[Marxism] Greek revolutionaries criticize pseudo-independence, call for real independence for Kosova Albanians

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Comments will follow in my next post.
Fred
`       
IV Online magazine : IV398 - March 2008 
Kosovo 
A just solution requires multinational co-existence Statement by the Greek
section of Fourth International OKDE-Spartakos  

Today, a real just solution for Kosovo comes through the restoration of
multinational co-existence (an aspiration that unfortunately has been lost
in most part) and the full respect of the rights of all ethnic groups and
minorities, including their right to define the level of their autonomy and
self-defense.

1. "The Yugoslav crisis began in Kosovo, and it will end in Kosovo". This
phrase that is widespread among the people of ex-Yugoslavia indicates the
significance and the tension that is encapsulated in that region. Seventeen
years after the collapse of Yugoslavia we stand before a new episode related
to Kosovo. Unfortunately, there is no sign that a just solution can be
secured in the absence of a social dynamics that oppose nationalism and
imperialist interventions as well. The Yugoslav crisis that started in 1989
with the violent dissolution of Kosovo autonomy is about to complete 20
years full of wars, national conflicts, rebellions but still yet many of its
pain aspects are still pending (i.e. Bosnia)

2. The imperialist forces of NATO and the European Union in 1999 launched
the bombing of Serbia in the name of "human values". This military operation
resulted in:

a. the killing of more than 2000 people in different towns of Serbia,

b. an important sector of the country's infrastructure was destroyed, 

c. there has been an increasing uprising of nationalism and 

d. Milocevic unleashed a sweeping ethnic cleansing with the killing of
thousands Kosovars and the displacement of more than 500000 people as the
"humanitarian bombings" lasted. 

Their intervention was completed with the establishment of a protectorate
whose main aim was to keep a balanced status. In the diplomatic jargon this
is called "humanitarian crisis administration". Kosovar people for about 10
years have survived mainly thanks to the benevolence of the "civilized
West", who in exchange has been building military bases in order to
guarantee their interests in the whole region of South-Eastern Europe and
Middle East. Kosovo inhabitants live under humiliating conditions and the
majority of them are unemployed, surviving thanks to the donations of their
immigrant relatives. The country is paralyzed, without basic infrastructure
(e.g. continuous distribution of electricity) and the state apparatus is
totally corrupted. All these past years, the imperialist forces have shown
no interest in changing this situation in order to be able to steal all the
productive wealth and national resources and to implement the
"reconstruction" projects by the big multinational and Western European
corporations. 

3. Ten years later, US and many countries of the EU (like Germany, France,
Britain, Italy etc.) are about to complete their mission by recognizing this
fiasco-independence of Kosovo. Actually, they create a protectorate. The
"independence" of Kosovo is fully subordinated to the plans and the pursuits
of the imperialist forces. The NATO force of about 16.000 military
personnel, who have occupied Kosovo, will remain and the EU will send EULEX
that will consist of 2000 policemen, juridical and administrative staff. The
colonial-style rule of the UN will be re replaced by the International
Civilian Office; a body that will be appointed by the EU and it will be able
to exercise veto on every law that the "independent" parliament of Kosovo
will vote for.

The construction of the military bases (Bonsteel, the biggest and most
luxurious base that US has ever built after Vietnam War, and Monteith) in
Kosovo does not only aim at securing the "order" in the region but also at
protecting broader interests. In these military bases thousands of personnel
can be hosted and they are not limited only to "transitional" use. The US
shows clearly that the territory of Kosovo will be the fortress for future
interventions mainly for guaranteeing alternative oil routes towards the
West.

The rest of the big powers who are against the independence of Kosovo are
not deprived of cynical attitudes and profit interests. Russia, who stands
by Serbia, is trying to exchange its solidarity with a monopoly contract for
Russia's Gazprom, while at the same time, together with other countries like
Spain, Canada and China, is skeptical because the independence of Kosovo
will be a bad example for the ethnic groups and minorities that are badly
oppressed at home. Today, Kosovo is at the heart of an intra-imperialistic
conflict and the people of the Balkans have nothing to hope for from these
so-called "protectors". 

