Majority and minority dilemma
I personally believe that every single human being is important. Coming from Kosovo it gives me the opportunity to personalize this essay a little bit. As Albanians from Kosovo we have been excluded forever in Yugoslavia.
Being Albanian in former Yugoslavia was not easy. We were marginalized and completely excluded. It is a burden when you know that majority in your country at that time Yugoslavia look at you as less important citizen. Or even in my hometown Prishtina where majority were not Serbs but still they were ruling. Sometimes I would get strange reactions from them, by calling me names which would humiliate me or degrade me. Sometimes that didn’t have to say anything you could have sense it in the air.
Currently I am a majority and I definitely feel very OK. Being able to walk freely down the street without anyone judging just for your different ethnicity is a wonderful feeling. However I never forget about minorities and I try to be as polite as possible with them, because I know best how painful it is to be treated badly. I am not saying that they should be privileged because we will face positive discrimination. However minorities should be treated for what they deserve or what every world citizen deserves.
Trying to explain the current political situation in Kosovo would take me hours.
As the saying goes “it takes two to tango”. That’s how I define situation in Kosovo when we discuss minority integration. Our Kosovo governmental institutions are not doing their best to integrate Serb minorities. They offer education and media in their own language. Also the power is decentralized in order to offer all citizens’ services in their local communities; all religious groups within Kosovo can freely practice their religion etc.
On the other hand, Serb minority is giving zero contribution to integrate.They are still ruled by Belgrade which stops their integration and stops their development. To my understanding Belgrade does not rule them for their benefit but is more manipulation in order to distract every progressive process that happens in Kosovo. Serbs from Kosovo boycotted our governmental institutions right from the beginning. When you have reserved seats in the national parliament and you boycott the highest institution; and you decide to turn down self-representation then you cannot complain.
Also people in general from both ethnicities have anger, hate and amount of revenge feeling from the past, which currently makes reconciliation impossible or very hard.
My personal opinion is that the only way to keep every citizen satisfied equal opportunities should be provided.
Inclusion is the key to harmony. If you leave certain ethnic, racial, or religious group excluded from political, social and economical processes people accumulate anger and frustration. When people are left outside the processes the fear can be created from the unknown or unaware sense usually creates panic.
This is what I have learned while being excluded myself, so I would say by including all you make people feel important, active, alive and willing to contribute for the society, by always applying participatory methods.
Based on the experiences in Balkan (where I feel more competent to talk about) education is the most important factor in every society, while having educated people will have a progressive environment which leads to stability within the country and region.
Being Albanian in former Yugoslavia was not easy. We were marginalized and completely excluded. It is a burden when you know that majority in your country at that time Yugoslavia look at you as less important citizen. Or even in my hometown Prishtina where majority were not Serbs but still they were ruling. Sometimes I would get strange reactions from them, by calling me names which would humiliate me or degrade me. Sometimes that didn’t have to say anything you could have sense it in the air.
Currently I am a majority and I definitely feel very OK. Being able to walk freely down the street without anyone judging just for your different ethnicity is a wonderful feeling. However I never forget about minorities and I try to be as polite as possible with them, because I know best how painful it is to be treated badly. I am not saying that they should be privileged because we will face positive discrimination. However minorities should be treated for what they deserve or what every world citizen deserves.
Trying to explain the current political situation in Kosovo would take me hours.
As the saying goes “it takes two to tango”. That’s how I define situation in Kosovo when we discuss minority integration. Our Kosovo governmental institutions are not doing their best to integrate Serb minorities. They offer education and media in their own language. Also the power is decentralized in order to offer all citizens’ services in their local communities; all religious groups within Kosovo can freely practice their religion etc.
On the other hand, Serb minority is giving zero contribution to integrate.They are still ruled by Belgrade which stops their integration and stops their development. To my understanding Belgrade does not rule them for their benefit but is more manipulation in order to distract every progressive process that happens in Kosovo. Serbs from Kosovo boycotted our governmental institutions right from the beginning. When you have reserved seats in the national parliament and you boycott the highest institution; and you decide to turn down self-representation then you cannot complain.
Also people in general from both ethnicities have anger, hate and amount of revenge feeling from the past, which currently makes reconciliation impossible or very hard.
My personal opinion is that the only way to keep every citizen satisfied equal opportunities should be provided.
Inclusion is the key to harmony. If you leave certain ethnic, racial, or religious group excluded from political, social and economical processes people accumulate anger and frustration. When people are left outside the processes the fear can be created from the unknown or unaware sense usually creates panic.
This is what I have learned while being excluded myself, so I would say by including all you make people feel important, active, alive and willing to contribute for the society, by always applying participatory methods.
Based on the experiences in Balkan (where I feel more competent to talk about) education is the most important factor in every society, while having educated people will have a progressive environment which leads to stability within the country and region.
posted by Shqipe at 1:18 PM
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