Re: Syndicate: hi from edi

[Melentie Pandilovski <mpandil@soros.org.mk>]

My dear Edi,
Thank you for your leter,

	i have to say that i have been reading all the posting about
	Macedonian crisis, but i deliberately tried not to get into discussion.

I really think that the only way we can as best as possible encompass
the issues is if more Albanians (and Other people from the Balkans) are
engaged into the discussion. 
By the way we are in the process of proof-reading the texts from the 
"Undestanding the Balkans" conference, and my guess is that we will
publish it by May or June.


	on the other hand, i think that there is some ground for
	contemplation, even though in my view,
	whatever it is, it could hardly inspire any armed conflict, massively
	supported by the Albanian population living in Macedonia. 

Of course not. At least while the ethnic Albanian members of Parliament
and members of government are still in their places.

	what i am trying to say is that of course the guerrillas are to
	be blamed for what's happened in the last weeks over there, 
	but since in a conflict there's always two sides involved, i
	hardly see the other side (Macedonian Goverment), as totally
	clean and simply a victim of terrorist attacks. 

I am afraid that  in this case it was simply that. A very clean situation.

	of course there's no comparison in the rough outline of the
	social conditions of life between Macedonian Albanians, in
	Macedonia and Kosovar Albanians under Yugoslavia, especially
	after the 90es, when Macedonia broke appart and Milosevic was
	raised in power. but there's still is plenty of ground for
	contemplation even within the multiethnic model that Macedonia
	is meant to provide. my problem in this case is that i don't
	know the situation of other ethnic groups in macedonia, say
	turks, roma, serbs, or macedonian muslims, and i know only about
	the situation of the Albanian population there, therefore it's a
	bit hard for me to generalize on this topic. 

This is a reasonable voice. I think Edi you are the first Albanian
asking about the situation of other minorities in Macedonia and I thank
you for it. So, in Macedonia there are minorities such as Turks, Roma,
Egyptians, Valachians, Serbians, etc,. I have already sent the situation
about their guaranteed rights so that I will not repeat it. 
Anyway there are also problems and in some cases there have been protests
as for example the Serbians were not even mentioned in the Macedonian
Constitution (I am not sure whether this has changed in the mean time).
I think that this was explained by the authorities as having to do with
the non-signing of treaties with Yugoslavia (at that time), and the
position of the Macedonian minority in Serbia.

I would also like to underline that when one speaks of the situation of
a minority in a country there are 2 things one should have in mind. 
Obligations of the State towards its citizens but also of 
 the obligations of the Citizens towards the State.
However, perhaps you are not aware of this, what we could have seen in
the past decade by the Albanian political elite are constant demand of more and more
rights for the ethnic Albanians, but also a practice of avoiding of obligations
of ethnic Albanians towards the State of Macedonia (mostly economic
having to do with not paying taxes). 
Perhaps,  you think that this is a normal standpoint taken by a
"suppressed" minority. 
But alas, if we compare the acting of the Macedonian minority in Greece we can see 
practically the opposite. There is a Macedonian political party in Greece called Vinozito (Rainbow).
Even though the rights of Macedonians in Greece cannot even come close to
the rights of Albanians in Macedonia, as they practically do not exist,
still Vinozito is trying to improve them through the existing system in
Greece. Vinozito has never tried to enter any kind of a military
conflict. Also they have never tried to avoid obligations of Macedonians
towards the Greek State. On the contrary Vinozito has stressed them. And
this is the only way how things can be done. Rights are to be matched
with obligations.  Somehow, it seems that most of the minorities in the
Balkans are more or less trying to work with in the system, 
trying to match the obligations with the rights.
This is however not the case with the Albanian minority in the Balkan countries. 
Now, why is that? What is so different about the Albanians? And why does the bulk of the requested rights of ethnic
Albanians refer to territory and governing? Why isn't help sought by the Macedonian
State for pressing issues in the ethnic Albanian community such as women
rights and high rate of drug dependency of the Albanian youth? 


	however, i think that there's some unjustice regarding key
	issues that are already elaborated in the Macedonian
	constitution, such as the issues of language, school system

