Volume II Issue 19
Contents
Editors
Jennie Abbott
Robin Brooks
Contributing Editors
Margarita Assenova
Lissanna Follari
David Hoffman
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The theme of the December issue is religion.
by Margarita Assenova
"How can a professor keep silent when his students are beaten, arrested and
convicted only because they want to study in their mother tongue?"
I remembered the words of Professor Ejup Statovci, Rector of the University of
Prishtina, when the press reported student demonstrations in Kosovo early this month. Did
he know, when we talked last spring in his tiny office in a private house in Pristina,
that he would be among those who were beaten and arrested just four months later? Much
earlier, however, Prof. Statovci had made his decision, choosing to continue his work as a
rector of a university which had officially ceased to exist in 1991. And he paid for his
decision with his freedom. Serbian authorities sent him to prison twice because of his
determination to demand rights of education in Kosovo. The second time, Prof. Statovci was
convicted only because he had dared to write an official letter to Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic, pleading for returning the university buildings to the Albanian
students.
Almost seven years ago, one thousand Albanian professors and 27,000 Albanian students
were expelled from their university buildings by Serbian police force as a result of the
compulsory emergency measures taken by the Serbian government in June 1991. Teaching in
the Albanian language was forbidden in every school in Kosovo, including the University of
Pristina. What was formerly the only bilingual university in the former Yugoslavia,
established in 1970 in order to educate the children of about three million Albanians
living in Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, is now accessible only for the few
Serbian and Montenegrin students in the province.
Serbia did not want to lose Kosovo when the Yugoslav Federation fell apart. Through
changes in the Yugoslav Constitution, Slobodan Milosevic managed to retain Kosovo within
Serbian borders, abolishing the region's autonomy in 1990. Kosovo, where 92 percent of the
population is made up of ethnic Albanians, became a province under Serbian military
control.
Seven years is a long time. Long enough for a child to be born and to learn how to
walk, speak, read and write. Albanian students learned how to resist. Peaceful resistance
became a philosophy of the entire Kosovar society.
Kosovars have completely boycotted Serbian authorities. For seven years they have not
participated in any Serbian elections. Kosovar Albanians have not worked for the local
governments, and their children have not attended public schools because instruction there
is now conducted exclusively in Serbian.
Kosovar Albanians have created a shadow state in the state of Serbia since the formal
declaration of Kosovo's independence in September 1991. The shadow-structures have been so
well organized that they probably could become effective state institutions immediately if
Kosovo were to gain sovereignty. The shadow state has been led by President Ibrahim
Rugova, and is ruled by a governing party, the Democratic League of Kosovo, and an
opposition party, the Parliamentary Party of Kosovo, plays a role in politics there, as
well. Seven seats in the shadow Parliament have been reserved for Serbs and Montenegrins,
who together make up 8% of the population in Kosovo, in case they want to join the
institutions, created by Albanians.
The shadow society has established a shadow Financial Council, which collects money for
alternative educational institutions, justice organs, health-care facilities, welfare and
cultural activities. The Financial Council provides money for 25,000 teachers in primary
and secondary schools and for the University of Pristina. All of these institutions, in
every town and village in Kosovo, are located in private homes donated by citizens. Even
the huge University of Pristina with its 17,000 students and 1,000 professors has
functioned in a number of private houses, and despite poor conditions has offered every
possible degree of education.
After the pressure from international communities, rump-Yugoslavia's President Slobodan
Milosevic (who was previously president of the Republic of Serbia) signed an agreement
with Kosovar President Rugova about restoration of Albanian language education in Kosovo,
but until now it has not been implemented.
However, the Serbian government's reluctance to reestablish education in the Albanian
language was not the only reason for the student protests in October. An even more
important motive was the persistent Serbian police terror. Students have often been
victims of police brutality during the last several years, since Albanians were deprived
of university premises. "Leaving for school in the morning, we never knew whether we
would come back home or not," said the students from Pristina. Many of their friends
and colleagues have experienced cruel treatment at police stations or prisons.
Some never came back. The number of cases of murder in the police stations has been
increasing every year. The local Human Rights organizations reported that at least 20
Albanians were killed by the police this year.
Last spring a group of young people was accused of terrorist actions and sentenced to
10 or more years in prison. The Kosovar political leaders consider the police abuse of
young people as a part of Milosevic's deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing. The military
terror in Kosovo drove away hundreds of thousands Albanians, who now live abroad. Despite
the number of young people leaving the country every year, the Albanians in Kosovo are
still the youngest population in Europe: about 80 per cent are under 30 years of age.
