__NOTOC__ Workers' Aid for Bosnia (sometimes abbreviated to "Workers' Aid") was founded in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in 1993, after a call by the Campaign Against Fascism in Europe (CAFE). Sixty people –

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

trade unionist A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee ben ...

s and

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

s – met to discuss how to organise solidarity with those people in ex-

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

defending a united, multi-ethnic

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. Workers' Aid was supported by the

International Socialist Group The International Socialist Group (ISG) was a Trotskyist organisation in Britain. It was the British section of the Fourth International (Post-Reunification), Fourth International (FI) until 2009 when it dissolved into Socialist Resistance. ...

, the USFI, and the

Workers Revolutionary Party (Workers Press) The Movement for Socialism is an occasional grouping of socialists in the United Kingdom. It originated as one half of the major split in the Workers Revolutionary Party of 1985. Initially, both halves continued under the WRP name and both pub ...

. However, there was rivalry between these groupings which did not help the solidarity project. At the founding meeting a letter was read out from a Serbian opponent of Serb nationalism. It appealed for workers in Britain to take food to the mining communities of

Tuzla Tuzla (, ) is the third-largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the administrative center of Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 110,979 inhabitants. Tuzla is the economic, cultural, ed ...

, the multi-ethnic bastion of Bosnia and Herzegovina that had been under siege by nationalist forces for many months. This became its first major activity. Steve Myers of CAFE, one of the initiators of Workers' Aid for Bosnia, was elected International Coordinator, and this later grew to involve liaising with workers organisations and convoys from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, Hungary and Italy. In Britain it began as an appeal for volunteers, money and food. Meetings were held throughout the country appealing for support from the trade unions and the working class movement. It bought its first lorry with money donated by the Muslim Solidarity Campaign. Once further lorries were available, they travelled in

convoys A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

. What distinguished Workers Aid from other humanitarian charities and NGOs was its explicit political stance. It advocated the raising of the UN imposed aid and arms embargo, which effectively left the Bosnians defenceless against the much better armed Serb nationalists. As part of this, whilst passing through Zagreb, Croatia, ten lorries of the convoy blockaded the UN military compound and appeared on national Croatian TV, demanding the lifting of the arms embargo. Workers' Aid did not see the war as a civil war between warring tribalisms, but a specific political project driven by western interference, Greater Serb nationalism and, to a lesser extent, Croatian nationalism. Workers Aid never saw itself as a charity, but as a campaigning organisation aiming to catalyse a response from the broader labour movement across Europe. The group continued its work in the former Yugoslavia, first visiting

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

in January 1996. Under its new name, Workers Aid for Kosova (''Kosova'' is the

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

name of Kosovo), it was one of the first organisations to take aid to Kosovo during the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

intervention of July 1999. During July and August of that year they supported miners in and around

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and

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...

, and – with support from the

students' representative council {{Unreferenced, date=July 2014A students' representative council, also known as a students' administrative council, represents student interests in the government of a university, school or other educational institution. Generally the SRC forms par ...

of the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

together with

Aid Convoy Aid Convoy is a British charitable organisation running and supporting various humanitarian aid projects, mostly in Eastern Europe. Its aims are achieved primarily by means of running convoys. Projects Aid Convoy's projects focus on Albania and ...

– supplied the students' union of the

University of Pristina The University of Pristina ( sq, Universiteti i Prishtinës) is a public university located in Pristina, Kosovo. It is the institution that emerged after the disestablishment of the University of Pristina (1969–99) as a result of the K ...

. A film exists of this trip, entitled simply ''Convoy'', and made by Rachel Robertson, a member of the convoy team.''Convoy'' at the Internet Movie Database
/ref> Later, some of Workers' Aid members went on to other political campaigns, such as

Reclaim the Streets Reclaim the Streets also known as RTS, are a collective with a shared ideal of community ownership of public spaces. Participants characterise the collective as a resistance movement opposed to the dominance of corporate forces in globalisa ...

and the Liverpool Dockers' Strike. Others became involved with mainstream charitable organisations, or ran other organisations such as Aid Convoy, which continues to work in neighbouring

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

as well as other countries. Many individual trade union branches and members also took practical solidarity action.

References

External links

Aid Convoy
– a humanitarian aid organisation which grew from a branch of Workers' Aid for Kosova.
Convoy
– the film of the July/August 1999 convoy to Kosova (accessed at Vimeo)
Taking Sides - The Story of the Workers Aid Convoys
– Interview with Activist Bob Meyers in 2020 (accessed at Labournet.tv) Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1993 Foreign charities operating in Bosnia

See also

References

Further reading

External links