Adem Demaçi (pronounced [dɛmatʃi] ⓘ; 26 February 1936 – 26 July 2018) was a Kosovo Albanian author, politician, and human rights defender.

[5] Demaçi was first arrested for his opposition to the authoritarian government of Josip Broz Tito in 1958, serving three years in prison.

In the same year, Demaçi proposed the creation of Balkania as an alternative, peaceful resolution to the Serbo–Albanian ethnic conflict; it would have transformed the rump third Yugoslavia into a confederation consisting of the democratic Republics of Kosovo, Serbia, and Montenegro.

"[11] In 1999, he resigned from the KLA after it attended peace talks in France, criticising the proposed deal for not guaranteeing Kosovo's independence.

Sources stated that Demaçi had grown estranged from the KLA's younger, more pragmatic leadership, leaving him "faced with a decision of jumping or waiting to be pushed".

[5][13] He was critical of Ibrahim Rugova and other Albanian leaders who fled the conflict, stating that they were missing an important historical event.