The challenges certainly made themselves heard, in the presentations of
the speakers and then in passionate contributions from the floor. Anna
Di Lellio, formerly of the UN and the OSCE, talked powerfully of
Kosovo's status of 'permanent transition' and 'permanent negotiation'.
The panel and audience debated the extent of ethnic cleansing, of
restrictions on movement for those living in enclaves, of organised
crime, of Kosovo as a precedent, and of the failures of the
international community. Depressing and familiar and depressingly
familiar themes.
However one refreshing theme emerged. Daut Dauti's final word on the
subject was 'hope'; Tim Judah elaborated. He reminded his listeners of
the dire forecasts made this time last year of what the world could
expect as a result of a declaration of independence: lines of Kosovo's
Serbs on tractors heading for the border, enclaves wiped out, churches
destroyed, and Serbian politics dominated by the far right. It hasn't
happened.
The upbeat tone surprised me. When I had read Judah's book Kosovo: war
and revenge I had found it a bleak analysis of the cycles of Serb and
Albanian ascendancy in Kosovo and the apparent inevitability of these
cycles. This view is perhaps another way of articulating Anna Di
Lellio's concept of Kosovo's 'permanent transition'. I hadn't wanted
to believe that these cycles and transitions would repeat endlessly.
But how could the last 10 years be considered different from any other
period of Kosovo's bloody history? My optimistic answer would be
because of this and that. This, the internet. That, the debate at LSE
and what it represents. Through electronic media, widely if not
universally available, and through other contact with people from
beyond the Balkans, today's Kosovars - Serb, Albanian, and others - are
more aware than any generation before them, of the world outside
Kosovo. Kosovo has witnessed an unprecedented exchange of peoples and
ideas in this decade, through the international community which has
come to Kosovo and the experience of Kosovars and the countries where
they sought asylum. The world has heard of Kosovo, has learned from
experiences there; and Kosovars too have a perspective which is better
informed, which takes in wider considerations, including the EU and
NATO, Russia, the world Islamic community. In every sense of the
phrase, Kosovars are now better connected.
On a visit to Prizren a while ago I spoke to a Roma community leader
about work he was doing there on the integration of different ethnic
communities. I asked him what had inspired him to take on such a
challenge and he told me that he had been a refugee in Switzerland.
There he had seen how Italian, French and German communities lived
together harmoniously - and profitably, and when he came back to Kosovo
he started working to achieve something similar in his home town. From
my own experience of working in Hackney, an economically-deprived and
socially challenging area of London which is the first home for many
asylum-seekers from across the world, I had to wonder whether all
Kosovo's refugees would have taken such positive messages from the
communities where they lived abroad. But as Tuesday night's audience -
diaspora, Kosovar students on scholarships, Foreign Office analysts,
and BBC Radio 4 listeners - left the LSE theatre, in intense discussion
in Serbian, Albanian, English, I had an uncertain sense of hope that
this and that might be experiences which could just make the
difference, break the cycle of 'war and revenge'. Everyone knows what
is at stake here. Maybe this time next year the challenges will
dominate less and an LSE debate could be held on 'Kosovo's Independence
and the Balkans: regional implications and successes'.
MXG
said:
 |
... Perhaps so, but the Western International Community that pays the bills and provides the security for Kosovo has the mandate and moral authority to more forcefully implement its ideas and ideals in Kosovo without yielding to the Serbian poisonous hybrid nationalism. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
