Global Voices » Macedonian

Macedonia: Blogging in Estonian about Skopje Marathon/Half-Marathon

Filip Stojanovski — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:35:30 +0000

Sandra Jürs blogged in Estonian about her participation in the Skopje Marathon/Half-Marathon [mk, en] on May 6, 2012.

Macedonia: Protest Announced in Support of Environmental Activist on Trial

Filip Stojanovski — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:57:26 +0000

Greenbox blog reported [mk] that the Green Coalition and NGO Lenka would hold a protest in front of Veles court on May 9, 2012, at 11:30 AM, before the start of the trial of the environmental activist Igor Smilev, who has been accused of endangering security & defamation by the manager of Мetrudhem, a corporation that aims to restart the local lead smelting factory. Lenka also published a legal opinion [mk] refuting the accusations, based on the activist's rights enshrined in international conventions, the Constitution, and national laws.

Macedonia: Lead Smelting Company Sues Environmental Activist

Filip Stojanovski — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:06:17 +0000

Greenbox blog reports [mk] that Toni Dimitrievski, director of Мetrudhem, the corporation that intends to restart the lead smelting factory in the city of Veles, has filed a lawsuit against environmental activist Igor Smilev for “endangering security,” “unauthorized recording,” “slander” and “insult,” requesting EUR 20,000 in damages. So far, only one political party, DOM, a junior “green” member of the vast ruling coalition, has protested [mk] against this “immoral” form of pressure. Before moving into the private sector, Mr. Dimitrievski had served as head of the Public Revenue Office and as an appointed manager [mk] of the state-owned Tobacco Company in Prilep.

Macedonia: Video Streaming for the Civil Society

Filip Stojanovski — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 01:26:54 +0000

Vo živo.mk (”Going Live” in Macedonian) is a new service dedicated to providing video streaming and recordings of civil society events in Macedonia. The first event to be covered is a public debate on “What kinds of scientific research and teaching are enabled through the new Law on Higher Education?” scheduled to take place on Friday, March 30, at the GEM Club [mk].

Macedonia, Kazakhstan: Triumphal Arches to Celebrate 20 Years of Independence

Filip Stojanovski — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:24:10 +0000

The leaders of two former socialist countries have chosen the same architectural devices - triumphal arches - to mark the two decades of their states' divorce from the larger unions. Kazakhstan celebrated 20 years of independence from the USSR, and Macedonia - from the SFRY.

On December 16, 2011, while the government security forces were breaking down the Zhanaozen strike by shooting the protesting miners, the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev opened the Triumphal Arch “Mangilik El” (“Eternal Earth”) in Astana, as part of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan's independence. As stated on the YouTube channel of Prime Minister Karim Massimov:

The Triumphal Arch that was constructed on the initiative of the President became another symbol of Kazakhstan's independence.

On January 6, 2012, the Prime Minister of Macedonia Nikola Gruevski opened the “Porta Macedonia” in Skopje (”porta”=”gate” in Latin and Macedonian). This triumphal arch was scheduled for unveiling on September 8, 2011, the actual 20th anniversary of Macedonia's independence, but construction delays had affected the timing. Nevertheless, the unfinished arch was used in the grandiose celebration (1, 2, 3, 4), which was then repeatedly shown on state TV, and at the welcoming ceremony for the national basketball team returning from the European Basketball Championship.

Porta Makedonija. Photo by Darko Nikolovski, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

During his 30-minute speech [mk], the Macedonian PM gave a much-commented-on statement [mk] that he personally had been the instigator and the chief backer of the Skopje 2014 project, which would leave an unavoidable mark in history.

He first thanked [mk] all the opponents of this “good, high-quality, useful project which has no downsides” - the opposition, those who disagree with him, the NGO sector:

…who with great passion and devotion strive to blacken this project, hoping that this would also negatively reflect on me and my collaborators, the current administration. This is a way for the artists to gain greater glory and escape anonymity after their deaths…

I do not say this cynically or ironically, if someone understands me that way. The greater the interest about a piece, in the sense of more critique and humiliation, in fact increases the motivation and the concentration of quality of that work…

Nikola Gelevski, an independent publisher and founder of the critical-thinking portal Okno, commented [mk] that the “discrete admission that he is the author of the most charlatan project in the history of Macedonia (according to me) was the only positive thing in the typically boring (and extremely) demagogic speech” by the PM.

