Thursday, 22 March 2007
Sunday, 18 February 2007
E vertete apo ekzagjerim?
"6 ASIMETRITË
Pakoja e Ahtisaarit do të shkatërrohet sepse është asimetrike. Më mirë ta shkatërrojmë më herët. Më herët do të thotë në mënyrë paqësore. Me demonstrata. Me 10 shkurt.
Paketa e Ahtisaarit nuk përmban vullnetin e shumicës së popullit të Kosovës dhe nuk i referohet askund atij. Pakoja e Ahtisaarit flet vetëm për të drejtat dhe privilegjet e pakicave, dhe atë vetëm të pakicës serbe. Pakoja e Ahtisaarit është pako proserbe. Kuvendi i ardhshëm i Kosovës do të jetë i varur nga formula e shumicës së dyfishtë: çdo vendim i Kuvendit ka nevojë për shumicën e përgjithshme dhe shumicën e pakicës gjë që praktikisht i jep të drejtë vetoje deputetëve serbë. Kuvendi i këtillë bile as mund ta shpallë pavarësinë.
Trashëgimi kulturore konsiderohet vetëm ajo fetare ortodokse e cila është definuar si 'serbe'. Pakoja do të parashohë themelimin e së paku 45 zonave të veçanta qindrahektarëshe.
3/4 e paketës së Ahtisaarit ka të bëjë me decentralizimin. Komunat e reja me shumicë serbe do të kenë kompetenca shumë më të mëdha sesa ato me shumicë shqiptare dhe plotësisht të pazakonshme për komunat: p.sh. në arsim të lartë, shëndetësi dytësore etj. Lidhjet horizontale praktikisht dhe formalisht realizojnë entitetin autonom serb. Lidhjet direkte vertikale me Beogradin, dhe financimin e tij i cili do të jetë i liruar nga taksat në Kosovë, bëjnë që ky entitet të jetë vetë Serbia. Ai do të ngërthejë afër 1/3 e territorit të Kosovës. Do t'i ketë dy qendra: Mitrovicën për veriun dhe Graçanicën për pjesën qendrore e lindore të Kosovës.
Përfaqësuesi Civil Ndërkombëtar i cili njëkohësisht do të jetë edhe Përfaqësues Special i BE-së do ta ketë fjalën përfundimtare. Ky monark i ri do të ketë fuqi korrektuese (ndryshim të ligjeve) dhe zëvendësuese (përjashtim të ministrave e zyrtarëve tjerë dhe emërim të dikujt tjetër në ato poste). Misioni i ardhshëm ndërkombëtar do të ketë një zyre në Mitrovicë përgjegjëse jo vetëm për veriun e Mitrovicës por edhe për komunat e Leposaviqit, Zveçanit e Zubin Potokut. Dhe, do ta ketë një zyre në Beograd (jo edhe në Tiranë!) funksionimi dhe kompetencat e së cilës do të varen edhe nga qëndrimi i Qeverisë së Serbisë.
Në vend që të flitet për dëmet e luftës që Serbia ia ka shkaktuar Kosovës, ky mision do të merret me borxhet e Kosovës. Pra, do t'i shfrytëzojnë e shtrydhin pasuritë dhe burimet e Kosovës edhe në emër të borxhit. Përfaqësimi i Kosovës jashtë do të jetë vetëm në borxhin e jashtëm!
Më 1999 në vend se të çarmatosej ushtria kriminale serbo-jugosllave u çarmatos UÇK-ja. Tash, në vend se të shpërbëhen strukturat paralele policore dhe paramilitare të Serbisë në Kosovë, pakoja e Ahtisaarit parasheh shpërbërjen e TMK-së fillimisht nëpërmjet zvogëlimit të numrit të zonave nga gjashtë në tri sosh."
Keshtu shifet e ardhmja e Kosoves nga Levizja Vetvendosje. Nuk e di se sa jane te verteta deklaratat e tilla, por ky eshte cmimi i demokracise dhe besoj se secili prej nesh kemi te drejte t'i
shfaqim mendimet tona.
Nuk me kishte ardhur shume cudi poqese eshte e vertete. E kaluara dhe e tashmja e Kosoves flasin me shume te verteten e fatit te kombit tone dhe menyren se si trajtohemi, sesa mijera deklarata te burokratve te ndryshem - ngado qe jane ata - Kosova apo anekend bota.
Pakoja e Ahtisaarit do të shkatërrohet sepse është asimetrike. Më mirë ta shkatërrojmë më herët. Më herët do të thotë në mënyrë paqësore. Me demonstrata. Me 10 shkurt.
