By Saša Janković
Dear Ilir,
I hope you’re doing well!
Reading your letter, I was struck by your optimism about the ongoing efforts toward „normalization“—the treaties, agreements, processes, annexes… Of course, something is better than nothing, but to me, these seem like slow, small, anxious, forced, and insincere moves by our authorities. The kind of moves you’d expect when there’s no real will to truly make a difference, but there is strong pressure to show some progress.
If that weren’t the case, everything would proceed much more naturally and quickly, without the need for “stick and carrot” tactics, whether from the USA or the EU. Normalization should mean a return to normalcy, shouldn’t it? Isn’t bringing life from an extraordinary state back to normal the most natural, obvious, and easy thing to do? Isn’t it the only… normal thing to do?
How is it that we need the Berlin Process to allow goods and people to move “normally”? “Rounds” and rounds of negotiations for something as simple as children going to school, people obtaining ID documents, pensions being paid? The sad truth is that we have accepted a reality where a handful of politicians pretend to be tackling a colossal issue, portraying themselves as indispensable. Meanwhile, with one hand they sign agreements, and with the other they break them.
This may sound audacious, given that we’ve accepted the lie about the supposedly great, complex work they’re doing, but if I had succeeded in becoming a major decision-maker, all these “normalizations” of life for people in Kosovo and Metohija would have been completed within seven days – at least from the Serbian side. Not for a second would I allow the advancement of my political and geopolitical ideas for Serbia and the Balkans, including the protection of Serbia’s sovereignty, to be paved with the broken backs of ordinary people, while normal life for them is delayed indefinitely with “processes,” leaving them as hostages to “greater” goals.
But enough about “processes” and other political correctness. Let me try to address something more controversial:
I understand that Albanians in Kosovo today feel that they are finally in control of their own lives, and that for decades they did not see the government in Belgrade as their own. To be sure, the regime of Slobodan Milosevic played its part in deepening this feeling of alienation, to put it very mildly. I know from experience how it feels to be regarded by authorities as unwanted – a threat, a problem. Our Prime Minister, President, Speaker of Parliament, ministers… openly communicate this to those who disagree with them politically, but they also demonstrate it in practice. What I’m trying to say is that I believe I can understand, to a degree, how some ethnic Albanians in Kosovo felt discriminated against, deprived, and endangered in the past within Serbia. But that means that I also understand how Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija feel today.
Still, not everything unfolds along ethnic lines. I, a Serb in Serbia, am given a hard time by people in power, not all of whom are ethnic Serbs. They have found a bond among themselves – a thirst for power, unchecked authority, and vast wealth – that is stronger than any ethnic, religious, or other difference between them. If they have managed this, despite, in my view, being poor leaders and politicians, why couldn’t the best among Serbs and Albanians – those who are prominent politically, culturally, scientifically, artistically, athletically, and in all other ways socially – find their own common bond, be it political, ethical, or cultural, and unite in strength? How is it that we couldn’t prevent, and still cannot end, our division along the most primitive ethnic lines, a division fostered by people I don’t consider good? How good are we then, really, if the bad are winning?
That question troubles and perplexes me. I hope that this exchange of ours stands as a small testament to the hope that, perhaps, in the future, this might change; that we will stop dividing and start uniting. I’ll write to you another time about why and how I believe integration would be far better for us all, not only Albanians and Serbs in the Balkans.
Warm regards from chilly Skopje,
Saša
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
