By Anna Canals
It is often believed that the youth are the future of a country. In Kosovo, the youth are its present. Today, the 20th of June, was a different day. Unfortunately, we cannot go to Mitrovica due to the existing tensions in the North. “It would only take one shot for conflict to spark”. These are the words of Ljubisa, who comes from Mitrovica and has been working relentlessly for international organizations here in Kosovo. He came for dinner with us yesterday, and we had the chance to have a long conversation on Kosovo’s state of affairs over a delicious risotto and a glass of white wine. He believes Kosovo’s youth are more prone to ethnic hatred and violence. Contrary to himself, they have not experienced the war. The fear, grief, and guilt that come with it are unknown to them. Ljubisa is not the first one to express this opinion. We keep on hearing about the power youth hold in Kosovo, in caring for the ethnic tensions but in fostering reconciliation initiatives too. Now more than ever is when the voices of people in the North must be heard. For this reason, we were reluctant to cancel our meetings with civil society organizations in Mitrovica and, instead, we decided to meet with them through Zoom.
One of the organizations we had the pleasure to talk to was Community Building Mitrovica, known as CBM. CBM is composed of 18 members who work towards fostering inter-ethnic dialogue, creating safe spaces for people to meet, and changing the image of the bridge. It is a small yet powerful force of change. Today everyone has talked to us about the bridge. For those of you who don’t know, the River Ibar divides the city of Mitrovica, and a bridge crosses the river providing people the opportunity to cross from one side to the other. However, people do not want to cross the bridge. “This is our reality. Young people are reluctant to meet each other, and the city remains divided”, Milika Jakovijevic from CBM stated. However, Milika believes, Kosovo has the potential to be a multi-ethnic and diverse society. “If they met the other side, they would understand we are more similar than distinct”, she expressed. For this reason, CBM was created as a multi-ethnic and grassroots organization that maintains political openness, pursues an honest mission, and serves as an example of peaceful coexistence being possible.
CBM focuses its initiatives concerning vulnerable people, with a special concern for youth. The “Reconciliation and Conflict Transformation” project identifies which activities must be done to foster reconciliation. They work with multiple experts who conduct research in Mitrovica and meet with these and local institutions to provide recommendations for initiatives that can contribute to the process of reconciliation. The “Civic School Education” project creates safe spaces with the purpose of preventing violent extremism and fostering societal tolerance and inclusion. The personnel at CBM talk to the municipalities and schools in Mitrovica North and South, identifying vulnerable individuals who would benefit the most from their initiatives and invites them to their offices to participate. To lead these discussions, they adhere to a curriculum written in English with themes they want to cover, including citizenship and participation, discrimination, human rights, religion and belief, and peace and violence. Lastly, one of the initiatives CBM personnel are most proud of is “Mitrovica Rock School”. Mitrovica used to be a city of rock music. To honor that, the School of Rock provides youth from all ethnic communities the chance to come together, play music, and overcome the existing ethnic divide.
Once the meeting was over, I spent some time in the hostel room reflecting on everything that we heard today. Zoom meetings never feel the same as meeting someone in person. They are cold and, at times, they can become awkward. However, all the people we talked to were lively, and honest, and trusted us to be vulnerable. I’m grateful for them. Milika expressed the situation in Kosovo is very unstable. However, she is proud of being where she is. “Kosovo is my home. I’m not doing this because I need a job, I’m doing this because I’m passionate.” The words of Milika reflect her will to create a society with open minds and open hearts, a society that will move from a divided past to a united future. However, how does one accomplish this when youth do not know each other’s language and thus, grow up carrying ethnic hatred? Inspired by Mitrovica Rock School, I came to realize a manner to do this is through art. Motivated by this thought, I left the hostel room and walked to the National Art Gallery of Kosovo.
This was not the first time I walked to the gallery. Laure and I walked there a couple of days earlier. We peeked through the glass door but, despite a cold light that illuminated the room, we saw no one inside. Today we were more successful. We walked in and met in the hallway with a couple of young women. They were wearing extravagant and trendy outfits, so we immediately thought they were artists. It turns out they were not. However, after a long conversation, we discovered they work for Mural Fest Kosova, a festival that occurs every year in Kosovo where artists from all around the world are invited to create a mural and celebrate the power of art to convey meaning and bring people together. When they were explaining to us about it, I thought to myself ¨this is it¨. This is a unique manner in which young people found a form to get to know each other and be united through their passion. In Mural Fest they are not Albanian, Serb, or Roma, they are all artists. Today was a different day. Considering all our meetings were on Zoom I had the time to reflect and explore by myself the power of reconciliation that all civil society organizations we met with talked about. The day ended with another delicious dinner and a good night's sleep for some and a lively night of music and drinks for others.
No comments:
Post a Comment