Albin Kurti, leader of Levizja VETEVENDOSJE! confirmed today that activists of the movement, together with members of the public, will engage in a planned peaceful blockade of two of Kosova's border points with Serbia, tomorrow, Saturday January 14 at 13.00.

The objective of the peaceful blockade is to oblige Kosova's Government to implement a Parliamentary Resolution passed last December, requiring full reciprocity measures with Serbia. Speaking at a Press Conference, Albin Kurti stated, "Reciprocity is a European Union value. EU states recognize each other and are in reciprocal relations. There is no example in the world of two states that have no peace agreement and do not recognize each other, yet have free trade." Albin explained that the blockade is directed politically against Serbia, and in no way against Serbs in general, or against Serbs in Kosova.

Responding to claims by Kosova's Prime Minister that the protest will be violent, Albin strongly affirmed the peaceful character of the protest. He stated,

"Tomorrow on January 14, starting from 13:00, Lëvizja VETËVENDOSJE! will have organized 200 activists at Merdare and 200 at Dhe i Bardhë who will be custodians of the protest. These custodians are our guarantee that the protest will be peaceful and entirely nonviolent. Kosova's police are not our opponent. Serbia is our opponent. No protestor will provoke the police. We believe and hope that the police will also not provoke protestors."   Yesterday, VETËVENDOSJE! activists met with the Kosova Police to explain the blockade plans.

Over the last few weeks, activists have held hundreds of public meetings across Kosova, as well as in Tirana, calling on members of the public to participate in this symbolic protest in defense of Kosova's sovereignty.

Yesterday, it cannot be said simply that the situation escalated or that there was clash between Lëvizja VETËVENDOSJE! and the Kosova Police. Yesterday, the Kosova Police intervened violently toward peaceful protestors despite many calls from us asking the police not to attack us.
 
146 protestors were arrested, 15 continue to be held under arrest and tens of others were injured, both lightly and seriously.

The police stopped and searched cars and buses and confiscated food, tents and blankets. During these controls, they didn’t find a single hard instrument or even a hand knife.

There was a strategy for violence from the side of the Government and Police. Part of this strategy was to intervene immediately at Merdarë and after six hours, at Dheu i Bardhë.

The protest was in defense of the Republic and for domestic production. The protest motto was: Serbia will not pass! Yesterday, as long as there was protest, there was reciprocity.

The Kosova Government is violating Article 92.3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosova, Chapter VI, Government of  the Republic of Kosova, Article 92 [General Principles], 92.3 - The Government implements laws and other acts approved by the Kosova Parliament and performs other activities within its competences as defined by the Constitution and law.

The Kosova’s Government’s policy is a police policy and this makes Kosova’s police political. Kosova’s police follow political orders issued by Prime Minister Thaçi and the the Minister of Interior, Bajram Rexhepi, contrary to the law. They act in the name of freedom of movement, however Kosova’s police blocked freedom of movement three times as much yesterday: at the border with the Republic of Albania, with many police checkpoints and by closing the road at Merdarë and Dheu i Bardhë.    

This was an attack on the opposition and democracy.

We demand the release of those imprisoned.

Our next peaceful protest blocking Serbian products and vehicles with Serbia’s registration plates, will be held a week from today, next Sunday, on January 22, 2012. If the Kosova Government starts to implement full reciprocity with Serbia during this week, naturally we will not hold this protest on January 22. 

The Republic of Kosova is a Parliamentary Republic and as such, the Parliament of the Republic of Kosova is its highest political, representative and legislative body in Kosova. In a decision for political, economic and trading reciprocity with Serbia, the Kosova Parliament took a concrete decision [December 2011] to close the door to Serbia in Kosova, while it closes its door to Kosova. 

It doesn’t require much analysis to understand that currently there is no reciprocity with Serbia. Serbia is oppressing Albanians in the Valley of Presheva while demanding additional privileges for Serbs in Kosova; meanwhile, in general, there are more Albanians in Serbia, than Serbs in Kosova. 

Serbia’s officials all come to Kosova as many times as they want and whenever they want: from the President of Serbia, Boris Tadic, down to the lowest state officials from Belgrade. On the other hand, the only time a minister of the Kosova Government tried to go to Eastern Kosova, he was immediately turned back without any consideration at all. 

