Justice for Kosovo – Chance for Serbia - commentaires

What is missing from this essay...

What is missing from this essay, that is often missing when discussing “Serbia,” is that Serbia has made progress toward her European future. In the lines of this essay is the notion that Serbia is some kind of hopelessly lost and even criminal nation. Serbia has, in fact, developed into a responsible European nation.

First of all, Serbian nationalism, like the former nationalism of Germany, must not be punished or shunned, but understood. Serbian nationalism needs to be understood so we Europeanists can work with Serbia in an effort to minimize and render Serbian nationalism benign. Serbia is already well on the way to being a European nation. The work of constructing a European identity has already taken place. Serbian Europeanists have risked their lives in the creation of European Serbia. The European Union was contributing to the democratic opposition to Milosevic while he was still in office. Please don't forget the memory of Zoran Djindjic, the brave Serbian reformer who was murdered trying to build European Serbia. Also do not forget those Serbs that are working to build a European future for Serbia. They need our help, not condemnation !

Why don't we see the pro-European march on 28 February 2008, where pro-Europe Serb students wanted to repair the window of the Slovenian Embassy ? Why don't we hear about the pro-European movement in Serbia ?

There needs to be a revisiting of the absolute demand to produce war criminals, not just for Serbia, but for other Balkans' nations. It must be understood that this does not mean that the indictments against the indictees will be dropped. However, this absolute demand to produce war criminals is becoming a liability and counterproductive. The standard should be revised to good faith cooperation with the ICTY, and this standard is more reasonable. The problem here is that the conditions of the SAA with regard to Serbia, including the timing of “Kosovo independence,” have been horribly misread.

Last, Serbia is not a criminal nation and its European reformers need our support as they struggle with the lingering nationalism. Serbian nationalism needs to be understood - and collective punishment of Serbia for its nationalism is just as wrong as the collective punishment of Germany would have been 60 years ago. When the Berlin Wall fell, no one called for the continued demonization and punishment of Germans for the horrors of World War Two. Europe now needs the same understanding and positive policy with regard to Serbia.

Justice for Kosovo – Chance for Serbia

Wow, what an endles list of donors. Yet your list of partners in the region does not include any widley accepted Serbian NGO from Belgrade. Classic example of a niche NGO trying to speak for many. I would rather have the insight of the European Movement in Serbia as this NGO is a extreme case as is Natasa Kandic. What the bellow list shows is that you are able to get money from donors, but are very poor at winning the hearts and minds of Serbs.

Anex ;

YIHR Donors Australian Embassy in Belgrade Balkan Trust for Democracy British Embassy-Belgrade Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Civil Dialogue Comité Catholique contre la Faim et pour le Développement (CCFD) Danish Embassy-Belgrade East-East Program (Soros) Embassy of Finland-Belgrade Embassy of France-Belgrade Embassy of Germany-Belgrade Embassy of Netherlands-Belgrade Embassy of the United States of America - Belgrade Freedom House French Cultural Centre, Belgrade Friedrich Ebert Foundation Fund for an Open Society-Serbia Heinrich Böll Foundation Konrad Adenauer Foundation Kosovo Foundation for an Open Society National Endowment for Democracy Norwegian People's Aid Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Quaker Peace and Social Witness Rockefeller Brothers Fund Royal Norwegian Embassy-Belgrade Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights Swiss Government Ministry of Foreign Affairs United Nations Development Programme United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees United States Institute of Peace US Office Pristina

YIHR Partners Belgrade District Court's War Crimes Chamber Centre for Democratic Initiatives-Jagodina Centre for Multicultural Education in Preševo Centre for Tolerance and Interreligious Relations Centre for Social Emancipation Civic Action for Human Rights-Priboj CIVIS Committee for Human Rights -Bujanovac Committee for Human Rights-Negotin Committee for Human Rights-Niš Gayten LGBT FAMA International-Sarajevo Forum of Slovaks – Backi Petrovac Helsinki Committee for the Protection of Rights and Freedoms of Bulgarians-Dimitrovgrad Humanitarian Law Center ICTY Outreach Office LGBT Vojvodina Lambda LGBT Human Rights and Queer Culture Center Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM) Local Democracy Agency-Subotica Movement of Mothers from the Enclaves of Srebenica and Žepa-Sarajevo Resource Centre Leskovac Quaker Peace and Social Witness Queeria Labris Sanjak Committee for the Protection of Human Rights Taboo Zrenjanin

Justice for Kosovo – Chance for Serbia

Andrej and Dragan, everyone who was reasonable knew that Slobodan Milosevic lost Kosovo in 1999.

The biggest mistake the new Serbian government that came into power in 2000 have made was that they did not come out clean and announce to the nation that Kosovo was de facto lost as a part of Serbia. They should have blamed it on Milosevic and his policies, as it was the case.

Instead of Milosevic being rightfully portrayed as someone responsible for the loss of the Serbian “Jerusalem,” they will now get the blame. The Economist writes that “for the past couple of years Serbian leaders have repeated that Kosovo would never be independent. No wonder ordinary Serbs are angry and confused.”

SAVO HELETA Author of "Not My Turn to Die : Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia" http://savoheleta.livejournal.com