No Dialogue in Sight

On Wednesday, February 23, the authorities closed down the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Kosovo (KANU), and moved the Association of Deaf into the building. The ethnic Albanian side has called this move "one more repressive act by the authorities in stifling the right to an authentic culture." The Serbian side sees it as the functioning of a state governed by law, i.e., the carrying through of a decision under which KANU is a department of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences (SANU) which will issue the title of academician according to its norms.

The lives of ethnic Albanians can best be followed in education, sport and business. On the other hand, Serbs in Kosovo are involved in the administration, financial supervisory bodies, the economy and the practically dead socially-owned sector.

Serbs and ethnic Albanians in Pristina stroll in their separate parts of the city, the first in the center, the latter in Qapi. Great quantities of garbage which is not collected, is common to both sides. The self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo (recognized only by Albania) and the Republic of Serbia function on parallel tracks, both creating the necessary illusion that the two sides are functioning and legitimate. The Serbian authorities have not protected their interests by preventing the ethnic Albanians from implementing their own fiscal policy, under which all ethnic Albanian businessmen must earmark 5%-10% of their net income for the Kosovo Republic budget. In this sense, Kosovo Republic is sovereign. The professors teaching at the High School "Sami Frasheri" don't know if their work is illegal or not. The policemen in front of the school, watching the mass of children leaving the school, have the same dilemma.

"A state governed by law is functioning. Kosovo is increasingly stable, public law and order are better than before, and anarchy has been prevented," said President of the Kosovo District Milos Simovic. He added that "ethnic Albanians are boycotting the entire system" and "that both sides are internationalizing their problem".

"Ethnic Albanians have taken over Kosovo and Metohija's economy. Time is on their side, and we are satisfied that there is no shooting, and that we can say that Kosmet (Serbian expression for the province of Kosovo, which is divided into Kosovo and Metohija) is an integral part of Serbia", said deputy Tomislav Sekulic, one of Kosovo's prominent Serbs.

Simovic and Sekulic also claim that Serbia has not lost Kosovo, another phrase frequently repeated by Kosovo Serbs. Ethnic Albanian capital (estimated at 95% of the capital in the region) is, however, what Kosovo Serbs fear most. "We held the economy, and we threw it all away," said Sekulic. The "Trepca" mine is not working. It worked when the English leased it before World War Two, it worked under the Germans during WW2 and under the Albanians after the war. The Serbs let it run to ruin, incompetent Serbs, that is."

After Serbia introduced special measures in the region, economic complexes in Kosovo came to a standstill. "Trepca" had produced 100,000 tons of lead ingots, 40,000 tons of electrolyte zinc, 100 tons of silver, 30 tons of bismuth and cadmium... Depending on the London Stock Exchange, "Trepca" had earned 100-150 million dollars annually.

The economy and the infrastructure are falling apart even though nearly 10 billion dollars were pumped into it from 1965-1990, said Sekulic. There are many empty and boarded up lots in Kosovo with abandoned cranes. "A small-time mentality reigned instead of common sense", said Sekulic.

After Serbia took control over Kosovo's economy, more than 100,000 ethnic Albanian blue collar workers were sacked, according to ethnic Albanian data. The private sector in Kosovo - about 10,000 firms - are practically all owned by ethnic Albanians. According to unofficial but competent sources, this sector owned 8.33% of the capital invested in Kosovo's economy and created 30% of the gross income, and 45% of the profit made in Kosovo in 1993.

None of the given figures include those 95% ethnic Albanian-held capital. Ethnic Albanian immigrant workers contribute greatly to the wealth of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. The number of those living and working abroad varies between 250,000-500,000, depending on tactical-political needs. Ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova's economic advisor Naif Zeka says that these workers earmark 3% of their earnings for tax for the so-called Kosovo Republic, and this accounts for 35% of the budget. They also support families at home. Zeka says that 22,000 families receive social aid all the time, and 36,000 only from time to time. Rugova's education advisor Dzavid Ahmeti has data which show that 274,000 pupils attend parallel ethnic Albanian primary schools, 64,000 attend secondary schools and that there 16,000 students. Around 20,000 teachers cover ethnic Albanian educational requirements.

