e enjte, shkurt 28, 2008

Behgjet Pacolli - new Kosovo leader

Serb Police Deserting Kosovo Force

KUSCE, Kosovo (AP) — Dozens of Serb officers have deserted the Kosovo police force since the new state declared independence, snubbing ethnic Albanian leaders and shattering the only institution in which real cooperation existed between the ethnic groups.

Blast damages U.N. cars in Kosovo Serb stronghold

MITROVICA, Kosovo: An explosion in the Serb stronghold of north Mitrovica in Kosovo on Thursday damaged two U.N. vehicles in a compound housing the police and U.N. court, police said.

Serb president wants Kosovo and EU keys

Serbia will not give up its claim on breakaway province Kosovo or its bid to become a member of the European Union, Serbian President Boris Tadic said in an interview published Thursday.

The Politics of Religion in Kosova

-Besnik Sinani

One can hardly read any news on Kosova these days without being told time and time again that Kosova is the heartland of Serb spiritual heritage, the location of Serb medieval monasteries. Despite this being a relatively late Serbian claim, appearing in the 1800s with the advent of Serb nationalism, it is striking how churches of a universalistic religion like Christianity, are constantly referred to as signposts of nationalism. The Orthodox Church in Kosova has maintained the same role that the former communist leader and butcher of the Balkans, Slobodan Milosevic, had assigned to the Church when he was arousing the flames of the future Balkan wars of the 1990s. This is the worst case scenario of mingling religion and politics.

The Serbs, however, are not the only ones who are politicizing religion in Kosova. A controversial Catholic cathedral is currently being built in Pristina. This project had from its beginning the extraordinary support of the late Kosovar President, Ibrahim Rugova, whose office was decorated with the pictures of him with the Pope and the picture of Mother Teresa. Catholicism, the religion of less than 10% of the Albanian population of Kosova, is being marketed politically in attempts to show a perceived cultural shift of Muslim Kosovars towards the West mediated by Catholicism. This process of political marketing of Catholicism was referred to, recently, by a high functionary of the Catholic Church in Kosova, Dom Dode Gjergji, as “cultural baptism.”

This political marketing of Catholicism necessarily requires downplaying the presence of Islam in Kosova. Following debates among devout Kosovars in internet forums, it is common to notice the dissatisfaction with the leaders of the Kosovar Muslim Community, for not reacting more aggressively in response to this “cultural baptism.” There has been at least one known attempt from a political party, the Party of Justice, to politically monopolize Muslim dissatisfaction Following Albanian Muslim forums, however, one is left to believe that in the last elections, the Party of Justice was unsuccessful in attracting large sections of devout voters. One of the main reactions to the current climate of politics of religion in Kosova among many Muslims has been the embrace of forms of piety that detach from the main debates of the society. It is associated with the ideas of Salafism, a wide spread Muslim movement that attracts large funding from the Middle East. Contrary to a common held view, most forms of the Salafism are apolitical. However, these are forms of visible piety and clash with the attempts of the political and cultural establishment of Kosova to shove visible signs of Muslim piety under the rug, fearing loss of much needed Western support.

Ironically, Kosovar society aims at building a pluralistic, democratic, secular new state. The promotion of religious identities as political identities creates the conditions for what French supporters of laicite would call the Balkanization of the society.

If current conditions persist, institutions of Orthodox Christianity that play the tunes of Serb nationalism will be seen as a Trojan horse inside Kosova. The fact is that today Kosova is an independent state recognized by the major Western powers. This new political entity is home to Serbs who will have to think of building a normal life in this newly created state. The Orthodox Church will have to negotiate its position in new Kosova in order to serve the best interests of its flock. It will have to negotiate with the government and other institutions of Kosova and therefore, de facto, recognize those institutions. Albanians on the other hand, cannot afford an antagonistic Orthodox Church in their new country, and therefore they will have to accommodate it as one of the religious communities of the Kosovar state. They will have to guaranty its safety and prosperity.

Embracing Catholicism as a political identity to serve as a European political ID card undermines the values of governance, and secularism that are the hallmark of European models. It also undermines the social cohesion of a newly created country. Ironically, the current American administration, as well as that of President Clinton, has emphasized the Muslimness of the Kosovars in attempts to show that America’s wars in the Middle East are not a war against Islam. I believe in the freedom of individuals to choose forms of piety of their liking, and in the obligation of governments to guaranty that freedom However, I think that current forms of Muslim piety, such as Salafis, that promote detachment from the cultural, political, and social life of the society will effect negatively both the society and the interests of the Muslim community in Kosova.

It is, therefore, in everyone’s interest to see that the government of Kosova creates a climate of freedom of religious expression while refraining from political manipulation of religions. It is the best bet in seeing a celebration of diversity of spiritual traditions, rather than political fragmentations of the kind that have enflamed Balkan history.