241 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
241 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
ZAGREB INFORMATION POTLATCH
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September 94 #1
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This is the first issue of a newsletter I plan on putting out/helping
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co-ordinate semi regularily with the intent of acting as sort of a catalyst and
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informational outlet for anarchists and anti-authoritarian activists in
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Ex-Yugoslavia. After repeatedly trying to get something or other together with
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other local anarchists , specifically people I'd met at or through ZAPO (Zagreb
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Anarcho Pacifist Organization) here in Zagreb nothing has come together so far.
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At a ZAPO meeting last night , fueled with caffeine induced optimism I put
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forward a number of ideas : a poster project ; a project to translate English
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and German language pamphlets into Croatian and create somet other literature of
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our own relating to the war and an anarchist stance to it; breaking open a
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squat. There was not much in terms of enthusiasm , but some people seemed
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willing to do it. A start? I also put forward the proposal to do this
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newsletter. Nobody thought too much of the idea. Fuck it, I'm doing it myself.
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Since I'm relatively new to Zagreb, and have hardly made it to other areas of
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Ex-Yugoslavia since I've been back at all and know relatively little about
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what's going elswhere, this issue will focus on Zagreb. Hopefully others will
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get involved in this and help give it a broader scope. If you have anything to
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contribute in terms of information, distribution, typing etc. definitely get in
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touch! I would love to see this become more of a collective project!
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I would like to see this become somewhat of a solid source of information that
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doesn't regularily get out to the anarchist (or anywhere for that matter) press
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and as a means for other groups / individuals to get some feel for the situation
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here. The mainstream press seems to concentrate on UN "peace agreements" and
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reruns of political chess games. Hopefully this will provide some better
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information on what's happening on a lower level as it develops. Admittedly this
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is a little weak as far as news goes , but it's a start.
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What you can contribute
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Information ! Send information on what 's happening. Both in
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terms of what you're doing and what's happening : flyers, demos, police
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violence, refugee aid, atrocities, solidarity actions , zines, benefit shows,
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anything! Send it all !
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Help with printing! If you have access to a photocopier or cheap
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printing opportunity get in touch.
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Help with translating into Croatian , or Croatian into English
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Distribution. I can send originals to be reproduced/reprinted or
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a number of copies for cost of postage and printing. This is also available via
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email. Drop me a line to get on the list. If you do a BBS or anything of the
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sort, post it!
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NEWS
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News is desparetly needed from elsewhere, especially from Bosnia!! Please get in
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touch !
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ATTACK ON THE FREE PRESS * FERAL TRIBUNE DECLARED PORNOGRAPHY * Apparently the
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HDZs cultural censors consider free expression , at least when it challenges
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ruling party idiots and atrocities, obscene and ultimately pornographic.
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Croatia's minister of culture recently declared the Feral Tribune, probably
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Zagreb's most out of line satirical paper a pornographic publication thus
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raising it's taxes to the absurd levels which the state subjects "pornography"
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to. Although just another potshot from a government scared shitless of any real
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criticism and opposition, this just about put the paper out of commission.
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The Feral Tribune , a self declared anarchist paper and far from porn,
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regularily took potshots at prominent politicians, exposing their scams and
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schemes , corruption, embarassing past events and generally making the HDZ's
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(the ruling party) attempts at strangulating the free press quite a headache.
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There had been a couple other attempts at doing away with the Feral Tribune,
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including an attempt at drafting the main editor to the front , but they kept
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coming back to haunt Tudjman's regime with more sarcastic jabs at his
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dictatorship. So in what appears as a desperate attempt at fucking with them any
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way they could, Vesne Girardi-Jurkic , the HDZs minister of "culture" labeled
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the paper as pornographic. A peculiar thing about this is that nude pictures of
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women, usually typical for what passes normally as pornography are common in
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mainstream Croatian newspapers which normally tow the party line and don't have
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problems dealing with the harrasment that Feral Tribune has had to put up with.