During the last several years the outrage and anger at Belgrade's policy of terror and
discrimination has been growing up among young people, although they have continued to
resist peacefully. However, recently they have become frustrated with peaceful resistance,
and now many Albanians, as well as some political leaders, insist on a more radical
strategy of resistance in order to gain independence for Kosovo.
Now students in Pristina are demonstrating against the apartheid in education, which
has taken place in the Balkans, in the middle of Europe, against one of the oldest ethnic
groups there. They started peaceful protests on October 1, but faced police attacks, tear
gas and arrests. At least 100 students were injured, and many more were detained by the
Serbian police. According to the press, among the casualties were the Rector of the
University of Pristina Ejup Statovci and the Vice-Rector Ahmet Geca.
After the violence against students, the tensions between Serbian authorities and the
Albanians escalated. As a result, several young Albanians were tortured and at least one
died in prison, and several explosions in Serbs' residences followed the student
demonstrations. Serbian police accused some clandestine Albanian radical groups of
terrorism, but the Albanians remained convinced that the Serbian Secret Service conducted
the terrorist actions.
Meanwhile, no progress has been made in negotiations with Belgrade to end apartheid in
the University and other educational institutions in Kosovo.
This week the demonstrations started again. And the police blocked the towns in Kosovo
again. There were no reported incidents in Pristina, but police dispersed the peaceful
protest in Ferizaj, detained a number of students in Peja and Podujeva, and beat many
young people in Prizren. Obviously this time the Serbian regime somewhat decentralized the
attack against students, avoiding violence in the provincial capital, where foreign
diplomats and international organizations observed the rally. But in small towns, the
Serbian regime once again showed its real inhuman face sending riot police against its own
citizens.
Nevertheless, the students do not seem frightened by the violence.
"We will never give up our demands," declared the leader of the Students'
Union, Bujar Dugolli, on Wednesday before 15,000 demonstrators in Pristina.
It is possible for the Albanian students to choose another, more radical, way to
achieve their goals, if the Serbian government continues to reject reintegration of
Albanian pupils into the state school system.
For the time being, nobody can predict peace in Kosovo.
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This dish is so tasty that when the Imam tasted it he fainted. Hence its name, which
is Turkish for "the Imam fainted."
Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 medium sized eggplant
1 small red bell pepper, cut in thin long strips
1/2 onion, chopped in thin but biggish pieces
2 carrots, grated
4 tomatoes, cubed
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 bay leaf
olive oil
seasonings to taste
1 lemon
Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise, salt, and let sit 45-60 minutes (this process
removes excess water from the eggplant). Wash the eggplant and pat it dry with a paper
towel. Then brush it with olive oil. Poke holes in the skin with a fork, and brush the
skin with olive oil, as well. Place non-skin side down in a baking dish and bake at 375F
for 20-25 minutes or until soft.
While the eggplant is baking, chop the other vegetables. Sauté the onion in olive oil
until it begins to soften, then add the bell pepper and carrots. When these vegetables are
soft (5-6 minutes) add tomatoes, sliced garlic, bay leaf, and spices. Sauté for a few
more minutes, then add a little bit of water (ca. 1/4 c.) and steam for about 5 more
minutes. If desired, scrape out the eggplants and add the inside part to the vegetable
mixture for the steaming process. Then stuff the eggplant skins with the vegetable
mixture. Squeeze half a lemon over the stuffed eggplants. Bake for 5-10 more minutes.
Serve hot, or chill and serve with lemon wedges.
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by Nolie Thaldose
"If we agree that their crimes were heinous, how can we as a society condone
killing someone to teach others that murder is wrong?"
--Lorie Saval, Smith College Alumnae Quarterly, Fall 1997, p. 28.
In 1995, Lance Selfa wrote in the Socialist Worker that capital punishment is a
"relic of a barbarous age." We live in a barbarous age. This is a time when
human beings kill each other in gruesome ways, when money has more value than life, and
drugs are some people's only escape from their horrible lives. "Innocent" people
get killed on the street and in their homes every day.
Society creates killers out of human beings. Jimmy Dunne, an anti-death-penalty
activist in Texas, suggested in 1995 that the death penalty "causes more murders--it
raises the level of violence in society and makes killing more acceptable. It sees killing
someone else as the solution to the problem, so the average person will solve his problem
by going out and killing someone." States with death penalty laws have higher murder
rates than those without (see North and South Dakota figures): violence breeds violence.
Having the death penalty shows that we expect people to kill, so they do.
