|
from ammocity.com politics and society
back when kosovo was still part of yugoslavia, it was a little known province in serbia with a vast hybrid past including turkish heritage and albanian heroism. in 1992 bosnia happened, and it wasn’t long before kosovo went down the same bloody path. kosovo and bosnia have a few things in common: they are predominantly muslim, and when it came to war, they could not arm themselves for shit. along came the americans. the war finished in march 1999, and the americans are still the big boys here. having bombed the shit out of kosovo for 74 days until june ‘99, n.a.t.o. planes forced the big bad serbs to run for the hills. actually, a rather drunken commander of the british royal air force, back in 2000 told me that the actual target hit-rate in kosovo was one in three. but so what if a few hospitals were destroyed along the way, it was all part of the greater good. today, the streets of prishtina are a milieu of white u.n. vehicles, burly n.a.t.o. troops with big guns, and about 120,000 kids. kosovo has the largest population of under 25’s in europe, with 62% of the population aged between 15 and 26. ensuring the spread of your seed is well practiced here, one proud albanian told me that children are born kalashnikov-stylee in kosovo with one each baby following in rapid-fire. the social effect of so many young people in a place like kosovo is a mixed bag of joy and disillusionment, education, ecstacy and house music. the streets are alive with children playing, students chatting, youths drinking coffee and whistling at girls – the girl that smiles back is the one to avoid apparently. at midday and at night the coffee shops and bars spill onto the streets as more and more people arrive to see and be seen. since the end of 1999 the culture industries have taken off big time. the electronic music bug has spread to kosovo – and anyone worth his salt aspires to be a promoter/ producer /dj/ band member. there are music collectives popping up everywhere, such as the prishtina-based ‘undersound collective’ and the cross boarder macedonian group ‘pmg’. although the usual bitching and backstabbing goes on between groups and genres, they have all done pretty well in schmoozing ‘evil’ capitalists (mostly gangsters/ insurance companies) into sponsoring the arrival of foreign djs.
a regular hedonist and gurner, who will remain unnamed, told me that since the party scene and ecstacy hit kosovo, he’s been having a bloody good time: “i am out all weekend, from friday night to monday morning, i can’t get enough. but for some people drugs are a 'problem'; since the opening up of borders, drugs are much easier to get, and there are many people here who just use them to escape, instead of to enjoy.” despite the partying, drugs and chasing girls, there is an unfortunate and high level of disillusionment amongst the young in kosovo. 20 years is a bloody long time to live under oppression, especially if today you are 22. when the allied bombs started dropping in march ‘99, kosovar eyes lit up with expectation - just as they were running for their lives to neighbouring macedonia. once u.s. troops swaggered into the province on july 11 1999, refugees returned with unprecedented speed. 22-year-old sokol loshi explains: “now that the u.n. has a mandate here, we albanians are more free. we can go to school without fear of being turned back by serbian police, there is no longer a curfew and parties can be held legally. liberation is a good thing, if only albanians knew how to use it.” however, since the liberation, kosovo has failed to become the mother country everybody hoped for. one main criticism, and perhaps reason for this, has been the international community’s failure to determine kosovo’s final status. at the moment it remains a separatist province of serbia proper, and the u.n. maintain that until ethnic cohesion and economic stability are achieved, kosovo’s fate will remain undecided.
economic stability and ethnic cohesion all look diplomatically plausible within the bureaucratic treadmill of the u.n.; but for the average kosovar whose internal sense of identity and belonging is at crisis point, the future is not bright. the kosovar-albanians still bear a huge grudge against the kosovar-serbs, who make up just 6% of the population. the serbs still wildly mistrust the albanians, mainly in fear of revenge attacks. economic stability appears to be a distant light: making capitalist a once communist country is no spring picnic. privatization of previously state owned enterprises entails on the one hand, a much needed injection of money. but on the dark side it means contracts are going to tender and usually ending up in foreign hands, a controversial economic policy that is now also in place in iraq. privatization has led to loss of employment and subsequent protests. but capital overrides local human cost at the moment, and the reasons are obvious. the electricity plant can never supply the whole of prishtina all of the time. since the fall of the state public utilities have suffered gravely and the rubbish piles high and the roads are in disrepair. and until recently, prishtina looked like beirut on a bad day. however, one thing that communism gets right is education (learn thoroughly or be shot), and this is something that kosovo should rely on. the youth of kosovo continue to be insightful, multi-lingual, well-educated souls who become doctors, engineers, journalists and economists. due to this fact, i have high hopes for kosovo, but more than that, i have respect. i was sharply reminded of the embarrassing educational comparison to the west when i met an american soldier in the customs queue at prishtina airport. confused as to where he was supposed to go, we listened out for verbal instruction. when an attendant finally called the flight and people started to move, he turned to me and whined: “i wish i spoke that garbage language, maybe then i’d know how the hell i get out of this place.” when i pointed out that she had in fact called her instructions in english, he replied irritably: “ god dammit, i can’t wait ‘til the americans are released from this hell-hole.” neither can i g.i., neither can i. discuss kosovo here © copyright 2003 AMMO CITY INDUSTRIES LTD |
