Why We Need KLA today

In recent years, Kosovo is facing a silent but deep trust crisis that is being manifested through the massive departure of its citizens. This phenomenon is no longer just an indication of the lack of economic opportunities, but a symptom of a broader ideological and spiritual failure that is rocking the moral foundation of the state. The data is clear and dramatic. During 2023 alone, 45568 Kosovo citizens received first permission to stay in a European Union country. So, they said they've received the EU residence a whole medium-sized municipality of the size of Rahovec, Malisheva or Suhareka. It must be understood that this figure does not include those Kosovo citizens who may have received permission to stay in Switzerland, Great Britain, USA and other countries that are not part of the EU. And from declaring independence in 2008 to 2023, 5155 citizens have officially renounced Kosovo's citizenship. And to make the balance even more dramatic, 251 members of the Kosovo Security Force have resigned voluntarily within two years, turning their backs not just on a job contract, but on an ideal of Kosovo protection for which they were once listed and sworn oaths. These are not just figures, these are signals that for a large part of the population, the state is no longer functioning as a social project.

In this serious climate of uncertainty about the future, mass depopulation and crisis of confidence, one of Kosovo's largest ethical and political dramas has been normalized: keeping Kosovo Liberation Army leaders in custody for almost five years, in a procrastinated, suspicious and over-filled trial. Such a drama in any society with a healthy conscience would have sparked sensitivity and collective revolt, while in Kosovo it is going quietly, as if it were nothing. Attempts to relativize war, to equate the victim with the aggressor, are more powerful today than ever before in international opinion, and the memory of the KLA is our counternarrative to face this silent propagandistic offensive against our state. In this regard, The KLA is not only a glory, but a shield. It protects us from efforts to rewrite history with the pencil of political opportunism at a time when even war crimes are being forgotten, and when Serbia is also rehabilitated as a factor of regional “48x1>. In this collective pessimism maybe memory for The KLA seems more distant than ever, but for that very reason, it is even more necessary than ever before.

Not as an armed formation for new liberation wars, but as a collective spirit, as a pillar of our historical consciousness, and as an example of what this people have accomplished when united beyond fear, despair, and division. At this dangerous crossroads of conscience where Kosovo is entering, we need to recall U n The CK is not for homesickness and to remain hostage to the past, but to protect values that made freedom possible. At a time when challenges are more sophisticated than ever, only her legacy helps us not to forget who we are, what we fought for, and what we should not lose. In this respect, The KLA should not only be seen as a glorious historical chapter, but as a guide to the future, as a kind of moral compass and the source of inspiration to advance without forgetting where we came from. So today, perhaps more than ever, we need The KLA to build a future with courage, dignity and self-confidence and what is most important to restore the ideal to the center of public life. First, in a society where everything is being relatable and depreciated, both patriotism and morality and history and responsibility, memory of The KLA is the best antidote to this general cynicism. The KLA is living proof that even the weakest, under almost impossible conditions, can change the course of history with courage, faith and idealism. This is an inheritance that is worthy of a map for today's haunted generations that seek the way between institutional chaos, ideal emptiness, and dominant show culture. Today, young people view hope as passive, like lottery, a fate that can either happen or not. But the KLA was hope in action, it was the collective effort to reject reality as luck. Instead of abstract hope, it offered the act of determination - to fight, to organize, not to give up.

As such, it may be useful as the Stoicism school for those young people who immigration see as the only way out for any difficulty in everyday life in Kosovo. After all, the KLA was made up, not of superheroes or elites, but of teachers, villagers, students, etc. It was a remarkable historical event made by ordinary people in extremely challenging circumstances. This is the message for new generations: history does not expect permission, does not happen only in capitals, nor is it exclusive property of party leaders. Furthermore, the spirit of the KLA reminds us that freedom was not a gift but a sacrifice. Therefore, the freedom of independence we enjoy today must be administered with responsibility and dedication, not being exploited for personal gain. The KLA was an ideal, not privilege project, and at this time when many politicians follow narrow interests of daily politics, The NLA remains evidence that sacrifices and ideals are stronger than any power calculations. Also, at this time when political rhetoric has become a weapon of division, and when the opponent is treated as an outright enemy rather than a rival in thought, it is noteworthy that the liberation struggle represented the opposite of that spirit. The war was the most negligible act of our contemporary history that brought Albanians across their beliefs, affiliations and differences, and that spirit of unity and co-operation we need even today. From Tropoja to Drenica, from Presevo to Tetovo, from Malta to our diaspora in New York or the cities of Switzerland, The KLA was the only co-ordinator in a nation torn apart in five states. Or as Kadareja “Ra said, this mort was seen” and all Albanians were united at a tragic moment in their history. Unfortunately, many of the real benefits stemming from the memory of the liberation war are being shared in identity, inspiration for sacrifice, self-confidence in the face of challenges and moral legitimacy of citizenship are not being properly exploited today. One of the fundamental reasons is the unbroken but present complex, which has a large part of society towards the fact that it did not participate in the KLA, or that at that time stood at a distance, waiting, in fear, or on the run.