"An eye for an eye" is a "medieval incantation about
'retribution.'" (Foot) As in the movie Dead Man Walking, or in the case of the
Oklahoma Federal Building bombing, families of victims want to see someone suffer for
their loss, they want McVeigh to "fry," they think this revenge will make them
feel better. But then the family of the murderer feels loss, and wants revenge, and it's a
never-ending cycle. Paul Foot wrote that "people want the feeling that
something is being done, even if nothing is." Eliminate the ambiguity--give all
murderers life imprisonment. "Because any jury would be more reluctant to find an
accused person guilty if the death penalty were an option of punishment, they would be
less likely to find that person guilty and that such a practice would result in the
accused being released." (ACP)
Guilt and innocence are beyond proof; both are in someone's head. When judges and
juries decide that someone "deserves to die," then they are humans making
ultimate judgement. Who is so morally superior as to be justified in deciding whether
another person deserves to live?
Inconsistency is the worst thing for discipline, and that is exactly what the courts do
when they reverse and double-back on decisions to put a person to death. "To deter by
suffering from inflicting suffering is not only possible, but the very purpose of penal
justice. Does fining a criminal show want of respect for property, or imprisoning him, for
personal freedom? Just as unreasonable is it to think that to take the life of a man who
has taken that of another is to show want of regard for human life." (J.S. Mill)
Because of legal safeguards, it costs $1.6-3.2 million to convict and execute each
criminal, according to Gasper, 7/95.
What is the purpose of prison? To punish? To remove criminals from people they might
harm or to remove them from dangerous situations for their own sakes? Perhaps prison
serves as a large-scale "time-out" method of discipline by separating the
person(s) from the situation. As with parents and children, though, time-outs require a
joint discussion, which requires energy and dedication. So is the purpose of prison to
rehabilitate criminals? Few efforts are currently made toward that end.
Do prison sentences serve as a deterrent to potential criminals? "If, in our
horror of inflicting death, we endeavour to devise some punishment for the living criminal
which shall act on the human mind with a deterrent force at all comparable to that of
death, we are driven to inflictions less severe indeed in appearance, and therefore less
efficacious, but far more cruel in reality." (J.S. Mill) Still, it can never be a
deterrent to anti-social acts or crimes of passion.
We need other suggestions for what to do with convicted murderers if neither the death
penalty or life imprisonment is appropriate, and we need to take a pro-active approach.
While in the interim we may need more prisons, we also need more and better schools, and
social rehabilitation to prevent the development of violent criminals to begin with. Here
are some options:
- Stop using the death penalty because it obviously isn't working.
- Take the money otherwise used for special safeguards and put it into teacher training
for the public schools, police training for urban cops faced with difficult beats, and
hospital mental illness wards.
- Take the time and energy put into convicting and defending death penalty cases and put
the lawyers, juries, and additional prison personnel to work in the community. If the
government can afford legal counsel for convicted felons, our tax dollars can pay for
training people who want to work (there are plenty of them to start with).
The Clinton Administration should change the method of being "tough on crime"
by taking these proactive steps rather than trying to win the bipartisan game playing by
Republicans' rules.
Issues of life and death--from the death penalty, to abortion, to euthanasia--are
difficult to resolve on a federal scale because each individual case has important details
to consider. Either we commit to an individual approach for each situation, or we submit
everyone to the same fate without mercy. Which to you is more humane?
Sources:
- Australia and Capital Punishment (ACP), http://nettrek.com.au/~tony
- Foot, Paul, "State of Terror," Socialist Review, October 1995.
- Mill, John Stuart, "Speech In Favor of Capital Punishment" as found at
http://ethics.acusd.edu/Mill.html
- Selfa, Lance, "The Case Against the Death Penalty," Socialist Worker, August
18, 1995.
- Von Drehle, David, "The American Way of Justice," Washington Post National
Weekly Edition, February 13-19, 1995.
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by Lissanna Follari
I spent several years studying both sides, rode the police overnight shift in the
ghetto, worked the 9-5 in the supreme court office building, learned from the defense
lawyer and the chief of police, and came out with more questions the more I understood. I
think it's a debate that will rage on--swaying from one side to the other as political
tides sway--and will continue to raise questions.
I'm torn about the death penalty, like a lot of people, I think. It's easy to fall into
the well of rage and blame and say that these baby-murderers, rapists, and heinous
criminals should be dead; "an eye for an eye." Why should law-abiding society
have to incur the cost of housing, feeding, entertaining, and "rehabilitating"
these (non-people) criminals? They often come out and recidivate, not rehabilitate. We're
angry at a system that is punitive but claims to be rehabilitative, and we can't see the
roots for the weeds.
