by, Panos Marcoullis

My Dilemma

I go home late at night on many occasions, tired and confused. Not from the studying I have to do for midterms, and definitely not about student life. I am in an emotional state of bewilderment because of Kosovo. Mainly I am torn between my allegance to peaceful resolution of conflicts and the pictures I see on television of hungry, tired and exhausted refugees. It wrings my stomach in a knot everytime I think of those refugees, who to be honest with you look no different than the refugees from my country (Cyprus) after the 1974 Turkish Invasion. The faces look the same, the weariness looks the same, but most of all the human suffering looks the same.

Why am I not on the side of bombing, or for that matter an escalation of the military interventionist scheme of things? Perhaps a picture speaks better than words;

See this man. He lost his home last night. If you don't believe me click here. He is a Serb. Ofcourse to me that means alot less than the fact that he is a human being, with feelings, emotions, dreams and convictions. What lies before this man at this point in his life I do not know. Do you? Does NATO? Does he deserve to grieve or will the degree of demonization of the Serbian people continue to the point where we as a nation will only be satisfied when he thanks us for what we have done?

Then ofcourse comes the inevitable, ice cold slap on the face by reality; the 2+mile lines of refugees fleeing Kosovo...in their overwhelming majority of Albanian descent and muslim faith. Am I on the right side here? Are the Serbs responsible for all this? Could it be I am making a horrendous mistake in advocating a cessation of the bombing and a return to Peace. Just as on March 25th my answer is NO. No because on both sides of this war lies are being said. Clinton on his side of the Atlantic and Milosevic on his side. No because I believe the bombing isn't helping the refugees, only making their suffering worse by promises that NATO can't keep without bloodshed. Most of all though is the need for a recognition that in War (and this fellow reader is a War) all people suffer. And it is this universal suffering that I protest.

What I suggest.

The anti-war movement in Ann Arbor I believe needs to switch gears. We need to start practicing what we preach and by that I mean nothing more than "Universalizing" our common message. Albanian and Serbs are suffering. Their future is a common one. To live apart would mean only more senseless death and NATO intervention. I believe as a core member of Students4Peace that here in Ann Arbor reconciliation should begin. Lets start round table discussions with both sides and arbitration. Lets hold candle light vigils for all the people suffering, with representation from all the suffering people and more even. But most of all, and this is the crux to my opinion, the enemy here should be war and the chaos and suffering it brings with it. I am tired of hearing speaches about imperialist this and anti-semitic that. Lets stay focused on the target here: Stop the Suffering! Stopping the bombing should not make us stop protesting. We should stop protesting only when a Peace Deal is struck that can leave all the battling sides with a feeling that a political solution has been found and that guns can serve no further purpose.

Its time that the antiwar movement realize (in my opinion) that to end a war BOTH sides must want reconciliation. Lets start that process right here in Ann Arbor by reaching out to the Albanian and Muslim students and people living here. There are no other sides...just other people. Those people are probably getting tired of the suffering too. There is the common ground we can work from.

Just because there is no logic in war, doesn't mean that there should be no logic in Ann Arbor.