Paketa e Ahtisaarit nuk përmban vullnetin e shumicës së popullit të Kosovës dhe nuk i referohet askund atij. Pakoja e Ahtisaarit flet vetëm për të drejtat dhe privilegjet e pakicave, dhe atë vetëm të pakicës serbe. Pakoja e Ahtisaarit është pako proserbe. Kuvendi i ardhshëm i Kosovës do të jetë i varur nga formula e shumicës së dyfishtë: çdo vendim i Kuvendit ka nevojë për shumicën e përgjithshme dhe shumicën e pakicës gjë që praktikisht i jep të drejtë vetoje deputetëve serbë. Kuvendi i këtillë bile as mund ta shpallë pavarësinë.
Trashëgimi kulturore konsiderohet vetëm ajo fetare ortodokse e cila është definuar si 'serbe'. Pakoja do të parashohë themelimin e së paku 45 zonave të veçanta qindrahektarëshe.
3/4 e paketës së Ahtisaarit ka të bëjë me decentralizimin. Komunat e reja me shumicë serbe do të kenë kompetenca shumë më të mëdha sesa ato me shumicë shqiptare dhe plotësisht të pazakonshme për komunat: p.sh. në arsim të lartë, shëndetësi dytësore etj. Lidhjet horizontale praktikisht dhe formalisht realizojnë entitetin autonom serb. Lidhjet direkte vertikale me Beogradin, dhe financimin e tij i cili do të jetë i liruar nga taksat në Kosovë, bëjnë që ky entitet të jetë vetë Serbia. Ai do të ngërthejë afër 1/3 e territorit të Kosovës. Do t'i ketë dy qendra: Mitrovicën për veriun dhe Graçanicën për pjesën qendrore e lindore të Kosovës.
Përfaqësuesi Civil Ndërkombëtar i cili njëkohësisht do të jetë edhe Përfaqësues Special i BE-së do ta ketë fjalën përfundimtare. Ky monark i ri do të ketë fuqi korrektuese (ndryshim të ligjeve) dhe zëvendësuese (përjashtim të ministrave e zyrtarëve tjerë dhe emërim të dikujt tjetër në ato poste). Misioni i ardhshëm ndërkombëtar do të ketë një zyre në Mitrovicë përgjegjëse jo vetëm për veriun e Mitrovicës por edhe për komunat e Leposaviqit, Zveçanit e Zubin Potokut. Dhe, do ta ketë një zyre në Beograd (jo edhe në Tiranë!) funksionimi dhe kompetencat e së cilës do të varen edhe nga qëndrimi i Qeverisë së Serbisë.
Në vend që të flitet për dëmet e luftës që Serbia ia ka shkaktuar Kosovës, ky mision do të merret me borxhet e Kosovës. Pra, do t'i shfrytëzojnë e shtrydhin pasuritë dhe burimet e Kosovës edhe në emër të borxhit. Përfaqësimi i Kosovës jashtë do të jetë vetëm në borxhin e jashtëm!
Më 1999 në vend se të çarmatosej ushtria kriminale serbo-jugosllave u çarmatos UÇK-ja. Tash, në vend se të shpërbëhen strukturat paralele policore dhe paramilitare të Serbisë në Kosovë, pakoja e Ahtisaarit parasheh shpërbërjen e TMK-së fillimisht nëpërmjet zvogëlimit të numrit të zonave nga gjashtë në tri sosh."
Keshtu shifet e ardhmja e Kosoves nga Levizja Vetvendosje. Nuk e di se sa jane te verteta deklaratat e tilla, por ky eshte cmimi i demokracise dhe besoj se secili prej nesh kemi te drejte t'i
shfaqim mendimet tona.
Nuk me kishte ardhur shume cudi poqese eshte e vertete. E kaluara dhe e tashmja e Kosoves flasin me shume te verteten e fatit te kombit tone dhe menyren se si trajtohemi, sesa mijera deklarata te burokratve te ndryshem - ngado qe jane ata - Kosova apo anekend bota.
Tuesday, 6 February 2007
A day in my life
It became twilight. Dark was laying its claws down on us. It was an
unilluminated dark. Suffocating somehow. The sky was sealed with
permanent thick greyish black smoke because houses has been burning for months all over Kosova.
We learnt that we didn’t have rights to live in our houses anymore. Now, thousands of us have been walking for more than twelve hours already. It was warm and sticky. We were surrounded by mountains and fields. No wind nor other sound. No sound of shoes. Everybody seemed to be walking on their tiptoes. Almost as if they didn’t want to pester mother nature. Nobody was talking either. Some children were crying because they were getting hungry and thirsty but nobody was answering because we didn’t have any food. Muted silence. Still, you could smell blood on the air.
