[Nettime-bold] Re: <nettime> Letter from Pristina

["Petrit Selimi" <petrit@ipko.org>]

I am a Kosovar Albanian, currently living in Prishtina, the capital of
Kosova. I too feel sorry that grandpa Metodije and many other people has
been so brutally murdered in the time after the NATO and UN took things in
charge here. I am dissapointed with how some of my compatriots behave, and I
am terrified with some acts of violance that are commited by usually unknown
people. Acts of revenge, they explain to us - criminal acts done by cowards
is probably the truth.
I (and most of the other people living here) are simply tired of war. Tired
of violence, and tired of other people commiting violence in our name. I
will never support this violence. I want Kosova to be the society where
Serbs too, will be proud of.

However, what confuses me most in today's Kosova, is the fact that Serbs
themselves are behaving as if they don't want to be in Kosovo either. War
criminals Milosevic, Seselj and Arkan have all had a stronghold within the
Serbian community here. In any elections organized in Serbia, no democratic
or civil opposition party has ever won any deputies among the Serbs in
Kosovo. Serbs in Kosovo have WILLINGLY supported what Milosevic has done in
their names for years and years in Kosovo. Although Serbs from Kosovo have
always been the most radical elements of the Serbian nation (not unlike the
Boers in South Africa), I am infuriated with their unwillingness to face up
with their dark history and pains they have inflicted with their active
participation in appartheid system created by Milosevic.

Even today, while we're speaking, Kosovar Serbs are insisting that their
police and army should be back in streets of Kosovo. The very same police
and army responsible for the worst imaginable attrocities.
Even today Kosovar Serbs are not participating in UN administration and
giving a hand and rebuilding not only buildings but also souls of Kosova.
Even today, after 10 years of unpresedented oppression of our minds, and 2
years of savage war inflicted upon Kosova, Kosovar Serbs are not able to bow
their heads and simply utter ; "We are sorry". In order to forgive you have
to be asked for forgivness.

I see many bad things happening in Kosova today, from the petty details such
as disfunctional public transport system, to the scary stories about mafia
activities and the sad and frustrating situation of 2000 hostages (war
prisoners) still being held in Serbian prisoners.
However we are trying. God knows that we are trying to make Kosova a good
place to live. And the changes are overwhelming. Milosevic left Kosova all
bloody and ruined, and today anyone with open eyes can see the progress. In
today's Kosova, Albanian farmers, Canadian and Kenyan cops, NATO soldiers,
Austrian OSCE officials, British businessmen, UN governemnt officials are
trying to achieve a common goal - a safe and stabile Kosova. Only Serbs are
not participating in this process.

One year has past since Milosevic left Kosova. Sometimes it seems like
forever, but it's really not. It's too late for many people geting killed
every month, however we are working as hard as we can to enable that this
tragedy stops. He need help and we neet time. But first and foremost, we
need to know from our Serbian neighbours why on earth are they still
refusing to accept the fact that times have changed. It's brave new world
being build out there and they are not participating in it. For the sake of
thousands of people massacred last year and grandpa Metodije killed just
last week, we urge them to say "yes, we are with you".

Petrit Selimi
Web developer

----- Original Message -----
From: Blagovesta Doncheva <Vjara2810@excite.com>
To: <nettime-l@bbs.thing.net>
Sent: Friday, April 07, 2000 2:36 AM
Subject: <nettime> Letter from Pristina


> Letter from Pristina, April 5 2000
>
> On Monday, as on every other day, Metodije Halauska showed up in the
morning
> at the Center for Peace and Tolerance in Pristina.  Mr. Halauska is 86
years
> old, but still very strong and mobile for his age.  He came to pick up
> newspapers and fresh food as humanitarian assistance from the CPT.  He
> chatted with his friends and left the Center's office a bit after 10am.
The
> very same day, in the afternoon, his corpse was found in Grmija, a park
and
> excursion site near Pristina.  He was shot in the back of the head.
> Previously, he had been beaten and had internal bleeding.  He was dragged
> out of an apartment in the center of Pristina, barefoot and probably
wrapped
> in two blankets, unconscious, by 5-6 persons who carried him to Grmija
where
> he was murdered.  His body was identified earlier today, Wednesday.
>
> Metodije Halauska is of  Czech nationality.  He is not a Serb, to be
killed,
> nor an Albanian to be spared.  Yes, he spoke Serbian and above all felt
like
> a Yugoslav.  Whom did grandpa Metodije harm?  Did he kill or attack
someone?
> Perhaps, he was a war criminal???
>
> But grandpa Metodije owned a large apartment.  He refused to move out the
> apartment even after numerous threats, attacks, break-ins and robberies.
No
> one has moved into his apartment so far.  They did not steal his dinars,
> because they are worthless in Pristina.  But they did kill him because
they
> did not like the language he used.
>
> The killing of innocent and really innocent people goes on.  Can anyone
hear
> how people in Pristina, Kosovo, live?  Especially Serbs who celebrate
every
> new day. Does anyone want to hear and see the suffering of a people which
> has been assisted by the whole world?
>
> We were bombed because we violated human rights, they say.  Those who
bombed
> apparently did that out of their respect for human rights.  Where are they
> now?
> Please, send us at least one of those human rights activists, so that we
can
> treat him with the murder of our grandpa Metodije!
>
> I am a Serb and they want to disconnect my e-mail account because I write
in
> Serbian in Kosovo!  We are forced to use all sorts of languages, apart
form
> Serbian.  We do not dare leave our apartments and houses without escort,
> while KFOR and the Police check on us periodically.  No one can go to a
> store, restaurant, cafe, let alone to a church or cemetery.  We are not
> allowed to pray
> for the living, nor to mourn our dead.
>
> If someone gets this message, the remaining Serbs in Kosovo beg you o
> forward it.  Let the world know that out of 20,972 Serbs in Pristina
before
> the war, about 300 remain, and that grandpa Metodije is gone.
>
> -------------------------------
> The author of the letter is one of the staffers at the CPT office in
> Pristina. His or her name is withheld for obvious reasons.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>                    BRUTALLY MURDERED AN 87 YEAR
>                    OLD MAN
>                    April 06, 2000
>
> Pristina, April 6th - Ethnic Albanian terrorists brutally murdered
Metodije
> Haljauska, an ethnic Czech aged 87, in Pristina's Grmija Park on Sunday,
> April 3rd, the Center for Peace and Tolerance said
> today.
>
> The terrorists abused Haljauska in his apartment in downtown Pristina
before
> they shot him in the back of the head in the park.
>
> The Center for Peace and Tolerance said the only possible reason for this
> murder could be that Haljauska was not an ethnic Albanian. All
> non-Albanians in Kosovo receive disturbing and threatening phone calls and
> are exposed to constant pressure.
>
> "Pristina is now a place where extermination is conducted, a place where
> non-Albanian citizens live in prison, and the right to move freely they
pay
> with their lives", it is emphasized in the statement and a question was
> posed: Who is now going to bomb Pristina because
> of the violation of human rights?
>
> The center reiterated in its statement that there are no classes in
Serbian
> language in Pristina, no Serb restaurants or cafes, that Serbs cannot move
> freely, even to go to church or the cemetery.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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