Shpend responds to Ed
Shpend Ahmeti of “Self-Determination” responds to my SAIS colleague Ed Joseph’s memo, which peacefare.net published last week:
MEMO
To: Edward Joseph
From: Shpend Ahmeti; Prishtina, Kosova
Date: 16 June, 2013
Subject: Five Replies to Edward Joseph from VETEVENDOSJE!
Thank you very much for your letter and your advice. We had a very good visit to the United States where we were able to present our views and program to our diaspora, universities, senate and congress members, State Department and others. The SAIS debate was a very interesting and useful forum to test our ideas. We certainly hope that the debate will be posted online so that more people will be able to watch it.
As a movement, we are open to comments, criticism, and questions. We believe that debate will only help us strengthen our program, our concept and our movement in general. We have been called all kinds of names, but rarely do we see criticism that tries to directly answer our argumentation.
We have duly noted your five points which you more or less argued during the SAIS debate. In my memo, I have tried to summarize our arguments that we also made during the debate. The explanation will hopefully explain why some of the premises you make are unacceptable to us.
For your information, your memo was presented in some of the local media (close to government) in Kosovo as the official position of US government, which they would not say even when members of government would speak.
1. You say “Speech may be free; but positions have their costs”
Politics is about taking positions that have costs. Without costs, there will be no change. Change is what we seek. We are ready to bear these costs so that the people of Kosova can live a better life. We think of many before us who took positions with a lot of costs, including their lives, but that is one of the reasons we are where we are today. I am sure that the US would not be where it is today if it were not for politicians who took positions to advance the life of Americans.
We have mentioned in the debate that Serbia and Kosova are two abnormal states; Serbia, because it has not faced its past, and Kosova because of its limited independence. I cannot but say that lasting peace and stability in the region is possible only when based on universal principles such as justice, reciprocity and equality. For that reason both Serbia and Kosova need to change, although in a somewhat different manner.
In this regard, while sitting from Washington, Serbia’s chauvinist and semi-fascist past as well as its failure face with this fact and to change accordingly might seem inconsequential, yet it is a vital interest for Kosova as its neighbor for this to happen.
Moreover, it is our responsibility as well as that of any international actor interested in the prosperity of this region to facilitate this process in every possible way. Consequently, I think it is only trivial to say that attempting to hide these issues under the rug by equalizing and distributing blame of what happened in the Balkans at end of the previous century in addition to failing to hold accountable those responsible (on whichever side they may be) is a recipe for this horrible past to repeat itself.
Furthermore, while it is true that all countries in the region need to face some very difficult facts, where ethnic hatred, organized crime and corruption are a ubiquitous phenomenon in the region, it is equally true that Kosova is by no means an aberrant example. To say the least, Serbia lost a prime minister to organized crime. Therefore, we have to reject the insinuation made in your letter.
Moreover, as all of us must condemn all crimes (including those of war) committed by anyone in the Balkans I cannot but stress that this is an incommensurable phenomenon. We cannot build a future based on the falsehood that we all were equally guilty of what happened in the past. Facts do not support this equalization. The Serb government engaged in a collective government effort to systematically ethnically cleanse Kosova of all Albanians. We have thousands of statements to prove, and thousands of victims to remind us of that.
As we have said in the debate, this does not justify individual crimes committed by the Albanians against the Serbs, and we take full responsibility for that, but this should not equalize the criminal activities of the Serb Government and the liberation efforts of the Kosova people. Many Germans died at the hands of liberated European countries after 1945, but nobody equalizes these crimes with the Nazi atrocities across Europe.
Therefore discussing about what is happening in Serbia, Kosova or anywhere in the region for that matter, by anyone and everyone rather than considered as harping should be a duty for all of us.
2. You say “However convinced you are about the value of unification with Albania, you are opening yourself up to an eventual political embarrassment”
It is very interesting to note that in 1998, Robert Gelbard, at the time Clinton’s special envoy to the Balkans, while testifying in the US congress firmly stated that the United States does not support Kosova’s independence. At most, he said, the US is willing to support substantial autonomy for Kosova within Serbia. In most of the meetings, politicians who were asking for the Kosova’s independence were considered to be irresponsible and not realistic about the demands for independence.
