Be tolerant! (??)

More messages in the street walls of Prishtina... These posters are a call to the Kosovar population to boycott all Serbian products. Besides the loss of human lifes, one of the consequences of the war with the Serbs was the destruction of Kosova’s economy, which was already damaged after decades of explotation by the Serbian government. Kosova is still facing economic undevelopment and high rates of poverty six years after the war. Serbian products flow Kosova's markets, many times with cheaper prices than the local ones, making it even harder for the economy of the country to recover. As if it was some kind of mean joke, Kosova's population ends up buying the products -and so, enriching the economy- of those who killed and emprisoned them. Sometimes there is no other choice; some Serbian products (such us medecines) are the only affordable option for the more empoverished sectors of the population.

See more pictures and comments of boycott posters here.

On the meantime, KFOR (NATO Kosovo force) has posted these signs all over the city. The text on top of the image of a trench and barbed wire says: "Are you tired of that? Be tolerant!"

For the international community "fixing" the situation in Kosova seems to be only a matter of that, of the population being tolerant and willing to live together with the Serbs, disregarding the background of the conflict. A little story to illustrate that: a local Albano-Kosovar college professor was telling me a couple days ago how an american collegue couldn't understand the obstination of Albano-Kosovars for independence and their unwillingness to mix with the Serbian minoritythat still lives in the country. The American made the comment: "why can't you all just live together in peace as we do in the US?"

Well, beisdes the fact that if US society is an example of something is of a sophisticated racism and discrimination machinery, the "living all together in peace" option that the international community advocates so fervently dosn't take some important points into account:

Around 14,000 people were killed by Serbian troops and militia in the 1999 war, most of them civilians.

Around 3.000 people were kidnapped and are still missing.

Near to 20,000 women were raped.

Around 700.000 people were displaced and more than 100,000 houses were destroyed or damaged by the Serbian army during the war.

Before that, Kosova lived under Serbia's government repression for years, intellectuals and college faculty were purged from public positions and humiliation was a common ingredient of Albanians' daily life.

That should help anybody with a minimum of common sense to understand why some Serbian Orthodox churches have been destroyed after the war, why Albano-Kosovars want independence, and why they have trouble living a political and social honey moon with the Serbian minority that still remains in the country. But, instead, the Interantional Community keeps shouting "Be tolerant!"

Check out all my pictures from Kosova anytime at the koreland photos link on the right column