Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

30
"This is an automatic reply to your
message. I am sorry for not being able
to respond to you personally, but
should I have time to read what you
are demanding, I may be able to reply.
. ." Several messages were as follows:
"I am sorry for not reading
all messages, but if you are
an immigrant from Mexico,
visit the web-site www…
where you will find detailed
information about your
rights. Sincerely,
Senator…"
These are the (unofficial)
replies of the world to
the Macedonian protesters.
But this does not impress
them and they will keep
having fun by sending and
re-sending e-mail messages,
internet-addresses,
caricatures, and photomontages
that were meant to be
interesting and funny.
I now recall similar
behaviour displayed by
Macedonians during the
NATO attacks against
Serbia, when moral support
was given to "the pacifist
and indefatigable" Serbian nation,
that once again stood behind
Miloshevich and his crimes against
humanity. (Secondary school students
circulated notebooks in which they
wrote poetry about the Serbian nation
and their "fearless leader" fighting
against "NATO fascists.") There was
support of a different kind as well.
For instance, caravans of Macedonian
taxi drivers who in an organized way
went to Serbia "to donate blood to
victims," but in fact were emptying
their gas tanks (ed: contravening the
UN sanctions against Serbia). This all
means that admiration and solidarity
was expressed for a nation that took
part in killing hundreds of thousands
of civilians stretching from Croatia to
Kosovo. When the Serbs realized
what was to their benefit, however,
they started improving their relationship
with the NATO "fascist aggressors,"
and after making a deal about
"American enemy" dollars, they
arrested Slobo. Once they get their
desired price asked for in the new
deals, they may deliver him to The
Hague. Macedonians, on the other
hand, were left with the belief that
NATO is a fascist organisation serving
the U.S. and Western Europe,
which since its establishment has had
one goal: to destabilise and destroy
Macedonia. NATO has finally found
allies: Albanian terrorists. In addition,
Macedonia was also spotted as a
place where American and Western
national flags were burned and where,
due to the war against the dictatorial
Serbia of Milosevic, embassies of
three NATO member states were
attacked.
Here I recall the statement of an
American who, I was told, was wellversed
in the politics of his country.
According to him, the U.S. cannot be
expected to be maximally sincere in
its actions towards countries where
the US flag and embassy have been
set on fire. This statement favours
those who say that "the world's foremost
policeman" is involved in the
actions of the armed Albanian groups,
both the UCPMB and NLA. It
has nothing to do, however,
with the proclamations or specific
actions by Washington by
which President George W.
Bush and Secretary of State
Colin Powell have condemned
the military actions of ethnic
Albanians or approved brutal
actions by the Macedonian
security forces.
President Bush, for
instance, stated that "the US
will join its allies and the
United Nations in condemning
the violence of a small group of
extremists who have decided to
destabilize the democratic and
multiethnic government of
Macedonia." The Washington
administration further reported
that it has supplied the
Georgievski government with
unmanned aircraft to monitor
the terrain and gather information
about the movements of armed
groups. In addition, control of the
Kosovo-Macedonia border by
American KFOR soldiers will be
enhanced thereby preventing possible
entry of armed groups and weapons
and increasing the number of individuals
captured if they seek shelter in
Kosovo. But this is not enough for
Macedonians to start trusting the U.S.
or the West, just as it is not sufficient
for numerous Macedonian media to
continue writing the chapter entitled
"The Dirtiest Journalism in the World"
for a book on the history of contemporary
journalism.
(The author is editor of the
Albanian editorial office of the
Macedonian Information Agency)
Liberation from war, April 2001