Kosovo Independence
Last Sunday Kosovo declared independence. While walking through Beacon Hill Park I cold hear a whole orchestra of car horns, mixed in with raucous hoots and hollers. When I went to investigate I discovered Victoria's Ethnic Albanian community was out in full force celebrating Kosovo Indpendence. It was like witnessing a piece of history from afar.
I saw the troupe twice. Once while they were parading through the city streets and then later down along the ocean. In the parade the cars were decked out in flags from both their old country as well as their new country of Canada.
Unfortunately, my pictures don't really do the celebrations justice. It was a lot of fun to witness. They had ethnic music blaring from a stereo and many of them were performing dances that they all seemed to know. There were young girls decked out in traditional dress and the youngest of the children all had small flags, like they give out on Canada Day from both countries.
Good luck Kosovo and to those that have moved here to Canada a much belated welcome. Hope you enjoy your new home.
5 comments:
Cool :]
How neat that you were able to witness those celebrations. It's a shame though that the celebrations in Kosovo itself aren't as joyous and peaceful as the one you saw. I guess this makes me very glad to be in Canada.
While I'm glad for the Albanian-Kosovans, I'm nervous; the Serbs are not happy. They consider Kosovo a historical Serbian land. An anology would be how Americans feel about Boston. I'm hoping that their eagerness to reconcile with the West will make the anger pass.
The Serbs unnerve me too. They don't need another bloody conflict.
Has Canada made a decision on whether it supports Kosovo?
Dogga, it was rather cool to see.
Barbara, oh I agree with you there. I rather suspect the people I saw celebrating feel the same way. I have found it fascinating to read the different newspapers and the different reactions to their declaration of Independence.
Johnny Yen, I think a lot of people are nervous and unsure of what exactly this means or what will happen next. Canada aside there is a great polarization between the opinions of East and West.
Gift Typist so far they are still holding firm but definitely under pressure to recognize Kosovo's Independence.
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