“Oh no, they are there, they are there”, a woman screamed as if she saw demons.
Whole the queue of thousands of people suddenly found their last source of energy left in their souls and began pushing and running each other over, although there was nowhere to go.
A mans voice shouted in Serbian so loud that I thought his veins on his neck were going to burst. “What the f*** are you people doing? Walk damn it, walk. You look like f****** ghosts”, he said angrily but with a patronizing laughter on his voice.
Everybody began to move quickly in a straight line and suddenly another voice shouted in Serbian.
“Woman are allowed to walk, so we can rape you later, while all men come in this side so we can kill you easier.”
I couldn’t see where, I was far behind.
A huge wave of crying and screaming by women and children hit the fields and mountains. Sobbing was bouncing back from the rocks and it became deafening.
I wasn’t crying. There was no time for tears. I held tight my two little sisters and a brother. They looked at me terrified with tears in their eyes.
“Shshshsh”, I told them. “Don’t be afraid, you’ve got me”, I held them tight while walking but not knowing what next second was going to throw at us.
The dark, the dust and the screams were mixing up and I lost the rest of my family. I couldn’t see anything clearly. On my right, I finally saw hell on earth. Albanian male were being picked out of this sea of people and waiting on the line to be persecuted. One of them was my dad.
We carried on walking…
unilluminated dark. Suffocating somehow. The sky was sealed with
permanent thick greyish black smoke because houses has been burning for months all over Kosova.
We learnt that we didn’t have rights to live in our houses anymore. Now, thousands of us have been walking for more than twelve hours already. It was warm and sticky. We were surrounded by mountains and fields. No wind nor other sound. No sound of shoes. Everybody seemed to be walking on their tiptoes. Almost as if they didn’t want to pester mother nature. Nobody was talking either. Some children were crying because they were getting hungry and thirsty but nobody was answering because we didn’t have any food. Muted silence. Still, you could smell blood on the air.
“Oh no, they are there, they are there”, a woman screamed as if she saw demons.
Whole the queue of thousands of people suddenly found their last source of energy left in their souls and began pushing and running each other over, although there was nowhere to go.
A mans voice shouted in Serbian so loud that I thought his veins on his neck were going to burst. “What the f*** are you people doing? Walk damn it, walk. You look like f****** ghosts”, he said angrily but with a patronizing laughter on his voice.
Everybody began to move quickly in a straight line and suddenly another voice shouted in Serbian.
“Woman are allowed to walk, so we can rape you later, while all men come in this side so we can kill you easier.”
I couldn’t see where, I was far behind.
A huge wave of crying and screaming by women and children hit the fields and mountains. Sobbing was bouncing back from the rocks and it became deafening.
I wasn’t crying. There was no time for tears. I held tight my two little sisters and a brother. They looked at me terrified with tears in their eyes.
“Shshshsh”, I told them. “Don’t be afraid, you’ve got me”, I held them tight while walking but not knowing what next second was going to throw at us.
The dark, the dust and the screams were mixing up and I lost the rest of my family. I couldn’t see anything clearly. On my right, I finally saw hell on earth. Albanian male were being picked out of this sea of people and waiting on the line to be persecuted. One of them was my dad.
We carried on walking…
Waiting for freedom
On the second of February I stayed from 2am until 8am motionless watching news about Kosova through different tv channels all over the world. For the first time I saw politicians from my country shaking hands, smiling and agreeing with each other. Obviously the UN envoy, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, proposed plans for the future of Kosovo which would allow it to separate from Serbia.
KEY PROPOSAL POINTS
Contains no reference to Serbian sovereignty or independence for Kosovo
Blocks Kosovo from joining Albania, or having its Serb areas split off and join Serbia
Gives Kosovo right to use national symbols including flag and anthem
Gives Kosovo right to join international organisations such as UN and IMF
Creates international envoy mandated by UN and EU with power to intervene in government
Retains Nato and EU forces in military and policing roles
Protects non-Albanian minority with guaranteed roles in government, police and civil service
Protects Serbian Orthodox Church sites and Serbian language
.
Free at last? Well, lets wait and see until they make the final decision.
But this proposal seems great to me. If won, all what Kosova needs to do is work hard, develop economy, education and health system, respect human rights is accordance to European Convention of Human Rights and prove itself that it is capable to self-govern. And that’s it, full stop.
It would be nice to be recognized and acknowledged as a country.
