Citizens march against violence

What I find truly remarkable is that it seems like the entire country has shown an outpouring of sympathy and emotion towards the French soccer fan who was brutally murdered. People are killed every day in senseless violence in Europe and especially in America. But no where would you see such an out pouring of concern, sympathy and condolence as one just saw in Serbia. This is special and demonstrates that the true soul of the Serb is fundamentally good.

I can only raise my hat to this unprecedent movement of solidarity and hope that actions will follow it.

I also hope that this is the begining of a new area of tolerance including for those who are feeding themsleves with hatred day after day including on this site!
Peace to all

This was a great march - peaceful, respectful and uncontaminated by party political posturing. If that upsets the haters on all sides then so much the better.

Many of you that see my comment will see my name and disapprove of my message without ever reading it. So, my message goes out to the Serbs with far more integrity, substance, and courage than these delinquents: As a Bosnian living in America and having survived the 92-95 war, I am truly happy to see that you've managed to do this. Hats off, really. Now, hopefully this message really gets the support it deserves and not just Serbia, but all nations in the region follow the same path, as hatred and violence based on ethnicity, nationality, race, culture and religion have caused so much pain in former YU.

What I find truly remarkable is that it seems like the entire country has shown an outpouring of sympathy and emotion towards the French soccer fan who was brutally murdered. People are killed every day in senseless violence in Europe and especially in America. But no where would you see such an out pouring of concern, sympathy and condolence as one just saw in Serbia. This is special and demonstrates that the true soul of the Serb is fundamentally good.
(Nicholas Thompson, 2 October 2009 15:43)

Nicholas, thanks for pointing out. It seems that we have a soul contrary to what people from West believe. It seems that we have persuaded West, only what we need to persuade our neighbours and our citizens from the South.

Glad to see the marches are becoming less and less political although it seems some still can't resists scoring political points. The focus needs to be on removing crime and to send a clear message that hooliganism is completely unacceptable.

All sides of the political spectrum are guilty of commiting crimes and sending out the wrong message so it's time to correct it all. Hopefully our politicians will show some maturity for a change.

Its a pity that opposition party members were not allowed join this protest.

Until violence becomes an issue of society rather than an issue of politics, problems will be hard to solve.

this march sound like the...start of a political crisis....remains to see the happy...end

Zoran, the notion that this isn't a political rally is ridicolous. Especially if bg anons statement of the opposition not being allwoed to attend is true.

bg anon,opposition was alloed to attend - clearly LDP was allowed to attend.

Look at the groups organize thuis. Essentially left wing groups to the left of the ruling parties, some regularly criticizing the Tadic regime for not living up tot heir expectations.

If an election is to be held soon [unlikely, certain opposition parties and government parties stand to loose too much] it is likely that thee incidents of the last two weeks will be used to try to shift the votying public left ward ( like Sarkozy did in France during the 07 elections, using violence from 2005 and 2006 autumns).

>> Youth Coalition official Petar Milićević said that the march through Belgrade sent a clear message that violence and the “chain of support for violence coming from as far back as the late 1980s” must be stopped. >>

i am very appreciative of the marchers, and the message of PEACE. the message is both specific to belgrade and serbia, and a universal message as well. serbia still has deep and ongoing issues that are not being dealt with properly, and need to be addressed. mladic and the other (war) criminals are the tip of the iceberg. corruption, lingering grievances, scapegoating of individuals and minorities continue to plague the social/political landscape. the march is a very good sign, and long needed, and i hope that movement continues in that direction. of peace and openness/ versus chauvinism and ethnic tensions.

these issues are also universally applicable -- how we need to find some kind of peaceful solutions to ongoing issues (wars in iraq, afghanistan, terrorism, corrupt and anti-democratic regimes around the world, torture of prisoners, pow's or native (young) people (as right now in Iran), racism, starvation, global warming... -- these are ongoing issues that all of our PEACE marches try to address. i am the veteran of many of them, and of course offer my own perspective, but i believe it is shared by many peace activists here, and there as well.

as to the "haters" and "bigots" here -- i could easily produce a list and be 100% correct (for myself), but what would that help? the other side would just say it was not "them" but me and "us." the point is: is all of this chat about the need for peace, for tolerance, for bringing the tone down several decimals -- is it helping here, or not? so far i am really not seeing any difference. HOWever, i have to admit that so far, at least in my limited, quick browsing, i haven't seen the ugly references to "albos" and "albins", and i haven't read any antisemitic references either, lately. so that is positive, and i hope it continues. if it doesn't, i hope that others also speak up and speak out, if they believe in PEACE.

as for personal attacks, they seem to be continuing unabated. a bit less ag. myself, but bad. that has to stop. people have the rights to their opinions without facing personal attack. i hope that others promote that message.

