Post by vinjak on Jul 13, 2008 20:25:13 GMT -5
Post WWII
After Tito had consolidated his power and the rule of the communist party over all of Yugoslavia, he favored a Kosovo within Serbia for political reasons since he needed support from the Serbs and to win them over to communism. Albanian Kosovars were perceived to be politically unreliable because of their wartime cooperation with the Axis powers. Just prior to the end of the war Tito launched a major offensive against the Germans using impressed Albanian troops as well as Serbs. The Yugoslav army also arrested prominent Albanians and collected weapons house to house in Kosovo. The Kosovars responded with a general rebellion against the Partisans which was brutally put down by Tito and his forces with massacres and many atrocities. The National Democratic Committee of Albanians estimated that 48,000 Albanians lost their lives in the six months of fighting that ensued.
1978
In 1978 a centennial celebration of the first League of Prizren was held which caused an even stronger resurgence of Albanian nationalism and a corresponding reduction of loyalty to the unified Yugoslav state. Money going into capital development in Kosovo became a resented financial drain from other regions of Yugoslavia, especially Slovenia and Croatia. A continues demographic explosion of births among low- income, poorly educated Albanians who became dependents of the government increased the financial drain and increased the resentment. In addition, income inequalities became worse in the move toward "market socialism" and the move away from central planning. By 1981 100,000 Serbs left Kosovo and as Albanians continued to move in they now constituted 77% of the population in Kosovo. Making economic development worse, the Serbs who left were better educated and technically trained than the Albanians who moved in.
1980
Tito died May 4, 1980. Among other de-stabilizing effects, Albanians felt that they had lost their new guardian. Less than a year later and not necessarily related to Tito's death, Albanian riots shook Kosovo. The riots were ignited by student grievance at a grossly overcrowded Pristina University, and rapidly spread throughout Kosovo. At this time approximately 28% of the people in Kosovo were students and the education they were getting was inferior because of the overcrowding and because of under-qualified and unqualified faculty. This was a matchbox that it took only a spark to ignite. Serbian and Montenegrin citizens were beaten, their homes burned and their shops looted. Public opinion throughout Serbia turned sharply against the educational system in Kosovo In particular Pristina University became widely believed to be a hotbed of Albanian nationalism. In response, Serbian, Montenegrin and Macedonian nationalisms were all given great impetus.
1988
In November 1988 a five day demonstration for national liberation involving 100,000 people was ignited by a miners strike. In February 1989 another miners strike brought life in Kosovo to a standstill with Albanians abandoning work and school to attend protest meetings. Serbs in Kosovo were terrorized and thousands of Serbs in Belgrade demanded that order be restored in Kosovo. A curfew was imposed and the entire province placed under a state of emergency decree.
The year 1990 began with civil disturbances by tens of thousands of Albanian protesters swelled by workers emptying out of the factories. Violence resulted which was countered with equal or greater violence by security forces. The not surprising result was even more violence, with thirty- one deaths and hundreds injured before the disturbances were quelled and the streets cleared. In March 1990 the Serbian Parliament adopted the "Program for Achieving Peace, Freedom and Equality in Kosovo". It's goal was the peaceful co-existence of all ethnic groups in Kosovo, but it also identified Albanian separatists as the main threat to this goal. Because of all the many past events combined with Albanian desires for independence Albanians could not and did not accept the authority and legitimacy of this program.
July 1990
In July 1990 the Serbian government deprived the illegal Kosovo Parliament from meeting. In response Albanian parliamentarians assembled on the steps of the Parliament building and proclaimed the Sovereign Republic of Kosova. Within the Yugoslav Federation. Serbia then officially dissolved Kosovo's government and took executive control. The complete removal of Kosovo's autonomy was completed in September when a change in the Serbian constitution redefined Kosovo as a region in Serbia, with administrative and executive control now in the hands of the Serbian National Assembly. The emergency measures imposed by Serbia resulted in a de-Albanianization of cultural and educational institutions in kosovo with a consequent re- Serbianization occurring. In response Albanian Kosovars adopted a constitution for their Republic of Kosova.
