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Xenophobia

Albanophobia or anti-albanianism is the belief that Albanian immigrants and Albanian people are criminal and degenerate^[1]. It is more widely present in countries having large Albanian ethnic minorities like the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, and in countries with large numbers of Albanian immigrants like Greece^[2] and Italy^[3].

A similar term used with the same denotation is anti-albanianism^[4] used in many sources similarly with albanophobia, although its similarities and/or differences are not defined.

[edit] Origins and forms

Albanophobia as a term was coined by Anna Triandafyllidou on a report analysis called Racism and Cultural Diverstiy In the Mass Media published in 2002^[1]. The report by Triandafyllidou represented Albanian migrants in Greece^[5] and was followed by other researchers like Karyotis in Greece and Mai in Italy. The form Albano-phobia (dashed) is used on some references (including Traindafullidou), apparently with the same meaning.

Albanian stereotypes that formed amid the creation of an independent Albanian country and stereotypes that formed during 80s, 90s massive immigrations from Albania and Kosovo, though may differ, are still both considered Albanophobic and anti-Albanian by many authors such as Triandafyllidou, Banac, Karyotis.

Albanophobia signifies a wider range of concepts that could be roughly grouped in two main categories:

• Albanophobia as xenophobic - referring to stereotypes in countries with a considerable number of Albanian immigrants like Greece, Turkey, Italy, Switzerland and France.
• Albanophobia as nationalistic - referring to stereotypes in countries with active disputes with Albanian ethnicity in the region, most commonly ex-Yugoslav countries (Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro). The second is more likely to be associated with the term anti-albanianism.

[edit] Serbia

The origins of anti-Albanian propaganda in Serbia started by the end of 1800s and the reason for this was the claims made by Serbian state on territories that were about to be controlled by Albanians after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire^[6]. On the eve of the First Balkan War 1912, Serbian media have implemented a strong anti-Albanian campaign.^[7]

During the end of 1980s and in the beginning of 1990s, in some occasions activities undertaken by Serbian officials in Kosovo have been marked as albanophobic^[8]. The Serbian media during Milošević's era was known to espouse Serb nationalism while promoting xenophobia toward the other ethnicities in Yugoslavia. Ethnic Albanians were commonly characterised in the media as anti-Yugoslav counter-revolutionaries, rapists, and a threat to the Serb nation.^[9] During the Kosovo War, Serbian forces continually discriminating Kosovo Albanians:

Throughout Kosovo, the forces of the FRY and Serbia have harassed, humiliated, and degraded Kosovo Albanian civilians through physical and verbal abuse. Policemen, soldiers, and military officers have persistently subjected Kosovo Albanians to insults, racial slurs, degrading acts, beatings, and other forms of physical mistreatment based on their racial, religious, and political identification.^[10]

– War Crimes Indictment against Milosevic and others

[edit] Greece

The Albanian stereotype as criminal and degenerate in Greece has been subject of study by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia.^[11][12]. It is considered that prejudices and mistreatment of Albanians to be still present in Greece.^[11] According to a statement of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, the Albanians are the more likely ethnic group in Greece to be killed by Greek law enforcement officials (28 May 2002, 153).^[11] In addition, the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) singles out ethnic Albanians as principle targets of racism. Furthermore, the EUMC found that undocumented Albanian migrants "experience serious discrimination in employment, particularly with respect to the payment of wages and social security contributions" ^[11][11][12].

Prejudicial representations of Albanians and Albanian criminality (see Albanian mafia) by the Greek media is largely responsible for the social construction of negative stereotypes, in contrast to the commonly held belief that Greek society is neither xenophobic nor racist.^[13]

[edit] Italy

Albanophobia in Italy is primarily related to the Albanian immigrants who are stereotypically seen as criminals, drug dealers.^[14][15] Italian media provide a lot of space and attention to crimes committed by ethnic Albanians, even those just presumed.^[16]

Analysts believe that the phobia to Albanian immigrants mainly based on the stereotype of the Albanian "invasion" of the Italian or European territory.^[16]

[edit] Political Albanophobia in the West^{[citation needed]}

Albanophobia is also wide-spread in some sections of the Western (European and American first and foremost) Left and Right, related to the Kosovo War in 1999 and the issue of the independence of Kosovo. Many journalists and political activists of Leftist persuasion declared Albanians to be "pawns of the Western imperialism", since it was NATO that initiated the 1999 campaign of bombing of Serbia and Montenegro in order to force Serbian forces to withdraw from Kosovo. The leftist accusations against Kosovo Albanians often carry semi-racist tones (reminiscent of the far-right rhetoric): Albanians are declared as backward, primitive and as criminals, especially drug-dealers. The association of Kosovo Albanians with drug-dealing has already become almost commonplace in some leftist milieux. Some sections of the far-right scene, but sometimes also of the moderate Right, on the other hand, support Serbia's position in Kosovo issue due to Serbs being European Christians, whereas Kosovo Albanians are Ottoman Muslims. The xenophobic and Islamophobic western right looked at Serbian actions in Kosovo as to "a defense of Europe from Islam". This kind of attitudes squares well with the resurgent sentiment of Islamophobia in Europe and America. Some American neoconservatives tend to equate Serbia's war against Kosovo Albanians with the American war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[edit] See also

• Massacres of Albanians in the Balkan Wars
• Expulsion of Cham Albanians
• Operation Horseshoe
• Discrimination
• Racism
• Xenophobia
• List of anti-ethnic and anti-national terms

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Treatment of ethnic Albanians in Greece (UNHCR)
• Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers: Albanians, Albanianism and the strategic subversion of stereotypes
• Italy's Conflicted Responses to Albanian Immigration and Lamerica's Transitive Historical Consciousness
• Italophilia Meets Albanophobia
• USA Today - Anti-racism rally held after deadly soccer game
• Olivera Milosavljević: Stereotipi srpskih intelektualaca XX veka o Albancima (Serbian)