On sunday I finally met up with Vladim in the morning - taking an early bus from Peje, before I knew it I was on the opposite end of the country(if you call it a country), in Pristina - after an hour surfing the internet I gave him a call. He wasn't busy, which was great, so I met up with him at the Grand Hotel.

Vladim knows his history, and his reasons for fighting - he's a sturdy individual with a brush cut, a friendly demeanour, but he certainly did not make me feel at ease. I only knew a small fraction of the situation before I listened to him. (Although Enver would later disqualify Vladim's statements, as justification for Vladim's own actions they stand reasonably strong, I suppose).
The Albanians, descendants of the Illyrians, are one of the oldest civilizations in Europe; they have gone on to become popes, emperors, strong merchants and fierce fighters. But still they are caught with being represented as a poor, useless, afflicted society, with minorities in neighbouring countries that are oppressed and subdued.
Vladim knows the story, and explains quite well the reasons behind fighting. Serbs and Albanians have been at each other's throats for centuries in Kosovo, and Vladim asserts that this is not due to religion. "The Illyrians were the first nation to wholly convert to Christianity," he said, "and later they changed to Islam because there were less taxes as muslims under the Ottoman Empire. Religion doesn't mean much to Albanians - we worship the same god, whatever god." He said that often Albanians will celebrate both Christmas and Ramadan, and go to both the mosques and the churches whenever they feel like it. They worship for convenience, not for belief. Vladim is also not keen on Kosovo becoming a part of a greater Albania either, at least just yet - the differences are too large.

Kosovo had always been Albanian territory, and was colonized by the Serbs in the nineteenth century; it was given semi-autonomous status in 1939, and has always been "nearly independent" since then. Until now - and now it's sort of independent, but not really, but probably eventually will be, depending on who you talk to.

I told him that it surprised me that the Albanians are capable - because often they are portrayed in Canadian media as old, stupid, and incompetent. I don't even remember seeing the legions of intelligent, attractive, and resourceful individuals across ethnic Albania that I have met throughout my travels in Albanian communities. One-sided reporting again; sometimes I wonder why I even bother with the newspapers at all.

Vladim was also quite knowledgeable regarding the situation in Macedonia - quite knowledgeable, as I would soon find out. "They are demanding that a new census be taken," he said, "but the government will not allow this because they know they will discover that the majority of people in Macedonia are not Macedonian but Albanian."
Tough words - and tough for Macedonia to accept. I asked Vladim if he was sure of this. "Of course. I have been fighting there. they are my brothers; I must help them."

This took me by surprise, as I am sure he had intended. Quite sure of the situation indeed. He praised me for avoiding Skopje at the moment, but seemed reluctant to elaborate further on his involvement. After a few more questions with inconclusive responses I dropped the subject entirely.

Quite the nationalist - or proud of his ethnic heritage? Or, just addicted to war? Is he helping fulfill the dreams of greater Albanian states, or reminiscent of his old KLA days? He seemed distant after he admitted his current activities, and I flicked on my "good judge of character" button and observed him - this is not a man who should be the manager of a production company. Vladim is a soldier, and more than likely enjoyed the conflict he found brewing in Kosovo, and the heightened senses that come with living every day as though it may be your last.


If Enver is a moderate approach to a pro-Albanian opinion, Vladim is a more hard-lined approach which still harbours reason behind it - a more ethnic based, nationalist approach to things, and not a sanitized internationally friendly approach.
It is this approach that is often common amongst combative societies - irrational reasons to fight are often exeedingly rare, especially in a mobilized rebel movement. It is simply too difficult to convince an army to fight if there is no sense to the fighting. Which is not to discredit Vladim's intelligence and education - but I wonder for the cost of this "Greater Albania" that might one day become a dream of the Albanian people. I also wonder if I've sparked a long dead ember in the Albanian fire by showing him and his girlfriend the "Historic Ethnic Albania" map in the Blue Guide.









After speaking to a few of Vladim's friends, he offered to take me to Mitrovica, but of course along with his girlfriend. She is a student of english, and speak it well she does, with a surprisingly American accent. Both she and Vladim and very pro-American, which often conflicts with me, the moderate Canadian, always worried when other nationalities praise the U.S.; but friendly she was, and we roared north through the countryside to Mitrovica, the divided town, accessible by a bumpy tunnel; before which is the trepce mines, a big course of income, and Vladim puts these mines as the central reason the Serbs want the Mitrovica area to remain in Serbia.
We parked on a garbage strewn street, and headed to the bridge. First to the checkpoint: I asked the French KFOR soldiers there if it was okay to take pictures, and they said yes. Further on, at the bridge which divides the Albanian side of town from the Serbian side of town, I found it to be surprisingly wide and clean. Nothing was on the bridge except for French troops, two APCs, and their outposts, and of course iron fences to control pedestrian traffic.
They said no to taking photos. Alas. So we stood, I stared, then we walked away. I fiddled with my camera a bit, and the shutter accidentally went off a few times with the lens facing backwards - of course it was an accident, and no one seemed to notice or care.








We headed to a cafe, where I showed Vladim and his girlfriend my Blue Guide to the region. They seemed extremely impressed, and hold the author in high regard now. Sadly, my own regard for the two was in flux. She was wholly shocked when I called Kosovo an unrecognized country - it is, isn't it? Vladim was not very impressed either by this remark. Later I would make a bigger fool of myself by discussing the Euro with them: "Of course you will change from Euros to Deutschmarks; you have nothing else," I said.
"You know, the way you say things is sometimes offensive!" his girlfriend retorted. Oops - often I will recite stuff I've read in publications to gauge the reaction of locals with that particular point of view. This time, obviously, they disagreed. Rarely do I offend people, but sometimes I try to - in jest, and to see if they agree with common preconceptions about certain subjects. I am frequently making fun of Canadians and our stereotypes, but Balkan Europe is much different. Perhaps the Albanians have been the butt of jokes for way too long, and it's time for them to stand up for themselves.

Certainly Vladim is. And I, being merely an ignorant westerner, will ask these people to disprove their media portrayals and the shady information provided by journalists.
Regardless of my gaffes, they were still quite polite, although I wonder if I strained my relations with them. We headed back, out of Mitrovica and to Pristina. he told me to call him tomorrow for a few beers if he wasn't busy. I agreed, and caught a bus back to Prizren.


A slick looking KFOR guy was glaring at me as I walked past the orthodox church with the "Danger! KFOR Area! Authorized Use of Firearms!" sign I had wanted to take a picture of. So I kept walking, and came across some traditional dancing at the Prizren Hammam. Brownouts were occuring across the town. Loss of power makes me nervous, so I headed back to my hotel. Prizren seems to be a busy place on the street every night. And tomorrow, my last full day in Kosovo, I hope to visit the Serb monastery Donylla had mentioned. I will call her in the morning and ask for her help in arranging the paperwork.

A visit to Gracanica



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