This is the ninth story in a series of ten stories about the 1990 Reconciliation of Blood Feuds Movement. The tellers are Raif Musa and Valdete Bajrami Musa, husband and wife, information technology professionals from Ferizaj, who were activists of the Movement.
There is a very interesting case in Godanc, the professor [Çetta] got right off the car with a pencil, and when he came to the rally, he said to them, “Until today,” he said, “Albanians killed each other, and they fought with the gun, but today we fight with a pencil, I’m going to leave this pencil to the school so that the village will keep it.” I do not even know if they still have that pencil, an interesting detail. […] And from here, in Greme, Imrane Abdullahu Hajra, she was president of the LDK Women’s Forum in Ferizaj, she attended the rally, it was normal as the structure was at that time, and she proposed that the Council at the Central Level be called Anton Çetta. Now, I made her proposal here in Godanc, I am already in front of the crowd, although the professor categorically refused, he did not agree with what happened. And Kokrruki caught me by the hand and said, told the crowd, “I support my brother’s proposal, and I am excited that the crowd said three times, ‘Yes,'” and the whole crowd said three times, “Yes,” you know, a large crowd, but the professor did not accept it. Now, when the first Assembly of the Reconciliation Councils was held, this was in the agenda as well, although the Peja students did not agree, they would not even agree that the professor take over, because they were convinced that the professor could completely take over, and that he could take over them, but really the professor was very modest, and was no decision.
And there, in the village of Osek Hylë, it was decided, we were not present but it was decided that the Council at the Central Level be called Anton Çetta, that is to say, it began to be called that way at the end. In May… in May 1992, the Assembly of Councils of Reconciliation was held at the Albanological Institute. It was decided to close, to end the reconciliations, 1530 bloods were reconciled until that time, and [it was decided] to issue a Kosovo—wide book, they put in charge of it someone with a graduate degree, Prof. Dr. Zymer Neziri, he was the editor. I also proposed, from our side, I did not have a graduate degree, I proposed Liman Rushiti to represent us as Ferizaj, you know, our region. And the book is out, it is a book though with many shortcomings, because many councils did not take minutes, some of us [did]. We, our council, did not have that problem, we have, you know, details, we are the only ones who first gave details and details, because we needed to keep notes, the professor told me, I was [told] many times in February 1990, “Where to go, how many members of the family where the blood was forgiven, how many members of the family where one forgave the blood.” And I always took those notes, now, when I handed them over, I handed over the right detail, there are many who did not even take notes, maybe they knew them, but if they did not write them down, they would have forgotten them now.
[…] Like this, in broad lines, I, my wife and I remember all the cases, we remember ninety percent of the cases in broad lines, I’m saying that it is normal to forget some detail. However, it is very interesting that more than twenty years ago I had an expedition with this {addresses his wife, who is present}, we went to some families who forgave blood and they welcomed us very well, like before…. That is, they welcomed us well, like in the ’90s, we had good conversations, they also expressed their wish to have us visit them more often. Although now they were surprised that I am not wanted anywhere, they thought that I am in a governing position, given that back then I had a very big position, and now they are convinced that, “He must be somewhere.” That doesn’t concern me, I was idealistic at the time, and I was enthusiastic to complete some job, I finished it and then I was oriented toward whatever I liked. I was sports-oriented, I was a sportsman and I continued with sports, and she [my wife] has continued with sports. In fact, even during that time, I was dedicated [to sports], but from ’92 and ’99 I’m into sports and not politics. Better!