1993_03 Insight March 1993

              March 3,1993
Page 3
Yugoslavs afraid for family, country
*Studentsfrom
fractured republic
concerned about
loved ones at home.
By Davin A. Hutchins
Staff Writer
Imagine picking up the daily newspaper every morning in the hopes that
your family is safe and secure and not
in danger of being rounded up by
guerilla soldiers.
Imagine reading thai a cily you vis-
itcdmany times asachild was bombed
to rubble.
Imagine watching the country you
lived in all your life explode violently
into chaos.
For Stanislov Banic and Anton
"Tony" DeFranchesci, an active
imagination is not necessary.
Banic and DeFranchesci arc both
citizens of what is now ihc war-iom
nation of Yugoslavia and both of these
CSUF students have parents and fami-
lics that still live within the country.
Both were citizens of the same country two years ago, but now that the
country has splintered apart,
DeFranchesci is now a citizen of
Croatia while Banic is still a citizen of
Yugoslavia, or Serbia
Both students came to the United
"Before the war started, there were
riots in Belgrade," he said. "It was
like being in the middle of the Los
Angeles riots, so I ran away. I found
oul later that the army came in and
actually brought in tanks."
In June, the republics of Slovenia
and Croatia declared their independence from Yugoslavia.
DeFranchesci added that he could
feel something brewing when he went
to visit his family in Pula.a tourist cily
off ihc coast of the Adriatic Sea, for
three weeks in 1991.
He said he could tell during his v
he said. "Basically, [Serbia] was living off ihc welfare of [Croatia and
Slovenia) and suddenly Serbia lost
both."
The Serbian offensive started on ihc
border with Croatia that summer near
the town of Vukovar, only 15 miles
from Banic's hometown of Backi
Pctrovac.
"Before I left [for ihc United Siatcsl
my only concern was that someone
could be making a mistake and wind
up bombing my town instead of
Vukovar."
'Some days, 1 could hear the rockets
have used in the past six months to
defeat the Bosnians are considered
ruthless, and by some to be genocidal.
In addition to the siege of the Bosnian
capital of Sarajevo in June and ihc
near starvation of more than 400,000
citizens, the Serbian army and guenl-
las have since rounded up religious
minorities, mainly Bosnian Muslims,
for deportation or extermination in a
process known as "ethnic cleansing."
It has also been reported ihat the
Serbian army has sent thousands of
Bosnians to prison detention camps,
rounded up Bosnian women into "rape
States as exchange students during    thaithcethnictcnsionshadbegun.Hc    and MiG [aircrafi]s going about 300    hotels" and dragged Bosnian Mus-
high school and opted to stay in Call
fornia to pursue their degrees at CSUF,
Banic in computer engineering and
DeFranchesci in electrical engineering.
DeFranchesci said that he talks with
his father and mother at least once a
month and receives a little information about the country's state of affairs.
"When my mom and dad call, they
are only really interested in what I'm
doing," he said.
"They don't really fill me in on all of
the details because I think they are
trying to protect me from the gruc-
rccallcd a soccer game he attended i
which Yugoslavia played against
Netherlands to qualify for the World
Cup.
"Some people in the stadium started
booing one of our players simply because he was Serbian."
AftcrCroatiaand Slovenia formally
seceded, the Serbian government led
by Slobodan Milosovic, refused and
la unchcdanoffcnsivcagainst Croatia.
Banic said he has hisown theories as
to why the Serb government launched
its war on Croatia and not Slovenia.
He attributed much to the interspcr-
sion of ethnic Serbs within the tcrri-
somc things that are going on. They    lory of Croatia
said that there is some very nasty
stuff... 'ethnic cleansing' and other
atrocities."
Yugoslavia enjoyed a moderate socialist economy,national security and
was considered to be relatively stable...
that is until 1991.
That March, following in the foot-
stcpsofformcrCommunist countries,
opposition parties look to the streets
of the capital, Belgrade, protesting
the Serb-dominated Communist gov-
Banic, who grew up around the
Belgrade area, witnessed this polil
"The primary reason that the Serbs
attacked Croatia was because of the
Serb mentality. They arc extremely
nationalistic," he said.
"Serbs ha ve very c lose re la tions w i th
other Serbs. If you endanger some
Serb, the others will kill or almost get
killed for that Serb. They are really
interconnected."
"Croatia was mixed with more than
600,000 Serbs. The war occurred because of those Serbs."
DeFranchesci disagrees slightly as
to the war's origins.
"Belgrade had traditionally con-
cal unrest first-hand only a few months    trolled the profits made in Slovenia
before coming to the United States.     and Croatia through Communism,"
feet right over my head. My family
and I were quite afraid."
Banic said he was afraid that he
would be called up for the one-year
mandatory military service required
by all youths over the age of 18.
However, his mother managed to get
government documents toexempt him
from service.
"Most high school students, when
they gctoutof school,goright into the
army. They don't know much more
than how to shoot a gun because all
they have had is general education.
But the army needs people like mc
who are technically trained in computer engineering."
After Bank: left his country in August, the war between Serbia and
Croatia got progressively worse as
the Serbian army looted Croatian villages and raped Croatian women.
