There are two opposed phenomena in Republic of Macedonia. The first one is the cultural shock coming as a tendency of emancipation and urbanization of the Albanians, and the second one, the political trauma, as a reaction of what is preparing as a anti-policy against this phenomen.
I would like to say that a lot of definitions have been presented here on what is the political culture. It was said that it is a relation of the individual towards institutions, relation of the individual towards the country, a relation of the collectivity towards institutions, countries. They can be integrating, they can be traditional etc. And I have an impression that this tribune is about the political dialogue of the political leaders, not about the medium dialogue, as our colleague mentioned, a dialogue of intellectuals, civil society, but most important, too – a dialogue of the people.
We are in a situation with many confrontations and polarizations in the political life about two projects, such as “Skopje 2014” is, and lately we have one more, in Kumanovo. And we are far from reaching the essence of the problem, we are just watching the political actors, who masterly use some of their abilities causing consequences in order to keep or perhaps, gain power. And all argumentation is being based on conclusions that VMRO-DPMNE is a totalitarian national party, SDSM is a weak party and cannot play the role of an opposition, DUI is a weak party in power and does not accomplishes the task as an Albanian political party, DPA is out of institutions etc., and nobody wants to see what is happening in Macedonia. There are so many indicators showing that what is going on with “Skopje 2014” is just a consequence of more profound processes that are going on in the Macedonian society.
By my opinion, there are two opposed phenomena in Republic of Macedonia. The first one is the cultural shock coming as a tendency of emancipation and urbanization of the Albanians, and the second one, the political trauma, as a reaction of what is being prepared as an anti-policy against this phenomenon.
Republic of Macedonia has been changed since 2001. There is no office without Albanians and Macedonians, there is no army and police without Albanians and Macedonians together. But what is going on? While ones are simply talking about family staff, the others do not understand and fear is growing – “what are they talking about?” The other can understand them whether they are talking about family staff or politics and he is not afraid. That is why the inquiries show that 70% of the Macedonians are not ready to live together with the Albanians, whilst only 40% of the Albanians do not have that readiness. And, certainly, the political party endeavors to use that fear, which is a result of the first contact of the two cultures, for political objectives. Macedonians are afraid, and here I am to build a monument of Alexander, Goce, they are here to protect you and you can feel safe that, as said by one of the leaders, that is, the ex prime minister, the “albanization of Macedonia” is not going to happen. We are your guarantee for this situation. Furthermore, not because of one understanding the other, we promote a type of a project for learning Macedonian language in first grade in the Albanian schools, allegedly absolutely in behalf of the Albanians. However, we forget that this project awakens the Albanian trauma, sends them back in the ‘80’s, when the process of complete closings of the Albanian schools has begun.
And in this game we are all put in fan roles – “being for or against”. And by immense simplification of the processes, consciously or unconsciously, we are strengthening the power of the political leaders.
Macedonia needs profound debate on all levels. Why are we surprised by the events in Kumanovo? A year ago, at this very place, I have presented results of a scientific research that was satisfactory because 95% of the Macedonian citizens are for European Union. But when we are presenting the results we do not tell that to the question why you want to be in the European Union, over 50% responded that it is because of the visa regime, so they can leave looking for a job. This is what is happening to Macedonia. However, the political leaders are not there when presenting these results. The political leaders prefer a boxing dialogue, they go for a victory with 8:2, or at least, they say, we could have the neutral actors, the judges, in this particular case the international community, to be on my side. And that is why we have them here today, because the ambassadors are here. If the ambassadors leave, I am sure that no representative of the political parties will stay to hear the opinion of the civil society. That is a dialogue in which the objective is not a 6:6 result and the total to be 12 for the country and society, but an 8:2 result in my or your favor, following a sum of 10, instead of 12.
Macedonia needs a more profound reform, more profound dialogue, started by the ones that communicate directly. By doing so, they will take away the strength and influence and remove the concentration of the state from the political leaders. Our debate should be in this direction, no matter how and what our politicians debate about.
(Rizvan Sulejmani is the Vice-President of the Euro-Atlantic Council of Macedonia)
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