4. The pursuits of the imperialists should not be identified with the just
demand of the Kosovar people for self-determination, which must be supported
by the international working class movement and all the progressive forces.
It is a fundamental right of the Kosovar population to define their future.
The real liberation -both national and social- of the Kosovar people can
only be achieved if it is linked with the struggle for the socialist
transformation of their society and not in the frame of capitalism.

The Kosovo Albanian people have been for many years the victims of a very
oppressive, antidemocratic and racist policy. The national-liberation
movement of Kosovo Albanians is not an artificial invention of imperialism.
Its root can be traced back at the beginning of the previous century. The
texts of the left-wing Serbian socialists (as Dimitrije Cucovic) and
revolutionary socialists (as Leon Trotsky) revealed in the most obvious way
the colonial discriminations against Kosovo Albanians. Even after the
founding of Yugoslavia and the victory of the partisans, the national issue
of the Albanian people was not resolved, although their autonomy was
typically recognized. The Kosovo Albanians became the victims of the
conflict among the Yugoslavian bureaucracy who were reluctant to implement a
policy of equality. The demand of Kosovo Albanians to become a separate
federal Republic within the framework of the former Yugoslavia was never
met. The Kosovo Albanian people used to be the most repressive and
humiliated nation of the ex Yugoslavia.

The only exception was the period 1974-1988, when Kosovar autonomy was
upgraded and they gained some rights similar to the other republics. 

The full annexation of Kosovo to Serbia took place in 1989 after the violent
abolition of the Kosovar autonomy and the military coup d'état imposed by
Milosevic. Kosovo was condemned to "apartheid", where the use of Albanian
language was forbidden, schools and universities were shut down, all
Albanian employees in public sector were fired and a lot of Albanians were
sent to jail as political prisoners (some of them are still there).

5. The Serbian minority, as well as other non-Albanian ethnic groups (Roma
etc.), after the bombing of NATO and the de facto secession of Kosovo from
Serbia in 1999, are under persecution. A big part of the Serbian population
escaped into Serbia or other neighbor countries. The majority of the Serbian
people have gathered in the north part of Kosovo, in the Mitrovica region,
and there are still some enclosed ghettos in the rest of the country. This
unacceptable situation that Serbian people suffer is not just the result of
some personal revenge actions. The government of PDK (the main Albanian
party that comes from dissolved KLA), despite its hypocritical statements on
co-existence and the respect of minority rights, has occasionally encouraged
the national tensions against the minorities aiming to the "national
homogeneity". NATO and the rest of the imperialist forces motivated the
Albanian nationalism through their diplomatic tactics and their refusal of a
clear independence for Kosovo. The more unsafe the Albanian nationalists
feel about the independence, the more eager they were to create a "national
cleansed" state. Additionally, the main tactics of KFOR for coping with the
national tensions in Kosovo was the division of the people across ethnic
lines, through the implementation of the notorious "decentralization plans".
Today, a real just solution for Kosovo comes through the restoration of
multinational co-existence (an aspiration that unfortunately has been lost
in most part) and the full respect of the rights of all ethnic groups and
minorities, including their right to define the level of their autonomy and
self-defense. 

6. No progress in the national issue can be achieved if at the same time
there isn't any social evolution reflected in the consciousness of the
masses. Today, in Kosovo the conditions for a "normal social life" are
absent -even by the criteria of an average capitalist normality. The
majority of the inhabitants are obliged to survive through the donations of
the western NGOs and other organizations. The social and political life is
somewhere between an ambiguous legality and an extended corruption. The
country is about to be offered to the big corporation groups so they can
execute their "business plans" in a small "paradise" of a cheap and
over-exploited labor force. 

We have no trust in the international community that can prepare and
implement a plan for the restoration of economy, production and social
institutions in favor of the public interests.

