So what is Peace Lab? It's a qualitative research methods fieldwork class for the bachelor's students at Amsterdam University College. Six years ago I took a group of 1st years to Kosovo during spring break on a field trip to demonstrate the power of experiential learning. These 18- and 19-year olds returned to AUC full of stories about the people we met in post-conflict Kosovo. A class like this brings theory and practice together. When these students started writing and talking about their experiences with Albanians, Serbs, small NGOs, the UN, and their own reflections about what had changed for them, the dean of AUC at the time, Marijk van der Wende, committed to making Peace Lab an annual class. She made a place in the budget so that no students would be turned away from attending because of financial limitations.
Now, during the fifth edition of the class Peace Lab, another 20 students are being challenged by the complexities of transitional justice--in the field. We've seen with the alumni that this class provides a unique opportunity for students to practice their qualitative research methods--and it gives them an edge when applying for graduate programs. They return to AUC with paper topics and bachelor's thesis ideas, opportunities for internships (we're visiting an AUC alum tomorrow who's working with OSCE) and a new confidence in everyday peacebuilding, coupled with wisdom that different perspectives really can be accepted without having to argue about who is right.
This year, the students come from the Netherlands, the USA, Germany, Estonia, Spain, Belgium, Egypt, Romania, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Ecuador, and France. A few of the students have layered identities like the people we're visiting: Kosovar Albanian, Kosovar Serb, Albanian Albanian, Kosovar, and Balkan.
Kosovo celebrated its 10th anniversary of independence last year. When people ask me about the changes I've witnessed in the six years I've been bringing students here, I say that the high unemployment and lack of visa liberalization is causing Kosovars to become more cynical and frustrated. They were promised peace and prosperity and eventual EU membership. The war that gutted the country with ethnic cleansing on both sides, happened 20 years ago, yet the so-called transitioning presence of the UN and other international state-building organizations seems more permanent than temporary. "We will go when we are no longer needed, not when we're no longer wanted," a representative said. An entire generation has grown up with this international presence.
When I teach my human rights and peacebuilding classes, the students hear me talk about windows of opportunity. Rather than using the right-versus-left frame, I challenge them to think in terms of open and closed. Is our society open? Is our city open? Is our period in history open? Is our university open? Is my family open? Is my heart open?
Kosovo is open to EU membership at the moment, but the EU is closed to further expansion at the moment. The purpose of the EU is to promote peace in Europe. The Western Balkans are often described as stable, but tense.
For the first time, I'm hearing people here talk about losing hope. That's never come up before. It doesn't help that Serbian troops were transferred to the Kosovo border last week. The Newborn sign in central Prishtina has been a sort-of graffiti thermometer since independence in 2008. When we arrived a few days ago it displayed portraits and tributes to women leaders in Kosovo. Yesterday these were torn off and now we see the true colors of a dying hope. Despite the prolonged lack of violence, and a growing attraction to foreign investors, its name is fear.
After 6 years this sounds very negative dear Anne. Unfulfilled promises do rankle. The dormant international economy in many places are leading to a lack of trust in liberal democracies that fail to deliver. I'd say we're in considerable trouble, certainly down here in S. Africa with massive unemployment.
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