Belgrade Launch
My jetlag has not been too bad and I only nod off a few times in the car on the drive north. Mette has moved us out of the hotel and into the apartment of a friend of a friend. It really nice to be in a home and not in a hotel. Maca and her daughter even move to her sister’s place while we are here to give us a little more space. It never ceases to amaze me the generosity of people when they get connected to people who are working on an issue like banning cluster bombs.
Our friend Daniel is to arrive in the morning, another Australian who will do much of the media management for the Ban Bus. This could be anything from writing to filming to setting up media contacts, what ever it takes. Mette has tied up so many loose ends that I feel guilty that she has done so much of this alone. The launch of the Ban Bus will be on Wednesday night and a big event is planned. We have the stage in the Republica Square and it will be an evening of speeches, clearance demonstrations, pictures, film and a local rapper called Marchelo. Much of this has been in the hands of NPA and Emil and Ivana have moved heaven and earth to make the launch memorable. A press conference is also planned but the hard part is to try and get both the press conference and the evening launch covered by the media. The normal thing would be to do an afternoon press conference then the event but this would probably mean there would be no media for the event and as the press conference is largely talking and no visuals there is a risk that it could turn into a tiny paragraph of page 56 of the paper. The decision is made to first do the event and then the press conference the following day. This will put both in the same 24 hour press cycle and hopefully both will then be picked up.
Meanwhile, Mette has all her chickens coming home to roost. A photographic exhibition of my work has arrived, then magnetic signage in many languages and finally, the Ban Bus itself. What we finally got was a VW Transporter and a driver called Davor. It made sense to have a professional driver along with us as the time on the highway is an important time to work. It will also have someone who feels more comfortable with peak hour in Istanbul. There are some crazy drivers in the world and many of them live around here, so Davor will be worth his weight in gold.
The clock is ticking and we head for the Republica Square.
When we arrived in the square we found a protest in progress in support of Radovan Karadic who has recently been arrested and now stands trial in The Hague. This might prove interesting if they take a dislike to what we are about as they are reputed to not be against a bit of biffo. We drive the Ban Bus into the square and instantly one of them approaches and complains that we are covering up their banners. A good compromise is sorted out as our event is not till 7.30 pm and they should be gone by then so no tempers are frayed. The magnetic signage is unwrapped and the van gets its transformation. The Ban Bus has been born.
The Republica Square event will have me speaking followed by Branislav and Sladjen who were both blown up while clearing cluster bombs. Branislav has lost both his arms and legs and his sight is damaged. Sladjen lost both his hands. Their bodies may be injured but their spirit is unstoppable. Rarely have I known people more motivated than these two. The Secretary General of NPA will then speak and the rapper Marchello will close out the night. A backdrop of films and photos will run through out.
Marchelo is a very talented rapper with a strong political conscience and he is very anti war. He has that wonderful mix of youth and indignation at the affairs of the world. He is studying literature at University and has the passion of a true wordsmith. When he hits the stage the crowd lights up and we realise how popular this guy is. I have no idea what his lyrics said but you could see he hit the right chords with the audience.
The event was a success and the Ban Bus was now real. All we had to do now was drive the 10,000 km from one corner of Europe to the next and bend a few more countries onto the treaty.
The press conference the next day was well attended and the panel of speakers from ICRC, Branislav and me got the message out. By the time we got back to the NPA office we were on the wire services and that evening we were the opening news story on both the number 1 and 2 networks. They both had long pieces about the issue of cluster bombs, the Ban Bus and the evening’s event. With all of this done in Belgrade it was now time to hit the road again, south to Nis and onward to the east.
The Ban Bus is an advocacy initiative. We are now striving to achieve a ban on cluster bombs. Our immediate mission is to work towards stronger legislation in Australia.