The everyday life of Albanian citizens in Kosovo has been marked by institutional apartheid, especially in the last decade. Incidents of violence are too numerous to count.
On this occasion, we want to point out the violation of a basic human right – the right to free schooling in one’s native language.
Since 1991, about 1,000 instructors, nearly 200 administrative workers, and nearly 27,000 Albanian students have been expelled from the University of Pristina by brutal police force.
We are not involved with nation-building problems or territorial questions. Our predominant concern is human rights violations in Kosovo. As a group that advocates nonviolent solutions to all problems and conflicts, we support the commitment to nonviolent actions as a response to state oppression that Albanian citizens made a long time ago. One form of this active nonviolence is the parallel school system, which they realized despite extremely difficult circumstances. Their demands to return to official institutions are more than justified.
On this occasion, we want to express our support and solidarity with the peaceful nonviolent protests organized by The Independent Student Union of the University of Pristina. We condemn all of the repressive measures employed by the Serbian police against the student protest marches that began in the middle of September 1997. We also condemn the banning of protest marches.
Human rights are indivisible and universal. Human rights are not internal to any state, but for all people in the world. There are not ethnic groups or individuals who are more or less worthy of human rights. On this occasion, we clearly express our disagreement with the repression of Albanian students that the Serbian regime is conducting in our name.
We will express our disagreement with the policies of the Serbian regime in Kosovo and our support and solidarity with the nonviolent protests and demands of the Albanian students during our protest on Wednesday, October 29 from 3:30pm to 4:30pm in Republic Square.
NONVIOLENCE IS OUR CHOICE
Women in Black—Belgrade
October 28, 1997
