There’s too much history per capita in Serbia.
Only during my lifetime, two dictators died (one of them had live coverage on the blog), one prime minister was assasinated, country lost four wars, changed it’s name three times, was bombed once, had about a million protests, demonstrations and revolutions, and today, a part of the country will become – another country. Still, never a dull moment, right?
So, what exactly is going to happen today around 15:00 and how are events going to unfold the following days? Our prime minister says that European Union, together with the US will “kidnap” a part of Serbia. But the reality is, Kosovo is not going anywhere, Albanians are not really going to take the part of the land and carry it over to a whole different place, as the word “kidnap” suggests. The border will stay where it was, with probably the same crossing fluency. Monasteries will stay where they are, hopefully. The name will change, instead of “Kosovo province” it will become something completely different – are you ready? wait for it… (drumroll) – “Kosovo”.
But the biggest question remains as it has been for the last eight years – non-Albanians’ safety and the right to live and move freely in Kosovo. In the future, this issue will be the responsibility of Albanians only, since our prime minister and our politicians have done very little to show that they care about the people as much as they care about the territory, monasteries and the name.
I will try to update as news unfolds, but since I will not be at home all the time to update the blog, you can follow the twitter reports about news coming in from Kosovo and possible protests in the streets of Belgrade.
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I felt the wish to write here something, as a German. I heard several news/radio discussions with experts almost the whole day. I will just tell my opinion: it seems to me not so easy as it seems to several european politicians to recognize Kosovo as an own, independent state. I find it too fast and I miss sensibility for the serb-albanian conflict in Kosovo, specially the point of the minority rights of the Serbs who live in Kosovo. In one radio discussion it was mentioned, that the recognition of Kosovo as an independent state is a single case, not a precedent case. If it’s like that, what are the specifics to recognize Kosovo as an independent state, but other regions with different ethnics not?
I’ m very interested in peace questions, and I think we need a lot of dialog and a lot of sensibility to reach a deeper peace. I had the wish, that at least one politician of those eu-states who recognized Kosovo as independent would have said something in favour of the Serbs in Kosovo, would have asked the Politicians in Kosovo to protect the serbian minority there. We have to respect the fears and the needs of those, who are in a weeker position. And I find it important to put the attention on this.
best regards,
Simone
Simone, thanks for the comment.
Of course, safety is crucial. The independence won’t bring it automatically, as well as it won’t bring a better life to anybody in Kosovo by itself. This previous state of limbo didn’t help safety either, and neither did it help when Serbia was in control of the province. It all depends on people… and that is not always good. I don’t know – all I have is hope that everything will be ok.
In that regard, I can only wish all the best to the people of Kosovo – and the sooner they choose less nationalistic politicians things will start to get better.
Dear Viktor,
thanks to you. I agree hundert percent with your comment. People like you give me hope that things might become better. We have really to give up nationalist concepts, but I’m afraid also in the Western World exist a lot of “Block Concepts”, a way to think still in the pattern of the Cold War World. And there is something else shown in the Region: a kind of paternalism of the European Union, like this: recognition of the Kosovo as independent, but under the strict control by an EU-Mission. There is something strange in this, like: you failed, you passed a violent conflict, now we will help you, but we decide how we will help you and we will define your way. It would be better to give the hand as a partner, to create partnership and to give the chance to Kosovo, to Serbia, to the whole region that the local people there might express their political wishes without fear, their wishes how they would like to live and what they would like to develop and to stenghten the civil society, free media, democratic structures, rights.
I was in 2003 in the region of Osijek/Vukovar on a meeting with local peace groups, one in Berak, a small village, where the croatiens suffered traumatic experiences, as serbian neighbours killed several of the croation inhabitants. After the war the tentions maintained, also, because several of the killed persons were still missing and weren’t burried in dignity on a cemitery. So the families of the victims couldn’t find peace. The atmosphere in the village was full of tention, hatred, wish for revanche. A local peace initiative was build up, time by time, and they startet to establish a dialog, they tried to live together again. It was even after these years possible to feel how difficult it was. For sure there are wounds on all sides. I met people from all over the Balcan working for peace, also from Serbia – they all impressed me for their power, their energy and their deep reflection on conflicts and peace work. I also felt that young Germans might learn a lot by meeting for example young people from Berak, by their way to face problems, by their generosity given to us, the guests. I was very impressed by the Balcan, the people there and I wish there would be more personal contacts all over, that we could trust in our own experiences, and won’t depend so much on information in the media.
Just now I listened to some news about Serbia/Kosovo, where it was mentioned, that the Serbs feel hurt by the independence of Kosovo. I can understand this. There is a psychological dimension in all kind of conflicts, like pride, self-concepts, traumas, vulnerability … a kind of collective experience and memory. This should be more concerned in the international politic. A wise politic would try not to cause harm on noones side, so that noone feels as a looser or looses his face. I imagine that Serbia and many Serbs feel about this kind of independence of the Kosovo hurt on different levels, even they might not be nationalists, and that they feel more and more isolated in Europe, left alone, punished, and that all creates the danger of more natiolistic positions. So from my point of view the “West” makes a lot of mistakes and it would be important to establish a good relation to Serbia – something that is absolutely missing since longtime. What do you think, Victor?
“country lost four wars”
I can only remember Serbia/FRY being involved in one with NATO. Though that one can be considered a defeat they also managed to get UNSC resolution 1244 stating that their territorial integrity will be respected. But just like in 1999 the Helsinki Final act is only selectively respected.
I thought about war with Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and NATO – maybe some were technically not “wars” to me and you, but I guess people fighting in them and affected by them would still consider them as such.
Simone, you’re clearly a thoughtful and considerate person and you make a lot of very valid points, but you seem to miss the absolutely central issue – how can you ignore the feelings of the Kosovars? They have some terrible experiences to come to terms with, too. You talk about Kosovo as a state and about everybody else as people.
And Hashim Thaci has been talking quite a lot about the Serb minority, perhaps at the prompting of the EU, perhaps not.
Well Slovenia was a brief was between Slovenia and the JNA, Croatia and Bosnia were local Serbs (obviously with support from Serbia) against the governments. Croatia was ultimately a catastrophic defeat while Bosnia, if anything, was a partial victory as the Bosnian Serbs got at Dayton 1995 what they had agreed to at Lisbon in 1992 before Izetbegovic withdrew his signature and decided to go ahead with independence anyway.
Hi, as an italian or, should I say, european, I feel confused from what’s happening in Kosovo. The right to autodetermine as a country still has a meaning in a general sense, but it seems to me to be weakened by the pertinence to a common Political Project as Europe is. As said in the thread, little and inifluent changes are to be done with his new indipendence; still, it forces me to a question: why this couldn’t be solved within the european borders and patronage? Are we able to solve our own problems?
All the best to all of you
It’s so easy to be nonchalant unless you’re a Serb refugee from Pristina or the widow of a dead Serbian policeman or a Serb who remembers that the land of Kosovo is sacred, hard won from the Turks, and that these Albanians acted shabbily from 1945-1989 when they had authority over the Serb minority and pushed many of them out. You can’t just watch your country attacked and shrug, and, if you do, then what will you say when they carve up Serbia itself into greater Croatia, greater Bulgaria, and all the rest.