The situation of the Albanian minority in Macedonia has in fact
dramatically improved during the last decade. 
>From 1990 when there was only one High school in Albanian in the city of Tetovo,
the number of High Schools which conduct the teaching in Albanian has
risen to 6.  Of course, as the students are bilingual, they are also
able to go to the other Schools where it is taught in Macedonian.
As far as the number of encompassed ethnic Albanian students with in the
educational system  is concerned, in elementary and high schools, it has
risen from 16% to more than 70%. 
The other day I had a discussion with Michael about the situation with 
the policemen. From what I know is that this is a very delicate process
but still the percentage has been steadily growing from 3% in 1993  to
arrive to about 17% at the moment in the Police Forces in Macedonia.
The Chief of Police in Tetovo is an Albanian. this is also true for other
cities where Albanians are in a significant numbers (not always necessarily the majority) 
Also the international representation of the Albanian ethnicity is very
high as there is a big number of Macedonian Ambassadors of ethnic
Albanian origin (I think their number exceeds their prercentual
representation in the Census).

	as Misko mentiones (and i agree) there's a high birth rate among
	albanian population. what i disagree with is that the albanian
	population increased due to immigration from albania and kosova,
	during the last years. even if this was the case (especially
	from albania), it's so rare that it can't even be considered
	statistically. 

But Edi, this is true. In fact there are thousands of Albanians waiting
to get their Macedonian citizenship at the moment. This is because they
were not born in Macedonia but came from Kosovo and Albania (not longer
than 15 years ago). The ones that came to Macedonia 15 years ago or more
already have the Macedonian citizenship and represent a part of the 22%
Albanian minority in Macedonia. 


	therefore on one hand there is this high rate of birth among
	albanians, which i personally believe is some sort of stragegy,
	not established recently, but ever since they found themselves
	under opression. this is also the case in Kosova and am
	repeating it, it didn't happen neither after the second world
	war, nor after the 90-es, but from the very first moment
	albanians living in those areas found themselves threatened as a
	community. 

Threatened? I agree that in some cases there were these elemenst. On the
other hand though it is always easier to feel threatened by the Other.
But is it always so? Aren't we sometimes bigger enemies to our selves
than the Others can ever possibly be? 
Let us examine a bit more the threats and oppression, by refering to
historical developments, as without them, we might not be able to fully
understand the situation, causes and results. 
And as I said before why does the bulk of the requested rights of ethnic
Albanians refer to territory and governing? Why isn't help sought by the Macedonian
State for pressing issues in the ethnic Albanian community such as women
rights and high rate of drug dependency of the Albanian youth? 

As there was a lot of talk about oppressing of the Albanians then let us
start with the question of the oppressor.  Who is in fact oppressing the Albanians? 
If one was to study in more detail the historical and social basis of
Albanian families (I will speak just of some Albanian families in
Macedonia because this is the only situation I know. If different in
Albania please comment), he/she would find that in fact the biggest
oppressor has not been the State as the highest authority (Byzantine,
Ottoman, Yugoslav Kingdom, Albanian, SFRJ, or Macedonian), nor the
religious (Islamic authorities), nor the neighboring people.
In fact, one could say that the oppression in this community has been
based on the premises that it COMES NOT from the OUTSIDE but rather from
the INSIDE.
Namely, the biggest oppressor that the members of the family
have known has always been the "Pater Familias". 
He (always a He) is the practical center of the family to whom all
members have to show due respect, and loyalty. 
This of course comes from the medieval tradition and was even codified
in the famous Kanun - The Code of Leke Dukagjini 
 (a very good project by Wendy Wissar titled CodeBox was presented
during SEAFair '98 http://seafair.scca.org.mk/98/projects.htm  or
http://www.codebox.com/  regarding this theme.)
However, this oppression of the Pater Familias is not something that is a relict of history but is
in a way still continuing, and it exploits different forms such as economic, sexual, etc. 
An example of the economic oppression is a young guy whom I know (they say there are many 
such in Tetovo or even in Skopje) who works in a Humanitarian Foundation (a
driver or translator can sometimes make 1,500 DEM a month which is considered
as a high salary here) is taking his entire salary to his father (the pater familias), who
is then giving back to this guy just barely enough to survive the month,
and is "investing" or keeping the money as He finds suitable for the
"Family". The same case happens with the other of the many children in
this family. How can this guy or his brothers ever gain self-respect in
this closed circle? I mean unless one day One of them (the Oldest or
sometimes the most capable one) becomes the Pater Familias himself? 
I will not even mention the case of his sisters because this will really lead us to endless discussions.
So as far as sexual oppression is concerned I will have to give at least one remark that it is much harder
for the women as the position of the woman in the family has mostly to do with the birth and the raising of children. 

