Chocolate: President's conference, scandalous, has been creating ground for violence

Civil society member Eugen Cakoli has considered “scandalous” President Vjosa Osmani's media conference on Thursday, in which she accused reporters of links to Milan Radojici, Banjska's chief terrorist.

Chocolate criticised Osman for using an irresponsible language against journalists, which creates grounds for violence.

In this context, he drew a parallel to the highly polarised climate of American society, where on Wednesday he was killed in an assassination of a public figure, conservative activist, Charlie Kirk. He said the same climate is being developed in Kosovo.

In America yesterday, a public figure was killed as a result of a political climate where hatred, division and demonization of critics or opponents are normal. This is the result when anyone who thinks otherwise is lynching as an enemy, and when the label of “trander” becomes part of the political editorship. One day, someone even mentally unstable takes the charges seriously and moves from the word to violence”, Calcoli said.

Kosovo has not yet reached the point of fatal violence like the United States. But it is undeniable that we are going in the wrong direction, because we are building a political environment based on the same logic. And it contributed to this logic today, nothing less than the country's own president, who at a scandalous conference with completely irresponsible language accused reporters of having links to Milan Radoichi and coup plans”, Calcoli said in a writing on social networks.

He said that if there is no evidence and if institutions do not act, this “is not a defence of the state nor a fight against crime, but is a direct attack on critical voices and the very foundations of democracy”.

According to Calcol, if we want a democratic country, then we have to break the binary logic of “patioties” against “-tradants”.

Because patriotism is not to demonize an opponent, much less a critic. Patriotism is to accept criticism, face arguments (if you have) and try to soften the frustrated disk”, he said.