I haven‘t been able to wipe the smile off my face for the last five days. That’s because I have seen hope and hunger for freedom in the kosovars faces, again. It’s great when people believe in freedom but it’s wonderful when they actually live in freedom.
KEY PROPOSAL POINTS
Contains no reference to Serbian sovereignty or independence for Kosovo
Blocks Kosovo from joining Albania, or having its Serb areas split off and join Serbia
Gives Kosovo right to use national symbols including flag and anthem
Gives Kosovo right to join international organisations such as UN and IMF
Creates international envoy mandated by UN and EU with power to intervene in government
Retains Nato and EU forces in military and policing roles
Protects non-Albanian minority with guaranteed roles in government, police and civil service
Protects Serbian Orthodox Church sites and Serbian language
.
Free at last? Well, lets wait and see until they make the final decision.
But this proposal seems great to me. If won, all what Kosova needs to do is work hard, develop economy, education and health system, respect human rights is accordance to European Convention of Human Rights and prove itself that it is capable to self-govern. And that’s it, full stop.
It would be nice to be recognized and acknowledged as a country.
I haven‘t been able to wipe the smile off my face for the last five days. That’s because I have seen hope and hunger for freedom in the kosovars faces, again. It’s great when people believe in freedom but it’s wonderful when they actually live in freedom.
Love hate relationship
City University's architecture is rather interesting. As soon as I get inside - from students entrance, is it student entrance? - while I’m walking up the stairs I feel like I’m entering in a University building but a soon as I am on top of the stairs I am faced with a long reception area and I feel like I’m checking in a cheap hotel. Further along the noisy corridors I feel like I’m walking in streets of London, surrounded by different smells of food, not necessarily delicious but surely expensive.
Now it depends where I chose or have to go which it will affect my mood indirectly. If I go through area B, after those endless concrete stairs, I feel like I’m going through top secret human laboratories where people are being tested as guinea pigs because of long and dark corridors and tiny windows on the doors. Once I enter the classes I feel better because they are quite bright and spacious. Well, most of them.
What is one class on area B on the top floor which is green, covered with plants? I’m quite nosy but I have never asked, simply because I always picture someone having their face drawn with those green and grey lines, camouflage alike, sitting on the chair. Well, doing nothing, just hiding from the students. It seems hilarious and I’m afraid I’d be laughing if I asked what it is and someone could get offended in Rambo’s office.
Anyway, the rest of University is still adventurous but I must admit it’s not that scary, although in some other parts you might experience sudden claustrophobia or anxiety attacks.
Yet, I love it as it is. Whenever I turn my back to it, I miss it. It’s ours and great ideas and minds are being shaped there, by wonderful people.
Now it depends where I chose or have to go which it will affect my mood indirectly. If I go through area B, after those endless concrete stairs, I feel like I’m going through top secret human laboratories where people are being tested as guinea pigs because of long and dark corridors and tiny windows on the doors. Once I enter the classes I feel better because they are quite bright and spacious. Well, most of them.
What is one class on area B on the top floor which is green, covered with plants? I’m quite nosy but I have never asked, simply because I always picture someone having their face drawn with those green and grey lines, camouflage alike, sitting on the chair. Well, doing nothing, just hiding from the students. It seems hilarious and I’m afraid I’d be laughing if I asked what it is and someone could get offended in Rambo’s office.
Anyway, the rest of University is still adventurous but I must admit it’s not that scary, although in some other parts you might experience sudden claustrophobia or anxiety attacks.
Yet, I love it as it is. Whenever I turn my back to it, I miss it. It’s ours and great ideas and minds are being shaped there, by wonderful people.
Thursday, 1 February 2007
A life in a day...
Stephen Armstrong is a freelance journalist, a writer and occasional broadcaster. He writes on the arts for The Sunday Times and various lifestyle magazines, as well as contributing to Radio 4's Front Row.
He also writes for the Guardian, the Saturday Telegraph magazine, Wallpaper and Men's Health.
Books include contributions to Jam: A History Of Style and Inside Out.
His first solo book, The White Island, is a history of Ibiza from Carthage to the present and went to paperback in June 2005.
He is a board director of Sheffield's Dead Earnest Theatre Company, for whom he co-wrote Stalingrad, a play based on Anthony Beevor's book, and has been on the panel for the Perrier Comedy Award for the last two years.
In the past he has played bass in an unsuccessful indie band and promoted some genuinely disastrous club nights. He was born on 4’th of February, 1968, in Bromley. He lives and works in London.
