ROVIN’
AND RAVIN’ WITH MIKE
Copyright © 1999 by Michael Segers, all rights reserved
The
atrocities in Kosovo, a place that most of us Americans had never heard of a few
weeks ago, have given it a sad, special place at the end of the dark history of
the twentieth century. It will have a sad, special place in our hearts when we
look at the suffering that ethnic, cultural, religious, and political conflicts
have caused throughout this century of humanity's greatest accomplishments and
also greatest horrors. But, who are these people? Where are they? What do they
have to do with us? Based on research at several websites, I've tried to put
together some answers to the questions that I hear people asking. This is one
article that I honestly say is most important for the list of URLs that you’ll
find at the end. So, if your time is limited, skip to the end, and start
surfing.
Yugoslavia was an improvised country imposed upon
peoples and histories with no regard to centuries-old conflicts. After the
country's meltdown earlier in this decade, what was left was known as the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; that accounts for the odd references to
"FRY" troops. The Kosovo province was overwhelmingly Albanian,
although the Serbs control the FRY as a whole. In a matter of weeks, over a
third of that Albanian population has been uprooted, moved, even killed in a
process of "ethnic cleansing" that brings up memories of Hitler's
beliefs and practices. The Serbs literally aim to "cleanse" the
province of their hereditary enemies.
The conflict goes back centuries. Like Russians,
the Serbs are a Slavic people; the Albanians are not. Albanian language,
culture, and religion separate them from the Serbs. Albanians are more likely to
be Muslims, while the Serbs are Orthodox Christians. For generation after
generation, these are some factors, along with centuries of grudges built up in
war after war, that have divided two proud peoples.
Since Slobodan Milosevic's presidency began ten
years ago, with his seizing power from the previous president and timing his
inauguration to commemorate a Serb defeat six centuries ago, those divisions
have only worsened. Milosevic has used the historical sufferings of the Serbs to
ignite a fierce nationalism in order to shore up his power in a unified
Yugoslavia under Serb control. This policy led to brutal oppression in the
breakaway republics of Croatia and Bosnia, when, before the current situation,
he faced NATO planes. Drawing on his popularity among Serbs, Milosevic shows no
sign of backing down this time, as he did a few years ago. He is the kind of
leader who thrives on pressure, and the current air war seems to have energized
him, if anything. He shows no sign of giving up power or ending his campaign of
"ethnic cleansing" against the Albanian Kosovars.
NATO and the United States have responded to
Milosevic's ongoing persecution of the Albanian Kosovars for the humanitarian
reason that such genocidal policies and actions cannot go on. That seems a more
realistic argument than vague threats of World War III. There also seems to be a
sort of face-saving involved here. The superpowers feel they cannot let
Milosevic get away with what he is doing after all the previous confrontations
and warnings, for fear that other international rogues will take advantage of
what they would perceive to be weakness of will and purpose in the superpowers.
But, the main concern has to be for the Albanians
who have joined this century's great, horrible flood of refugees. Guilty only of
the crime of being the children of their parents, they drag themselves and at
best the possessions they can carry on their backs along the roads to Albania
and Macedonia, looking for respite. Their lives, of course, are shattered. There
are reports of the Serbs fine-tuning their persecution of the Albanians by
destroying records of marriages, births, and property ownership. Those
foundations of civilized life will be missing, even if--as some have
suggested--NATO troops return the Albanian refugees to Kosovo and remain there
to oversee the establishment of an autonomous Kosovo.
International relief agencies are providing what
help they can, and airlifts of refugees to third countries have already begun.
But it seems likely that for generations, those Kosovars of Albanian descent
will live the hardscrabble life of the permanently displaced. They are in the
hands of others, dependent upon the handouts of others. Getting up and going to
work, wondering what to have for dinner or which pants to wear today—no, for
many Kosovars of Albanian descent, the concern is: will there be a place to
sleep? Clothes to wear? Even food to eat, even water to drink?
It seems unlikely that this conflict will have
such a profound influence upon the United States, but it is also unlikely that
this is going to be another Persian Gulf War, measured in days. Milosevic
is pretty much calling the shots. Until he indicates that he is willing for the
bombings to end, they won't. At the moment, Milosevic has done what he set out
to do. Now, he must be primarily concerned with saving his own life. And when a
person, especially a driven, desperate, possibly unstable person like Milosevic
is fighting for his life, how the situation will end cannot be predicted.
Not only do the lessons of World War II rise up
in our consciousness, but so do the lessons of the Vietnam War. Can America shut
itself away from the rest of the world? Does political supremacy demand moral
responsibility? How much moral responsibility can we show? We have our share of
ethnic divisions within our country, but we haven't had over half a millenium to
learn how to hate each other.
Expect no answers here. But, as you work through
the difficult issues associated with what is happening in a little country that
many Americans had never heard of until America got involved in it (sound
familiar?), here are some places on the web where you can find information. I
include a site for the Koran and one for the Albanian language to give you some
sense of who the Albanian Kosovars are. Some of these sites are aligned with
different parties in the conflict. I will leave it to you to make your own
judgments.
Just possibly searching the web, exploring the
range of viewpoints represented here, is one of the best ways we have to avoid
the kind of problems that are going on in Kosovo. Keep your heart full of noble
thoughts and at least one prayer for all those touched by the suffering in
Kosovo, including the families of the three American prisoners (two of whom are
Hispanic, for whatever that may bring up about ethnicity in our country). And,
as you walk whatever roads you walk, keeping your feet dry, keep your heart full
of noble thoughts, grateful that you have such good roads to walk, such good
shoes to wear, and such a good life to live.