FYROM: Report from the Massive Opposition Rally in Skopje
The long-time planned protest in Skopje by variety of opposition groups, scheduled for Sunday, 17th of May, took place with participants from all over FYROM. Although many reports were heard that police stopped buses and other forms of mass transport for ‘technical exam’, the turnout of citizens from the interior of FYROM was high. The concept to let the option for presence open to all citizens which are dissatisfied by Gruevski’s policies, regardless of ethnic or religious affinity or political orientation was fruitful and was reflected in the plurality of representatives who spoke at the platform erected in front of the heavily-policed governmental building. FYROM, Turkish and Roma flags were prominent in the décor of the protests. Two mottoes were characteristic of the rally – “doѓame! (we arrive!)” and „ostavka“ (resignation).
The initial speeches were held by student’s leaders – in FYROM Slavic and Albanian languages, which rejected political motive and said that they fight party nepotism and attempt to put university student’s population under the control of the government. The government was blamed by students that it is a cleptocracy that doesn’t care about declining student standard. A number of prominent figures from left’s cultural life greeted the event as a culmination of dozens of previous smaller protests organized in opposition to particular issues. The main concept seems to be opposition to particular acts and policies of Gruevski’s government as his negative ideas and not opposition to his mixture of pseudo-conservatism and ethnocentric policies.
Many prominent ranking individual figures, probably due to calculation that these policies, with or without Gruevski, shall remain an option for some number of citizens, decided not to attack them, instead focusing on the more obvious „black and white“ mistakes by Gruevski’s regime. The long-standing accusation by VMRO-DPMNE that the opposition is “anti-patriotic”, resulted in promotion of “makedonski” nationalism of universalistic and civil character. One promoter of nationalist tendencies on the rally was former diplomat Nikola Dimitrov (son of ethnic-Bulgarian nationalist and intellectual Dimitar Dimitrov) from the dissident ranks of VMRO-DPMNE.
Albanian civil right activists Petrit Saračini said that Gruevski’s 9 years of rule violated the constitutionally guaranteed civil sovereignty of the country, speaking in both Albanian and Slavic. After him, journalist, organized in an improvised rock band played songs in memory of Nikola Mladenov, investigative journalist who died under suspicious circumstances in 2013. Among foreign guests who joined citizens of FYROM in sign of solidarity, EU politician Richard Howitt was attending the rally as well as Sergej Stanišev, former Bulgarian Prime Minister. Stanišev spoke to the assembled people in English as a representative of European socialists, closing his warmly received speech in Bulgarian language, adressing the present people as „brother and sisters“ which was welcomed with ovations.
Zoran Zaev, the leader of the opposition Social-Democratic Union was the last official speaker, calling on unity beyond all social groups for the sake of removal of Gruevski. Calling Gruevski a tyrant and a dictator who has to face thousands of citizens, he called for his immediate resignation. Zaev recapitulated the key points of his 33 press-conferences during which he exposed incriminating phone-calls of the VMRO-DPMNE leadership, saying that they show unprecedented breach of rule of law and that this date, 17th of May shall enter the history of the country. He continued to call for transitional, technocratic government that would enable fair elections. Zaev stated the key point of future SDSM’s policies shall be reform of “Macedonia” into a civil, multiethnic and egalitarian society of “citizens proud on their fatherland”.
He also addressed a number of proposed solutions for variety of social and economical problems after eventual victory of SDSM, something that gave a political character of the entire event, but this was perhaps understandable in the light of long-lasting accusations by VMRO-DPMNE that “Zaev offers only unsubstantial criticism, without a concrete platform for social and economic policies”.
Zoran Zaev closed his speech with promise that there shall be no revanchism against members of the public administration which may have been appointed by VMRO-DPMNE and with the call that the “[Macedonian] name and identity shall be preserved” by SDSM.
A counter-protest organized by the ruling VMRO-DPMNE is scheduled to take place in Monday, 18th of May.
