MIM Notes 189 July 1 1999

IMPERIALISM DECLARES VICTORY IN YUGOSLAVIA AS OCCUPATION BEGINS

In another move that has shown the world that the U.$. can use 
force to get what it wants from weaker countries throughout the 
world, Yugoslavia appears to have accepted a "peace" agreement 
that will result in permanent imperialist occupation of the 
country, and imperialist troops have occupied Kosovo. Including 
terms even less favorable to Serbia than were offered before the 
bombing began, the NATO agreement may end the immediate massacre 
of the Serbian people by the imperialist attacks but, as with the 
rest of the occupied Third World, it will not signal the end of 
the suffering of the people who will be living under imperialist 
control and the threat of further bombings should anyone step out 
of line.

The agreement requires all Yugoslavian troops to be removed from 
Kosovo, with the exception of a few hundred to monitor border 
crossings and protect Serbian heritage sites. They will be 
replaced by an occupying force of 50,000 NATO troops with the 
administration of Kosovo entirely under the auspices of the United 
Nations. This means a strategic base for imperialism as the U.$.-
led UN takes control of Kosovo.

While the agreement was sketchy on the future of Kosovo and it 
technically remains part of Yugoslavia, the New York Times 
summarized the predictions of "American and NATO officials" this 
way: "People living in Kosovo would not serve in the Yugoslav army 
or pay taxes to Yugoslavia; a new police force and judiciary would 
have to be created without Serbian influence; the currency could 
probably be either the German mark of the American dollar, and 
trade would turn south and west toward Albania, Macedonia and 
Montenegro instead of north toward Serbia."(2)

In a show of chest beating strength, NATO continued bombing 
Yugoslavia even after Milosevic agreed to the terms of the peace 
agreement, with the U.$. leadership stating that they had to wait 
and see if Milosevic would really act on the agreement. As MIM 
Notes has reported, this overt military attack has meant a 
windfall of business for the Amerikan military economy.

Dissent within Serbia over the peace deal could lead to the 
overthrow of Milosevic or at the very least significantly weaken 
his ability to rule. Zoran Zivkovik, the deputy president of the 
Democratic Party, summarized the opposition sentiment saying 
"Between the two sessions of the parliament, a few thousand people 
were killed, the economy is ruined, and the country is 
devastated."(1) He is referring to the parliamentary session which 
rejected the Rambouillet plan for imperialist occupation of Kosovo 
before the bombing began.

Increasing the pressure to unseat Milosevic, President Clinton has 
promised "aid" (to Amerikan companies, largely) for reconstruction 
after the war, but warned Yugoslavia that "As long as [Milosevic] 
remains in power, as long as your nation is ruled by an indicted 
war criminal, we will provide no support for the reconstruction of 
Serbia. But we are ready to provide humanitarian aid, and to help 
to build a better future for Serbia too, when its government 
represents tolerance and freedom, not repression and terror."(3)

So, the war shows the world that there is an easy way and a hard 
way to fall into line with the new expansionist plans of 
imperialism for the remnants of the former Soviet empire. The 
governments of countries like Poland and the Czech Republic took 
the easy

way, capitulating without a shot. Yugoslavia has taken the hard 
way, and the price they are paying is on display for all to see.

MIM interviewed a number of activists on the streets who oppose 
the bombings and have been organizing against the imperialist 
attacks. Many agreed that this is a defeat for Yugoslavia that 
shows the power of the u.s. imperialists to get what they want 
through military aggression. One activist pointed out that this 
bombing is particularly scary because it represents the first time 
the U.$. has openly attacked another country without even the 
slightest pretense of aggression on the part of the other country. 
In Iraq the u.s. pretended that it was defending the autonomy of 
Kuwait against military incursion by Iraq but in the case of 
Yugoslavia the u.s. did not even try to point to a specific act of 
military aggression outside its borders.

The lie that the U.$. needs to go around bombing countries in the 
name of democracy around the world means even greater leeway for 
overt military attacks wherever the imperialists want greater 
control. Whereas in the past these attacks were more often covert 
operations which the U.$. felt required to hide from the Amerikan 
people and the rest of the world, they can now count on the 
support of the other imperialist countries and the majority of the 
u.s. people in the massacres of peoples around the world.

One activist argued that although the Amerikan press makes out 
this agreement to be a big victory for the U.$.-led NATO, he 
contended that this is not necessarily true, pointing out that the 
peace plan does include the demilitarization of the Kosovo 
Liberation Army (KLA) which has been cast as the opposition 
movement to Serbia in Kosovo. But MIM does not believe that the 
KLA is being disbanded as a concession to Serbia. In fact, the KLA 
was never an organization the u.s. supported until it became 
convenient to cast them as the popular opposition to Serbian rule 
within Kosovo. The U.$. would prefer greater control over Kosovo, 
and it is likely that they decided the KLA would not act as 
subservient enough puppets. Now that there is over imperialist 
occupation, they may find a non-threatening role for the KLA.

MIM has never supported Milosevic but our principal role and the 
most important task of anti-imperialists around the world is to 
oppose the imperialist attacks on Yugoslavia. This peace agreement 
represents a defeat for the people of the world because it grants 
imperialism yet another base of autonomous operation in its war 
for complete hegemony over the globe. We call on all anti-
imperialists to join MIM in fighting u.s.-imperialist domination 
around the world. Although the u.s. can defeat weaker countries 
using military might, history has demonstrated that a Maoist-led 
peoples war can defeat the imperialists. Only with the leadership 
of a Maoist party will we be able to build a movement that can 
bring about a system where the people are the rulers of their 
future.

Notes:
1. New York Times, 4 June 4 1999, p. A1.
2. New York Times, 11 June 1999, p. A1.
3. Washington Post, 11 June 11 1999, p A31.