‘Most of the days I wake up at seven o’clock in the morning and the first thing I do, I listen to Today programme, on Radio Four. I never have breakfast at home. I do domestic duties first, I have a shower and then I usually leave home around 8.30am. Then I take the bus to the office. The thing is, I am a freelance and I never have to be at work at a specific time. In the office, there are fourteen freelance journalists and each one of us rents a desk. Each one of us is a boss for itself. So, depending which bus I have taken, I eventually arrive at the office.
When I get into the office I read the news. Herald Tribune is delivered in my house but then I buy other newspapers. I never buy the same newspapers every day. It all depends from their news that they have on their front pages which are reluctant to my research and I cut and file them. For example, I am writing a story about Big Brother and therefore I cut those kind of news. I don’t keep all the cuttings forever. Most of them I throw away within few days but I do keep relevant ones.
Then I check websites, gossip chat-rooms, journalists websites, blogs, newsletters. This is fairly speedy research which it takes me about twenty minutes.
Then I eat breakfast in the office. Today I had small bag of fruits, danish pastry, a yoghurt with bits in it, raspberry juice and a coffee. It takes me about twenty minutes to finish my breakfast.
By midday I go out to interview somebody. Sometimes I do interviews in England, sometimes I go all around the world. When I travel, I’m never away from home for more than five days, except once a year when I stay in Edinburgh for a month during the festival. I pack up my bag within fifteen minutes and I arrive at different destinations each time. The good thing is that I never pay for the flights, newspapers and PR companies pay for it.
I get to meet different Hollywood stars. I have interviewed at last three months Ricky Gervais from Office, all the actresses from the series Desperate Housewives, Chris Rock and so on.
Sometimes some of the actors are difficult to interview and some are not. It depends if they are interested. One of the tricks of being a good television actor is to be able to absorb another personality so effectively, that the other person watching you, genuinely believes that you really are the other person. This means that some actors almost literally don’t have a personality of their own.
But, for example Eva Longoria, has interesting ideas and a very good sense of humour which makes her more interesting to interview. But some of them are quite difficult. In this case, I mirror their body language, which means I adopt their personality. In a way, I become like them and they trust me more. Alternatively, you lower your status and pretend to be somebody else. It’s a job and I get on with it.
The interesting thing is, when you become like them, they tell you things that they would never tell to a stranger. Everyone has a different type of personality. It’s tiresome but it’s about tricking them. For example, I made Ricky Gervais to talk about his mother dieing of cancer, something that he has never done before. In those cases you’ve got to reveal information about yourself which makes them trust you. You tell them the truth. I told him about the ex girlfriend of mine who died of cancer recently and we compared feelings and experiences. You always have something similar to say, people are not that different. Well, there are exceptions. I’ve never been in a situation to interview a woman from Somalia and I haven’t got experiences to share with them. Often, if you follow that route, then you would have had experienced the horror.
After the interview I write the stories almost straight away. It depends from the deadline as well and where I am in the world, but in general I do write them straight away, which is wrong. Ideally you would leave it for a couple of days because you need time in order to process information, facial expressions and all the rest.
I always stop working between six or seven in the evening, no matter whether I am in the office or in a different country. I meet people and we go out for a dinner or drink, or we go to an event. Time is very short in the day and evenings are the only times left for socialising. Very rarely it happens to interview someone in the evening because by then I’m very tired.
It’s very tricky to interview someone when you are tired or when I go to a different country because my body clock changes. That’s why I use drugs. Usually I use caffeine in order to stay awake. Sometimes I use Modefinil, which is not illegal yet. It doesn’t make you hyper, it just keeps you awake.
Finally, I go to bed between eleven or one o’clock after midnight.’
He also writes for the Guardian, the Saturday Telegraph magazine, Wallpaper and Men's Health.
Books include contributions to Jam: A History Of Style and Inside Out.
His first solo book, The White Island, is a history of Ibiza from Carthage to the present and went to paperback in June 2005.
He is a board director of Sheffield's Dead Earnest Theatre Company, for whom he co-wrote Stalingrad, a play based on Anthony Beevor's book, and has been on the panel for the Perrier Comedy Award for the last two years.
In the past he has played bass in an unsuccessful indie band and promoted some genuinely disastrous club nights. He was born on 4’th of February, 1968, in Bromley. He lives and works in London.
‘Most of the days I wake up at seven o’clock in the morning and the first thing I do, I listen to Today programme, on Radio Four. I never have breakfast at home. I do domestic duties first, I have a shower and then I usually leave home around 8.30am. Then I take the bus to the office. The thing is, I am a freelance and I never have to be at work at a specific time. In the office, there are fourteen freelance journalists and each one of us rents a desk. Each one of us is a boss for itself. So, depending which bus I have taken, I eventually arrive at the office.
