yugoslavias implosion

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ChApter 3
the “belief in democracy and peaceful protest as an efficient method
of opposing the communist regime and Serb nationalism” gathered
momentum. 360 On July 2, 1990, just over a week after they had been
prevented from entering the provincial assembly, 117 Kosovo Albanian
delegates gathered outside the building on July 2 and read a
declaration proclaiming the independence of Kosovo. The Serbian
government struck back three days later and “temporarily” abolished
all provincial institutions.
The desire to curb Kosovo’s autonomy was translated into corresponding
legal provisions finally incorporated into the 1990 Constitution.
Under the new constitution, which Serbia promulgated
in contravention of the federal constitution, Kosovo and Vojvodina
ceased to be territorial entities that could exercise state power and
became integral parts of the Serbian Republic. Their constitutions
were replaced by statutes to be adopted by their assemblies subject to
the prior consent of the Serbian National Assembly. The provinces
were stripped of their autonomous legislative power and their constitutional
courts. In contrast to the 1974 Constitution, the 1990 Constitution
did not grant the right to the equal use of the Albanian and
Serbian languages.
In addition to the constitutional restructuring of the provinces,
a range of measures and laws were gradually passed that effectively
isolated the Albanians from the Serbian state. A law that restricted
transactions in real property passed in 1989 was aimed at preventing
the sale of property to Albanians. 361 The Law on Labor Relations
in Exceptional Circumstances, the Law on Elementary Education,
the Law on Secondary Education, the Law on High Schools, the
Law on the Termination of the Work of the Assembly of the Socialist
360 Shkëlzen Maliqi, Kosova, Separate Worlds, (Pristina 1998) .
361 Official Gazette of the Socialist Republic of Serbia, No . 30/89 . Kosta Mihajlović considered
the “sale of agricultural land to Albanians not merely the sale of agricultural land, but
the sale of national territory .” From a discussion on Kosovo at the Serbian Philosophical
Society in connection with Branko Horvat’s book, published in Theoria, 1–2/1987 .