Social Movements Between Demands for Social Change, Justice, and Nationalism (the 1960s)

Abstract

This chapter clearly shows the randomness of the students’ political demands that on the one hand followed the Belgrade example that should overthrow the “red bourgeoisie” and improve socialism, but on the other hand also voiced demands for a unification with Albania, more self-determination or simply a functional university routine. This chapter examines the situation in Kosovo in the sixties as a prelude to the 1968 demonstrations. What emerges clearly from this analysis is that while agents of the Republic of Albania did attempt to stimulate dissatisfaction, given the treatment of Albanians in Kosovo by SFRY—and especially SRS—authorities in the period leading up to 1968, stimulating dissatisfaction was like catching fish in a barrel. The chapter makes clear that Albanians were severely underrepresented in higher education in Kosovo in 1966–1967, and provides a detailed account of the events leading up to the demonstrations, of the demonstrations themselves, and the consequences.