#blakans

[katrinaftw44]

This is a colourization I did of a Serbian woman, most likely in the 1930s to 1940s from Svilajnac. The Flickr I got this from doesn’t have much more information on the original b+w

Flickr I got the original b+w from: https://flic.kr/p/X2bJz6

[travelingtye-blog]

Kosovo

I was a freshman in high school the first time that I heard mention of Kosovo on the national news. It was reported that an ongoing genocide was forcing Bill Clinton’s hand, and NATO was flying to the rescue of this small section of former Yugoslavia.

After the war, the attention of the American media swiftly shifted elsewhere and I all but forgot about Kosovo’s existence until 2008 when it again took center stage following its declaration of independence.  That’s when I made up my mind to check it out one day. You see, despite reading the articles and seeing the 30-second spots on the national news, I had almost no grasp of what Kosovo represented…it seemed thoroughly exotic.

A few months ago, as I boarded the overnight bus between Podgorica, Montenegro and Pristina, Kosovo, my expectations of exoticism appeared to be well founded. The bus reminded me more of something out of Mongolia than Europe. Not only was it way behind schedule, it was massively overcrowded, with a quarter of the passengers forced to sit on plastic buckets in the aisle. 

The capital itself was fascinating. The city center brought together beautiful new streets and unpaved alleys. Decrepit communist era housing blocks sat beside the flashy offices of various international agencies. Near the center, a foul smelling sewage pit sat between a futuristic library and the abandoned hull of an orthodox church. The library was built during communist times and is often criticized as one of the ugliest buildings on earth, though I found it thoroughly interesting. The church was begun in the 1990s but construction halted when war broke out. After the war, the orthodox Serb population fled the area so the church was never completed.

For me though, the most interesting thing about Pristina was the pro-American energy in the city. The futuristic library sits at the intersection of George Bush and Bill Clinton Avenues. Further down Bill Clinton Avenue stands a large bronze statue of the former president, while posters around the city congratulate him on his birthday. Meanwhile, one of the city’s now iconic sites is the “Newborn Monument” which is decorated with the flags of all the nations which have, to date, recognized Kosovo’s independence. 

[ottomananimals]

Ottoman Rhinoceros from Midafternoon Map "Imagine a great African rhinoceros sticking its horns into the Balkans, its forefeet treading on the islands of Crete and Rhodes, its back feet on Egypt and Arabia."

[zamoca]

Here, in the Balkans, European standards for democratic political game are replaced by local rules from the past. The key here is to be ‘anti’, no matter against whom: a leader, a party or a coalition. If someone threatens the power of the strongest of the day, they immediately turn against him and open full out war without compromise. Furthermore, the Mafia, corrupt elites and shady businesses are so interlinked with the state so that nobody can break them down!

The Two Faces of the Referendum in Romania: Balkanization of Politics and Financialization of the Economy — Social Europe Journal

“The referendum is a pure struggle for power rather than a clash of ideas and platforms”;

“Corruption is ubiquitous: nowadays, the battlefield of some corrupt party leaders against same fellows from the opposite political camp is organized at the expense of the Constitution and the people”;

“The dilemma of independent voters is extremely perplexed: if you do not vote, you ignore your constitutional right to participate in the referendum; if you vote, you take a part in an apparent attempt to circumvent the Constitution.”

I don't think politics elsewhere is cleaner - it just seems that way. Politicians in other countries are more adept at boosting their image.