Many of my international friends , asked me what’s going on in Macedonia when they saw how I am spamming on Facebook with links to sites with strange letters and when they saw that I've changed my profile picture. I briefly explained to them the incident with the murder of Martin Neshkovski. Here are their responses and my personal analysis of their initial instant reactions.
Russian: So? The police killed a man. Why are you making such a big deal out of it? There is nothing you can do about it.
Obviously, the awareness about freedom of speech in this country is not on the highest level. I don’t know if it is because they are afraid or because it is not developed enough. But I do know that there is over-centralized power of the oligarchs and there is literally nothing you can do about it.
Iranian: Only one is killed?
This was his instant reaction. It’s not easy for him as well. He has seen worse. Last year, during the green revolution in Iran, the government was killing young people, just because Mahmudinedzad would not recognize the electoral fraud. A bunch of progressive young people were protesting and they failed. Many of them were killed and Mahmudinedzad is still in power.
German: How can it be that 2 days it was not known who the boy is and the case was not reported?
The people of this country are used to the fact that the institutions do their job by default. She was not interested in how a member of the special police units could kill a young man, but how the case could stumble throughout the institutions.
Croatian: OMG, the police is going to send us to our graves.
I don’t have a comment on this and don’t know what to think about it. I suppose he is a proponent of the ACAB theory.
To what level have we developed, I cannot say. I have heard all kinds of comments, positive and negative, stupid and smart, constructive and anarchist, and revolutionary, and conservative. All kinds. A guy was trying to convince me that the video with the mother of Martin was a spin, others told me that I am a traitor to my country and a member of the opposition party (read SDSM ), others saluted the perseverance and effort I invest for this cause, others complained because I want this case to be known abroad as well. What is the proportion of the people with these attitudes I don’t know.
A Facebook event appeared a couple of days after the boy was murdered, which stated that the protest on Saturday will receive a form of a FREE CONCERT. My feelings towards this are pretty mixed up and somehow I cannot have take position if I am pro or against it. On one hand I am all love, peace and happiness, I even have some hippy outfits (I swear), but on the other hand to organize a concert just a couple of days after somebody has died... I don’t know. YOU Decide. I honestly cannot decide if I am pro or against. I was thinking, thinking and nothing ...
Yesterday I had a video chat with a producer of a show on Al Jazeera English that deals with events related to social media. She found out by coincidence about Martin Neshkovski, I don’t know how she stumbled upon my blog, translated it with Google Translate, and contacted me because she wanted to learn more. A couple of days after that, the show reported about the case. You can read about it here: http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/macedonia
I also had a small discussion on whether the foreign media should be informed about what is going on in Macedonia. Some think that this way our state is being promoted in a negative way. And I understand them. It’s not nice for a country to be reported about, that the state institutions are trying to cover up murder. The world unfortunately still sees us as an underdeveloped and corrupted country, despite the EU-NATO integration. Some do not even know where we are on the map. I have even been asked if we have chocolate in Macedonia. And like every good Macedonian that lives abroad I have been trying with severe pain, sometimes also ironic (for example the question about chocolate) to explain to them that we in fact are a modern society. That we have and villages that have no sewer, but that they do not represent the big picture.
I honestly think that spreading the news that there is an occurrence of protests not organized by anyone - aka higher level of awareness among the people - will show that we have heads which we do not only use for nice haircuts, but we also use them when we need them. Many people had a prejudice for Arabs, but their attitude towards Tunisia and Egypt changed after the Arab spring. I do not want a Macedonian spring to happen. I do not want a revolution. I want to change their opinion about my country. All those with a different opinion are free to have it. And I respect that. Peace to you all!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
