Russia Aids Kosovo Refugees, West Remains Out of Touch

BALKANALYSIS ^ | March 25 , 2004 | CDeliso

[MarMema]

If it were not so painful to see my churches burned, if it were not so painful to see my Orthodox brethren suffering, I could and would sit back and say "Ha. We told you so."

I do love the line above about expecting the KLA to become gardeners. I think this may be the most well-written piece yet. Touche!

[MarMema]

Hope I didn't miss anyone who wanted to be included ping.

[MarMema]

In the long run, the occupiers will be driven out, panicking and covered with blood.

Then, let Russia, Italy, and Greece help the Serbs return Kosovo to the Serbs. And the Czechs if they want to help out.
Romania and Bulgaria would be wise to throw in a helping hand, if for no other reason than stability and less heroin in their immediate neighborhood.

[MarMema]

Happy to. Thanks for asking!

[cyborg]

BTTT

[greenwolf]

I'd appreciate being on your ping list.

[greenwolf]

Again the idea as I see it: Send a check for $100 to something or other which will help these people (Serbs) and put at least some Americans on record as having done it, and then send a letter to George and Carl explaining why you no longer have that hundred dollars to send to them.

If republicans can be made to comprehend that continuing these clintoniata policies is hurting them in the pocketbook, there might be hope.

Where is the best place to send aide here? I'd assume the Serbian Unity Conference in the absence of other info.

Suggestions anybody?

[MarMema]

Funny you should ask....I just emailed a priest at Saint Sava in Wakefield, Mass. With a similar idea.

I think the best would be to send it through SANE. I'll look for it and get back to you. We collected here for them after the bombing and they sent containers into Serbia. They did a great job with low overhead.

[MarMema]

SANE is the group we used for our donations and collections a few years back.

Here is the home of Fr Aleksandr, whom I loved, and with whom we worked in the Seattle area to send help to Serbia a few years back. Fr Aleksandr personally went to Kosovo several times to help with the containers.

You can read about them on the SANE page under past projects....

Just my suggestion.

[Jim_Curtis]

If Russia wants to do something great for the first time in 50 years...they should tell the peacekeepers to get the hell out, go in and do the extremely nasty business that needs to be done there and then leave without showing any pride or shame. When all is said and done, there will either be Serbs there or there will be Muslims there...not both. Illusions of peace and harmony equal quagmire forever.

Russia would have to be the one who does this, the US can't for the obvious reason that we are at war and already spread thin.

[MarMema]

Send a check for $100 to something or other which will help these people

By the way, I am in for $100 too. And the letter. A great idea, thanks. Let's all coordinate and send them to the same location, where ever we decide....

Anyone else?

[MarMema]

Also this address accepts donations of clothing, non-perishable, lightweight food, blankets, etc.

Please send clothes, hygenic supplies, blankets, canned food to:
St. George Church
65 South Keel Ridge Rd.
Hermitage, PA 16148
tel. 724-342-2600 (Fr. Svetislav Mirolovich)

In the past we have done shoe boxes. A shoe box has in it a postcard from your location with a brief note of support. Add a bar of soap, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a dried fruit bar or other easy to ship candy item, socks, a bag of peanuts, a washcloth perhaps, a small toy for a child....you can get really creative with this and they are inexpensive and easy to mail.
We shipped out about 500 of these babies to Fr Aleksandr just after the bombing. Each local Orthodox church had teen groups get together and make them. It's a terrific church activity.

[MarMema]

Here's some Russian aid from last time around...

[MarMema]

As one previous posted on another thread said...the Albanians already have a country. It is Albania.

[Lion in Winter]

What about that organization which I read about on a thread yesterday. It was called IOCC. It is in Maryland. I would send a check to them.

I sent a bunch of boxes to our troops in Iraq. POSTAGE IS HORRID!

I would think donating money is more cost efective.

[AncientAirs]

Pesma

Kradu mi pamcenje
Skracuju mi proslost
Otimaju vekove
Dzamijaju crkve
Araju azbuku
Cekicaju grobove
Izdiru temelj
Razmecu kolijevku.
Uzimaju mi ono
Sto nikome nisam uzeo
Moje lavre i prestonice
ne znam sta je moje
Ni gde mi je granica
Narod mi je u najmu i rasejanju
Pale mi tapije
I zatiru postojanstvo.
Zrtveno polje sa krvavom travom
Ne smem da kazem da je moje
Ne daju mi da udjem u kucu
Kazu da sam je prodao
Zemlju koju sam od neba kupio
Neko im je obecao.
Ko im je obecao
taj ih je slagao
Sto im ne obeca
Ono sto je njegovo?
Zato jurisaju na mene udruzeni
Kivni sto sam ih poznao.

Matija Beckovic

---

Poem

Matija BECKOVIC *

They are stealing my memory
Curtailing my past
Snatching the centuries
Turning churches into mosques
Gutting the script
Pummeling the graves
Ripping out the foundation
Overturning the cradle

They take from me that
which I have taken from no one
My treasuries and capitals
I know not what is mine
Nor where my borders lie
My people are yoked and bestrewn
They are burning my deeds
And eradicating my existence

The field of martyrs with its blood-soaked grass
I dare not say is mine
They stop me from entering my home
Saying I sold it
The land I purchased from heaven
Was promised by someone to them
Whoever made that promise
Lied to them
Why does he not promise them
That which is his?
That is why they assail me in unison
Furious that I recognized them.

* Matija Beckovic (1939)
Serbian poet and academican

Matija Beckovic:

Ils volent tout
Ils volent ma mémoire
Effaçant mon passé
Volant les siècles
Transformant les églises en mosquées
Arrachant l'alphabet
Pilonnant les tombes
Déchirant les fondations
Retournant le landau.
Ils me prennent
Ce que je n'ai pris à personne
Mes trésors et capitales
Je ne sais pas ce qui est mien
Ni où sont mes frontières
Mon peuple est asservi et dispersé
Ils brûlent mes titres de propriété
Et exterminent mon existence.
Le champ des martyrs avec son herbe ensanglantée
Je n'ose même pas dire que c'est le mien
Ils ne me laissent pas entrer dans ma maison
Ils disent que je l'ai vendue
La terre que j'avais achetée au ciel
Quelqu'un la leur a promise.
Celui qui la leur a promise
Leur a menti
Pourquoi ne leur a-t-il pas promis
Quelque chose qui lui appartenait ?
Voilà pourquoi ils m'attaquent ensemble
Furieux que je les aie reconnus.
Matija (Mathieu) Beckovic
(poète et académicien serbe né en 1939)

[joan]

What about that organization which I read about on a thread yesterday. It was called IOCC. It is in Maryland. I would send a check to them.

Don't give to them. The money will be diluted to help other causes in that organization. If you search their website you'll see they give to Palestinian (Muslims) and other non-Orthodox Christians. Little, if nothing, of what you send will reach the Serbs.

[kosta50]

No one thinks that 30 years from now the world cituation will be soemthing completely different. Just think of the world in 1974, and then 1944...

People are myopic. They treat they moment of glory (basically form their 30's to to their 60's, an insignificant period of human history) as something that will forever be remembered. Truth is, 99.99% of human endevour is in oblivion. HUman priorities are pittifully childish.

Those who bask in tirumph in Kosovo now are the most myopic.

[kosta50]

they moment = their moment