Subsequently in May, the Serbian
army declared war on Bosnia-
Hcrzcgovina as well, where Banic
said there are even more Serbs interspersed than in Croatia.
Banic said that the political goal of
the Serbian government is to gain as
much territory and as many villages
as possible in Bosnia populated by
Serbs, no ma tier how small their number.
The methods that Serbian soldiers
Eric Johnston/lNsiGHT
Playing Chinese checkers in the office at Baker Hall is Anton DeFranchesci, center, a resident adviser
from Croatia, and David Goh. DeFranchesci has lived in the United States since high school.
limsout in the streets to be shot in cold
blood.
"It's not like Serbian civilians arc in
the streets fighting Croatian and
Bosnian civilians. It is the radical
minorities from both sides, those who
own the guns and have formed guerilla armies," said DeFranchesci.
Both Banic and DeFranchesci question the conduct of Serbian warfare
and their ultimate war aims.
"The Serbs arc not very nice," Banic
said. "They tend to put minorities on
the front lines so they actually fight
the Serb's war. Serbia is actually purifying die country to become totally
Serb."
"After Croatia and Bosnia seceded,
Serbia started bombing the coast..."
DeFranchesci said," ...punishing it,
not trying to take it over, but basically
destroying it"
"Maybe they thought 'we'll desuoy
their economy and infrastructure so
they'll be forced to come back." A lot
of people along the coast arc now
homeless and flooding north."
He added that the main reason Pula
has not been bombed yet is because it
is heavily populated with Italians and
is soclose to the Italian border, which
could easily anger the Italian govem-
He also said that the current ethnic
problems in Yugoslavia were not that
foreseeable, because all of the different ethnic groups—Croats, Bosnians,
Bosnian Muslims and Serbs— lived
with each other and intermarried for
years.
DeFranchesci exprcsseda deep concern for his grandmother and uncles
who arc all Croats living in Tuzla, just
60 miles north of the decimated cily
of Sarajevo.
"[My family) can't leave Tuzla
now," he said. "It was hard to leave
even before the fighting broke out
Now they probably wished they had
left earlier."
He added that armed Serbian warlords, practitioners of "ethnic cleansing," arc patrolling in the area and his
family members, who arc Croatian
minorities within Bosnia, fear for their
lives.
"They arc in a real crisis," he said
solemnly.
Insight
News
Students find
faith in Ukraine
♦ Christian group
sponsors summer
exchange abroad
By Dave Maturo
Staff Writer
Twelve Fresno Stale students are
getting set to visit the Ukraine this
summer as a part of Intcrvarsity
Christian Fellowship's Global
Projects program.
The trip runs from June 24 to
Aug. 3 and includes an exchange
of cultures, according to junior
Jim Hancock.
The trip has been labeled "friendship evangelism," said Hancock,
who went on the trip last year.
John Grabowski, a 19-year-old
geography major, said he is going
to the Ukraine as a step of obedience and to help him grow in his
faith.
Grabowski. dresssed in T-shirt
and shorts despite the 40-degree
weather, said he's been a Christian all his life, but he fell bad that
he has not done any evangelism
and is looking for a change in his
life spiritually.
'TvebccnaChristianallmylife,
but I want to do something important" he said. "I want to see God
use my life to help people."
Not sure what to expect when he
gels to Russia Grabowski said he
hopes his faith will grow in relationships with others and with God.
"I want to share my faith with
more people. I want to talk to kids
about Christ."
Grabowski's only concern right
now is coming up with the trip fee
of S3.200, but Hancock is proof to
the saying that "God will provide".
Hancock went to his church and
to his family for help and received
SI.000 each from his church and
from his sister.
Hancock. a21-year-old telecommunications major, went on the
trip because he wanted a challenge and wanted to see God at
work.
"I was there lo do whatevcrGod
had planned."
Hancock said he learned a lot
about himself and about how God
was working in Russia.
"When I got to Russia, my roommate was already a Christian."
Hancock, who led all the worship singing in the Ukraine, said
he learned that he could be used in
different ways, such as through
his music.
"Even though my roommate was
already a Christian, there were
other th ings for me to do, like lead
worship and praise God through
music."
Hancock said he also saw how
God can work in a group of friends.
"We just hung out and had a
good time."
Even though the program
reached a lot of people in the
Ukraine, it wasn't a total success.
"It's not like everyone became a
Christian and everyone lived happily ever after.
"Some people were just there to
hang out listen to die music and
have a good time."
Hancock has shared many stories with his friends and is part of
the reason that friends of his, such
as Grabowski, became interested
in going.
Some of Hancock's stories include the different trips that the
students took during the weekends as well as the trials and tribu -
lations everyone had in their daily
Russian classes.
But the one thing Hancock said
he will remember most are the
relationships and all the new
friends he made.
"It's kind of cool having such
good friends that live halfway
around die world.
"I'll remember being in such a
unique environment where a community of friends went out and
had a good time and learned about
God's love."
TURNING aARESNO ON ITS EAR!
^\
Campus radio station KFSR 90.7 Fm
is accepting applications for the
position of Public Affairs Director.
This is a paid student assistant
position, 15 hours per week.
Deadline for applications is
Friday March 5, 1993.
Pick up applications in the
Telecommunications office in the
Speech Arts Building
For more information call
278-2598
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