When I get into the office I read the news. Herald Tribune is delivered in my house but then I buy other newspapers. I never buy the same newspapers every day. It all depends from their news that they have on their front pages which are reluctant to my research and I cut and file them. For example, I am writing a story about Big Brother and therefore I cut those kind of news. I don’t keep all the cuttings forever. Most of them I throw away within few days but I do keep relevant ones.
Then I check websites, gossip chat-rooms, journalists websites, blogs, newsletters. This is fairly speedy research which it takes me about twenty minutes.
Then I eat breakfast in the office. Today I had small bag of fruits, danish pastry, a yoghurt with bits in it, raspberry juice and a coffee. It takes me about twenty minutes to finish my breakfast.
By midday I go out to interview somebody. Sometimes I do interviews in England, sometimes I go all around the world. When I travel, I’m never away from home for more than five days, except once a year when I stay in Edinburgh for a month during the festival. I pack up my bag within fifteen minutes and I arrive at different destinations each time. The good thing is that I never pay for the flights, newspapers and PR companies pay for it.
I get to meet different Hollywood stars. I have interviewed at last three months Ricky Gervais from Office, all the actresses from the series Desperate Housewives, Chris Rock and so on.
Sometimes some of the actors are difficult to interview and some are not. It depends if they are interested. One of the tricks of being a good television actor is to be able to absorb another personality so effectively, that the other person watching you, genuinely believes that you really are the other person. This means that some actors almost literally don’t have a personality of their own.
But, for example Eva Longoria, has interesting ideas and a very good sense of humour which makes her more interesting to interview. But some of them are quite difficult. In this case, I mirror their body language, which means I adopt their personality. In a way, I become like them and they trust me more. Alternatively, you lower your status and pretend to be somebody else. It’s a job and I get on with it.
The interesting thing is, when you become like them, they tell you things that they would never tell to a stranger. Everyone has a different type of personality. It’s tiresome but it’s about tricking them. For example, I made Ricky Gervais to talk about his mother dieing of cancer, something that he has never done before. In those cases you’ve got to reveal information about yourself which makes them trust you. You tell them the truth. I told him about the ex girlfriend of mine who died of cancer recently and we compared feelings and experiences. You always have something similar to say, people are not that different. Well, there are exceptions. I’ve never been in a situation to interview a woman from Somalia and I haven’t got experiences to share with them. Often, if you follow that route, then you would have had experienced the horror.
After the interview I write the stories almost straight away. It depends from the deadline as well and where I am in the world, but in general I do write them straight away, which is wrong. Ideally you would leave it for a couple of days because you need time in order to process information, facial expressions and all the rest.
I always stop working between six or seven in the evening, no matter whether I am in the office or in a different country. I meet people and we go out for a dinner or drink, or we go to an event. Time is very short in the day and evenings are the only times left for socialising. Very rarely it happens to interview someone in the evening because by then I’m very tired.
It’s very tricky to interview someone when you are tired or when I go to a different country because my body clock changes. That’s why I use drugs. Usually I use caffeine in order to stay awake. Sometimes I use Modefinil, which is not illegal yet. It doesn’t make you hyper, it just keeps you awake.
Finally, I go to bed between eleven or one o’clock after midnight.’
Last hours...
Tonight, I need a friend next to me, but I have chosen to stay alone. It has been going on since I remember myself alive and I‘m used to deal with it by myself. After all, it doesn’t make sense anymore but it still hurts. It’s a long fight which it shouldn’t have happened at first place anyway.
I am counting the hours until the status of Kosova is going to be announced. Tomorrow, Europe is going to play God again. Tomorrow we are going to be told whether we have a right to speak up for ourselves. Tomorrow. Ah, I have been waiting for too many tomorrows and tomorrow seems the closest tomorrow I have ever had. Yet, I secretly don’t want to know about this tomorrow. I just have a hunch that it is not going to meet my expectations that I have been waiting for tomorrow. Well, I am not being pessimistic, but I am tired of being optimistic and then having to deal with disappointment. I choose to be sceptic.
Obviously, there are a lot of Serbians, who still believe that Kosova belongs to them. I had an ‘argument’ with one of them today because she made some primitive remarks and honestly I think that kind of mentality is very dangerous.