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Croatian media could use a strong challenge to their regularily mysoginist and
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often violent anti-woman movies , articles and regular soft porn features in
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mainstream papers . But this attack has obvious interests elsewhere, namely in
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preserving a system which refuses to tolerate criticism and challenge. Jurkic
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recently in statements to the Croatian newspaper Globus quite openly extended
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the threat to other members of the press , making it clear that other papers
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would share in this pseudo censorship if they began to regularily criticize and
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mock state institutions as Feral Truibune has. Although according to mainstream
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press sources the Feral Tribune had reportedly called it quits , a new issue is
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already at the Kiosks with a new higher cover price to absorb the tax blow and
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on the back cover , a graphic spoof on National Geographic ... National
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Pornographic. After all , one has to live up to one's tax bracket somehow.
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SERBIAN STRIKES * It's nice to hear about some other striikes besides air
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strikes in the former Yugoslavia. On the 28th of July , the Guardian newspaper
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carried an article saying that a general strike had been called in Serbia for
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the following week (ie. the 2nd to 6th of August) . Apparently "Union leaders
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said they were being pressed by a disaffected rank and file." At the same time,
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farmers in Vojvodina were blocking roads with their tractors in protest at low
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grain prices offered by the government. We haven't been able to find out if the
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strikes actually took place , but it seems unlikely that journalists would
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exaggerate the level of class struggle in a country as vilified as Serbia -
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discontent would imply that maybe there were some "good Serbs" who didn't
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deserve to be bombed! We would appreciate any information our readers can
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provide. - from CONTRA FLOW
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AID AND SOLIDARITY FROM ABROAD
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INTERNATIONAL WORKERS AID , an anarchist trade union is organizing relief
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convoys to Tuzla , a city directly in the middle of the conflict. IWA groups
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from across Europe have raised enough money and material aid to buy a slew of
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trucks and fill several warehouses with food and aid . From what I can gather
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about what's going on , there have been 5 convoys to Tuzla so far. Direct work
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with people in Tuzla includes:
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"* concrete aid for the non-nationalist paper "Vrelo" (9000 DM and 3 tons of
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paper)
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* material and photos for a campaign book about IWA and Tuzla
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* concrete aid for radio Tuzla (9000 DM)
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* talked with political parties and Serbian and Croatian communities
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* started a concrete project with Tuzla University and a tour (5 Tuzla students
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and one docent)
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* concrete aid for the national theater in Tuzla
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*concrete aid for Radio Chameleon
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* together with students, organized a video about Tuzla with professionals from
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TV Tuzla, this video is now to be edited in the Netherlands
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* concrete aid for the Portrait Gallery (project by Aldegonde, 15,000DM. but
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here the Belgian campaign has yet to decide how much of this money is for the
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Gallery and how much is for the IWA bread campaign).
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* a lot off solidarity messages and concrete aid for Tuzla's Women's Association
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(still in Split: shoes and clothes for children, starting funds for a campaign
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in mammography - apparatus - none in whole Bosnia at the moment)
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* visit to different schools and teachers trade union
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* a tour with a Tuzla traditional music group in summer in Gent (Belgium)
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* talks with civic forum in Tuzla who are trying to get a newspaper and
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TV-broadcast off the ground
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* contact with a political youth organization (BOS) and with more cultural and
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free time youth organizations."
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- from IWA's Split
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report
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#11
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The project needs money to survive. "The convoy office needs 6000DM until the
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next convoy starts. There are debts for about 3000DM . People here are lending
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personal money ... For instance: this fax we could only send out because Hendrik
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loaned us money !!! So without this money , forget about the convoys, forget
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about everything ..." (1DM is worth about 65 cents)
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They also are looking for drivers for the trucks. There is a policy of 3 drivers
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per two trucks and 5 drivers for three. The convoys go directly through war
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zones, and deal with obstacles like partially destroyed and bad roads , crossing
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bodies of water without bridges and security checks. There is also danger of
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highway bandits and ambushes. So the policy is more of a security measure from
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the way I understand it. The international convoy needs at least one more person
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for their international office, preferably with a drivers license.
