Things really are changing
Ramush Haradinaj–former Kosovo Liberation Army fighter, former Prime Minister, former two-time indictee of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia–stopped by to chat at SAIS this afternoon, with Mike Haltzel moderating. He acquitted himself, pun intended, with aplomb.
His main focus is on doing well in the November 3 municipal elections, a prelude to next year’s parliamentary contest. He hopes to double his vote, capturing perhaps five municipalities, in addition to the six his Alliance for the Future of Kosova (AAK) already controls in western Kosovo. He is trying to build the trust of citizens, which he thinks the Self-determination Movement of Albin Kurti has lost. He underlines equal rights for all in Kosovo, but recognizes that it will be difficult to win the confidence of Serbs.
He is supportive of the Belgrade/Pristina dialogue, in which an AAK official participates. He wasn’t so much enthusiastic about the results so far as determined to implement them and improve the situation, especially in the north, as much as possible. The Pristina authorities had to compromise to allow the Serbs to portray the elections there as status neutral, but in fact they are organized by the Pristina-based electoral commission according to its normal procedures. Both Belgrade and Pristina have condemned the recent murder of an EU Rule of Law official, which was a tragic event but not one that will derail the progress being made.
Ramush is supportive of more citizen-to-citizen interaction between Serbs and Albanians, both within Kosovo and between Kosovo and Serbia. He agreed that this is vital to underpin the technical and political agreements reached so far. More needs to be done with media, sport, culture, business and other sectors. Serbia and Kosovo should be forming joint groups to press the European Union for needed infrastructure funding. The liaison offices functioning in the two capitals have so far been too timid. He would like to see them take on broader roles and make contact with ministries, parliamentarians and others, as the offices of the five non-recognizing EU states already do in Pristina.
The energy sector is especially important, because Kosovo has lots of lignite that has gone unexploited far too long. Its use will be expanded for electrical generation, using the best anti-pollution technology. A gas pipeline is in the works from Albania for home heating. Kosovo is not well-endowed with hydro compared to its neighbors.
Sonja Licht, a pillar of Belgrade’s civil society, referred to the recent Belgrade security forum, at which a substantial number of Albanians (both from Albania and from Kosovo) participated. She was at pains to note the high quality of an all-women panel on human security, which included a Serb from northern Kosovo. Something important is changing in the relationship between Serbs and Albanians. They are moving past the obtacles that persisted for a long time after the 1999 war.
Asked about the Kosovo security forces, Ramush was vaguely impatient but still cautious in response, noting that they are few and would be developed in close cooperation with NATO.
Mike Haltzel underlined the importance of language issues. Serbs and Albanians should learn each others’ language, in addition to English, which is vital to their future livelihoods. Ramush thought making the languages compulsory at school would not work. People will learn both languages if there are good economic reasons to do so. English he said is required from first grade and German from the fifth. He himself speaks Serbian and demonstrated that in a brief conversation with Milan Misic, the Politika journalist present.
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6 thoughts on “Things really are changing”
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Things are changing, but Haradinaj isn’t, so much – he’s been saying much the same since the end of the war, perhaps accounting for the Serb government’s efforts to discredit him. He was realistic about the need for reconciliation on the personal level while others were still calling for revenge. It’s no wonder he was considered a threat by Serbians focused on returning to the previous status quo.
I agree with him on the language question. Teaching the minority language in Albanian schools would be an enormous waste of energy on the part of both students (already dealing with English and German) and the overburdened school system. Having Serbs learn the language of the majority culture would make sense, but being forced to learn Albanian is one of the Serbians’ greatest fears, held out as a potential threat by local politicians if Serbs are forced to “live under the Albanians.” If most jobs come to require a knowledge of Albanian, Serbs will start agitating for classes.
At the time of former Yugoslavia, it was normal for ordinary Kosovars of any ethnicity to speak, or at least understand, both Albanian and Serbian, ethnic tensions and mutual distrust notwithstanding. Most people from Kosovo I’ve met who are over the age of 40 speak both languages, including even declared nationalists. Unfortunately, younger generations generally appear to be far more radicalized and hence ethnically exclusive, thereby weakening somewhat the optimism that has marked the most recent stages of the normalization process.
Albanians learned Serbian in school, but I wonder how many Serbians actually knew Albanian? Enough to pass the time of day with their neighbors, maybe, but more than that? Serbs – the “professional Serbs,” anyway – today make a big deal out of the impossibility of functioning in Albanian, so a knowledge of Albanian probably wasn’t universal.
If you read the comments sections in the papers, it’s obvious that a lot of Albanians write Serbian (and aren’t too clear on the use of cases with verbs of motion). Serbs sometimes mention they wish that Albanian sites would offer English pages, so they could express their opinions on things Kosovar directly to Albanians, implying they can’t be expected to do it in Albanian. [Where they wouldn’t have to worry about the objects of verbs of motion, at least.])
With their schools’ emphasis on the EU languages, Albanian kids have no interest in learning Serbian, that’s for sure. Serbs used to say, “Speak Serbian, so the world can understand you,” but now it’s become a bitter joke. Kids with an eye on a future political career may feel it worthwhile to learn Serbian, the way American politicians learn some Spanish. If the Serbs decide to go to the polls, eventually.
Considering the ruckus Serbs are causing in Montenegro, where they’re calling for Serbian to be made an “official” language on a level with Montenegrin – which is essentially indistinguishable from Serbian, anyway – I can see years of provocative actions ahead as Serbs try to resurrect the status of Serbian in Kosovo. The jobs in the civil service that require a knowledge of the local language and Albanian will probably go to Serbs willing to make the investment in learning the national language, after the current generation of Serbian-speaking Albanians retires.
Why do you say that the Serbs are causing a “ruckus” in Montenegro? It wasn’t the Serbs who decided to invent a language called “Montenegrin” which as you write is essentially indistinguishable from Serbian. Do you speak “American” or “English”? And btw, Serbian is an official language of Kosovo if you buy the Kosovo “constitution.” There’s nothing provocative about seeking one’s full constitutional rights.
There’s a difference between seeking one’s rights under a country’s laws and attempting to use those laws to bring about the end of the state. The Serbian government before WWI used the method, apparently successfully, when it ended up not only with the territories inhabited by the Serbs in neighboring countries, but the countries themselves in a new state with a Serbian king. Are any of the other states in the region officially attempting to use their ethnic brothers in other states to support their own policies?
Amer, you still didn’t answer my question: American or English? Obviously you know the answer but can’t stomach putting it in writing.
Rights are rights. You don’t get to pick and choose when to allocating them and to whom.
And I fail to see you point about pre WWW1 Serbia. Serbia was an allied country during WW1 (and WW2); it liberated all of the territories of the former Yugoslavia as their inhabitants wanted to be rid of the Austrian-Hungarians. That’s an undisputed fact.
As to your last question, Serbia wouldn’t have been granted official EU candidate status if the EU thought Serbia was stirring trouble in its neighbours. Although Albania and Hungary come immediately to mind if you want examples of regional troublemakers.