The reality, as I see it, is that the criminal justice system is flawed in many areas:
from the courts--so caught up in technicalities and "letter of the law"
administration that dangerous people are put on the streets and resort back to crime.
(Now, they're put on the street--back to pitiful living conditions, no educational
opportunities, no employment skills/opportunities, and no other identity to claim but
"criminal"). Upstanding (voting, moneyed) society is outraged and vocal, so
officials get "tough on crime," and make soapboxes out of strict prison
sentences and increased arrest percentages. Then we're faced with overcrowding and must
either let criminals out early (more voter outcry) or beef up death penalty sentences.
Then there is outcry that the death penalty is cruel and unusual. We want these
remorseless murderers who raped, tortured, and killed a family of five and their elderly
neighbor to go to prison and come out a "changed" person. To be rehabilitated
into a functional member of society with appropriate social ethics and a new understanding
of the error of their ways. But not before they have "suffered" in prison. We
want this from them but don't want the burden of higher taxes and balk at the suggestion
that we increase educational and employment training, counseling, increase staffing, etc.
Then we're back to the death penalty--back to the scary reality that the courts that
have made so many poor judgements in the past are now deciding who is fit to live or die.
The judges who administer justice to please the most powerful public opinion at the time
and who are notoriously biased (evidenced in countless statistics--it's all there in black
and white, pun intended). Who matters more? The victim? Individual rights? Collective
society's rights? And who decides who matters more? None of these arguments mean anything
because they are all on paper. The theory of administration of justice--swift and certain
to deter and retribute--is sound. But in practice there are so many competing issues! An
answer to the raging death penalty debate in 20 words or less? We'd be fools to try.
We cringe at the thought of bursts of flames shooting out of a person's temples, of an
induced convulsion so violent it breaks the spine, or worst, of spectators to witness! But
we cry at the thought of the innocent Smith family and their neighbor. Who can say if it
was temporary insanity? Who but an insane person could do those horrible things? The
roulette spin of a jury selection--the bias innate in the lenient sentences going to the
highest bidder. Can "we" the jury make the decision to put someone to death with
all the emotions we have as humans? Can we not? The more I read, the more I think about
it, the more questions I have and the more questions I think of. Can we play executioner
while wondering if we have thought of and answered all the questions? What if we think of
one later? What if one of us is the next Smith family or neighbor--a thought so horrible I
refer to only a fictitious victim. If someone had only taken the responsibility to make
that final decision--with all the accolades and blame--the Smiths would be safe now. It
may not be realistic to assume we can fix a system so flawed, but how can we endorse
superficial cures?
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by David Hoffman (Moscow, January, 1994)
Here's something which I wrote a few years ago while living in Moscow. At the time,
I was but a humble barkeep in the capital of a Cold War also-ran. Who could've imagined
I'd come so far and one day become a graduate student!
Let me tell you about the place where I work. It's a cozy little restaurant, located on
Tverskoi street, one block up from the Kremlin. It's called "La Cantina," and
there you can find some of the best Mexican food in Moscow. Granted, La Cantina is pretty
much the only Mexican restaurant in Moscow, but that's not the point.
In many ways, La Cantina is like a little slice of home. The chimichangas are stuffed,
the Coronas come with limes, and festive mariachi music fills the air. With my eyes closed
for a second or two, I can almost feel like I'm back in good old Solana Beach, CA,
enjoying a #4 at one of the local taco stands. At second glance, however, and I realize
more than ever that I'm a million miles away from home.
My place is behind the bar, serving drinks, making small talk and generally doing what
bartenders around the world do. Of course, each city adds its own special twist to this
age old profession, and Moscow is no different. Take the black phone behind our bar,
connected straight to militia headquarters, to be used in case of drive by
grenade-launcher attacks. They just don't have that in, say, Aspen.
We bartenders are also responsible for keeping an eye out for napkin and/or straw
thieves. My partner Yuri just yesterday caught a woman trying to make off with a roll of
toilet paper and a stack of napkins. Not all our duties are security-related. Twice a day
we prepare our "tequila," mixing vodka with various colorings to get the perfect
match. Russian customers traditionally frequent our restaurant because they
"love" tequila. Of course, this only so long as the tequila tastes like vodka.
So we give them what they want: the bragging rights inherent in bagging an exotic find
like tequila, without cutting the umbilical cord which seems to attach many Russians to
their vodka.
