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Most antimilitarists like to imagine deserters and COs as heroic -
if desperate - young men who stand up for what they
believe and refuse to bear arms. But in reality they are as
flawed as young men everywhere. Bojan Aleskov recalls the
challenges of organising with deserters from former
Yugoslavia, including the arguments about the washing-up!
Neither cowards nor heroes
Bojan Aleksov
While trying to illustrate the
inter-ethnic hatred that
reigned in his native Bosnia
in 1993, a deserter who had just
arrived in Belgrade told me: "You
know, these Serbs hate Bosnian Muslims
just as we hate Albanians."
The "we" this deserter used was supposed
to mean "us - normal people", who
don't hate each other (except for the Albanians).
Though disparaging Albanians was
quite common and self-implied in former
Yugoslavia, I could do nothing but vigorously
confront him, saying I did not hate
Albanians - something that I was not sure
he could understand at the time. Another
deserter explained he would not fight for
the army where "faggot" officers hid in
the back instead of courageously leading
their soldiers.
Failing to organise visibly
In Serbia it was extremely dangerous and
almost impossible for deserters to speak
out in public. But even once they found
secure refuge away from the war, most
deserters failed to realise the political
implications of their actions and thus
failed to stress them publicly.
Some were worried for their families
back home, others were ashamed of what
they had done and would rather remain
silent and some would make silly comments
like the ones above.
Getting deserters to speak out in public
against the war was, however, just a small
challenge in the series my friends at
Women in Black and I experienced in our
efforts to help organise deserters politically.
Some deserters suffered badly from the
circumstances and consequences of their
desertion and became very vulnerable,
depressed and hard to communicate with.
Other preferred to have the past finished
with and chose not to have to face it again
by organising, assisting others, advocating
their own rights or demanding
improvements in their own position.
Many were just interested in receiving
some humanitarian aid - which would
ease their difficult living conditions while
in exile or hiding. There were also those,
why not tell it, who, though escaping
from and rejecting an inter-ethnic war,
then objected to connecting, never mind
sharing anything in common with,
deserters from the other side.
On a more practical and human note
one should acknowledge that deserters are
a very specific gender and age group of
war refugees. One of the most arduous
tasks for deserters in our "Safe House"
was to organise the washing-up. There
were no family bonds and so emotional
ties and confidence could hardly develop
among these young men. Instead, we had
to face arguments, suspicion and once
even a theft occurred.
Neither heroes nor cowards
Having said all this, I do not mean to
question our ambitious and noble principles
and the goals we set out to achieve in
our approach to deserters. My point is
that one should see deserters as neither
cowards, traitors or fifth column - as
states and armies describe them - nor as
antimilitarist or pacifist heroes.
In many cases their decision to flee was
spontaneous and often not "political".
The deserters might not share our political
views and some are not even pacifists.
But by deserting they sent a clear if semi-conscious
message to those who stayed
behind, to the officers in command, and
to all soldiers and civilians equally.
Many risked their lives to escape and
cross the closed borders. Many of those
who stayed behind were arrested and condemned
to long-term imprisonment.
Others spent long periods in hiding.
Almost all had to endure pressure from
their families and most of them went
through serious personal crises. On the
other hand they found very little support
and understanding and if abroad they
were not awarded necessary protection as
war refugees.
Turning negativity into action
Those of us who believe that there is no
cause for which one should kill or be killed
still have plenty of reasons to continue
supporting deserters. And there is still so
much to be done in former Yugoslavia and
so many mistakes to be learnt from.
The right to conscientious objection
and mechanisms for the protection of
COs and deserters in times of war still
needs to be adopted as a part of international
law. Antimilitarist groups need to
build and strengthen support networks so
that no deserter is or feels abandoned.
As nonviolent socialist activists we
have to work on our strategies for transforming
negative feelings into positive
energy and action, turning disillusionment
into empowerment. While putting
our efforts into working with deserters,
refugees, and the victims of war and violence,
we need to continuously question
how they affect and relate to the existing
patterns and relationships in society that
contribute to generating the war and violence
we are trying to confront.
Deserters are neither cowards nor
heroes. They are human beings who help
us to understand better the causes and
consequences of wars.
ment.
Note: While stressing womens public resistance to war and militarism, Women in Black Belgrade also acted as one of the most outspoken advocates for war resisters and deserters.
Bojan Aleksov is an antimilitarist activist.
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