Is this the beginning of the end?
I’ve been on a week long reporting trip with BBC radio for a documentary coming out at the end of April on the Kosovo Serb community and north Kosovo.
We spoke to many beginning with PM Kurti and ending with many voices from the community both in the north and the south. We also tried to cover many places and people not widely covered like the award winning Lakičević winery - one of the best winemakers in the region - to the Trepça mines and the Mitrovica School of Rock.
Many themes arose but probably the one many don’t focus on at all is how much the discourse online - especially with foreign politicians and others who really don’t know the situation on the ground - helps spread conspiracy theories and misinformation.
But also how few people know about life in the north. Mitrovica north is a town that’s going trough a hard patch but it is still in many ways a nice tight knit community where kids can go out late and play in the streets.
It’s not a ghetto and the police have backed off quite a bit. But there is an air of disappointment as many people are leaving and businesses closing.
Meanwhile in Mitrovica south businesses are also closing. On both sides prices are rising but wages aren’t. When visiting the mines the workers said they were still waiting for back wages.
Both communities suffer from the same economic doldrums exacerbated by so many people deciding to leave Kosovo but politicians seem unable to address this and other fundamental issues on education and healthcare reform; particularly for Kosovo Albanians who may support Kurti’s actions in the north but complaints are rising about the lack of or poor quality of services in Kosovo. And many are voting with their feet.
More on this trip later.