latest clashes between Albanians and Macedonians in Macedonia to the
two Palestinian intifadas ("uprisings" in 1987-93 and from September
2000) in Israel. In doing so, they demonstrated their ignorance of
the two regions and the four peoples involved.
The Macedonians are a small nation. Their very nationhood is doubted
by their Bulgarian neighbours (who regard them as rustic Bulgarians
speaking a funny Bulgarian dialect). The Greeks - another neighbour
and the biggest investors in the Macedonian economy - consider them
to be Slav invaders. The Serbs are convinced that they are Serbs who
occupy "South Serbia". Who needs enemies in the Balkan if one has
neighbours?
The inevitable result is that Macedonians are very touchy when it
comes to the territorial integrity of their tiny (25,000 sq. km.)
country, to the official version of their history and to their
language. The current Albanian troubles is perceived by them to
threaten all three.
According to the last official census, Albanians constituted around
25% of the population. Add to this Albanian expatriates, a decade of
fecundity, and census-dodgers and 33% of the population would seem a
safe bet. There are Albanians everywhere in Macedonia - but mostly
in its Western part which borders on Kosovo. The Albanians in
Macedonia are economically better off than their brethren in Albania
and in Kosovo. But they are a minority and, inevitably, suffer some
discrimination (especially in the job market and in education).
Albanian women prefer not to work (due to traditional values, the
size of the average Albanian family and other, objective,
constraints). But even accounting for this fact, unemployment among
the Albanian populace is higher than it is among the Macedonians. At
25-30% country-wide, the unemployment rate is anyhow explosive.
Unemployment and discrimination (mostly real, some of it imagined) -
especially among the well-educated - breeds resentment. Resentment
in the Balkan breeds virulent nationalism and guns, not necessarily
in this order. That ostensibly Macedonian Albanians insist on waving
the flag of a neighbouring country (Albania) rather than their own's
on official occasions does not add to the already shaky mutual trust
among the communities. That some of them (admittedly a negligible
minority) entertain the dream of a Great Albania (including Western
Macedonia) does nothing to assuage Macedonian fears.
Despite (or maybe because) centuries of peaceful co-existence and
good neighbourly relations - Macedonians have a stereotype of
Albanians as backward, steeped in crime and reflexively
secessionist. Albanians, on the other hand, are very dramatic about
what some of them insist on calling "state terror". Sporadic police
brutality does not help the Macedonian case.
Hence the multi-annual heated debate about whether Albanians should
be allowed to use their language in their own higher education
institutions. Macedonians regard these rather usual demands as the
beginning of their end. They recall the tactics of the Albanians in
Kosovo. First, prosaic and rather reasonable demands regarding human
rights, health, jobs and education. Then, an armed uprising of para- military units, followed by Western pressure to "compromise" and
grant the minority their "legitimate human and civil rights".
Then NATO.
The Macedonians fully believe - official protestations aside - that
the Albanians are simply trying to repeat their Kosovar success in
other parts of Serbia (Presevo) and in Western Macedonia.
Macedonians seem to believe in the reality of a Great Albania vision
more than most Albanians do.
But the uprising in Macedonia has little to do with a Great Albania
and a lot to do with greed and gripes. It is a confluence of
frustrated idealism and hard cash. Those who do the fighting are an
eclectic bunch of disgruntled former KLA toughs (under the itinerant
name "National Liberation Army") and wide eyes students. They are
mostly Kosovars but with significant logistical support from the
local population (underground hospitals, arms caches and such). Some
of the fighters and many in the logistics are Albanian Macedonian
citizens. The insurgency is as much about business as it is about
rights. The Albanians in Macedonia who do not belong to the Albanian
party in power (the DPA) seem not to have shared the spoils and
patronage it doled out so wholeheartedly to its coterie and cronies.
a third Albanian party has just been established, apparently to
cater to their needs. Many members of the theoretically disbanded
KLA found themselves shovelling snow for a pittance or altogether
unemployed. Even crime does not pay - it was taken over by ruthless
gangs from Albania proper. But it would be wrong to say that it's
all about money. The Macedonian Albanian population is genuinely
disenchanted with the rule of the Slav majority. And this uprising
is about airing their grievances as well.
There is no popular and widespread support for a full-scale armed
rebellion among the Albanians anywhere. That would be too
economically disruptive for both legal and illegal businesses. The
leaders of Albania, Kosovo (with the notable exception of Rugova,
who may be at great personal risk following the recent local
elections he won) and of the Macedonian Albanians all denounced the
violence. But a limited "message" to the Macedonian authorities
("give us our rights peacefully or else...") seems to enjoy a tacit - though unexpressed - consensus.
The irony is that the current government of Macedonia has gone out
of its way to accommodate the demands of the Albanian population. An
Albanian party (the aforementioned DPA) is one of the most important
and stable members of a fragile coalition. There are Albanian
ministers, civil servants and functionaries in all levels and arms
of government, both central and local. The issues of higher
education in the Albanian language are on their way to an attractive
resolution, as far as the Albanians are concerned. Perhaps this is
why the Macedonian government was taken by complete surprise despite
warnings and information aplenty.
There remains the demand for the status of a "Constituent Nation"
for the Albanians in Macedonia (within a federation or a
confederation). This demand is not as innocuous as it sounds. The
terminology is borrowed from the 1946 and 1974 constitutions of the
former Yugoslavia. In these constitutions, the right of
every "constituent nation" to self-determination was recognized -
including: "... the right to secession".