Here is what she said:
"How would the British react if asked the following question: Why don't you give Northern Ireland the independence? And another question for all the foreign correspondents in Kosovo: Has anyone seen any of the Albanian historical monuments in Kosovo? Wherever you go, you will come across the Serbian monasteries and churches dating back from the Byzantine period, 11th and 12th centuries up to the Turkish conquest of the Serbian lands. There is no dilema, only political interests among the most powerful."
Mirjana, Belgrade, Serbia
And this is my answer to her:
Ah, I am sitting in my room in London, studying journalism and enjoying true freedom and liberty in this country. But half of my heart is still ripped apart because I come from Kosova and I am aware and concerned that some people in this world still believe that some nations don't have a right to make decisions for themselves. I never understood why some Serbians feel good when they make us feel bad. Why? If you really love Kosova, let them be free. And no, probably we don't have any monuments left because they were destroyed throughout centuries by different dictators that we have had. But that doesn't prove that we don't have a right to exist. I didn't want to leave my house on March '99, I didn't want to make enemies with Serbians either, but it took one psychotic man, to brainwash Serbians and turn them into something, that even they don't understand what it is. And worse, Milosevich, is still in their psyche, although he is dead. Get on with your lives people. Make peace. Give rights and opportunities to each other and live happily. Let Kosova make decisions for themselves. Serbians will return to Kosova but Serbians need to stop poking into fresh scares of Albanians because it hurts. It truly does.
Another point, British soldiers never went to Ireland to kick them out of their houses, they never raped Irish women, they never massacred them and they never burnt their houses either. That’s a huge difference between Serbia and Britain.
Please try and make peace because we owe it to the children who lost their childhood through the wars in Balkans. We can't justify ourselves when they ask us why? Lets build their future and shamefully accept our wrong doings.
Lets do it in the name of peace, in the name of humanity.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That’s all what I want from both sides. I want them to give up these stupidities and nonsense nationalism. Nationalist means extremist xenophobic and that’s unacceptable from my point of view. It's 21'st century and while others are making it to Mars we can not make it to next door neighbour country. It makes me sick.
Kosova and Serbia are like a couple. A couple with abusive history who can no longer recover. They will always remember what happened and it’s never going to work. A man who had abused his wife for no reason and now that she wants to leave, he is begging her to stay. She had been punched on her nose far too many times, for no reason and she knows exactly how it feels like. She knows what pain is. She had gone through it for such a long, long time and she is tired and wants to live for as long as she is alive. And so she should. She should stand up for her rights and tell him that although she never hated him, she can no longer love him either. She is numb and she no longer remembers how it feels like to be happy, but she knows pretty well that this is not a way of living her life.
Even today, they still call us terrorists, which it shakes my soul. I've never heard of one single Kosovo Albanian who wrapped itself with bombs and blew it up in Serbia. I know that there is nationalist extremism in Kosovo as well but the most important question is, why did they become like that? I am not justifying them, but they are direct result of the repression that they have gone through different wars. Ignorance is very dangerous and it can be found in both sides. That’s what I do not justify. When Serbians are nationalists that means blood, not only in Kosovo but throughout former Yugoslavia. Not all Serbians are like that though. I've know a lot of Serbians who are very open minded and believe in human rights. One very good friend of mine, amongst others, is Natasa Kandiq. .
But my point is, nobody from Croatia, Bosnia nor Kosova went to Serbia to kill them. They became power craze people because they listened to their power craze president.
Lets not mix two things up, Serbian and Albanian citizens with Serbian and Albanian politicians. I have seen Serbian and Albanian politicians eating, drinking and laughing together. Nothing wrong with it, but what is wrong is that when they leave that party, both sides fuel the minds of their own people with nationalism and lead them to poverty and corruption.
That’s what is wrong, and that is what citizens of both sides need to understand once and for all.
Nobody is denying deaths of Serbians nor Albanians but we need to stop this finger pointing because it happened and lets get over with it. Today, is relevant. Lets forgive. Today. Forgiving is not forgetting, it’s just remembering something without bitterness.
No one has a right to tell anyone what to do and no one should have a right to tell Kosovo what to do either. I believe in peace, democracy and tolerance for every creature that has the chance to live in this planet.
Tonight, I am waiting for tomorrow…
I am counting the hours until the status of Kosova is going to be announced. Tomorrow, Europe is going to play God again. Tomorrow we are going to be told whether we have a right to speak up for ourselves. Tomorrow. Ah, I have been waiting for too many tomorrows and tomorrow seems the closest tomorrow I have ever had. Yet, I secretly don’t want to know about this tomorrow. I just have a hunch that it is not going to meet my expectations that I have been waiting for tomorrow. Well, I am not being pessimistic, but I am tired of being optimistic and then having to deal with disappointment. I choose to be sceptic.
