Ruairi O'Connell

The power of symbols

From the Embassy window, I can see a pair of eagles circling above Pristina; I've seen many in the Kosovo countryside, but I think it is rare to see them in an urban environment.

Eagles are revered across the Balkans (and more widely in Central and Eastern Europe). They feature on both the Albanian and Serbia (state) flag, in double-headed form. This set me thinking about the power of symbols in this part of the world.

There is a much-quoted story from the war in Croatia where a ceasefire was called between Croatian forces and Croatian Serb militia. The details of a local truce had been agreed, but the whole ceasefire collapsed over the issue of which flag - Serbian or Croatian - should fly over the local train station.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the story, but it illustrates the importance given to symbols in this part of the world. Flags are everywhere in Kosovo; people fly them at weddings, when building houses, and on celebrations. And flags cause arguments, too: last week, a man was arrested after allegedly breaking into a Mosque and hanging a Serbian flag from the roof (and then, apparently, shooting at Kosovo police officers).

This was why so much effort was placed into the design of the new Kosovo flag, designed to represent ideals shared by all Kosovo's communities (its colours - blue, yellow and white - represent the European identity of Kosovo), and to alienate none. It is a commendable design, for this reason. But it will be a long time before we see Kosovo Serbs flying the flag. This is not the flag's fault. It's pretty obvious to say, but symbols represent people and views. So when the people are divided, the use of symbols will reflect that. Even the eagle symbol fails to unify; the Albanian eagle is black, the Serbian white. But the flag does represent a noble intention; to create new symbols that can represent everyone. And it is that intention - rather than the symbols themselves - that may mean that, in the future, everyone in Kosovo feels represented by shared symbols.

Posted at 16:29 04 July 2008 by Ruairi O'Connell  | 

Outreach II

I was down in the village of Babljak/Bablak*, south of Pristina, on Friday. An encouraging visit.

Bablak's history demonstrates an interesting problem in Kosovo. In 1999, the Albanian villagers were driven out, and many of their homes were destroyed. In 2004, many of the Serbian villagers in the Pristina had their houses burnt. In both cases, it was people from outside the village who caused the problems.

Relations in the village now are much the same as ever . The villagers talk to each other, get on, and have similar concerns, mostly about unemployment. The head of the municipal administration recently visited the village. The K-Serb villagers told me that the visit had been 'super'; they were happy to receive guarantees from him and the local police chief - but were now looking to the local politicians to fulfill their promises.  But both Serbian and Albanian villagers are concerned that 'outsiders' will cause problems in their village. This is a lesson that we have learnt since 2004. In order to promote values of tolerance, and reconcile the communities, we need to focus less on the point of interaction between the communities (i.e. stop having multiethnic round tables) and deal more directly with each community. 

This leads me to some of the points that Rory and Stefan have made - I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

The first is the idea that the Kosovo institutions discriminate against Kosovo Serbs, and that Kosovo Serbs cannot leave their villages 'without the danger of being shot'. Clearly, immediately after the conflict, when NATO entered, life was hard for the Kosovo Serbs. Many left - either by choice, through fear, or by force.  There were revenge killings directed against the Kosovo Serbs who had chosen to stay. Progress was made; but the events of March 2004 were a big setback, when 19 people (Serbs and Albanians) were killed in riots across Kosovo.

However, the situation has improved since. Regarding K-Serb safety, it is true to say that many Kosovo Serbs feel insecure - the outreach programme is meant to help address this. But levels of inter-ethnic violence are low and decreasing. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Kosovo Serbs come to Pristina daily, mostly, but not exclusively, for work. People speak Serbian on the streets. People interact in the villages; I was at a point-to-point horse race south of Pristina last year, where Serbs took part alongside Albanians (I was the only foreigner there - the multi-ethnicity was spontaneous, not prompted by the international community). The story isn't the same across Kosovo; Serbs in North Mitrovica (the divided city in Northern Kosovo - see http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=3650&l=1) do not feel safe to travel to South Mitrovica, and Albanians in the South (excluding those few tolerated in North Mitrovica) are prevented from crossing the river that divides the city by leather-jacketed thugs. But I can't agree that Serbs in Kosovo are in danger of being shot if they leave their homes; things have improved.

