A strike started on February 20 in the Trepca mine. Some 1,200 miners swore not to leave the galleries 800 meters under the surface until their demands were met. Despite the poverty in Kosovo, the miners' demands concerned only political problems — opposition to the Serbian strategy to transform Yugoslavia into a Greater Serbia and the pursuance of this strategy through extending the Serbian government's prerogatives over the autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo. Series of demands raised by miners
The miners demanded the ouster of Rahman Morina, former chief of police and present head of the League of Communists in Kosovo; and two other leaders, Azemi and Shukrija. All three, according to a study by the Slovenian weekly Mladina were supported by only 0.1% of the Albanian people. These three leaders favorable to the Serbian policy had replaced three Albanian leaders to whom the Albanian people accorded at least a minimum confidence and whose rehabilitation the protestors demanded. Other demands were also
• That the Yugoslav media stop spreading false stories designed to discredit the Albanian people about a genocide of Serbs and"political rapes." (A study conducted by Mladina among the inhabitants of Kosovo showed that only 7.5% of Albanians, as opposed to 60.2% of Serbs and Montenegrins, believed that Albanians were raping Serbian women for political reasons.)
• That the Communist Party leaders accept and acknowledge the fact that the
Albanian demonstrations were not a counter-revolution organized by separatists but a normal reaction to the Serbian oppression that has lasted for eight years. Democracy has not been the same for everyone. The Serbian rallies that have been going on for a year have been portrayed as the height of democracy, whereas similar expressions of the will of the Albanian people have been called "excesses by separatist individuals."
• That the constitutional changes making it possible to deprive Albanians of their flag, their symbols and their language and thereby reducing their autonomy in Serbia be rescinded. Now, according to Article 47 of the Serbian constitution, the Kosovo Assembly has only the right to assent to the decisions taken by the Serbian Assembly.
General strike met with state of emergency
The protesters have demanded meetings with Serbian leaders, especially with Slobodan Milosevic. But the state showed its cynicism once again. In place of the Serbian leaders concerned and directly responsible for the situation, it was state functionaries who came to negotiate with the miners, proclaiming "here you are, this is what you wanted, the Communist Party has separated itself from the government."
On February 20, the students at the University of Pristina [the capital of Kosovo] locked themselves in the gymnasium and went on strike in solidarity with the miners. The merchants and craftsmen shut their stores. Economic life was paralyzed; a gen-
The government responded by declaring a state of emergency, although this is not something recognized by the constitution, which only has the authority to proclaim a state of war in response to a foreign threat.
Emergency measures to preserve "constitutional order" have been taken. The situation has come to resemble a farce, because the demonstrators do not want to destroy the constitutional state but to preserve it. Every public demonstration has been banned. Military maneuvers are in preparation in Kosovo. Albanian reservists have been called up.
Workers can be fired without any explanation at the slightest suspicion of "counter-revolutionary" activity. Strikers can be conscripted for labor, like military reservists. Military airplanes and helicopters are constantly flying over Pristina. Tanks are moving toward Trepca, Pristina and other
Military reinforcements and riot police forces are coming from Sumadija in Serbia. The officials in Kosovo and Serbia are accusing the strikers of being manipulated by Albanian nationalist separatists, while for the first time all Yugoslavia can see the real face of the "counter-revolution that threatens the country's social system" — disappointed, exhausted and sick miners,
YUGOSLAVIA risking all that they have left, their lives.
An unnamed miner gave an interview after coming out of the mine: "I was down in the pit five days running. The sixth day, I came out to get a breath of air, but I went back immediately. During eight days of the strike, only 30 miners went out, but they all came back very quickly; 1,200 miners did not leave the mine. Most of them had
"On Friday, February 24, hundreds of miners needed medical help because of respiratory and eye problems. Many will no longer be fit for work. Improvised clinics were set up in the galleries. We set only one condition for coming out of the mine. It was getting rid of Morina, Azemi and
"When they told us that these three leaders had resigned, we decided to come out on condition that no one was arrested. After leaving the mine, everyone was exhausted. That is why we set March 1 as the date to discuss our other demands. We came on Monday [March 1], but the courtyard in front of the mine was full of police. We were told to go home and wait."
On March 2, the police arrested Azem Vilasi, former chief of Kosovo, who had to give up his place to Morina, and some managers. They were accused of organizing counter-revolutionary demonstrations and face the possibility of several years in prison. The "proof" of Vilasi's separatist activity was supposedly his visit to the mine. Arrests are continuing and Kosovo is in the
Constitutional changes will provoke new protests
As a result of a flood of demands for political asylum from Albanians, West German foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher has announced that a visa requirement will soon be instituted for Yugoslav citizens. In a meeting with Genscher, Yugoslav minister for foreign affairs Budimir Loncar claimed that Yugoslavia is capable of settling this problem of Albanian political refuges. The state's cynicism points clearly toward a situation where the majority of Albanians will be left without pass-
Morina, Azemi and Shukrija have resigned, but the Kosovo problem remains. The Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic has no interest in yielding to Albanian demands, and most Serbs support him. The governments of the other republics have been intimidated by the pressures of Milosevic's mass politics. In Slovenia, all organizations, associations and enterprises have came out against the institution of the state of emergency. However, in Belgrade, the Slovene delegates distanced themselves from public opinion and backed the Serbian decision. It can be expected that the changes in the constitution will be adopted, and thakohis will provoke new demona Jerkie 9 in Kosovo. *
"Social democratic"
model blows up