Obviously, there are a lot of Serbians, who still believe that Kosova belongs to them. I had an ‘argument’ with one of them today because she made some primitive remarks and honestly I think that kind of mentality is very dangerous.
Here is what she said:
"How would the British react if asked the following question: Why don't you give Northern Ireland the independence? And another question for all the foreign correspondents in Kosovo: Has anyone seen any of the Albanian historical monuments in Kosovo? Wherever you go, you will come across the Serbian monasteries and churches dating back from the Byzantine period, 11th and 12th centuries up to the Turkish conquest of the Serbian lands. There is no dilema, only political interests among the most powerful."
Mirjana, Belgrade, Serbia
And this is my answer to her:
Ah, I am sitting in my room in London, studying journalism and enjoying true freedom and liberty in this country. But half of my heart is still ripped apart because I come from Kosova and I am aware and concerned that some people in this world still believe that some nations don't have a right to make decisions for themselves. I never understood why some Serbians feel good when they make us feel bad. Why? If you really love Kosova, let them be free. And no, probably we don't have any monuments left because they were destroyed throughout centuries by different dictators that we have had. But that doesn't prove that we don't have a right to exist. I didn't want to leave my house on March '99, I didn't want to make enemies with Serbians either, but it took one psychotic man, to brainwash Serbians and turn them into something, that even they don't understand what it is. And worse, Milosevich, is still in their psyche, although he is dead. Get on with your lives people. Make peace. Give rights and opportunities to each other and live happily. Let Kosova make decisions for themselves. Serbians will return to Kosova but Serbians need to stop poking into fresh scares of Albanians because it hurts. It truly does.
Another point, British soldiers never went to Ireland to kick them out of their houses, they never raped Irish women, they never massacred them and they never burnt their houses either. That’s a huge difference between Serbia and Britain.
Please try and make peace because we owe it to the children who lost their childhood through the wars in Balkans. We can't justify ourselves when they ask us why? Lets build their future and shamefully accept our wrong doings.
Lets do it in the name of peace, in the name of humanity.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That’s all what I want from both sides. I want them to give up these stupidities and nonsense nationalism. Nationalist means extremist xenophobic and that’s unacceptable from my point of view. It's 21'st century and while others are making it to Mars we can not make it to next door neighbour country. It makes me sick.
Kosova and Serbia are like a couple. A couple with abusive history who can no longer recover. They will always remember what happened and it’s never going to work. A man who had abused his wife for no reason and now that she wants to leave, he is begging her to stay. She had been punched on her nose far too many times, for no reason and she knows exactly how it feels like. She knows what pain is. She had gone through it for such a long, long time and she is tired and wants to live for as long as she is alive. And so she should. She should stand up for her rights and tell him that although she never hated him, she can no longer love him either. She is numb and she no longer remembers how it feels like to be happy, but she knows pretty well that this is not a way of living her life.
Even today, they still call us terrorists, which it shakes my soul. I've never heard of one single Kosovo Albanian who wrapped itself with bombs and blew it up in Serbia. I know that there is nationalist extremism in Kosovo as well but the most important question is, why did they become like that? I am not justifying them, but they are direct result of the repression that they have gone through different wars. Ignorance is very dangerous and it can be found in both sides. That’s what I do not justify. When Serbians are nationalists that means blood, not only in Kosovo but throughout former Yugoslavia. Not all Serbians are like that though. I've know a lot of Serbians who are very open minded and believe in human rights. One very good friend of mine, amongst others, is Natasa Kandiq. .
But my point is, nobody from Croatia, Bosnia nor Kosova went to Serbia to kill them. They became power craze people because they listened to their power craze president.
Lets not mix two things up, Serbian and Albanian citizens with Serbian and Albanian politicians. I have seen Serbian and Albanian politicians eating, drinking and laughing together. Nothing wrong with it, but what is wrong is that when they leave that party, both sides fuel the minds of their own people with nationalism and lead them to poverty and corruption.
That’s what is wrong, and that is what citizens of both sides need to understand once and for all.
Nobody is denying deaths of Serbians nor Albanians but we need to stop this finger pointing because it happened and lets get over with it. Today, is relevant. Lets forgive. Today. Forgiving is not forgetting, it’s just remembering something without bitterness.
No one has a right to tell anyone what to do and no one should have a right to tell Kosovo what to do either. I believe in peace, democracy and tolerance for every creature that has the chance to live in this planet.
Tonight, I am waiting for tomorrow…
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