public, rules from the shadows" in which the author couldn't pass over the fact that the Foundation is "officially the greatest benefactor of Serbian health institutions", but in the very next paragraph under the sub title "Narco-foundation", speaking of Soros, he said the following:

Perhaps the fear of all this money which he is giving out so frenziedly, is because it is like the proven method of narco-dealers who give you the drug free of charge the first few times, and then you pay many times over later. Even with your life."

The current distribution of medical aid by the Soros Foundation consists of a special milk powder and baby foods.

 

Announcement

The Fund for the Development of Democracy issued a public statement on 27 February which we bring in its entirety:

"With the aim of preventing the robbery of social capital during the transformation of firms, the Federal Assembly and the Serbian Assembly adopted a law on 24.7.1991 which foresees the founding of a public company under the name of the Republican Agency for the Evaluation of Socially-Owned capital.

Regardless of the explicit legal obligation that all public firms register with the District Commercial Court in Belgrade, according to Fund for the Development of Democracy data, this company was never registered, and in the past four years worked illegally making decisions which cannot be binding to anyone.

This unregistered, and therefore legally non-existent company decided on the legality of ownership transformations bringing decisions which cannot be binding for anyone.

In the past four years of this kind of work, those employed in the Republican Agency have groundlessly and illegally received salaries, apartments and enjoyed other benefits at the burden of taxpayers in Serbia.

'Institutions of the system' have done nothing to look into the responsibility of the officials and competent organs in Serbia because of the Agency's illegal work, while this same Agency is bringing decisions which illegally close down media which inform the public of this and other violations by state organs and officials.

We are waiting for the 'institutions of the system' to give the taxpayers the necessary information on this case."

 

Raids

The police, at least in Valjevo, are definitely doing their job. This is something cafe and pub visitors can vouch for, especially over weekends. Some ten policemen in uniform with truncheons, led by inspectors in civilian clothes regularly line up the guests and the pub staff. After the order "Switch on the lights, stop the music", the guests are ordered to line up against a wall and submit to a search. During the raid no one is allowed to leave or enter the pub.

The raid which raised a lot of protest took place last weekend in the Central Club, a refurbished cinema hall, and meeting place of Blues fans, where musicians such as Stjepko Gut, Johnny Mars, the band "S vremena na vreme" and the late Milan Mladenovic have performed. During the concert by the Belgrade group "Band Mystery Train" the police raided the place in the described manner, not sparing the musicians or the instruments and put an end to the concert.

Such police behavior has become commonplace after a bomb explosion in front of the Azuro disco when a minor and two inspectors were killed. The confiscating of weapons doesn't seem have to had any effect. Asked if things couldn't be done more subtly, the Police Chief said that this was being done in order that: "Our children don't get killed". The impression gained, however, is that the police actions have more to do with events within the police force itself. Namely, after the scandal which revealed close links between the criminals and the police, several inspectors were forced into retirement, or they quit their jobs. This is why the local Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) branch asked Serbian Minister of the Interior Zoran Sokolovic for help in cleaning up the department. Sokolovic still hasn't answered, and the local police are doing their best to prove that they are efficient, at least in pub raids.

 

Immunity

The proceedings against Marko Kekovic, editor-in-chief of the RTS Information Program of the Novi Sad studio, and journalist Elvira Fekete of the same studio who have been sued by the Soros Foundation of Yugoslavia for libel, have been discontinued for an indeterminate period, announced the Soros Foundation.

The four previous hearings were postponed because of the absence of one of the accused. This time Elvira Fekete called on her immunity as a member of Parliament.

The proceedings will continue after the court has taken a decision on Elvira Fekete's immunity.

 

Pigeons and TV

One the oldest pigeon breeders in Kragujevac, Aleksandar Petrovic, recently received a court order informing him that must get rid of his pigeons in 15 days and pay a 100 dinar fine. Petrovic keeps his pigeons on his balcony on the third floor of the building dubbed Lepa Brena (after a folk star of the same name). Some of the neighbors were irritated by the pigeons, and the magistrate ruled that the smell of the pigeons was endangering the inhabitants of the building Lepa Brena, said the Kragujevac-based paper Svetlost.

The paper goes on to say that Petrovic has bred pigeons for sixty years and that they, considering that he lives alone, are his "only love".

"The magistrate ruled as if the matter concerned poultry and not pigeons. I feed my birds with wheat and not left-overs, so that there can be no talk of smell. I don't have a wife or children, and I love the pigeons, and I prefer their cooing to television," said Aleksandar Petrovic.

Malicious gossip has it that Petrovic has not been fined because "he is not observing the sanitary and veterinary conditions for the keeping of animals in the territory of Kragujevac", but because he has admitted publicly that he prefers his pigeons to television. In future, he'll just have to watch television.

 

How to Reach Peace

Vuk Draskovic's (Serbian Renewal Movement leader) statement on his appearance on the state TV program "The Open Screen":

"How to reach peace? This is the name of a live program broadcast by TV Bastille on 28 February 1995, and the war has been on since spring 1991. It took them some time. An invitation to participate in the program did surprise me, because it was the first time since the founding of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), and five years have passed since then, that I have been invited to appear as a guest on RTS.

TV Bastille's general director welcomed me, and in his office we met some notorious TV commentators who until yesterday were warmongers. I read confusion on the faces. They're about say: What does this mean? It can't be that Serbian President Milosevic is betraying us and that he really wants peace?

Socialist party of Serbia (SPS) vice-president looks puzzled. He has to defend peace, and his looks say that his wishes are different. Like with our Communists in 1948 when they were ordered to attack Stalin, while Stalin was in their souls and hearts. This is understandable from the human point of view. The Democratic Party of Serbia (DS) president is fidgety. He seems to want peace, but marketing is advising him to push for war. It's worth it. It's necessary to collect the votes of the socialists who still want to fight, the refugees from Bosnia and other victims of war. It is necessary to spread the story that the SPO has betrayed the Serbs in Bosnia and the opposition in Serbia by upholding the Contact Group for Bosnia's peace plan, which is also supported by Milosevic. And he's not interested in how many Serbs will die because of the unnecessary prolongation of the war. The "patriotic" image of the DS is what is important. And hang the costs. The program can start. Really, how do we reach peace?"