While watching the television news coverage of the bombing of Yugoslavia, it is easy to look at it as just another movie. But these are real people being killed every day. From accidentally bombed buses and trains to deliberately devastated "unfriendly" media outlets and now the destruction of the Chinese Embassy, the Balkan war has exacted a terrible price in less than two months, and made new enemies for the Western nations. The one positive result of the Balkan war is that it has driven traditional political rivals together in search of a peaceful solution to the situation in Yugoslavia.

Libertarians, liberals and conservatives who oppose the war have joined together to call for a moment of silence to be observed on the two-month anniversary of the NATO bombing campaign. Here in California, that moment will be observed at 9 a.m. May 24. People can find details at www.momentofsilence.org on the Internet. We will stop whatever we are doing and observe two minutes of silence for the people in Yugoslavia.

It isn't a statement against the United States, or against the Kosovars, or against the Serbs. It is not about national borders and governments at all -- it is about the value of individual human life and liberty. It is a gesture of peace and good will for all men, women, and children.

Mark Hilgenberg
Secretary,
Libertarian Party of San Fernando Valley