Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

Agreement." One of them wasn't satisfied,
so he asked "to change the
state symbols in the spirit of the
agreement." We can suppose that with
such action they will emphasize the
double benefit: a referendum and
plenty of work for the tailoring industry
that will be engaged in the additional
ornamentation of the state flag.
The parties in power are not far
behind. Although the territorial division
and the authorization of local selfgovernment
are two independent areas,
the government majority is trying to so
intertwine them that one cannot function
without the other. Such interpretations
vulgarize the Ohrid Agreement,
which emphasizes human rights and
cultural identity in the society.
To be clear, the following are not
an issue here: more extensive language
rights, the functioning of
Badenter's majority on both the state
and local levels and the decentralization
of government authority.
Nevertheless, despite the willingness
to move forward, some postulates of
that agreement require time while
none of them endanger the unitary
character of the state.
If it's true that the energy of an era is
measured by the number of beings who
suffer and that every political credo is
substantiated by the very victims it creates,
then Macedonia is on its way to
fulfilling the obligations created by the
Ohrid Agreement. There are many people
still suffering from the conflict
before the agreement, and the number of
direct victims was not trivial either.
Macedonia is in a time of tolerance. The
greater good deed that the world has created.
And that good deed cannot be the
worst evil at the same time!
(The author is a member of the
editorial board of
Multiethnic Forum and deputy
editor-in-chief of Dnevnik)
How are things going when they
are not moving at all in the first place?
Hope keeps us going even
when things are not well
126
Ferid Muhich
How's everything?
Great!
Don't worry, that will end soon!
It is very clear that we are not
doing so will. But does that mean that
this situation will not come to an end?
Anyway, how do things stand in
Macedonia? If not great, are they on
the verge of disaster? If they are not
as we want them to be, are they worse
than circumstances permit?
To evaluate the problems in a
country objectively is the most difficult
of tasks, especially if you evaluate
them as a whole, integrally, with
all the relevant aspects coordinated in
a logically organized system. It
requires strong interpretive capacity
and an extensive information network.
Focused upon one aspect only,
this estimation can suggest certain
valid insights, with a plausible base of
information for making additional
insights, applicable even for a general
diagnosis. The neuralgic marks of the
state of interethnic relations and their
urgent need for stabilization present
sufficient arguments for choosing that
very segment from the conglomerated
complex of social, political, security
and economic segments in the country.
SOME RESULTS
1. From disagreements, through
tensions, to conflict.
The most remarkable indicator of
the situation in the Republic of
Macedonia during the last decade has
been the issue of interethnic relations.
Interethnic relations have colored the
atmosphere from the first day of
Conditions in Macedonia have undoubtedly changed for
the better, with clear awareness that they were never as
bad as we were afraid they were, and that they could be
even better than we hope they might be
establishing full statehood and sovereignty,
even immediately after the
completion of that process, especially
with the disagreements regarding the
formulation of the issue for which the
referendum was staged. After the
refusal of the ethnic Albanian political
parties and most of the ethnic
Albanian citizens to vote for the first
Constitution of the Republic of
Macedonia, the problematic relations
escalated to become actual tensions.
Eventually, at the beginning of the
new millennium, in January 2001, the
interethnic relations progressed from
tensions to radicalization and resulted
in direct armed conflict on the frontline,
with the ethnic Albanian population
on one side and the state security
Two years of the ohrid agreement, August 2003