Yet, 15 years later, here we are. Kosova has declared independence, albeit not with full sovereignty, and with the support of the United States. The main reason for that is the insistence of the Kosova people to have independence. We cannot and should not ignore the will and the wishes of the majority of the people. Our role as politicians is to be the voice of the people of Kosova. We stand for the right of the Kosova and Albania people to choose, if they wish so, to unite. This right would be used in a peaceful and democratic manner, a right that every democratic independent country has. We strongly believe that it is in the interest of Kosova, Balkans, and the United States for unification to happen. We certainly will do our best to convince all of our allies of these interests.
Corruption, corrupt privatization process, half of the country living in poverty, half of the country unemployed are far more damaging to our credibility then the will of the people for unification. Yet you have not mentioned any of them even once in your memo. We consider them very embarrassing facts for both Kosova and United States as our biggest ally.
3. You say “Stop whining about Kosovo’s ‘limited independence.’”
The position “we saved you, therefore we own you” is not at all an American position. Not of the current government, and not of any US government. Based on my experience of living and working in the US, it is simply not in the American spirit. Freedom is not given, it is a right.
When you save someone from persecution and violence, I believe that the greatest injustice is to tell the very same person that they owe you their life, and that is why they should listen to you. Apart from this not being an argument, it is also not the right way to develop Kosova and the US-Kosova relations.
Kosova owes its independence to the will and the sacrifice of its people. Certainly, without US support the NATO intervention would not happen in 1999, and maybe independence would not be declared in 2008. But, it would happen, and the US would eventually support it. If not under Clinton, then under Bush. If not under Bush, then under Obama, because it was the right thing to do. But more importantly, it was the will of the people of Kosova.
You say that the truth is that no country can do what the majority of its citizens want. For us, the will of the democratically produced majority is the definition of democracy. We have learned this from the United States. We have learned the Self-Determination (Vetëvendosje) concept from Woodrow Wilson. Therefore, our model is based on modern democracies around the world.
4. You say “The US cares — a lot — about the condition of the Serb community in Kosovo. So should you”
Firstly, we never talked about institutional “development”. We talked about the difference between institutional integration and socio-economic integration. Institutional integration (what is being pushed for now) are guarantees to have two Serb ministers in the government, a Serb police commander, a separate court of appeals etc. etc. Socio-economic integration is about economic and social development where people integrate through working together and having quality services provided by the government, Obviously, we believe the latter is more important, since the first one has failed miserably, in the last 14 years.
Secondly, if we accept your premise of the importance of institutional development which is a good thing, the current state of affairs cannot exactly be called institutional development. You do not develop institutions by dividing them ethnically. Neither do you develop institutions by telling policemen and judges that you do not trust them, just because they were born Albanian?
We do care about the Serbs in Kosova. As we do care about the Roma in Kosova; and the Turks, and the Ashkali, and the Egyptians, and the Albanians; and all the rest; equally. We do not see them only as Serbs but as citizens of Kosova. You should see them that way as well.
You say that you care about how Albanians are treated in Serbia and in Macedonia, but we see negotiations only about the Serbs in Kosova. Albanians in all of the surrounding countries are not respected, their rights are constantly violated, and many of them are leaving their homes (will send you statistics if you are interested). If you really think that the April 19th agreement is a good solution, please raise it to a principle level and advocate for the same solution to be applied in all of these countries.
The century old bloodletting between Serbs and Albanians did not happen because of the ethnic or cultural differences between the two sides. They happened because of hegemonic aspirations of Serbia to control and dominate the Balkans against the will of other people. This was concluded by the ICTY as well.
Again, the source of the crisis is not the position of the minorities in Kosovo, but the position and aspirations of the Serbia government. Our government is not talking to the Kosovo Serbs about their “legitimate anxieties”; it is rather talking to Dacic (spokesperson of Milosevic) and Serbia, therefore causing anxiety in the whole region.
5. You say “Stop blasting the 19 April Agreement; start looking for ways to ensure that it is implemented properly”
How can we wish for the implementation of an agreement that we think is bad and damaging to Kosova. That would be both illogical and certainly dishonest.
You somehow imply that concessions that we make will give us more recognitions. According to you Slovakia, Cyprus, Greece, Russia, China etc. have not recognized us and therefore we need to make more concessions to Serbia where we give up our sovereignty in order to get more recognition. However, this is a paradox. With all the concessions that we are making, there is no more state and sovereignty to be recognized.
