The
"Kosovo Republic" was far from advocating ethnic cleansing or even
outright independence (there were powerful voices in favour of a
federal solution within Yugoslavia) - but not far from re-inventing
an inverted version of apartheid.
It faced the ubiquitous problem of all the other republics of former
Yugoslavia - not one of them was ethnically "pure". To achieve a
tolerable level of homogeneity, they had to resort to force. Rugova
advocated the measured application of the insidious powers of
discrimination and segregation. But, once the theme was set,
variations were bound to arise.
Though dominant for some years, Rugova and the LDK did not
monopolize the Kosovar political landscape. Following a poll in
1998, boycotted by all other political parties, which resulted in
the re-election of Rugova as president - the disenchanted and
disillusioned had plenty of choice. Some joined the KLA, many more
joined Rexhep Qosaj's (Qosje) United Democratic Movement (LBD). The
political scene in Kosovo in the 1980s and early 1990s was vibrant
and kaleidoscopic. Adem Demaci - the Marxist ideologue of the KLA, a
long time political prisoner and the founder of the "revolutionary
Movement for the Merger of Albanians" in 1964 - established the
Parliamentary Party of Kosovo (PPK) before he handed it over to
Bajram Kosumi, a dissident and another venerable political prisoner.
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