Boris Tadic came to Deçan; Ibrahim Makolli did not go to Preshevë. Furthermore, cars from Serbia come to Kosova with registration plates from towns in Kosova issued in the time of Milosevic, yet cars from Kosova have to remove all sign of the Republic and to change their identity by using provisional registration plates of Serbia, if they want to travel through Serbia. 

In fact, in all the Republic of Kosova’s relations with Serbia, thanks to the Kosova Government’s ‘successful’ talks with Serbia in Brussels, Kosova has to erase its own name as a Republic when dealing with Serbia. 

So, the Republic of Kosova is not valid for Kosova when it confronts Serbia, in accordance with Serbia’s non-recognition of Kosova’s independence. 

For 42 days now, the Government of the Republic of Kosova has not implemented the decision of the Parliament of the Republic of Kosova. It has ignored this decision and declared that it will not treat it as a decision (which obliges) but as an opinion (which advises). Consequently, the Kosova Government has ignored the decision of Kosova’s Parliament because it ignores Parliament, considering it a body which provides advice, and not decisions. 

The Kosova Government does not like the Parliamentary character and foundation of the Republic of Kosova. The Government intends to transform the Parliamentary Republic of Kosova into a Governmental Republic of the Prime Minister. But, what would that Governmental Republic be like? 

Three aspects of the Governmental Republic are now clear. First, whereas a Parliamentary Republic of Kosova would be closed toward Serbia and open toward Albania, this Governmental Republic of the Prime Minister is violently closed toward Albania (as it was on January 14 when they closed the border at Vërmicë) and violently open toward Serbia (as they acted at the Merdarë border on January 14). 

This was indicated by “Wikileaks” when it was revealed that Kosova’s current Prime Minister, on the one hand has met twice secretly (once even when he was in opposition) with Serbia’s President, Boris Tadic, whereas on the other hand, he told the US Deputy Ambassador to Kosova, Michael McMurphy, to keep the Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania, Sali Berisha, away from Kosova and talked about the risk of pan-Albanianism. 

Second, in the Governmental Republic, violence and current violations of the law by the Government are put in the background, while the Government tries to expose potential violence and violations of the law by citizens. Quite simply, the Government aims to remove all rights from citizens toward the Government, so that the Government has every right over citizens. 

Policy has become that of the police, while the police have become political. Beatings, arrests, imprisonment, persecution will increase until they are normalized. The constitution and laws transform in a Swedish buffet where the Government chooses WHEN, WHAT and HOW it will implemented, without needing at all to explain WHY. The Governmental Republic increases the size of independent Kosova’s political establishment, but reduces the state (as budget, territory and public and national resources). 

Third, having a Governmental Republic enslaves Kosova’s economy to that of Serbia. The former military-police occupation by Serbia has been replaced by an economic-trading occupation. The only politician and deputy in the Kosova Parliament that the current Prime Minister and his Minister of Economic Development visited twice last year was the key Kosova importer of Serbian products, the Deputy Ramiz Kelmendi, who is from the opposition. His company, ETC has the fourth annual turnover in Kosova after PTK, KEK and “ProCredit Bank”. 

With a Governmental Republic, Kosova loses its chance for any humane economic system where the man is more important than the product. Again, on January 14, we saw how the freedom of movement of Kosova’s citizens was blocked for the sake of the freedom of movement of goods from Serbia. Kosova’s citizens buy products from Serbia because they are poor. However, Kosova’s citizens will remain permanently poor if they continue to buy Serbia’s products. 

Domestic producers in Kosova will not manage to consolidate and end this hopeless situation by surrendering to traders who serve as an infrastructure for enormous imports. Maybe it is not accidental that when Mahatma Gandhi began his Salt March against the English colonialists, on 12 March 1930 (just six weeks after the declaration of India’s independence), it was a decisive moment for the Independence Movement there. After that, Indians started to produce their own salt and this began the end of occupation’s profitability for England.

At Merdarë and Dheu i Bardhë the Republic is not only being defended and defined but also the economic liberation of our country is being made possible. Without our Republic, we will not have our country’s own economy. Without our economy, our country remains without Republic. 

The original article in Albanian can be found at:
http://www.zeri.info/artikulli/3/20/42209/ekonomia-e-republikes/

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