UN RADIO IN KOSOVO

INTERVIEW – SHKELZEN MALIQI

By Zoran CULAFIC

Hello and welcome, from the studios of UN Radio in Kosovo…

Civil disobedience is an historical phenomenon that has developed as human civilization has developed, although the term itself appeared first in the mid-19^th century. As well, civil disobedience has been well-documented at every stage of human history – from Socrates, to Martin Luther, to Martin Luther King Jr. to Mohandas Gandhi to Ang San Suu Kyi. Under Slobodan Milosevic’s authority in the 1990’s, civil disobedience was also documented, and in effort to explore the subject, UN Radio interviewed Shkelzen Maliqi, senior political analyst and senior editor with the Kosovo daily newspaper, Express.

Maliqi was an activist in Kosovo in the 1990’s against the Milosevic presidency. When UN Radio asked Maliqi about the shape of protest movements today, he said that civil obedience is rarely a spontaneous act in modern society.

When it is spontaneous than there are riots, unrest, it tends to lack any sense of restraint. Usually it is connected with certain circles that intentionally organize such protests. In the 1990’s, myself and my friends were responsible for the first mass protests. We held rally’s holding only candles in which we peacefully blocked the roads. The protocol was to announce that the protest would only last one or two hours and then people follow the schedule strictly… but always there is a risk that someone could provoke and incite the authorities.”

Maliqi stresses that civil obedience in general is a positive act, and part of a civil society. Because Kosovo’s governing institutions are still in the formative stages of development, Maliqi says citizens do have a democratic right to protest to influence this development.

Civil disobedience takes place when authorities limit human rights or when it limits its citizenry to express their interests freely and uninhibited. Often we protest here because certain laws are unjust or some leaders are abusing their authority, but in general, Kosovo citizens do not question the authorities enough. Except in the cases where workers or pensioners protest. Civil disobedience always means resisting the authorities.

Is there common ground in Kosovo for civil disobedience when such deep ethnic divisions exist? According to Maliqi, the time is not right for admission of mutual interests of discontent in society.

In Kosovo during the last 15 years we have had a conflict of ethnic interests and it was the motive for civil disobedience. So, the protest movement in the 90’s was organized by Albanians against Milosevic and was not a movement of all citizens here. Rather it was an ethnically motivated movement. Although Albanians called for human rights and opposed the repression that was in all spheres of the life – not just in cultural areas but also in areas like the right to work and the right to exist free from persecution. Since the end of the conflict, we have a similar kind of civil disobedience coming from the Serb side, ethnically motivated protest.

Ramush Haradinaj’s resignation as Kosovo prime minister and his subsequent indictment and extradition to The Hague on March 9 has not caused a serious upsurge in unrest, as some analysts predicted. Kosovo’s top administrator, SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen called the civil response to Haradinaj’s indictment “politically mature.” According to Maliqi, Kosovo Albanians did not riot because they are keenly aware of the international scrutiny on Kosovo as it moves towards status discussions.

Albanian citizens do have a certain political aim and vision for the future. They do not want to be a part of Serbia again. The political aspirations they worked so hard to achieve during the 1990’s, both by political means and through peaceful protests and ultimately by a war that started in 98 – they are now channelling these aspirations of independence through the building of democratic institutions in the presence of international community.

Still, Maliqi says the forms of civil disobedience would likely change if final status talks produce results that the majority Albanian population sees as inadequate – namely a denial of some sort of conditional independence for Kosovo.

Probably, the terms and methods for achieving such a goal are going to be adapted to a new reality. I don’t believe that we are going to see a new war here, but there could be some kind of civil disobedience and pressure both on the international community and on Serbia to give up the idea of controlling Kosovo any more. Practically, such a control does not exist. Even technically, no Kosovo Albanian sees Kosovo as a part of Serbia now or in the foreseeable future.”

That was Shkelzen Maliqi commenting on the state of activism in Kosovo. For transcripts of this broadcast, go to www.unmikonline.org and follow the UNMIK Radio link.

Stay tuned at this time next week, when UN Radio in Kosovo features an interview with long-time activist, Adem Demaci, in the second part of a three part series on the shape of activism in Kosovo. Thanks for listening.