Nazi- and NATO-„Justice“:
how the images resemble
Speech by Klaus Hartmann, Vice-Chairman of
ICDSM,
on
November 8, 2003 on the Plein in Den Haag (English
translation)
Read this and other speeches from the Hague International
Demonstrations of 8 November 2003 at: http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/demonstration.htm or
at www.icdsm.org
Friends
and Citizens!
We are
demonstrating here today for the second time this year demanding the dissolution
of the Hague “Tribunal“ on Yugoslavia. We are demonstrating for the immediate
release of Slobodan Milosevic. We are demonstrating for the release of all
political prisoners of NATO! We are not demanding that criminals be released. On
the contrary, we are demanding the conviction and imprisonment of war criminals,
the war criminals who destroyed Yugoslavia:
•
The leaders of the NATO-states belong behind bars!
•
The release and reparations for their victims!
We are not
protesting against the fact that the government of the Netherlands and The Hague
are accommodating international courts of the United Nations. To host the
International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court honors this
city and this country. But the good reputation is damaged through this so-called
ad-hoc-Tribunal on Yugoslavia. This is not an institution of law, but an
instrument of political blackmail. It serves the United States and other NATO
states as an instrument for their continued aggression against the peoples of
the Balkans. With the so-called “tribunal” this city is left holding the
illegitimate baby of Madeleine Albright, who is called “the mother of the
tribunal”.
This
so-called „tribunal“ is illegal: it was founded by an unauthorized body on a
non-exiting legal basis. It is illegally financed and it is the symbol of a
permanent breach of international law. This is illegality from one end to the
other; it is an illegality that cannot be redeemed. And it will lead nowhere.
This is why we demand:
•
The immediate dissolution of this „tribunal“
•
The annulment of all its so called sentences
•
The release of and compensation for those illegally imprisoned
Our
protest is taking place at a time, when all over the world antifascists are
commemorating the Day of Remembrance and Admonition.
The night
of November 9 is such an occasion, because in 1938, 65 years ago, the racist,
anti-Jewish campaign that had been in process over the years became an orgy of
violence in the nationwide pogrom known by the Nazis as the
“Reichskristallnacht”. The Nazis held their Jewish victims responsible,
demanding that they pay for the violence and destruction! This is similar to the
recent developments in the Balkans.
The
fascists coined the image of „Slavic sub humans“ and the western media did not
hesitate to draw on this image in their anti-Serb-hate-campaigns in the early
1990s. This campaign was racist and escalated into a violent orgy: the
NATO-aggression against Yugoslavia in 1999.
The
history books of the aggressors propagate the image of Serbs being the
aggressors, for example against the Croats. Long before international attention
was drawn to the war already in progress, the Croat separatists had imitated a
“Kristallnacht”. During the Dalmatian Kristallnacht on Mai 2, 1991, Croats,
while chanting their WW II fascist Ustacha-songs and waving their checkerboard
flags with the Croatian swastikas, hunted down and slaughtered Serbs. Who knows
about this Kristallnacht here in the West, with its brainwashing mass media? Of
course, this crime plays no role in DelPonte’s circus.
From
September to December 1933, exactly 70 years ago, the so called Reichstag Fire
trial was taking place in Leipzig with Georgi Dimitrov and his Comrades Blagoj
Popov and Vassil Tanev as the defendants. The German fascists attempted to use
this farce in the Leipzig Reich's Court to criminalize all their opponents, to
win legitimacy for and consolidate their dictatorship. The German fascists
themselves had set the Reichstag on fire in order to accuse the communists of
arson. How the images resemble! NATO broke up Yugoslavia, but accuses those who
defended it, of destruction.
How the
images resemble: in Leipzig the arsonists presumed to set in judgment over the
victims of fascist terror. In The Hague, the NATO-aggressors presume to set in
judgment over the victims of their aggression.
How the
images resemble: in Leipzig the German Reich's Court tried to refuse Georgi
Dimitrov the right to speak, allowing him to only answer questions. In The
Hague, Judge May attempts to declare the embarrassing questions posed by
Slobodan Milosevic “irrelevant,” at times even cutting off his
microphone.
How the
images resemble: the fascists tried to completely isolate Georgi Dimitrov in
prison, to cut him off from all contacts with the outside, especially contacts
with his comrades. The Hague “tribunal” is trying not only to refuse Slobodan
Milosevic visits from his family but also from his
comrades.
