Special Price: "because no man is an island"

Written by Ksenija Simic, Belgrado, Yugoslavia.

When I mentioned to someone that I am going to write this essay, I as told not to bother: living in Serbia (my home) is not very fashionable this season. This was true. So, I began to ponder: to write, or not to write? Luckily, the dilemma was not of the Shakespearean sort. It occurred to me in the end that this disadvantage is productive: as there would be no chance of my winning, there would also be no burden of 'political correctness' upon my back. I could as well approach the given topic from an even more marginal point of view: EMU as seen by a skeptical, uninformed female.

Let me explain myself. Why am I uninformed? Being unlearned is every human's right. Being ignorant about the EMU is the privilege of those who won't be becoming part of it in 1999. I will not be able to present facts and figures about Europe's road to the ideals of the French Revolution. I don't regret it. No truth has ever been quantified. Why am I a skeptic? Well, when your neighbor worries not about the removal of borders towards other countries, but rather about building a fence in your face, for you not to see his home, (don't condemn him - he was made that way...) it only comes naturally. I am not informed: even stopped reading newspapers about a month ago, after coming dangerously close to a minor nervous breakdown due to the daily news. I am a political skeptic: I don't vote (this is easy when you live where I do). And why am I a woman? Because I was taught that way. And sometimes, when underaged male soldiers die at a frightening pace, I truly appreciate that this is so.

More about ignorance: not knowing the people who are cheating you is an act of civil disobedience. Which leads right back to skepticism. What is it that I don't trust in the concept of the United Europe, Happy People Living as One(...)? Not the concept. On the contrary...But.

But. Think about it:

1. Do you believe that the politicians urging the merging process are doing it from altruistic reasons? How much do you think they have gained? Financially and egotistically...Not to mention other aspects I cannot think of?

2. Do you believe in the stories the media are telling you about this contemporary Utopia? Do you not feel cheated every time your TV set tells you how to laugh and what to believe in? Don't you think it thinks too much for such an ugly dead creature?

3. Are you willing to adjust your culture, language and faith to a universal model? Do you believe in universal models, do they not remind you of the cloning you heard was mentioned in the real life horror stories? Don't you fear becoming the same, wasn't it you who always wished not to be like everybody else?

4. Will the French give up their wine? Will the British agree not to have their pound be a strong monetary unit in the little Europe that has decided to unite the hard way? (The easy one would be initiated with spontaneous dropping of all the arms in all the military bases and pledging to eternal peace; only, this never happens; not even in speculations) Will the Greek walk away from the tradition they pledge upon? I doubt it.

5. I don't believe that people are ready: not with so many lethally aggressive children wandering about beating the weak. Not with millions of racists hiding in suburbs, feeling comfortable in their conservatism.

Enough! I am not used to being a critic. Because, among other things, I am also female. And, what is it that a woman sees in the much talked about EMU? Depends on the woman, actually. All I want to point out is that, no matter how bitter I may be, how acrid the injustice (that the people always manage not to see) has made me, all I am is a hippy born too late, dreaming of a serene world in which a kiss goodnight spreads through the land. Don't know when; if ever; but it needs to be. As a woman, then, I believe in One Life For All. Just like John Lennon said. One culture doesn't mean ONLY one culture. Unification is not eradication. This world wasn't created with picket fences, barb-wire and soldiers with guns. Let us be. Set them free.

Give it a chance. I don't believe in the Union created by the rulers, monarchs and TVmen. I believe that we can create a better one.