Outlook has argued several times in explosion in Kosova was on the cards. Kosova was at the centre of the first struggles in post-Tito Yugoslavia when, in 1981, the Albanian majority took to the streets to demand that Kosova be granted the status of one of Yugoslavia's constituent republics. The street protests were met by fierce police and military repression. The response in Serbia to demands for republican was a key element in the break-up of Yugoslavia. The repression of dissidents was not simply a typical example of the way in which Stalinist governments suppress all opposition. Ittook on an altogether different, and more sinister, dimension. In 1985 the Serbian Academy of Arts and Science published its infamous Memorandum which, for the first time since the formation of the second Yugoslavia in 1945, put forward an openly Serbian nationalist agenda. The Albanian population of Kosova was presented as a threat to the Serb nation and Kosova became the centre of the most strident Serbian nationalists. At various time extreme rightwingers such as Seselj and Arkan have represented Serb COIstituencies in Kosova. Slobodan Milosevic rose to power on this virulent anti-Albanian Serbian chauvinism expressed by the Academy. The main difference was that the Academy attempted to cover its views with some intellectual fig SERBIAN TERP leaves: Milosevic expressed his hatred of Albanians in more crude language.
Kosova was central to the whole Milosevic project, which was to end the federal structure of Titoist Yugoslavia and replace it with a more centralised state - a state dominated by Serbia.
Autonomous
Up until 1989 Kosova was an autonomous province, though nominally part of Serbia. In practice it enjoyed virtually all the rights ota Yugoslav republic other than the name. In 1989 all that changed.
Despite a lengthy struggle by Kosova's miners, who occupied their pits, the Kosova Assembly accepted incorporation of Kosova into Serbia and abolition of its autonomous status. since the INT OUTLOOK POLICIA SERDE JASHTE COVES Assembly was surrounded by Yugoslav Army tanks this was hardly a free vote.
Earlier in 1989 Milosevic staged a massive rally in Pristina, capital of Kosova, at which he declared 'No-one will ever again beat the Serbs'. Milosevic was surrounded by leading figures from the Serb To refuse Orthodox church to support the and no-one at right of the Pristina could be in any doubt that Albanian majority he was preparing to secede ... is to give full supcriminal port to a Serbian nationalist project sectarianism that would destroy the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Kosova was the first step to the wars in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia. Of course Kosova is a vital part of Serbian nationalist mythology. The rally in Pristina was to mark the 600th anniversary of the defeat of the Serbian empire by the Ottoman empire at the Field of Blackbirds. While it is perhaps a strange sort of nationalism that glorifies military deteats (though some similarities can be found in other nationalisms, not least Irish) Kosova clearly has a significance for Serbs that cannot be simply wished away. Any solution in Kosova has to take that into account. At the same time there is the problem of the division of the Albanian nation which has never been united in a single state. It remains divided between Albania, Macedonia, Greece and Kosova. In Macedonia there have been attacks on demonstrations opposing Serbian repression in Kosova while in Greece Albanians are being blamed for a rising crime rate. Or, more accurately, recent Albanian immigrants are being blamed - so far the indigenous Albanian population has largely escaped these allegations, but it is surely only a matter of time.
Dayton failure
The current upsurge of Albanian opposition to Serbian rule in Kosova is a product of the failings of the Dayton peace process that was supposed to end conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Dayton could only work if Milosevic was given a key role. To some extent he has fulfilled this by allowing Karadzic to be pushed out of office in the so-called Serb Republic in Bosnia. He has also faced a challenge from the far-right in Serbia itself. Seselj was only prevented from becoming President of Serbia by dubious electoral practices. To head off this threat Milosevic has been forced to patch up his differences with Seselj and bring him into the cabinet. For the Albanian population of Kosova, Dayton appeared to give carte blanche to Milosevic. Their previous tactic of refusing to recognise the existence of the Serbian government - by running their own schools, hospitals, welity and tax-cutting proposals by focusing on fare organisations etc - had both failed to move Milosevic or win international support. Fence the emergence of the Kosova Liberation Army and the adoption of more militant tactics.
While western governments and, to a lesser extent, have criticised the brutalities of the Serbian army and police in Kosova and denounced massacres of civilians they have no solution to offer. They may criticise Milosevic but they still need him to implement Dayton. Moreover, by refusing to support the right of the Albanian majority to secede they accept, however unwillingly, that Kosova is a purely internal matter for the Serbian government. Allegations of hypocrisy by various Serbian officials against Britain for its claim that repression of Republicans in the North of Ireland is a 'purely internal matter' are not without foundation. Clearly there is no easy solution in Kosova: for both Serbs and Albanians Kosova has such importance that neither view can be easily reconciled - any more than one can reconcile the views of Republicans and Unionists in Ireland. Ultimately, however glib it may sound, the only solution is Socialism, in which the national rights of all the different nationalities in the Balkans can be respected within a common framework.
Take sides
Unfortunately such a solution does not appear to be on the immediate agenda. ]n Kosova therefore, HIST socialists have to take sides.
We support the right of the Albanian majority to secede and form their own state or to become part of the existing Albanian state if they so wish - but we also defend the rights of all non-Albanian minorities in any state that emerged.
Of course secession or becoming part of Albania would not solve the problems of the working class in Kosova - or anywhere else in the Balkans (or the world), for that matter. Only socialist revolution can start to do that. But to refuse to support the right of the Albanian majority to secede in the name of some abstract concept of socialism or working class unity is criminal sectarianism. had infiltrated the Socialist Workers Party