This clan structure enables on the other hand enables the highest possible form of conspiracy as it is based
on blood relations, history of the clan, and social relationships with in the clan which are always turned towards
the focal point e.g. Pater Familias.
This as a result represents a rejection of the authority of the State (any State including an Albanian State),
and a possibility to keep a very secretive structure towards the rest of the  world.
The maximum of interest that the clan shows is for maintaining a very loose relationship with the other similar clans. 
Therefore, it is not at all surprising that when a clan is engaged in the "drug business" it is extremely difficult
to detect it. This clan base has enabled the Albanian Mafia to become the strongest one in
the drug business in Europe, and potentially in the World (US Market included). 


	this on the other hand, takes to a deliberate restriction of
	numbers in national census in macedonia, out of which comes the
	famous 22 %, because even that i don't know how it is stated in
	the macedonian constitution, this some sort of limit number to
	define an ethnic population as minority. 

No, there is nothing of the sort. Even minorities of 1% are listed.
But I am interested also in the following: The other day I was speaking
of the necessity to equalize the human rights as well as political
rights of minorities in the region. 
Would you agree with me on this issue?
Just yesterday I heard on the news of the method which is going to be
used during the the forthcoming census in Albania. Namely, there will be
just 2 graphs. One for Albanians, and another for the Others. No mention
of Greeks, Macedonians, Valachians, Serbs, Montenegrins. 
Is this true? 
And if it is true then isn't this at least a DOUBLE STANDARD 
when one seeks for his own ethnic group much more than is prepared to
give to the others? 


	however all this might sound on me, i want to point out that
	there are really NO INTENTIONS AT ALL of a Greater Albania
	claims, neither in Albania itself, nor in Kosova, even after
	they got under international protection. i think that one should
	be really dumb to use this as a reason, on whatever side.

I can understand your position. But neither do the Albanian political
parties in Macedonia want this Edi. They are solely interested in their
own territory (mostly business wise), and all the benefits that come
from this.

	what i disagree with is the simple reporting, or the cut and
	paste from local and international media reports, which we can
	get in any case, and i tell you that i am simply deleting them
	from my mail box now.

Well do you think we should stop? If it is not interesting then I
suppose there is not much point in that. Anyway the situation has calmed
now so that you could be right.
But I guess the most important thing that I am trying to say is this: When
an article is forwarded about the involvement of the KLA with the drug
business it doesn't necessarily mean that the one forwarding it (or the
one writing it) is against the ethnic Albanians, but in many cases it
signifies the opposite. Namely, the drugs are not only sold to the
Germans, or the Swiss, but it is more and more often the case that the
drugs are being sold to the Albanian youth. 
Macedonia until a decade ago was basically a drug free country. Now the number 
of the drug users is growing very rapidly. Surprisingly or not, the
number of the drug users with-in the ethnic Albanian community is
growing more quickly than the number of drug users with-in the ethnic
Macedonian community. This comes as a result that the drug Cartel in
Macedonia is controlled by the Albanian Mafia, which finds it easier to sell with-in their circle.  


	- what i suggest is to see what can we do, Misko, Michael, Eleni,
	Andreas, everybody that is participating in this posting, to
	find some common ground where to develop common initiatives that
	can help towards a longer term goals, of peaceful coexistence,
	such as the latest posting from Misko was on the pannel being
	organized in the Harward school of Law.

I absolutely support you and eel that it is necessary to find a common
ground. I also think that best is to tackle the roots. Human rights,
ethnic rights, minority rights, should be EQUAL for ALL the people in
the entire region. I think that as long as we agree on this we should
perhaps organize a Conference on this issue. 


Warm regards,

Melentie 

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