by Nehat Hyseni.
Abstract
This study examines the process of ideopolitical differentiation at the “Skënderbeu” Gymnasium in Presheva during the 1980s and early 1990s, situating it within the broader context of Yugoslav and Serbian repression following the 1981 Kosovo demonstrations and the rise of Slobodan Milošević. It analyzes differentiation as a mechanism of institutional control targeting Albanian educators through administrative, legal, and security structures. The paper explores the ethical, philosophical, and legal dimensions of this process, highlighting its function as a tool for suppressing critical thought and national identity. The dismissal of Albanian professors is interpreted as a deliberate political purge with long-term consequences for education, social trust, and Albanian cultural resistance in the Presevo Valley.
1. The Historical and Political Context of Differentiation (1981–1990)
The process of ideopolitical differentiation in Albanian educational institutions cannot be understood outside the repressive climate that followed the March–April 1981 demonstrations in Kosovo. After these events, the Yugoslav state—initially at the federal level and later under the clear dominance of the Republic of Serbia—constructed an architecture of ideological control aimed at disciplining the Albanian intelligentsia.
With the rise to power of Slobodan Milošević (1987) and the suppression of Kosovo’s autonomy (1989), this policy assumed a centralized, nationalist, and exclusionary form. Education, as a space for shaping critical thought and national identity, was treated as politically dangerous territory and, consequently, as a primary target of state intervention.
Within this framework, the ideopolitical differentiation at the “Skënderbeu” Gymnasium in Presheva was part of a broader project of institutional subjugation of Albanians in the Presevo Valley.
2. The Philosophical Meaning of “Differentiation”: From Administrative Notion to Instrument of Repression
The term “ideopolitical differentiation” was presented as a neutral administrative concept. In essence, it was an institutionalized form of exclusion based on political beliefs and national identity.
From a philosophical perspective, this process represents the denial of the individual’s moral autonomy. The state demanded not only formal obedience to the law, but submission of conscience. This shifts the conflict from the legal sphere to the ethical one: the individual was judged not for concrete violations, but for their thoughts.
In the tradition of modern political philosophy, a system that punishes critical thinking and demands ideological uniformity slides from constitutional order into authoritarianism. Differentiation was therefore a mechanism of controlling conscience through fear.
3. The Institutional Architecture of Repression
The instruments of differentiation were structured and coordinated:
1. Municipal commissions for ideopolitical differentiation;
2. State security organs (SDB);
3. Workers’ councils and school governing bodies under political pressure;
4. Laws on the “protection of the constitutional order” and on “moral-political suitability.”
This intertwining of the security apparatus with administrative mechanisms created a system in which political decisions were masked as legal procedures. Form was preserved; justice disappeared. Legality served as a cover for discrimination.
4. Phases of Differentiation at the “Skënderbeu” Gymnasium
4.1 Identification and Surveillance
Professors with moral authority, influence in shaping students’ national consciousness, or critical positions toward state policies were identified as “problematic.” Reports were prepared by security structures and politicized elements within the institution.
4.2 Psychological and Moral Pressure
Summons to “informative talks” had an intimidating character. Professors were asked to declare loyalty and publicly distance themselves from Albanian political demands. Refusal implied consequences.
This was the ethical test: the individual had to choose between dignity and material security.
4.3 Collective Meetings as Rituals of Legitimization
Meetings of the workers’ council functioned as institutional theater. The decision was predetermined; the vote was a formality. Collective fear produced silence, and silence produced false legitimacy.
4.4 Dismissal from Work
The formulations were general:
• “hostile activity”
• “nationalism and irredentism”
• “negative influence on socialist education”
In reality, the dismissal of 11 Albanian professors was a purely political act—a purge of the school’s intellectual core.
5. The Ethical and Moral Dimension: A Crisis of Justice
From an ethical standpoint, differentiation constituted a violation of human dignity, punishment of free thought, and instrumentalization of law for political purposes.
A state that punishes citizens for beliefs rather than concrete unlawful acts strips itself of moral legitimacy. Justice is replaced by political opportunism.
The dismissed professors paid the price of their integrity. The refusal to accept changing the name “Skënderbeu” to “25 May” was an act of moral and civic resistance.
6. Education as a Pre-Political Institution and the Fear of the Elite
Education is a pre-political institution because it shapes the future elite. The attack on professors was an attack on the political potential of the Albanian community.
The aim was clear: weakening Albanian cultural capital, interrupting the continuity of national formation, and replacing them with politically controlled cadres.
This constitutes a form of structural control over identity through control of knowledge.
7. Systemic Discrimination and the International Legal Dimension
The process in Presheva was part of a broader pattern:
• exclusion of Albanians from public administration;
• imposition of “temporary measures”;
• demands for loyalty declarations;
• selective disciplinary proceedings.
In the terminology of international human rights law, this constitutes systemic discrimination on ethnic and political grounds, implemented through formally legal instruments.
Equality before the law was proclaimed, but not applied. The law was used as a tool for selective exclusion.
8. The Case of Riza Halimi and the Delegitimization of Albanian Political Representation
The dismissal and pressure against figures such as Riza Halimi was not an administrative issue, but a genuinely anti-Albanian political project of Serbia. The aim was to delegitimize authentic Albanian representation and weaken pluralist organization (PVD and PDSH).
The attack against him was a message to the entire elite: independent Albanian representation would not be tolerated.
9. Structural and Historical Consequences
The consequences were multiple and long-term:
1. Professional and economic destruction of the dismissed professors.
2. Institutional impoverishment of the school and decline in academic standards.
3. Radicalization of the most conscious segment of Albanian society.
4. Deepening mistrust toward state institutions.
5. Consolidation of the Gymnasium as a symbol of cultural resistance.
Differentiation did not eliminate national consciousness; on the contrary, it strengthened it through the lived experience of injustice.
10. The Moral Failure of an Exclusionary Policy
From today’s perspective, ideopolitical differentiation at the “Skënderbeu” Gymnasium represents a grave chapter of institutional cleansing in education. It aimed at subjugating the Albanian elite through fear and economic and institutional impoverishment.
Yet on the moral and historical level, this discriminatory Serbian policy toward Albanian education failed catastrophically.
It produced injustice—but also resistance. It produced exclusion—but also a stronger national consciousness.
Ideopolitical differentiation remains evidence that control of knowledge is always an attempt to control the future—and that every effort to subjugate thought through fear ultimately collides with human dignity and the aspiration for freedom, equality, and democracy.
Presheva, February 2, 2026
