MEDC 3260: THE ARAB SPRING AND KOSOVO WINTER 1

“The Arab Spring and Kosovo winter”

Student: Isidora Colic

Professor: Anthony Loewstedt

Webster Vienna Private University

The Balkan Peninsula and Arab country

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“Balkan between East and West” was mentioned tens of thousands years ago by many

great, brilliant minds. Evliya Çelebi described Balkan Peninsula, that was under the Ottoman

Empire at that time as a border between powerful East and powerful West. (Çelebi, 1700)

This thesis was used when describing Balkans in many books centuries later. One of them,

bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic said that it has been tough for such a small Peninsula to be the

border for centuries between East and West. Nowadays, many years later, I could not agree

more.

Arguably ,someone would not find connection between the Arab Country and the small

Peninsula in Europe. However,there are many political, religious and ethnic relations between

the Balkan and MENA. First of all, Balkans was under the Ottoman Empire for five centuries,

accepting their beliefs and religion, and above everything, their reign. Nowadays, there are

still remnants of Muslim culture that Turks seeded in countries like Serbia, Montenegro,

Macedonia and Bosnia, in language, food and laws. If you get to know the Balkan culture and

its history, you will perceive that they have similar mentality as the Arabs. They both have a

rich and old history, emphasizing nationalism and love for its country more than religion. I

will have to agree with Zahera Herb that if you want to report or write about a nation or their

religion and law, your words must be based on knowledge and facts.

The Arab Spring, described as awakening of Arabic people was and still is reported all

around the world and it is a topic that still shakes up many international newscasts and

newspapers. Hundred thousands of Arabs have taken over streets and protested against the

people who put them into the cage of anti-liberalism without any crumb of democracy. Three

years earlier, in the Balkans, in small, by war damaged Serbia with a population of 6 millions,

worldwide forces tried to take their wings and heart of that small land. On 17th February 2008.

the unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia was enacted. A fresh, Western,

independent republic was born, the Republic of Kosovo. Aren’t both of these topics related to

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democracy and liberalism? Freedom is nobody’s and everybody’s property. The only

difference in the 21st century is the way it is interpreted to the people. The responsibility of

worldwide media is enormously huge, because nowadays audience will “eat” what media has

served. According to Marshall McLuhan’s opinion, with whom I agree, ,the world developed

from a global village to a global theatre. (McLuhan) On the other hand, in order to present the

global event objectively ,besides the knowledge and experience ,we have to face the fact that

many of newspapers and TV stations are not neutral as it seems and are highly involved in

political affairs, even though democracies sometimes appear just aggressive as authoritarian

regimes in media censorship. Hence, in democratic states media sometimes appears as a

government’s extended right hand.

Five years ago, in the first half of 2011., we witnessed “the Uprisings” that began in

Tunisia, then spread to Egypt, Algeria, Bahrain, Syria, Libya, Yemen and all other Arab

countries. Someone named it “Arab Awakening”, someone called it “Arab Spring” or “Arab

Uprisings”. I will call it “hunger for freedom and justice”. Majority of the most influential

international TV stations and newscasts reported the series of protests and demonstrations

across the Middle East and North Africa. Some of them reported and covered neutraly ,but the

majority was keeping the protestors’ side, encouraging them to speak freely. According to

Wikileaks, all the international media helped “The Arab Spring”, especially Al Jazeera, ”the

Elephant in the room” as they liked to call it. Run-state media were quiet, reporting late about

ignitions that happened months earlier, the ones that almost burnt the whole Arab country.

The protestors used a very powerful tool to reach every human, every state, the whole world.

They described it as Twitter and Facebook revolution, without any right to do that. Would the

woman who joined the protests and doesn’t have an account on Facebook agrees with that?

Did the international media emphasized the real reason of these “freedom or death”

revolutions? The scratched the surface. Also, they mixed the casualties of war and tools used

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in it. Every single human being in 2011. had his own opinion about the revolutions and riots.

An opinion that the Media adjusted.

Three years earlier in the Balkans, the small Peninsula between the Europe and East, in

Serbia, the United States, Belgium and many other states have been a strong advocates of

Kosovo’s separation from Serbia. The land of Dardani and later the heart of the Serbian

Empire, spiritual and political center of Serbia was divided centuries later by “Western

forces”. Politically ,I will express my opinion into one sentence of a famous Serbian writer

Matija Beckovic who said that “Kosovo” is the most expensive Serbian word: ”If Kosovo is

not ours, why do they ask us to give it to them? If it is theirs, why it has been taken

aggressively? Moreover, if they can take it, I don’t know why they are so reluctant in taking

it.” On 21th February 2008.thousands of protestors took over streets in Belgrade, in order to

demonstrate against the decision of the independence of Kosovo. ”Tahrir Square” in Belgrade

reverberated worldwide that cold February day. If we could have pointed out the collective

denominator of international media describing demonstrations about Kosovo, it would be: an

euphoric, anxious and objective reporting. This was a surprise, because we have already

mentioned that the media sometimes have a political role as an extended right hand.

Newscasts, as during the Arab Spring, covered the demonstrations immediately, with fresh

content, reporting directly from Belgrade and the capital of Kosovo, Pristina. Leading

international media like BBC, CNN and Euronews reported very shortly, giving an average

TV viewer enough information to understand the situation in Serbia in a short period of time.

