Dear all

Etienne de Bary wrote:
>
> At 20:19 +0100 19/04/99, Rivca Rubin wrote:
> >Hello to those on the list who are following the mail about
> >Serbia/Kosovo/NATO...
> >
> >A friend of mine, Omar Abu el Rub, in Belgrade, to whom I have been
> >forwarding related information from this list, has been sending me his
> >thoughts on this for the past weeks, and I have asked him if I could pass
> >this to the list. So here are the contents of several emails:
>
> Thanx Rivca for this interesting sample of the effects of fascist
> propaganda :-(
>
(big snip)

As I know both Omar Abu el Rub (real name) and Rivca Rubin I have
absolutely no doubt that they are certainly not fascists and that
Omar is writing in good faith and from the heart. Omar is well
travelled both within Central and Eastern Europe and beyond,
particularly as a member of the IETM network (Independent
Theatre Producers) - he is a theatre writer/producer and is
known to many people who live in NATO countries.

I find Etienne's name calling unhelpful. I do however agree that
any truths contained in these sorts of letters from the warzone
to the west are at best partial, that some apparently "individual
and independent" sources are certainly fronts for Serb authority
propaganda, and that others like Omar who genuinely feel "individual
and independent" are nonetheless heavily conditioned with a set of
particular points of view. Of course they are! And so of course are
most if not all of us well-informed western intellectuals!!

I found it a little reassuring that Omar acknowledges the murderous
behaviour going on in S. of his country in the name of Serbia, this is
extremely unusual - most correspondents are in complete denial
about any and all Serb atrocities - to this extent Omar is off message.

But by the same token I found his careless characterisation of all
FRY citizens of Albanian heritage in Kosova as Sheptar narco-mafia to
be outrageous. And this amongst pleas for all Serbs not to be tarred
with the same fascist, racist, genocidal brush. Yeah right Omar,
and all the populations of Dublin and Derry are gun runners and
bombers financing their campaigns with extortion, armed bank robberies
and, why not?, injecting heroin into the veins of inner-city children.

Overall I feel it is useful to have access to all sorts of
testimonials and witness reports however idiosyncratic. Even
arrant propaganda. This is InfoWar. On a UK TV comedy drama last
evening "The Grimleys" one of the eponymous family, a sixth
former with a crush on his teacher (who is involved with a
stereotypical bullying PE teacher) reminded viewers of Marshall
McLuhan's observation that the American War in Vietnam was lost
in the TV lounges of America as TV - even somethingly controlled
TV - brought the war home to people.

Now we have the internet. This is the first internet-war. Individuals
of all persuasions can publish. Haw-haw, Goebels, college teacher
from Novi Sad, painter from Paris, SciFi guru from SF, Chomsky and
so on and so forth. Some in Serb communities. Probably almost no-one
in Kosova but the NATO-media are doing their best to provide
witness reports from there, and indeed to carry the best balance
they can manage. But having the net is extra, albeit unreliable.

Having said that : "It's useful to have access"; I think that there
are several other internet lists, for example the Europe based
Nettime-L, which have established communities from all parts of
Europe (including the war zone) and the world which have a much
greater level of exchange of points of view and even of new
thinking on the issues than could ever be possible on Artnet.

I do not think any moderator could manage the role Etienne suggests :

> Now I make the wish that all the lists on internet will not be
> polluted by unverified propaganda.
> probably direct propaganda forwarded.
> And how are we to defend from that ?
> I call list moderators to a strict, suspitious, thematic
> screening

But we could mutually agree to leave the war-discourse (mostly) to
other sites?

I hope that Omar and all his family and friends and all innocents
abroad in the war zone will be safe, from both NATO bombs and
Milosevic murder, and that quality leadership with clear thinking
finds sustainable solutions soon.

Best www

Chris P
 
  
--
Chris Paul - IDEA @ @
Innovation in Digital and Electronic Arts \ /
c/o DADI 135, Manchester, M1 7HE, UK @ - @ - @
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http://www.idea.org.uk A Catalyst For Art and Ideas


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