After Tito had consolidated his power and the rule of the communist party over all of Yugoslavia, he favored a Kosovo within Serbia for political reasons since he needed support from the Serbs and to win them over to communism. Albanian Kosovars were perceived to be politically unreliable because of their wartime cooperation with the Axis powers. Just prior to the end of the war Tito launched a major offensive against the Germans using impressed Albanian troops as well as Serbs. The Yugoslav army also arrested prominent Albanians and collected weapons house to house in Kosovo. The Kosovars responded with a general rebellion against the Partisans which was brutally put down by Tito and his forces with massacres and many atrocities. The National Democratic Committee of Albanians estimated that 48,000 Albanians lost their lives in the six months of fighting that ensued.
1978
In 1978 a centennial celebration of the first League of Prizren was held which caused an even stronger resurgence of Albanian nationalism and a corresponding reduction of loyalty to the unified Yugoslav state. Money going into capital development in Kosovo became a resented financial drain from other regions of Yugoslavia, especially Slovenia and Croatia. A continues demographic explosion of births among low- income, poorly educated Albanians who became dependents of the government increased the financial drain and increased the resentment. In addition, income inequalities became worse in the move toward "market socialism" and the move away from central planning. By 1981 100,000 Serbs left Kosovo and as Albanians continued to move in they now constituted 77% of the population in Kosovo. Making economic development worse, the Serbs who left were better educated and technically trained than the Albanians who moved in.
1980
Tito died May 4, 1980. Among other de-stabilizing effects, Albanians felt that they had lost their new guardian. Less than a year later and not necessarily related to Tito's death, Albanian riots shook Kosovo. The riots were ignited by student grievance at a grossly overcrowded Pristina University, and rapidly spread throughout Kosovo. At this time approximately 28% of the people in Kosovo were students and the education they were getting was inferior because of the overcrowding and because of under-qualified and unqualified faculty. This was a matchbox that it took only a spark to ignite. Serbian and Montenegrin citizens were beaten, their homes burned and their shops looted. Public opinion throughout Serbia turned sharply against the educational system in Kosovo In particular Pristina University became widely believed to be a hotbed of Albanian nationalism. In response, Serbian, Montenegrin and Macedonian nationalisms were all given great impetus.
1988
In November 1988 a five day demonstration for national liberation involving 100,000 people was ignited by a miners strike. In February 1989 another miners strike brought life in Kosovo to a standstill with Albanians abandoning work and school to attend protest meetings. Serbs in Kosovo were terrorized and thousands of Serbs in Belgrade demanded that order be restored in Kosovo. A curfew was imposed and the entire province placed under a state of emergency decree.
The year 1990 began with civil disturbances by tens of thousands of Albanian protesters swelled by workers emptying out of the factories. Violence resulted which was countered with equal or greater violence by security forces. The not surprising result was even more violence, with thirty- one deaths and hundreds injured before the disturbances were quelled and the streets cleared. In March 1990 the Serbian Parliament adopted the "Program for Achieving Peace, Freedom and Equality in Kosovo". It's goal was the peaceful co-existence of all ethnic groups in Kosovo, but it also identified Albanian separatists as the main threat to this goal. Because of all the many past events combined with Albanian desires for independence Albanians could not and did not accept the authority and legitimacy of this program.
July 1990
In July 1990 the Serbian government deprived the illegal Kosovo Parliament from meeting. In response Albanian parliamentarians assembled on the steps of the Parliament building and proclaimed the Sovereign Republic of Kosova. Within the Yugoslav Federation. Serbia then officially dissolved Kosovo's government and took executive control. The complete removal of Kosovo's autonomy was completed in September when a change in the Serbian constitution redefined Kosovo as a region in Serbia, with administrative and executive control now in the hands of the Serbian National Assembly. The emergency measures imposed by Serbia resulted in a de-Albanianization of cultural and educational institutions in kosovo with a consequent re- Serbianization occurring. In response Albanian Kosovars adopted a constitution for their Republic of Kosova.