From: malenovi@plains.NoDak.edu (Nikola V. Malenovic )
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Subject: Point of View: Kosovo (VREME NDA 6.Apr 1992)
Date: 6 Apr 92 15:02:38 GMT
Organization: North Dakota State University, Fargo


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
     "Vreme" News Digest Agency                       No. 28, April 6 1992.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Point of View: Kosovo
    ---------------------


                       TOLERANCE AS A POLITICAL PROGRAM


           The policy  of tolerance we  are advocating here  is not
           some  kind of  humanistic ideal,  a noble  utopia, but a
              real and practical task imposed upon us all by time

    The following article, written by  academician Sima Cirkovic, forms part
    of  a major  project conducted   by the  Belgrade Circle  of Independent
    Intellectuals, entitled  "Human Rights-Kosovo". The project  is aimed at
    defining the processes which instigate ethnic intolerance, hostility and
    segregation among the Serbs and Albanians from Kosovo.

    The legacy of recent or remote  history is such that a rigid territorial
    division  between different  ethnic groups  by ethnic  criterium is  not
    possible, nor  is it possible to  give all authority to  only one ethnic
    group. As in some other parts of  the Balkans the population is mixed in
    unequal proportions  throughout the territory they  live on. The problem
    of jurisdiction is one of the most complex: Albanians may be in majority
    in a  village, Serbs in a  county, Albanians in the  province of Kosovo,
    and  Serbs  in  the  whole  republic.  Since  neither  can be assured of
    security by  territorial divisions of  authority, one should  consider a
    solution  which would  provide both  nations with  what is essential for
    their  ethnic identity.  Free use   of mother  tongue, free  media, free
    cultural exchange,  autonomy in education,  culture and science  must be
    guaranteed to everyone and protected from monopoly at all levels.

    Each ethnic community,  however, tends to define its  territory in a way
    which could give it the possibility of being the majority and making the
    rules.  This,  of  course,  leads  to  conflicts  over  borderlines, the
    creation of small units of political interest, dangerous aspirations for
    "sovereignty",  which only  multiply the  problems, causing  a series of
    pretexts for  new conflicts and  instigating intolerance. The  policy of
    tolerance we are advocating here is not some kind of humanistic ideal, a
    noble utopia, but a real and practical task imposed upon us all by time.
    Tolerance  ensures openness  and  makes  communication with  the outside
    world possible, which is of extreme  importance for those who still have
    to compensate for their lagging behind. Lastly, followers of such policy
    are highly respected everywhere.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
     "Vreme" News Digest Agency                       No. 28, April 6 1992.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------


--------------------------------------------------------------
Vreme Magazine,                 |telephone :    +38-11-646-070
Narodnog Fronta 45/ VIII sprat. |               +38-11-642-743
11000 Beograd, Srbija           |telefax   :    +38-11-657-454
Yugoslavia                      |6 months subscription - 85 USD (airmail)
--------------------------------------------------------------
e_mail subscription              pirot@buengc.bu.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------