The ethnic Albanian's financial superiority can be seen by the number of luxury cars, restaurants, shops and satellite antennas. It is said that they have been installed to catch programs broadcast from Albania. This was probably one of the initial reasons, but the influence of the ten-odd western European channels can be seen in schools, on the streets and probably in the homes.

The ethnic Albanian's demographic explosion is another sore point with Kosovo Serbs, since in 50-60 years' time there will be an equal number of ethnic Albanians and Serbs in the Republic of Serbia. For this reason the "colonization of Kosovo" is often mentioned by Serbs.

The Serbian national bloc wants the colonization to be improved, through the financial stimulation of settlers. We did not manage to learn the number of migrations in the region at the Pristina Statistical office, since it is no longer in charge of such data. The last data on the number new settlers and those who had left, was brought by the Pristina daily "Jedinstvo" (Serbian-language paper) at the end of the first quarter of 1993. The number of arrivals was greater than the number of departures by one.

President of the Association for the colonization of Kosmet Dragan Icic has announced a rally and a collective moving out. "Enormous sums of money have been spent on building 184 flats for returned emigrants, but there are no flats and no returnees," says Icic bitterly, adding that relatives and friends of "Kosovo power-brokers" have moved into them. Icic says that many questions will be asked at the rally, including who sold bought flats to ethnic Albanians, who doesn't agree with the plan for the colonization of Kosovo, and why.

At the entrance to Pec, a youth stands on the right side of the road. He has a semi-automatic rifle over his shoulder, an army bag and boots in his hands. His nonchalant swagger shows that he believes he has the answer to Kosovo's demographic explosion.

Member of the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo Presidency Ismaill Rexhepi does not believe in widely-held demographic forecasts. "Ethnic Albanians are entering different courses of development and the demographic growth is abating, but demography is currently a good topic for political manipulation", said Rexhepi.

"The thesis of a demographic equalization between Serbs and ethnic Albanians is being pushed through everywhere, but I believe that the wrong conclusions are being reached, because nobody knows how many ethnic Albanians there are in Serbia", said professor Dragisa Velickovic who teaches economic development in Pristina. He doubts the accuracy of the later censuses because of the drastic difference between the one in 1961 and those made in 1971 and 1981. Velickovic thinks it is erroneous to follow the growth rate of ethnic Albanians by current criteria, because the "ethnic Albanian population is now ending a transitional phase and in ten years' time at the most, it will have a growth rate of 1%-1.5%. Velickovic bases his forecast on the Europeanization of the former Communist oligarchy which has turned into a business oligarchy, and with the wish of young Albanians working abroad to invest their capital in business and not in building big houses and living a communal life with one's extended family. He adds that Kosovo-Metohija is over populated, and that the region's water resources are sufficient for only 2.5 million people.

No one has yet mentioned the water-supply problems. All that is mentioned is the ethnic Albanian's financial superiority and demographic numbers. The Serbs are also concerned that the West's military force could come to the aid of ethnic Albanians, while ethnic Albanians are uneasy about Serbia's military force. Former politician (in Socialist Yugoslavia, arrested at Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's order) turned lawyer, Azem Vlasi, underscores that force is the logic followed by Milosevic, but more than this, he is concerned because Milosevic, does not know how to rule without problems.

No one in the Serbian bloc thinks that war is a solution. District head Simovic says that Serbs and ethnic Albanians have never fought directly, and that the latter would not dare risk their population and capital. This way of thinking is typical of Serbs. "I issued ethnic Albanians with 130 permits for water pumps last year. All those objects are worth from 250,000 to several million German marks, and when someone invests that kind of money, then they are not thinking of war," said Milan Jocic, director of the Kosovo Water Fund. The Serbs do not think that they could be the ones to start the war nor do they think that ethnic Albanians would do so. The latter, however, believe that Serbia's international situation after the war in Croatia and Bosnia is not very favorable and that it is tired of war. But, the two sides have not found a way of telling this to one another officially. There is no dialogue, and the two nations continue to live alongside each other, unable to reach an agreement on what to do about the garbage.