Analyzing the speech, Gelevski noted:

“The one who abuses art and architecture for political goals, blames others for politicization!”

“Did we elect Gruevski to run the Government as a politician, or as an artist, a [demiurge], a prophet, and a messiah?!”

“One day–which will will come relatively soon–everybody will see that ‘Skopje 2014′ is but a great robbery of people's money.”

“All older monuments in the country are devastated in most humiliating ways, while whole squads of guards from private security agencies hired with public money “defend” the new monuments by Gruevski's regime.”

The triumphal arch was the most controversial element of the Skopje 2014 project. Many of its critics noted that it was superfluous and obsolete. The arch in Astana stands 20 meters tall, symbolizing the 20 years of independence. The Skopje arch is 21 meters tall, and no explanation has been provided in this regard.

The price of the Kazakh arch was not publicly disclosed in the news reports, while the Macedonian counterpart cost EUR 4.4 million. The everyday uses of the structure include selling souvenirs and providing space for weddings (or shooting ‘fancy' wedding photographs) on the observation platform.

Blogger Sead93 noted [mk]:

A few days ago the “Porta Macedonia” was officially opened in Skopje. After hundreds of reruns of the broadcast, this is not exactly news, but there's still something to add:

With all due respect to the one who named it Porta Macedonia, but this time I think they should have listened to the people, who use the name “The Triumphal Arch,” which is no accident. This is not just about the plain visual similarity with some-other-arches-from-some-other-countries and cities, but about the need to articulate triumphalism present in our daily lives. The nation needs an imprint, a space for canonizing or standardizing this triumphalism.

Namely, besides serving as an arch for triumphal marches of athletes, artists, scientists, laureates and other worthy citizens, the arch would be ideal for triumphal marching of our [Gastarbeiter] returning to visit the homeland. They could use it to parade their fancy cars (regardless of whether they own them or are just renting them to show off during vacation) and all their glitter. Imagine the view, and the astonishment, the sighs, the inspiration you would get from the successful emigrants. The prospective brides could easily eye a groom, and vice versa. This could be our Fashion Channel runway… Practical and profitable for all…

The linguistic assertion was proved by Zoriv, in his post [mk] praising the arch:

…the name does not correspond to the architectural work, but that is least important. The important thing is that the city of Skopje has acquired a structure that provides it with a new face and symbolism as the capital of the Republic of Macedonia. Debates about its aesthetics will rage among the architects… As a citizen of Skopje… I feel joy while looking at it, with a remark and question, was the middle of economic crisis the right time to build this - time will tell.

Responding to the implications stemming from the connection between Kazakhstan and Macedonia, Zoriv listed a number of other arches around the world, trying to show that building such monuments is quite normal: the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, Siegestor in Munich, the Wellington Arch in London, Narva in St. Petersburg, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. He did not omit the tallest of them all, too - the Arch of Triumph in Pyongyang.

On Facebook, members of the ruling party tried to prove that raising triumphal arches was not an anachronistic practice related to despotic regimes with imperial ambitions, by sharing a photo of the Millennium Gate arch built in 2008 in the democratic USA, disregarding the fact that that “kitschy McMonument that bespeaks a cultural inferiority complex for all the world to see” (comment by an architecture forum user quoted by the LA Times) was funded through private donations, not with public money.

Even when questions of possible corruption and kickbacks by the developers are not taken into account, the issue of whether the money invested in Skopje 2014, and especially the arch, is well spent keeps popping up as the majority of the Macedonian population sinks deeper into poverty, and there's less money in the state budget for basic infrastructure services.

For instance, Twitter user Banekoma posted this collage of contrasting photos of the arch and the state of the main children's hospital, part of the main clinic, part of the dilapidated public health system.

Macedonia: Making a Humanitarian Book of Interesting Tweets

Filip Stojanovski — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:48:50 +0000

DarjanR, ArsovaM, and Angie_Mkd have issued a call [mk] for participation in creating a pocket-size book with the most interesting tweets, and invited other Macedonian Twitter users to submit their favorites. They are also trying to crowdsource the design, printing and publishing. Proceeds will go to charity. One of the first users to respond was i999y, who started posting [mk] excerpts from his collection of funny tweets on his blog.