Is that enough time for a viewer to create an opinion, are few minutes enough for the global

opinion to be imposed? However, for many people around the world, images of the

independence of Kosovo from Serbia resulted as a “freshly squeezed juice” of past “war

fruits” in 1999. between Serbian and Albanian people. Is international media-scape enough

powerful to put one long-lasting history, cultural and human battle into one report? I don’t

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think so. They must be really artful in putting all the colors together, to make one adequate,

real and acceptable “landscape” of all ignitions that led to demonstrations and protests.

The international media-the West and Russia

The most obvious differences in covering stories about the demonstrations in Belgrade

appeared between Western and Russian media. With many other information, i would

accentuate on Wesley Clark’s statement for CNN, who led the NATO alliance during the

1999 conflict. He said that after the violence that accompanied the ethnic cleansing in 1999,

the independence of Kosovo was necessary. (CNN, 2008) CNN was objective and neutral,

representing all the aspects and consequences that led to these events. On the other hand, the

most influential Russian TV stations were very critical and acerbic, describing Pristina as the

“capital of the European separatism” and the “bomb ready to explode”, emphasizing the fact

that the United States and some European states strongly advocated and encouraged the

recognition of the Republic of Kosovo.

Western media reported deeply about the atmosphere in Belgrade and Pristina, focusing on

riots that happened on streets of Belgrade. It is important to emphasize that there were ten

thousand people on the streets and only one victim. The U.S. newscasts described riots as

vandalism, reporting about angry Serbian people who burnt the U.S. embassy and annihilated

McDonalds and other American properties. They blamed the Serbian government for these

incidents, emphasizing the fact that they didn’t protect the embassy and inhibited incidents. In

other smaller towns in Serbia the minority also ruined McDonalds and other American

properties. Tens of thousands people walked peacefully, then why emphasizing the act of a

few vandals? In the dictionary, vandal is explained as someone who steals or destroys

property. Is this an act of washing dirty hands from involvement in stealing and taking

someone’s land? Is this a “gift” ,the same one you sent years later in “Tahrir Uprisings”? In

analytical texts and various reportings, they define the independence of Kosovo as a

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“prehistoric crisis”, emphasizing the concern that this event might be a blank form or a role

model for upcoming events or incidents in other neuralgic places in the world. The majority

of the media has made a conclusion that Kosovo is just a point where American and Russian

politics confront. Many of them share opinion that Kosovo did not have “an alternative “ or

that it is not important if it is independent or not, both Serbia and Kosovo will be part of the

European Union one day. However, they all agree that Kosovo will confront with many

issues in the future. The Austrian “Standard” reported that Kosovo’s independence is

Western-dependent, because without Washington and Brussels, they can’t make any political

decision on their own. (Der Standard, 2008) The British “Times” aimed that the biggest issue

for Kosovo will be that Moscow will never recognize its independence. All other British

newspapers such as “The Guardian” and “Indipendent” mention other factors and causes of

problems in Kosovo such as high rate of unemployment, ruined economy,increase of crime

and corruption. (Independent, 2008) Weren’t these factors altogether causes of the Arab

Spring? The “Financial Times” expressed their opinion about the unilateral independence as

“the least bad decree”. They agree that this independence can stop the increasing of criminal

organizations and acts in this part of the Balkans, and that it can improve and refresh the

economy of Kosovo. (The Financial Times, 2008) German newspapers expressed their

concern about “the new-born nation”, writing that the Kosovans celebrate and Serbian people

live in fear for their future. Many of them emphasize the fact that 1500 Serbian people in

Kosovo were killed, after the NATO bombing in 1999 and 20000 of them were exiled from

their homes and their land. (The NewYork Times, 2008)

On one hand, Western media expressed concern about the difficult birth of the new nation,

and on the other hand they considered this event logical after the 1999 war, ,blaming Serbian

politics and ex-president Milosevic for the upcoming events in 2008. Albanian nationalism

erupted in Kosovo in 1981, leading to bloody clashes and finally to independent and birth of

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new Republic. Only 27 years were enough for Albanian people to make their own country

with support from the West. My question now is: ”What exactly is vandalism, dear West?”

Conclusion

In addition, I find it interesting to compare events in Sri Lanka and in Kosovo. Tamils have

fought for independence since 1974., their territory is much bigger than Kosovo and in

comparison with Kosovo, where there were 10000 victims in Sri Lanka died 80000 people

fighting for independence. In summary, why their independence is not recognized, when they

have better predispositions?

In the Arab Spring and in Serbia both run-state media didn’t play an important roles. In

comparison with Arab local newspapers, Serbian newspapers, TV stations and newscasts

reported immediately, mainly criticizing people for vandalistic acts. On the other hand, the

government and the army in Belgrade that day walked along with their people, in peace. The

police and the army protected their citizens and the government shared their opinion that

Kosovo was and always will be part of Serbia.

Revolutions, demonstrations, uprisings and riots were always part of human history,and

always will be. In few years time,some other ”Kosovo“ will declare its independence, some

other Arab Spring will take place and people will always protest, media will always report.

People worldwide will always have their opinion. Nowadays, many years later almost nothing

has changed: in Arab countries there is still no democracy and Kosovo is still a puppet of the

West. You, journalists are responsible for crafting the global opinion, you build a media

puzzle and you let people make their own conclusions. As Gandhi said:” Many people,

especially, ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth ,for being correct ,for

being you. Never apologize for being correct ,or for being years ahead of your time. If you’re

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right and know it, speak your mind . Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the

truth.” Serbian and Arab people just tried to tell the truth, or their side of a story.