Nachricht Nummer : 556 Übertragungszeit : 3 min 6 sec Nachricht von : WAM@ZAMIR-ZG.ztn.zer.de (Wam) Antworten an : wam@zamir-zg.ztn.zer.de Betrifft : Zagreb Diary 26 November 1994 Kopienempfänger : /REG/NEWS/DIARY/WAM, /SOC/CULTURE/YUGOSLAVIA, /SOC/CULTURE/CROATIA, /SOC/CULTURE/BOSNA-HERZGVNA, /CL/EUROPA/BALKAN, /APC/YUGO/ANTIWAR Erstellungsdatum : 27.11.1994 20:00:00 W+1 Zagreb Diary, 26 November, 1994 Dobar Dan, So Tudjman has left Croatia again for one of his bigger travels. Maybe he is not so oft outside the country as Granic (minister of foreign affairs), but I am sure that he is making a hell of lot more internationals tours and travels as he Dutch Prime minister or the queen. This time Argentina and Chile are on the list to give the honours, which are standard for a head of state. Vesna asked me ofcourse immediately what kind of political regimes there are in those two countries nowadays. In the past both countries didn't really belonged to the same brotherhood of anti-fascistic countries as to which Yugoslavia. Rather the other side you can say. Since Pinochet throw over Ellende's democratic chosen government back in the 70'ties, Chile wasn't so popular anymore. And still if you are talking with the UN Argentinean UNPROFOR soldiers you notice that their thoughts about democracy are somehow different at least of mine. I don't know if any of you understand but there is such a song what soldiers use when they are marching, mostly the text isn't that women friendly as I have understood. The origin of the song probably lays in the USarmy, but I am not sure. Anyway when I came to Croatia this song was rather popular. Nowadays the melody is used in a spot in with kids come marching down the telephone office where they used bought a telephone card. Such a commercial I probably won't see on a Dutch television, although the army use the same melody in the Netherlands to make a promotion spot. Talking about spots, the last months another spot with children was regular shown. It was a spot for saver traffic and respecting the traffic signs, surely not something which belong to the standard habits of most local drivers. Anyway the point of this spot was "Mark our signs (or rather see our signs)". A few weeks later on some walls in Zagreb and Split the same text was written, the signs however were those of anarchism, peace, yin and yang and all those others. I spend this afternoon reading the 9th report of the special Rapporteur of the UN for Human Rights, Mr. Mazowiecki. Not particular a story you read for fun on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Although I have been reading much heavier stories about violations of Human rights, with details description of what happened and how people were misused. Still when you see all the cases listed of the last half year a cold stream goes over your back. Some things which are so normal seen as standard for human behaviour among each other, even so normal that you are surprised that they have been listed in the International Human rights are still not established in some parts of this area. One of the remarkable things is still however the refusal of the authorities in Serbia and Macedonia to open a permanent field office for the UN Human Rights commission. I shouldn't do it really, but when I was a teenager and also had my then secret diary I also use to quote things I heard (since most obvious it were parts of songs I could follow in English), so why not now. This comes out the books I described yesterday, it is written I think in the spring of 1993 by Susan Sontag. " "This was an Orthodox church" "This was the biggest department store" "This was the sports hall" "This was a children's hospital" That was the railway station" "This was a mosque" "That was the Jewish Museum" "This was a TV station" "That? Oh that was a new apartment building" "That was a park" "That was the office of the Red Cross" This was the Hotel Europe. The best hotel in town" "That was the football field. It's a cemetery now" ......." It is a picture I recognise from many cities I have visit in the last 3 years. The sentences "This was" and "That was" or "This use to be" are part of the standard introduction for every new comer to a town or an area. After you have started to imagine how the pale of stones they showed you use to look like you get the new standard lines, namely about who used to live or work there and what happened to him or her. Or how peaceful and nice it use to be to go there. How small children were playing there and old people enjoyed the sun. And every time your imagination is not enough to see it is they who are telling you the story can see it in one of the small pictures they have still somewhere in their brain. A lot like hearing the stories how good and peaceful it was when Tito was still alive and how this countries were on the right track before ethnically nationalism started to raise. A short look at the piles of stones make you for ones and for all realise that it all is history and that it will for ever be a story of 100 and 1 nights, or at least for the coming period. Maybe it was good, maybe it was peaceful, maybe ...... But what has that to do with the reality of today. Mir za somewhere in or around Hrvatska, 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.ztn.zer.de. 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. ## CrossPoint v3.02 ##