Ms. Susana Malcorra, Chief of Staff to the UN Secretary-General

Dear Ms. Malcorra,

I am an American journalist and writer who, although having no family ties in the region, has had a keen interest in the former Yugoslavia ever since spending time there as a student in the 1950s. At the time of the wars in the 1990s, I was busy as press officer of the Green Group in the European Parliament, but after my retirement in 1996 I was able to resume my travels and investigations there and have written extensively about the region since.

When I learned that the Belgrade chorus Viva Vox had performed at the United Nations, and been applauded by the Secretary General, the Honorable Ban Ki-Moon, I hoped that this was a step toward healing the deep psychological wounds of those fratricidal wars for which the Serbs have been unjustly singled out as the only “guilty party”.  Although Bosnian Muslims had their own army, which was supported by foreign Mujahidin fighters from as far away as Afghanistan, which committed documented atrocities, the Bosnian Muslim leadership managed to portray their side as passive victims of aggressive Serbs, implying that the native Bosnian Serbs were invaders from neighboring Serbia. This confusion has led to stigmatization of the Serbian people, an injustice which causes great psychic pain to all those who are blamed for tragic events for which they were in no way responsible.

Now I learn that activists claiming to represent hundreds of thousands of Bosnian Muslim immigrants to America have protested against this innocent cultural event.  They use their status as members of a “victim ethnicity” to condemn the concert as an “insult to victims of genocide”, claiming that the song itself inspired such crimes.

Ms. Malcorra, as someone working for all the nations in the world, you must know that almost every people have their historic victims, and almost every nation has its patriotic songs.  I live in France, whose national anthem speaks of the “impure blood” of enemies. France’s former enemies do not protest when the Marseillaise is played. There are many other examples, I am sure.  Serbia is an historic nation that suffered great losses in the two World Wars of the 20th century, notably civilian victims of a Croatian fascist persecution committed largely on the territory of what is now Bosnia-Herzegovina, with complicity of some Muslims.  The largest number of refugees from the wars of Yugoslav disintegration are Serbs, and Serbia has taken in the largest number of refugees – mostly Serbs, but even some Muslims from Bosnia. The Serbian people deserve to be treated like any other people, without being constantly branded as “genocidal”.

The protests of Bosnian Muslim diaspora organizations are designed to perpetuate the political advantages of “victim” status. This will not actually help the Muslim people living in Bosnia, who must eventually learn to live with their neighbors.  The protest against the concert is an expression of spitefulness which does not promote peace and reconciliation.

It should not be rewarded by an unjustified “apology” for doing what should have been done: allow each nation to sing its songs.

With my sincere best wishes,
Respectfully,
Diana Johnstone, Ph.D.
Paris, France

The Honorable Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary General
760 United Nations Plaza
United Nations
New York, NY 10017

REF: The Drina March apology

Your Excellency,

The first Allied victory of the World War I, The Battle of Cer [Mountain], opened the door towards the end of The Great War and creation of The League of Nations, predecessor of The UN.

That is exactly what The Drina March represents, fighting for freedom regardless of the odds. Individuals who objected to The Drina March belong to a group that fought against the Allies in both World Wars.

UN apology for The Drina March being performed in The UN is an affront to millions of Allies who gave their lives in WWI for freedom.

Serbs as people never demographically recovered from the loss of 56% of male population in WWI, leading to the additional loss of up to one million in WWII. By UN Genocide Convention, it is Genocide by attrition. That is what the complaint about The Drina March was all about - the fear that the truth will come out.

Media battle cry "Serben Muss Sterben" (The Serbs must die) in 1914 announced this genocide and such racist cries continue to the present day. UN apology is creating a new wave of anti-Serb media reports bordering on racism.

Living behind barbed wire is already reality for the Serbs in UN-governed Kosovo. After this apology, what Serbs can expect next from The UN, a new text of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights that adds "except Serbs" to all articles?

Your Excellency, UN apology to anti-Serb racists who prefer to goose step to the tune of Die Fahne Hoch was misguided, factually inaccurate and morally wrong.
You owe an apology. To the Serbs and all Allied nations.

Yours Sincerely,
Bob Petrovich, Canada

ISSA Demands Retraction of UN "Apology" Issued as a Result of Extremist Pressures

Washington, DC, January 18, 2013: The International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA) today sent a letter to UN Secretary-General ban Ki-moon insisting that unless a retraction of a formal UN "apology" was published, the UN would lose all support from the Association and from many others around the world. The issue stemmed from the issuance of a formal apology by the Secretary-General's spokesman regarding the singing of a Serbian World War I patriotic march at a UN General Assembly session. The letter reads as follows:

Your Excellency:

It was with some outrage that we witnessed your spokesman, Martin Nesirky, on January 18, 2013, acquiescing to the demands of extremist protestors by issuing an apology to those "who may have found offensive" a song by a Serbian vocal group at the United Nations General Assembly earlier in the week. Almost any national expression at the United Nations could be said to be found offensive by at least some group, and yet no such regret - as was expressed over the Serbian tune - is issued on these occasions. To have issued the statement on this occasion was specifically a concession to extremist pressures.

The allegation that the tune, March to the Drina, was "not listed in the official program", and tacitly accepting the specious allegation that the march was "sung by Serb forces during the 1995 massacre in the Bosnian city of Srebrenica in which more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered", was subjective in its context, absolutely incorrect (indeed, it was a lie), and patently a bow to the extremist, racist elements who raised the protest against this tune, which celebrates a legitimate and heroic defense of a nation during World War I.

Your Excellency, you highlight on the UN Website, your words: "Terrorism festers where conflicts are endemic ... and where human rights, human dignity and human life are not protected and impunity prevails ...We have to drown out shrill appeals to intolerance and extremism with sound calls for compassion and moderation."

Excellency, the apology issued on your behalf shows that your own office has fallen under the sway of the "shrill appeals to intolerance and extremism". It is fair to say that unless this "apology" by Mr Nesirky is more sincerely rescinded, then you and the UN will lose the respect of this organization and, indeed, many people around the world.

Yours sincerely,
Gregory R. Copley, AM, FRGCS, President.