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POTPURI






Lojnat e empatisë


Era Qena

︎english

Pathetic can be traced back further to the Greek pathētikos, meaning “capable of feeling.” It was preceded, slightly, by the related pathetical (which has the same meaning as the early senses of pathetic, but seem to have fallen out of use before taking on the “absurd” or “inadequate” ones) and pathetically.


The most pathetic question I have ever been asked (has happened multiple times) is a question that goes something like this “If you had to save one, and only one, would you rather save a stray dog or a family member?”

Sometimes, when asked these sorts of things I tend to try to maintain a friendly and kind facade, understanding that [sometimes] this question comes as a joking tease towards my affinity for the strays. Sometimes [after a lot of drops of alcohol], I get very confrontative with the people asking this and always choose the animals. The usual reply to this is “Why?”. Some even ask me if I don’t love my family or if I feel their lives don't matter, to which I [sometimes] out of anger reply that they do not matter more than a pigeon in a random street. Then comes the shock and the demand to give an explanation. I explain. My explanation is not accepted. It’s not humane to want a human to die and an animal to be saved, plus, we, as humans, have superior intelligence and we have re-built the whole world, we can survive and we have more compassion than the animals around us. They do not have the capability to rationalize in the way that we do, they don’t feel love or make art, they only live for the sole purpose or serving humans or procreating (for reasons that we as humans still don’t know why WE still need to procreate ex. the meaning of life and the sort), we have found ways to use them for the best lives they can have. Same as how a cow doesn’t understand what happiness is and doesn’t mind being in a small cage to be milked and impregnated forever because that’s all they know. They don’t know any better. And we tend to exploit that notion, that sometimes they don’t know any better. So ultimately, we have given ourselves the right to dictate the motions of another living being's life.


You’d think that if it comes to the point that a human being has the capacity to be so rational even on the timing of death of another being (one which is not human [only in this case]), on how we have had the capabilities to breed, re -breed and brand breeds to our own needs, on how we have the capacity to distinguish on what is humane and not, and so and so…

Forever and ever I have been searching for a rational answer on why we do NOT have the capability to coexist with animals (stray dogs) in an urban area (Prishtina)

It's a biased opinion in a biased world. The only thing that is unbiased (coming from my own bias) is the phenomena of anthropomorphizing everything, like a pandemic. We translate human morals which are very feeble into the actions of animals. WE are part of the problem - No, actually, we ARE the problem. 

It seems that if we feel we have to teach basic respect to kids in an institutionalized manner, then we also have to teach them what is something you do NOT do in the street. Examples of things one shouldn't do are: spitting, throwing trash, hitting people and other stuff. Though, when it comes to violence, no one ever teaches you at school on how you should behave towards the stray dogs. It is a prevalent social problem which highlights the main issues of our political power and system. There is a neuter program taking place, but that program has been misused as veterinarians found a way to get more money by bureaucratically making it seem as if they’re doing their job of keeping track of all the dogs they have sterilized.



Then, on the other hand, we have the rising number of dogs, dog attacks and acts of violence towards the dogs. People who absolutely despise them because it's too easy to anthropomorphize an animal you don't understand. It comes to the point where the acts of violence (ex. latest situation i’ve heard of is a bartender going out of the cafe and throwing boiling water on a dog that was sleeping) become so normalized that everyone except for the crazy animal activists do not partake in the bystander effect wormhole.

The most bizarre thing is the fact that its so difficult for certain people to understand the consequences of their actions. Sure, there are different ways in which humans communicate and different ways on how specific animals communicate. Though, there are some things that are always almost linear, binary - there is rarely ever a gray area.

If you hit a human or you throw them with rocks. Most of them will fight you back. But the logical fallacy, the rationale fail, the irrationale fiesta happens if you violate a dog in any way (kick, throw things, throw hot water, throw fireworks or firecrackers at them, poison etc) and they fight you back and bite you (if they are not dead or seriously injured). Is the dog the one blamed? Why do they get blamed? Is it because we can not rationalize outside of our own species? Is it because we can so easily get mauled by a pack of dogs and physically we can not do much if fear overcomes us? Is it the fear that humans are so weak and fragile compared to animals that we cannot fathom how they do not behave on the same moral compass as most humans do? If a dog chases a kid, the dog is again at fault in this way of thinking. The dog should’ve known it's a kid, and kids can make mistakes, but if you ever say a kid is harming a dog?

Again. you’re the one on the wrong. Because how can a kid be harming an animal that can leave them traumatized for life in one bite?

If I start to count and narrate every situation in which I have been in regarding the stray dogs this would be a very long text. This text comes in from all the frustrations gathered into me because of the injustice and apathy and hate and bitterness I have felt from other people. There is no right

solution to this problem as it is a completely complex social problem that is managed in a completely binary approach. Some people love them without a fault and some people hate them without a fault. I have seen dogs whose penis’ have been cut off, I have seen puppies dying on the street out of neglect and apathy, dogs with severe injuries left to die in the middle of a street, I have buried dogs which have been poisoned just because they were a nuisance to a random man of a random neighborhood who has decided that the best way to deal with his own problem is to trick a dog with poisoned food. Yesterday, I heard someone describe co-existence as the sharing of common space and matter. It is always so paradoxical when something seems so complex but the complexity comes from its simple minded linear concept. We have always co-existed with animals, we have always been here and there surrounded by them. But in an urban environment in a country still trying to develop and uphold European standards ™ where they don’t even fit or apply to the context, it is simply beautiful how ignorant we are to coexisting with the strays of Prishtina.


