1 In the Republic of Absurdistan, a blind man was driving a van when he hit a woman with his wing mirror and killed her, and while the accident was still under investigation, the police issued him a new driving licence, because the old one had expired at the time of the accident.

The prosecutor’s office in Kavadarci is handling the case, but apparently has no idea where to begin. First, how did the driver get a medical certificate stating he was 99 per cent blind, yet still held a job driving a van? Second, how did he get a disability pension for being blind, yet continued working as a driver? And third, how did the Ministry of Internal Affairs renew the driving licence of a man who is blind? And fourth, will the driver even be held accountable for killing a pedestrian, given that the mitigating circumstance is that he couldn’t see her because he’s blind?

So, the state confirms you’re blind. The state gives you a pension because you’re blind. And the state gives you a driving licence, even though you’ve just killed a woman, while the same state is investigating the accident. What’s not to understand? Everything’s exactly as it should be. Everything falls into place nicely.

This is precisely how the story of the tragedy in Kochani, which claimed 62 young lives, began. If a blind man under investigation can drive a van with a valid licence, why would it be strange that a shed once used as a carpet warehouse could be turned into a nightclub?

We have a system. And some wheels are always well-greased.

2 The mayor of the Municipality of Gazi Baba, Boban Stefkovski, has announced that next year he will put up a memorial plaque in honour of the 22 people who died in the 2016 flood in Stajkovci.

Accidents happen. Natural disasters too. You can’t predict that. But the efficiency of a state is measured by how the system responds when an accident occurs. And how it deals with the consequences of the accident. And how it prevents such accidents from happening again.

For example, how has Stajkovci dealt with the consequences of the disaster, beyond the mayor urging citizens to accept his initiative for a monument to the dead? And how do other mayors deal with the consequences of accidents? Do they learn from their mistakes? Have they learned any lessons from the Kochani tragedy to prevent a similar tragedy?

What has changed in the system between Stajkovci 2016 and Kochani 2025? Or even before Stajkovci, since the 2015 Shipkovica disaster, when 6 people, including children, died in a torrential downpour. Have the drainage channels been cleaned? Has anyone been fined for dumping rubbish and construction waste? Has anyone been stopped from illegally cutting down a forest? Are the streets passable? Do emergency services have access? Is there space for people to escape? Have the illegal buildings been removed? Or is it simpler to build monuments to tragedies than to maintain the critical infrastructure that could prevent those tragedies from happening.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Culture, Zoran Ljutkov, says the state will complete the unfinished monument to Mother Teresa in the centre of Skopje, despite it being an illegal building, because, apparently, it would cost more to demolish it than to finish it.

A working group set up by the SDSM Government in 2017 concluded that the monument, which is in fact a building, should be demolished, not only because it breaches several laws and urban planning regulations, but also because it poses a safety risk by blocking access to Macedonia Square in emergencies or during large public gatherings. Despite the opinion of the expert working group, Zaev’s Government didn’t demolish the monument. And Mickoski’s Governments plans to finish it.

Their priority was to weld shut the manholes on the main streets and boulevards in Skopje leading to the Government and other state institutions. So the officials would be safe. As for our safety, maybe they’ll apologise at some point, while complaining that it was the hardest day of their lives.

We’ll grieve for the dead with monuments. But it’s the living that deserve the real grief.

3 The organisation Macedonia2025, founded by Macedonian emigrants, is running a campaign under the motto “Macedonian diaspora, come home again”. As part of the campaign, billboards have been set up and flyers are being handed out at the Tabanovce border crossing, inviting members of the diaspora to fill out a survey. The call on social media reads: “Tell us what you need? Tell us what would bring you back?”

Since the campaign is in partnership with the Government, I wonder why they’re only asking the diaspora. If the Government is so interested in finding out what drove our people from their homes, they could ask us as well: “What do you need? What would keep you home?” After all, the very thing keeping our people abroad is the same thing that could just as easily drive us out.

And what will they do if the diaspora tells them that they want a legal system, fairness, non-selective justice, transparent spending of public funds, a stable business environment, security in retirement, non-partisan administration, non-partisan education, non-partisan healthcare, non-partisan culture…

Ah, in that case, best not to come back at all.

Or perhaps only the authorities know what we need. And they’re the ones to tell us, which is why VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM, although enemies, have joined forces to block independent civil initiatives from running in elections. They bent over backwards to stop citizens from running at the elections with their own ideas, and yet we expected them to listen to the diaspora about what they need.

4 Switzerland will provide 3 million euros for the reconstruction of the wastewater treatment plant in Kumanovo.

The same plant was built in 2005. It cost 10 million euros, also money provided by Swiss taxpayers.

With Switzerland’s help, water treatment plants were built in eight Macedonian cities around twenty years ago. All of them require system replacements and maintenance, and some of municipalities also complain about the high cost of electricity.

Well, the Swiss brought this on themselves. They built the water treatment plants, so now let them fix them. And while they’re at it, they can pay our electricity bills too.

Our municipalities have spent the money citizens pay for utilities on salaries for drivers, secretaries, clerks… And, of course, on monuments.

What we need is a big Monument to Stupidity. It would be erected by whichever party happens to be in power, in honour of the stupid voters, who, for 35 years, have kept falling for the same tricks, time and time again.

Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski