Rising Albanian Nationalism

1. Origins in the 1980s
   1. The rise of Albanian nationalism in the 1980s began with the 1981 protests in Kosovo, initially organized by Albanian student groups at the University of Pristina.
   2. What started as peaceful demonstrations for better food quality and living conditions quickly expanded into larger protests with political demands, including greater autonomy or republic status for Kosovo within Yugoslavia.
2. Broader Movement
   1. Students acted as the catalyst, but the movement spread to wider segments of the Albanian population.
   2. Many were frustrated by economic hardship and political marginalization under Serbian-dominated rule.
3. Yugoslav Crackdown
   1. The Yugoslav authorities responded with a severe crackdown, imposing martial law, deploying troops, and arresting hundreds of protesters.
   2. This repression fueled resentment among Albanians, strengthened nationalist movements, and deepened mistrust toward the Serbian-dominated government, setting the stage for future conflict.

1. From the mid-1980s, Serbian media fueled fears and resentment against Albanians in Kosovo by spreading myths and stories of Albanian aggression.
   1. This propaganda deepened ethnic divisions and justified Serbian nationalist claims to the province, despite many Serbs emigrating due to economic hardship.
2. Anti-Albanian propaganda disseminated myths of Albanian persecution of Serbs, often unverified or exaggerated.
   1. Stories of desecrated churches and attacks on Serbs were widely circulated.
   2. These narratives revived the Kosovo Polje myth (the 1389 Battle of Kosovo), framing Albanians as a threat to Serbian heritage and sovereignty.
3. Post-WWII, Kosovo’s ethnic composition shifted dramatically:
   1. Albanians grew to over 77% of the population by 1981, while Serbs declined to about 15%.
   2. This was due to high Albanian birth rates and Serb emigration caused by poor economic conditions.
   3. The demographic change stoked Serbian fears of losing the province.
4. Despite Serb emigration caused by high unemployment and poor living conditions, nationalist leaders claimed Serbs were being “ethnically cleansed” by Albanians.
   1. This narrative bolstered Slobodan Milošević’s rise to power and laid the groundwork for re-centralizing Serbian authority over Kosovo.
5. Following the 1981 protests, Albanians in Kosovo began building informal parallel institutions in education, healthcare, and civil society.
   1. These networks became the foundation for organized nonviolent resistance throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
   2. They also helped sustain a nationalist identity in the absence of state recognition.
6. Though Albania under Enver Hoxha remained isolated and Stalinist, it still served as an ideological and symbolic reference point.
   1. Many Kosovar Albanians looked to Albania as the “motherland,” drawing ideological and national inspiration from its rigid but ethnically unified state model.