Adem Demaci - the "armed prophet" of the Albanian national movement in Kosovo (4)

Writing for Kosovo Online: Dragan Bisenic, journalist

Dismissing "Uncle Adem" and his response

Demaci's organization was the first separatist organization in Kosovo, which, besides its programmatic orientation toward the use of violence and rebellion, gave a primary role to young Albanian intellectuals in its documents. All organizations and groups that emerged later, despite differences in organizational forms such as "cells", "triads," "tens", "committees", "strike groups", and "activists", as well as certain nuances of programmatic orientations, more or less based their platform on this Demaci organization.

Due to his stance at the first trial in 1959, during which he declared that he did not feel guilty for his work and that "Kosovo would someday be annexed to Albania", Demaci became an idol of Albanian nationalists and separatists at home and abroad and was declared a "national hero". His photos were distributed both within the country and among the Albanian diaspora and our citizens working temporarily in the West.

The leaders of the student demonstrations in Pristina in 1968, as well as the organizers of separatist actions at the University in 1974 in Pristina, were secretly connected with Demaci. His name served as a pass to Tirana. New collaborators of Demaci in Pristina were Kadri Osmani, Adem Rukiqi, and Skender Kastrati. They were all arrested in early September 1975. They were tried for hostile organization aimed at undermining the SFRY. Demaci was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for the third time.

In the program of the "National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo" regarding Adem Demaci, among other things, it is stated: "It is enough to remind us of the example of our great revolutionary Adem Demaci, who spent his whole life in Yugoslav concentration camps, suffering like a true Prometheus, never faltering, to see the strength that relying on the Party for Albania gives to the proletarian".

While in prison, Demaci did not cease to act. He was in contact with and directed the activities and behavior of a number of convicted organizers of the 1968 demonstrations and members of his organization from 1964. For those who were released, he advised them to continue their actions "so that continuity in the work would not be lost".

According to the intended concept, the organization was supposed to operate on a territorial basis, with the primary form of organization being the "triads" system. Their main task was to "penetrate all social structures to mobilize the 'movement' and politically elevate the masses based on 'Marxism-Leninism' from the perspective of the Labor Party of Albania. This was to successfully facilitate a general uprising in the country in a certain "crisis" situation, resulting in the secession of Kosovo and its unification with Albania.

Demaci was not just an ideologue and leader but also a highly effective example that others followed because they believed that a way had been found for the Albanian movement to counter the Serbian authorities. Such an Adem Demaci became an idol to the new Albanian separatists who formed around a hundred secret Marxist-Leninist groups and organizations throughout Kosovo. Many of them used political violence as the basis of their actions, as was evident during the unrest in the 1980s.

He also had followers in Macedonia. The first "Communist Marxist-Leninist Organization" in the SFRY was formed in 1976 in Kumanovo. The organization had around 20 members, mostly intellectuals in education from the regions of Macedonia and Kosovo. Each member took an oath of loyalty to the organization upon joining. During their meetings, the Albanian socio-political system was glorified. They also procured written propaganda materials from Albania.

Regarding Demaci, former Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia, Radmilo Bogdanovic, once said: "The most dangerous nationalist in Kosovo is Adem Demaci. He has been fighting for a free Albanian Kosovo for 50 years, which is why he spent 27 years in prison. He is persistent, and that should be respected. Ibrahim Rugova is not as dangerous because, like Azem Vllasi, he advocates the idea of an autonomous Kosovo, leaning on Yugoslavia, so that the Albanians can control our territory, our government, and our money".

Through Professor Mihajlo Mihajlov, whom he met in prison, Adem Demaci managed to gain the sympathies of Western media and politicians for his fate as a nationalist and dissident. In this way, he was the first to internationalize his activities and the Albanian issue in Yugoslavia through Radio Free Europe. As a dissident and nationalist, Demaci was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Norway. However, he himself claimed that Europe was not sincere towards Albanians: "Europe expects Albanians to do as much as they can for themselves and to expect as little as possible from Europe because our problem is not the only one before it. Europe has always supported us and will continue to support us, but that does not mean it will do everything for us and without us".

On April 2, 1990, the Republic Secretariat for Justice of Croatia, following the decision of the Presidency of the SFRY, pardoned and released Demaci from the Slavonska Pozega prison. After his release, Demaci did not take over the leadership of the Albanian nationalist movement, which would prove to be a significant mistake as he would no longer have the opportunity to correct it and generate enough support. There was no doubt that Demaci was the greatest inspiration. Instead, he accepted the position of the President of the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms.

At the time, he believed that the new Albanian parties were strong enough to independently engage in the political battle with Serbia and Yugoslavia. He did not want to create disunity within the Albanian nationalist movement by being present until he saw where he belonged.

As a supporter of a radical approach in relations with Serbia and the Serbs, he gained more and more supporters in Kosovo and Metohija, and the leadership of Albania increasingly openly took his side. He and Bujar Bukoshi then directly blamed Dr. Ibrahim Rugova for monopolizing national politics.

