Albania
But Where Are the Differences?
Tirana - People across the Balkans have much
in common, forget the conflicts of the recent
or distant past, and the efforts of politicians to
convince them how "different" or "distinctive"
they are. It takes only a couple of days for a Serb
to figure in Tirana how children go to "skholla",
just as Serbian children go to "skola". Their
parents could work in "kancellari" (office) in Tirana,
or "kancelarija" in Belgrade. At home, they
tuck into that fermented yellow cheese "kachkavali"
in Tirana or "kackavalj" in Belgrade, while
watching "reklame" (advertisements). Afterwards
in either country they might have some "supa"
(soup) or "pita" (pie).
And in either country you could go shopping
for "bluze" (blouses) and "pantalone" (trousers).
After hundreds of years both countries of today
spent under the Ottoman Turkish rule, language
and ways had to find commonness. But it is more
than language that evokes similarities. It's just
everyday ways that are so similar. In the Albanian
city Shkodra, 150 km north of the capital,
neatly dressed pensioners sit on park benches,
regardless of the heat, playing chess. The picture
can be strikingly similar in Serbian capital
Belgrade or Bosnian capital Sarajevo.
Defunct factory complexes
In the evening, a downtown stroll or "xhiro" is
a must in Shkoder. So is the "korzo" in, say,
Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina, or in towns in
Serbia. But there is more to similarity than a stroll
or two. Nations in the region come from a similar
past, and are looking to a similar future. Albanians
are struggling to leave a Stalinist past
behind. That past stands like the defunct factory
complexes near Shkodra and in Berat, 120 km
south. These factories used to produce textiles,
fertilisers and other goods.
Similar complexes, the "kombinati" (combined
factories) in both Albanian and other Balkans
languages, stand along the roads of Bosnia or
Serbia.
1990s, few were interested in buying them or
investing in them. Everywhere, many of these
" white elephants" of the communist era are on
sale for a single Euro, in the hope that some businessman
might want to modernise the facilities
and resume production. In Serbia, several old
sugar mills were turned into highly profitable factories
this way. The same cannot be said for once
successful textile kombinati in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
sold 10 years ago for one German Mark
each. They never reopened. Albania is having a go
at such sales now. "We plan to introduce a programme
called 'Albania for one Euro'," deputy
minister for foreign affairs Edith Harxhi told IPS.
" We hope this might attract investors."
On the road to Europe
And like the other nations in the region,
Albania is looking for new wealth through tourism.
That has brought some healthy competition,
but also cooperation, with many countries looking
at least in part for tourists continuing on
their way from the other. Meanwhile, like many
other people in the region, large numbers of
Albanians live off remittances sent by family
members who migrated abroad. Remittances
make some 13 percent of country's gross national
income. Remittances had kept many going in
Serbia during the years of the sanctions, from 1992
until 2000. Work was not an option at the time,
just as it is not in today's Montenegro.
" This makes people lazy," environmental activist
Arian Gace told IPS. "But it cannot be stopped;
we lack the culture of parents being strict
with their children. They let them do whatever
they want, as if they want to recover the time lost
in the past when we had nothing." "We have so
much in common, all people around," Ajet
Nallbani, manager of the Berat Institut of Cultural
Monuments told IPS. Albanians, Bosniaks,
Kosovars and Montenegrins are all "on the same
road," he said. "That is the road to Europe, the
only one for us." And that, finally, should dissolve
some of today's political differences. "Once
we are close to Europe, we'll have to put behind
all those nasty things we carry around, like
wars and ethnic tension. That is the only real
chance for us, and people here are ready for
that," Nallbani said.