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Description
About the Events in Kosova is a collection of articles from “Zëri i popullit” and other Albanian press organs about the events of 1981 in Kosova, the repression by Great-Serb chauvinism and the exacerbation of foreign relations with the neighbouring People’s Socialist Republic of Albania. These articles strike at the heart of the issue — not only the economic backwardness imposed on the people of Kosova, but also the long-standing denial of the national character of the Albanians living in Yugoslavia under the guise that this constitutes “chauvinism” and “irredentism” which undermines the Yugoslav Federation. In fact, if any people were most for the stability of the Federation, it was the Albanians of Kosova because they knew instability would lead to chaos, anarchy, death and war; while those most threatening to the stability of the Federation were the competing Great-Croat-Slovene and Great-Serb cliques who, under the aegis of “brotherhood and unity,” only bothered to convene federal meetings to secure the greatest loot for their respective republics.
Kosova did and does not belong to Serbia or any Slav people, but to the Albanians who inhabit it and have inhabited it since time immemorial as an autochthonous people on the Balkan Peninsula, and this is demonstrated thoroughly in the articles. As is known, at Bujan in 1943-44 the communists of Kosova, from both the Albanian majority and Serbian minority, decided that after the war Kosova would be united with the new socialist Albania. This right to self-determination was denied to Kosova when Tito believed that placating the Great-Serb chauvinists was a greater duty than loyalty to the principles of Marxism-Leninism. Still, four decades later the demand of the people of Kosova, who were far-sighted and rational as opposed to the bloodthirsty chiefs of Belgrade and Zagreb, was for the status of a republic within the Federation, with the same rights as the other nationalities. This simple and just demand was enough to provoke the police violence and tanks of the Great-Serbs against the Albanians.
Today, much can be said about the collapse of Yugoslavia and the following bloodshed, but when placing the blame for this outcome, the responsibility lies with the rival chauvinist clans and not the peoples — least of all the brave, noble, patriotic Albanians, who are friendly and neighbourly, but when occupied and oppressed fight with the greatest courage until their victory.