Macedonia: Blogger Reviews “In the Land of Blood and Honey”

Filip Stojanovski — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:05:43 +0000

Vnukot joined the debate about Angelina Jolie's movie by emphasizing the technical imperfections, and was especially unnerved [mk] that “all the characters in the film speak the languages related to Bosnia, the Serbo-Croatian as it was known then, or today's Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian language. However in Angie's ‘masterpiece' all of them, from a general… to the victims that have only one line before they get a bullet in the head, literally everybody, speak like Russian mobsters in some cheap American movie filmed in a cellar for USD 5,000. If this concept is remote to you, imagine a broken English interview of a Macedonian miss/mister universe/world candidate in China [1, 2, 3] - this film is worse!”

Macedonia: March for Peace as “First Step.” What Now?

Filip Stojanovski — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:23:59 +0000

Thousands of people turned out to express their willingness to live together in peace by walking the streets and bridges of Skopje during the March for Peace on March 17, 2012.

Estimates of the number of the march's participants by the various media range between 2,000 [fr, en, en] and 4,000 people. The only certain number is that the Facebook event [mk] had 2,225 confirmed participants, and few hundreds more “maybes,” and about 17,000 more invitees who did not respond.

The people first gathered in the Skopje City Park, at the open stage called Školka (Shell).

March for Peace: People gathering in Skopje City Park. Photo: Filip Stojanovski (CC-BY 3.0).

Public figures of different ethnic backgrounds read the short manifesto quoted in the announcement for the Peace March in Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, Roma, Serbian/Bosnian, and Vlach (Aromanian).

Organizer Petrit Saracini - a musician, a journalist and a writer - speaking at the beginning of the March for Peace. Photo: Vančo Džambaski (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The walk proceeded “without flags and symbols” along Ilinden Boulevard, by the building of the Government, over Goce Delchev Bridge, by then turned left and passed the ancient Stone Bridge, and returned along the River Vardar to the park. The event concluded with a concert of several bands.

March for Peace on Ilinden Boulevard. Photo: Vančo Džambaski (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Several photo galleries were published right after the event by:

Political exploitation & media spin

During the opening, one of the participating celebrities, Esma Redžepova, a renowned singer but also a local politician on the payroll of the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE, greeted the President who happened to be present in the crowd from the stage. Human rights activist Xhabir Deralla wrote [mk] the following day:

…I doubt that the number of 2-3 thousand people who gathered yesterday is enough to persuade the political figures who hurried to appear at the event that it is up to them to stop the policies which brought us to this situation. I even heard a greeting to the President from the stage… Oops! I said to myself. On Facebook some tried to explain that it was just Esma's urge and personal style, not the official position of the organizers. OK, but to accept this, can someone explain why the organizers did not issue a retraction of Esma's greeting?

When I was approached with an offer to support the initiative of the March for Peace as the representative of Civil NGO, nobody told me that it would provide space for the representatives of politics that violates human rights and freedoms, and directly incites deterioration of inter-ethnic relations and tensions between communities in Macedonia. I wrote countless e-mails and had many talks with colleagues, collaborators and friends about the noble background of the March, regardless of the [critiques]. I insisted that as many people as possible attend the March. I firmly believe in the motives even now, but I am not so sure that the goal has been achieved. I still want to remain positive this sunny Sunday morning, partially believing that the March is a good first step. Albeit a belated one…

I knew that the spinners would allow the politicians to turn the event to their own advantage. In the evening news, the government-controlled TV stations pushed the conclusion that the inter-ethnic violence of the previous weeks had resulted from the destructiveness of individuals who went against the wonderful efforts of the current government to build cohabitation in the country. The initiators did not take this into account, even though they should have.

Twitter user MirkoSlav wrote [mk] to “all the haters” that the most important thing is that the March for Peace was successful:

Big deal if some politicians had their photos taken - what else do they do anyway?

Deralla referred to his previous writing on the responsibility for the current situation by the nationalist parties in power to point out:

I am not persuaded that there were enough people in the audience who really understand what stands behind the government practices, and that this March for Peace should have been a warning to the political parties in power, and all political parties in general…

I am not persuaded that the people who climbed onto the stage to recite messages for peace in different languages and sing Bob Marley songs are aware of this. Or they are, but their personal motive and desire for peace were stronger than this awareness? It is legitimate to succumb to noble feelings, but how much did this bring us closer to the goal - peace and cohabitation?

