I'm posting this, because the two Left forces that have done more to
oppose US interventionism in The Balkans, Emperors Clothes and the
Workers World Party, deserve to have their voices heard.     One
senses a certain overriding guilty shame, in the silence of the rest of
the Left.

Tony Abdo
______________________________
U.S./NATO STEAL YUGOSLAV ELECTIONS
Soft Money and hard threats
By Sara Flounders

On Sept. 26 the State Election Commission in Yugoslavia announced the
results of the Sept. 24 elections. The candidate backed by the U.S.
government and the European Union, Vojislav Kostunica, received 48
percent of the vote to President Slobodan Milosevic's 40 percent.

Since neither candidate received more than 50 percent, a run- off
election has been set for Oct. 8.

Kostunica's immediate reaction was to reject participation in a run-off
election and demand that Milosevic concede defeat. Bill Clinton,
Britain's Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and other NATO leaders who bombed
Yugoslavia in 1999 also demanded Milosevic concede.

The first point for the whole international movement that opposed NATO's
war against Yugoslavia to keep in mind is that the Yugoslav elections
were not "free and fair." Imperialism stole the election through its
blatant pressure, bribery and interference.

The elections raise a vital question. Will Yugoslavia be turned over to
the Western banks and corporations? Will the assets of industrial
enterprises be broken up and sold off, as they have been in every other
country in Eastern Europe, Russia and the former Soviet Republics? Will
the majority of the population be relegated to living below the poverty
line?

The Sept. 24 elections involved three layers of voting. Besides the
presidential vote, there were also municipal elections, in which the
U.S.-backed opposition won many cities and towns.

There was also an election for the Yugoslav Federal Parliament. The
coalition of the United Left, the Socialist Party and the SP's sister
party in Montenegro won a strong majority of both houses. In Montenegro
it was unopposed, as the pro-Western government abstained from the
election. Under Yugoslav law, Parliament has more rights than the
president and directs the government, electing the prime minister.

But a setback for Milosevic in the presidential election puts more at
risk than the future of one individual. He was the main target of the
war carried out by U.S. and NATO--the imperialist world powers--and
because of that he has come to symbolize Yugoslav resistance. In
addition, he was at the center of the coalition of forces that led
Yugoslavia during the 78 days of bombing.

All the social gains of an independent country that had broken free of
imperialist enslavement and held out during years of encirclement and
war are now endangered.

WESTERN INTERFERENCE DISTORTED ELECTIONS In this election the U.S. and
European Union governments used every possible dirty trick, corrupt
practice and payoff, and then bragged about them. Threats of bombing,
promises to end nine years of sanctions, intimidation and military
maneuvers heightened the tension.

On election day the Pentagon and Croatia held their largest joint
military exercises ever--a joint landing on an island in the Adriatic
near Montenegro, part of Yugoslavia, to simulate an invasion. Fifteen
British war ships have now moved into the Mediterranean. A U.S. aircraft
carrier in the Adriatic Sea has moved closer to Montenegro.

The major media here--the New York Times on Sept. 20 and the Washington
Post on Sept. 19--have described in detail the exact amounts funneled
into the opposition parties, radio and TV stations and newspapers. The
U.S. Congress publicly voted on $77 million in open interference. Then
on Sept. 25, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to send
another $105 million to aid anti-Milosevic forces in Serbia and
Montenegro.

These articles describe suitcases of cash handed over at the border,
endless supplies of computers, fax machines, cell phones and the
trainers to use them. These goods have been passed to the opposition
through front organizations, NGOs and media outlets.

Weeks before the election, Western-funded polling organizations
announced that Kostunica would win a sweeping victory. For the West's
media monopoly beaming into Yugoslavia, there were only two options.
Either Milosevic would lose or there would be massive fraud.

The U.S. State Department announced that even if Milosevic won by
overwhelming odds, Washington would refuse to accept the results.

HOW SOULD MOVEMENT EVALUATE THESE EVENTS? Those who opposed NATO bombing
in 1999 and all the militant activists who have taken on the
International Monetary Fund, World Bank, globalization and sweatshops
have a stake in what happens next in Yugoslavia.
Are they ready to stand in solidarity with whatever steps are necessary
to keep another country from being forced under the boot of the IMF and
World Bank?
Washington, London, Paris and Berlin have openly intervened and bragged
of it.
In the face of these admissions, those in office in Yugoslavia have
every right to void the elections and disqualify the opposition.

In the United States, France, Britain or Germany, would such an election
have been allowed to continue? In the United States no political
organization is permitted to accept funds from another government for
political purposes unless it publicly registers as an agent of a foreign
power. The U.S. ruling class is determined that only it should control
the electoral process.

Any U.S. politician found accepting contributions, bribes or payments of
any kind from a foreign government is disgraced, attacked and could face
criminal indictment.

Just the allegation that the Clinton administration accepted a
contribution from an ethnically Chinese businessperson who might have
had contact with China sent every politician running for cover.

CORRUPTION AND TREASON
It is important to recognize that the Yugoslav government has the moral
right to nullify this election on the basis of outrageous outside
interference. It has every right to refuse to proceed with further
elections under conditions of war, sanctions and occupation.

