Home >> Europe >> The Balkans

     Email   Print 

Macedonian Identity and Macedonian Authoritarianism

Igor Siljanoski - 10/15/2011

Response to:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/world/europe/concerns-grow-about-authoritarianism-in-macedonia.html


Dear Matthew,

I would like to respond to your article published in the New York Times and titled “Concerns Grow About Authoritarianism in Macedonia.”

I will start with what I find problematic in the article but I will also not omit any praise. In essence, the article seems to strive for journalistic balance but it never achieves this tenet. I wish the article was only about the freedom of the press and the need for reform in Macedonia because that is about the only take it has on a legitimate issue.

The authoritarian claim has never been demonstrated other than the will of the governing party regarding building monuments could not be challenged and proceeded despite opposition. The closing of a TV station is also hardly a proof of authoritarianism. The elections in June were arguably the most democratic since the independence of the country and were not contested by the opposition. Are you truly saying that the “sinister anti-democratic current, according to domestic critics and international observers” is either the result of or is caused by the governing party’s third consecutive mandate in June elections? It would take a more involved scientific research by a political scientist to determine a democratic deficit, let alone an authoritarian state of affairs in Macedonia. Your article does not have the proof nor is alluding to a proof other than the word of “domestic and international observers.”

The second problematic aspect of the article is reinforcing a judgment on the affairs of the country based on two reports that are anything but neutral and who are motivated by a political agenda. The International Crisis group is so discredited by everyone in Macedonia that the journalists there did not write any response to its latest report that you are quoting. The second source of criticism, the EU report on the progress of Macedonia toward the EU membership has for the first time the potential to fundamentally reshape the country’s relationship with the EU. While critical of the unfinished reforms in Macedonia, it does not mention Macedonians, their national identity or even the constitutional name of their country once. It is the most chauvinistic act and paper issued by the EU about the Macedonian state to date.

Furthermore, the current behavior of virtually all EU states today toward Macedonia is abhorrent. The EU itself takes a heavily biased approach benefiting Greece and their well known approach toward Macedonia. Unless I am completely misinformed, Macedonia’s identity could not be alienating any Macedonian friends in the E.U. as the country does not appear to have any friends there. That is precisely the point. You are playing right into the core incompetency of the EU to live up to its own principles (other than blind solidarity which is a philosophical flaw that is degrading EU from within as well as externally).

Your language (retooling, hyper-patriotism, quirky national soul-searching etc.) is not about freedom of the press, authoritarianism or democracy. It is about negating the existence of the Macedonian nation, a sin that far outpaces how many monuments those people built and who their national heroes are. There is nothing artificial about the existence of Macedonians, their identity and their nationality and nothing more sinister or more in violation of human rights as denial of the same. Although I trust this was not your intention, the article feels like it has Greek fingers all over it, even quoting from a professor whose name is and loyalty likely is Greek. Even the incident with the journalists in Brussels does not serve the truth, as key elements of that incident (Well reported in the Macedonian media) reveal discriminatory remarks by a Greek-German European parliamentarian. The whole affair is steeped in intent to demonstrate authoritarian plans in the republic but it is a continuation of the denial of the rights of Macedonians in Europe’s highest institutions.

When you talk about the pivotal (for your argument) event of the closure of the A1 media and affiliated newspapers you are reporting that the government defended the closing on the basis of violations of tax laws and mention that those nameless critics argued that the pro-government media have never been audited. It is a far cry from a thorough treatment of the event that was the tip of the iceberg in a complex, long standing situation in Macedonia. For the article it is one more nugget of information treated as evidence. Violating of tax laws could mean for example not signing a tax return in the right spot on a document but here you should be reporting about shortchanging the state treasure of millions of Euros for many years with impunity. You don’t mention that the media owner was a close friend and associate of the leader of the official opposition party and that it is this fact that makes it political for domestic critics.

Finally, you criticize the government for not being democratic or inclusive, and for being one national. Yet the existence of Albanian parties does not strike anyone as anything but legitimate. Macedonia, for better or worse is a democracy. That the political culture of Macedonia is still in development is neither unique nor troublesome. The rise of authoritarianism in your article is only linked to the rise of the Macedonian nation building by the current government. It is also a reaction to the unprecedented challenges you as a journalist and many in the EU are throwing at the young state. You must realize that this reaction is an easy target if you want to undermine the Macedonian state and the legitimacy of its existence as a state of the Macedonians, a European nation that is under attack by that same Europe. I don’t have to tell you how damaging and unfair your article is to the Macedonians.

For the praise, look nowhere else but the use of our name. At least you are not like the EU that left the Macedonians nameless and faceless in an act of high violation of the fundamental human rights. I thank you for your use of our name and don’t think for a second that there is retooling of identity in authoritarian Macedonia. The nation survived many authoritarian regimes before, if need be it will survive its own authoritarian regime.

Best regards,

Igor Siljanoski
M.A. Political Science and International Relations
Igor.siljanoski@gmail.com