Kosovo, the Whole Story
The situation in Kosovo is portrayed in stark black and white, and the “black and white” change depending on who is covering the issue. In the U.S. media and policy it is evil Serbs against innocent ethnic Albanians in a mountainous region “over there.” This is an incomplete truth and that myth must be rectified. The Serbian army and Serbian-backed paramilitaries committed atrocities and genocide against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. The ethnic Albanians were expelled to neighboring countries, the NATO bombing took place and, although ending the formal war, exacerbated many of the human rights abuses on the ground. Upon return, the KLA and some civilians committed vicious reprisals: intimidation, rape, murder and expulsion of non-ethnic Albanians. This was recently covered by the BBC not to mention extensive records in the ICTY.
A second important point that was overlooked in this piece: There are many ethnic groups in Kosovo. Ethnic Turks and Roma, who, based on the fact that they do not “fit” into “a” side are, as one Kosovar Roma friend of mine explained, “caught between two fires.” The oversimplification of the ethnic composition of Kosovo, and thus the victims of human rights abuses, is simply not true. For more information please visit chicagopublicradio.org/content.aspx?audioID=2737.
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Lastly, we must be careful about the role of the United States and other international actors. There was a lot of good will towards the “liberation” of Kosovo (in fact there is a “Bill Clinton Blvd” where one can still buy a great variety of smuggled cigarettes, and other goods) but it quickly turned to resentment as a self-sustaining government continued to lag and unemployment hovered at 60 percent. Kosovo was, and continues to be, good business for Western development organizations, NGOs, and funders, but its indigenous populations often resent being at the behest of Western directives.
Instructor, Human Rights, Columbia College
In the first paragraph of my story, I characterized the situation in Kosovo as a “long blood feud between Serbs and Albanian Kosovars.” That longstanding enmity, and the retaliation integral to it on both sides, has wreaked havoc on the entire population including minorities like the Roma (who, as I understand it, were generally considered by Albanian Kosovars to be Serbian sympathizers). They have an ongoing story to tell, but the story I wrote was about Hank Perritt’s experience in Kosovo, his perspective on it, and the musical theater piece he created out of it. His rock opera, set in the late 1990s, includes among its final lyrics these words:
Take It Outside
Re: “What TIFs Giveth, the Olympics Taketh Away,” by Ben Joravsky, June 4
