Sunday, March 20, 2011

Anastas Vangeli: INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE RIGHTS

It is unallowable for someone to be an atheist today, to be non-heterosexual, to be pro-choice when it comes to abortion, and most important of all, to be against tendency of getting ethnic, molding and homogenization in general.
I assume that the political dialogue is too mystified, particularly as a dialogue between political elites, political parties and political leaders. Certainly, that dialogue between the political elites and parties is significant for the country progress and should not be undermined, but what is more significant for me is the situation of the social dialogue in a broader sense. A bigger problem is that spirit of disrespect for diversities and intolerance prevails.
I disagree with the fact that we are experiencing fragmentation currently in society only on ethnic, religious or any identification basis. Yes, it is a consensus between certain political elites, the Macedonian and the Albanian, MPC [Macedonian Orthodox Church] and IVZ [Islamic Religious Community]. According to them, those are the categories within which they thin and by which they want to frame us all. However, in my opinion, it is a tendency for homogenization, imposing frames – one could not participate in that imaginary dialogue unless he/she is accepting those values. Otherwise, he/she is deprived of his/her political rights! Unfortunately, this tendency of taking away the right of publicly expressing opinion is not just a party tendency, but refers to a much wider range of society and social layers.
Today, for instance, it is unallowable for someone to be an atheist, to be non-heterosexual, to be pro-choice when it comes to abortion, and most important of all, to be against that tendency of getting ethnic, of molding and homogenization in general. That means that the individual autonomy and the right to diversity is not respected. For instance, the right of not having an ethnic identity is not respected. If you support those positions, then you do not participate in the political dialogue. You are simply a renegade. As examples here, are the appeals for lynch by certain media, even by some political factors, referring to the gathering of the gay-population, the atheists, the Sorosoids, to politically unsuitable characters... It is a sort of a conglomerate which, in some dark times as well as now, we want to see as the most serious danger to the “healthy” society tissue.
As long as we do not recognize that these problems exist, and we don’t, until then, we cannot solve them. We cannot say that if there is a debate – it means that there is a political dialogue, or if there are protests – it means that there is democracy; that is if we allow them organizing a parade of tolerance – it means there is no discrimination. That certainly, is not the way of solving the problems. Individual autonomy is the one that should be respected and developed. Instead of discussing about the dialogue between some collectives or groups of people, simply, primary significance should be given to the individual. By my opinion, it is fatal that even in the 21-st century, we are still at a stage of determination as patriots and traitors.
(Anastas Vangeli is an analyst)

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