The First Public Reading
At the Friends’ Meeting House in Brighton, England, on Friday, 19th May, 2000, 50 people
attended my first public reading of Kosovo
War Poetry. The event was filmed by the BBC Knowledge Channel for a Culture
Fix programme about war poetry. The producer said he was very pleased with
the reading and asked to do a follow up interview on Tuesday 23 May. We spent
two hours doing the interview in Burgess Hill Library and in fields near Burgess
Hill. The producer said he thought it had all gone very well.
Some weeks later a letter informed me that because the programme had too much
material (It was covering war poetry from the First World War to the present
day) my contribution, along with contributions form 3 distinguished
poets/commentators, would have to be edited out.
REPORT OF EVENT
Author calls for aid for "ordinary Serbian people."
Americans blamed
David Roberts talked about the war and the issues it raised. He said one of
the basic causes of the war was the racism of the Serbian government and the
oppression of the Kosovo Albanians over many years, but he claimed that the
American government was the direct cause of the war through its support of the
Kosovo Liberation Army which was involved in an armed uprising.
Call to lift sanctions and give aid to Serbia
Some of the poems and the author’s comments were scathing about NATO’s
claims to have conducted a humanitarian war. Tony Blair had said "our
quarrel is not with the ordinary people of Serbia," but as a result of NATO’s
bombing the ordinary innocent people of Serbia were enduring immense suffering.
He said the British government should lift sanctions against Serbia, provide
humanitarian aid to all of Yugoslavia, and financial help for reconstruction in
the manner that Germany was helped after the Second World War.
The event was organised by Jenny Bailey of Peace 2000
for the Brighton Peace and Environment Centre.
Talks and Readings
David Roberts would be happy to talk about the war and/or read his poetry to
any group. Contact him by e-mail: dave@saxonbooks.co.uk or click HERE
or phone 01444 232 356 (UK number)at any time.
Kosovo War Poetry Index Page
|