Distinguished host, listeners, friends and comrades,
Thank you for inviting me to speak here. I address you as a member of the International Committee Slobodan Milosevic who has actively supported our international solidarity alliance for almost twenty years, and I also speak to you as the chairman of the German Freethinkers’ Association. Freethinkers have united to promote non-religious philosophy and culture and to defend the rights of non-religious citizens, but more generally, they oppose deception and lies, rewriting of history and corruption of law. German Freethinkers played a significant role in the anti-fascist struggle. More recently, they learned important lessons in the aftermath of German re-unification. In 1990, the Freethinkers’ Associations of East and West Germany merged, becoming one of very few examples of a true merger without the western part simply annexing the eastern part, just like the entire national unification process did rather constitute an annexation of the German Democratic Republic by the Western German Federal Republic. Allow me to say a few more sentences about this chapter of German history, I think the relevance to our subject will become apparent. I assume it is hardly known outside Germany how badly East Germans had to suffer under the new Western rule. Their businesses were privatized and often shut down, resulting in mass unemployment, many lost their homes, citizens accused of having been collaborators of the former government were persecuted, their pensions were cut, many faced criminal trials, people were made to believe that their former lives and accomplishments were worthless, invalid, and that the state they served was completely evil. Streets were renamed, monuments and important buildings wrecked. A de-facto colonial rule of West German elites over the East German people was established, starting from 1990. It is against this historical background that German Freethinkers, under the leadership of my predecessor Klaus Hartmann, developed a strong sense of solidarity with the Serbian people, first when it was demonised by the same Western elites who oppressed our own people, and later after October 5, 2000, when the Serbs were subjected to the same colonial measures that had been used against the East Germans for ten years, then. Klaus Hartmann who, as you know, is chairman of the board of our International Committee Slobodan Milosevic, has contributed to our cause with speeches on countless occasions in Germany, in Belgrade, in The Hague and with countless writings.
The name of Slobodan Milosevic has an important meaning to mankind. He was a politician the likes of whom you do not see any more at least in the Western world. Guided by moral and philosophical principles, knowledge, wisdom, spirit, and courage, he defended Serbia when he was in power, and he defended Serbia when he was put on trial for defending Serbia. His struggle in The Hague against history being rewritten by NATO aggressors was truly heroic, defying all sorts of evil moves to deprive him of his right to self-defence and to producing evidence, and to deny him appropriate medical care. He literally struggled until his last breath, and he sacrificed his life for the future of mankind. It would be desirable if more artists could be encouraged to popularize this struggle. In any event, the name of Slobodan Milosevic is a symbol for national resistance against imperialist robbery and slavery. As imperialism is becoming more and more aggressive, his name should be more often remembered. This conference is therefore important.
NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia was publicly declared a “humanitarian intervention”, claiming a crisis that had to be addressed violently to save lives, and the Hague tribunal was framed an institution that provides justice to those who had to be saved. This claim was later extended to the International Criminal Court. It is an important fact that this humanitarian masking of imperialist policies still serves to prevent the awakening of political consciousness and to paralyse resistance in many countries. We face the task of refuting this would-be humanitarian imperialist ideology thoroughly. The defence of Slobodan Milosevic in The Hague cannot be ignored in this endeavour.
Thank you
Sebastian Bahlo
(Speech at the International Conference MILOŠEVIĆ – AGAINST NATO CRIMES, FOR A NEW WORLD)