"It is quite clear that our organization was entirely inadequate for the new circumstances our people found themselves in. The political parties had engaged in a struggle for power that no longer effectively existed. I managed to meet with Dr. Ibrahim Rugova in his office at the Albanological Institute. I told him everything that, in my opinion, should be done to direct this organization more seriously and how our people, a numerical force, could transform into a respected political force. My attempt was in vain. The Democratic League was becoming increasingly like a democratic party, fighting for non-existent power. The results of our previous politics were catastrophic in relation to the endangerment of our national identity," Demaci said at the time.

His first political motto was: "Neither war nor capitulation!"

He went to Tirana for talks with Albanian officials and met with Serbian leaders in Belgrade. He tried to act as a mediator and reach his goals through negotiation and peaceful means. However, when he realized in 1993 that he was being written off in Pristina as a communist-nationalist and that people he personally had no respect for were establishing themselves as political factors, he decided to go on a hunger strike. But his act was boycotted by the Albanian media. Only the Parliamentary Party supported him. It was then that he realized that the new Albanian political forces had categorized him as an "old communist" and left him to become a living legend of the Albanian movement.

Aware of his legendary role in the Albanian movement, Demaci described his fate with the words: "I am like a candle, slowly melting, but lighting the way for others".

However, he did not want to accept this kind of defeat. He joined the Parliamentary Party and embarked on a political offensive. He transformed into the biggest critic of the mistakes and deviations within the Albanian movement as he saw them.

In his attack on Ibrahim Rugova and the Democratic League of Kosovo, Demaci found evidence for his thesis that the leaders of the Albanian movement were not concerned about the people but rather their own careers. He cited the senselessness of adopting the Constitutional Declaration on June 2, 1990, the adoption of the Kacanik Constitution on September 7, 1990, and the formation of the illegal Assembly and Government of Kosovo on May 24, 1992. All the creators of these institutions for the non-existent "independent Kosovo", Demaci claimed, fled abroad and betrayed the Albanians.

His attack did not go unanswered. New leaders responded to Demaci through their media with derisive and condescending claims: "Uncle Adem is our symbol of resistance, a good man, but his time in politics has passed"; "Adem Demaci is a Marxist-Leninist"; "Adem Demaci is a Stalinist"; "Adem Demaci is an Enverist"; "Adem Demaci is pro-Serb because he calls Serbs our brothers"; "He wants to destroy our parties with his criticism, especially the Democratic League of Kosovo"; "Adem Demaci wants to bring down Ibrahim Rugova to take his place because he's an opportunist"; "He wants to establish his cult"; "He wants to become a dictator"; "He is an adventurer"; "Demaci wants war!"

It is true that in January 1991, in the pages of the weekly "Zeri," he used arguments to try to prove that Albanians, in the state they found themselves in, do not have sufficient means for war but have all the means for political struggle, and therefore an alliance with Albania is necessary.

"I believe that Albania has the right to be concerned about the Kosovo issue because it directly concerns Albania. The creation of an independent Kosovo could kick-start the resolution of this issue that is at a standstill," Demaci argued.

After visiting Tirana and talking with President Sali Berisha, he started publicly discussing the need for using insurgent and revolutionary methods, as early as June 1991.

He proposed to Rugova and Bujar Bukoshi that they mobilize Albanian youth onto the streets of Pristina and, with unarmed hands, seize the RTV Pristina building.

"By occupying the streets and thoroughfares and staying there for days, even weeks if necessary, and not dispersing as soon as the police forces arrive. In the same way, later, we could liberate our factories and workshops, hospitals, and cultural institutions. And for all of this, we would always have the world's support. Even if 10,000 or perhaps 20,000 Albanians die, we should keep shedding our blood until we regain Radio and Television, schools and the University, factories and workshops, hospitals and institutions, with our blood. As long as we don't shed our blood once again for these, Serbia will not give up its hellish goal of Serbianizing Kosovo, and the world will not take our cause seriously or intervene to stop this wild Serbian project," Demaci argued.

When his ideas were not accepted, Demaci went on a hunger strike three more times. Even though he did not achieve success in political battles, the influence of Adem Demaci was decisive in the formation of new nationalist but armed forces of Albanian nationalists in the mid-1990s in Kosovo and Metohija. Together with the "Organization of Marxists-Leninists of Kosovo" and other leftist organizations, they established the "People's Movement of Kosovo", which acted as the organizational and political core of the Liberation Army. Many "Demaci followers" were involved, Albanians who believed in an independent Kosovo, guided by his ideas.

"The so-called Kosovo Liberation Army was mostly formed in Yugoslav prisons, and its creator was the former political prisoner Jakup Krasniqi, who was sentenced in 1981 for associating with hostile activities and subversive demonstrations. He became the spokesperson for the KLA in 1998. It's remembered that on April 1st and 2nd, 1981, during the demonstrations, he shouted, among other things, 'Long live Adem Demaci!' which speaks volumes about the KLA," journalist Milivoje Mihajlovic, the former head of the Media Center in Pristina claimed.

Next: The creator and president of the imaginary "Balkania"