Being fully aware of the difficult situation, due to the weakness of the
organized trade-unions and the lack of political and social forces with a
class and left-wing orientation, we still insist on the necessity of
building resistance movements as the only perspective for a just solution in
Kosovo.

During the last years there has been a movement among the Kosovo Albanians
(known as Self-determination - Vetevendosje) who are against the presence of
NATO troops and they defend a program of progressive social reforms. This
movement has organized massive demonstrations against the imperialist troops
and they have been brutally suppressed by the occupying forces (last
February, two members of this movement were killed by Romanian soldiers and
many Vetevendosje activists have been arrested). Nevertheless, their
nationalist rhetoric is a big political problem.

Some initiatives that are related to the anti-globalisation movements such
as the European Social Forum and the Balkan PGA (People Global Action) can
surely play an important role. Although limited, there have already been
some networks on various themes in the Balkan region that have managed to
break the isolation and to establish a co-ordination between different
social groups. 

 7. In the national question, the Left must implement a politics of
principles without being dependent by the temporary and opportunist
maneuvers of the imperialist forces who act according to their profit
interests. The starting point should be the defense of the democratic rights
of the people. All those who say that, in the name of any "primary
antithesis", the systematic repression of a people should be ignored it is
not anything else than a by-mistake or on-purpose racist attitude against
the oppressed people.

The real guarantee for the defense of the democratic rights should be based
on the fraternity of the labor masses. The task of the Left should not stop
simply at declaring the democratic principles. An indispensable element of a
left-wing strategy should be also the unity of the workers and oppressed
masses that live in the war-zone regions. This unity cannot be secured with
a typical maintenance of Kosovo within Serbia proper; which actually it will
be a big prison for the majority of Kosovar people. This unity can be forged
only in the ground of joint fights and demands, where the working class and
the oppressed people could understand that their real enemies are not the
national but the class ones. The maintenance of an obscure and uncertain
status in Kosovo will always be an excuse for the nationalists, the ruling
classes and the imperialists in order to divide the working class and impose
their plans more easily.

The left-wing currents should defend the independence of Kosovo -keeping
alive all their critics for the process that is followed by the imperialist
forces and the dangers that can be produced by that. From this viewpoint we
are against the maneuvers of the Greek government who uses the issue of
Kosovo in the diplomatic negotiations for the name of the Republic of
Macedonia. Unfortunately, the majority of the Greek left-wing organizations
(in contrary with the brave attitude of the Serbian internationalist radical
left-wing currents) actually identify themselves with the main orientations
of the Greek "foreign policy". The main argument of the Greek Left (both
reformist and anticapitalist) is the "maintenance of the borders" and the
International Law. Nevertheless, the borders of the contemporary world,
which in general have been formed after the end of Second World War, are the
outcome of the imperialist division. The adoption of these slogans from the
Left means that they do not recognize actually the right of the oppressed
peoples (like the Palestinian, the Kurds, East Timor etc.) for
self-determination. But above all, it means their full adaption to the
imperialist institutions and the abandonment of the humanist demand of the
communist movement that the rights of the oppressed people are above any
law. Finally, they consider that for "destabilization" can be equally blamed
both the "oppressor" and the "oppressed" as well. 

8. Today, the fight for the Balkan Socialist Federation is still live as the
only way for an internationalist and antiwar strategy that will be based on
the best experiences of the workers and socialist movement of the peninsula.
Against the diplomatic realism that simply legalizes the nationalist,
militarist and imperialist violence we must oppose the class unity and
solidarity of the Balkan proletarians. 

The tasks of the socialists is to fight for the unity of the Balkan people
and to demand

The withdrawal of all imperialist troops from Kosovo and the whole region of
the Balkans 

Recognition of the right of self-determination for Kosovar people 

Equal political and legal rights for all ethnic groups and minorities 

Fight back all the neoliberal plans for the "reconstruction" of the Balkans
 
Cancellation of all privatizations that have been occurred - Defend the
public wealth and national resources of the Balkan countries  

Defend the rights of women who are the major victims of reactionary
institutions and trafficking.
Athens, March 4, 200


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