Our governments are failing the young
Student movements amid the traps of nationalism.
That the students in Serbia have chosen to take a strong stance on Kosovo, a stance instrumentalized by Slobodan Milošević, should make us pause for a moment.
Language rights for Albanian speakers in North Macedonia are not a new battleground; they are a wound that successive governments have found more convenient to manage than to heal.
The students in Serbia and the students in North Macedonia are not mirror images of one another. One movement is defending nationalist claims; the other defends a constitutional right.
Lura Pollozhani
Lura Pollozhani is a researcher at the University of Graz, researching social movements in the Western Balkans as well as EU enlargement. Her other research interests include generation Z, radicalization, citizenship practices in divided societies and democratization. She completed her PhD in Law and Politics at the University of Graz, while she was awarded an MSc in European Studies: Ideas and Identities at the LSE.
DISCLAIMERThe views of the writer do not necessarily reflect the views of Kosovo 2.0.
This story was originally written in English.