Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

attack," says Kiazim Jashari from
Gorno Vranovci. The inhabitants
from this village say that life after the
crisis normalized. "The conditions in
which we live today are far better
than those before 1990, when a common
mindset ruled. We were threatened
on a daily basis only because we
were Albanians. The police threatened
they would move us out and
transfer us to Kosovo. But, that was
then. It is better nowadays," Haxhi
Sabibi says. The villagers from
Gorno Vranovci tell us that the greatest
problems come in autumn, when
the chestnuts get ripe. At that time, as
they say, the Macedonian inhabitants
from the nearby villages come and
steal their chestnuts. The Albanians
consider that is not an interethnic
problem, although some of the
thieves threatened: "This is
Macedonian land and we shall do
what we want." The people of the village
where the first printing house of
"Nova Makedonija" was established
complain that the state takes minimal
care of the village.
From Veles region, we transfer to
Bitola. Although it is a town far from
the regions where fighting took place,
the citizens haven't been spared from
the religious and nationalist hatred
that seized the country. After some
people from Bitola got killed in an
ambush during the fighting around
Tetovo, thousands of Macedonians,
mostly young people and adolescents,
took to the streets. They
burned and destroyed the houses and
shops of Albanians. Many Muslim
Macedonians also suffered. People
thought the crowd would go to the
outskirts of town, near the villages
where Albanians live. Fortunately
that did not happen. Two years after
those events, the Albanians and the
Macedonians from Bitola have
unpleasant memories of those days
and they say: "It happened, it has
passed, and, God willing, it will
never happen again!"
According to what we have seen
in the Bitola region, the war and the
unpleasant events haven't left a trace
in the exceptional relations between
Albanians and Macedonians. The village
Graeshnica is ten kilometers
from Bitola. Half of the residents are
Albanians, half Macedonians.
Graeshnica is an example of cohabitation.
At the entrance to the village
children are running and playing
football on the muddy turf of an
improvised football field,. They dribble,
kick and laugh from the heart
when one of them falls over in the
mud. "Come and see. Those are our
children. Little Albanians and
Macedonians. Just try and stop them
from being friends. No! Nothing's
been changed and, God help me,
nothing should. This is a village with
a tradition of seeking their fortune
abroad. People have been leaving to
make money far from their native
places and haven't come back in
years. They've left homes and families.
It was a custom that neighbors,
whether Albanians or Macedonians,
would watch their houses and help
others of the family. That kind of life
has kept on here until nowadays. We
were scared during the crisis. Not of
each other, but of what was happening.
After the events in Bitola, we
were a little scared to move. Who
knows what may happen to you in
that madness? My child was at school
in Bitola then. Everyday a
Macedonian taxi driver took him and
brought him back," says Zubri
Llimani. According to him, the evil
caused by the war in Macedonia hasn't
altered good relations between
Macedonians and Albanians at all.
"No, we didn't feel the crisis. The
way we live now is the same as
before, and we hope to continue living
that way," says he. Llimani was
the owner of the first house we
approached when we visited
Graeshnica. After we told him we are
reporters interested in interethnic
relations, he told us with a wide
smile: "I just spoke to Mirko
Miloshevski, a friend from my childhood.
He called from Canada only to
make sure I'm safe and sound. So,
you can judge for yourself now,"
Both his sons study in Tetovo. The
older is a student at the Southeastern
European University, and the
younger one is at Mosha Pijade, the
agricultural high school. He says that
during the crisis he was concerned
about his sons' destiny because the
times, still, were risky and violent.
The cohabitation and harmonious
relations between the Macedonians
and the Albanians can be felt in
Graeshnica. That can be seen from
the fact that people don't concern
themselves too much about interethnic
issues. They are simply occupied
with the usual daily problems. They
worry about the cattle. They talk
about milk production, about the
troubles they encounter, and about, as
they say, "the state's negligence in
ensuring top quality milk products in
the country." They complain about
increased taxes, from the valueadded
tax, about the low selling price
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Meetings, not divisions, June 2003