there is no need to foster hate and fear ag. any people: serbs, albanians, bosnians, americans, whomever. if you want to critique, critique individuals, actions, political groups, whatever. not whole peoples. we need to be clear and specific, and not go out of our way to offend ethnic groups. on the other hand, some critiques are justified, and do not always require so much defensive responses.

anyway, those are some of my thoughts today. why don't we spend a bit more time "processing," and a bit less time lashing out?

roberto

Roberto, your comments would hold water if you criticized all ethnicities equally, you don't. You are far to quick to direct your vitriol towards Serbs so, your comments mean little to me. Keep posting though, your abrasiveness is good for this forum. Peace.

anyway, those are some of my thoughts today. why don't we spend a bit more time "processing," and a bit less time lashing out?

roberto
(roberto, 2 October 2009 21:57)

People will stop lashing out at you when you stop lashing out and being so hypocritical.

You want to comment on the article, fine but why don't you stop there? Why do you then bring Serbia as a whole in and start with how much corruption etc is there? You use any subject to trash Serbia and frankly you need to stop. Comment on the article and be done with it. Try, try, try not to use every opportunity to trash Serbia.

You were listing problems like Iraq and abuse of human rights other places but not once did you mention the murders of Serbs that go on in Kosovo. Why is that? You will try to pull wool over our eyes by stating that you are fair and impartial by throwing in a few things like Iraq into the mix but you NEVER stay away from having something negative to say about Serbia and you NEVER mention anything about what Albanians are doing to the Serbs in Kosovo.

That is why you are getting critisized and will continue to get critisized and obviously not just me.

of course this news is very sad indeed, but why is it when stuff like this happeneds in serbia, there seems to be a reach for the moral high ground by some people. here in scotland its the old firm derby weekend and its normal for a couple of people to loss there lives. go into any big city in england and the same story unfolds due to gangs drugs and whatever. fact of the matter is id rather be in belgrade for a nights partying that any big uk city..

@ Roberto
deep and ongoing issues that are not being dealt with properly, and need to be addressed. mladic and the other (war) criminals are the tip of the iceberg. corruption,

As much as I agree with you on this as much as I would have liked to see next to Mladic's name, Thaci per ex....and his corrucpted regime

If you are really sincere, then be it upto the end and don't only look at one side...

The famous train that you mention should have a wagon with bars at the end where these kind of people mentioned above will be in upto the end of their life, and pls don't tell me that Thaci is a hero and a freedom fighter, then I will definitely put your sincerity in question.
Cheers

Error: in my previous spot I forgot to post at the end like Sarkozy did in shifting france rightward.

this march sound like the...start of a political crisis....remains to see the happy...end

>> Youth Coalition official Petar Milićević said that the march through Belgrade sent a clear message that violence and the “chain of support for violence coming from as far back as the late 1980s” must be stopped. >>

i am very appreciative of the marchers, and the message of PEACE. the message is both specific to belgrade and serbia, and a universal message as well. serbia still has deep and ongoing issues that are not being dealt with properly, and need to be addressed. mladic and the other (war) criminals are the tip of the iceberg. corruption, lingering grievances, scapegoating of individuals and minorities continue to plague the social/political landscape. the march is a very good sign, and long needed, and i hope that movement continues in that direction. of peace and openness/ versus chauvinism and ethnic tensions.

these issues are also universally applicable -- how we need to find some kind of peaceful solutions to ongoing issues (wars in iraq, afghanistan, terrorism, corrupt and anti-democratic regimes around the world, torture of prisoners, pow's or native (young) people (as right now in Iran), racism, starvation, global warming... -- these are ongoing issues that all of our PEACE marches try to address. i am the veteran of many of them, and of course offer my own perspective, but i believe it is shared by many peace activists here, and there as well.

as to the "haters" and "bigots" here -- i could easily produce a list and be 100% correct (for myself), but what would that help? the other side would just say it was not "them" but me and "us." the point is: is all of this chat about the need for peace, for tolerance, for bringing the tone down several decimals -- is it helping here, or not? so far i am really not seeing any difference. HOWever, i have to admit that so far, at least in my limited, quick browsing, i haven't seen the ugly references to "albos" and "albins", and i haven't read any antisemitic references either, lately. so that is positive, and i hope it continues. if it doesn't, i hope that others also speak up and speak out, if they believe in PEACE.

as for personal attacks, they seem to be continuing unabated. a bit less ag. myself, but bad. that has to stop. people have the rights to their opinions without facing personal attack. i hope that others promote that message.

there is no need to foster hate and fear ag. any people: serbs, albanians, bosnians, americans, whomever. if you want to critique, critique individuals, actions, political groups, whatever. not whole peoples. we need to be clear and specific, and not go out of our way to offend ethnic groups. on the other hand, some critiques are justified, and do not always require so much defensive responses.

anyway, those are some of my thoughts today. why don't we spend a bit more time "processing," and a bit less time lashing out?

roberto

Its a pity that opposition party members were not allowed join this protest.