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"Mick ( the much abused ,but deeply loved convoy leader): "Cough up you
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fuckers!."
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Contact IWA directly concerning what you have to offer or what is needed in
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detail!
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International Workers Aid - Logistics , Phone and Fax +385 58 (0) 615 889 * Put
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Mlinice BB, 58300 Makarska * Mail : IWA c/o HACO -DIOKOM , Put Brodarice 6 ,
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58000 , Split Croatia
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All information here was either directly quoted or paraphrased from IWA's Split
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report or from IWA representatives Alessandra and Marco from Italy who met with
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ZAPO in Zagreb this June.
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Neither East Nor West NYC- 339 Lafayette St. , New York, NY 10012- focusing
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among other things on building links between east and west. They've done a lot
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of help for the Zitzer Spiritual Republic in Vojvodina (NENW-NYC is their US
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embassy) and raised some cash for ZAPO recently. Their column On Gogol Boulevard
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appears in Anarchy magazine and oasionally elsewhere. A NENW network is being
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formed slowly. NENW-NYC and the syndies at Worker's Solidarity Alliance have put
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out "a call to reclaim Mayday - Protest the IMF and World Bank on MAY FIRST
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1995" ... "The IMF and World Bank are this year arrogantly celebrating their
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fiftieth birthday. We want to ruin the party."- for a copy of the proposal write
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NENW-NYC or NENW-Pnin c/o ARK-ZAPO.
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KOCHISE / TOXIC GRAFITY ( damn can't find their address) are selling pins and
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postcards donated to them by people from Crass to benefit ZAPO. Aside from being
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unusually friendly people, they put out INTERVENTION which is a four page thingy
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about ZAPO and their own organization (I think) in french.
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USEFUL ADDRESSES
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WAR RESISTORS LEAGUE (WRL 339 Lafayette St., NY NY 10012 usa)
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CENTER FOR ANTI-WAR ACTIVITIES ( Ul hasana Kikica br 8, 71000 Sarajevo)
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CENTER FOR ANTI-WAR ACTION ( Karljia Petra 46, 11000 Beograd, Serbia ; tex/fax
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011-38-11-635-813)
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FORUM FOR HUMAN RIGHTS OF MACEDONIA (c/o Meto Jovanovski, St. P. Zografski 51,
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91000 Skopije)
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ILL IN THE HEAD(c/o Berislav Sabolic , Mozdenec 1, 42220 Novi Marof tel:
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042/611-912 (over the weekend) or 041/438-927 (during the week , ask for
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Berislav) punk music and zine distro / tape label carrying bands and zines from
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across Ex-Yugo and elsewhere in the world.
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CONTRA FLOW (c/o 56a Infoshop, 56 Crampton St., London SE17 UK) - nerws - A part
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of the European Counter Network.
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COUNTER INFORMATION ( Pigeonhole CI, c/o 11 Forth St., Edinburgh EH1, Scotland)
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- news
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ARM THE SPIRIT (PO Box 6326 Stn A, Toronto, ONT M5W 1PZ , Canada) - armed
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resistance news
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PUBLICATIONS
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This is hella incomplete, so there's no claim to covering all of what's out
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there. I'm just listing what I've collected in the last couple months. Like I
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mentioned earlier, send things in so this is more complete!! An e next to the
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zine name means it's in English language , otherwise it's all in Croatian.
