DAVID HARTSOUGH
Director of the Peaceworkers organization from 1993 through 1998, Hartsough made several extended visits to Kosovo in recent years in support of nonviolent resistance and conflict-resolution efforts. Last March, he was detained by Serbian authorities, who jailed him and later expelled him from the country. “For more than eight years, the Kosovo Albanian majority struggled for their rights against Serbian repression in one of the largest efforts of sustained nonviolent action since Gandhi,” Hartsough said Tuesday. “This was the time for creative efforts at preventive diplomacy. Yet the United States and the rest of the world paid little notice. It was only last year that the desperate Kosovars finally threw their support to the shadowy KLA, and only then did the United States and its allies belatedly become involved.”

STEPHEN ZUNES
“Successful conflict resolution does not come from bringing take-it-or-leave-it solutions from the outside, backed up by threats of bombing,” said Dr. Zunes, an assistant professor of politics and chair of the Peace and Justice Studies Program at the University of San Francisco. “At most it may temporarily alleviate some of the worst manifestations of the oppression, but it will not sow the seeds of peace. Indeed, the roots of the oppression in Kosovo, as was the case in Bosnia, is radical Serbian nationalism — which will only be reinforced if that country is subjected to air strikes.”

TERESA CRAWFORD
Teresa Crawford is a university fellow in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She was arrested and expelled by Serbian authorities last March while engaged in conflict resolution efforts in Kosovo. “The focus should always be on the large numbers of nonviolent people of all ethnic groups on the ground who are the real victims,” Crawford said. “For there to be a just peace in Kosovo, there must be solidarity with all the people who share the ideals of peace, equity, nonviolence and demilitarization.”
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DENNIS J.D. SANDOLE
A professor at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, Dr. Sandole said Tuesday: “The problem with the international community’s reaction to Kosovo, as with Bosnia, is that its actions are governed by a `reactive paradigm’ where it waits for the house to catch on fire instead of dealing with the combustible causes beforehand — as would be called for by a `proactive paradigm.'”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: David Zupan, (541) 484-9167