I admit that before arriving at the City Park with my family and colleagues, I secretly hoped that politicians would not attempt to hijack the event. I hoped that the evening news wouldn't spin the information. I hoped that those who support the destructive policies of the main centers of political power (everybody knows who they are), and were in the procession, will come with just a bit of conscience that such initiatives are for the benefit of their families and descendants.

What Now? In Macedonian and Albanian - the logo and slogan of the 2001 post-conflict campaign by NGO Civil - Center for Freedom.

What now?

In his day-after article, Deralla reminded that in 2001, before the outset of most intense hostilities of the military conflict in Macedonia, Civil organized the concert Rock for Peace in Skopje, attended by thousands of youths. Even though it did not influence the course of events, he did not regret it, and wrote that one should continue supporting pro-peace activities, no matter how hopeless they might seem - while the “Nazi machinery continues to work on its dark designs.”

Prior to the March, Djordje Djordjevic from Serbia expressed similar sentiments, in a Facebook note [sr] with reminiscences about the pro-peace efforts in 1991, when he, as a nine year-old child, accompanied his aunt to gather signatures for peace before the break-up of Yugoslavia. They gathered bags of notebooks by people who were signing to appease their conscience (akin to ‘liking' progressive content of Facebook these days), but also saying that all was in vain.

He wrote:

I grew up near a refugee camp for people from Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the nineties. When you see a whole family losing everything they had, when you see that a person is eternally grateful for receiving your old shabby sneakers, or that the whole family has to share one can of “humanitarian beans” for the whole meal, when you hear a woman crying over her whole slaughtered family, no action for peace or for living together seems amateurish or irrelevant.

Imagine if all the people who were signing those notebooks in 1991 went in the streets, stood up in front of the tanks, and said one joint NO for war and one joint YES for peace. Imagine how many lives would have been saved, how many tears would not have been shed!

—

During the walk and through the Facebook event, the participants expressed appreciation for the support by the Global Voices community, which translated the announcement in over a dozen languages (mk, sq, hu, de, fr, sv, es, nl, it, mg, bg, sr, tr).

Macedonia: Peace March - Enthusiasm, Controversy

Filip Stojanovski — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 11:51:38 +0000

Today's March for Peace in Skopje has overwhelming support, evident through the positive uproar in social media. Lone voices, however, warn the initiative is used as a PR opportunity by celebrities, and even as a hypocritical alibi for known hatemongers.

Several videos in which a ‘Band Aid' cast of local celebrities proclaim they are for a peaceful life together were published by the YouTube user ZaednoZaMir (Together for Peace). They received overwhelmingly positive response by social media users.

On the other hand, Jovana Tozija asked [mk]: “Pardonne moi, sleazeballs, where were you when we asked you to record a video…” as part of the protests against police brutality. She wrote [mk] she was not trying to undermine the March for Peace Initiative, but what she did mind [mk] was that people who did not have the decency to respond by declining were now jousting to get in front of the camera.

Seasoned blogger and human rights activist Zarko Trajanoski wrote [mk] that he would not attend the March for Peace, even though many of his closest friends would:

The reason is: I cannot stand the hypocrisy any more!

At first glance, the statement by the march organizers is enchanting: “We unite Gandhi-style, with the power of pacifism.” With curiousity, I see the famous faces, trying to recognize the Macedonian Gandhi who will unite us in nonviolent resistance to tyranny. I watch the TV screen intently, in vain searching for the Macedonian Gandhi. Instead, the director of ‘Ednooki', Alek Rusjakov, appears on Sitel TV and says: “This movement is not against anyone. It is not against the government, not against the opposition, not against a race, not against a nation, but for peace.”

“Ednooki” [The One-Eyed] is an animated TV show aired on TV stations owned by the coalition partners of the current government (first Kanal 5, currently SITEL; before it run on A1 while it was pro-government). The show usually includes statements demonizing the opposition, the dissenters from the NGO sector, and foreign diplomats. The show also caricatures key government figures in a positive, mild-mannered light. The same team also produces an “educational” TV series about the Ancient Macedon for the state TV. One of their “historical” claims is that homosexuality was not practiced by Ancient Macedonians, just by the Greeks.

