Nachricht Nummer : 221
Übertragungszeit : 3 min 46 sec
Nachricht von    : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.ZER.sub.org
Betrifft         : Zagreb Diary 7 August, 1993
Erstellungsdatum : 09.08.1993 09:03:00 S+2

Realname: Wam Kat

Zagreb Diary 7 August, 1993

Dobar dan,

Just before you arrive in Zagreb from the direction of Karlovac you pass by 
something what should have become the big central Hospital of Zagreb, 
they started building it at least more than a decade ago and have stopped 
working on it also already ages ago (long before the war started).. I think 
that they have finished 75% of the building. Now it is standing of one of this 
unfinished Communist palaces, which probably never will be finished, since 
their wouldn't be any money for it for a long time. I remind me a lot of the big 
hospital outside Amsterdam, only that one is finished and used. For this 
hospital all the workers from Zagreb have been paying over years part of 
their wages, just like they paid and their comrades from all over Croatia and 
the other former Yugoslavian republics from those other huge projects, like 
the motorway to Karlovac, every worker in Croatia has paid at least one 
monthly income for it when it was build years ago. It were all gifts from the 
workers to the community, a free gift, but if you asked around nobody ever 
dare to refuse to give.

At this moment we are all paying for the war, 10% war tax, which is on all 
the products in the shops. But if you passed by other warzones, like the 
area which I visit about a week ago, around Maslenica, you have got that 
feeling that soon this spontaneous free gifts must be reactivated in order to 
provide the Croatian state with enough money to start something of 
rebuilding on a big scale. Since I don't see signs yet that the outside world 
is busy to prepare a huge Marshall-look-a-like plan for the rebuilding of the 
countries. But nowadays that amounts of money are not so easy to generate 
as it use to be under the communist or rather socialist times. Simply since 
the money is not dare. So.......

Already at the arrival this morning in Zagreb around 9 o'clock it is clear that 
the town is nearly empty. Bus after bus was driving South, for the first time I 
saw the highway to Karlovac full with cars, going in the other direction. 
Zagreb is on holidays. When I arrived at Vesna's place I just met her before 
she went away to Djakovo in order to see her parents, her father is very ill 
again and she want to stay some time there, before she and me go on a 
next trip down to the Islands, we have decided to go to Vis, since the old 
idea to make a peace island out of it is still not gone.

"Vis: Peace Island" was the first action which I was involved in when I 
arrived here 16 months ago. The plan was to get the JNA marine of the 
Island and no Croatia marine on it. In those days the war in BiH started and 
the atmosphere was a lot different from now. When the JNA marine left the 
Island the national feelings there were to high to talk about disarmament of 
the Island. We don't know how that is a the moment on the Islands. 
Especially after a holiday session, which is nearly gone and didn't brought 
what people hoped it would be. During the last week on an Island my 
original ideas came up again.

Now the war in BiH is still on and it didn't look that it will end soon, still the 
fights are looking more and more as an end fight of a chess game. The 
mountain in Sarajevo will be taken over by UNPROFOR this weekend, and 
some reports were given already that big parts of the Bosnian Serbian were 
with drawing from the mountain. The group from "Mir Sada", by the way, on 
it's way to Sarajevo (I saw yesterday in and around Split at least 15 of their 
vehicles) has been seen in Pozor, which is somewhere on three quarters of 
the way seen from Split, but the hardest part is still to come.

But it has an other character as a year ago. Maybe I became to hopeful, but 
I have that feeling that the day of the final cease-fire will be before the end 
of this year. Who I don't know, I have listening to the wind I think. 
Nevertheless besides from taking care of the direct wounds of the war, it 
would also be time again to look in the further away future. The last year my 
thoughts more and more concentrated itself on the short future, tomorrow, 
next week, next month at the longest. 

Maybe it is time to talk again about something as the peace island Vis and 
making plans how that should be realised, let's make an alternative Marshall 
plan for this countries, what can be presented on the day that the cease fire 
finally holds. Yes I am thinking again about wind mills and solar power 
systems in Dalmatia, about ecological farmer in Slavonia, the construction 
of a designers (software, technical and artistic) electronic network over the 
country to make resettlement of the empty villages possible (high skilled 
work can be done on the country sides and is bound to the cities, thanks to 
e-mail), and other ideas to establish a sustainable economy.

Maybe hard to imagine when you watch your news about the war, but not 
from here. It will be over one day and we have to get living on, that feeling is 
part of the experiences I made f.e. in Pakrac. Building houses is one thing, 
but somewhere in the line things should start to functioning again, not only 
the pubs and a few mini markets, or some huge farmers cooperations, but 
on all scales of the economy things should start to function again. And also 
there the Grassroot movement can play an important role, especially them 
which have some vision and the future. Just because of the fact that the 
economy is so destroyed makes it maybe possible to interest more people in 
returning in to an environmental friendly and sustainable economy. But also 
therefor is help in the form from financial and creativity support from abroad 
needed.     

Bok I Mir from Zagreb,

							Wam
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time in Zagreb.
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