Sometimes, it is really hard to critically reflect on the society we live in. My grandmother once told me that, at times, the wisest thing is to keep silent about things one should not talk about, but at the same time, it happens to be the most difficult type of self-discipline. Furthermore, the hardest thing is to play the role of the voice of reason in the country where collective hysteria is a common occurrence. The report of the Special Rapporteurof the Council of Europe, Dick Marty, brought about a new wave of unity amongst the Serbian citizens, media and the Serbian political caste. This is why I feel like Simple Simon writing these lines. Ok, Marty’s report came at an ideal moment for Serbia, right before the beginning of the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo. In a broader context, the specially important role of this report lies in the fact that it revealed what we, as a nation and a collective, have been persistently repeating for several decades now – that the people around us, our neighbors in the region, have been killing, butchering and kidnapping us, that we are innocent victims of our former friends and the international community. In fact, at this very moment, Serbia is presenting itself to the world, as well as to its own citizens, as the protagonist of Kafka’s famous novel the Trial. In our own eyes, we are the famous Mister K, the man who was wrongly accused, tried and finally, killed like a dog, while he never harmed anyone in his life.

Last night, on the private TV channel owned by Aleksandar Tijanic, the boy from Podujevo, in the show Yes maybe no hosted by Olivera Kovacevic,the truth was explained to the entire Serbian nation by none other than General Bozidar Delic. General Delic is a war criminal, defense witness in the Hague trial of Slobodan Milosevic, Radical and Progressive party member, solider, general and commander of a part of the Serbian army in Kosovo in the period between 1995 and 1999. He explained how we (that is HE) are innocent. For Serbia, this report is the key evidence of our innocence, our purity, and for Bozidar Djelic, Arkan and his wife, Ojdanic, Pavkovic, Milutinovic, Vlastimir Djordjevic, even Milosevic himself, the holy water to purify and cleanse themselves before God and the people.

Therefore, the report by Dick Marty is important primarily for Kosovo, where the issue of war crimes against non-Albanians has been at a standstill from the very beginning. The report is also important for Kosovo because it creates maneuvering space for the war fellows to gradually retreat from the political life. Furthermore, the report is important for Albania, which has the duty to investigate the indications that missing Serbs from Kosovo were tortured, killed and buried in mass graves in the northern part of that country.

Writing about Hashim Thaci is hard work. Observing the Kosovo society during the last four years, I could not but notice that people like him, who came directly from the war, from the guerilla, and dressed up in expensive suits and took important government positions, mostly aren’t, and in no way can be, the good guys. Quite the opposite, both in war, as well as in peace, their military-guerilla, i.e. political-corruptive activities were far beyond the boundaries of law, and very close to the laws of the Hague Tribunal.

Furthermore, it is not a secret that Hashim Thaci is one of the favorites of the American administration during the last decade, and that he knew how to skillfully utilize that position for his political success and in order to stay in power as long as possible. Some of us also know that being the American man in a country whose budget is mostly financed by the EU, probably isn’t a long-term viable position. Moreover, in the last twelve months, Thaci directed the privatization process of the most valuable assets of Kosovo towards the construction of a highway. This project will be carried out by Americans, not Europeans, which speaks to the context of the political attacks on him.

However, the author of this text is concerned with Serbia, where Tomislav Nikolic, whom we remember wearing a military uniform and walking around Vukovar, Bozidar Djelic, the man who commanded some of the terrible crimes committed against Albanians in Kosovo, and similar individuals, believe this report to be their five minutes of renaissance, when they should continue playing their favorite sport – stealing dead human souls, as well as their bodies. What is most surprising is the fact that the most measured statement on this subject was issued by the President, which also speaks to the fact that the whole thing has gone above and beyond reasonable.

Let us now discuss organ transplantation, the most emotional subject at this moment. The fact that a number of citizens of Serbian nationality, after NATO troops entered Kosovo, were kidnapped and brought to northern Albania, where they were killed and buried, appears to be unbearable enough. Nothing is known about the faith of these people. However, the idea that a systematic harvesting of their organs took place is, simply put, hardly feasible. Even a Serbian doctor testifies to this in the B92 TV show Yellow house. Organ transplantation is a highly sophisticated process, requiring specific sterile conditions, specialized doctors, etc. The story published in one Belgrade weekly paper, which used to be serious back in the days, shows that some things are simply made up. Namely, the article claims that the citizens of Serbian nationality were taken outside the houses where they were being held captive, then murdered (!), and only afterwards driven to operating rooms where their organs were harvested. Excuse me, but the abovementioned sequence of events looks like pure fiction.

Certainly, the possibility that some of the many missing Serbs were taken to certain hospitals in Albania where their organs were then transplanted is not unrealistic. However, I believe that common decency dictates that someone says out loud that the story about “the yellow house”, about mass organ transplantations (in thousands of cases) is, in the first place, a form of torture of the families of those who perished and a useful mechanism for our war criminals to wash away the sins they have committed in our name during the last twenty years.

If it is proven that, in the period between 1999 and 2003, someone in Albania or in Kosovo imprisoned Serbs, harvested and transplanted their organs, then Kosovo and Albania will have a weight on their shoulders similar to the one Serbia has due to Srebrenica. However, I would like to remind you that Srebrenica is a proven and well documented slaughter, while “the yellow house” and organ transplantations are still speculations, and that Radio Television of Serbia, the Serbian government and people like General Delic are not entitled to try and prove anything relating to this subject. I hope, for the sake of the entire region, that the international community will be ready to analyze the report of the Council of Europe in detail and find out whether there is viable proof to support the claims of Dick Marty. Until then, you are welcome to enjoy the mass hysteria.

 
Translated by Bojana Obradovic

Peščanik.net, 23.12.2010.