9 June 2020
By Lotte Luna Peters
Today could be described with three words: tiring
yet inspiring. After the third and last meeting, the students were overwhelmed,
to say the least, with so much information and speeches and talks from the
people we spent hours talking to. However, I think we can all agree on the fact
that it was a day that we will never forget: sadness that we can’t go on the
much-anticipated trip to Kosovo made way for excitement, and a feeling of
overall empowerment and confidence. The day already started with an unexpected
turn of events, as Albin Kurti – the former prime-minister of Kosovo – agreed
and confirmed that he would meet with us in the morning only a few days ago.
What made the meeting with Kurti even more
interesting, is the fact that it has not even been a week since he had to leave
the office: he was voted out after a no-confidence motion, following
disagreements about how to handle the current Coronavirus pandemic. Kurti made
a very good impression on us, and we talked for a little while after class
about how charming he actually was in his way of speaking and his mannerisms –
something that must have really helped him get the people’s vote.
Some things
that he said in particular stuck with me. At one point, he said: “Being heroic
is just a heroic act. However, being brave is the ability to co-exist, to live
with impossibilities. Being brave is much more difficult than being heroic.” This
can of course very much be interpreted in a thousand different ways, but for
me, it definitely ties to youth activism, especially taking into consideration
the protests that are currently happening in the world for Black Lives Matter. The
youth has often been the source of change and revolution, because they are
brave. I think Kurti’s definition of bravery here not only means being able to
co-exist with impossibilities, but also to address and fight those seemingly
impossible things. When it comes to the youth, two things are especially
important according to Kurti: getting together, and imagination. The latter
should not be confused with creativity, he says, as creativity is something you
have to prove to others by creating, but imagination can be something more
intimate, something you are the only witness to. I read a book a few years ago that
said something similar. Namely, human beings are unique because they can
imagine, they can tell stories to each other, and that is how change is
achieved. The youth can imagine a world where things aren’t the way they are
right now, but should be, and they get together to fight for that world.
After Kurti, we met with Marigona Shabiu from
the Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Kosovo. A main focus of their work is
youth empowerment by bringing them together – which Kurti already noted is
extremely important - and increasing communication. In Kosovo, the greatest
barrier for getting the youth together is the ethnic divide between Albanians
and Serbs. The trauma that is imposed on the parents from the war is
transmitted to their children, who then get to grow up with the same stories,
experiences and the then forthcoming prejudice. This way, it’s very difficult
to achieve change, and as Marigona put it: people need to connect as humans first.
She emphasizes how important it is that the stories of ordinary people need to be
heard as well, instead of only the glorified ones with military figures. I
believe that modern technology provides the Kosovar youth with a great and hopeful
means to that end: the bridge between Albanians and Serbs can more easily be built.
It provides them the opportunity to hear the voices of the people they don’t
get to hear in their own environment, be it their family, school, or
neighborhood.
The last meeting we had was with Igo Rogova
from Kosovo’s Women’s Network – a very inspiring woman whose energy and overall
presence I don’t think I will ever forget. Especially the words she said about
youth empowerment will stay with me: we shouldn’t say that they are the future,
because they are the present. Only then will the youth really get the feeling
they are being involved, and only then will they really speak up. We shouldn’t
wait for important change to happen in the future, but we, young people, should
already try to make it happen in the present. The voices of the youth being
heard is therefore vital.
One other thing that Igo told us is I think very
much worth sharing. She talked about how one day, she saw three men walking
their children in their strollers, instead of the normalized image of three
women doing that. She then walked up to them and said how well they were doing.
That story made me realize that change doesn’t always lie in the big things,
like the political decisions that are being made, the laws that are being
passed or the governments that are being elected. It often lies in the little things,
the things that you come across in daily life. Things like seeing black people
play protagonist roles in your favorite Hollywood movies, a husband cooking for
his wife after she comes home from a long day of work, or seeing an Albanian
and a Serb eat ice cream together on a hot summer’s day.
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