IRSP: NATO Should Disband Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source - IRSP 31 May 1999 The following statement was issued by the International Department of the Irish Republican Socialist Party: NATO Out of the Balkans, Out of Europe, Out of Existence Hands Off Irish Sovereignty! The Balkans have long been one of the most challenging regions, in Europe at least, to grasp. For centuries they remained within the Dar es Islam, while being at the same time in the heart of Europe. With the decline of Ottoman power, both Russia and the Austro- Hungarian Empire vied over them, while Germany saw them as the most likely option to provide economic expansion, since their late entry into the circle of leading imperialists came after France and England had already carved up the continent of Africa and a good bit of Asia. Enough of a tinderbox to supply the spark and initial explosion that became World War I. After that war, the leading powers stepped in to carve up both the Haupsburg and Ottoman remnants and give some shape to the nation-state building emerging in the Balkans. Impatient with the process, they cobbled together various peoples in several of the new nations, but the oddest assortment was the "left overs" that were stuffed into a new nation called "Yugoslavia," "land of the south Slavs." So volatile a mixture was this entity, that the coming of World War II immediately gave rise to Croatian separatism, taking the form of a Nazi client state, which launched a genocidal attempt against their neighbors--leaving over a million Orthodox Serbs dead when the fighting ended. Only the personal charisma of Josef Broz Tito, a beloved partisan leader during the war, was able to hold the new and disparate nation together, and it was he who undertook to protect the ethnic Albanians who make up the majority of the population of the region Koskova by turning it into an Autonomous region. This began to deteriorate when the collapse of the Soviet Union and its client states throughout Eastern Europe brought new instability to the region, and unleashed the competing nationalist sentiments that had never been allowed to fully develop, crunched into a state that was no nation-state. Koskova's autonomy was revoked, and from the first renewed conflict between the Serbs and Croats, it was a matter of time before the Koskova situation came to conflict. So, now we are confronted with a distinct national people within the imposed borders of another nation, struggling for national liberation. It would seem that any revolutionary Irish organisation would have little difficulty in determining which side to take, but then NATO stepped in. Making matters even more curious, NATO stepped in against the Serbs--what remains the governing force of what is still called Yugoslavia--but failed to support the Koskova Liberation Army, just as they had refused to arm the Moslems of Bosnia. What is going on, and whose side should one be on? What "ism" is serving as the moderator? What are NATO's interests in the Balkans? Whose interests were served by the original actions of against Koskova? The first post-cold war targets of the imperialists were Cuba, Korea, and Vietnam, which are outside of the market of imperialism, and which are believed not to be able to defend themselves. Attacking these contries, was not that easy, because conditions are not favourable at the moment. Countries like Libya, Iraq, Syria, and in general those nations which are labelled being "countries which support terrorism" and therefore also belong to this category of likely targets. In that this is first and foremost a war sponsored by imperialism's leading powers, they are taking the opportunity to crush the unyielding nationalist regimes which stand as potential challenges to the future interests imperialism. By removing these threats now, before a potential crisis, it leaves the imperialists' hands free when do face a challenge. Except, they may have found more of a challenge this time than they expected. Though Serbia/Yugoslavia may be a great violator of human rights, we as revolutionary socialists should not be prepared to sit back and listen to speeches about protecting human rights from nations such as the United States (with its entrenched racism and death penalty killings), England (with Bloody Sunday, covert aid to Loyalist death squads and the oppression of Ireland's six counties, Scotland, and Wales), or Spain (oppressor of the Basques, Catalans, and Galicians). NATO's hands are so soaked in the blood of working people from around the globe, they are a foolish choice if attempting to wash another clean. We need not ask further. This is NATO, we must be in opposition. The imperialists do not take action out of the goodness of their hearts. Simply put, they don't have good hearts! Kosova self-determination is something for republican socialists to embrace, especially the most progressive elements of those seeking self-determination. This does not, and cannot, mean, however, that we can support for one moment the NATO bombing of Serbia. We, anti-imperialists who were prepared to bow to the will of the majority of the working class and declare a cease-fire, cannot possiblly ally ourselves with our direct enemy, who has violated our national soverignty for centuries, and declare them defenders of small nations and of human rights for the rain of bombs and bloodshed of civilians currently taking place. The Irish Republican Socialist Party stand in support of the national self-determination of Koskova, but we call upon NATO to cease its attack on Yugoslavia immediately. Further, we call up the nations forming NATO to immediately dismantle the organisation, as an archaic and dangerous impediment to peace and justice. Finally, we call upon the people of Ireland to secure the traditional neutrality of the 26 county statelet, and to challenge any further attempts by the Dublin regime to drag the Irish people into alliance with imperialism. ENDS International Secretariat Irish Republican Socialist Party/ North American Coordinator Irish Republican Socialist Committees 2057 15th Street, Suite B San Francisco, CA 94114 USA Phone/fax: 415-861-1355 irsp@netwiz.net http://irsm.org/irsm.html ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytire-06.02.99-09:25:25-25153