Post by Komita on Nov 10, 2004 18:37:33 GMT -5
Macedonia: A Primer for Democracy in Multiethnic Setting
By Nikola Gruevski
VMRO-DPMNE, President
November 8th 2004, Skopje
It has finished. The Macedonian government can take a deep breath and relax for one week. They "won" and now, only the minor problems remain. How to move the economy forward, how to downsize the enormous public administration, how to provide conditions for more competitive business environment, how keep home or bring back the well educated young persons, and how to increase the employment. Peace of cake one would say. Perhaps the government was preoccupied with the referendum and could not tackle the mentioned agenda. Perhaps this is true. But in any case, now when the job of defeating the citizenÂ’s initiative has been completed, one should face the grim reality of the socio-economic circumstances at which Macedonia stands at the moment.
During the campaign, we (VMRO-DPMNE) were accused of being a nationalist party that is against granting of greater rights to the Albanian population in the country. Regardless of our numerous articles, letters and communication with the international media, journalists and diplomats, one should take into consideration that it is very easy to "sell" a nationalistic label to a right wing political party in the Balkan region. Such stories increase the circulation of the papers and the importance of the journalist who wrote the article.
Who would believe you that, contrary to assertions that you are ‘extremist’(sic) or ‘nationalist’(sic) you actually argued for the benefit of all citizens of Macedonia? Frankly, after the referendum results are being ascertained is seems that "only" 500 000 citizens believed. Now, one wonders, is it true that in a country such as Macedonia you have so many nationalists, half a million citizens, a quarter of the whole population that is? No, we would argue that things are not as they appears to be. Casting their ballots at the referendum these people wanted to express their dissatisfaction with a bad government decision making, a flawed Law on Territorial Division of Macedonia. Never mind the flawed law, never mind the irregularities at the polling stations on Sunday, we accept the results and would like to move forward.
However, I must draw your attention to the now long past the days of the riots in Struga and the reporting of the international media. New York Times and their already regionally infamous journalist Nicholas Wood erroneously claimed that Macedonians citizens attacked Albanian-owned shops and property. The reactions of the Macedonian citizens were furious and the news which has misled the international media opinion was withdrawn, although with certain delay (5 weeks). Still as expected, this initial reporting contributed towards the biased shaping of the international media coverage of the referendum.
This week we witnessed another round of international media coverage. As you could have expected one of the leaders of the pack is again Mr. Wood with two articles published just before and after the referendum on Sunday. Not surprisingly the new headline is "Anti-Albanian Macedonian vote appears to fail." Knowing the results of the SundayÂ’s vote we are led to believe that the world and the Albanian community can relax. We are led to believe that although the danger was apparent now there is no more threat to the Albanians in Macedonia.
Now that the referendum has failed we will join hands together and walk along the streets of Struga, Kicevo, and Skopje just to show our commitment to leave next to each other, in peace, integration and prosperity. My concerns and sympathies now go with Mr. Wood. What would be his next title when the multiethnic relations in the country become so enjoyable, apart from few guns and territories nobody can control?
It is not only NYT reporting. There are a number of other articles and reports like Daily Telegraph who claimed that we are "hard line nationalists" or, Financial Times with headlined of articles reporting the possibility of awakening "Macedonian demons". I just wonder who they (demons) might be. Are these headlines for real?
Many questions will remain unanswered regarding the international media reporting on Macedonia during the referendum campaign. What strikes me most is the poor response of the government in defense of its own people. We hear no news or reaction by the government in any of the foreign media that this is not a nationalistic referendum, and that Macedonians are not against the rights of Albanian population. Rather, the government was eager to blame its own people for nationalism in order to pursue with its own agenda and maintain the fragile government coalition. Well, the prize was too high and such deliberately poor government communication damaged the image of ever peaceful ethnic Macedonian citizens, badly.
One does not to have a proficiency in rocket science to realize that almost half of the non -Albanian citizens were against the governmentÂ’s new law.
Regardless of the referendum results, we (VMRO-DPMNE) will keep up responding to the biased international media coverage and try to remove the wrongly imposed label from our name.
We as a leading opposition party are proud that we supported the referendum initiative.
It is an appreciation of the wider public that the referendum accelerated one of the most important decisions in the modern Macedonian history. The decision by reelected US President Bush officially to recognize the constitutional name of Republic of Macedonia.
Furthermore, this is the first time in the history of the countries that emerged from the collapse of former Yugoslavia, that the international community and media opposed the citizensÂ’ use of legitimate means to check a disputed governmentÂ’s decision. Again, for a dozen times we argue that the opposition stands were not nationalistic, but based on relevant economic and social grounds in order to provide more sustainable law on the territorial organization of the country.
Sunday November 7th 2004 was a great day for all citizens. The day was better for those of us, who despite the numerous obstacles went out and cast their votes.
