By Tiana Rönner
In our project, Céline and I investigated emotions people experience in Kosovo in their everyday lives. Even though highly limited by time, resources and language, our research uncovered a multitude of different facets. Anger, fear, frustration, grief, pride and hope were explored in the articles of our project, a magazine called “Commotion”. An emotion that remains unexplored by our efforts is the feeling of safety in society. Indirectly, we gained insights into how different people experience different degrees of safety. As a disclaimer before I move on, it needs to be said that there is no way to generalize groups of people, especially with the state of my current knowledge, nor does this post cover all injustices or inequalities present. However, I would like to attempt exploring which safety concerns may be faced by people belonging to certain groups.
Being a woman
Being a woman is the only one I can remotely talk on behalf of. Being a woman tourist is different of course than being a local woman, but even still in the 10 days we were there, my radar was on. I can say for myself, that there was no point during the trip at which I felt necessarily unsafe. In class we were told, “Don’t walk alone, always in groups of three.” “Be careful what you wear, we don’t want to attract unnecessary attention.” In meetings, men sometimes spoke more than the women present and being part of this group myself, there are little micro-behaviours that are noticeable. At clubs, a large majority of people consisted of men, who sometimes would come up just a little too close for comfort. At night I would definitely not feel safe walking alone… But then again, is there any place where I would feel safe walking alone at night? Besides my own experience, the statistics about domestic violence incidents speak for themselves. The Women’s Network’s and Kosovar Gender Studies Center’s work clearly underline the urgency to empower and inform women of their own rights.
Being Albanian vs. being Serb
We have heard both Albanians and Serbs express the emotion of feeling unsafe in the country throughout our trip. In Prizren, we were warned by three girls in their late 20s to not go to the north of Mitrovica, as it was a dangerous place. When they took a moment and acknowledged again that we were tourists, they said that we would be fine, and that only they had to worry. They explained this by saying that Serbs had taken from them and that they would do it again. This is an example of how Albanians may feel unsafe within Kosovo. The flipside of this is that the extreme minority of Serbs in the country, making up 5% of the population, express similar concerns. We heard about people living “undercover” in cities like Prishtina, not daring to show their Serb identity. This alone exemplifies how it would not feel safe for them to let people know who they are. Much more plays into these two sides and the emotions they experience, but feeling unsafe with one another is a major hurdle on the road to living peacefully.
Being queer
Our meeting with the Youth Shapers revealed that mental health is not something often openly talked about or addressed. Similar hurdles were illustrated by the LGBTQIA organization we met with. They said that barely anyone had openly or publicly outed themselves as queer. Despite the legal inclusion and acceptance of the queer community, people told us that public opinion is still very different and traditional, meaning conservative. This “staying in the closet” is an indicator of safety concerns held by members of this community. Feeling mentally unaccepted by people is a disruptive feeling which makes people feel emotionally unsafe. Feeling physically threatened should also not be ruled out, as we all have heard of violence perpetrated against gay people, even in countries like the Netherlands, which is supposedly very queer-friendly. However, if even conversations about being queer are taboo in a society, what would happen if people are actually proud of who they are, celebrate who they are, just the way they are? Do people feel safe attending a Pride parade?
Final thoughts
These are just a few examples of how truly feeling safe may be disrupted for people belonging to certain societal groups. My own position as a white, cis-female, hetero-passing tourist, opened my eyes towards the positionality of others. I was very privileged in the position I was in. Feeling safe is the most crucial stepping stone to building a peaceful life. If this is not provided, it harshly limits how freely one can live life and make decisions. It affects how people talk, present themselves and respond to their environments. I would like to draw attention simply to the fact that safety is not granted to everyone equally, as long as prejudices persist. Whether or not there is a way out of these prejudices for Kosovar citizens in the future remains to be seen, but we have had the honor of meeting some amazing people who work towards the realization of these goals.
Picture sources:
https://chalmersstudentkar.se/feel_safe/
http://quantumsoulclearing.com/learning-to-feel-safe-the-high-cost-of-low-self-worth-and-self-esteem-part-3/
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