A note from another planet

A pitiful sight. Women with their babies wrapped in blankets, with their children wrapped in shawls holding on to their mothers’ coats. Grandmothers and grandfathers with little bags, wrapped in what they could find searching in the darkness of their cold homes… All in search for a little warmth at their neighbors and relatives heating with wood.

XHABIR DERALLA

While the parties are dealing with themselves…

The main preoccupation of the public and the media are the congresses of the biggest political parties in the country. Zaev left the leadership position of SDSM at the interparty direct elections. Kovacevski is the new president of SDSM. Mickoski, an old and well-known vmro story, with one candidate in a delegate system for which there have been, are and will be many colorful stories about how it is formed and kept.

While the unions protest on Sunday…

In the midst of interparty elections, on Sunday, in the December rain, the trade unions also became restless, and so they gathered in front of the Parliament and the Chamber of Commerce to demand higher salaries that were already announced and voting for declaring Sunday a non-working day. The Parliament has been practically non-functional at least for a year, nowhere in sight even on working days, so it’s a bit unclear how effects are expected on a Sunday, but that’s the job of the union “strategists”.

While the world is stepping towards the uncertain future…

In the meanwhile, the new German government, led by Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, has stepped into the new post-Merkel “era”. Gender-balanced, with key departments run by women, full of energy, the new government of the European engine has stepped into the uncertain present and future. This tectonic change is also important for Europe and the world, and comes at an extremely delicate time for world peace. Russia is tinkling with weapons on the borders with Ukraine, and the democratic world is preparing a “New Year’s package” with sanctions and military moves against Putin’s Russia.

… thousands of people freeze due to power line failure…

But all this is not important, and even less known to the thousands of families from the southwestern part of our country. During the weekend (December 11-12), several power lines fell and there were power outages. Several cities and a dozen villages plunged into darkness and took people back, at least one century.

A pitiful sight. Women with their babies wrapped in blankets, with their children wrapped in shawls holding on to their mothers’ coats. Grandmothers and grandfathers with little bags, wrapped in what they could find searching in the darkness of their cold homes… All in search for a little warmth at their neighbors and relatives heating with wood.

And it’s no big deal to anyone.

What to say? How did the institutions, the state react? The Energy Regulatory Commission appealed, requested for the “electricity grid operators to take all measures to restore the normal supply of electricity throughout the country”. This means an appeal – among else – a request.

And then, MEPSO with two-three statements “explained” that the rain and snowfalls had disrupted the supply network, only to later inform in a self-satisfied way the frozen public that they had fixed the defects.

And that’s it. Not even an apology for the frozen people, for the children and elderly who sank into darkness and coldness most of the day and night.

Why didn’t anyone offer some satisfaction for those who suffered damages and whose health was endangered because of the problem with the power lines? To allow them not to pay, that is, to (at least) pay their one-month electricity bills, for example. And to open the doors of the public institutions where there are electricity generators, to shelter the people…

There is no need to emphasize that companies and state institutions have a legal obligation and resources to help people in such or similar situations. They also have an obligation to initiate a procedure of responsibility, and not just a moral one. The institutions and big companies, in state or private ownership, have an obligation towards the people to deliver goods and services in a timely, quality and responsible manner. Or am I writing as if I were from another planet?

It seems that it’s important to fulfill the obligations only between parties – elections – companies. People are here to pay and suffer.

Translation: N. Cvetkovska