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ARKZIN (ARK, Tkalciceva 38, 41000 Zagreb , Croatia) Probably where it's at as
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far as a more together consistent effort at providing a strong, informative
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alternative in news and writing. This comes out weekly (biweekly) and is
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available at most news stands around Zagreb. The only really accessible
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specifically anti war paper in Croatia I know of. They have an English language
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summary of their first issue. FECAL FORCESe (c/o Boris Milakovic, Kapavac 30,
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55300 Pozega , Croatia) Issue 2 has a number of band interviews (Anarcrust and
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Flagrants D'eli among others) , and some articles including one on ZAPO, the
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anti racist Mayday skins, killing capitalism, Pula and anarchy. A comp tape
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called "War is the Reality we Live In" is available from the same address for $7
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in Europe. KRUH I RUAEE (Women's Infoteka , Berislaviceva 14, 41000 Zagreb,
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Croatia tel:+385 41/276 188, fax:+385 41/422 926) a thick , impressive feminist
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magazine published by the women's Infoshop here in Zagreb. Articles include From
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Respect To Rape, FeMail, Feminism and Democracy, Women's Politics as State
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Politics, Women's Peace Workshop Rijeka and more. Also have an English summary
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available. MAKE A CHANGE ( Sinipia Druzeta, Jakova Volcica 6 , 51400 Pazin,
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Croatia tel: 0531/ 22 167) contains reviews , ads and interviews with Schleim
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Keim, Abzae Normalan , Agothocles, Polska Malca , Nula , Concrete Sox etc.
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Sheets with the text in English are available. DIALOGUE e ( Dialogue , Groen van
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Prinstererstraat 90, 1051 EP Amsterdam tel: +31-20-681 48 85 , fax: +31-20-684
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76 35 , email: mizamir@antenna.nl) half in english , half in Croatian , this
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well produces magazine contains articles on Amsterdam's children refugee
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theatre, dimensions of fear, Displaced Childhood, About Creativity and
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Destructivity, Kid's Made Conscious ...WARHEAD #11(Goran Ivanovic, S. Radica
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32, 55300 Pozega , Croatia tel:385 (0) 55/79-619), also from Pozega :Nula,
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Antitude, Autonomex, ZAPO, Anti War Action, Austrian punk contacts etc. GLANS
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PENISSIS (Vedran Meniga , Vladimira Ruzdjaka 8, 41000 Zagreb, Croatia) has stuff
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on Abaez Normalan, Antitude, squatting, Apatridi, Enklava, veganism, ZAPO,
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W.O.R.M., anarchism ... the issue I have is a split issue with a lyric / info
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booklet that came with the band Nula's tape. COMUNITAS (ARK-ZAPO, Tkalciceva 38,
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41000 Zagreb , Croatia tel: 385 41/422-495 fax: 385 41 / 335-230) is ZAPO's
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publication. The latest issue is olver a year old and work on a new one doesn't
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look like it's going anywhere at the moment. This issue has info on ZAPO's
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activities, anarchism in Peru, the group P{angea, an interview with Howard Clark
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of War Resistors International, cop violence, legalization of light drugs, Eat
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shit zine, anarcho syndicalism and a couple reviews. SHAVED WOMEN (Andrea
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Tomassevic, Nova Skojevska 65, 11090 N. Beograd, "SR Jugoslavia") Peace punk
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zine focusing on Crass , Chumbawamba and the sort. ZIPS AND CHAINS e (Dario
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Adamic, C.P. 15319, 00142 Roma Laurentino, Italy) isn't really from here exactly
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but the editor is Croatian and there's a pretty good piece here on zines in
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Yugoslavia that I found interesting. Also MDC, DOA, Bad religion, the
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Instigators, punk photographers and reviews. PAPERMOUTH e ( Tomz Trplan, Juzna
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6, 69000 Murska Sobota , Slovenija) is an interesting, good looking zine with
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articles on pacifism, fruitarianism, dissing spiritual know it alls. Pretty
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personal in parts and sort of treading on different ground than normal.
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ZAGINFLATCH / Dave Onion c/o ARK-ZAPO , Tkalciceva 38, 41000 Zagreb , Croatia
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...... email: 72500.2176@compuserve.com
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