Society 363 / 2013

Fotos: Kosovo Ministry of Culture
»We are the only
ministry of that
region to rise
funding for
culture progressively.
«
Memli
Krasniqi
and some non-Olympic as well. We hope that this
year we will be granted membership at the IOC.
We had a technical visit of the IOC and hope to
fulfill their criteria. This is very important for Kosovan
athletes; they have been isolated for so long
and not been able to participate in most international
events and competitions. We are trying to
change that, because Kosovo has a huge interest
in sports. We are the youngest country in Europe,
57 percent of our population is under thirty years
old. So our potential in sports is enormous.
What are your main aims for this year?
This year, 2013, we will continue with the public
diplomacy aspect of promoting Kosovo’s culture
in the world and Europe especially. Kosovo
was at the Berlinale film festival, which has a category
for shooting star actors. One young actress
from Kosovo, Arta Dobroshi, won the Shooting
Star Award 2013 at the Berlinale. Since we became
members of the European Film Promotion we
were able to nominate actors and we nominated
her and she won the award. We will continue with
other events such as the Biennale. The aim is to try
to promote Kosovan culture internationally. We
want to change the wrong conception of Kosovo
through art. We are supporting independent film
curriculum
vitae
emli Krasniqi was
born in Prishtina in
M 1980. He graduated
with a BA in Political Science
and Public Administration
from the Faculty of
Philosophy of the University
of Prishtina and obtained an
MSc degree in International
Relations at the London
School of Economics and
Political Science (LSE). In
the years 1999-2000 he
worked as a journalist for
the American news agency
Associated Press and in
2002 he served as a Director
for Public Relations at
the Telemedicine Centre
of Kosovo. From 2004 onwards
he has actively been
engaged in the Democratic
Party of Kosovo (PDK), initially
leading the Centre for
Political Studies. In October
2006 he was elected the
Chairman of the Democratic
Youth of Kosovo – the youth
organization of PDK that
represents its members
aged 16-30. In the 2007
parliamentary elections,
Memli Krasniqi was elected
a Member of Parliament in
the Assembly of Kosovo and
served as a member in the
Committee for Education,
Science, Culture, Youth and
Sports. In October 2008 he
was appointed a Political
Adviser to the Prime Minister
and Spokesperson of
the Government. Krasniqi
was re-elected Member of
Parliament in the Assembly
of Kosovo in the 2010 parliamentary
elections and was
appointed Minister in the
Ministry of Culture, Youth
and Sports in February
2011. For many years he was
active in the music industry
and worked in different
musical projects, mostly
as a songwriter and as a
member of the band “Ritmi i
Rrugës”. Memli Krasniqi lives
in Prishtina with his wife
Meliza and children Bora
and Mali.
projects, that will we be presented to the world.
Another goal is that the Kosovo Olympic committee
will become member of the IOC.
You are an artist yourself, and were a musician
and composer with your own band. Do you
miss that?
Of course I do, once a musician always a musician.
I am not writing as much music now but I
am trying to help out from my position as minister.
The music I have been doing in my past was
socially conscious music. The short answer would
be that I miss it.
When you compare being an artist to being a
minister, what changed in your life?
Being a minister did not come suddenly. I have
been involved in politics for a decade now and I
have been member of the Democratic Party. Honestly,
when the transition from music to politics
took place, people were not that surprised because
our lyrics were always political. One can influence
through music to a certain level, but if you really
want to change things you have to go into politics.
Through my position as Minister I can actually
implement a vision for increasing the support for
the artists and you can do this through music. My
goal is to walk the walk and not talk the talk. •
»We want to
change the
wrong conception
of Kosovo
through art.
«
Memli
Krasniqi
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