You also imply that we have to say publicly that Serbia has recognized us, with the hope that we will fool some of the non-recognizers into thinking that Serbia has recognized us, so that they do as well. I am not sure that works. The goal is not to help our enemies, but to put pressure on Serbia and other countries into a normal recognition.
At the end, Mr. Joseph, Kosovo needs to be a normal country with normal neighbors. The continuous conditions being placed on Kosovo have made the lives of it citizens worse rather than better, and the country anything but normal
But to you and many internationals, we are abnormal people, living in an abnormal country. According to you, we should accept that.
If we accept all that you say in your memo, we would not be a different voice. We would be in a government with Thaçi, and there would be no need for you to write this memo. Kosova would continue to live in a corrupt, non-sovereign, abnormal situation where people are unequal.
However, we have higher hopes and better dreams for our country. We refuse to accept inequality and abnormality. Until you begin to see us as a normal country and equal to any other country, you will fail to see the VETEVENDOSJE argument.
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18 thoughts on “Shpend responds to Ed”
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I love argument, I love debate. I don’t expect anyone just to sit there and agree with anything that US representatives are saying! Vetevendosje seems to me that are not puppets like the current Kosovo government.
Serbia’s semi-fascist past? Regarding fascist past, you should first look into your own past and then talk about Serbia’s fascist past.
“Many Germans died at the hands of liberated European countries after 1945, but nobody equalizes these crimes with the Nazi atrocities across Europe”.
According to your logic this gave Albanians rights to kill innocent civilians during the war and after the war? You thought those crimes will not be equalized? Wonder if you raised your voice against ethnic cleansing of Serbs from Kosovo in March 2004?
Serbia have lost prime minister to the organised crime, but Serbia’s prime minister is not running organised crime ring which is the case in the neighbouring countries and territories.
When someone is good in something he/she usually talks about his/hers own merits and achievements, without pointing and attacking the other side.
There was no ethnic cleansing of serbs in Kosove 2004 that is a fact, but you can still try to lie yourself and your people, in the other hand there are still 1776 Albanian people missing since 1999, atrocities your government is responsible for ,that is more than 1000 families who still don’t know where their beloved ones are….that is called cleansing my friend!
First of all I am not your friend, my friends are not those who think like you and those who find excuse for ethnic cleansing.
There are also 541 Serbs and non-Albanians which are still missing, not as much as Albanians but they are still missing.
Ethnic cleansing in its worst form, in front of KFOR:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3551571.stm
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20040320/local/spectre-of-ethnic-cleansing-in-kosovo.127242
Michael.
Everyone is judging that and against the killings after war which are being persecuted and judged by justice, however, Killings that may have happened after the war are not all ethnically motivated. As Shpend mentioned, you cannot equalize government actions against some actions from people that got out of century of aggression. The way you speak, you sound like Boris Tadic, ex-Serb president where he equalizes lost Serb kid with thousands of Albanian kids. When you say in front of KFOR, what you have to say about 11.000 Albanian that have relocated from NOrth of Mitrovica? They were ethnic cleansed from Serbs in front of Eulex, KFOR and the whole world. When you speak of cleansing, you have to go back in history. I ask you please don’t speak from what you read in magazines and what you hear from Serbs. You have to hear both sides of the Story. There are plenty of resources if you are a person that takes this seriosly.
“The way you speak, you sound like Boris Tadic, ex-Serb president where he equalizes lost Serb kid with thousands of Albanian kids. When you say in front of KFOR, what you have to say about 11.000 Albanian that have relocated from NOrth of Mitrovica? They were ethnic cleansed from Serbs in front of Eulex, KFOR and the whole world.”
1000 Albanian kids lost, where? Are you saying that 1000 Albanian kids were killed by Serbian forces? I would like to see that evidence.
So what happened with 220 000 non Albanians who left province since 1999? How you call that? I suppose KFOR was there to protect all minorities?
So you say that killings happened after war were not ethnically motivated? Remember what happened in Gorazdevac in front of KFOR http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3148793.stm
Like Shpend said, there is a difference between a state lead and organised campaign (by a popularly elected government that campaigned on that goal I might add, a fact rarely mentioned about the Milosevic regime) to ethically cleans an entire population and individual crimes committed by whoever in revenge.