How the
images resemble: the Nazis had planned the trial in Leipzig as an exemplary show
trial to promote their dictatorship. They installed a special post office
adjacent to the courthouse; the trial was transmitted live from the courtroom….
But, just as in The Hague, this functioned only at the beginning of the
trial.
How the
images resemble: 70 years ago today, on November 8, 1933, the Nazi Minister of
Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, took the stand in the “trial” against Georgi
Dimitrov. He suffered a total defeat. The chiefs of propaganda, Rudolf
Scharping, Tony Blair, Madeleine Albright and Jamie Shea are afraid, still
today, to take the witness stand against Slobodan Milosevic. The third rank –
Holbrooke, Petritch, Ashdown and Mesic are allowed to portray miniature Goebbels
- also without success.
How the
images resemble: In Leipzig the Nazis called on police spies, criminals and
agents to witness against Georgi Dimitrov. In The Hague, UCK-terrorists,
CIA-agent William Walker and NATO-General Naumann took the
stand.
How the
images resemble: The German fascists brought antifascists, incarcerated in
prisons and concentration camps, before the court in Leipzig – promising them
liberty, if they gave false testimony against Georgi Dimitrov. The same pattern
in The Hague: by offering “deals”, the court is pushing other defendants to give
false testimony. The court’s collaborators in Belgrade promised not only to
release Rade Markovic, but to also furnish him with a new identity and wealth.
But because of Rade Markovic' steadfastness, he was immediately returned to
prison in Belgrade.
How the
images resemble: The Leipzig court was surprised and horrified, when Georgi
Dimitrov succeeded in politicizing the trial. Today Del Ponte, Nice and May and
their subservient media are terrified that Slobodan Milosevic contradicts the
falsified and racist media manipulation with historical facts in their proper
contexts.
How the
images resemble: Georgi Dimitrov thwarted the fascists’ plans for an
anti-communist show trial by turning the trial into an indictment of fascism.
Slobodan Milosevic is thwarting the plans of his NATO accusers by putting them
in the dock and even the tribunal's sympathizing media is dumbfounded and has
had to admit this.
How the
images resemble: Georgi Dimitrov exposed that the arson in the Reichstag and the
trial were two parts of the same fascist provocation, and sarcastically referred
to those behind the scenes doing stage management of both the arson and the
indictment as the “Holy Ghost”. Today Slobodan Milosevic is showing, that the
aggressors and indicters come from the same stable and that this tribunal is
part of NATO’s arsenal for enslaving peoples.
How the
images resemble: In the early 90s, the United States and their accomplices put
the “New World Order” on their agenda. Who remembers, who knows that 60 years
earlier there was talk of the Nuovo Ordine Europeo, - The "New Order of Europe"
was on the agenda of the fascist axis powers!
Many
images are similar, but some differ: in 1933, the fascists made no secret of
their objectives: they wanted to finish off with communism and install their
limitless dictatorship. Today the aggressors complain of violations of human
rights and war crimes, to cover up their crusades of subjugation. Hypocrisy is
triumphant. They rarely let the cat out of the bag:
The coup
against Milosevic in October 2000, though originally colporteured in NATO
capitals as a victory over “Serbian nationalism”, it very soon became billed as
the victory over the “last communist state in Europe”.
When Alija
Izetbegovic was buried a few weeks ago, those holding obituary speeches at the
graveside regretted that he had not been able to accomplish “the most important
goal in his life”: “the political supremacy of the Muslims in Bosnia”! Not a
word about the multi-cultural idyll, he was rumored to have promoted during the
war.
How will
the show in the Del Ponte circus continue?
Professor
Paul de Waart, the well known Dutch expert in international law, recently stated
on the Netherlands' television, that the trial against Milosevic should have
been suspended a month after it had started on the grounds of lack of evidence.
The fact that this did not happen speaks volumes and proves that we are not
dealing with a court but with political agents of NATO.
