Violence answers the wrong question

People will ask, so I’ll answer:  the efforts by Albin Kurti’s “Self-determination” to block road crossings between Serbia and Kosovo are violent and unacceptable.  The Pristina authorities are right to counter it with their police forces.  They should do it professionally to minimize injuries, but they need to do it.  Albanians are no more justified in blocking roads than Serbs in northern Kosovo were several weeks ago.

Why is this happening?  It is happening because Albin sees votes in it.  He has staked out a position in Kosovo politics that includes sharply contesting Serbia at every turn, advocating union with Albania and rejecting the internationally imposed Ahtisaari plan under which Kosovo gained independence.  He is entitled to take all these positions, with which I disagree.  But he is not entitled to physically challenge the Kosovo authorities.

I have talked with Albin about this and many other issues.  I have even pressed for the State Department to give him a visa to come to the U.S., where he would hear from a lot more people like me who think he is doing the wrong things.  He wants the visa.  But he isn’t going to get one until he stops the violence.

There likely isn’t much chance of that until the people of Kosovo make it clear that violence does not win their votes.  Even then, Albin may be so addicted that he will continue, but hopefully associates will rein him in.  They would do best to start now, before this ends in tragedy.

The right question for Kosovars today is not how they can best fight Serb oppressors, but how they can best govern themselves.  Even in its current democratized form, Serbia has not made that an easy question to answer:  it has refused to recognize Kosovo’s sovereignty and independence, to withdraw its security forces from the north and to allow Kosovo’s authorities to control the border.  But those are issues that need to be solved by negotiation, not violent challenges to Kosovo’s legitimate authorities.

That said, Albin and Self-determination are products of the Kosovo political system.  So long as they forswear violence, they are entitled to participate and press their perspective.  But they won’t be helping to govern Kosovo the way it should be governed.  Voters will have to decide whether to reward them, or not.