Until violence becomes an issue of society rather than an issue of politics, problems will be hard to solve.

This was a great march - peaceful, respectful and uncontaminated by party political posturing. If that upsets the haters on all sides then so much the better.

I can only raise my hat to this unprecedent movement of solidarity and hope that actions will follow it.

I also hope that this is the begining of a new area of tolerance including for those who are feeding themsleves with hatred day after day including on this site!
Peace to all

What I find truly remarkable is that it seems like the entire country has shown an outpouring of sympathy and emotion towards the French soccer fan who was brutally murdered. People are killed every day in senseless violence in Europe and especially in America. But no where would you see such an out pouring of concern, sympathy and condolence as one just saw in Serbia. This is special and demonstrates that the true soul of the Serb is fundamentally good.

Glad to see the marches are becoming less and less political although it seems some still can't resists scoring political points. The focus needs to be on removing crime and to send a clear message that hooliganism is completely unacceptable.

All sides of the political spectrum are guilty of commiting crimes and sending out the wrong message so it's time to correct it all. Hopefully our politicians will show some maturity for a change.

anyway, those are some of my thoughts today. why don't we spend a bit more time "processing," and a bit less time lashing out?

roberto
(roberto, 2 October 2009 21:57)

People will stop lashing out at you when you stop lashing out and being so hypocritical.

You want to comment on the article, fine but why don't you stop there? Why do you then bring Serbia as a whole in and start with how much corruption etc is there? You use any subject to trash Serbia and frankly you need to stop. Comment on the article and be done with it. Try, try, try not to use every opportunity to trash Serbia.

You were listing problems like Iraq and abuse of human rights other places but not once did you mention the murders of Serbs that go on in Kosovo. Why is that? You will try to pull wool over our eyes by stating that you are fair and impartial by throwing in a few things like Iraq into the mix but you NEVER stay away from having something negative to say about Serbia and you NEVER mention anything about what Albanians are doing to the Serbs in Kosovo.

That is why you are getting critisized and will continue to get critisized and obviously not just me.

What I find truly remarkable is that it seems like the entire country has shown an outpouring of sympathy and emotion towards the French soccer fan who was brutally murdered. People are killed every day in senseless violence in Europe and especially in America. But no where would you see such an out pouring of concern, sympathy and condolence as one just saw in Serbia. This is special and demonstrates that the true soul of the Serb is fundamentally good.
(Nicholas Thompson, 2 October 2009 15:43)

Nicholas, thanks for pointing out. It seems that we have a soul contrary to what people from West believe. It seems that we have persuaded West, only what we need to persuade our neighbours and our citizens from the South.

Many of you that see my comment will see my name and disapprove of my message without ever reading it. So, my message goes out to the Serbs with far more integrity, substance, and courage than these delinquents: As a Bosnian living in America and having survived the 92-95 war, I am truly happy to see that you've managed to do this. Hats off, really. Now, hopefully this message really gets the support it deserves and not just Serbia, but all nations in the region follow the same path, as hatred and violence based on ethnicity, nationality, race, culture and religion have caused so much pain in former YU.

Zoran, the notion that this isn't a political rally is ridicolous. Especially if bg anons statement of the opposition not being allwoed to attend is true.

bg anon,opposition was alloed to attend - clearly LDP was allowed to attend.

Look at the groups organize thuis. Essentially left wing groups to the left of the ruling parties, some regularly criticizing the Tadic regime for not living up tot heir expectations.

If an election is to be held soon [unlikely, certain opposition parties and government parties stand to loose too much] it is likely that thee incidents of the last two weeks will be used to try to shift the votying public left ward ( like Sarkozy did in France during the 07 elections, using violence from 2005 and 2006 autumns).

@ Roberto
deep and ongoing issues that are not being dealt with properly, and need to be addressed. mladic and the other (war) criminals are the tip of the iceberg. corruption,

As much as I agree with you on this as much as I would have liked to see next to Mladic's name, Thaci per ex....and his corrucpted regime

If you are really sincere, then be it upto the end and don't only look at one side...

The famous train that you mention should have a wagon with bars at the end where these kind of people mentioned above will be in upto the end of their life, and pls don't tell me that Thaci is a hero and a freedom fighter, then I will definitely put your sincerity in question.
Cheers

Error: in my previous spot I forgot to post at the end like Sarkozy did in shifting france rightward.

Roberto, your comments would hold water if you criticized all ethnicities equally, you don't. You are far to quick to direct your vitriol towards Serbs so, your comments mean little to me. Keep posting though, your abrasiveness is good for this forum. Peace.

of course this news is very sad indeed, but why is it when stuff like this happeneds in serbia, there seems to be a reach for the moral high ground by some people. here in scotland its the old firm derby weekend and its normal for a couple of people to loss there lives. go into any big city in england and the same story unfolds due to gangs drugs and whatever. fact of the matter is id rather be in belgrade for a nights partying that any big uk city..