Recently, I vowed that I would never go to projects on the reconciliation of Serbs and Albanians again on Kosovo because they are meaningless. Why? Because it makes no sense to talk about coexistence in a situation where Serbian community totally devastated, so which of the Serbs can run away with their heads regardless of KiM.
However, due to a combination of circumstances, I again went to a training course on "peaceful journalism" in Pristina. I thought the intention was good, and that is the question that bothers me.
Views from different angles
As usual, the lecture was attended by colleagues from Serbian and Albanian local media. Suddenly, there was a discussion about the integration of Serbian institutions. "There is no problem in the north. I was almost with my family. I sat down, drank coffee, took a walk. Serbs just need to integrate into the Kosovo system and that's it. When you go to any other country, you respect the host of that country," said an Albanian colleague.
The Serbs started to stare at each other. Anger and sadness boiled in me at the same time. Sadness due to the total absence of compassion and understanding for the neighbors. Anger because my colleague, the editor of a local media, said that.
I'm coming to speak. I say that no one knows anything about the integration of education, at least that's what the students were told at the faculty, that is, the University of Pristina with its temporary seat in Kosovska Mitrovica. Which will later be blamed on me because "why isn't it the University of Mitrovica". It is not because this is the official name of the university.
I would like to add that another problem of integration into the Kosovo system are the punishments that Serbs receive in order not to be forced into it. A banal example: if Serbs had not exchanged their Serbian driver's licenses for Kosovo ones, they would have paid a fine of 500 to 1500 euros. Therefore, Serbs are not offered any choice (except to move out of Kosovo), but pressure is put on them with punishments. How can they experience that system as friendly?
One could also add unfair trials, violations of basic human rights (disobeying the Law on the Use of Language, for example), failure to fulfill agreements reached, failure to involve the Serbian community in any local issues (crossing over graffiti and murals, changing street names, etc.), grabbing Serbian minors by the neck and arresting them, arresting Serbs for displaying national symbols, inadequate response to sexual harassment present in the north, and so on, and so on.
Whose wine is better?
Some claim that Kosovo is independent, others that it is not. Serbs and Albanians will never agree on that. But there is something they would have to agree on: that the well-being of the neighbor is important regardless of his nationality and whose constitution he refers to. It is sad to support a policy that dehumanizes a community and does everything to make people leave their homes.
Especially since, either by their own will or under duress, everyone who can and wants to live in Kosovo already has Kosovo documents. Therefore, Serbs are practically part of the Kosovo system.
That day in Pristina ended with a conversation about wine. My Albanian colleagues asked me where I was from, I said from Aleksandrovac. My colleague asked me: "Do you still have good brandy?". I said, "We do. But we also have great wine." He replied: "Our wine in Kosovo is better."
It would end up being a pain in the ass and funny. We said our goodbyes and each went to his "own side" of Kosovo.
