Albania's History

I thought the best introduction I could provide about Albania is to talk about its past. I will talk a little bit about the distant past – such as the Greek, Roman and Ottoman empire, but mostly about the country’s recent past of Communism and its lasting effects on the country today.

For those of you who are not familiar with Albania, it is in South-Eastern Europe in the Balkans, on the Adriatic and Ionian Sea across from Italy, and directly above Greece. Albanians today are related to the old Illyrian tribes, and Albanian territory at some point has been controlled by the Illyrians, Romans, Venetians, Slavs, Ottomans, Germans, Modern Italians, and finally after World War II it became the country it is now. The Albanian nation does not only extend to Albania though, but there are high populations in neighboring countries such as in the city of Ulqin in Montenegro, Tetovo in Eastern Macedonia, and in Kosovo. The country’s borders were only determined in 1912, when its neighboring countries were already established. Thus, Albania had to negotiate with all of the countries in order to obtain its land today. This leads to large Albanian populations living outside of its own country, because the division of land never goes by population anywhere – it is always about each country wanting as much territory as possible.

In Albanian there are many remnants of its past – it is easy to drive down the “highway” and see far off castles on hilltops that were built in the early centuries AD. There is a popular site of ruins, Butrinti, dating back to before the 4^th Century BC. It is a country where you can really feel and experience some of its past, and I like that about the country. Albania is extremely proud about its Illyrian past, and how they existed as a separate population among great nations like the Romans.

In my opinion though the history gets more interesting as it goes on; in the middle of the 14^th century, the Ottoman Empire came and conquered the land, making it part of their empire. The Ottoman influence explains why 70% of the country is Muslim today, and the old Venetian influence explains why in Northern Albania there are also many Catholics. The various invaders each left part of their culture behind, which makes Albania extremely diverse and unlike its neighboring nations.

The problem with the Ottoman Empire led to the creation of Albania’s national hero – Skanderberg or Skanderbeu, in English and Albanian. Skanderbeu (I will use the Albanian name), attempted to reunite all Albanian territory in the middle of the 15^th After Skanderbeu’s death in the 1460’s, the Ottomans regained power of Albania, and ruled over this area until the 1900’s. Century and to salvage his nation from the Turks. He was not Muslim, and he stood for his own Christian religion, and to stand separate from the Ottoman Empire. He was one of the first people to attempt to unite an entire Albanian empire; prior to Skanderbeu, Albania was many smaller clans and individual empires.

After World War I, a man declared himself as King and tried to establish a monarchy, however King Zog was quickly defeated by the Italians, who conquered Albania. Much of the present day architecture and lay out of the streets in Tirana is thanks to their planning and architecture. However, after World War II, Italy relinquished its power over Albania, and Albania was finally its own country and left to itself.

I would think that this would be positive – however as soon as this happened, Enver Hoxha emerged as a brutal Communist dictator. Our guide Ilir refers to him constantly as “our dictator,” as if he is even afraid to speak his name. Many people do not know about Albania’s Communist past – perhaps that is because Albania was one of the most secluded countries to exist. At first Hoxha modeled itself after Russia – and many different kinds of power plants sprouted up named “Stalin Power Plant” or “Lenin Coal Mine,” etc. However, Hoxha soon thought that Russia was too revisionist in its Communist ideals, and he cut ties with Russia. Afterwards Hoxha started to begin relations with Mao in China, and all of the plants that used to be named after Lenin, now were christened after Mao. Just like with Russia though. Hoxha thought Mao did not understand Communism, and parted ways.

During the Communist era, no one was allowed to leave the country, let alone their villages. It was illegal to move from your village to another city, and you had to live where you were registered. The only people that could leave the country were involved with Tourism for the promotion of the state, such as our tour guide, and he was not allowed to speak about the difficulties in Albania when he left. Inside of the country, no one was allowed to own a car, which is perhaps why the roads are in such a dismal state today. The roads were all rocks and gravel and not paved whatsoever.

Clothing and personal style were extremely limited: everyone had to wear the same thing. No one was allowed to wear jeans, and men were not allowed to have beards or long hair. When foreigners came into the country, they had to cut their hair and shave their beards at the border, or they were not allowed inside of the country. Apparently beards are too “western” and are all about fashion, thus they must be a completely evil influence!

Ilir told us many stories about the rigidity of Hoxha’s regime: parents being put in jail for giving their children foreign names, being brutally beaten for talking to foreigners, being imprisoned for accepting a foreign music cassette… It was really surprising because when we hear about strict communist regimes, Albania does not immediately come to mind – at least not for me.

Abuse

So the other week my boss invited me to go to the field with her and two of my other co-workers during the day. Excited for some real experience, I gladly went. We went back to the area surrounding Ferizaj, which is where I previously went for the graduation ceremony. This time though we visited different women. My boss warned me that we were visiting women who were victims of domestic abuse, so I tried to prepare myself for what I would experience. I’m not sure really how you can prepare yourself for this situation, but I tried.

