DELICATE DOUBTS OF THE REFUGEES

AIM, October 17, 1995

The ugliest result of all wars, especially of a civil war, is banishment of people from the space where they have lived long and well - in any case better than the life they are living now, pushed into it overnight. They have started on this road with little hope and a lot of anxiety, and just a few things they managed to grab: just so as not to be naked or hungry immediately. They left behind much more valuable things: their homes, estates, wealth, and what is most precious: homeland, neighbours and their way of life. Briefly: their past. No matter who: both those who were forcibly banished from their homes and those who left, if we choose to believe the allegations, voluntarily. And equally regardless of who these persons in distress are: the Serbs, the Croats or the Muslims, because misfortune does not choose according to nation or religion, as best certified by this very unfortunate war in our country. Some like to add: the filthiest war in the history of this space which is known for cruel conflicts as it is.

This is a contemplation about refugees or displaced persons, whatever one chooses to call them, who have arrived to stay in Kosovo due to bad luck or imprudent intention: just temporarily at a reception centre or for permanent accomodation, that is, to live here.

Wherever these people may settle down, they will meet people who differ from them, just as they differ from the natives. Differences are not small: origin, religion, language. In this space, these people are in an enormous majority, even according to the most unfavourable evaluations, the Albanians form four fifths of the population. However large the number of people who might settle down here, and there cannot be many of them, even if they wished to, the demographic picture will not change, because the figures which are in circulation can represent just a few parts in a thousand. What makes this intention problematic is their settling down in rural regions (since they are by origin from another such region), which are almost entirely populated by the Albanian inhabitants who are, like everywhere in the world, antagonistic to newcomers - especially these who are Serb. The newcomers would, therefore, find themselves in a kind of an enclave, in an isolated community.

Wherever they might settle down, these people will be surrounded by a people with a different history, tradition and culture. But also, a different way of life, which will prevent or at least seriously obstruct an exchange between them, as the first condition for mutual acquaintance, but also tolerance in coexistence. That is why they will live in spiritual isolation whether they wish to or not, in feeble or no relations at all with their new neighbours. Even their adjustment to the local Serb population will be neither easy nor quick, which is testified by the still present variances between the native Serbs and those who have come later on. In such an environment, they would obviously be some kind of cultural oases.

In view of the trauma they have brought with them, one could hardly expect these people to regain their badly shaken feeling of security, because their recent experience warns that they have perhaps come from the bad to the worse, even less certain than what they had until yesterday. This means that psychologically they have not been prepared to come and least of all to remain in this space, which is best illustrated by their unwillingness to come in the first place. Assuring them that everything would be alright is poor consolation for their anxiety, because they have listened to similar stories back in their homeland. They would therefore lead a life with very little peace and full of fear, even if there would be no threats.

Political consequences could be even less pleasant. The risk of them is buffered by loud declarations that noone has the right to interfere or that noone will be consulted how to resolve this issue. Such behavior just indicates that the fact that there is no such thing as purely internal issues in the world nowadays is not taken into account, that is, issues resolved only by a single state concerned, because they are usually internationalized, as numerous warnings and assumptions have already shown. Therefore, this issue may not be a cause for a conflict now, but perhaps tomorrow it might easily become - if things continue as before, that is, if unwise behavior continues and even more awkward actions within it.

In politics, if someone easily reaches out for an emotion one usually has to pay dearly for it, therefore moderate politics takes good care about everything that might be of any assistance to it. That is why it figures out the calculus in advance; if politics is the skill of what is possible, then its effects are a measure of wisdom, serious weighing of circumstances which are at stake, as illustrated by the experience of Serb refugees from Albania colonized in Kosovo, the results of which are not very successful. Therefore, it not just by pure chance that long lines of refugees from Krajina have not stopped in Bosnia or turned to Baranja: noone wishes to get bruised twice in the same spot.

Briefly: the problem of colonization of refugees in Kosovo has at least four negative aspects - all of which are highly delicate. The demographic aspect, because it may be a motive for suspicion due to new colonization of this space. Spiritual, because chances for multi-cultural life are small in this multiethnic community. Psychological, because these people will have a difficult time acquiring the sense of security in such uncertain circumstances. The political aspect, because it may, if needed, become an additional cause for conflicts in this vulnerable space as it is.

Milenko KARAN AIM Pristina