Shpend by no means tried to justify anyone, to the contrary (he says that explicitly in the letter). He was only arguing against people like you who try to equalize( thus downplay )crimes that were perpetrated by Serbia with those of others.But the fact remains that the crimes committed by Serbs all over the Balkans are incomparable to crimes committed against Serbs. Especially in Kosova’a where there is no evidence of an organised effort to do so. That is also true of what happened in 2004. Just to remind you, that was an event instigated by popular outrage when 2 Albanian children were drowned in the Mitrovica river after being chased with dogs by Serbian paramilitaries. Again in front of the eyes of KFOR which did not do anything to protect Albanians from Serbian state paramilitary structures just like in 2000 when over 11000 Albanians where ethnically cleansed in Mitrovica even after Kosova was under KFOR “control” in order to establish Serbian dominance in the north.
Moreover, there is as much evidence about Serbia’s prime minister links to organised crime as that of Kosova. Furthermore, Serbia’s prime minister was Milosevic’s spokesperson, a prominent member of his party and directly involved with what happened from Slovenia, to Croatia, Bosnia as well as Kosova. In addition, Serbia’s president is the a Chetnik and the former right hand of Voislav Sesel. I could go on and on.
And for your information Kosovars have never popularly supported nor acted in any fascism like manner towards anyone.
“He was only arguing against people like you who try to equalize( thus downplay )crimes that were perpetrated by Serbia with those of others”
Where do I downplay crimes as you said “they were perpetrated by Serbia”? Please point that out to me in my post. Don’t just write this nonsense and accuse me of something I never wrote!
I am not happy with who is in charge in Serbia especially president and prime minister, I will never recognized them as legal representatives of Serbia.However, they don’t run organized crime ring as some of those in region.
You should read about history of WWII and check who were volunteers fighting in German army.
“Just to remind you, that was an event instigated by popular outrage when 2 Albanian children were drowned in the Mitrovica river after being chased with dogs by Serbian paramilitaries”
Ben, this is nonsense and blatant lie. Investigators have found no evidence confirming Serbs were responsible for the drowning of three Kosovo Albanian children. I feel sorry for Albanian children, but story about Serbs chasing Albanian children was just fabricated as excuse to attack Serbs.
To Micha Amarelo
1. you say: I am not happy with who is in charge in Serbia.
Who cares about your happiness ?
The point is that they have the support of the majority of Serb society which keeps electing such people, including Milosevic, because they are chauvinist and fascist, they have always been such throughout history as far as their neighbors are concerned. And they have never admitted nor expressed collective repentance for their crimes. Of course there are some liberal intellectuals, but they are inconsequential. There was simply never a de-nacification process in Serbia.
2. I know my WWII history, do you know yours ?
Like I said there has never been POPULAR support of fascism among Albanians. Ethnic hatred has never been taught or pushed by any Albanian government, it has always been a reaction of Serbs atrocities. Unlike Serbia, which needed to justify and gain support for its expansionist policies by coming up with ridiculous myths about Kosova or the so called “chosen” people that they claimed they were.
Volunteers, sure, like in many European countries including Serbian Cetniks. But unlike them these people supported the Italians and later the Germans not because they supported Fascism as an ideology but out of pragmatic geo-strategical reasons. Serbs, Montenegras and Greeks at the time were already up to their necks with the blood of Albanians ethnically cleansed after the withdrawal of the Ottoman empire. Cooperation with the fascist was seen as a opportunity for self deference.
3. How do you downplay Serb crimes ? You do that the same way the Serbian government does: by putting the spotlight and thus focusing on events such as those of 2004 or propagating falls claims of Serbian s being ethnically cleansed or deported in mass, and blowing all of this out of proportion. As a result, you don’t have to explicitly say that, anyone can read that between the lines.
As far as the events of 2004 are concerned, Serbs that left were not expelled but left out of fear, big difference. Therefore, talking about “ethnic cleansing” as you do is total bullshit. There has NEVER been ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Kosova.
As far as those kids are concerned, just because UNMIK turned a blind eye and chose not to investigate to the end it doesn’t mean it did not happen. Mitrovica is a small place everyone there knows what happened.
Just like they know what happened in 2000, KFOR and UNMIK will be held responsible one day, just like the Dutch soldiers in Bosnia who allowed the Sebrenica massacre.
Also, when you talk about 200000 Serbs leaving Kosova, keep in mind that most of them left together with the Serb army, there was no organised campaign to expel them.
And keep in mind that there was an apartheid like regime in Kosovo, those that left were the privileged class that lost their privileges in Kosovo. Furthermore, many of theme were colonists from parts of Serbia, Montenegro or even refugees from Croatia. Don’t forget the Rankovich regime under Tito, that expelled Albanians to Turkey and brought in Serbian settlers.
