yugoslavias implosion

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ChApter 3
Autonomous Provinces as Its Constituent Parts—Their Constitutional Status
and Practice, known as the “Blue Book.” A draft of the Blue Book
was criticized at a meeting of the Central Committee of the League
of Communists of Serbia and the project was shelved. Between 1968
and 1981, Kosovar Albanians enjoyed autonomy and rights that had
previously been denied them.
Albanian nationalism increased during the 1970s, culminating
in 1978 during the commemoration of the centenary of the Prizren
League (a political organization whose foundation in 1878 is
regarded as marking the birth of the Albanian nation). The celebrations
encouraged many young people to commit themselves to Albania.
The intensification of cultural cooperation between the Kosovar
Albanians and Albania contributed to the strengthening of Albanian
nationalism; slowly the “boundary between the affirmation of the
nation and nationalism began to fade.” 338 Tension increased among
the Serbian population, which felt outnumbered and outvoted and
could not reconcile itself to the fact that Albanians dictated political
relations in the province. The language barrier created additional
difficulties because many Serbs had never learned Albanian.
Serbs began to move out of Kosovo, the most densely populated part
of Yugoslavia, in search of better employment. At the same time,
the price of land and housing rose due to increasing demand by the
Albanian population.
Frustration and dissatisfaction grew as Kosovo’s economic problems
intensified, as did the ever-growing discrepancy between Kosovo
and the rest of Yugoslavia. Unemployment continued to spiral
upward, especially among young people. Rural Kosovo had little to
offer economically. Given the other economic problems Yugoslavia
was facing, Kosovo, the most undeveloped region in the country,
could not stay stable.
338 Petrit Imami, Serbs and Albanians Through the Centuries, FreeB92, 1999, p . 333 .