Send a Message via the Sarajevo Pipeline |
By now everybody is aware that there is a war going on in what was onceknown as Yugoslavia: a particularly nasty war with eye-gauging and mass rapes, something one'd not expect to happen at the end of twentieth century, not in Europe. Not because it is Europe, but because it is the second time for Europe in just fifty years.
Enters Internet. Early in 1991, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) proposed a "Trust Link" between the conflicting sides in ex-Yugoslav war. When the anti-war and human rights groups of former Yugoslavia began to organise, they had found it impossible to coordinate their activities due to immense communication difficulties. In October, several peace groups (War Resisters International - WRI, International Forum On Reconciliation -IFOR, etc...) from countries that still had good telephone connections to both Zagreb and Belgrade agreed to relay FAXes received from one peace group on to the other group across the militrarized border.
The Sarajevo On-Line event happened in the physical space of Studio 99 in Sarajevo, which became a cybe-cafe. On April 5, 1995, the inhabitants of Sarajevo began their fourth year under siege.
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