Stories about North Macedonia from June, 2011
Macedonia: Spin of the Day
The blog Spin of the Day [mk] documents various attempts to taint the protests against police brutality by the Macedonian government officials and their media handlers.
Macedonia: Taboo on Protesting Against Police Brutality
Ribaro wrote [mk] that public figures and music “stars” of Macedonia act as if the protests against police brutality are taboo, evidenced by their lack of participation offline and online. Later he reported [mk] that immediately after tweeting about this article, 17 Twitter users unfollowed him (according to FriendorFollow.com).
Macedonia: New Parliament Assembles, Cements Election Victory for “Big Fish”
The newly-elected Macedonian Parliament held its initial session on Saturday, June 25, 2011. Its composition promises “more of the same” kind of politicking from the last few years.
Macedonia: .mk Twitter Republic
Protests continue in Macedonia, as the authorities keep silent about the people's demands of accountability, political responsibility and an end to police brutality. On Sunday, a new symbol was displayed by some protesters: the Macedonian flag with a Twitter logo on it, homage to the role of the Twitter community.
Europe: “Greek Drama Doesn't Transcend Hellenic Borders”
Luboš Motl of The Reference Frame writes about the current economic situation in Greece and how it affects (or doesn't affect) other countries: “All the hysteria is man-made and unjustifiable by the real data. The Greek default will be just a formality because in practice, it has occurred a long...
Macedonia: How the Protests Started
Tamara Atanasoska posts a personal account of the beginning of the protests against police brutality in Skopje, Macedonia: “We were walking, a handful of people, […] not knowing each other, hitting the streets to get attention. We just wanted an answer, someone to say what happened. We knew for sure...
Macedonia: Spreading the Word About the Protests, in Spanish
Sina (meaning “Blue female”) started a blog to spread the word about the protests against police brutality to a wider global audience. Her first post is in Spanish.
Macedonia: Half a Decade of Blogging
Zoriv has just celebrated [mk] five years of blogging. During that time, he has produced 2,031 post and received 16,793 comments, showing by example that a regular citizen can maintain media presence, persistently braving “the crisis” in the Macedonian blogosphere.
Macedonia: Pro-Government Media Promote Protest Impostors
On the eve of the big protest against police brutality scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Skopje, several pro-government media outlets tried to manipulate the public by showing an anti-opposition announcement by a fake group of protestors.
Macedonia: Gathering Prohibited in a Public Space?
Vnukot informs that the Ministry of Culture has forbidden the protesters to gather on a small square behind the memorial house of Mother Teresa, violating their right to free assembly enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia.
Macedonia: Protest Achievements So Far
As more people act upon the awareness that the increasing visibility abroad or among foreigners within Macedonia is an important aspect of the ongoing protests, translations and original tweets/blog posts in various languages begin to appear, providing a more comprehensive picture of the developments.
Macedonia: Twitter as a Vehicle for the Protests
NewMediaMk has published an infographic about the use of Twitter by members of the Macedonian protest movement against police brutality.
Macedonia: Concerns Over Anti-Protest Collusion of Facebook and Police
The people currently protesting against police brutality in Macedonia have published an Open Letter to Facebook, expressing concern over “swift deletion policy” of their Facebook pages and events on behalf of the Ministry of the Interior under excuse that they promote violence. This hampers the peaceful demonstrations, which, by definition,...
Macedonia: Reasons for Protesting
Bloggers from Macedonia consider the historical significance of the current protests against police brutality, in the context of democracy development.
Macedonia: Spreading the Word About Protest and Civic Journalism
IT.com.mk has published an interview [mk] about civic journalism with Vnukot, the blogger who is providing a consistent coverage of the protests against police brutality in Skopje. Also, Al Jazeera has scheduled [mk] an interview with him during the evening of June 13 (around 9 p.m. CET).
Macedonia: Protests Against Police Brutality/Murder Cover-Up Spread
Macedonians have been protesting for 5 days online and offline in Skopje, urging the authorities to "solve" the murder of a young man by a police officer who served as a high-ranking official's bodyguard. On Friday, youth from other cities - Bitola, Strumica, Kochani - took to the streets, too.
Macedonia: Shameless Refusal to Accept Responsibility
Andre Valé, a Portuguese living in Macedonia, wrote about the smoke-screen by responsible authorities, their media cronies, and the interior minister's “shameless” refusal to accept political responsibility for the killing of Martin Neshkovski at the celebration of the election victory by the ruling party, which leads the country down a...
Macedonia: Reminders of Unresolved Killings
Human rights activists have been spurred by the scandalous attempt to cover up the killing of Martin Neshkovski, which occured at the post-election celebration in Skopje, to remind about other cases of abuse of power by all recent rulers of Macedonia, such as torture by the system [mk], including police...
Macedonia: More Anti-Police Brutality Rallies Planned
Elizabeth Flock of The Washington Post's BlogPost and Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing write about the protests against police brutality in Skopje; more reactions to the disturbing situation are at Reddit.com; GV posts are here, here, and here. In Skopje, protesters are planning to resume the rally at 6 p.m....
Macedonia: Online Community Prevents Murder Cover-Up
As announced, non-violent protests against brutal killing of a young man on Sunday continued on June 7 in Skopje. The police announced they would monitor social networks for troublemakers. Filip Stojanovski reports.
Macedonia: Propaganda Blitz Re: Opposition Leader's Arrest
Ljube Boškoski, the leader of the opposition party United for Macedonia, was sentenced to 30 days in police custody [mk] on allegations of illegal campaign financing. The Interior Ministry published [mk] a video clip of the humiliating arrest that took place a day after the elections. Human rights expert Mirjana...