A book about the Chameria advocacy campaign, which aimed to get the Cham issue on the international political agenda, mobilize the people and get historical justice for the Cham community.
This book is a selection of articles, press releases, speeches and photo’s that I made during my work with and for the Cham. Most of the activities took place during an 18-month-period between 2017 and 2019, although some activities go until May 2022. I only made small, non-content-related, edits to the articles and copied the speeches as is. The information presented in these documents contains much of the history and the problems facing the Cham.
The introduction of the book can be viewed by clicking here.
In case people are interested in obtaining the book they can order it online and/or you can contact me at: jgzandberg@gmail.com
The activities are organized into six categories:
- Mobilizing Chameria,
- Rallying international support,
- Cooperation with underrepresented nations,
- advocacy at the European Parliament,
- Advocacy at the European Commission,
- Advocacy at the United Nations.
I have tried to present a clear overview of the advocacy campaign to get the Cham issue on the political agenda and mobilize the Cham people. However, the articles and photo’s unavoidably present a somewhat distorted picture of the advocacy campaign. For example, most of the meetings we had as the Chameria delegation with policy advisors and politicians were behind closed doors. This is especially true for the advocacy campaign in the European Parliament, where numerous Greek parliamentarians and their supporters actively tried to suppress the Cham issue, which meant that many parliamentarians only agreed to meet with us behind closed doors. Furthermore, the reports, letters to governments and pamphlets which I wrote and that the Chameria delegation used to advocate the cause, have not been included as reprints in the book since the information therein is already present in the speeches and articles. I created this book with the intent for people to understand the issues facing the Cham and the advocacy campaign to move it forward. Furthermore, I hope that it will provide other Cham-Albanians and their supporters information and insights they might use for their advocacy campaign in the future. Those readers who quickly want to know the most pressing issues facing the Cham can go to the presentations I made to the European Regional Forums of the United Nations, included in the final section of the book on pages 297-312. The historical background of the Cham can be found in the text about Lodewijk Thompson on pages 67-74 and the European Parliament conference of the 75th commemoration of the expulsion of the Cham on pages 201-212.
