Arben Fetoshi, Director of the “Octopus” Institute, has sharply criticized Petar Petković, the head of Serbia’s so-called Office for Kosovo. Fetoshi deconstructed Petković’s statements by drawing parallels to George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984.”
According to Fetoshi, even Orwell himself would have envied the phrase, “Kurti is endangering peace by building bridges,” for a new chapter in his masterpiece. However, Fetoshi wrote, Petković and his superiors in Belgrade do not learn from Orwell as a warning, but rather as a manual for manipulation.
Orwellian Doublespeak in Balkan Politics
Paraphrasing Big Brother’s slogans, Fetoshi deconstructed Petković’s reaction as “war is peace, construction is violence, and a bridge is a threat.” This, according to Fetoshi, warns of the re-emerging danger of hegemonic politics in the Balkans.
“Facing the Adriatic, as one rereads George Orwell’s 1984, one cannot truly rest, but rather crumbles from the grotesque absurdity when reading statements from the head of the so-called Office for Kosovo, Petar Petković, according to Big Brother’s slogan ‘war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength’,” Fetoshi wrote in his full post. “He and his superiors in Belgrade do not learn from Orwell as a warning, but as a manual for manipulation.”
Fetoshi further elaborated, “Thus, Petković’s and Serbia’s manipulative strategy against Kosovo can only be deconstructed as ‘war is peace, construction is violence, and a bridge is a threat,’ thereby warning of the renewed danger of hegemonic politics in the Balkans.“
This is why, Fetoshi concluded, “Petković sees bridges as bombs, while the integration of Serbs as Defeat. Because that is how his ‘Ministry of Truth’ has defined it with the ‘Serbian World’ project.”
Therefore, the Director of “Octopus” asserted, Envoy Sorensen should ask Petković to reread Orwell through the lens of the fundamental principles and values of the EU.
