Clooney & Hollywood for Kosovo in Serbia?

UPDATED: 22nd, 24th January, 3rd February

PLEASE READ: Someone got their facts wrong!

Well not just him, Sharon Stone too.

As heard on RTS and as reported by this Serbian blog, George Clooney and Sharon Stone intend to lead a protest "against the unilateral declaration of independence of Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija". Sharon Stone has lifelong friends who are Serbian-Americans, while George Clooney uses his fame promote certain causes.

In fact a few other celebrities have surprisingly voiced their opinions as written on the same Serbian blog, including Robert De Niro with fond memories of Serbia and Serbs, Tom Hanks who converted to Greek Orthodoxy (he has a Greek-American wife), and Sean Connery who is Scottish! (He supports Scottish independence.) But interestingly, Richard Gere, who campaigns for Tibet's independence from China and presumably thus inclined towards Kosovo's, will also join the protest since he became "extremely suspicions of the intentions of Western powers, due to their overwhelming pressure and stubborn insistence to sever the province from the rest of Serbia".

However, this is my opinion. On the one hand I'm delighted that so many famous people like Sharon Stone and Robert De Niro have such respect for my people. After all the terrible coverage on the news from the last decade, even the odd Hollywood movie that depicted Serbs in some way as negative protagonists, I do appreciate the appreciation such famous people have for my people. But on the other hand I'm worried about whether this could harm their reputations, as I fear that supporters of Kosovo independence could criticise these people too heavily, and even worse defame them for it.

For instance, Sean Connery wonders why his country Scotland, which he wants to secede from the United Kingdom, has less rights to independence than Kosovo:

“During its history, Scotland has had far more grounds to be granted independence, but it was not allowed to secede. What could possibly be the difference between my homeland and Kosovo, to create such a precedent now?!”

Well yes, Scotland used to be an actual independent country in the past, while in all of history there was never an Albanian Kosovo state. But one familiar with the recent history of the region will answer the first part of Sean's question, "What could possibly be the difference between my homeland and Kosovo…", with the fact that the Albanians of Kosovo, who as we all already know comprise the vast majority of that region's population, have experienced a lot of oppression under Slobodan Milošević since he revoked their province's autonomy within Serbia, which ended in an immense catastrophe in 1999. And sure, the Scottish people have been oppressed by the English Crown during the Middle Ages, and yes, there was the suppressed uprising led by Bonnie Prince Charlie in the 18th century. But this happened long before modern-day memory, and yet the actions of Serbian state forces against the Kosovo Albanians and the NATO bombing of Serbia waged in response to those actions didn't even happen ten years ago! Not yet NINE, but nearly!

Nevertheless, "…to create such a precedent now" as seen in Connery's question above merely proves the point that, even though not every separatist movement will receive international support let alone be successful in its aims, the Kosovo issue could easily be used by many separatist movements the world over, and neither Washington nor Brussels can stop that and arrogantly deny them the right to use the Kosovo issue to at least help their cause. Sure Kosovo is unique in its own way, but there are other similar movements around the world with similar experiences of oppression and/or disenfranchisement that have affected the peoples these movements represent and act on behalf of.

Therefore, I'm of the opinion that the Kosovo issue could set a precedent. As such, it may not always be applied to every similar situation around the world today. But nevertheless, it doesn't stop other separatist movements or even recognised states using the Kosovo issue, however that will be resolved, to strengthen their own causes/positions.

And so, I will end this post by saying that I do indeed appreciate the concern such famous people have for the Kosovo issue in terms of it not unilaterally spliting from Serbia. Nevertheless, I hope they will take into account the opinion of the pro-independence side, so as not to have their credibility heavily questioned or even harmed.

Read also:

There will be NO protest! Read Someone got their facts wrong!

My opinion on Kosovo