COMMENT

To the future!

We celebrated 9 May, the European Day. I wonder when we will become part of Europe. We are all longing for that day to come. However, it is not so easy. We have so much more to do to become part of it. We all need to work for the realization of that goal, starting from the government institutions to the civil society organizations.

A month ago I had a chance to go on a study visit to South Africa. It is a country with a long tradition and a rough history. The country was ruled by a number of colonizers. People remember the past, but they also want to forget it as soon as possible. What left an impression on me was the process of reconciliation that everyone had gone through, regardless of his or her race. The system which was installed at that time cannot be understood by any logic. After the apartheid in South Africa, the Commission for Justice and Reconciliation was founded. The people who took part in the tortures had to speak in public for all the cruelties they had been doing at the time of the apartheid.

They had to face their victims. The revenge after the disclosure of the guilt was very little. Today, they do not forget the past (with a few exceptions), but they all work for a better future of the country. I wonder if it is possible to apply the experience of the South African Republic in our country as far as the crises from 2001 is concerned. Would it succeed or would we hate each other even more?

May we have a Happy European Day! I hope that with great effort, we can become part of it soon.

Gramoz Shabani