Trajanoski continued:

Wait a minute. Freeze frame. The director of “Ednooki” as an initiator of peace march? Suddenly, we have to forget that “Ednooki” is a hate-mongering series that incites hate against all who criticize the work of the government?
We have to forget that “Ednooki” promotes ethnic and other kinds of stereotypes and prejudices that create an atmosphere of hate and violence? The last time I watched “Ednooki” the A1 TV journalists were portrayed as violators and criminals, while the special police forces which occupied the TV-station were presented as victims of violence. And at least several people have told me that in the “art” work by Rusjakov, the character representing me has been shown as being shot by gun.

Personal is political. I cannot “march” for peace together with the hate-propagandist Alek Rusjakov. Would the victims of Nazi propaganda join Goebbels if he called for a march for peace between the members of the pure Aryan race and the “degenerics”? Would you join [Latas] if he invited you to march for peace between the “lice,” “cunts,” “savages,” and Macedonians? Would you join Milenko if he called for march for peace between the “guardian” Macedonians and the “treacherous bastards”? Would you join Janko “Jadi Burek” if he called for peace between the believers and the “bunch of gays and atheists” who were [forcefully dislocated from the square]?

Please, I am sick of hypocrisy. I won't march for peace together with hatemongers. I will peacefully protest against the haters - the propagandists of the regime which amnesties war criminals and tortures political prisoners who get 109 years in jail.

Anonymous readers commenting on Trajanoski's post said they would go to the march even though they agreed with some of his arguments. One of them provided a link to an interview [mk] by Rusjakov in which he claims that members of NGOs who disagree with the government's decisions (”Sorosids”) are traitors on the Greek chauvinist payroll who enjoy being sodomized by the Greeks while working on changing the Macedonian identity.

Some pointed out that the protests against police brutality had been joined by some opposition figures, and they still attended even though they were not supporters of those political parties.

Macedonia: Fuel Prices Continue to Rise

Filip Stojanovski — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:18:43 +0000

Continuous increase of fuel prices is a cause of much concern for citizens of Macedonia, and some vent the tension through humor. The prices are set by a regulatory body, and more and more social media users object to the fact that the lion's share of the revenue in fact goes to the government, stymieing the growth of the business sector.

On his blog, Zoriv published comparisons of the prices of oil derivatives in Macedonia, the USA and the EU [mk], and also calculated how much fuel one can buy on an average salary in various countries [mk]. (Both posts are in Macedonian, but the tables with country comparisons are in English and easily comprehensible.)

So, according to Zoriv, Latvia has the lowest price of gasoline in Europe (EUR 1.20), while Norway has the highest (EUR 1.94). Consumers in Macedonia have to pay EUR 1.4. While the official explanation for rising fuel prices is always the change of price of crude oil, Zoriv points out that a major factor in forming the end price are the excise taxes that go directly to the state budgets in countries with the highest prices (Norway, Holland, Italy, the UK, and Greece). He adds:

In Macedonia, for instance, the total taxation together with the profit margin for the merchants form around 70% of the price (Official Gazette of Republic of Macedonia, no. 138/09 and 52/11). The difference between Macedonia and the EU countries, alongside the salary levels which are incomparable, is the tragic fact that even the slightest increase of oil derivative prices affects the personal material existence of every citizen of Macedonia. The latest data show that fuel consumption has decreased by 30% [mk]. The increase of fuel prices leads to a spiral of the increase of all other living expenses, while family budgets drastically decrease.

The Macedonian government temporarily abolished the excise before the June 2011 elections, but returned it later, raising the prices [mk] in August.

By calculating how much fuel a citizen can buy with an average salary, Zoriv tried to shed light on income disparities: in the United States, one can buy 4,296 liters of gasoline on an average monthly salary. In Europe, the top spots go to Switzerland (3,441 l), Luxemburg (3,439 l), and Germany (3.075 l). The lowest on the list are Macedonia (243 l) and Albania (194 l), with a “disastrous ratio of 1:14″ compared to the leading “rich” countries.

According to the 2010 edition of the annual publication 200 Largest Companies in Macedonia, prepared and published by the Euro Business Center – Skopje, the two largest companies in the country are: the sole oil refinery OKTA (owned by the Greek interests, privatized while the current PM Gruevski served as the Minister of Finance) and the biggest oil derivatives distributor Makpetrol, with the total revenues of EUR 512 million and EUR 350 million, respectively.

The prospects for the future seem bleak. According to the UNDP report “Assessing the Economic Impact of Climate Change,” Macedonia also faces numerous other challenges in the energy sector.

