Overturning the status quo

From the moment I came back here to Prishtina, there has been a different feeling about it. I don't know if it's that my own awareness of things has grown, or that I am just not used to being here, but there is definitely something different. On the surface many things have changed, as I said before, but I can sense, now more than ever, the quiet unrest bubbling just under the surface. In conversations with my landlord, in conversations with students, there is an increasing attitude that something must change NOW. Threats have been made against internationals if UNMIK doesn't make a decision soon. One "suspicious package" was detonated on Friday evening, and a second bomb found under a UN vehicle consisting of enough TNT to wipe out a large building was diffused in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The whole province is waiting for the UN envoy's report on Kosovo's readiness for status talks to begin. Has there been enough progress to start negotiating for freedom for Kosovo? Some internationals fear that if the report is negative and says that Kosovo isn't ready, things could get ugly here very quickly. Many feel that the report may contain some negative comments but that negotiations will begin anyway. Others say that Kosovo will be granted "conditional" independence, maintaining a large international presence here. October 15th is the deadline for the report, and much could change from there.

Please keep in mind, no one is angry at Americans in particular- we are still the blessed saviours. However, many locals feel the international community is stalling, and by doing so are keeping Kosovars in a perpetual state of poverty and unemployment. It's not that anyone expects a sudden windfall of money to pour into Kosovo the minute independence happens, but some feel that the economy is completely stalled by lack of status. Will it really make things better? No one really knows, all they do know is that things cannot stay the same. There was a pretty good opinion piece in the International Herald Tribune yesterday that discusses all of this further, and if you want more info click here.

In other aspects of unrest, public school employees, including the University, and health works employees have been on strike since Monday, demanding more pay and better benefits. Something they damn well deserve, as do most teachers and health care workers across the globe. But according to the government, there's just no money for it. So for the time being I sit, developing my syllabus for no one in particular.