Nachricht Nummer : 323 Übertragungszeit : 3 min 29 sec Nachricht von : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.comlink.de (Wam) Betrifft : Zagreb Diary 4 December, 1993 Kopienempfänger : /APC/YUGO/ANTIWAR, /CL/EUROPA/BALKAN Erstellungsdatum : 07.12.1993 10:33:00 W+1 Realname: Wam Kat Zagreb Diary 4 December, 1993 Dobar dan, Yesterday evening late the Peace Circus Bus returned from Rijeka, on the way to that place they really needed their snow chains, but on the way back most of the snow was already removed, all over the place the road works, as well as parts of HV (Croatian Army) are working like hell to get the road snow free, they haven't come to our part of the town yet, so in the street were Vesna and I are living it is quiet. Kristof told that it was nearly like spring on the other side of the mountains and that he was glad that he first had seen Kutina refugee camp, which is still the best in the country, than the destruction of war in Pakrac, the poorness of the so-called enemy and than Rijeka. He is sure that if Rijeka would have been there first place they wouldn't have understand so much about what is and was going on. In Rijeka they played for the refugees who are living in the hotels, not the cheapest one, he adds. It looks rather nice, but what would happen to you if you would live with 8 persons on one Hotel room already for more than 1 1/2 year and displaced people even longer. In Kutina they could see what it means for people to be able to cook their own meal and clean their own house. In the Hotels in Rijeka (and elsewhere in Croatia) the women have nothing to do, somebody else cooks for them, always in big kitchens and surely not a-la-carte and every second day the room cleaner comes by to pick up their dirty laundry and clean the room. That living with 4 kids, mother and grand mother in a 20 m2 big room can lead to big conflicts among eachother, but also with the management and workers of the Hotel is not a big surprise. Tell the children that they have to behave specially and that for such a long time. What you see may look nice, but the true is a whole lot different. As always they were full of questions and than you notice again and again how bad the actual information about this region is in the foreign newspapers. They know about the fighting and even they know sometime who is fighting against whom, but that is about it. Why is this happening, why are they fighting, Muslim and Croats use to be friends with each other so why are they no fighting each other and so cruel. Yes I respond so were Serbs and Muslims and Serbs and Croats, so they all were and they still are in some places. I can only tell them what I have seen happening around me, how completely peace loving friends of mine in Mostar, with up to March lived together with Muslims suddenly nearly over night started to change. Of course the process didn't happened overnight, it was a process of weeks, weeks of rumours and stories. Basically about cruelties of the other side, didn't matter with whom you spoke. Cruelties from which it even isn't clear if they were committed or not, that in fact don't matter so much. It is the atmosphere which is in the air, a logical reason is hardly to be found, or it is a reaction on something what the other party (suppose) to have done. But when the fights are really starting you don't ask for a why, since the air is full of answers, because they just shot my brother, because the raped my wife, because they blow up the bridge. I tell them that I get dozens of this questions every day via the networks, everybody wants to know why, me also, but is there a why for wars, you can trace back where it may have started, but if that is the answer is a big question mark. In another place, in another time, maybe something completely the same would happen and people are not starting to fight. No, mother, I answer in the telephone, people in Mostar (NEMA MOSTar) are not all crazy, I told you time after time, it is too easy to change the whole population here into half barbarians, there are no real good guys and no real bad guys either, there is a just war. And please mama, ask everybody in your town to send new years cards to us in Pakrac, just a simple card to all the people in Pakrac (Croats, Serbs, Italians, Hungarians, Slovaks and all those other groups which lived here all those years). Humanitarian aid is good, but just normal contacts are helping to restore the normal life, maybe ? In the late afternoon Ognjen, our wizard with hardware comes by to bring back my companion, at last he is back and works again. I must say that I really missed him the last week, my poor little laptop, it must hard for him or her to be my mate. With my two fingers typing speed I often nearly kill her buttons and indeed Ognjen had to do open heart surgery to get her back alive, but with some improvised spare parts it will be working at least to the new one comes. It is Saturday evening and maybe it is because there is not that many traffic in the town as normal, but for the first time I heard shooting again, it is a long time ago that I heard that in Zagreb. Nothing special though when you are in Pakrac or any where else in the country, or for that matter even in the zones in BiH were they don't fight. Saturday is synonym for shooting in the night, at the wedding party they get drunk and starts to shoot in the air. Bok I Mir from Zagreb, Wam ------------------------------------------------------ Zagreb Diary can be found on a lot of different electronic networks, it is copyright free and can be ported to any network or other means of communication you like, but please drop my a line, you can reach by sending a message to wam@zamir-zg.comlink.de or wam@zamir-zg.comlink.apc.org. Zagreb Diary is dedicated to Tyche, Pjort and Rik, so that they found out what there father have been doing all that time in Zagreb. Financial support for Grassroot relief work in Croatia or BiH can be send to Kollektief Rampenplan (atn. Lylette, Postbox 780, 6130 AN Sittard, Netherlands, tel:. +31-46-524803 and fax: +31-46-516460 or to Zagrebacka Banka, Zagreb, accountnr.: 2440291594, to Kat, Pieter Jan Herman Fredrik, Brace Domany 6 6fl nr3, 41000 Zagreb. Please notify me if you send or have send any donations. ## CrossPoint v2.92 ##