Equally, about the Kosovo government. I've frequently said in the past (including in the Kosovo media) that I'm not paid to lobby on behalf of the Kosovo government. They have got things wrong. But how one responds to problems is quite indicative. The riots of March 2004 were appalling. But the Kosovo government's reaction to it, I think, is interesting. Unprompted, they pledged to rebuild, from their own funds (the Kosovo budget even today is less than 1bn euro annually) every destroyed house and church. They have come through - although Church reconstruction is held up by disagreements in the committee designed to oversee the process, almost every house has been rebuilt.

The sense I got from  my current and previous work in the Balkans is that it is almost impossible to talk about the Balkans without people seeing the issue in a zero sum way; if you want to help Albanians, then you must be 'against' the Serbs.

It is clear that the Serbs have suffered too since the start of the 1990s. My Serb friends often tell me that the Serbs were Milosevic's biggest victims. I don't buy this. But I would agree that no-one has done more harm to the Serbs - whether in Serbia or elsewhere - than Milosevic and the people who carried out his policies. In any case, I am clear about what our (UK, Europe, my) long-term goal is - it's to get the whole of the region ready for EU membership. The only way for this to work, is to shed the zero-sum mentality.

* All Kosovo's villages, towns and cities have at least two names - in Serbian and Albanian, and sometimes also in Turkish - similar to Londonderry/Derry in Northern Ireland. The UN convention is to list both in English, putting the name used by the majority population first. We follow this convention, but it can be a bit clunky, especially in speech ("I went to Ferizaj/Urosevac the other day"), so I often mix it up - use one name first, then the other. This works in Kosovo (where everyone knows the various names), but can be confusing for outsiders at first.

Posted at 13:36 12 February 2008 by Ruairi O'Connell  |  Comments[3]

Kosovo's image

A year after I arrived in Kosovo, a Kosovo MP asked me about the image of Kosovo in the UK.

I asked her if she wanted a truthful answer. "Of course", she said, expecting that the image of Kosovo in the UK would be the same of the UK amongst Kosovo Albanians (where we are seen as liberators following the 1999 NATO intervention).

She was somewhat taken aback by my reply. I said that, in all probability, most people in the UK would have no idea where Kosovo was, and, if they knew anything about Kosovo, it would be limited to the conflict during the 1990s. We agreed that such an image was hardly likely to draw investors or tourists to Kosovo.

Indeed, Kosovo has only featured on our TV screens when something goes wrong. Even then, the only issues we here are linked to the conflict. There are no Kosovo football teams in the champions league; no Kosovo bands in the charts; Pristina is not yet a destination for weekend breaks (or stag nights). There is a real sense that Kosovo = conflict.

So I was very happy to visit a craft fair at the Ethnological Museum in Pristina over the weekend. This followed a week-long 'artisan in residence' programme at the museum (details on the dardamedia website at http://www.dardamedia.com/muzeuetnologjik/?p=1), supported by a very small grant from the British Office. The event brought artisans from across Kosovo to perform demonstrations in Pristina - and provided the opportunity to sell their work.

Pleasingly, this included artisans and visitors from all of Kosovo's ethnic communities. This was not, in the memorable words of a friend, just 'multiethnicity for food'. The artisans and visitors came because they wanted to - not because someone had paid them to. This is the natural consequence of representing Kosovo's craft heritage; Kosovo culture, like that of the UK, involves many different traditions, and an exhibition of Kosovo crafts should draw them all in. But most importantly, the event gave people a way to interact, and to think about Kosovo, in a way that did not involve politics or 'The Conflict', and without being staged or artificial . As I said to the young and committed volunteer staff at the museum, since the war, Kosovo has seen itself, and we have seen Kosovo, through the prism of conflict. Work such as theirs promises to give us a new perspective.

Posted at 15:28 30 January 2008 by Ruairi O'Connell  |  Comments[1]