Violence, though, won’t help anyone

The big news in Kosovo this weekend is the referendum that Serbia will be holding over the weekend on its new constitution. The contentious part here in Pristina, of course, is the section in the proposed document that describes Kosovo as a Serbian province.

Technically speaking, even though the United Nations is running Kosovo – and has been since 1999 – the Kosovars, 90 percent of whom are ethnically Albanian, are eligible to vote in the election. At least that’s how the Serbs see it.

But few Albanian Kosovars are interested in casting a vote on what they see as purely a Serbian issue. The only vote they’re interested in casting is one that ensures their independence, which they hope to see by the end of the year .

In any event, KFOR – the NATO armed forces that are providing security around Kosovo – likely will be visible throughout the area. They’ll be especially present in those places (the northern city of Mitrovica and a few other isolated spots) where the estimated 100,000 Kosovo Serbs still live.

Their mission is to protect the Kosovar Serbs from the Kosovar Albanians every bit as much as to protect Kosovo as a whole from Serbia itself.

There might even be some demonstrations, both by the Albanians here in Kosovo and by the Serbs in Belgrade. Both sides consider that a lot is at stake. Identity as a people , for one. A link with the past, for another.