Soul Food

Serbs and Montenegrins have returned to Kosovo in great numbers. They have not however, come from Serbia or Montenegro, and this has proved to be the source of their problems.

Exactly three years ago, in March 1991, 180 families consisting of 1027 persons fled from Vraka in Albania to the territory of the present Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The women were put up at the jail in Spuza, while the men were given tents in the vicinity of the jail. Since December 1991 they have been in "Decanski Borovi" a former youth hostel close to the Decani monastery.

In the meantime, their number has decreased. About thirty girls got married, six people died, while a third are in Montenegro working as day-laborers. They ask: if it is so nice here, why have so many people gone to Montenegro, where they work as day-laborers, and where they have to pay for private accommodation. They have a ready answer: they are cramped, four people live in a two-bed room, they have worked in factories and on state-owned estates in Pec and Decani and were never paid for their work. They show us damp rooms with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's picture and that of folk star Dragana Mirkovic on the wall.

"He has opened my eyes, and she is good for my soul", said Panto Matanovic, who works as a driver in Pec.

The majority however, were not lucky enough to find a job. They sell tobacco, which they deny bringing over from Albania. They claim that they must smuggle, and that they have been demonized in the Kosovo public. The demonization started when they refused to move into houses in Rastovac which will be completed by autumn at the state's expense. They explain this with "biological" reasons: there are only six Serb houses in Rastovac and they would have to inter-marry, and would then "destroy their Serb souls", as Mirko Brajovic put it.

The settlement will cost 30 million German marks and should be finished by autumn. The arrivals from Albania have refugee status and are still waiting. They complain of the monotonous food they get, and praise Zeljko Raznatovic Arkan who "understands them, brings them food and clothes and keeps his word".

The building of the settlement with standardized houses and 2-5 hectares of land each is due to start. The logic is - if they don't want them, there are those who do.

Mesozoic

The "Sami Frasheri" Secondary School is one of the 202 parallel ethnic Albanian schools which are housed in private buildings, said ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova's education advisor Dzavid Ahmeti. The school is in a house with 26 rooms. The classrooms are 16-17 sq meters, while the children sit on the floor and hold their books on their knees.

As far as ethnic Albanians are concerned, this is a legal school, and has documents with the official Kosovo Republic stamp. The authorities, however, don't seem to be absolutely clear on this point. The teachers say that the police searched the premises twice last year, confiscated two registers which they never returned and took several teachers in for "informative talks".

The teachers say they have opted for this method of education because they were not prepared to accept the state's discriminatory programs, because the curriculum covered only 7% of Albanian writers in language classes, and that Mathematics books said that "Milan had five apples and Milena two" instead of it being "Adem had five and Drita two" (the matter concerns the use of Serbian and Albanian names).

A History teacher said that History was the most catastrophic subject and that the Serbs had falsified it, because it never said anywhere that Kosovo was the land of ethnic Albanians. "Albanians have been here since the Mesozoic", said the History professor, showing drastic national romanticism, to which the other professors laughed heartily.

The children say that they won't read Serbian authors because "the Serbs don't read ours." They believe that Serbian authors are carriers of Serbian nationalism. Dzon Leshaj claims to have heard that "Nobel award recipient Ivo Andric foresaw the destruction of ethnic Albanians in some of his writing". "The whole of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences is based on such a program", claims Teuta Sellimi, adding that she "has nothing against Serbian culture, just its politics".

Even though they have not read Serbian authors, the majority do listen to Serbian rock music and know most of the best bands. They do not however, have a best friend who is Serbian. Even rock music does not bring them together. They don't listen to Serbian folk music, because the "Serbs don't listen to ours".

They are not concerned because the stamps on their diplomas are not recognized internationally. They say that some of their high school friends have entered US universities.