Do you speak Albanian?
By: Miodrag Vlahović
Nik Gjeloshaj’s political agenda is clear, as is the case with all nationalists—whether they are so by conviction or driven by pressure or the need to exploit and profit from national issues: the escalation of identity-related and associated matters, alongside bombastic and provocative statements.
“Defending national interests!” It sounds so noble and courageous. Yet, the essence of the problem and the actual interests of the citizens—the people—are, as usual, relegated to the background. This case is no exception.
For the “the worse, the better” approach is the guiding principle for the political strategy of the arrogant leader of the Albanian Alternative (Alternativa Shqiptare), a person not averse to crude statements and actions.
Escalation, confrontation, and conflict—regardless of the subject or whether there is a valid reason—cast him in the same light as the nationalists from various Serb parties and the Bosniak Party within the ruling coalition: all are playing their parts in a new Balkan rendition of the very same drama.
Boring and all too familiar, yet mind-numbingly effective—time and time again …
To assess Gjeloshaj’s potential and the impact of the policies he implements, one must visit Tuzi—while the municipality still bears that name. For even that, we hear, is in question: the “border” cutting through the vineyards implies the erasure of distinct local identities, leading to a proposed new name—Malesija. The Highlands are set to swallow Tuzi, say the level-headed locals.
Favoring one religious community over another among the Malisori/Highlanders is a dangerous policy. It drives a wedge into a value that Balkan Albanians—including those in Montenegro, with only minor variations and historically marginal exceptions—long ago embraced as the philosophy of their national and political unity. Religious and other differences are irrelevant; being Albanian is an attribute that transcends all differences—so wrote and spoke Pashko Vasa, the 19th-century poet and progenitor of the idea of Albanian unity.
It appears that Nik Gjeloshaj has not read Pashko Vasa’s poetry, nor does he seem particularly interested in doing so. Yet, as things stand, he will have to be a bit more cautious and wise: the extremist and irritating antics of the adaptable and fickle Nikolla Camaj are placing Gjeloshaj in an awkward position—for nationalists are never satisfied, and there is no end to their demands.
Therefore, Deputy Prime Minister Gjeloshaj needs to formulate more clearly and precisely those demands which, given a fair and dispassionate interpretation—and absent cheap politicization—would be entirely justified and reasonable.
One such example is his position (even if not explicitly stated in these exact words) that the principal of the elementary school in Ulcinj should speak or be proficient in the languages spoken in that Montenegrin municipality, which has an ethnic Albanian majority.
It stands to reason—and would be expected, desirable, and beneficial—for her to speak Albanian.
That demand is entirely logical and justified. Should communication with the students—young Albanians—really be devoid of their native language? Who finds this objectionable, and why?
What kind of message do we send by ignoring this issue—or fact—in a country that defines itself as a civic one?
The sharp reactions to Gjeloshaj’s performance—reactions that were, let us be clear, partially justified—nevertheless failed to highlight a reality of which no one in Montenegro can be proud: we have lived together for centuries—certainly for over a millennium, regardless of which historical interpretation one accepts—yet, with very rare exceptions (such as the specific origins and history of the Montenegrin Kuči tribe), non-Albanians in Montenegro do not speak Albanian.
This represents a cultural shortcoming within our culture and society—a matter that has never been addressed, nor has it received any institutional or systemic attention.
In this regard, a Serbian model was replicated—in a manner that was historically unwise, utterly uncultured, and destructive—a model that met with historic failure in Kosovo and beyond (in Medveđa and the Preševo Valley). It was a path of defeat, accompanied by grave crimes and decades of segregation, which ended exactly as such a path inevitably had to end.
The current government is the heir to precisely that kind of policy and practice—Greater Serbian nationalism—so the reactions from that (ruling) camp were to be expected: Gjeloshaj’s nationalist escapades provided a godsend for Serbian nationalists (both open and covert ones) to attack him as an Albanian nationalist who “forgets that competence matters, not the ethnic affiliation of an elected official.”
For that is true, just as it is true that an educator in BILINGUAL areas (or multilingual ones, if one insists on that level of consistency and precision) ought to speak both languages—including Albanian.
That is the fundamental point we have (presumably inadvertently) forgotten.
And that is not good, because divisiveness and engineered antagonism toward Montenegrin Albanians (i.e., Albanians in Montenegro) represent the most destructive possible policy for Montenegro and all its citizens—both here and now, and even more so in the long run.
We long ago forgot the wonderful bilingual tradition in Tuzi, Kuči, Ulcinj …
You don’t speak Albanian? (Including the author of this text—so as not to skip over him—whose earliest memories are of childhood games in Đakovica/Gjakova, Kosovo…)
It is no wonder. No one knew how to teach us. For German or French, we have an excuse: we haven’t lived alongside those peoples for over a thousand years.
For Albanian language, truth be told, we have no excuse. We have even less of one regarding our Albanian friends and neighbors.
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