Cultural Autonomy: A prospect at the future

Well as I was scurrying through the news for an interesting story, I came across a recent outlook in regards to Kosovo. Now if anybody knows about Kosovo there is always association of blood and violence. Well I will agree with that notion. Unfortunately the Western media has at times demonized the Serbians and made the Albanians/Bosnians seem heroic. That is not all fact, both sides have committed conflict and strife. To really look into the reality of the situation one has to know the history of the region. A history rife with past glories, tragic endings, and tension thick enough to be cut with a knife.

The Serbians in the northern enclave and the Albanians in the southern enclave are already talking of separation from one another. The Albanians want all of Kosovo given the majority in the region. Serbia as to would like to recover Kosovo. In the middle ages Kosovo was the cradle of Serbian civilization at the height of its glory. When the Ottomans invaded and won the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 and subsequently took over, it in effect wiped away the Serbian civilization until the independence was regained in 1878. Also there was the effect of unifying all the different cultures together and creating a future instability. After the Bosnian War and the 1999 Kosovo crisis, in which thousands of Albanians were driven out by the Serbs, there have been differentiating views on how to achieve a peace.

Now given that the Serbians dominate Northern Kosovo and the Albanians have control of the other 90 percent, it seems the best solution right now is to allow both territories to break away and go there different directions. In a world full of anguish, territorial disputes, and much conflict, succession seems like the most plausible goal into resolving disputes. In my consideration it is the natural way.

In a hypothetical situation, there is a community of 200 private property owners living conjointly and decide to form a collective will, so to speak. Now over a year some property owners would like to break away from the majority and live by there own rules and regulations. Now given there can be quite a bit of decisiveness and tension, in the end the secession of those individuals is permitting and should go through despite any other views. There is no mystical concept against secession of any sort, in the end it can solve some disputes, and maybe aggravate a few but it is the only way in the end to settle legitimate claims. If the people are forced together under the same banner despite differentiating opinions then it is a recipe for disaster. We can even look to America in the past when Lincoln mercilessly crushed all claims to secession in the Civil War. Now of course there is still a matter at hand of past ownership of certain territories as in the case with the Serbians feeling that Kosovo is essentially Serbian. Not saying that claim is invalid but in the present situation, given that many lines have been blurred through past Ottoman domination, the territory occupied predominantly by the Serbs should go to the Serbs and the rest should go to the Albanians. Whatever disputes albeit religious, ideological, or materialistic should be handled between the Serbs and the Albanians. Even though its not as clear cut a situation as it could be, it is the most fluid one at the moment. That goes for any other nationalist, secessionist, ideological, religious, or any other kind of territorial disputes.