And keep in mind that just like Serbs there are a lot of Albaniana leaving Kosova, a lot more in fact. Decades of economic exploitation and discrimination have not left much opportunity of anyone.
No need to swear mate. What I wrote about ethnic cleansing in March 2004 was stated in BBC and Reuters sources, those are not Serbian sources.
It was pre-orchestrated attempt to drive all remaining Serbs out from the province. Whole world saw it.
Neither I have explicitly or implicitly indicated in my post that crimes against Albanians were never committed. Those crimes were well documented by CNN and other western media and some of them were blown out of proportion like operation horseshoe (another hoax)which was excuse to start bombing.
You should read about WWII and what 21st Waffen Mountain Division SS Skanderbeg and Balli Kombëtar did to Serbs and Montenegrins. Serbs and Montenegrins were ethnically cleansed (and later banned from returning to Kosovo by Tito’s communists) and tens of thousands were killed by ethnic Albanians.
It is pointless discussing with you anything, you are blinded by hate.First look in your own yard before you accuse other side being fascist, otherwise your hypocrisy will never end.
And next time don’t swear!
To Micha Amarelo (i’m reporting this comment as i replied to Michael by mistake)
1. The articles that you quote do not say that the event was orchestrated but rather i quote:
”
Admiral Johnson also said he believed that some of the trouble had been orchestrated.
He added that Nato peacekeepers were investigating whether the violence had been organised by ethnic Albanian militants.
”
2. Don’t twist my words in order to be able to refute my claims. To say the least you look ridiculous to the public which can read what i said above.
I did not say that:” you reject the fact Albanians were never committed”. Rather I said that you are trying to down play Serbian crimes and equalize them with those against Serbians. As i previously explained and you did not refute.
3. As far as WWII is concerned there is ABSOLUTELY no evidence of crimes against Serb civilians. Unless you base our claims on people such as Dobrica Qosic, or for that matter any other fascist member of the Serbian academy of “Science”.
I don’t need to refute your claims they are unfounded. You can write here what ever you want. Just look at history how many times Albanians tried to create ethnically clean Albanian state, free of other nationalities? And look at latest research which nationality is the most racist in Europe? That will teach you something about tolerance for other nationalities which you seem not to have it. You can cry how you were prosecuted under Milosevic, but look at your record, before Milosevic (systematic attacks on Serbs, rapes,desecration of Serbian graves) and after Milosevic since NATO “liberated” you.
This is how Shpend Ahmeti protects American values from an American!
His job is not to pretect anyones thoughts but his, or political groupe that he belongs.
His thoughts, and generally “Self-Determination’s” thoughts or viewpoints, aim democracy, equality, humanity, or better said; aim the state of law.
Further more democracy is proclaimed by most of the countries to be “applied” in their political system, but the truth is that there is no country but U.S.A to manage a democratic system at the best way possible.
Maybe that’s the reason we are all surprised for what Ed declared.
Thank you for your kind words about American democracy, but if you’ve observed it in action, surely you’ve noticed that it involves a lot of people not being able to implement their idea of what is the best way to run the country at any given time. Not even when they win an election.
It always makes me a little nervous when I see people standing in long lines to vote for the first time after an authoritarian government has been overturned, thinking that one vote is going to change everything, fix everything that is wrong with their society. They are almost sure to be disappointed, in the short term, anyway. And then there’s always the chance that the impatient will try to shortcut the process and push through the policies they think are needed, and everything goes into reverse. There are no guarantees, and it pays to be cautious and not take what has been achieved for granted.
Democracy reduces the struggle to impose your ideas to a matter of counting votes rather than fighting it out in the streets, but it is still still a messy process that requires more work than you can imagine. And it takes longer. You complain about there still being shortcomings in Kosovo after 14 years? We’re still working on our own form of democracy after 233 years.
I am really surprised with Edward Josephs comments about Vetevendosje. First of all I am an American and whatever he said in his comments doesn’t have to do anything with USA and its philosophy. Second, you can clearly see that he is effected either by Thacis lobby in DC or even worse serbian lobby in DC. This clearly shows that he wants to harm Vetevendosje in any way he can even by using rhetoric that is not based on arguments or any logic whatsoever. But hay even USA has 350 million inhabitants, never know in who you can run into this days!