A Voice For the Voiceless

MISSION

The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

Kosovo – The Birth and Rebirth of Civil Society

AP staffers visited Kosovo between 1999 and 2000 to produce this series of On the Record - The Birth and Rebirth of Civil Society in Kosovo.

For more of AP's coverage of post-conflict civil society in Kosovo, see the section below, Kosovo: Civil Society after the War.

Issue 1: Repression and Resistance
This first issue introduces the series and includes an excerpt from Peter's diary telling of his and Teresa's trip to the Mother Teresa women's clinic in a poor part of town, a clinic that is severely in need of improvements. Also in this issue are articles by Peter Lippman about the roots of repression in Kosovo and another about civil society organizations in the province.

Issue 2: Countdown to Disaster
This issue is about the Serbian attack on the region of Drenica, which triggered a year of displacement and war crimes.

Issue 3: Expulsion and Exile
In this issue Peter picks up the story of the groups he and Teresa met in Kosovo and profiles their efforts to survive the refugee exodus to neighboring countries. They provide an inspiring portrait of the spirit that is often generated by "humanitarian" crises, but rarely recognized by aid agencies.

Issue 4: Those Who Stayed
In this issue, activists recall how Serbian forces and paramilitaries launched their campaign of rape and murder and how those who remained in Kosovo struggled to respond to the humanitarian crisis.

Issue 5: Women Under the NATO Bombs
This issue shows that many active Serbian women identified closely with their Albanian friends in Kosovo and feared for their safety. It describes in detail some of the services provided for women by the Center's Fear Counseling Team to help Serbian women who were traumatized and shocked by the NATO bombing.

Issue 6: Picking up the Pieces
In this issue of the series, Peter looks at the struggle Kosovo's activists face as they try to adjust to a dramatic new political context while healing their own wounds.

Issue 7: Kosovo's Minorities Under Seige
Issue 7 concerns the plight of Kosovo's minorities (Serbs and Roma) who have undergone a bewildering transformation and are now themselves subject to severe repression.

Issue 8: The Internet and the Disintegration of Yugoslavia
This issue is about the use of the internet in the region and its role in the the disintegration of Yugoslavia, focusing specifically on how civil society used the internet to their advantage. Serbians responded to this trend by declaring an "electronic war" against Albanian websites, a subject treated in this issue.

Issue 9: Wiring Up Kosovo
Issue 9 deals with the role of the Internet during the war in Kosovo and NATO's bombing campaign over Serbia. Both sides used the Internet as an instrument of propaganda, as the several examples in this issue show. The most troubling are the expressions of hatred that were sent from Serbia and Russia to Alb-net.com, a website that serves as a clearing house for material on Albanians worldwide.

Issue 10: Online at Last!
In this issue, Teresa, Paul, and Akan tell the story of how they secured an Internet link in Kosovo. Not only does their story provide an unusual insight into the workings of a major peace building mission, it also holds plenty of lessons for the future.