MIM Notes 186 May 15, 1999

European intellectuals split over U$/NATO bombing
by MC206

The u.$.-NATO attack on Yugoslavia provoked strong protests from 
many Europeans, and also revealed the true imperialist allegiance 
of many former anti-militarists and anti-imperialists.

Playright Harold Pinter called the humanitarian justification for 
the NATO bombing "clearly a very bad joke". According to Pinter, 
the recent war is the result of a u$ policy summarized as: "Kiss 
my arse or I'll kick your head in."

In Germany, hundreds of Green Party members turned in their 
membership cards in protest of the Greens' endorsement of the 
bombing - including the deployment of German planes over the same 
cities Germany bombed 45 years ago. The dissident members also 
painted "Green Warmongers" on the walls of party headquarters. The 
German Greens are learning something they should have known all 
the long:  To win at the imperialists' electoral shell game, you 
have to play by their rules. This is why MIM does not make 
elections a part of its strategy for seizing power at this stage 
in the struggle in the u.s. and other imperialist countries.

According to Agence France Presse, former east German favorite 
daughter Christa Wolf "deplored the bombing but admitted she could 
see little alternative." So much for the anti-imperialism of the 
revisionist GDR and its social-democratic critics.

On the other hand, over 150,000 protesters turned out for anti-war 
protests in Germany on Easter Monday.