The Parliament has every right to establish a criminal inquiry into the
funding sources of the opposition. Government prosecutors have every
right to indict and jail the politicians and publications that have
corrupted the election process.

The masses have every right to go into the streets and denounce the
opposition parties and publications as agents of a foreign power.

Kostunica, until now a minor politician considered a Serb nationalist
with a long history of anti-Communism, consistently maintains that he
has not accepted any money from the West. He has even criticized the
NATO bombing and sanctions. No Yugoslav politician could win significant
votes if seen as a NATO stooge.

It may be true that he personally has not pocketed any money. But
Kostunica has surrounded himself with political parties and
organizations that are toadies to the NATO countries. His whole campaign
has been publicized by radio and television stations and newspapers
wholly and openly financed by grants from Washington and Berlin.

He is supported by the U.S. and European imperialist powers because his
political program, even if it criticizes NATO, embraces the very
policies that NATO is demanding. He is the easiest of the politicians to
make into a pawn because he has no personal base. He is the candidate of
a bloc of 18 small feuding political parties that have no common
interests or ideology. They are united only by opposition to the
government and their willingness to accept foreign funds.

U.S. ENGINEERED COUPS AND COUNTERREVOLUTIONS The big U.S. monopolies and
banks and Washington itself have never accepted an election as "free and
fair" if it put their class interests in danger or brought the masses
onto the scene. Since the end of World War II the U.S. has organized the
overthrow of more than 50 governments. In Chile in 1973 the CIA
organized a military coup to drown the progressive legally elected
government in blood. It did the same in Iran in 1953 and in Guatemala in
1954.

In 1990 the U.S. orchestrated the overthrow of the Sandinistas in
Nicaragua. Washington had cobbled together a 20-party coalition whose
only aim was to overthrow the government and restore the old propertied
class. It promised to end the "Contra" war and sanctions and provide
massive aid if the popular Sandinistas were defeated.

In this situation, much like the one today in Yugoslavia, Washington
succeeded in manipulating the election to drive out the Sandinistas. But
the U.S. never came through with the aid, and now some of the
lowest-paid sweatshops in the world operate in the Trade Zones" of
Nicaragua.
'FREE ELECTIONS' IN A COUNTRY UNDER SIEGE? Yugoslavia, like Nicaragua,
illustrates the dangers of holding an election in the midst of an
unrelenting war, sanctions and occupation of part of the country by
foreign armies.
With their dominance of the world media, the lure of material goods, the
bribes and the threat of further punishment, these powers were able to
reach right into the
country.

President Milosevic was trying to get a mandate by calling a vote when
the opposition seemed divided, weak, discredited. But the imperialists
quickly strengthened them using tactics refined over decades of
interventions.

Yugoslavia, a small, beleaguered country maneuvering to survive, has
allowed dozens of openly pro-imperialist parties to maintain offices,
staff, publish newspapers, organize and to participate in elections.
These concessions have only further emboldened the enemies of the
Yugoslav workers.

Even though the imperialists complained that they were not allowed to
monitor the elections, hundreds of foreigners did come in as election
observers and certified that they were "free and fair"--that the
government honestly and legally abided by all election procedures. But
this shifted attention from the actual fraud taking place: the massive
intervention and intimidation by imperialism.

The political opposition was allowed to engage in practically
unrestrained acceptance of foreign assistance, advice and media hype.
The whole process was corrupted by an army of Western advisers and
pollsters.

WILL U.S./NATO FORCES SUCCEED?
Reports from election observers and even the big-business media show
there is a hard core of working-class support for Milosevic from those
who see him as a defender of the country against NATO. Even among those
who naively voted for Kostunica out of anger against Milosevic, there
are many who want to resist Western imperialism.

The question facing the Yugoslav masses now is will the Western
multinationals, on the basis of this election distorted by intervention,
be able to capture the state apparatus and open the door to
super-exploitation?

Will the enemy that failed to break Yugoslavia's resistance with 78 days
of bombing be able to take over by manipulation of an election--or will
the government be able to resist?
If the left organizations and patriotic parties in Yugoslavia resist,
will the progressive and working-class and anti-war movements in the
West defend them against an inevitable propaganda blitz from the West
and a possible new
military campaign?

WHAT CAN BE DONE?
One contribution to this effort could be a Commission of Inquiry to
examine the corrupting role that the U.S. government, the European
Union, their NATO military arm and their international financial
organizations played in the Yugoslav election.

This Inquiry could gather and publicize information on these
institutions' efforts to subvert and overthrow the Yugoslav government.
It could also gather information on the open and secret funding of
political parties, organizations and publications by U.S. government
agencies.

The Inquiry could deepen international understanding of Yugoslavia's
problem by incorporating testimony and reports on U.S. intervention in
the internal affairs of other governments. This would include the
overthrow of other popular governments in Guatemala, Panama, Chile, Iran
and Indonesia and also intervention in elections in Italy, Haiti,
Nicaragua, Guyana and others.

Activists in other NATO countries could organize their own Commissions
of Inquiry and public hearings to examine how this latest intervention
violated their laws. Similar information came to light earlier when
hearings and tribunals in many countries put U.S. and NATO leaders on
trial for war crimes against Yugoslavia.

The importance of international solidarity should never be
underestimated. Yugoslavia must not stand alone.