Quit the image crisis

Since 2014, Kosovo experienced dramatic moments in its politics. There were many kukams, insults, hateful languages and violence. We were in a political crisis, it said. Six years later, however, we know that the truth was different - all that molten poison had its source in our political system. The political system was in a certain crisis and required re-legigration. The invaders at that time displayed much pain and civil discontent too much.

But the crisis seemed beyond recovery because it was never conceived as it was: simply and only as an image crisis. Once the image was changed, the crisis would be overcome.

“The crisis will be exceeded only in the event of the coming of the ruling Vetevendosje. Only this party would give the pleasant image, and it would serve more faithfully the system...” I wrote in 2017.

And, of course, Vetevendosje has gained power by promising complete loyalty to the system. There would be no tolerance for any exit from the system, any corruption. Vetevendosje did not come to power because of its earlier political stances, which violated it one by one, or because of its governing programme, but it came because its leader did not come from the lower class of society, from poor villagers. Moreover, this leader was also a good speaker and could justify any violation of his stand. And that was a politician's main and most important element of preserving image.

The centre had to be cleared of former poor villagers who did not even read-write well, who were highly undemocratic in government, and who seemed to be on the ground to corruption. The square would bear less and less the victims of the system, the marginals, the poor, the ignorant and the rulers.

For the day of the flag, Kurt refused to give our citizens the Ashkali a government-appointed fund for the holiday because they had not respected bureaucratic procedures. Imagine, from an activist who ignored the bureaucratics, he became a hardened bureaucratic. No public spending should occur without full respect for procedures.

Kurti managed to give a tremendous boost to the ruined legitimacy of our political system. The victims of the system, the poor, the ignorant and the rulers would already have a more convincing reason for their plight by the prime minister's public speaking. Of course, the pace of economic growth will not increase, just Kurt's promise to increase his budget during the term was less than the actual growth of any of the previous governments, and it will not improve prosperity. Kurt isn't and won't be an ally of the poor class because this layer is uneducated, unqualified for work, rationally demanding working out of procedures, that is, logically corrupt. Nor will he be an ally of small and medium-sized businesses in any way, because such an alliance would immediately distort his image.

And after all, the thing is how to keep that image.

The change of all Kurt's political stances in foreign policy best testifies to that. Currently, it is not Kurti who is refusing to sit at the negotiating table with Serbia, but it is Serbia who is refusing to sit at the negotiating table with Kosovo. And, Serbia is not falling because of its 2 per cent of exports, while Kurt is sitting down even though his earlier positions were also killed, even though political causes are worth millions of times the 2 per cent of Serbian exports.

But none of this will harm Kurt. His power will be too long, while because of political legitimacy, the irony is that he will sign the final agreement with Serbia and legitimise it.

But this will not matter for the welfare of the citizens of the country. And this will continue until we get out of this snobish image race in politics. /Periscope