What are the events that marked Albanians and the world in 1968?
The year 1968 is a year of great developments for Albanians. First, it is worth mentioning the Albanianological Conference held in Tirana (January 17, 1968) and the Scientific Symposium held in Pristina (May 9-12, 1968), on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the death of Gjergj Kastriot-Skënderbeu, where Albanian researchers participated and foreigners in the fields of history, literature, linguistics, folklore and ethnography. Then, there was the Consultation on the unification of the Albanian language, held on April 22-23, 1968 in Pristina, in which it was established that "the literary language of the Albanians in Yugoslavia was unanimously recognized as the literary language of the mother country (Albania)". Then there were the numerous demonstrations on the occasion of the 90th anniversary (June 1968) of the Albanian League of Prizren and the 60th anniversary of the Congress of Manastir. It was in 1968 that discussions began on constitutional changes in the Yugoslav Federation, with which the advancement of Kosovo's status was foreseen.

After the fall of Ranković in the 4th Plenum of the Central Committee of the LKJ (known as the Plenum of Briones), things start to change for the better for the Albanians in Yugoslavia. The Albanian staff was added to the schools, but there was still a lack of qualified staff, which is why many subjects continued to be taught in Serbian. Magazines, such as "Jeta e re" and "Zëri i Rinija", published historical writings, including those of historians from Albania. Meanwhile, the "Rilindja" Publications Editorial Office attached importance to the works that spoke about the life and deeds of Skenderbeu.
In this year, the insulting name that Serbs use for Albanians, "shiptar" or "shiftar", is avoided, while instead of Metohija, the term Rrafshi i Dukagjini begins to be used.
However, Albanians continued to be the most discriminated against in Yugoslavia. This has led to the explosion of demonstrations for the advancement of their national rights. The first demonstration was held on October 6, 1968 in Prizren, to continue in October, November and December in other cities of Kosovo, even in Ulcinj, Preševo and Tetovo.

The slogans that were used in these demonstrations were: "Long live the red and black flag!", "Long live the Albanian people!", "We want the University!", "We want equality!", "We want self-determination", "No one should play with fate." ours", "Down with the colonialist policy towards Kosovo", "Albanian-inhabited villages should join Kosovo", "We will shed blood for our rights", "A pickaxe in one hand and a rifle in the other", "We want the Republic" , "We want self-determination until secession", "The LNC did not bring us freedom!", "We want the Constitution!", "We want the union of Presheva with Kosovo!", "Down with the bureaucracy!", "Down with the traitors!", "Down with Veli Deva!", "Long live the working class!", "Long live the miners", "Long live the peasantry", "Long live the youth", "Down with Fadil Hoxha", "Long live the Albanian brotherhood", "Long live Adem Demaçi", "Long live Kadri Halimi" , "We want the release of political prisoners"...
Dozens of demonstrators were arrested and sentenced; many of them were wounded; Meanwhile, 17-year-old Murat Mehmeti was killed - a student of the Technical High School in Pristina.
That equality in Yugoslavia did not apply to the Albanians is proven by the article of the journalist Christine Von Kohl, in the Austrian daily "Die Presse", on December 9, 1968, in which the Serbs openly said that "all Albanians should move to Albania"!

For the demonstrations, the Yugoslav side had accused Albania of being the instigator. However, regarding these events, there was no clear statement or position from the Albanian side, especially regarding the status of Kosovo as a republic. However, the demonstrations of 1968 influenced Albanians to use the flag without fear. Then, in 1970, the University of Pristina was founded. Meanwhile, in 1974, the new Constitution was approved that made Kosovo a part of the Yugoslav Federation. Apart from that, Albania-Yugoslavia relations also improved, which increased the contacts between Albanian creators and intellectuals on both sides of the border.
With these demonstrations, an urban myth was born, about how "tolerant" Tito has been. Then, and even today, it is believed that when Tito "accidentally" heard that the Albanians had taken over Kosovo, he asked what they were looking for. "The flag", the advisers tell him. "Yes, give it to them", was Tito's immediate and easy "answer". In fact, he had said "the students have the right" for the student protests in Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Sarajevo, which were very different from those of the Albanians and which were mainly related to the economic reforms that caused unemployment and youth leaving for in the West. The demands of the Albanian students differed from the demands of the Western students who in 1968 protested for gender, social, racial equality, liberalization, environmentalism...
In 1968, Kosovo had 1,159,000 inhabitants, while Albania had 2,052,778. Hashim Thaçi and Ramush Haradinaj were born this year.

When it comes to the flag, it should be noted that after the fall of Ranković, the political elite of Kosovo that in 1967 had initiated the issue of the flag, even in the meetings they had with Tito. The Serbs - led by Dobrica Qosić - at a meeting of the Central Committee of the LK of Serbia, had openly opposed the discussions on the restoration of the right to use the Albanian national flag, that is, the regulation of that right by law and by the Constitution. However, this right was approved at a meeting of the Socialist League of the Working People of Kosovo, on October 4, 1968, in Pristina. Ilaz Kurteshi, in his capacity as the then chairman of the LSPP, in his introductory speech had emphasized that the free use of the Albanian flag is an element of national equality. In that meeting were also Fadil Hoxha (at that time Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo), Veli Deva (chairman of LK of Kosovo), Avdi Bakalli, Ismet Gunga and other personalities of the time.

The Cold War continued to keep the world divided into capitalist and communist blocks. But there was division even among the communist bloc. Most of the states were satellites of the USSR. Two of them had independent policies – North Korea and Yugoslavia. Meanwhile, two other states opposed the USSR, but were bound by the same ideology - China and Albania.
On August 20-21, 1968, the USSR invaded Czechoslovakia, an act which little Albania strongly condemned. For this very reason, on September 13, 1968, Albania officially left the Warsaw Pact, where it had joined on May 14, 1955.
The Vietnam War was at the center of world developments. In January 1968, the Tet Offensive begins, which includes attacks by the Viet Cong in 100 cities. The fighting was so fierce that American General William Westmoreland mentioned the use of the atomic bomb. To worsen the situation, the communist group Khmer Rouge was founded, which was mainly financed by China.

In 1968, the rise of Saddam Hussein began in Iraq, while Mao Zedong seeks the re-education of urban youth in the villages, through the movement: "Up in the mountains and down in the fields".
The year 1968 is also noteworthy for technological developments, because US President Lyndon B. Johnson required that all government computers support ASCII. Republican President Richard Nixon continued the same policy, since in this year's US presidential elections, he defeated Democrat William Westmoreland.
This year, one of the greatest masterpieces of cinematography, "2001: A Space Odyssey", directed by Stanley Kubrick, is being premiered in cinemas. In the USSR, this cinematic masterpiece was conceived as another competition between the East and the West, so in 1972 came their "counter-response" with the film "Solaris" by another genius of film direction - Andrei Tarkovsky.
In 1968, actors: Will Smith, Hugh Jackman, Owen Wilson, Daniel Craig, Josh Brolin are born... singers: Celine Dion, Kylie Minogue, Lisa Marie Presley (daughter of Elvis)... while the first man to fly in space, Yuri Gagarin, dies , and after the gun attack, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Martin Luther King Jr. /Telegraph/

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