Social media users shared various kinds of data related to the fuel price increase, such as the table [mk] showing the elements that form the prices of fuel, originally from an Radio Free Europe article [mk] by Srgjan Stojanchov:

Elements of fuel prices in Macedonian Denars.

They also posted various reactions to ongoing developments with the fuel prices, and the most shared were the humorous responses, such as this joke: “Would you like to take your girlfriend someplace expensive? - Take her to a gas station!” The latest chuckle is a demotivation-style meme featuring the late Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito and a supposed laconic quote in Croatian:

Photo of Tito and a supposed quote: You say the gasoline got more expensive? Well, why don't you make a deal with the Non-Aligned countries?

During the Cold War, Tito was famous for striking a balance between Eastern and Western blocs, with Yugoslavia serving as a kind of a buffer, to the commercial benefit of its people. In 1961, he co-founded the Non-Aligned Movement, which included many oil-producing nations, resulting in favorable trade relations. A famous political-economic quote attributed to him (in the Lexicon of Yugoslav Mythology) is this: “The grain that we received from the Americans is much superior in quality to the grain the Soviets did not deliver.”

Macedonia: March for Peace Scheduled for Saturday, March 17

Filip Stojanovski — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 23:51:03 +0000

The people of multi-ethnic Macedonia are organizing a March for Peace this Saturday as an expression of concern that the recent hate crimes are a harbinger of civil war.

The march is scheduled for Saturday, March 17, 2012, at 2pm in Skopje City Park, and the word is being spread via this Facebook event [mk], Tweetvite event [mk], the Twitter account Zaedno za mir (Together for Peace) and the hashtags #PEACEmk, #ZaednoZaMir, #zzm or #marshnamirot.

The initiative [mk] is organized by activists and around 50 civil society organizations, with the involvement of artists and media personalities from all local ethnic groups who do not want to see a reprise of the 2001 conflict (also known as the “second halftime” [mk] concept). They say:

Together for Peace poster. The symbol of overlapping word balloons also spreads as a Facebook profile pic.

We are:
FOR Peace!
FOR Living together instead of living side by side!
FOR Calming of the tensions!
FOR The good of all people!
FOR Friendship!
FOR Society without violence!
Without prejudice and manipulation!
We welcome all who strive towards the reduction of the tensions and raising of the awareness of living together!
This is an issue of civic and human consciousness.
Let’s plant the seed of love.
We want it and we can do it!

The march comes as a reaction to a series of violent inter-ethnic developments, including slow [mk, sq] and controversial reactions by the authorities to the murder in Gostivar after/during an argument over parking space on February 28, the after-funeral protests and the stoning of select shops, followed by a series of violent incidents involving “spontaneous” “revenge” attacks - beatings of the passersby on the streets of several Macedonian cities and in the public transport in Skopje, leaving dozens of people with serious injuries.

All this was accompanied by biased media coverage, up to the level of open hate speech [mk] in most of the ethnically/linguistically-divided commercial media that remain operational. The period of the deterioration of the security situation in Macedonia started in late January, and was preceded by long-term efforts of nationalist mobilization instigated by the ruling ethnic Macedonian and ethnic Albanian parties within their “own” ethnic groups, and judicial “tradition” of impunity or leniency towards perpetrators of de facto hate crimes. (The concept of hate crime is not present as such within the Macedonian legal system, even though instigating ethnic or racial hatred is a felony.)

March for Peace poster by Nebojsha Galevski - Bane.

Participants of the initiative have been expressing their commitment to live together with their peers from different ethnic groups by providing translations of the call, and also by producing various other works. For instance, graphic designer Nebojsha Gelevski-Bane created the poster above, and theater and film director Srđan Janićijević posted another pro-peace graphic, and a video ad.

Macedonia: ‘Academic Solidarity' Against Free Speech and Scientific Method

Filip Stojanovski — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 22:39:11 +0000

[All links lead to Macedonian-language content, unless noted otherwise.]

A young woman, gender scholar, human rights activist and blogger, who dared to speak the truth to those in power in Macedonia and stood up against entrenched homophobia, ended up with a ruined academic career.

Irena Cvetkovik gained public prominence in 2007 through her intelligent and courageous writing about gender issues on her blog Femgerila – at the time, she was finishing her master's in the area. She also ran a literary blog featuring short, often erotic, stories, which was closed as part of a deal for publishing a book with the same content.

