Kosovo 2.0 Talks Migration

Join us Friday, September 26, at Sheshi 21, starting at 7 pm, to celebrate the imminent release of our Migration magazine issue.

Kosovo 2.0 presents an evening of discussions about what migration means to Kosovo and the wider world, as well as exploring the ways migration’s causes, effects and nature have changed during recent decades.

PROGRAM
Our five panelists all have work in the Migration issue. Each is an expert in their field and will deliver a presentation on migration as it relates to their field. The discussion will be moderated by Kosovo 2.0 editor-in-chief Besa Luci.

Enver Robelli, foreign policy editor at Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger
Robelli wrote the Migration issue’s cover story ‘A Second Home’, which looks at the ‘gastarbeiter’ phenomenon. Starting in the 1960s, in an arrangement everyone thought would be temporary, tens of thousands of Kosovar Albanian men flooded into Switzerland as temporary workers, or ‘gastarbeiter’. While few had planned to stay, many did.

Mikra Krasniqi, economic advisor to the Governor of Maryland
A Harvard-educated economist, Krasniqi contributed two stories to the Migration issue. One looks at the need for reform within Kosovo’s education system, the other about the so-called remittance economy. As recently as three years ago, Kosovo had Europe’s lowest university enrollment, at 16 percent. Meanwhile, between 400 and 550 million euros is sent home every year by Kosovars living overseas, accounting for 10% of Kosovo’s GDP in 2012. During the panel, he will be discussing both issues.

Besa Shahini, policy analyst at the European Stability Initiative
Shahini’s ‘Too Poor to Travel Freely’ looks at the bureaucratic hurdles Kosovars must jump over if they wish to travel overseas as well as the challenges faced by those that choose to forgo the paperwork and migrate without a visa. Shahini will draw upon her research to discuss visa liberalisation as part of the panel.

Enri Canaj, photographer
Canaj left Albania for Greece following the fall of communism. He went on to carve out a respectable career as a freelance photographer, with his photos appearing in Time Magazine, Newsweek and Le Monde Diplomatique. Canaj will discuss his personal journey in relation to his work, as well as the changing face of European migration since he made his exodus over 20 years ago.

Jodi Hilton, photographer
Hilton, an American-born Istanbul-based freelance photographer, investigated the plight of Syrian refugees in Bulgaria for her contribution to the Migration issue. During the panel she will discuss her experiences researching this piece, as well as other interactions she has had with the Syrian refugee community, including those still living in Syria.

*The event is open to the public.K