Ordanoski: Protesting is badly needed for Macedonian democracy!

“We have a civil sector that sends speakers to gatherings, to protests, to the media, on the social networks… on a daily basis.

That is new blood, people that we have not seen on the scene until now…people who have an authentic energy in themselves, and who already have precisely articulated political views…You see people with a clear, articulated thought on what is wanted, and people who are informed on current events in the world, in Europe and in the region, on the things they are advocating. It is an informed, skilled base of people, who have gathered around the Colorful Revolution during the events”, says Dr. Saso Ordanoski, in the third part of his video-analysis.

In this continuation of the video-analysis for CIVIL – Center for Freedom, Dr. Ordanoski focuses on the opportunity for the civil society to seriously influence the social developments in Macedonia, and also replies to the answer on whether the Colorful Revolution will survive and impose itself as a serious factor in the upcoming political developments?

“The Colorful Revolution, and the civil society initiative that stands behind it, de facto is the bloodstream of what still exists as a democratic initiative in Macedonia, outside the official political parties. It imposed itself as a factor, that is something that cannot be denied, and it has a civil potential within itself, and probably is the crucial part, the main core of the entire movement. However, it is assisted and supported from various political or other formal movements, primarily the opposition. Not only at the level that we are able to see, when we go to the protests, because here there are many other members of the opposition parties that are joining. I suppose that the opposition’s estimations are that with the Colorful Revolution movement, their positions improve and allows them to be in a negotiation process with domestic and foreign representatives, with the regime…and that is an additional argument.

The survival of the Colorful Revolution? This form of movement emerged in an unorganized manner, as an authentic part of civil society and as such, even today, still doesn’t have a vertical organization. Nevertheless, it is a horizontally set initiative, in which the people enter without the need of having a leader, or solid and clear agendas.  The demands that emerged, are demands that in the meantime have prevailed among the public, and that is a very significant part. The Revolution has not only awakened, but has also kept the public debate. We, in Macedonia, would have a debate even without the Colorful Revolution – it would be carried out by formal political factors, which are, primarily, the political parties. Accordingly, we have a civil society sector that sends speakers to gatherings, to protests, to the media, on the social networks…on a daily basis. That is new blood, people that we have not seen on the scene until now. They are not like you and I, who have appeared over 100 times a year and have started to become boring to the public, rather they are people who have an authentic energy within themselves, who already have precisely articulated political views. These are people from younger generations, although there are people from all ages, but what you see is a well-educated structure of people, to whom the political entities and the political system are very clear. You can see a clear thought, an articulated thought on what is wanted, and people who are informed on current events in the world, in Europe and in the region, on the things they are advocating. It is an informed, skilled base of people, who during the events have gathered around the initiative called the Colorful Revolutions.

The Colorful Revolution is absolutely necessary for support to the Macedonian democracy! Protesting is something that the Macedonian democracy needs really bad, not only because for a long time now, things can only be changed by protesting in this country. But, because we can see that in a situation of complete paralysis of the institutions, we have a situation in which the Parliament, which needs to be the top of the representative model of democracy, is a very grounded voting machinery. There is no integrity of whatsoever there, above all, of the MP’s, because they are the majority that dictate the pace, that need to present their opinions…It is an army that votes as Gruevki and his machinery and apparatus will say. Discussions, opinions, there is nothing there! Because there is nothing there, the media are extremely divided, while those that are controlled by the government – are also a controlled machinery that is coordinated every day. It is not coordinated, it is subordinated, because texts arrive there and are republished without any changes in the headlines, usually unsigned. Because there is not even a second instance for any kind of debate, so at the end, the public debate took the streets from where it returned back to the public space. In that sense, the Colorful Revolution, also in the regional framework, is a certain kind of original contribution to the events that we see in Bulgaria, in Serbia – for many years, in Albania – to a certain extent, in Kosovo – to a certain extent, and even the most radical one– in Greece, as the tradition of protesting and demonstrating in Greece is, nevertheless, the oldest one. Do not forget that we are a country in which there are no trade unions organized in a contemporary manner. Our trade unions have always been, and specially now are of such high political parallelism, and are practically an extended arm of the government! They always have been. And what seems as an independent trade union, are actually difficult attempts to wake some kind of trade union awareness among employees in Macedonia…

In Greece there is even capacity for violent protests, we can see that, there are anarchist, left-wing, right-wing movements…Macedonia has, in the past 3-4 years, diligently entered the domain of learning what it means to protest and how that is part of democracy, precisely through the Colorful Revolution. Hence, I must say that I am in a certain way very surprised, in a positive way, of how all this was carried out in in such a highly civilized manner in Macedonia. When you come to see that we didn’t experience any major incidents despite the provocations, and despite all the nerve wrecking, and despite the fierce response of the government towards the Colorful Revolution (I do not want to get into that, because it is a familiar story – the threats are immense, the police and secret police are now again in an action of putting fierce pressure on individuals, on all those who in some way are more articulated in such movements), the Colorful Revolution is however enduring all of this. Until now, it has been responding in quite a consistent and productive manner. And it has become a factor without which things cannot be negotiated.

I am not sure that the Colorful Revolution should officially sit at the negotiating table, because in doing so, I believe it will be dragged into another formal structure, which it otherwise wants to correct, precisely, from the outside. Having the Colorful Revolution at any negotiations, would only formalize its position, having to be organized differently. Then you would have to find leaders, coordinators for determining precise positions, negotiations, and negotiations always have the result of 100:0, meaning compromises and all of that. I think that the Colorful Revolution needs to keep its corrective element, it should articulate according to what the others are negotiating and it should not be tolerant if wrong things happen. And the Colorful Revolution has the means for articulation, without being dragged in the official part. I believe that this will disentangle the freshness and consistency that it possesses now.

Dr. Saso Ordanoski