About a third of La Cantina is occupied by the bar; the rest is filled with tables for
dinner customers. The entire establishment is dominated by a monstrous mural on the dining
room wall. It's impossible to miss. Nevertheless, the owner, on my first day of work,
insisted on showing it to me, pointing-out the hidden messages and deep philosophy
embedded within the cowboy saloon scene and Cyrillic message, "Honky-Tonk Moscow
Style!" He's very proud of his mural. Sensitive person that I am, I haven't had the
heart yet to tell Alexei that neither Honky Tonk nor his 10-gallon hat have much to do
with a Mexican restaurant. But hey--nobody's perfect.
My coworkers are all Russian, except for a Ukrainian waitress and a slew of Afghans who
are, without exception, mistaken by the crowd as nastayashii--real Mexicans. Somehow, the
secrets of Mexican food must have made it to Afghanistan, since most of our chefs hail
from that war-torn land. You wouldn't know it from the food, however--every meal, so long
as the proper ingredients are available (tortilla chips and cilantro are no-shows in
Moscow), tastes just like the real thing.
We did have one small problem with the cooks, though, when they were told they wouldn't
be able to continue keeping their animals in the kitchen. Previously, the members of the
kitchen staff were free to keep their goats, chickens and monkey in the storage room
behind the kitchen. Make no mistake about it: none of these animals were destined for a
dinner table. They were more like family.
It seems someone from the government had, while searching for the baño, stumbled
across our kitchen. Although, to the best of my knowledge, there are no health regulations
on the books in Russia governing restaurant kitchens (there are certainly none enforced),
this certain official, having already paid for a meal, frowned upon our Dr.
Doolittle-esque cooking arrangements. And so, about a week and a half ago, the animals
were herded out. This was very hard on our coworkers, as Afghans generally tend to be
attached emotionally to their animals. When push came to shove and the police arrived to
forcibly evict our animal guests, some of the kitchen staff resisted. Tears were followed
by curses, which in turn were followed by a few punches. There was some unpleasantness,
and several of our "Mexican chefs" spent the night in the cooler. The fact that
this backroom brawl started up around 4:30 in the afternoon, right as the early dinner
crowd was ordering, only made things stranger. Luckily, I was behind the bar, serving
people who really didn't seem to mind or even notice the commotion, so long as the
"tequila" kept flowing.
I don't know how much longer I'll be working at La Cantina, but my tenure there has
already proven itself time well spent. Free Mexican dinners, some spare change on the
side, and a first hand lesson in the cultural gulf separating my old life back in
California from my new one here in Russia. All in all, it's not bad work, provided you can
find it. Like I said, Tverskoi street, on the left, one block up from the Kremlin.
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by Gee Tar
Catie Curtis played
at Slim's on Thursday night, 11/20, opening for Jonatha
Brooke, formerly of The Story. Both have new albums out, Catie Curtis' self-titled,
and Jonatha Brooke's 10-Cent Wings.
Catie performed with her usual shy-but-charming manner, playing mostly songs from her
new album. We were happy to dance along to "Memphis," which she played after the
opener, "I don't cry anymore." She confirmed our belief that she's originally
from Maine, though she is now from Boston, MA. She played with Jimmy Ryan on left-handed,
8-string, electric mandolin and Sherri Knight on bass. After "Larry she played
"Radical" from her last album, Truth from Lies, then "Heroes,"
"I still want to" and "River Winding." But still it wasn't enough,
even after the encore, "Troubled Mind." [Jonatha Brooke is not reviewed in
this issue.]
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In response to the September 1997 issue:
Editors, IrCourt
Oakland CA
Dear Madams:
I.M.Jaded's pessimistic outlook on the condition of schools in the Baltimore MD area
smacks of realism. Does I.M. tend to posit that the schools in Baltimore are unique? Truth
is stranger than fiction and usually more gruesome. Unfortunately the taxpayer will
continue to bear the brunt of the costs of correcting mis-managed and derelict school
districts--in the expense of correcting the schools themselves as well as in the
correction departments' care of incarcerated wayward students. As to the question
"Who's going to pick up the bill?" I submit that as a tax paying employed person
I.M., that Woo are, along with the rest of us.
F.E. Dup
Ramblinon, NJ
October 25, 1997
Letas to the Editas, IC Oakland CA
Such enthusiasm from your contributor Ms. Herman regarding Waldorf education! Education
towards freedom should evoke a more reserved philosophy. As Jennie Abbott's article What
is Waldorf mentions, "...Waldorf education is not for everyone." This
suggests that the child may be guided by the parents and the school, but the
child's freedom of development should not be proscribed by perceptions of perfection in
any one particular mode of education.
Iza S. Keptic
Homebody MA
October 25, 1997
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