Stories from Quick Reads and Macedonian
Unlivable Conditions in Macedonian Student Dorms Worsen
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...
Macedonian Activist Ends Hunger Strike for Migrant Rights
On Saturday, June 20, human rights expert and activist Suad Missini ended the hunger strike he started six days prior in protest of inhumane treatment of migrants passing through Macedonia. Mr. Missini issued the following statement [links added]: While the effects of the changes of the Asylum Law are yet to...
Human Rights Activist Begins Hunger Strike for Migrants in Front of Macedonian Parliament
The growing migration crisis has recently also affected countries in southeastern Europe, with new issues arising almost daily. Reacting to the inhumane treatment of migrants who pass through Republic of Macedonia, renowned human rights activist Suad Missini started a hunger strike in front of the Parliament building in Skopje. He began...
Municipal Referendum to Preserve Skopje Shopping Centre Scheduled
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
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 NGO Develops First Ever Android and iOS App to Battle Hate Speech
Macedonian Metamorphosis Foundation has developed a first among mobile applications – an app against hate speech, aiming to bring information from this area to the fingertips of mobile phone users and help them battle this odious occurrence on the Internet. The app, available for free download both Android and iOS users, was...
Documenting Nationalistic Hate Speech in Macedonian Media
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
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
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...
Macedonian Site Takes Satirical Stance on Freedom of Expression Issues
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
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...
Macedonian Blogger Warns About Resurgent Neo-Nazi Iconography
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...
Investigative Journalists Report on Macedonian Government Official's Hidden Wealth
The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), together with Macedonian Nova TV and the Czech Center for Investigative Journalism published an investigative piece about the amassed wealth of the head of Macedonian Secret Service Sasho Mijalkov, who also happens to be a first cousin to the current Prime Minister...
Fans in Skopje Gather to Exchange Football Stickers
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...
Macedonia 2014 Elections Quick Reference Guide
April 2014 is election season in Macedonia, casting votes for a new president and a new parliament. This short article lists the basic information and online resources.
Suspected Government #SelfieMacedonia Campaign Backfires
A Facebook campaign with the hashtag #SelfieMacedonia was launched in March 2014 and Macedonian social media users now suspect that the country's government is behind it all. Bouts of young social media users from Macedonia, individually or in groups, have been taking photos of themselves, typically called “selfies”, and sharing...
Macedonian Government to Introduce Internet Filtering
Airborne blog commented on the Macedonian government's plan to set up a new company to provide online betting and other gambling to residents of Macedonia: The plan will involve “disabling of betting/gambling online games on foreign web sites”. This blockade is set to last two years beginning in March 2014....
Activists Add Female Heroines to Wikipedia in Macedonian
The informal citizens’ group “Fight Like a Woman”, (@borisezenski), organized a mini marathon with the purpose of adding articles about notable women from Macedonia to Wikipedia in Macedonian to raise awareness about women's rights and gender equality. The campaign involved activists working within the site of International Women's Day celebrations...
Macedonian Students Campaign Against Unlivable Conditions in Dormitories
Macedonian students demanding better life conditions in public university dormitories published a blog entitled “Operacija studentski” [mk] (“Operation Dorm”) displaying photos of everyday life in the facilities and urging students to contribute. Many of the photos show highly inadequate living conditions in the student dormitories. The blog and photos have...
New Macedonian Public Service Campaign Calls Drug Users “Mules”
Over the last seven years, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia has spent undisclosed amounts of taxpayers money to produce and air public service campaigns against drug use and drug trafficking. A new campaign has been launched by the government, calling drug users “mules”. Artist Ines Efremova tweeted: Слоганот...
Macedonia's Strumica Carnival Continues 350-Year Tradition
The Strumica Carnival took place in Macedonia from March 1-3, 2014. This traditional celebration [mk] was first mentioned as early as 1670 by Ottoman travel writer Evliya Çelebi and this year was featured by NBC News in a report about twelve similar events around the world. Photo-activist Vanco Dzambaski shared...