Photo of Irena Cvetkovik in 2007, used with permission.

Soon afterwards, she was recruited as a columnist for the daily Dnevnik, and gained wider “notoriety” among the conservative establishment – “earning” even a Facebook group with hundreds of members devoted to hating her as symbol of otherness, with some of the comments published in the “Black Book”, a project documenting the rise of hate speech in Macedonia during 2009 (.pdf, pg. 50-53, edited by media expert & blogger Roberto Beličanec, and mentioned in an earlier GV article on hate speech [en]). Here is the intro from the “Black Book”:

Irena has a strange surname. Irena is a feminist. Irena protests against building of a church. Irena can write. Irena can compose a meaningful sentence. Irena is young. Irena is educated. Irena is active. Irena is liberal. Irena is open. Irena is not powerful, at least not in political sense. Irena publicly supports the marginalized groups. Irena is female. Well, how can you not hate her?

Irena Cvetkovik is a person who, due to all of the above, become object of hate and a live example of the capacity for intolerance in Macedonia…

In June 2009, the pressure was raised to a higher level. Aleksandar Lambevski explained on the blog Sextures:

I write this blog due to all the justified fuss raised with Irena Cvetkovik's critique of the [high school] textbook “Pedagogy” by Marija Kostova, Aneta Barakovska and Eli Makazlieva published by Prosvetno Delo in 2005, regarding the way they presented sexuality, especially homosexuality and lesbianism as “reversals” of the “rightful” sexual institct. People with homosexual orientation are presented as “neurotic” and “psychotic” personalities (pg. 203). In her column, Irena Cvetkovik asked the authors to present any evidence from the recent scientific research published in reputable international scientific journals, scientific congresses, or validated by the relevant international or professional organizations, such as World Health Organization, American Psychiatric Association, etc. Simply put, Cvetkovik asked the textbook authors about the basis of their claims about homosexuals, lesbians, and people with different sexual orientations. This is the oldest academic procedure for methodological and epsitemiological validation. For this, Cvetkovik got a “libel” suit. (More info in her text re/published by Okno and Dnevnik, and the scan of the controversial textbook chapter. I apologize for the poor scan quality…)

As Katerina Kolozova previously noted in Dnevnik, the situation of moving a subject of informed public and academic debate to the courthouse is grotesque, tragic and very dangerous. What kind of social scientist, working in an allegedly open, democratic academic environment integrated into the world and Europe, needs to validate “the truth” about their “scientific” argument in court? And what kind of court, especially in Macedonia in 2010, is competent to justly differentiate between the theses of the textbook authors and Irena Cvetkovik's critiques, and decide that her stance, based on her expertise, is “libel”?

As part of the process of European integration, Macedonia was forced to adopt an anti-discrimination law, in which the ruling majority refused to include sexual orientation. The preparation of the initial text included the civil society, but in the end the Parliament adopted a completely changed Law, with very reduced competences. Žarko Trajanovski remarked that the ruling party used the debate about the law for “a homophobic campaign to spread fear and panic that protection from discrimination of the LGBT-persons would lead to legalization of incest, of polygamy, drugs…”:

Even when the law received explicit critique as non-European in the last progress report [2010 .pdf, pg. 19-20, en], the authorities responded in a homophobic manner (“We do not accept homosexuality as normal”). First, MP Jovan Ginev [a medical doctor] declared at a parliamentary session that homosexuality is a disease. Deputy PM Naumovski's conciliatory statement that “homosexuality is not a disease” sounded empty, after the deputy minister of labor and social policy diagnosed that “it is evident” that homosexuality “cannot be accepted as normal here.”

On the other hand, it is normal here for homophobic textbook authors to sue people fighting homophobia for insult and libel.

In March 2011, after a grueling court process, which incited protests against homophobia in Skopje, the judge finally decided that there were no grounds for libel in the case. In July 2011, the recently formed state Anti-Discrimination Commission issued a binding recommendation that the homophobic pedagogy textbook had to be changed.

Irena Cvetkovik in 2010.

