Radenkovic: Closing the library is uncivilized, a solution must be found

The closure of the City Library in North Mitrovica is a major blow and a warning. A clear message has been sent that there is no place for us and our children here. It is sad and uncivilized, especially here in the heart of Europe, Nenad Radenkovic, academic sculptor and poet, tells Kosovo Online.

The premises of the "Vuk Karadzic" City Library in North Mitrovica were taken over by the Kosovo Privatization Agency at the end of May, and since then its doors have been sealed shut. Radenkovic says it is illogical, uncivilized, and in a way completely unnatural to suddenly deny so many readers, especially children, members of the library, the ability to borrow books.

He expresses concern that other Serbian libraries could face a similar fate.

“I didn’t expect something like this. I thought it would happen toward the end of some plan they are implementing. What is most dangerous for a people is this constant undermining of their foundations. I highlight the abolition of language, identity, the Cyrillic script, that’s what holds us together, because a people remains a people as long as it has its language. When it loses that foundation of identity, it simply becomes headless,” Radenkovic notes.

Given that he has the opportunity to travel through the southern part of Kosovo, he says he was touched when he saw Albanian children training with their coaches, while at the same time sports halls in North Mitrovica are locked.

“I can somehow accept everything else, but a blow to children, through the library, through sports, I simply cannot. A solution must be found because it’s not enough just to be alive. Everything that is considered cultural enrichment pertains to the culture of the Serbian people, literature, the reading public, creators, visual artists, and all kinds of musical talents… All of that is being attacked this way,” the artist warns.

He believes this is a problem that should be addressed through dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, but until a solution is reached at that level, some interim arrangement should be found.

“Those who go to the library regularly are not anyone’s enemies, so I don’t see any reason why an interim solution couldn’t be found, so that our librarians, along with their management, return to their jobs until such time as the dialogue yields concrete results,” Radenkovic says.