Slovenia: Marching to Peace

On the 10th anniversary of the first civil protests in former Yugoslavia (Slovenian peace activists protested a military parade in Belgrade to commemorate the W.W.II liberation of Yugoslavia) an army parade will be held in Ljubljana. Prime minister Janez Drnovsek has already sent invitations to the allies (everyone except the Russians have confirmed they'll come) and troops, veterans and W.W.II partisans have been chosen to march. The Slovenian army has also checked with road maintenance companies to see if the former Tito street will take the weight of the tanks and other vehicles.

Despite a high level of national awareness, the parade has drawn controversy and protests. The first, insignificant, argument was over the character of the celebration. Rightists said May 9 could only be the day W.W.II ended while the other political parties in the former Yugoslav republic cited the importance of commemorating the victory over nazism.

The first unofficial reports on preparations for the parade caused the formation of a committee against the parade which sharply protested the secret preparations, and the fact that the state would be strutting its weapons. It also appealed for a non-militant commemoration.

The first echelon in the parade is reserved for an honorary guard, the second for W.W.II veterans (in vehicles because of their age), members of Tito's partisans and representatives of other nations who fought in the war followed by former concentration camp inmates, an echelon of allied troops followed by an overflight by Swiss-made training aircraft and paratroopers.

The only thing left undefined is the parade step. Marching the way the "occupying former Yugoslav army" did, would be sacrilege so Slovenian experts are rushing to perfect a step reportedly assisted by a small group of British soldiers.

So finally, Slovenians will be able to welcome the march of troops on their streets which defence minister Janez Jansa once said "raised the pulse and heart rate" in one of his anti-parade articles 10 years ago. It's amazing how many thing sin common the advocates of the Slovenian parade have with the advocates of the 1985 Belgrade parade.

Croatia: Human Rights
Every time a European or other commission came to Croatia, the press and politicians could only talk about how the state was ruled by law with full respect for human rights, waving laws on minority rights and showing some "loyal" Serb in a position of authority and that was all. When foreign commissions write unfavorable reports about the state of human rights, the pro-government press (most of the Croatian press) publishes a censored version discreetly on the back pages or just strike up the old chorus: No one understands us because this is war and we are victims of Serb aggression.

When the Slobodni Tjednik weekly published an account of mass executions of Serbs in Gospic early in 1992, the article drew sharp criticism from the authorities. There were several explanations from "it's an intentional lie in the war against Croatia" to "the 150 were snipers and deserved everything they got". The figures didn't tally when an official report said just a handful of alleged snipers were captured in Croatia.

None of the human rights organizations in Croatia has exact figures on the number of people expelled from their homes or what happened to them later. At the start of the war many people profited from apartments belonging to people who fled the war but soon the "just anger" (as coined by extremists politician Vladimir Seks) caused even more officially conducted expulsions which are estimated to stand at 3600. Later in 1992 Croatia adopted two laws which gave the defence ministry full control over property belonging to the former Yugoslav army. Those laws were adopted despite the fact that the Brioni accord was in place and banned any like decisions by Slovenia or Croatia and despite an agreement signed by former Yugoslav army staff who offered their services to the Croatian army and the expulsions began.

They were justified with the explanation that the apartments would be given to invalids and widows of men who died defending the state. Available figures show that most of the apartments went to friends and relatives of ranking military officials.

One figure says Croatia has confiscated 14,000 apartments through the expulsions to date.

The Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ) influence is evident in the Croatian judiciary. The public only recently discovered the Latin American style pressure the ruling party has been exerting on the judiciary. The scandal over the choice of a supreme court drew protests from the few independent judges who lost their posts as a result and the resignation of the justice minister (Ivica Crnic), the only minister who wasn't an HDZ member.

The problem started when the HDZ grabbed power and appointed a commission to dismiss judges under the slogan "A judge doesn't need to be smart, just politically adequate".

Bosnia: Fighting For Power
"Today we have more fighting for power than fighting for Bosnia-Herzegovina," Bosnian Muslim prime minister Haris Silajdzic said a year ago. His government is about to amend and adopt new laws intended to preserve the political elite's position of power. The latest session of the Bosnian parliament saw the ruling SDA party outvote the opposition to adopt a draft law which allows officials to hold more than one post. The unity of legislative, executive and judiciary authority as the main trait of a totalitarian regime got the go-ahead.

The opposition has been complaining about some SDA parliament deputies, like Irfan Ljubjankic who is also foreign minister, or others who hold ministerial and ambassadorial posts, the fact is that those officials occupied their posts illegally because the law banned parliament deputies from holding ranking posts in state bodies. Naturally, the "democrats" had no intention of giving up their profitable positions and the law was changed.

In the end, the best illustration of how the "new democrats" see their state (how much they see it as their personal property) is a recent report by Sarajevo media: internal affairs minister Bakir Alispahic toured a hospital recently and gave two ailing youngsters passports as gifts so they go abroad for treatment. Perhaps he'll organize a lottery for the passports soon.