This complex has made it more difficult to accept the historical role of the KLA as a national joint, because acceptance of an event's value with the need to identify itself personally with it is often confused. But this is an unnecessary emotional and political trap that Western democracies have long exceeded, acknowledging that the memory of resistance is everyone's property, not just those who carried weapons. In all countries of democratic Europe, national memory has been built, not on the number of those who fought, but on the moral justice of those who resisted. Unfortunately, in the vast majority of countries occupied during World War II, resistance was by far less than the size of colborationists. So for example, the post-war story in France has been marked by a history of history, curriculum, cinematography, and public legalization that cloned French resistance, even though it was numerically negligible in comparison with the massification of population cooperation with the Vichy regime. At best, about 200 thousand people, or about 0.5% of the population of time, were involved in the activities of Resistance, which mainly played a key role in providing information for Anglo-American allies and sabotaged Nazi background.

In Norway, the collateralist regime of Vidk Quisling, installed after the German occupation in 1940, became a symbol of zeal to serve the interests of the conqueror at the expense of his people. Although co-operation with the Nazis was widespread, Norway chose to build a national awareness of the acts of civil and armed resistance from sabotages on German supply lines to hiding refugees and organising secret resistance cells. Resistance, although an almost invisible minority, has been perpetuated as the moral basis on which national identity was built. In the Netherlands, statistics are just as significant: there were about 100,000 registered associates with the Nazi conqueror (mainly the NSB), while active resistance involved fewer than 20 thousand people. However, national historical horrors focused on the courage of those who sheltered the Jews, organized sabotages, and denounced Nazi crimes. Figures like Anna Frank, along with the stories of survivors, have become part of Dutch museums, education and identity symbols, while colborationists have been excluded from official memory as embarrassing figures. The same is true of Greece, where generations that were not part of ELAS or EDES today are proud of that historic resistance.

Greek resistance was not easy and not always united politically, but in collective memory, those who fought for liberation are honored as heroes and resistance are turned to national identity, mentioned in schools, state holidays and public legalisation. Meanwhile, collaborators who participated in the doll governments imposed by the Nazis faced justice and were excluded from official memory as derogatory figures. Examples from postwar Europe show that national identity is built, not on the number of those who kept silent or collaborated, but on the dignity of those who dared to oppose tyranny. Their honor for freedom fighters has come only from fellow fighters or family members, but from all society, they had taken part in war but realized that history has a right and a shameful side. In all these places, the division between those who did not bow down and those who cooperated is not left in the mist. It is a firm, clear, and educational division - honor belongs to those who defended freedom rather than to those who sold it for temporary privileges. Even when the resistance was less numbery, it was greater morally. That is why no European democratic country has ever built its national identity on conglomerates or promotes inactivity. Even for Kosovo, the KLA legacy is not just the historical chapter, but the moral basis which legitimises it as a state derived from sacrifice and not from compromises. This is the European model that Kosovo should follow.

To overcome the complex of nonparticipation in the liberation war, neither justification nor personal justification is needed but merely honesty and historical understanding: recognition that war was the right and necessary action under the circumstances of time and that today it is a common duty to preserve and transmit it as an inheritance that unites us (no matter what role anyone had then). Memory is not to divide society into “ta” and “ne”, but to build a “ne” wider and more stable as a nation. Only thus does the historical truth become a common foundation of identity and unity rather than a psychological burden used to justify past divisions or daily policy clashes. To survive as a national and state project, Kosovo needs a generation that does not migrate away from challenges, but turns to value what is being neglected, memory, responsibility and ideal of the KLA, which once inspired a whole people to stand up and win the hearts of the entire democratic world.