We drove around getting somewhat lost on our way to the first house. Remember that street signs are nearly non-existent, especially in small villages or in the outskirts of a city. We had to stop and ask at least four people where this street was, how to get there, and how far away it was. We came upon this rocky road and the car slowly made its way down it, though for a minute I was sure that a tire was going to pop and we would be stranded. We stopped at a school where a man told us to go a little further down the road. There were very small houses spread out along the countryside. The houses were all very small, one or two stories, and most were not painted but were simply brick, which seems to be the cheapest material here for building houses. We finally found the house. It had a pretty backyard with some natural flowers and a little stone path to the house. We got there and say miredita (good day), and I could tell that they are surprised that there is a foreigner there. I saw this man again who was at the school who directed us towards the house, and I looked at my boss, and she told me that he is the husband of the woman we are going to visit. Suddenly I was confused: how were we supposed to visit an abused woman and comfort her if her husband is sitting next to us?

It was a pretty awkward experience. Every time that the husband left the room, his mother attempted to tell my boss about his abuse. The wife did not seem to have the courage to speak up; she remained silent while the mother did all of the talking. Every time he reentered the room, the mother would stop talking and the conversation would take another direction. Of course this was in Albanian, and my boss only told me about the specifics later.
The house itself was spacey, but perhaps it only seemed so since it was practically empty aside from the couch we were sitting on. There was a mouse that kept peeking out from a hole in the wall. It kept trying to make its way across the room, and would run back into the hole… it really distracted me.

It was really heartbreaking to see the condition that this woman lived in. She was really poor, and her husband was not looking for work. Her marital duty was to stay at home, and he did not want her to find a job either, so she was destined for poverty. Societal standards also prohibited her from leaving her husband; my boss said that her parents did not want her to return home because it would be shameful. Our organization could not do that much to help her. Shelters exist, but there is a taboo about visiting them. It is hard for women to earn enough money to support themselves and their children. Furthermore, the government usually grants custody to fathers in cases of divorce, so even if she wanted to leave her husband, he would keep the children and keep abusing them as well. Thus, she seemed condemned to live in this situation.
The most we could do at this point was lend moral support. It sounds pretty flimsy, and I felt pretty helpless. However, this woman clearly felt happy that we were there and she was encouraged by our presence. I hope that someday this situation gets better for women and that more can be done to help women who are abused.

The second home we went to was in a somewhat nicer neighborhood, though the inside of the house was similarly empty. This time the husband was not there, and we found a woman sitting down with an older woman and two young girls nearby. The old woman was her mother-in-law, and I could immediately tell that she wielded some sort of control over her daughter-in-law. It was really sad to see a woman siding for physical abuse of a man’s wife, AND his daughters. This just goes to show how a patriarchal society can have such negative outcomes, especially if no one dares to stop the men. The women can’t leave because they need a man for income, and because of the social stigma against them. The worst part is the limited amount of things you can do to help. The most it seems you can do is offer them an alternative, a place where they can stay, and work, but you cannot force a woman who does not want to leave to leave, and you cannot easily change societal notions of a woman living alone. Well, I guess we can try.

Diversity and Equality

I think in my blogs I have seemed very optomistic about Kosovo as a country and about the Kosovar culture. If you haven't noticed that, I am. I really love living here, I love the people, and I love the relaxed style of life. As great as it is to live here, some of the politics and the conservative has been getting to me a little bit.

I'm sure all of you readers know me, I can't really imagine that this blog has reached people that didn't follow my facebook link or my e-mails. Since you know me, you know that I grew up in San Francisco, a liberal paradise in the U.S. Living in San Francisco instilled me with a strong sense of equality, whether it be racial, gender, or sexual preference. Living in Kosovo now, I see all sorts of these equalities completely blurred and turned upside down.

Of course, I've talked about the ethnic tension here between Serbians and Albanians. That is kind of obvious.. at least to me. But what might not be as obvious, is the idea of 'diversity' here and what it means. When I think of diversity, I think of every kind of person imaginable living in a single community. It doesn't necessarily have to be harmonious living, but at least different races, socio-economic backgrounds, etc. Diversity can mean a lot of things. Diversity here is something quite different, if it exists at all. There is little to no religious diversity, with almost every Albanian being Muslim (there are a few Catholics here), and almost every Serbian being Orthodox (there are not many Serbians anyways, at least in Pristina). There is no real racial diversity. There are not even any Serbians in Pristina. If you see someone of African American descent, I can tell that every single person on the street notices this person - and stares. And obviously is a foreigner working for NATO or another foreign government agency. I have only seen two Asian people the whole time I've been here. I constantly have the feeling that everyone is staring at me as I walk down the street because they can tell that I am a foreigner and that I am different. I don't mean staring at me in a negative way, but it is that if you do not fit in and do not conform to some sort of mould, then it is noticed... And that makes me feel a bit awkward.

