By Jolyon Campbell
MELBOURNE— Members of the Bosnian, Croatian, Albanian, Macedonian and other communities rallied here on Friday April 22 and Sunday the 24th to protest against the continuing atrocities of the Bosnian war and the failure of the UN and other international forces to protect its victims.
The demonstration, called by the multi-ethnic Committee in Solidarity With Gorazde, rejected the widely disseminated view of the conflict as an all-against-all ethnic bloodbath.
Marchers carried Bosnian, Croatian and Macedonian flags tied together in solidarity. Speakers emphasised the role of the Serbian army, spearheaded by Chetnik (Serbian fascist) militia, as the original aggressor and the perpetrator of systematic slaughters and "ethnic cleansing" against all the non-Serb peoples of Bosnia and the other former Yugoslav states.
The rally expressed the view that the achievement of a lasting peace in Bosnia would require effective solidarity and cooperation between all the communities targeted by the Serbian offensive, and real and active support from the international community.
Several speakers expressed outrage over the role played by the United Nations and NATO forces under the guise of a humanitarian and peace-making mission. Cathy Brozovic, a member of the committee, explained, "It is unforgivable that these innocent people in a so-called United Nations 'protected zone' are at the mercy of the Serbian aggressors, while the whole apparatus of the United Nations and NATO have done nothing but talk and watch ...
"In 1992, while the UN and the whole international community recognised the right of the Croatian and Bosnian peoples to self-determination by giving official recognition to the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Bosnia-Hercegovina, they immediately slapped on an arms embargo against both countries.
"What the world did was to betray the peoples of Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina, because it took away their right to defend themselves. For the past two-and-a-half years the UN, the European Union and all the world's leaders have talked and watched as one of the strongest armies in Europe — the Serbian-Chetnik army — has proceeded to bombard city by city, town by town, and slaughter everyone and everything that stood in its way.
"Through its arms embargo on Croatia and Bosnia, the UN has tied the victims' hands behind their backs while giving the Serbo-Chetnik aggressor the green light to slaughter.
"Through this action, the UN ... has clearly shown that it is on the side of the aggressor. Unfortunately the Australian government are also to blame. Their token verbal condemnation of the Serbian aggressor, their attempts to portray this firstly as a religious war, then as a civil war: these are simply a smokescreen to confuse the Australian public. This is unforgivable."