To give a bit of context, I was born and raised in this city, and I don't remember a time where there haven’t been stray dogs. All of Kosovo is full of them, there are plans and strategies in place to control their population in a nonviolent way, laws that forbid abandonment of dogs but they are not respected, and the institutions are corrupted, and the politicians care only about their public image, instead of caring about solving the actual issue in place. The wellbeing of both the dogs and humans is not at its peak (though, I doubt it will ever be), but the ones to blame are always either the dogs themselves or the people taking care of their basic needs like food, water and trips to the vet. Random people on the street are filled with hate. Sometimes, you cannot help but feel pity for people who have lost touch with their empathetic side so much that they decide to act towards a simple creature as if it is a devil spawn. Instead of trying to co exist, find a common ground, and try to be better towards ourselves and the other, and to actually build a healthier future. We have completely been radicalized in something that shouldn’t be radical. I remember how population control of the strays ten years ago was to kill hem with glocks and shotguns in the middle of the night. And the question that remains is always why? Why can we not figure out that the irritation, the hate, the fear that is felt should not be directed towards an animal that doesn’t know any better but towards the corrupted institutions and media outlets who would rather monetize your fear and feelings to get extra points? Why can we not hold ourselves accountable for anything that we do regarding them? Why is there only one way of thinking about this? Whatever happened to people living on farms, surrounded by animals? Whatever happened to us cleaning animal shit all day to make a living but now it's gross when a dog comes close to you? Going back to the sharing of common space and matter. I still have hope, even when you feel that you cannot go on you always muster the strength to go on. There is always patheticism when it comes to existence. There is always a lot of emotion involved from all sides, there always has been and always will be. There is no proper one solution but there are many. The best way to inspire co existence is the sharing of stories of the other. The other in this case being the dogs.

Anthropomorphizing is not the enemy. The enemy is the wrongful place in which hate is directed. In order to try and inspire even a tiny bit of that change, I will keep sharing stories of dogs I have managed to co-exist with on the super asphalted gray streets of Prishtina. It is my own [pathetic] attempt at changing a narrative which hopefully will make people understand that the strays have feelings, and loves, and girlfriends, and break ups sometimes. If we want to keep up holding them to human morals and standards we can also talk about their stories from an anthropocentric view. The only thing we have to keep in mind collectively is that systematic violation of the other makes the other bite you back.




Potpuri është një platformë e pavarur botuese dhe iniciativë bashkëpunuese e fokusuar në metodologjitë eksperimentale të kërkimit, gazetarisë investigative dhe prodhimit. Fokusi i procesit të punës së Potpurit është nxitja e metodologjive kolektive në praktikat e botimit për prodhimin e gazetave fizike. Kolektivi Potpuri është i bazuar ndërmjet Kosovës dhe Zvicrës, aktiviteti ynë kërkon tema dhe urgjenca të përbashkëta sociale si ringjallja e shtypit të shkruar në Kosovë, mungesa e hapësirave institucionale reflektuese për diasporën shqiptare në Zvicër, politikat dhe dukuritë sociale nën përvojat migratore, dhe më e rëndësishmja sigurimi i një hapësire mikpritëse për shprehjet e zërave të padëgjuar brenda mjediseve komerciale.
Potpuri is an independent publishing platform and collaborative initiative focused on experimental methodologies of research, investigative journalism and production. The focus of the work-process of Potpuri is the fostering of collective methodologies in publishing practices for the production of physical newspapers. Potpuri collective is based between Kosovo and Switzerland, our activity seeks for common social themes and urgencies such as the revival of printed press in Kosovo, the absence of reflective institutional spaces for the Albanian diaspora in Switzerland, the politics and social phenomena under migratory experiences, and most importantly providing a welcoming space for expressions of voices unheard within commercial settings.
Potpuri ist eine unabhängige Veröffentlichungsplattform und Initiative, die sich auf experimentelle Forschungsmethoden, investigativen Journalismus und Produktion konzentriert. Der Schwerpunkt des Arbeitsprozesses von Potpuri liegt in der Förderung kollektiver Methoden der Verlagspraxis für die Produktion von Zeitungen. Das Potpuri-Kollektiv arbeitet im Kosovo und der Schweiz. Unsere Themen und Dringlichkeiten wie der Wiederbelebung der gedruckten Presse im Kosovo reichen von dem Fehlen reflektierender institutioneller Räume für die albanische Diaspora in der Schweiz und den sozialen Phänomenen der Migrationserfahrungen. Ein Raum für Ausdruck von Stimmen, die in kommerziellen Umgebungen häufig ungehört bleiben.