Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

It is brave ones’ turn
to replace weapons with words
26
Shkelzen Halimi
There may be numerous mysteries
on why the conflict erupted
between Macedonian forces and
armed Albanian groups. Naturally,
depending on the angle from which
the conflict is viewed, there are
numerous interpretations of these
dilemmas. One thing is definite: In
certain places in Macedonia, there
was a real war carried out, whose
scars will remain present for a long
time.
One of those mysteries that can
be discussed is: Was this war a consequence
of the fact that the real
Macedonia was not what we had
believed and presented it to be? Or
perhaps on this occasion we had a
clash of two concepts of the internal
order in Macedonia; namely, the
Macedonian and the Albanian. The
Macedonian concept was considered
dominant, whereas the
Albanian one sought certain flexibility
in order to mitigate the position
of the first concept, which
simultaneously ensued from influence
of a completely different democratic
tradition exported out of
Western Europe and the U.S. Over
the past ten years the clash of these
two concepts has been prevented by
a very thin red line that ultimately
became green, signalling that the
time for change had come. It was
exactly this change that the
Macedonian side saw as negative
and the Albanian as positive. This
change became the hot potato that
caused what happened, caused us to
still smell the odour of gunpowder.
In every normal human being
reigns the private awareness that
after any war, regardless of its duration,
inevitably there will be a table
at which the most courageous people
will sit to replace weapons with
words. It is a different matter,
though, in situations like this one,
when the normal human being is led
by his ego and stubborn spite.
Historically such spite has always
been fatal.
In this context the concept of
'word' should not be understood
generally, but to the contrary should
serve to find a solution acceptable
to all, since words often are more
dangerous than weapons. We only
have to follow some of the media
One thing is clear: This
spring everyone would prefer
to pick the most beautiful
flowers that the season
brings to the Shar Mountain.
Instead, this spring some
people had to dig graves,
some to collect spent ammunition,
some to collect animal
carcasses. Someone created
an album of horror while
someone else compiled a
journalistic report on victory
and defeat.
Are there really any individuals
among us who prefer
spring with bloodshed as a
leitmotif?!
Liberation from war, April 2001