Ruslan Rubansky on Thu, 8 Apr 1999 04:54:57 -0700 (PDT) |
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Re: Syndicate: (Xchange) D. Klaic: A Bridge Too Far |
--- Andreas Broeckmann <abroeck@v2.nl> wrote: > Date: Sun, 4 Apr 1999 20:39:33 +0300 (EEST) > From: Heidi Grundmann <hgrundmann@mail.thing.at> > > The following text reached me today from composer > and radio-artist Ivana Stefanovic under the title > "Letter from Amsterdam" > > > A Bridge Too Far > by Dragan Klaic > > The Petrovaradin bridge was destroyed this morning > at 5 am. My wife woke > me up with the news she just heard on the BBC radio. > I thought it was > the newer railway/highway bridge but when I finally > succeeded to phone to > Novi Sad in the evening, I heard it was the old > metal bridge connecting > the center with Petrovaradin and the old fortress > above, on the other side > of Danube. Why that bridge? It was build in haste in > the winter of 1944-45 > by the German POWs under the supervision of the Red > Army engineers and > a railway line was added to renew the connection > with Belgrade, 80 km > south. So in my childhood, with each train passing > the ramp would go down > and the traffic would pile up on both sides. It > wasn't that much traffic. > I remember the uneasiness I felt every time crossing > the bridge even in > the daytime: the wooden planks of the side board got > lose and rotten and > one could see the water underneath. I feared I'll > step in the void and > even sink into Danube, little as I was. In the early > sixties, a new bridge > was built 2 km down the river and the railway track > was displaced too. The > old bridge got a face lift and served all these > years as a busy connection, > away to enter straight into the center of Novi Sad > from the Srem side. > In the years before I had a driver's license I was > crossing it often > on foot in the sunset, going to the fortress for a > stroll or to some of the > inns on the Petrovaradin side with wild Gypsy music > only to return > in the small hours, admiring the dawn above the > city. Ugly as it was, this > bridge was part of my childhood and adolescence. The > consequence of the > bombing is that windows are broken in that part of > town and there is > no running water around, even the large hospital on > the nearby hills of > Fruska Gora, some 900 beds, is without water. This > is not making the > awful lot of Kosovo Albanians easier. It is not > prompting > the brave Novi Sad citizens to start an uprising > against Milosevic. Of > course not, Milosevic is stronger than ever and as > popular as he was in > 1988-89. Moreover, many decent Serbs will hate NATO, > W. Europe, USA > for the next 50 years and the self-destructive, > obsessive ideology of > Serbian nationalism has been fed richly by this past > week's attacks and has > seen all its favorite myths reinforced with new > arguments and > examples. If only NATO bombed Milosevic's fleet in > the Adriatic in > September 1991 when it started pounding Dubrovnik, > well before Vukovar and > the horrors of Bosnia &Herzegovina, the ongoing > Balkan war could have been > stopped at an early stage. If only a fraction of 1% > of what NATO is > spending in this campaign now has been spent instead > to support the > emerging forces of the civil society and the > independent media Serbia > would have a different future. A military escalation > won't halt the ethnic > cleansing in Kosovo nor speed up the return of the > refugees. This senseless > violence should stop at once. The politicians and > generals have > committed great errors in judgment. They should call > further bombings > off and step aside for a while. How about a > conference with 50 Balkan > scholars from the Western and Eastern Europe > getting together and > using their collective knowledge to envisage some > sort of future without > war and terror, to restart a dialogue. The > politicians can in the meantime > vote budgets for the humanitarian aid much needed in > the region and entrust > the generals to implement it. We know how good they > can be at it. > > Dragan Klaic > > Dr D Klaic is Professor of University of Amsterdam > and Director of > TheaterInstituut Nederland. e mail: dragank@tin.nl > > > | | | | | | | | | | | | | > | > (a) (c) (o) (u) (s) (t) (i) (c) ( ) (s) (p) (a) (c) > (e) > | | | | | | | | | | | | | > | > information&comunication channel | for > net.broadcasters > http://xchange.re-lab.net (Xchange) net.audio > network > xchange search/webarchive: > http://xchange.re-lab.net/a/ > > > ------Syndicate mailinglist-------------------- > information: http://www.v2.nl/east/ > mail archive: http://www.v2.nl/mail/v2east/current/ > to unsubscribe send a message to > <syndicate-request@aec.at> > with the message in the body: unsubscribe > your@email.adress > _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? 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