Stories from and

Unlivable Conditions in Macedonian Student Dorms Worsen

  17 September 2015

The Student Plenum, a grassroots movement fighting for the rights of university students in Macedonia, published new photos of the unlivable conditions that students in Macedonia's capital of Skopje live in. The movement has steadily been following the situation in the state-owned student dorms and has called on the state...

Municipal Referendum to Preserve Skopje Shopping Centre Scheduled

  30 March 2015

The local council of the Municipality of Centar, part of the Skopje downtown area, approved a proposal to hold a referendum to preserve the authentic look of the iconic Skopje Shopping Center. As Meta.mk reports, the referendum will take place on April 26. For the referendum to be successful, it needs a...

Documenting the Systematic Decline of Women's Rights in Macedonia

  25 March 2015

Although southeast European countries are progressive in many other ways, the decline of women's reproductive rights in some Western Balkan countries has been a worrying trend. In Macedonia, several small protests have been held in recent years to demonstrate people's opposition to government involvement in determining public sentiment on issues...

Macedonian Journalist Describes How It Feels to Be Subject of State Surveillance

Advox  23 March 2015

Prominent investigative journalist Meri Jordanovska wrote a testimony about her experience on receiving evidence that she was one of allegedly twenty thousand individuals who have been subjected to state surveillance in Macedonia. In an op-ed on Balkan Insight, Jordanovska explains: Each report on one of my wiretapped conversations was true:...

Hooligans Crash LGBT Community Celebration in Macedonia

  29 October 2014

Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) was among the very few media to report about an attack on the second anniversary celebration of the center for support of the LGBT community in a cafe in the Old Bazaar are of Skopje. On October 23, 2014, some 20 hooded young men attacked...

Traveling Duo Visits Macedonia for 3 Months

  9 September 2014

Traveling duo Jürgen Horn from Germany and Mike Powell from the United States wander around the world by picking a country and staying there for three months, or about 91 days. During their three-month stays, the two globe-trotters attempt to experience life in their new location more thoroughly than a...

Documenting Nationalistic Hate Speech in Macedonian Media

  26 August 2014

Human rights expert, activist, and blogger Žarko Trajanoski published a series of analyses about nationalistic, right-wing hate speech in Macedonian media, often veiled as “patriotic” speech. „Патриотскиот“ говор на омраза е препознатлив по намерата за разгорување, поттикнување, или оправдување на омраза кон внатрешните и надворешните „непријатели“. Во основата на ваквиот...

Macedonian Police Harass Journalists Covering Protests

  26 August 2014

Police harassment of media seems to have become a regular occurrence in Macedonia, which has included the detainment and sentencing of some journalists in the country. On August 25, 2014, Macedonian Nova TV journalists were harassed and “stopped from doing their jobs” by police officers while covering protests held in...

Artists Explore the ‘Melting Point’ of Art and Propaganda in Skopje

  19 July 2014

A not-for-profit, self-financed group of artists calling themselves Kooperacija (“Cooperation”, Macedonian slang for a general store in small villages) hosted an exhibition titled “Melting Point: Art as Anti-Hegemonic Propaganda” [en, mk, with photos] in Skopje recently. As reported [mk] by several news outlets that cover culture [mk], including Belgrade-based SEE...

Albanian Activists Condemn ‘Terrorist’ Murder Verdict in Macedonia

  3 July 2014

Balkan Insight reports that an ethnic Albanian NGO in Macedonia has condemned a recent court verdict convicting six Albanian men for the execution-style murder of five ethnic Macedonians on Christian Orthodox Easter in 2012. The NGO claims that the entire investigation and verdict were politically-motivated and set against the six...

Macedonian Site Takes Satirical Stance on Freedom of Expression Issues

  16 May 2014

Macedonia has a long tradition of humor, caricatures and satire, including hosting of the World Gallery of Cartoons. With the appearance of new media, many aphorisms and satirical tales are now modified into tweets and Facebook statuses, while the classical forms of caricatures, jokes, and short stories have given way...

Macedonian Medical Students Live in Medieval Conditions

  15 May 2014

Independent student magazine Izlez (Exit) published photo galleries originally posted by students Dena Miladinoska and Kristina Ivanova [mk] of the state-run dorm for medical students at the University of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Skopje. The students posted the photographs of the desolate living conditions in an attempt to incite...

Serbia Mourns British-Serbian Legend Timothy John Byford

  11 May 2014

Author, actor, educator, television and film director Timothy John Byford died in Belgrade on May 5, 2014, after a long illness. Born in Salisbury, England, Byford spent most of his life in Belgrade, where he moved in 1971 and later became a naturalized citizen of Serbia. As news portal InSerbia...

Macedonian Blogger Warns About Resurgent Neo-Nazi Iconography

  11 May 2014

Commemorating Victory in Europe Day, Macedonian blog Anfas (“en face“) recently documenting images used by Facebook users to warn about resurgent fascism in a post titled “Images of shame – Current Macedonian Neo-Nazi Iconography”. The blogger also explained the importance of raising awareness of resurgent neo-Nazi iconography in Macedonia: Овој...

Fans in Skopje Gather to Exchange Football Stickers

  30 April 2014

Hundreds of people gathered on Sunday afternoon in a downtown park in Skopje to exchange stickers of the official Football FIFA World Cup album on April 28, 2014. In Macedonia, as in other countries of the former Yugoslavia, the tradition of collecting stickers is decades long, dating back at least...