As renewed Serb protests this week in Bosnia and elsewhere demonstrate, the storm unleashed by Kosovo’s Feb. 17 declaration of independence is far from abating. Rather, what recent events have shown is the start of a long and protracted struggle that, in the end, the West probably cannot win. Why? Because we’re not talking about a few hundred flag- and embassy-burning rioters as the media, the U.S. government and a chagrined Belgrade leadership speaking last week would have us believe.
Tensions are high, violence is flaring and bombs have exploded in the aftermath of Kosovo’s declaration of independence on Sunday. But as Kosovo leaders and NATO peacekeepers worry about the Serbs’ volatile short-term response to their historic province being stripped away, they are ignoring an even bigger security threat at stake in the region: what to do about the country’s 30,000 ex-KLA fighters, most of whom are jobless, poor, disillusioned—and armed to the teeth.
Islam and homosexuality are rarely addressed in the same film. So when Indian director made “A Jihad for Love,” a documentary about gay and lesbian Muslims, he wasn’t terribly surprised to find himself embroiled in controversy. The film, which includes interviews with Muslim homosexuals from 12 countries, features an appearance by a gay imam from South Africa, where the Muslim Judicial Council issued a religious decree forbidding Muslims to see it. But when it screens this week at the Berlin International Film Festival, “A Jihad for Love” will no doubt receive a much warmer reception. It promises, says Sharma, “to engage European audiences with Islam in ways they did not even think were possible.”
BERLIN—It’s one thing to be a filmmaker passionate about creating art. It’s another to move back into your childhood home, bring your 89-year-old mother with you to reenact scenes from 1963 and then meld that personal drama with “pithy gripes about how (your) city hasn’t taken care of its past, and has given little regard to its future.”
There’s a dark joke going around Serbia these days: “Russia finished the cold war with America – so Serbia is carrying on with it.” Given the hostile stance of the two former superpowers over Kosovo, the assessment may be close to the mark. This week Washington heads to the United Nations Security Council’s debate on Kosovo, with most of Europe alongside it, pressing for independence. But Serbia’s Parliament has overwhelmingly rejected any future EU-imposed mission in Kosovo, and stands with the support of Russia and a growing list of countries including China, Indonesia and South Africa in its refusal to part with the region – even, according to Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, if it means shelving EU membership talks.
Gerhard Buck’s earliest memory occurred when he was two years old and his parents took him to see the town synagogue burning. He can still recall the leaping flames and the “certain idea of destruction” that Kristallnacht imprinted on his mind. Adding to the trauma is Buck’s life-long doubt as to whether his own mother, when the Nazis came to her door asking for help, provided matches used to set fire to the building.