There is, of course, socio-economic diversity, however it is not as apparent in Pristina as it is other places in the country. As I've said in previous posts, the average income is around 150 Euro a month. A lot of people in Pristina make more than that, purely because it is the capital, and because of the foreign presence in the city, which includes NATO, UN Mission in Kosovo, European Union Mission in Kosovo, European Council, USAID, foreign banks like Raffeisen and ProCredit... just to name a few. They employ some locals, however the local employees do earn less than foreigners. Anyways, since most of these organizations are centered in Pristina, it is natural that this city has the highest income. However, it is once you leave the city that you really feel extreme poverty. In Pristina, there are some beggers, Roma children trying to sell you peanuts or beg for money, however there are not as many as I anticipated before I came here. At night at a cafe, it really does not feel as though most people here only make 150-200 Euro a month. Everyone dresses up and looks nice, orders drinks, stays out late.. it simply does not feel like people are struggling to earn money. I am sure that many of these people are in fact struggling, or are unemployed, however they do not act like it. This makes the diversity feel like there is less than it is in reality.

Now, since I am interning for a women's organization, I am sure you are expecting me to be all feminist about gender equality here - and I will not disappoint you! The unemployment rate for women here is higher than it is for men. The figures that my organization told me is that for men it is around 40%, and for women it is 60%. A lot of the inequality and reasoning for this comes from the cultural stereotypes that it is a woman's job to raise the family. Women here get married very young (rewind to when someone told me I will be too old to get married when I am 24), and especially in villages, women stay home and have children, and a lot of them. Women aren't expected, or encouraged, to find jobs and a steady income outside of their household. There are many cases of domestic violence (that will be a separate blog entry), and women simply cannot do anything about it. The divorce rate is incredibly low, and women often do not get custody of their children after a divorce. Things are changing though, and there is a slow progress. Each generation, like everywhere in the world, becomes more "western" (I don't really love this term, but it certainly applies here), and more "modern" in terms of gender relations. Women here, unlike most Muslim countries, do not cover up, instead they readily expose a lot of skin. More and more women are finding work and providing for their families, thanks to organizations like Women for Women. It is only in many traditional families that these old stereotypes are being held firmly in place. Still, in general, the gender divide exists, and is far from equal.. even in simple things, like when a male friend of mine told me that here a women would never break up with a man she is dating, he always breaks up with her, because a woman's goal is to find a husband and does not want to end in a relationship.

Now, what really motivated me to write this blog is what recently happened in Belgrade. Of course Belgrade is not Kosovo, but I think generally the attitudes in the Balkans towards homosexuality is the same. There was supposed to be a gay-pride march in Belgrade, however it was canceled because there were many threats against the gay marchers, and the government felt as though it could not provide security for the participants. You can read about that here: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/analysis/22369/

Someone in Kosovo then told me that Kosovo was more open-minded, and I thought, well is it? It turns out, not really. The same news agency, Balkan Insight, (which I highly recommend if you want to read about the news here in English), printed a story around the same time about homosexuals in Kosovo: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/analysis/22403/

Soon after I read this, by coincidence one of my male friends here told me he is bisexual. He said he was only telling me and several of his friends because I'm an international, so I won't feel have as a conservative of a view as many locals. He said that if he had told his friends that he was actually gay, and not bisexual, then he would be "lost forever" and there would be no hope for him. He said there was almost no way that he could ever find a partner here because there is almost no gay community to speak of out of fear of discrimination or harm. He does not know any openly gay people, and doubts it will change any time soon. He seemed so sad and hopeless when he told me this, I felt awful. But that's just the culture here, and I guess it is the same in most (or all?) Balkan countries. For some reason, I expected something different of Kosovo, from a country that is fighting hard for its independence and claims to be so open-minded. A country with unparalleled foreign presence and people who desperately want some sort of 'change'. It was silly of me though to have such high expectations. Not everyone though is against homosexuals, like I said I have a bisexual friend, and know other people who have said that they don't think there is anything wrong with homosexuality.. however, it seems the general feeling is strongly homophobic and unaccepting.

Of course, despite all of these things, I still love Kosovo. I have to remind myself that Kosovo is a developing country, meaning it only just got its independence (well, to some), and it is still figuring itself out. I don't think there is a real Kosovar identity yet, everyone calls themselves Albanians or Serbians, not Kosovar. These issues don't really seem to be high on their list, or even on anyone's list. Everyone in Kosovo focuses mainly on the political and independence issues; these issues are critical for Kosovo's future as a nation. However, the diversity and equality problems in Kosovo are very important for me, and I felt as though I needed to highlight them. I also wanted to note that as positive as I sound about Kosovo, there are a lot of issues, many that people don't even care to acknowledge.