The vote was a contribution towards development of Macedonian and regional multiethnic democracy and should be appreciated as such and not as a threat to the stability of the country.
By Nikola Gruevski
VMRO-DPMNE, President
November 8th 2004, Skopje
It has finished. The Macedonian government can take a deep breath and relax for one week. They "won" and now, only the minor problems remain. How to move the economy forward, how to downsize the enormous public administration, how to provide conditions for more competitive business environment, how keep home or bring back the well educated young persons, and how to increase the employment. Peace of cake one would say. Perhaps the government was preoccupied with the referendum and could not tackle the mentioned agenda. Perhaps this is true. But in any case, now when the job of defeating the citizenÂ’s initiative has been completed, one should face the grim reality of the socio-economic circumstances at which Macedonia stands at the moment.
During the campaign, we (VMRO-DPMNE) were accused of being a nationalist party that is against granting of greater rights to the Albanian population in the country. Regardless of our numerous articles, letters and communication with the international media, journalists and diplomats, one should take into consideration that it is very easy to "sell" a nationalistic label to a right wing political party in the Balkan region. Such stories increase the circulation of the papers and the importance of the journalist who wrote the article.
Who would believe you that, contrary to assertions that you are ‘extremist’(sic) or ‘nationalist’(sic) you actually argued for the benefit of all citizens of Macedonia? Frankly, after the referendum results are being ascertained is seems that "only" 500 000 citizens believed. Now, one wonders, is it true that in a country such as Macedonia you have so many nationalists, half a million citizens, a quarter of the whole population that is? No, we would argue that things are not as they appears to be. Casting their ballots at the referendum these people wanted to express their dissatisfaction with a bad government decision making, a flawed Law on Territorial Division of Macedonia. Never mind the flawed law, never mind the irregularities at the polling stations on Sunday, we accept the results and would like to move forward.
However, I must draw your attention to the now long past the days of the riots in Struga and the reporting of the international media. New York Times and their already regionally infamous journalist Nicholas Wood erroneously claimed that Macedonians citizens attacked Albanian-owned shops and property. The reactions of the Macedonian citizens were furious and the news which has misled the international media opinion was withdrawn, although with certain delay (5 weeks). Still as expected, this initial reporting contributed towards the biased shaping of the international media coverage of the referendum.
This week we witnessed another round of international media coverage. As you could have expected one of the leaders of the pack is again Mr. Wood with two articles published just before and after the referendum on Sunday. Not surprisingly the new headline is "Anti-Albanian Macedonian vote appears to fail." Knowing the results of the SundayÂ’s vote we are led to believe that the world and the Albanian community can relax. We are led to believe that although the danger was apparent now there is no more threat to the Albanians in Macedonia.
Now that the referendum has failed we will join hands together and walk along the streets of Struga, Kicevo, and Skopje just to show our commitment to leave next to each other, in peace, integration and prosperity. My concerns and sympathies now go with Mr. Wood. What would be his next title when the multiethnic relations in the country become so enjoyable, apart from few guns and territories nobody can control?
It is not only NYT reporting. There are a number of other articles and reports like Daily Telegraph who claimed that we are "hard line nationalists" or, Financial Times with headlined of articles reporting the possibility of awakening "Macedonian demons". I just wonder who they (demons) might be. Are these headlines for real?
Many questions will remain unanswered regarding the international media reporting on Macedonia during the referendum campaign. What strikes me most is the poor response of the government in defense of its own people. We hear no news or reaction by the government in any of the foreign media that this is not a nationalistic referendum, and that Macedonians are not against the rights of Albanian population. Rather, the government was eager to blame its own people for nationalism in order to pursue with its own agenda and maintain the fragile government coalition. Well, the prize was too high and such deliberately poor government communication damaged the image of ever peaceful ethnic Macedonian citizens, badly.
One does not to have a proficiency in rocket science to realize that almost half of the non -Albanian citizens were against the governmentÂ’s new law.
Regardless of the referendum results, we (VMRO-DPMNE) will keep up responding to the biased international media coverage and try to remove the wrongly imposed label from our name.
We as a leading opposition party are proud that we supported the referendum initiative.
It is an appreciation of the wider public that the referendum accelerated one of the most important decisions in the modern Macedonian history. The decision by reelected US President Bush officially to recognize the constitutional name of Republic of Macedonia.
Furthermore, this is the first time in the history of the countries that emerged from the collapse of former Yugoslavia, that the international community and media opposed the citizensÂ’ use of legitimate means to check a disputed governmentÂ’s decision. Again, for a dozen times we argue that the opposition stands were not nationalistic, but based on relevant economic and social grounds in order to provide more sustainable law on the territorial organization of the country.
Sunday November 7th 2004 was a great day for all citizens. The day was better for those of us, who despite the numerous obstacles went out and cast their votes.
The vote was a contribution towards development of Macedonian and regional multiethnic democracy and should be appreciated as such and not as a threat to the stability of the country.