1 Macedonia is taking over the chairmanship of the OSCE. Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani promoted the chairmanship with the slogan “It’s about the people”. And, bam – immediately some people get a privileged lane for entry to the country. It’s about some people.
I bet some of those 69 notable Macedonian citizens who live abroad had asked for a diplomatic passport, and Bujar said: I’ll come up with something. And he did come up with a sticker for privileged people and took a photo with it at the Skopje airport. I doubt it will work. First, because the people who were on the list of privileged passengers live in countries where people aren’t discriminated against in such a straightforward manner, by state regulation no less, and if they want to get things done faster at the airport, they just pay for a fast lane. And, second, because here even the lanes for passengers with Macedonian passports and others, which were opened a long time ago, still don’t work, so it’s unlikely the lane for the passengers from Bujar’s list will ever work too.
If we had a normal treatment at the Macedonian borders, you might try to justify Bujar Osmani’s little stunt. However, every time I’m coming back to the country I get annoyed because the special lane for Macedonian citizens doesn’t work. Instead of feeling happy for coming home, you feel sick and tired. The government can’t make it possible for us to come back home with dignity, although we are the ones who pay taxes in this country and provide its salaries, so it will now provide a privileged entry to the ones who’ve left and pay taxes to other countries.
As if we don’t have it rough that when we travel in the EU we’re treated as lower-class citizens, as if we don’t have it rough that in order to get a British visa we had to dance a chain dance in front of the embassy, as if we don’t have it rough that at European airports they cram us in some little halls for “others”, that now even our own country, even from the border, gives you the feeling that you’re not welcome.
What message is the government sending us by introducing a privileged lane for successful Macedonian citizens who live abroad? You’ve stayed in Macedonia? In that case, you’re not successful. You’re screwed. All of us who live here and don’t have other passports except the Macedonian one have come to terms with the incompetence of the government.
2 When after a long weekend, a few months ago, we asked why no one replaced the burned-out green and red signal lights at the border crossings, so you’d know which lane to line up in, the Ministry of Internal Affairs told us that the Customs is the competent authority for replacing lights. The Customs told us the Ministry of Transport and Communications is the competent authority for replacing lights at the border crossings. We didn’t even dare to ask the Ministry because we don’t like being treated as imbeciles.
That’s why the MKD lane doesn’t work. Just like that… Out of carelessness, out of irresponsibility, out of disorganization, out of laziness, out of people not doing their job, out of impunity, out of shifting the responsibility to someone else…And it doesn’t take much to make it work. There’s a “MKD” lane. There’s an “EU and others” lane. How come, when we’re abroad it never occurs to us to stand in the “EU” lane, but we patiently wait in the one for “others”? Because we might get fined there. We behave according to the rules of the state. However, over there, there is a state that respects its own rules. The same way it respects its own citizens. And in Macedonia people don’t respect the rules because the state itself doesn’t respect them.
I’m convinced that it’s not difficult at all to organize the MKD lanes at the border crossings. It’s not rocket science. It’s very simple. All it takes is for the Minister of Internal Affairs to give an order and for the commanders of the police stations at the busy border crossings to implement it. If they don’t implement it, they should be punished. Not much of a challenge. .
They insist – “it’s about the people”. We who only have a Macedonian passport are some people too, aren’t we? We don’t have a spare motherland. It us who should be granted a privileged entry to and exit from home. That’s the least we’re entitled to for putting up with your irresponsibility.
3 For half a century all governments have had only one magic measure to prevent pollution. It’s “don’t air your home”. The probe from Mars is about to return, and we’re still breathing just by not airing our home.
4 On 5 January 2018 in this column, I wrote this:
I have a serious problem with how life being restored is understood in Macedonia. It became especially apparent with the euphoria before the New Year. According to which law, are laws in Macedonia not valid before the New Year and during the holidays? I understand that the 11-year rule of VMRO-DPMNE with the selective justice and the “screaming and crying” of their political opponents has had serious consequences in how following laws is understood. However, we didn’t take it to the streets for two years, toppling the regime just so VMRO’s selective justice and selective impunity could be replaced by SDSM’s anarchy.
Almost the whole month before the New Year, even though it’s prohibited by law, people smoked in all pubs, they parked on the pavements, lawns, pedestrians islands and the streets and no one issued fiscal receipts. And worst of all, no one was punished by the police or the inspections.
Life has been restored. And if you complain that this substandard anarchy isn’t life, then they immediately reply cynically with: “Then, how about we bring back VMRO!”.
No, that’s not the case. I don’t want to bring back VMRO. God forbid. But I also don’t want you to make a fool of me by convincing me this is life. We’ve seen better. And I don’t know why the anarchy we’re witnessing should be considered as life being restored? Let alone for everyone.
After all, we’re no longer talking about the rule of VMRO-DPMNE. That’s in the past. The bad past. We’re now talking about SDSM and the ruling coalition. We’re also talking about restoring the rule of law. About restoring the civilizational values. Not for their abolition. And it seems that’s exactly what the government is doing.
This was written exactly five years ago. At that time, I thought it was too early to say how they’d do, that they’d get better.
On another note, it’s time to celebrate another Christmas. To enjoy ourselves a little. We’ll brood over these things from Monday, if they decide to get better.
Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski
