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CORD WEEKLY (CANADA) " Wilfrid Laurier University's official student newspaper" Kosovo's independence wrongly attained Greg Sacks Mar 26, 2008 Patriotism is a fairly widespread, if not universal, aspect of the human condition. It is the source of a number of positive experiences for us, from cheering on the national team to uniting individuals who live hundreds of miles apart. Like most things, though, when taken to the extreme, patriotism can be dangerous. For example, particularly throughout the early twentieth century, the concept of nationalism was used to justify all manner of destruction. The instinct of a nation to want to control its own fate is a natural one, but we've learned the hard way that such impulses must be curbed. That's why, when the Canadian government decided last week to recognize Kosovo's secession from Serbia, I was a little perturbed. I understand exactly why the people of Kosovo want to be independent. They have suffered greatly at the hands of the government in Belgrade, particularly under the reign of Slobodan Milosevic. They have spent the last two decades watching other parts of Yugoslavia break away and become states in their own right. As I said before, the desire for self-determination is a natural one, and no one is blaming Kosovars for feeling this way. By the same token, Serbia's claim to the province is a fairly weak one. Kosovo already operates fairly independently, so the argument that it needs the support of a larger nation is not one that holds a great deal of water. The province's cultural significance - many Serbs think of it as the birthplace of their nation - gets more sympathy from me, but sentiment alone is a poor justification for political policies that will affect people's lives. So at first glance, one might assume that I'd be fine with Prime Minister Harper's decision. Instead, I find myself in the company of countries like China and Russia - not my usual bedfellows of opinion. The most obvious problem with Canada's position has to do with Quebec. Fortunately, the separatist movement there has pretty much Heath-Ledgered itself, but even if that wasn't the case, I question just how similar the two situations are. Quebec has not been subject to ethnic violence, and the differences between English and French Canada, while marked, do not run nearly as deep. The bigger problem that I have with recognizing Kosovo is that it genuinely is a breach of a very well-documented and respected section of international law. The right to unilateral secession - and for the record, by definition secession is always unilateral - is only afforded colonies and other seized territories. In other cases, negotiations must be held with the parent government and what takes place is not secession, but a devolution of power. One of the key purposes of international law is to protect nation-states' territorial integrity. Recognizing Kosovo is a clear violation of this principle and sets a precedent for countless other independence movements across the world. What's our plan if the Catalans and Basques in Spain, or the Kurds in Turkey get wise and declare themselves independent? Canada would find itself, along with anyone else who has recognized Kosovo, in a pretty tricky spot. I must admit that I'm also frustrated by the decision from a political standpoint. I'm not an enormous fan of Stephen Harper or the Conservatives, but neither am I their biggest detractor. It seems to me that Harper had a golden opportunity to debunk a common accusation and set himself apart from George W. Bush and the United States on a symbolically important issue that nevertheless has little actual bearing on the home front. Instead, Harper appears to have yielded to his inner convictions on this one, an annoyingly common feature of his tenure thus far. But I digress. Really, what is most important is that Canada maintain a foreign policy that is consistent and relevant to the realities of the global situation. The fact is that modern telecommunications technology has made the networking involved with an independence movement far simpler to achieve, and over the next century, we may see a rash of such organizations form. Canada and the rest of the world needs to remain strong on this point; until and unless we completely scrap the nation-state system, borders have to be respected and protected from threats both external and internal. A better alternative would have been to put pressure on Belgrade to enter into bilateral talks with Kosovo's government to arrange a mutually acceptable resolution. This would not only have been in line with the law, but would also have provided an example of measured diplomacy trumping the kind of bold, impulsive moves that can often lead to violence. At the end of the day, my problem is not with Kosovo being independent, but with its method for getting there. I really do wish them great success - I just hope that their decision hasn't put the rest of the world in a situation that will make maintaining order a tougher task than it already is. [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:letters%40cordweekly.com>