In the meantime, Irena Cvetkovik ended her columnist engagement, pretty much stopped blogging, and focused on her academic career and family. She finished her master's and applied for a job at her alma mater, the University of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, where she already worked part-time. However, as prof. Mirjana Najchevska blogged in Sep. 2011,

I heard that the Philosophy Department had a call for junior assistants. I heard that the Institute of Gender Studies was supposed to employ an assistant. I heard that a commission was formed, and that it proposed a candidate who fit all the criteria, a person who already cooperated with the Institute. I heard that two professors who wrote an openly homophobic textbook and lost a defamation suit against a person who disagreed with them managed to mobilize all dark forces of the faculty and oppose the selection of the proposed candidate. I heard that insults of the lowest kind were spoken. I heard that many professors kept their mouths shut and failed to react. I also heard that the proposed candidate was not elected.

If my colleagues from the Philosophy Department indeed allowed this to happen, I - prof. Mirjana Najchevska, PhD - must admit that I feel terrible shame for them. Shame to work at a university that allows such things to pass. I think the whole University and our higher education has been infected by the VMRO syndrome. Either we'll regain consciousness and oppose it, or the darkness will swallow us one by one.

The rumor proved to be true, even though only one (foreign-based) media outlet - Radio Free Europe - dared to explore the story through two articles. The University Council refused Irena Cvetkovik's candidacy with 10 votes “for” and 41 members abstaining from voting, including the Dean who allegedly declared that he wouldn't vote at the beginning of the procedure. According to RFE,

Dean Goran Ajdinski admits that solidarity with the professors who had a quarrel with Cvetkovik resulted in the refusal of her candidacy.

“Yes, I showed solidarity with my colleague, whom I've known for more than 15 years. She is very respected by us, her colleagues, she is a good professor, the students and the colleagues love her. Maybe this was the tipping point in the decision to elect or not to elect an assistant.”

Still, he denied that he lobbied, pressured or incited “the quiet boycott” against Cvetkovik. He said that “after the professors discussed, I stated my position, but it is unbelievable that anyone can tell another person how to vote. The Dean, in my opinion, as a good Dean, must simply protect the interests of his colleagues.”

The Institute of Gender Studies did not choose another assistant. The competition was annulled. Cvetkovik says she does not plan to apply again, because she believes she has no chance of being elected, and that would also inconvenience the professors who supported her candidacy.

Only one other member of the university staff, prof. Biljana Vankovska, publicly expressed outrage through her weekly column in the Nova Makedonija daily. She explained that the procedure for delegating Council members reflects the level of democracy in the society, and is affected by politics, lobbying and support both within and outside of the institution. This form of management decides on behalf of the staff, who have no influence unless they are members. The Dean's response to her protests in this case was that her e-mails were “tiring and abnormal.” In a subsequent column she wrote that one of the Council members sent her an anonymous message advising that “one has to earn the position on the Council, which is not gained by spitting on the state, the institutions and the colleagues.”

Vankovska was the only employee of the Faculty of Philosophy who filed an official complaint to the Council. There was no reaction by the university or the state authorities in charge of the education system. No commercial media outlets, including the one publishing her columns, explored the case further.

Irena Cvetkovik currently works at the NGO Coalition “Sexual and health rights of marginalized communities.”

Macedonia: Blogirame.mk, a New Blog Aggregator

Filip Stojanovski — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 21:44:56 +0000

A new Macedonian blog aggregator Blogirame.mk (”We blog”) started working on Feb. 29, 2012. Founded by three popular twitterers/bloggers Pipo, Necovski and Iskric, and hailed by the community (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), it invites manual submitting of sites, which can be used as an indicator of the quantity of active bloggers. Almost 200 blogs have been enrolled so far. [All links are in Macedonian.]

Spain: Ten Years Without the Peseta

Filip Stojanovski — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 09:14:42 +0000

Biljana Veljanoska, a Macedonian woman living in Spain, wrote [mk] about the 10th anniversary of the introduction of the Euro, and the related PR campaign from 2001, which argued that prices will not increase. In general, they have increased (31%), more than the salaries (13%). On the other hand, prices for appliances and cars have Hodropped. Today “older people still count large amounts of money in [pesetas], while the young don't remember them.”

Macedonia: Animated Hitler Meme as a Free Resource

Filip Stojanovski — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:44:37 +0000

As a reaction to the corporate efforts to enact an even more draconian legislation and in response to the attempts of the distributor of the film Downfall to take down the Hitler meme on copyright grounds, Ribaro published [mk] an animated parody of the iconic scene, free for download and re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License.