The
half-time of Slobodan Milosevic's defense will follow the half-time of the
„prosecution“. The “prosecution” had up to 8 years to prepare its case. Slobodan
Milosevic asked for two years for his preparation – two years in liberty, with
access to archives, witnesses and means of communication. The “court's” answer
is known: Milosevic has 3 months – in his prison cell. This, in reality, will
mean only 6 weeks, at which time he is supposed to submit the complete list of
defense witnesses and the main themes of their testimony. Equal protection
before the law is a basic, internationally recognized principle. But this
“tribunal” doesn’t care about internationally recognized principles. Here is a
man, denied his rights, having to face alone this enormous apparatus, the NATO
hemisphere. It simply shows, that this “court” has nothing to do with law. It
tramples on the principles of rule of law.
We are
proud that the founder of our international Committee is the president of the
anti-fascists of Bulgaria, the land of Georgi Dimitrov. Prof. Velko Valkanov was
right in his assessment: “It is not at all surprising that the judges have
granted Milosevic so little time to prepare his defense. These are not really
judges. If the tribunal is not a legitimate court, how can these people be true
judges? They have a political mission to accomplish. They are the executive
organs of political vengeance – a vengeance carried out against all those who
dared to contradict the rulers of the world. The "judges" in The Hague are
really accomplices to NATO’s crimes. Their behavior at the tribunal is evidence
of their anti-juridical nature.”
How the
tribunal deals with the health problems of its victims speaks also volumes and
makes a mockery of UN conventions. Subsequent to a Dutch cardiologist's
diagnosis that Slobodan Milosevic has such high blood pressure that he is in
danger of organic defects, heart attack, brain stroke and death, Del Ponte
sneered in the Neue Züricher Zeitung on July 18, 2003 that “he is in very good
health. Many people 60 years old and older have high blood pressure.” One could
not expect more sensitivity from this creature, but she added: “We don’t spare
him. – I hope you do not get this impression!” What should one call this – an
attempt at judicial murder? What an abyss of cynicism, of pure contempt for
humanity! It is for just this depth of cynicism that made fascist torturers
infamous.
In my
speech, June 28, at the Vidovdan, in front of the former Nazi-prison in
Scheveningen – now serving as NATO-prison, I said: “They will not get away with
it! Slaveholders were never victorious in history!”
We are
demonstrating today under the motto: „We will not allow NATO to write our
history!”
The
NATO-powers need the revenge “justice” of Del Ponte's circus in order to
establish their version of history, their interpretation of reality, as the only
and eternal truth. They will not succeed, just as German fascists did not
succeed in building their "1000 year Reich", which ended in 12
years.
In 1933,
communists and anti-fascists wrote the „Brown Book on the Reichstag Arson and
the Terror of Hitler”. It is an excellent document of international anti-fascist
solidarity. It was the central and strongest weapon against fascist lies. It was
history written by the masses, the real history helping the population to learn
the truth about fascist barbarism. Let us
continue this tradition of antifascism and internationalism: let us use this
example and write the black book on the destruction of Yugoslavia and
NATO-terror. Let us contribute to the exposure of the truth about NATO’s shady
characters behind the tribunal. Let us propagate the truth about the just
struggle of the Serbian people, about their heroic resistance against
NATO-aggression – as an incentive for the necessary resistance to the "new world
order".
In the
article "Let’s distribute Original-Ton of Slobodan Milosevic", SLOBODA made a
classical formulation: Slobodan Milosevic will help us in our struggle, if we
help him now! Let us make known, what Slobodan Milosevic is saying in courtroom.
He is a feared weapon against imperialism, as is shown through May’s behavior in
the “tribunal” and the silence of the media. Our struggle for the release of
Slobodan Milosevic stands in the tradition of the struggle against fascism and
war.
The
central lesson, the oath given after the liberation from fascist barbarism ended
with the following promise: “Never again fascism, never again war!” This promise
was broken on March 24, 1999. Never again fascism, never again war! This is and
will remain our commitment. This connects us to the anti- fascists, the
anti-militarists of all generations.
Anti-fascism
is not simply a commemoration of the past. Anti-fascism is not looking towards
the past. Anti-fascism still means, what Georgi Dimitrov said at the time: the
struggle against the most aggressive forces of international finance capital and
its world hegemonic designs.
By
defending those resisting the new hegemonic forces, we honor the memory of
Georgi Dimitrov.
We repeat
the promise we gave on June 28. We will come again!
Freedom
for Slobodan! Liberty for Yugoslavia!
Freedom
and Equality for all peoples!
Never
again fascism, never again war!
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