[ More of a different perspective from someone named Stefan from Macedonia .
--j.korber]

FWD: via A-infos news service.
this is what SAtefan from Macedonia wrote:
Dear friends;[log in to unmask]
I am sorry I have not been able to inform you and react promptly on the
rapidly unfolding developments here. As missiles and bombs rain
ruthlessly on the people and infrastructure of Yugoslavia, only 15
kilometres north from where I live in Skopje (the capital of
Macedonia),
shocking news are coming in by the minute.

You might have heard in the headlines that the biggest and most violent
protests against NATO involvement in Yugoslavia so far, took place in
Skopje about 5 hours ago. An outraged mass of demonstrators, mostly
young, carrying Macedonian and Yugoslav flags (along with some very
witty transparents and symbols:) stormed the US Embassy and set several
private cars and adjoining objects in the courtyard on fire. Afterwards
they ransacked some vehicles parked by the nearby hotel where a lot of
foreign journalists and representatives are based. During this
occasion,
the reporter of CNN, Matthew Chance, who by the way has been constantly
incorrectly informing about the events here, had to run for his life in
panic right in the middle of a live broadcast. Afterwards the
demonstrators stormed the German and British Consulates, but were
attacked by the special police, who up to that moment were only
observing the situation. Consecutively, 60 of them have been arrested.

On almost all the major world newscasts this evening, a transparent
with
the words 'Enough, Pinocchio!' portraying Clinton with a long nose and
a
swastika on his forehead (in reaction to the blatant lies he used to
justify the criminal attack) was shown. I am proud to inform you that
this transparent was created and carried by three activists of the
Ecologists' Movement of Macedonia - Youth (DEM-Youth) - Daniela
Stojanova, Emil Krstanovski and myself (btw, I assume full
responsibility for the poor art on the slogan and the swastika ;-)).
Unfortunately I was not present during most of the demonstrations, but
I
have just heard that Daniela, the co-ordinator of DEM-Youth, was in the
front lines facing the special police, while Emil, among other heroic
involvements, has been known to have made a precise hit on an US
Embassy
Representative with an egg.

We are shocked and deeply distressed to see that green movements across
Europe are silent to this criminal act, the complete end and
destruction
of international law and peace. The arguments used to justify it are
false and immoral: instead of averting a 'humanitarian catastrophe,'
the
intervention will and is already creating one: as innocent people
throughout the Yugoslav cities are suffering casualties and
unimaginable
psychological stress, refugees from Kosovo continue to storm Macedonia
in fear of retaliation from the Yugoslav Army. We have come to a
situation where world leaders speak straight-faced in front of their
nations, with statements implying that bombs and missiles are delivered
to innocent civilians as humanitarian aid.

The situation here in Macedonia is also very tense and psychotic, as we
are very close to the border and our country is also ethnically mixed.
In addition to NATO heavy machinery on city streets, rapidly increasing
demand for certain products in stores and gas lines, now we can hear
the
whipping sound of invisible warplanes flying right above us. I am on
the
phone non-stop with concerned friends/relatives, I cannot sleep for
nights trying to tap all the media reports I can get .... but still it
is hard to imagine the horrifying situation in which the citizens of
Yugoslavia have been placed without their will.

I stand firmly in their support, in the name of justice and peace.

During the next day I will be drafting a declaration against the
strikes
that I will propose to the Federation of the Young European Greens for
adoption. It's high time that we took some action on this. Please send
emails of support to me personally, to DEM ([log in to unmask])
or
to MARS ([log in to unmask]) if you agree with such an idea. I will then
regularly inform you about the progress made.

Together with my colleagues we have been thinking of initiating an
email
campaign as well. More on this tomorrow. Please inform us of any
mailing
lists on the issue that you might know of on the issue.

Stefan Buzharovski,
Vice Chairperson of the Federation of Young European Greens


Stefan Buzharovski
http://zap.to/stefan

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